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    Holiday Beards Are Teaching Beards


    2010 - 12.26

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    Posted in Real Thoughts | 4 Comments »

    In the days after Christmas, I have been thinking about shaving the Holiday Beard that my wife asked me to grow, but I don’t want to shave it and move on with out learning something. I believe God can, and does, use just about everything to teach us His principles. Based on that, here is my post-Christmas post.
    What growing a holiday beard has taught me about tithe:

    1. Even if you do nothing something is still happening. Like not shaving, if you have decided to not tithe it doesn’t mean something is not growing. Not tithing has just as powerful a reaction as not shaving.  When I don’t shave, my beard still grows. When I don’t tithe, the Bible says I bring a curse on my family.  Doing nothing doesn’t mean nothing is happening.

    2. The longer you do it the easier it is to do. When I first started growing my Holiday Beard it was a little uncomfortable, but after a couple of weeks it became much easier  and now I almost forget that it is there. Tithe is similar, the more I do it the easier it is for me keep doing it.

    3. At some point you just have to commit to it. There is part of growing a beard where you can talk all you want about what you would like your Holiday Beard to look like and how big it is going to be, but talk doesn’t grow and shape your beard; commitment to the process does. Tithe is the same, all the ”faith talking” and excuses do not bring the blessings of the Lord like commitment to tithing and then actually doing it.

    4. You need good friends around you that are willing to tell you, you have a problem & you look like a thief. Whether you have food in your Holiday Beard or it is getting out of control bushy, you need someone close to you that is willing to tell you the truth. In tithing, everyone needs a good friend to tell them the truth of the Bible, if you don’t tithe you are robbing God. It is the truth and only a good friend will love you deeply enough to understand your situation and still tell you the truth.

    5. Others see it differently then you do. You may think your Holiday Beard looks great, but others are seeing the whole picture. The truth may be that it is crooked or needs to be trimmed. In tithe, you might think you are doing a good job giving close to 10% or giving on weeks you have the extra money in your pocket, but not quite there. In those times it is easy to pat yourself on the back and think you are doing great, but in actuality you are tipping God and not tithing. In both growing a Holiday Beard and tithe, get the opinion and advice of others that you trust.

    6. Good friends will support you in it. While growing my Holiday Beard, people either loved it or hated it, but because it was important to me my good friends supported me. In tithe it is the same, because God says to tithe then it is important to me and my good friends will support me in doing it.

    7. With a little effort it is a lot of fun. As I continued growing my Holiday Beard it turned a corner from “can I grow one” to “how thick can it be”. As it turned, I was able to have more fun with growing it and seeing people’s reactions who hadn’t seen me in some time. It was a great conversation starter. When tithe turns from “can I really give 10% to God” to “how much more can I give to God” it really starts getting fun. This is the one thing you can test God in, make it fun.

    8. With no effort it can be very bad. There were several moments over the last 6 weeks where I was too busy to trim my Holiday Beard. After a couple days of not trimming, it would be out of control. It’s like it knew I wasn’t paying any attention and it ran amuck. In tithing, we always must pay attention and not get lazy or miss the promptings of God. He loves a cheerful giver.

    9. Even when it is a bit uncomfortable it is still AWESOME. There were several moments while growing my Holiday Beard that I thought I couldn’t go on. In might sound like an exaggeration, but I felt claustrophobic several times with it being itchy and just always on me face. Even in those moments the Holiday Beard was still awesome. It was still awesomely awesome. Tithing can feel similarly sometimes. Taking it off the top instead of waiting until everything is paid isn’t always easy. In fact, doing so has sometimes meant not paying a bill, but doing what God has asked me to do in the way He has asked me to do it, is always awesome….plus, He said He would provide for the needs of those who love Him.

    10. Jesus did it!! Not much explanation needed here. I bet Jesus knew how to grow an awesome beard and He paid His tithes. So
    next time you wonder “should I grow a Holiday Beard” or “should I tithe”, just WWJD it and the answer is “YES, YOU SHOULD”.

