Book Review: The Character of Leadership

The Character of Leadership, Nine Qualities that Define Great Leaders, By Jeff Iorg....

Let me say one thing to start things off...WOW!

I was getting ready to preach Sunday morning and my mentor Pastor Neely pressed this book into my hands and said, 'it's a must read'. He has never said that to me before and so I couldn't wait to get home and explore this "must read". I started reading and couldn't stop, until my body shut down...and I woke up this morning and finished it. It is only the second book I can remember in which this happened.

First let me say as a Pastor this is a 'must read'...he speaks clearly and from the heart. This is something I really appreciated…so many leadership books speak downward and I felt this was from the gut level, he was speaking from experience. Also in each chapter he gave particle advice that can be applied…it wasn’t something abstract or a twenty step process…, but reasonable attainable goals and exercises.

Secondly, this would be a good book for a pastor to go through with his leadership teams, deacons…anyone he is developing for future leadership positions. It gave a good picture of what is expected for all church leaders. It also helps those supporting pastors to better understand the pastor position and expectations (realized or not realized) demanded by the nature of the position.

It is an easy read, excellent....I want to recommend this book for several people…Dave, Bob….Cammille, Mike, Don, Dwight and John to name a few.

-ps

Things have been busy..

Ok…I promise to post more this week. I was sick last week and got behind ‘stuff’…I also had finials due this last week…which are done. So all the excuses out of the way…

This morning we had about 60 in attendance and the message was about being thankful. I have been preaching out of Colossians…Col. 3:12-17…the last verse being

“and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”.

What I love about chapter 3, it builds to this point…you see in verse 1-3 our eyes are to be one Christ…our hearts and minds are to be set on things above. We have been raised with Christ (v.1), you have a new life, and you are a ‘new creation’…you get a new start with Christ…so set your eyes above.

“Put to death” v.5…notice it doesn’t say wound it and let live in your life, cowering in the corner…have no mercy on ‘sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed”…but you can only kill these if your heart and minds…your eyes are on Christ. He is the one who enables you to destroy these sins….

After these…’rid yourself’ of anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language…do lie to each other….Paul is working down a list…it starts with Christ…look up…then look in to get rid of those things that keep you from looking up…

Now he is working on the relationships within the church…God representation on earth….’Christ is all, and is in all’ v.11

We are God’s chosen people…holy (set apart, for the glory of God) and dearly loved by the Lord v.12…we are to make every effort (clothe yourself) with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…with in the church (which should naturally carry outside the church)…but we have to work on these very things so we can “bear with one another…and forgive one another v.13. Have you every had to serve with some tough people in church…people in church can and will hurt you…but we have to forgive…because Christ forgave us. We cannot serve God and have hatred in our hearts…the two cannot co-exist with one another…you have to choose which one you want to keep…

But most of all you have put on ‘love’….without love the above will not work…love binds us and unites us…we love because Christ first loved us…and we are to love others…especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.

“let the peace of Christ rule in your heart" v.15…we all seek peace and only Christ can give us peace that surpasses all understanding…only Christ can take away our fears….but we have to submit…or allow him to rule in our lives…it’s like submitting to a umpire at a baseball game…the players submit to the umpires authority…he says who is safe and who is out…but the players have to agree to his authority…look what happens when we do submit…

We have peace and we can be ‘thankful’…then we can accept the word and the teaching of Christ and they will fill your life…your relationship with other believers starts to grow where you can spur one another on…you can teach and admonish one another…singing hymns and psalms will take on a new life…your hearts will be glad…filled with ‘gratitude’ v.16…

Finally you reach “and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”.

So if you read through this and now I have to ask you question…what are you thankful for, is Christ in your life and are you truly thankful….are you thankful for your church family…right now pray a prayer of thanks giving…

Be thankful…

-ps

Sick and the big thought....

I have been sick now for about three days now…I have not enjoyed it at all. But I have started reading another book, “The Spirit of the Disciplines, Understanding How God Changes Lives” By Dallas Willard.

