What Are You Talking About? - by Jill Windham

Have you spent time with your family lately?  Let me explain.  Statistics show that parents spend on average 3.5 minutes a day in meaningful conversation with their children.  The numbers are around 1.7 minutes a day between husband and wife.  Studies also show that 66% of American families eat their dinner in front of a television.   I hope you find that as disturbing as I do, especially since American adults spend 96 minutes per day playing xBox.  So, what I am asking you is, have you spent time with your family today, besides the normal issuing of chores, discussion of bills, helping with homework?  Meaningful conversation is most definitely not “Clean your room,” or, “Honey, please fill the car up with gas today.”  We must remember that before churches were instated, before schools were created, God created husband and wife, parent and child.  If you haven’t talked to your family lately, you are heading for turbulent times in your household.  Without open and loving communication, what was once a peaceful environment can turn to one of hostility and resentment.  I challenge you tonight - sit down with your family and eat dinner together.  Turn the TV off, and engage in conversation that matters. 

Here’s some ideas to get your conversation rolling. 

Ask your family:

“Everyone go around and tell your favorite thing that happened today.”

“Tell me about the funniest thing you saw today.”

“If you could be eating dinner with anyone that is alive, who would you pick?”

For little ones, ask things like:

“If you could be any animal, which one would you be?”

“What’s three things you wish you could eat for dinner every night?”

For husband and wife, ask:

“Tell me about a memory you have of eating with your family when you were a kid.”

“Where are some places you hope to go with me, once our kids are gone one day?”

It may not seem easy, but let me assure you, it’s worth it, to converse with your family.  The more you try, the more open they will be.  Give it a shot…  your family is waiting!

Hope in His Life – by Jill Windham

I have always loved the verse found in I Corinthians 15:19.  It simply says, “If we only have hope in this life, we are of all men most miserable.”

I’ve been to many funerals in my life, and this is a verse that frequently makes an appearance because of the comfort it brings.  It is comforting to think that this life is not all there is!  Heaven is a real place, where we will be reunited with loved ones, and where we will see Jesus face to face.

However true and wonderful this is, I believe that this verse is not only talking about eternity.  Can you imagine, if we only had hope in our economy, how worried and miserable we would be?  What if we only heard of gas prices rising, debt climbing, job loss, and financial ruin?  What if we only could see sickness, infirmity, depression, and pain?  What a miserable life that would be!

God challenges us over and over in His word to take His promises literally.  He says our economy is based on Heaven’s system, not the world’s systems.  He says we can live in abundant health and peace, though a thousand may fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand.  Our hope is built on the unseen, not the things we see with our eyes.

I am asking you to see the hope that God has provided us in Jesus.  Heaven will be wonderful, but we are here, now.  God wants this life to be a great life, filled with prosperity, health, and abundance.  So tomorrow, when you are reading the morning paper, remember… what you are reading are simply words.  We have hope that surpasses the reports we read.  Live in His promises.  They are all “yes, and so be it.”  There is hope in this life because of Jesus!

- Jill

Thou Shalt Hang Out at Wells

Wells were ancient hang outs. They were the BC version of coffeehouses, chat rooms, and malls. Jesus didn't invite people to the synagogue. He hung out at wells. He was often accused of hanging out with the wrong people at the wrong places. But Jesus didn't let that keep him from a party with a tax collector or a conversation with a Samaritan woman at the well. He went to where the people were. Maybe the gospel has been quarantined behind the four walls of church buildings long enough? The church is called to compete in the middle of the marketplace.

Jesus said in Matt 5:14-16,

“You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. 15 If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. 16 Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand — shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”  THE MESSAGE

Let’s go out and be who we were made to be!

Inaction Regrets

In his book, If Only, psychologist Dr. Neil Roese makes a distinction between two different types of regret: regrets of action and regrets of inaction. A regret of action is doing something you wish you hadn’t done. A regret of inaction is not doing something that you wish you had done. Let me put it in theological terms. Actions regrets are the result of sins of commission. Inaction regrets are the result of sins of omission.

I think the church has focused on sins of commission long enough. They are easier to identify. But the greatest regrets at the end of our lives won’t be the things we did wrong. It will be not doing the right things—things we could have, should have, and would have done.

Action regrets taste bad, but inaction regrets leave a bitter aftertaste that lasts a lifetime. Inaction regrets haunt us because they leave us asking what if. We are left to wonder how our lives would have been different had we taken the risk or seized the opportunity. What if we had chased the lion instead of running away? Somehow our lives seem incomplete. Failing to take a risk is almost like losing a piece of the jigsaw puzzle to your life. It leaves a gaping hole. When we get to the end of our lives, our greatest regrets will be the missing pieces.