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    Going Extreme


    2010 - 07.02

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    Posted in Real Thoughts | 2 Comments »

    Last week in our studying of the book of Acts at Valley Christian Center, something hit me like a ton of bricks (and it was more then just the amazing power of the Holy Spirit). As we began our study, we ran right into Acts 2 and the Day of Pentecost. It is an amazing account of the first Holy Spirit Baptism. Those that were in the upper room on the day of Pentecost experienced something EXTREME and it forever changed them. This was not the first time we have studied this text, but what was new for me was the extent to which the release of the Holy Spirit set the foundation of the church for the future. This was an extreme transition time, that we as Christians get to look back on with the vividly descriptive words of Luke and see what God was doing. Because of the extreme transformation of these men, there were several qualities of the early Church that spread beyond just those in the upper room.

    When we look at Acts 4:31-37, we see qualities of the early Church that were the result of the people being filled with the Holy Spirit. First and foremost, there were those that were NOT in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost that were filled with the Holy Spirit. This gives us such great hope! You see, the power from the Holy Spirit, that they received after the day of Pentecost, we too can receive. This power of the Holy Spirit is the force and ability that will help us overcome the enemy in this earthly life. Other qualities that were possessed by the early church include the following: they were bold in their witness, they were in perfect unity, they were selfless in their attitude toward others, and great grace was upon them.

    However, the one quality that struck me the most was the Early Church was EXTREMELY generous with those in need. Now, I understand generosity and I think I am a generous person, but what does it mean to be EXTREMELY generous? Is it giving away our unwanted items to Goodwill so that they can sell them at a discount to someone less fortunate then us? (We all know that we really give to Goodwill for the tax write-off or so we don’t feel bad because there are kids in Africa going to bed naked if we don’t take care of our clothes.) Is it seeing a homeless man on the corner of the road and rummaging through our ash tray for loose change to give to him? Is it giving our left over McDonald’s to the beggar standing just outside the comfort of the air conditioning? While all of these might be good, they don’t seem very extreme to me. We have all done them. In fact we have done them so often, now there are people standing outside most MickyD’s and on almost every major street corner. What was once meant to be a gesture of generosity has now turned into a scam by the guy on the street corner (Note for all those still naive: not all street corner guys are truly “Hungry” or “willing to work for food”. Discernment can help you to know when and how to give to these people).

    So again I am forced to ask myself, “What does it mean to be EXTREMELY Generous?” Based on Acts 4:34-35, it involves effort and sacrifice along with knowing where the generosity should be directed. If I had to put it in a mathematical equation it would be, (e+s)G=X or Effort+Sacrifice(Guidance from the Holy Spirit)=eXtreme Generosity. It takes effort on our part to be willing to give up what is our excess, when we are prompted by the Holy Spirit to do so. I am not saying we should all run right out and sell our houses and give the money to the poor, especially right now in this economy where most homes are under water. Nonetheless, to be extremely generous we must be open to however God directs our generosity. It is part of willful submission. One thing about this equation that the early church had figured out: You can’t have EXTREME generosity without the Holy Spirit. It is His generosity that is the source of our generosity. He is the connector between the giver and the receiver. Without the direction of the Holy Spirit you have charity not generosity. The Holy Spirit’s prompting usually involves a recipient for our generosity. It is not haphazard charity or unbridled giving, although charity and giving are good. Extreme generosity is instead focused through our relationship with the Creator of the universe. It is hearing His prompting that will get us to pay for the multiple people in line behind us at Starbucks. It is His prompting that will get us to buy a new computer for a student who can’t afford one, when we have been saving for months to get one ourself. It is His prompting that will have you recover a friends broken pool table when you have no pool table of your own. It is His prompting that will have you looking for the next opportunity to give something you value away. Without fail if you are in unity with the Holy Spirit and looking for an opportunity to be EXTREMELY generous, He will lead you to someone who is in need of your EXTREME generosity. If we can understand and build our lives with this principle, we will be like the early church that saw their possessions as tools for kingdom expansion and therefore they were bold and powerful in their witness to the Gospel through the Holy Spirit. It is not about us gaining more things to keep. It is about us being the conduit for the supply train of Christ. Let’s develop a truly EXTREMELY GENEROUS state of mind.