I had heard about this book originally written in 1988. The people I have talked to said this book changed their lives, so I thought I’d read it. I am on page 38 and this big thought has started to emerge. The cross…did you know the symbol of the cross wasn’t really used until much later in church history. Here is the idea…

The cross wasn’t the central theme of the early church…today we focus on the cross because it represents the forgiveness of sins…which of course is important...(the cross became a symbol of choice when the church because responsible for dispersing forgiveness in the middle ages) But was the cross the focus of Christ life or was the resurrection. Was the early church focused on forgiveness and that was it or did they live a changed life, based on the thought of this new life in Christ? Where they fearless because of the forgiveness of their sins or because they knew they would rise again?

See here is where I am really starting to struggle…I read verses like ‘you are dead to sin’, “I come that you might have life more abundant”…I am a new creation the old is gone the new has come….and I think what am I missing? Have I set my sights too low…why do I still struggle with sin like I do…where is the new life Paul talks about.

I know I have talked this way before and I really want to understand and to know Christ more than anything. I read Paul’s writing and I think ‘no way’…but is that because I have taught this is something we will attain later. See I am beginning to think we sell our faith short.

Listen Christ lives in us “Even when we were dead through our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ, Ephesians 2:5. Did Christ intent for us to just live our faith for a few hours on Sunday morning and maybe Wednesday night…did he intent for us to live in defeat all week spiritually…or did he intend for us to live in victory, a changed person…a light…Christ in us…transformed by the resurrection. We died to the old ways and we walk in the newness of life!

I don’t know about you but I want to experience the life Christ talked about, the life he lived! The life the disciples lived…how do I get there, I’m not sure…But Scripture talks about a new life…being clothed in Christ…over and over we see this picture of new life.

All of this begs the question…should we live focused on the cross where we received forgiveness of sin…and leave it at that? Or should the forgiveness of sin and the resurrection spur us to be changed…to live our lives differently…to put our faith into action? I’ll keep reading…Dallas has my attention….

-ps

Book Review: 3 Seconds by Les Parrott

One of the very cool things that has happen to me since I started blogging is Zondervan has ask me to be a book reviewer. So they send me a book and I get the pleasure of reviewing it. Problem is I have so much to read with school and church.

The first book I am going to review is "3 Seconds" it's about giving your first impulses a second thought, before all your negitive thougts take over. At first glance of this book you really don't see anything new, but Dr. Parrot has packaged this little book with lots of motivation. Many times we sit on things or dismiss ideas out of hand...in 3 seconds he is saying wait and think again. In the first chapter he tackles our initial impulse to: Give up before trying....because we feel helpless, Shun a challenge....because it seems daunting....etc. There are loads of good quotes tucked along the pages with a self assessment at the end of each chapter. This book would be good to go through with a mentor or a friend.

So if your looking for a book that is an easy read, its clear with motivating illustrations....this is a good book for you. Maybe your stuck in life or your job and your looking for something to kick start your 'motivation' again this book is for you.

-ps

No temptation…

I have been for sometime struggled understanding how to relate to life described in the bible. It’s true I have struggled with verses that say “You have died to sin”…If I have died why do I still struggle with sin?
Have you ever felt this way? As I move along in my faith, one thing that keeps come up is it not what I ‘do’ but has been ‘done’ for me. If I struggle with something it is because I have tried to correct it myself. By doing so I sin more! But if I look to Christ and focus on Him something different happens….

The Bible says…”No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to us all. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

Several points….God has to be involved….No where in this verse does it say “Steve will provide”…it says God will provide. He has to be where our focus has to be…which means we must invite God into our lives and our struggles.

If God is involved…he will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear…think about that for a moment…God doesn’t take the temptation away, he allows you to be tempted and provides you a way out. Does God tempt us? No, but in our world temptation surrounds us and with God on our side we are given a way out.

No God….without God we are stuck…temptation will over take us and we will give into the very thing we are struggling against. It is impossible tackle sin on our own…there will be no way out, there will be no way to stand up to the weight of our own inherited weakness.

God is faithful…put your trust in his faithfulness. He will be the one who protects you from ‘weighty’ temptations…he will provide a way out every time. When tempted ask God to show you the way out, show me the door Lord! And I promise God will provide a way…He has never failed me if I’m looking!

-ps

Sermon: The Triumph of the Cross

This morning we are going to continue in Colossians. So far this is the 6th sermon out of this letter. If you remember the first sermon was “Thanksgiving and Prayer”….then we looked at the “The Supremacy of Christ”…in that sermon we looked at four things about Christ…His relationship with God (v.15), His relationship with creation (v.16,17), His relationship with the church (v.18), His relationship with us (v.19-23).

