Fuel

Last year, I taught on a series of messages called In The Trenches. I had been going back over the notes of that series recently and was reminded of some healthy principles I wanted to share with my friends, family, and fellow believers.

If the Bible is true from Genesis to Revelation then we are caught up in a struggle of epic proportions. We are caught up in a temporal, yet brutal warfare over the souls of men, women, and children. This temporal warfare will lead to eternal and irreversible outcomes… and the window of opportunity we’ve been given to reach our world with the Gospel is so short.

That’s why we must make every moment count! We do that by choosing our battles wisely.

Spiritual warfare is unavoidable. Life is a fight and we can’t avoid the tussle. In the trenches it gets messy. We must learn how to fight, but more importantly we must learn WHERE to fight – where to expend ourselves.

We’ve all known Christians who get caught up in fighting the wrong battles. They end up scrapping it out with each other instead of engaging the real enemy and fighting for the redemptive cause of Jesus Christ to transform lives with the Gospel. The tragedy with these unnecessary conflicts is that the only one who wins is the devil and his emissaries.

As Christ Followers, we are called to a much higher calling than fighting amongst each other. We are called to fight alongside each other to help shape eternity and make heaven more beautiful.

One of the most defining moments we can ever experience is when we come to understand that our actions and relationships here on earth, really DO have a determining consequence in shaping eternity. When we come to grips with that we become more accountable to others, and ourselves while adding value to kingdom purposes.

A couple of years ago, Perry Noble declared: “I am pretty much through fighting with Christians. I can’t – the Lord is showing me that, more and more, we are on the same team… AND that Christians who think they are always right and feel it is their job to discipline and correct the world are drunk… drunk on their own pride and arrogance and cannot be reasoned with.”

Noble went on to say we should be “PIT BULLS” about the vision, “but fighting among Christians is something I do not have time for – Matthew 16:18 is happening and I simply refuse to come down off the wall to involve myself in theological arguments that haven’t been solved in hundreds of years…and never will be!!!”

I made a similar declaration as a new years’ resolution at the start of 2010. The older I get the more I realize I don’t have time or stamina for foolish arguments. When you expend yourself in them, you have no energy left to fight the battles that really matter. I am committed to doing everything I can to avoid foolish arguments with other believers and committed to fighting the RIGHT battles in my lifetime.

In 2 Timothy 2:23, Paul warned Timothy, a young church leader, “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.”

Paul knew that stupid arguments don’t just stifle those involved with them, but they impact eternity forever. They rob us of time we can never get back, energy and passion that should be reserved for Great Commission harvesting, and deteriorate our physical health so that we are not able to finish strong in our lifetime.

“Stupid arguments” deter God’s HOPE dealers from taking HOPE to a lost and broken world – a world DESPERATE for spiritual answers. Don’t let yourself get tripped up by them. Make a declaration in your life to FIGHT the RIGHT battles from this day forward!

As a leader you must be able to clearly communicate your organization’s strategy, vision and value. Stacey Hanke of MORE Magazine offers five strategies to help you communicate with impact and influence, and ensure that your message is heard.

1. Pause
2. Make Eye Contact
3. Vocal Projection
4. Use Gestures with Purpose
5. Get to the Point

Read full article here…

In the early fifties a young man graduated from the University of Louisville with a brilliant passing record in football, but because Louisville wasn’t necessarily known for it’s power on the gridiron as much as it’s basketball excellence, this young man wasn’t deemed as NFL material.

He was drafted in the ninth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers but was cut before he even got a chance to throw a pass in a preseason game.

He went home and took an automobile tire, hung it from a limb of a tree, suspended it in action with a boy pulling it back and forth to stimulate movement, and learned to thread that moving tire with a football at ten yards, fifteen yards, twenty yards, thirty yards, forty yards. He went out every afternoon and on weekends for hours at a time throwing passes at that swinging tire. He even hired boys in the neighborhood to go out for passes. He kept throwing… throwing… and throwing… working incessantly on his accuracy.

That young man paid the price of a purpose that demanded his best. He had a VISION to play professional football. Opportunity always knocks for those who persistently prepare.

Eventually, he was called on to play semipro football with the Bloomfield (Pennsylvania) Rams for $6 per game. Later, the Baltimore Colts decided to take a chance on the kid with the crewcut and coach Weeb Ewbank signed him to a $7,000 contract.

Then when an injury sidelined Colts starting quarterback George Shaw in the 1956 season, Johnny Unitas got his chance and never looked back!

He led the Colts to three NFL championships, including one Super Bowl, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979. He was also named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player three times.

At the time of his retirement, he held records for the most pass attempts (5,186), most completions (2,830), most total yards (40,239), most touchdowns (290), most 300-yard games (26), and most consecutive games throwing touchdown passes (47). He also had three seasons of 3000+ passing yards.

But without a doubt, it’s for his heroic performance in the 1958 NFL title game, often referred to as the “Greatest Game Ever Played,” that he is best remembered.

His tying and winning drives were textbook-perfect examples of what it takes to win under pressure. Late in the game, with the Colts trailing the New York Giants 17-14, Unitas completed seven straight passes.

That set up the game’s tying field goal with just seven seconds left. He followed that All-Pro performance with a perfectly executed 80-yard touchdown drive in overtime to win.

How is it that one young man, having been dismissed and written off, later became Mr. Quarterback? He paid the price. He drove himself to prepare and when his preparation met opportunity, greatness was birthed.

Preparation pays off!