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    Destined for Failure


    2010 - 04.20

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    Posted in Real Thoughts | 12 Comments »

    “Everything I touch breaks.” “Nothing I do succeeds.” “Nothing ever works out right.” “I am a colossal failure.” Have you ever said or felt like one of these? I sure have and many times in my life I have said or felt like all of them. I remember one of the first times I felt like this, I was probably in jr. high. My father had just purchased a brand new VHS camcorder. That’s right, VHS! Back then they were so big you needed a weight lifting belt to carry the camcorder on your shoulder and it probably had a battery pack that was the size of a VW Bug. It was awesome! Everyone in the family was so excited to be able to record parties and events on such a high tech piece of equipment. As my father pulled the camcorder out of the box, I can still remember seeing the heavens part and the Spirit of God descending like a dove with a loud voice from God saying, “This is my VHS Camcorder, whom I love; with it I am well pleased”. Needless to saw it was a big moment. My father set the camcorder aside to read the instructions. With the camcorder alone on the couch I ran over to look at it. I guess I must have been over-eager, because as I excitedly plopped myself down on the couch, next to the camcorder, I launched it up into the air. Time stood still as it flew effortlessly across the room and broke into pieces on the floor. It was the first of many times in my life that I felt like a failure and a disappointment to those around me.

    As I look at my life, there are so many failures and short-comings it makes me think I am destined for failure. It is almost as if on my tombstone it will read, “John – lived life of a failure”. But just as depression begins to set in and I call around for a good psychiatrist, I start to read stories of others around me who have failed miserably only to use the failure to achieve greatness. Robert F. Kennedy once said:

    Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

    You see, as I look at all of my failures, all of my short-comings, and all the things I have broken in life, I don’t look at them with disdain. Instead I look at all the lessons I have learned from each of those circumstances. Each of the hard, hurtful and painful times were paired by an opportunity to learn something. If I learned it, then I had new growth in an area of my life. I had a bit of pain that was tempored with a new joy that came from the new freedom of learning a greater truth. I would love to say, I always learned and enjoyed the pain I just went through, but that is just not true. The pain has been great, but in hindsight, so have the principles learned. I didn’t always learn the principle that I should have and, therefore, had to, again, go through another tough time to learn, fully, what I should have the first time.

    At times, I learned a great principle or truth but the amount of felt or perceived pain caused me to have a fear that this circumstace will happen again and it will cause pain again. That fear in turn caused a new desire to avoid the pain, not necessarily to practice the truth. In a lot of those instances, even though I was armed with a new truth, I was handcuffed with the new fear. An example of this happened just after I learned to ride a bike. I was confortable and confident, however I hadn’t had a lot of experience riding in a variety of environments. It was a nice warm Las Vegas day and I was riding around the block with my family. As I rounded the corner I had failed to notice the small amount of water in the gutter, but I soon would have pain because of that error. I turned the corner and my wheels hit the water and immediately slid out from under me. I landed hard on the pavement, knocking the wind out of me and scraping my legs and arms. Trust me, there was tons of pain, but I learned a very valuable truth (watch for water as you go around a corner). I still remember that day because of the pain. Now I had a decision: do I retire the bike forever so there is no future chance of falling or enjoy the truth and understand I could fall if I don’t apply the truth. The good news is I kept riding, even though I fell a couple more times, and was able to go on longer trips and learn more by applying the truth then I could have from retiring the bike out of fear.

    Fear is powerful! Fear can be a helpful thing. Fear keeps me from doing dumb things like walking into traffic or jumping off a cliff. Satan knows it is powerful too and he loves to use failure to keep us handcuffed in fear and remove the motivation to accomplish what God has put you on Earth to do. So how do we overcome the fear of failure and gain motivation? Craig Groeschel writes in his book It: How churches and leaders can get it and keep it,

    “‘The antidote for the fear of failure is not success but small doses of failure.’ Think about it. To keep you from getting the flu, what kind of shot does the doctor give you? He gives you a small dose of the flu. You get just enough to train you body to reject it. The same is true for failure.”