Next we looked at ‘Why Church Part I and Part II’…In part one we said we exist as the church Firstly to proclaim the gospel of Christ to the world…Secondly we exist to present every believer ‘perfect in Christ’….we do this through discipleship, through serving and worship…Thirdly we have to learn as Paul did…to rely on God. We have to allow God to work through us “Powerfully”…

In part II we expanded on the “rely on God” we saw how Paul prayed for the Church to be encouraged in heart and united in love…he was showing us his dependence on the Holy Spirit and if we are to proclaim the Gospel to the world we need to do the same.

Last sermon "In Christ all the Fullness" we said…Live in Christ…be rooted, built up and established in Him…overflowing with thankfulness…for in Christ the fullness of divinity lives…There is no one like Him…no one! There is nothing else we need!

This is where we pick up…it’s been an interesting ride and we’re only part way through Chapter 2…there are four chapters all together. So Chapter 2:10-15…

“We have been given the fullness in Christ”

Last week we talked about needing nothing more than Christ. If you add anything to Christ…remember Christ + something= nothing…Paul is still telling us we need nothing more…we have perfect standing in Him as Christians…this is a marvelous expression of grace of God that the truth of verse 10 should flow from verse 9. In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and the believer is complete in Him.

This verse (10) teaches us is that the believer has in Christ all that is needed for life and godliness. Spurgeon gives a good definition of our completeness. He says we are (1) Complete without the aid of Jewish ceremony. (2) Complete without the help of philosophy. (3) Complete without the inventions of superstition. (4) Complete without human merit.

Jesus in whom we have given fullness is the head of every power and authority.

This brings us to the next verse…

11In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ"

Circumcision was a typical rite of Judaism. It was a minor surgical operation in which a knife was applied to the flesh of a male child. Spiritually this signified the death to the flesh…or putting off the evil, corrupt nature of man. Unfortunately, what happen was they lost the spiritual meaning and it became a “ceremony”…it became a rite of works in which they where trying to gain God’s favor…

In this verse Paul is bring us back to the spiritual meaning of circumcision…the circumcision done by Christ refers to his death on the cross…the thought is this…Jesus died on the cross…like Jesus the person putting their faith in Christ also dies. They die to sin, to the law, to self and to the world. It isn’t done by human efforts…it’s accomplished by God…there is no way to earn it.
So when a person puts their faith in Jesus, they become associated with Christ in His death, by doing so they have recognized there is no way of earning of deserving salvation through human efforts….”it’s a gift from God”

This sets the stage for the next verse…

12having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

Paul now focuses on baptism…and just as circumcision speaks of death to the flesh…baptism speaks of the burial of the old self. Paul is saying we haven not only died with Christ…but we have also been buried with him which is symbolized in baptism. All of this took place at our conversion…the moment you accepted Jesus, you died to your old self…

If we have been crucified with Christ and buried with Him, we have also been raised with him…to walk in the “newness’ of life! All of this happens at conversion and is symbolized by baptism. Water cannot save us…only Christ can…but out of obedience to Christ we publicly display our confession…by lowering into the water (death), underwater (burial) and rise out of the water (raised) and walk in a new way…

Why is this important to understand…

13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

Paul swings the conversation back to us or better the Colossians and we can apply it…at one time we were dead because of our sins…we were spiritually dead towards God…there was no movement in our spirits towards God and there was nothing we could do to earn God’s favor. But once you heard the gospel and believed you were “made alive” with Christ…and ‘He forgave us all our sins’…For the Colossians everything changed…for us everything changes…we are new creatures in Christ…

Paul continues saying all the written law, the ceremonial laws…religious rituals of the Jewish people…all which was there to show us how short we had fallen…we could not keep them ‘perfectly’…and there was a tab…a bill that had to be paid because of it and Jesus paid for in full having “nailed it to the cross!” Our debt is paid….Paul's language here refers to an ancient practice of nailing the written evidence of a canceled debt in a public place as a notice to all that the creditor had no more claim on the debtor.

