living your life like it matters...

I am teaching a series entitled "30 Days to Live" We are thinking about things. Thinking about life. Thinking about things that matter. When you wrap up your day today and then look back on it, ask yourself, "How much of this day really mattered?"

Think about living in the moment, Eternal perspectives and leaving a legacy. Lets try to think about things that matter.

Waiting on the world to change.

I love change and the vision that it takes to see change. John Mayers song "Waiting on the World to Change" inspires me to see lives change. Although I cant wait until the world changes, but I must personally do something about it.

What if the church looked like trash?

I think it is interesting how we look into churches across our country. You see well groomed middle/high class people who have everything together. I wonder if Jesus started a church what it would look like. I think it would have a bunch of widows or divorcees that did not dress right and a children's ministry full of chaos with a bunch of orphans who did not know how to act "godly".

I constantly look at the "bad guys" of the New Testament; the Pharisees. And I pray that my life would not look anything like theirs. And that our churches would not look anything like theirs. But, I think sometimes we start to look too good for our own good. We need to realize our dependence on God and surround ourselves with people who do not look like us.

What if your church stunk a little bit on Sunday's because of the smell of the homeless man that took "your seat". What if a poor kid with dirty feet was walking in our pews? What would we do? I think we know. But what would Jesus do? I think He would love and play with the kid that we gave a snooty evil look to.

Let's be more like Jesus. "God, allow our churches to smell."

12 to 200 to 80 = lives changed

We took a group of 12 people that were willing to serve God in a foreign land; Honduras. We developed a youth ministry service for youth who were not interested in church. The first Sunday morning 5 adults and a few kids met in the church. After adding a relevant message, drama's and testimonies the church went from under 20 on Sunday to 120 on Monday night. Then 200 on Tuesday. God did some incredible things through our team. Through the week we saw 80 people trust in Christ. We give him all of the glory.

I think of Paul and how he adapted his life around the lives of the people he was ministering to. He said that he wanted to become all things to all people. Meaning he would do whatever it took to bring people to Christ.

A good application for the church in Honduras along with our churches in North America is to change things up from time to time. Continue to evaluate what is working and what is not. Throw tradition to the curb if the lost are not being rescued. Do what you can to reach your community even if is against the flow of what "church people" want. Think. Follow Jesus in reaching people.