That conviction is backed up by the research of two social psychologists named Tom Gilovich and Vicki Medvec. Their research found that time is a key factor in what we regret. Over the short term, we tend to regret our actions. But over the long haul, we tend to regret inactions. Their study found that over the course of an average week, action regrets outnumber inaction regrets 53% to 47%. But when people look at their lives as a whole, inaction regrets outnumber action regrets 84% to 16%. Don’t put off living another day!

SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES

Recently while Janice and I were in Australia I noticed that there were Starbucks coffee shops there and I couldn’t help but think about what a worldwide empire Starbucks has become. It seems like there is a Starbucks on every street corner, every terminal, every mall and every hotel in America. Pretty soon there are going to be Starbucks in Starbucks.

When Howard Schultz purchased Starbucks on August 15, 1987 it was a small chain of coffeehouses in Seattle, Washington. Nothing more, nothing less. Howard Schultz said his big goal was to open one store in Portland, Oregon.  A few decades later, there are 11,000 stores in 37 countries with approximately 35 million customer visits every week! And for what it’s worth, Starbucks opens 5 new stores every day 365 days a year.

But Howard Schultz almost passed up the opportunity because it seemed too big. Schultz said it felt like a case of the salmon swallowing the whale. In other words, it seemed way to big for him to attempt. The asking price was $4 million. I love the way Schultz describes the moment in his book, Pour Your Heart Into it:  This is my moment, I thought. If I don’t seize the opportunity, if I don’t step out of my comfort zone and risk it all, if I let too much time tick on, my moment will pass. I knew that if I didn’t take advantage of this opportunity, I would replay it in my mind for my whole life, wondering: What if?  On June 26, 1992—less than five years after Howard Schultz seized the opportunity—Starbucks’ stock went public. It was the second most active stock traded on the NASDAQ and by the closing bell, its market capitalization stood at $273 million. Not bad for a $4 million investment. Schultz saw an opportunity and he seized it.

In Colossians 4 there is a verse that doesn’t get much air time, but I think it a great definition of spiritual maturity. If all of us obeyed this verse it would radically change our lives. Colossians 4:5 says: Make the most of every opportunity.  This Scripture doesn’t specify how many or how few opportunities. It doesn’t make a difference between how small or how large the opportunity. We simply need to make the most of every opportunity.

The word translated opportunity in Colossians 4:5 is the Greek word kairos. It refers to a window of opportunity. The English word opportunity comes from the Latin phrase ob portu. In the days before modern harbors, ships had to wait till flood tide to make it into port. The Latin phrase “ob portu” referred to that moment in time when the tide would turn. The captain and crew would wait for that one moment, and they knew that if they missed it, they would have to wait for another tide to come in.

We are surrounded by God-ordained opportunities—opportunities to love, opportunities to laugh, opportunities to give, opportunities to learn, opportunities to serve, opportunities to give. Seeing and seizing those opportunities is at the heart of what it means to follow Christ and be filled with the Spirit.

Most of us want our opportunities gift wrapped. We want our lions stuffed or caged or cooked medium well and served on a silver platter. But opportunities typically present themselves at the most inconvenient time in the most inconvenient place. Opportunities often come disguised as a big problem, but people who get ahead in life see them as opportunities. Problems are opportunities in disguise!

I have a conviction: God is in the business of making sure we meet the right people at the right time. He’s also in the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time. But here is the catch: the right place often seems like the wrong place and the right time often seems like the wrong time.

Living with Definite Aim

Paul says (paraphrasing) in I Corinthians 9:26 (AMP), “I do not live my life without definite aim…”  I do not live my life without having a definite aim of what I’m about.  In Acts 26, we read the encounter that Paul had with Jesus on the road to Damascus.  Jesus said, “Paul, I have appeared unto you for this purpose.  1.  I am going to make you a minister; 2.  I am sending you to the Gentiles; 3.  I am going to have you open their eyes so they can come to the revelation of truth.” 