What an incredible picture…but it get better…

15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

By His death on the cross and His resurrection and ascension, the Lord Jesus has conquered evil powers, making a public spectacle of them, and triumphing over them by the cross…the cross, the instrument of defeat…Jesus gains victory…

Upon a great Roman victory the defeated army would be disarmed and parade throughout Rome for all to see. They where no longer a threat…Rome was firmly in control…One day Jesus will parade Satan and his angels…but he will also parades death, pain and suffering…sin…all of the power and authorities will be made a ‘public spectacle’ and in the end will be forever banished!

We have the life of victory! Because we have been given the “fullness” of Christ…This should change the way we live…we have been freed from the bonds of sin…it no longer owns us….
There isn’t a past sin that should be holding you back…past guilt has been buried…let go of it…

If you’re struggling with a sin this morning claim the victory, stop trying to defeat it on your own power and let Jesus have the victory! He has won…

As Christians we shouldn’t live the life of defeat…but one of victory…no matter what the situation…is it going to be easy…no, will you struggle, yes. But in the end, when it is all said and done…we will be victorious…Jesus has won the victory through the cross…

My body is going to fail me, my friends are going to fail me…my family will fail me…life will fail me in the end…but Jesus will never fail me…through Jesus I have live, love, hope, and victory…

Pray with me…

-ps

Left Behind (The Rapture Song)

Thought this was funny...

After the Point….

As you can well imagine writing “what’s the point”…had an impact on me and has been the catalyst of some deep thought. I have been moved to try and figure out where all this is going to lead. When I think about my church, I can’t help but to think how well we ‘do’ church. But is it changing lives, how do we move from ‘doing’ church to ‘living’ church?

Here is the deeper thought behind this…Christ died so that I would have eternal life…no dispute with this…but what am I to do in the mean time, while I’m alive here. If it’s all about where I end up…then does it matter how I live now? But if my life now is about living as Christ lived, what if while waiting for my death…I am to live humbly, sacrificially, in community, living deeply with others….as Christ did. What if church isn’t about me at all, maybe it’s about being a part of a sacrificial community. If our focus was to change into something along these lines, what would our church look like…how would our communities be impacted?

I don’t know about you…there is something stirring in me that longs for some thing much deeper…

What’s the Point…

I was listening to a podcast today, a sermon about "Salt and Light" by Matt Chandler, The Village Church. What got me about the message was how we have truly lost our saltiness. The Church has lost its influence on culture. The church as we know it is one generation away from being culturally irrelevant. Have you looked around your church? Where are the twenty something males? Where is this generation? Its advoiding the church in masses...

Here is something, I taught out of Romans tonight. Here is the last verse of chapter four of Romans…”He (Jesus) was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification”. Jesus died for us and one day we will (those who have put their faith in Him) stand in front of God justified because of what Christ did for us, not because of something we did. But what is the point if our lives are not changed? I mean what’s the point if we are not making a difference in our culture. Did Jesus die for me to be comfortable and happy in my little perfect church…or did he die for me, so that I might sacrifice for others.

I think we live lives short of what God had envisioned for us. Why does the divorce rate in the church reflect the world around us, why are Christian men/pastors/clergy/deacons still addicted to pornography, why does our behavior reflect the world around us and not Christ? Think about this for a minute we are called to go and represent Christ in the world. We are to influence the world not vise versa. Yet most of the time you cannot tell the difference between the believer and the non-believer…and then when we ask the non-believer to join us at church…he looks at us and says, “your no different from me…why should I got to church.” And what is our reaction…our feeling are hurt, we feel rejected. What did you think he was going to say?

Let me clarify something…this rant is directed at me as much as the church at large. I see the world reflected in me in so many ways and my heart is broken…because I can see Jesus looking at me and asking “what is the point, Steve…” It’s more than dieing for my sin, it’s about changing the world…He died “for all”…we have a part in this. Did Jesus die for us to have a “fire” insurance policy…a get out of jail free card….or did Jesus die to make the world a different place…what’s the point….(insert name here)

-ps

Sermon: “To know Christ and to Make Christ Known”

“To know Christ and to Make Christ Known”

Sometime last fall I found myself in a leadership class thinking about our church. Our task that evening was to develop a ‘vision’ statement for a church. As we worked in our groups I couldn’t stop thinking about our church. What are we here for? What are we going to be about? What is a vision that will help unify us and help us focus? I remember praying for God to give me a vision for our church…

Before I go any further, I know the idea of vision statements is new to the church…but in reality they can find their roots in scripture…examples Gen 12:1-3, 2 Samuel 7:16

Why do we need a vision?