    If this is true, and I believe it is, then all of the failure and pain we have been through, will pail in comparision to the massive success we will experience as we walk with Christ. The failure and brokeness no longer becomes our handcuffs. Instead, failure and pain becomes our training ground for what God is trying to teach us. If this is hard to believe, you are not alone, but look at the apostle Peter. His constant, colossal failures helped form him into the most radical and successful apostle that the whole church was built upon. I mean come on, he is the only other person other then Jesus to walk on water! If Peter could be a success, so can you and me. We are all broken, fearful people, but we must count the cost and keep moving forward to the success we will have in Christ. Failure is not an option it is a neccesity. Everyone will dream and fail, but who will fail often enough to see those dreams become a reality? WILL YOU?

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    People are so Weird


    2010 - 03.03

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    Posted in Real Thoughts | 3 Comments »

    I am sure you have noticed that this world is filled with weird people. They are everywhere. When I drive to work, I see them. When I go to restaurants, I see them. When I watch TV, they are there making the news. They all want to be my friend on Facebook and some of them are even related to me. Every time I think I have seen the weirdest person ever, there is always someone else to come along and blow the first person’s weirdness out of the water. The scary thing is, as I sit here in my green skinny jeans and ever changing hair style (currently a edgy mohawk), I see them in the mirror.

    I am weird! Those close to me know how weird I can be (No laughing, Robin R). I am so weird, instead of marrying a nice quiet woman that helps me be normal, I married a bold woman that encourages me to embrace my weirdness. The difference between me and most people is that I have accepted my weirdness and I strive to express the uniqueness of my weirdosity (made-up word meaning the physical state of weirdness). Most people can’t accept that they are weird and that denial leads to increased levels of weirdness. They think their behavior and lifestyle is normal, when in actuality it is quite weird. I have learned the more you accept you’re weird the more palatable you are to those around you.

    In my ConnectGroup for church we are currently watching The Truth Project video series by Focus on the Family, and last week’s lesson was on Sociology (the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society). Sitting and watching how our amazing God has built into the creation of man a structure and framework of society, I was struck by a very weird thought; “With so many weird people in our lives, is there something that we can learn about the nature of God through our differences?”

    In an effort to understand this new thought on weirdness, I looked up “weird” in the dictionary. Here is what is said, “involving or suggesting something supernatural; unearthly or uncanny.” Oh Wow! You mean my weirdness is directly related to God? That only makes sense because God made us in His image. Now let me put this in here before I say any more; there are obviously two types of weird, Bizarre Weird (the weird that isolates you or others and makes the individual the object of the attention) and there is Awesome Weird (the weird that attracts many types of people and directs them to God). I desire to be the Awesome Weird not Bizarre Weird. By being Awesome Weird I may do bizarre things, but the underlying focus is on Jesus Christ.

    Without going into a deep theological conversation, Genesis 1:26-28 says,

    Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”… So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them…

    Amazing, God gave us our weirdness. All of us! After He created male and female He then told them what He made them to accomplish. This brings two thoughts to mind. First, we, in ourselves, do not contain all the parts of our supernatural God and therefore need to be with other people’s weirdness to understand more fully the character and nature of God. In another verse in Genesis it says, “it is not good for man to be alone.” For that reason God created a helper that was suitable for him. How awesome is that? God knew that we needed others and to further reveal His nature, He created other people for us to have relationships with. But, we get so caught up in how Bizarre Weird others are that we forget they are made by a creator that infused them with His image and character, also. Instead of fighting through the Bizarre so that we can look for the Awesomeness of God, we focus on their weirdness and stay guarded. Every person has a piece of God’s awesomeness in them and the closer you get to God the less Bizarre you appear and the more Awesome you become. It is our differences that collectively point to God.

