Sunday Thoughts

1. Seeing lives changed and people grow in their walk with Christ never gets old! God is good.

2. Today was bittersweet at Xtreme. We prayed for some folks who head out this week to do mission in Cameroon and we prayed for a couple who we are sending to serve Willow Bend Church in NE Clarksville.

3. There is nothing more powerful then fearless Christ-followers stepping out boldly in response to the call. I love it!

4. After 3 straight weeks of not preaching at Xtreme it felt GREAT to be back in the saddle.

5. There will be no iLead connect group this Wednesday. Spread the word.

6. Remember to start brining ing in food in support of Manna Madness.

7. Daylight Savings Time begins next Sunday. I am not looking forward to that!

Real Quick

1. This has been a great weekend so far. I can’t wait to kick off our new series tomorrow at Xtreme!

2. I know I say that with every series/message…but I really mean it!

3. Last night Jaemi and I had one of the best dinners we’ve ever had. Thank God for good friends who know how to win me over.

4. The Uprising is only 11 days away! Spread the word, invite some friends and enemies, and brace yourself for one of the biggest moves of God that Clarksville has ever seen.

5. Today has been a day of study and exercise. Time to eat and chill!

Keeping it Real

This Sunday we’re kicking off a new series  at Xtreme titled “Keeping it Real.” If we’re honest, we’ll admit that sometime as the church, we let a lot of junk get in the way of the main thing. That junk can be religion or that junk can be our selfishness. Either way we get so busy going through the motions of life that it is easy to get sidetracked from the most important thing, which is loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. So we’re going to keep it real. I’m going to be gut-level honest about the Christian walk and church life (not that I’ve ever been anything different). Over the next 4 weeks we are going to walk through what I think is one of the most vivid snapshots of the 21st century church in all of scripture…The Book of Malachi. Don’t miss out on this challenging series. I dare you to bring 5 people with you!

February Book List

Here is what I’ve read or finished reading in the last month:

On Killing by Dave Grossman

Hand to Hand: From Combat to Healing by Nigel Mumford

Connections in the History and Systems of Psychology by Michael Thorne and Tracy Henley

Military Psychology by Carrie Kennedy and Eric Zilmer

A War of Nerves by Ben Shephard

Save Me From Myself by Brian “Head” Welch

Move: What 1,0o0 Churches Reveal About Spiritual Growth by Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson

Viral: How Social Networking is Poised to Ignite Revival by Leonard Sweet

Purpose in the Pain

In most areas of life we understand that pain has a purpose. When my boys rough house one of them usually comes running saying, “Dad, he smacked me in the head.” To which I respond “Son, either duck, block, or don’t be in a position to get punched in the head.” Its supposed to hurt when you get smacked in the head. It hurts so that you’ll take care of your noggin! Actually, it hurts because of nerve endings (thermoceptors) that are specifically associated with temperature or harsh pain…but I digress. The other day  I took a nice (and by nice I mean horrible) knee to the leg during some sparring. It hurt for a reason. Without that pain I would not really understand the proper way to check a kick. Now I know ; )

In most areas of of life we understand that there is purpose to our pain. Yet, somewhere along the line we have believed the lie that following Christ is a walk in the park. We have bumped our heads on the ceiling of consumer Christianity and bought into the nonsense that says “Jesus wants us to feel wonderful as we tip-toe through the tulips of love”. When I look at the scriptures I see Jesus telling His followers to “deny themselves, take up their cross” (an instrument of torture) and “follow Him”. He tells them to get their minds right because a day would come when they would be arrested, beaten, persecuted, and even killed for His sake. He told them that “IN THIS WORLD” they would have trouble. He also said that they (we) should “take heart because HE has already overcome the world.”

I have no easy answers for why you are going through what you are going through. All I know is this:

“…after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself  restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” – 1 Peter 5:10 (ESV)

Graceless

Steven Furtick said “The Church has historically done a really bad job at providing exit ramps for people struggling with sin.” You can read more about that here. I think the reason we’ve done such a bad job is because we have a tendency to be graceless, especially when it involves a sin that we think we have conquered. Instead of leading a team member through their struggle with _______, we throw them away. We forgive the person who recently came back to Christ…unless they had an affair. Then we treat them like crap (behind their backs of course).We clap and amen as an obese preacher rants about how sinful a certain political party is…even though the real sin is that he is one cheeseburger away from a stroke. We are some jacked up folks. And yet, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…where sin increased, grace increased all the more…”

God help us to show the same grace to others that we desire to receive from you.

Sunday Thoughts

1. We had another record setting day at Xtreme! Lots of new faces. Get fired up about what God is doing!

2. During our 2nd service I drove across town to preach at Willow Bend for my friend John Renken. Those folks are some of the nicest people I’ve met in Clarksville. What a great church! We had an awesome time in the word and in prayer.

3. I shared a message about suffering, trials, and the grace that strengthens, establishes, and restores us.

4. After preaching, my tire blew out, my spare went flat, and I got to practice what I just preached about ; )

5. This weather is really messing me up. It is way too early for pollen!

6. I can’t wait to kick off our new series, “Keeping it Real” next week at Xtreme. I believe some folks are going to be challenged like never before. I’m praying for an extra measure of boldness as I bring what might be one of the toughest series of talks I’ve ever shared.

7. Big thanks to our team that pulled off 4 weeks of excellence in February. Our team rocks!

Real Quick

1. If you don’t have any plans, head out to Lifepoint Church tonight for some great worship.

2. Tomorrow at Xtreme we wrap up our Love series with a talk about Love and Security.We’d love to see you there! I’ll also get to preach for a friend during Xtreme’s 2nd service. After 3 weeks off I am fired up!

3. Today has been a crazy day fo me. My brain got fried writing a paper, my legs got punished during a workout, and I “died” about 20 times while knife fighting with my H2H Instructor. However, I did get to spend the entire day with my two boys by my side!

4. UFC tonight! I won’t try to predict any fights because that never works out for me.

5. Seriously, get out of bed tomorrow and connect with a church somewhere. You’ll be better for it. Trust me.

Love and Security

I have absolutely LOVED this series at Xtreme! Our church has been so great over the last month. Not only did we split the church in half in order to make room, we also made several systems changes. This isn’t the first series in which we have taught with a team, but it is the first series in which all of the speakers were “home grown”. I am very proud of Kevin (worship pastor),  Ted (business administrator), and Thomas (youth director) for stepping up their game for this series. This Sunday we wrap up with a talk on Love and Security. After the first service I GET the honor of speaking across town at our Brother Church, Willow Bend. I’ll be talking about “The God of All Grace”. I’m looking forward to a weekend of Kingdom impact at both churches. Xtreme folks, stay focused. Invite, invite, and BRING someone with you this weekend. Don’t miss out!

I Love/Hate This Bible Verse

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)

I hate it because it means that there is a purpose to my pain.I hate it because it tells me that I shouldn’t complain when things don’t go my way. I hate it because it implies that I should worship through my troubles and trust that God knows more than me. I hate it because it implies that God MAY actually be behind the jerks people that persecute me and mine. I hate it because it means that there are no shortcuts to maturity and completion.

I love it for the same reasons.