Vision is more than a statement of words…it is recognizing and committing to something bigger than you…A vision is not some abstract idea of ‘church growth’, but instead, helps us focus on what is important for us as a church…it gives us something to focus on…

Why Vision Needs to Matter…

A vision should matter…it carry with it a sense of conviction…Andy Stanley says this about vision, “There is always a moral element to vision. Vision carries with it a sense of conviction. Anyone with a vision will tell you this is not merely something that could be done…This is something that should be done. This is something that must happen. It is this element that catapults men and women out of the realm of passive concern and into action. It is the moral element that gives vision a sense of urgency...

Vision has a verity of meaning in the Old and New Testaments. Vision comes from faith and allows a church to be or to do something beyond its current abilities to impact the Kingdom.

We ask our kids vision question: “what do you want to be when you grow up?” We encourage them to have a picture of the future. We hope that our children will have a great “picture’ that will begin to influence the order of their lives.

Vision is God guiding his people to perform specific task within the context of their situation, and in Scripture God continually made clear what he desired his people to accomplish. When God entered the affairs of man, he did so to guide them not only in the present but to establish the direction they were to focus upon the future.

Three Verses…

As I thought further on the vision for our church three verses keep coming to my mind…the first was

Luke 4:18-19
18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

The Second…

Matthew 22:37-39
37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

Lastly…

Matthew 28:19-20
19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

In Luke 4 we see Christ proclaiming his mission to the world…he came to preach the “good news’, to set the captives free, to give sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, but most of all he came to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…Jesus was declaring the year of Jubilee, where all debts where cancelled, slaves where set free, property returned to it original owner…
Only this time Jesus was proclaiming he came to cancel the sin debt of man, he had come to bring the good news to the poor, he came to free us from the slavery of sin, to open our blind eyes…to mend a broken relationship…

God would make us alive with Christ…forgiving us of all our sin…having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us, he took it away, nailing it to the cross…Colossians 2:13-14

In Matthew 22 Jesus tells us we are to “Love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all of our souls and all of our minds…and we are to love our neighbor as your self”…We are to love the Lord with all we have…

In Christ the fullness of deity dwells…in Christ we see the Word made Flesh…in Christ we see “God with us”…It is through Christ God has reconciled us from sin…Christ alone is worthy of all our praise…We are to give Christ all our heart, all of our soul and all of our minds…if we do that…as I said last week…if we put Christ first in our lives…Christ’s love for us will fill us and spill over into all our other relationships…we can then truly love our neighbor…

Lastly Christ commands us to Go…to Go into the world and make disciples and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit…teaching them to obey all that Christ command…the key word is “GO”…we need to GO..

“To Know Christ and to Make Christ Know”

I wrote these words on a piece of paper and knew it was from God…I was so excited I showed to all who would look at it…It was answer to my prayer…

I soon found out my ‘original idea” had and is being used by other churches…but it didn’t matter…this was our vision “unique” vision.

How can it be explained…We seek to know Christ deeper through worship, through discipleship and

through service…as we grow in deeper relationship with Christ…our desire should be to
make Christ known to our families, our friends, neighbors, co-workers, the community and the world around us.

As a church it gives us a clear vision for what we are about…everything we do will have two elements to it…does it help us to know Christ and does it make Christ known…if we can’t answer these questions we’ll have to reconsider or change what we are planning.

In worship we want to bring you closer to Christ through music and song, through the reading of Scripture, prayer and proclaiming Christ in preaching...In discipleship we want to help you learn to walk daily with Christ, being rooted and built up and established in Christ…in service we want help you exercise the Gifts the Lord has given you for the purpose of building up the body…

We want you to be excited about sharing Christ with others…excited about “Making Christ Known” and it all starts with a vision…

Closing…

So what have we talked about today…what is the point I want you to carry home this week. First Baptist Church of Rocklin has a vision… Christ…

First Baptist Church of Rocklin has a God size vision…a vision that will unify us and captivate us….a vision to help us understand where we are going as a church…a vision that sees the need of the community around us…a vision that convicts our hearts as something that should be done…

Our vision is “To Know Christ and to make Christ known”

If someone is to ask you what is your church all about…you can tell them….

-ps