When you read about Paul’s life, read his writings and read about all the great things he accomplished, one of the things that you discover is that Paul was a master at staying on course.  Now he, like everyone else, went off in the wrong directions sometimes, but ultimately he was a master at staying on his decided course.   You know the story in the book of Luke about the brothers who came to Jesus and said, “We would like for you to divide our inheritance for us.”  And Jesus explained to them that it was not his place to do that.  Then Jesus made this very powerful statement: “Life does not consist in the abundance of things a person possesses.”  What Jesus was saying here was that they were getting very disturbed about some things that really didn’t matter. He was actually telling them that they were wanting to live their lives based on what would never give them happiness rather than what would.  These brothers were in dispute about money.   It seemed that they were on the verge of throwing away their relationship over this.   I hope you all realize that no amount of money is worth throwing away your family for.

            I believe all of us were created to live for a divine purpose.  All of us were designed, by the design of God,  and created to live for a destiny and something outside of ourselves.  The reality is, if you live your life based on what just influences you, you will live a very empty, disturbed and messed up life.  All of us have been given by God something to do in this earth like no body else can do.  I have thought often about different things that would hinder people from really experiencing and walking in the plan that God has for their lives.  And I want you to remember that while you were created to live for a purpose, but the main purpose you were created for was to experience the love of God.  Beyond what you can do for God, God is more interested in loving on you and having you experience His love.  The reality is that the most important thing is not what you can do for Him but what you can experience in His love.  There is nothing more valuable to God than His loving you and your coming to the place where you experience that great love.  There is NOTHING more valuable, more important, more worthwhile than experiencing the love of God so let experiencing it be the first thing you aim at in life.

THE SECRETS of SUCCESS – Part 2

So what is genuine success in ministry?  It’s not how I look.  It’s not what I have.  It’s not who I know.  The Bible says it’s what I am.  What I am is really the key ingredient to success and what I am is determined by who I think I am.  Galatians 6:4 “Each one should test his own actions then he can take pride in himself without comparing himself to someone else.”  Notice he says don’t compare yourself to other people but test your own actions.  Real genuine success is never at the expense of somebody else. 

Who I am is the key ingredient in success in life whether I am looking for it in my relationships or finances. Who I am influences every action I take in life so I must settle this issue because without doing so I will never be fulfilled regardless of how good life is for me. Hebrews 4:12 says in the NLT that the “Word” exposes to us who we “really” are. When most people read this verse they say that’s for sure because I feel like a worm when I read or hear the Word. When we read the Bible and it points out our weaknesses and failures it’s because we are reading it to find out what’s “wrong” with us rather than what’s “right”. I heard it said years ago that we always find what we look for and this could not more true than looking for what’s wrong with us. I want to challenge you to begin reading the Bible to find out what God says about you and that is you’re righteous, accepted and have ALL things in and through Christ. Let this be the first step in your journey in discovering success and I promise you’ll never regret it.

Our website has hundreds of sermon sermons on it that you can listen to and download for free. Take some time at least three times per week to listen to these sermons that help you discover who you are.

THE SECRETS of SUCCESS

What’s the secret of success?  Anytime someone says, “Here’s the secret,” you know they’re wrong because there’s no single secret.  There are lots of “secrets” of success.  But they’re all in the Bible.  I want to give some of them to you over the next few weeks because they apply to all areas of your life.  If you will use the things that I will be sharing as a guideline you will find your personal life, business and the ministry you’re involved in, dramatically improving as you apply these Biblical truths.

Everybody’s interested in success.  And the truth is God wants you to succeed.  He wants you to succeed in everything you do in life.  He wants you to succeed especially with your family.  What’s the alternative?  People say, “I don’t think God wants me to be a success?”  What do they think he wants you to be, a failure?  No, He wants you to make an impact with your life so you can enjoy this journey. 

Over the next few weeks we’re going to look at the some of the “secrets” of success but right now let’s take a look at what success is not.

1. Success is not measured by how I look.  Our society is image conscious.  For many people the goal is simply to appear successful.  The right car, the right clothes, the right accessories, the right style.  People in the world today often just buy things for status symbols.  We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t even like.  It’s true that many people look at image – “If I appear successful then I am.”  But God says that’s not it. 

2. What I have.  You can be wealthy and be a failure at life.  I meet a lot of people who are making more and more money and enjoying it less and less.  Mark 8:38 says  

            What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and lose his soul.”  Luke 12:5 “A man’s life consists not in the abundance of things that he possesses.”  It’s

            not based on your possessions.

3. It’s also not a matter of who I know.  If you’ve ever read some success motivational books they often talk about you’ve got to know the right people.  I say, You don’t

     have to know the key men if you know “The Man” who holds the keys.  Take time this week to spend time with God and let Him begin to shape and mold a proper

     image of who He says you are because His view and opinion is the foundation of all true success in life.