    Secondly, we should be passionately Awesome Weird. Our mission, as Christians, is to go into all the world and make everyone Awesome. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which is Awesome. If we shrink back from our mission and fail to preach Christ and His Awesomeness, then others around us will be stuck in the Bizarre all the while Awesomeness awaits them. We can’t be bashful or awkward. That is Bizarre. Instead, when God brings family, friends and strangers across our path who are shackled by the Bizarre Weird let’s become bold, passionate and infused with Holy Spirit Awesomeness. Once emboldened and infused with the Holy Spirit Awesomeness, we can lovingly proclaim the Good News that they no longer need to be Bizarre, but instead can be free to be Awesome. It is only by His power that we and others turn from the Bizarre to the Awesome. He is Awesome, so we should strive to be Awesome, too!

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    Finding Friends Among the Lonely


    2010 - 01.29

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    Posted in Real Thoughts | 1 Comment »

    As a pastor I have the ultimate social buzz-kill profession. Don’t believe me? Well, what are the two things you should never talk about at a cocktail party? Politics and Religion. Contrary to this thought, though, is our new generation of “politics are cool”, politics often pop up in conversations. In fact, there are cocktail parties designed just for political discussion. God, however, is never the theme of cocktail parties and is the subject that people often shy away from and the conversation completely dies out. Inevitably this happens about the time that someone, unknowingly, asks a pastor what they do for a living. Everyone, in the conversation, immediately acts awkward and cleans up their speech, as if the pastor is wearing a “bug” for God. It tends to make those in this profession very lonely and isolated. This is something that I have known as a PK (Pastor’s Kid) and now as a pastor myself. Before being ordained as a pastor, I was a banker. It gave me an open door to speak to all kinds of people, about all kinds of topics in all kinds of settings. But as pastor, in those same environments, I am shut down. It is a very interesting dynamic.

    Last week, we, at Valley Christian Center, hosted the Ministers Fellowship International (MFI) Southwest Regional Conference. There we 20+ pastors and wives in Las Vegas, to build relationships and be ministered to themselves. These were amazing men and women. They ranged from pastors of start up churches to churches in existence for decades; from small in size and cash flow to large in both; from senior pastors to support pastors and everywhere in between. There was two unifying factors that brought us together: We all love Jesus and desire to surround ourselves with people who are passionate for Him.

    This was my first opportunity to experience a group of pastors that are willing to be honest and talk about things in a real way; their frustrations, their hurts and their expectations. (We pastors have a tendency to paint a picture of our life as always rosy so as to cover any shortcomings personally or in our church.) Each pastor desired to take their church, their people and MFI to the next level. It was amazing. One thing that struck me was the pressing need each pastor had to make and have friends that understood the unique pressures and life of a pastor. It gave me a new perspective of my own pastor and taught me a few things. First, I am reminded of what my mother taught me growing up. She would say, “John, do you want friends? Then start being friendly.” And then she would use the verse in Proverbs 18:24,

    “A man who has friends must himself be friendly…”

    I hated it, because she made it sound so easy, but she (and God) was right. We all have things that isolate ourselves from other people, but if we are ever going to have friends, we have to step outside ourselves and our situations and become friendly people. This means being friendly to more people then just our current friends. We must be friendly to all people no matter how weird and off-putting they are.

    The second thing I learned is I need to be quick to put into action what Paul wrote in Hebrews 13:7,

    “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.” (NIV)

    You see, how we respond to our leaders will either give them joy or give them more of a burden as they function. This verse implies that leaders are going to have to give an account to God for how they lead and, therefore, a good leader has your best interests in mind as they lead you. It may not always feel that way and my own pride keeps me from listening to them when they have wisdom from God. However, if I believe, as the Bible states, God has placed them in authority over the local church and God placed me in that church then the natural assumption is that you are in the place that Paul is speaking about… “Submit to their authority”… This is not a blind submission, but instead is a faithful submission. It is as if you are saying, “I trust you are following God and as you follow Him, I will follow you.” As a pastor, it is amazingly motivating to be in covenant relationships with people who want to follow Christ at all costs. And as a partitioner, it is amazingly freeing to follow a pastor that humbly wants the best for me. It allows everyone to function properly in the place they were created to function. It allows others to be added to the body and creates an environment that fosters healing for the broken and lonely.

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