NKJV -
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.

Message -
God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him.

Amplified -
God is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble. 

If the Truth (with a capital ‘T’) is the supreme reality in our lives… above what I see and feel, then God is:

1. Very Present – He’s not only aware of what you are going through, but He is really there with you.

2. Ready – Not just ready to help you through your situation, but ready to reveal more of His glory to you!

3. Well-proven – a lot of people don’t prefer the Amplified Version of the Bible, but I believe this version reveals something. He doesn’t need to prove anything to me. He’s been there, He is there, and He will always be there.

Amen

Pastor Mike brings a word about the moments in our lives that “seem” to define us and how we can turn around and define those moments. 

A good leadership principle:
Only lead people where you have been or are willing to go.

I desire to be the type of leader that I will follow without question into battle. That requires trust, confidence, and the awareness that my leader will do or has done anything he has asked of me. There are too many leaders that have that “do as I say and not as I do” syndrome.

-You need to read your Bible more… but I barely picked it up in my quiet time.
-You need to pray/worship/get into God’s Presence… but my knees haven’t hit the floor in a long time.
-You need to give more… but you need to ask less of me.

Jesus, Our Standard of Leadership, set a great example in regards to this principle:

-In regards to serving, He said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve others and give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 20:28)
And that’s exactly what He did.

-In regards to the cost of living for God, He said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross…” (Luke 9:23)
And that’s exactly what He did.

-In regards to obedience even in discomfort or pain, He said, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42)
And that’s exactly what He did.

A good leader leads people to do exactly what he/she has done or is willing to do.

“You cannot be a tour guide to a place you’ve never been to…”

Disclaimer: These are just my personal thoughts and something I derived from my church planting experiences.  I’m not claiming that this is from the Bible, but this is something I am processing.  However, all because something isn’t  exactly in the Bible doesn’t mean that it’s anti-biblical.  

As we continue to pray hard and work hard towards being good stewards of the work that Jesus put before us and planting Fervent Church in Hoboken, I’ve developed this paradox or two contradicting proverbs of mine.

“Things are never as hard as they seem.”

“Things are often harder than they seem.”

Similar to the famous contradicting verses in the Bible, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.” [Pr 26:4] and “Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.” [Pr 26:5], it all depends on what God is doing in the moment.  There are times when I don’t need to fight fire with fire because I will just mirror the fool and join in on his/her foolishness.  Then there are times when I have the leverage to influence that person, and I need to not be passive but bring correction so that the fool will no longer remain a fool.

In the same way, “Things are never as hard as they seem.”  Sometimes, I’m overly logical and I count the cost to the point where all my faith is sucked out of me and I allow myself to think that this is too hard and it can’t be done.  However, by the Grace of God, I push through my logic and take a step of faith then realize that because of God, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be.  This can be applied to our evangelism especially.  At times, I look at a person’s strong personality and think that they will never give me the time or day to speak to them about Jesus.  Then, I do it anyway and more often than not, it ends with the person crying like a baby and realizing their need for a Savior.

AND THEN there’s the statement that, “Things are often harder than they seem.”  There are times when I use phrases like, “let’s just…” or “that’s easy…” due to pride or reliance on my gifts, talents, and abilities.  God then uses those situations as an opportunity to humble me and show me that I can do this with Him or without Him, but one is always better than the other.

So discern the moments and walk by faith and not by sight. (2 Cor. 5:7)

“Stay thirsty my friends.”

I wish I had some more time to unpack this, but I know I need to keep blog post short and not be a long winded pastor…lol

But, here it is: I don’t want a better life.

Through taking personal inventory in my life and helping others through counseling, I’ve found that when the goal is to have a better life, we sometimes get to a place where the ends justifies the means and we’ll do anything to make it “better”.

The Apostle Paul said (from prison btw):
Philippians 1:21 (NKJV) – For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Death isn’t having a better life. It’s not having life at all. However, being in prison and being persecuted for living for Christ was more about Paul’s steadfast character and consistent worship towards his Savior than the condition of his circumstances. Real quick, I’ve noticed when our overall drive is to “have” a better life we’ll:

• Pacify a conflict quickly, rather than resolve it with time and effort
• Lie our way out of a situation, rather that working our way through a situation
• Throw money at a problem, rather that wisely investing in the solution
• Hoard everything and everyone, rather than living generous and selfless
• Quit and abandon the mission because it’s too hard, rather than perserving and seeing it through the tough times

No one ever promised that life would be easy, but it’s worth it. I want to “live” a better life, not just have (possess) a better life. I want to “be” better not have better. All of our possessions will fade away, so let’s set our minds on eternal things. It’s not that God doesn’t care about your circumstances, because He certainly does. However, God is more interested in developing your character than He is your comfort in the moment. The truth is that if you “live” a better life, you will eventually bear good fruit and have a better life anyway.

One tool that a leader should never use is manipulation. I can’t say that as a leader the temptation of using your authority for personal advance isn’t there, but we need to fight it at all cost. Manipulation happens when we use our cunning skills or authority against another person to make the situation or circumstance learn towards our favor.

Manipulation can come in the form of:
-Adult temper tantrums: unnecessarily complaining to a manager of a store to get something free, using the “why don’t you love me” phrase when you don’t get your way with your spouse, making people feel sorry about you as you exaggerate your trials to them

-Lying or “fudging” with the truth: saying things in a certain way not to help someone in their thinking, but to change their thinking for personal gain, saying things so people can share in your bitterness (gossip), or saying the right thing with the wrong heart

-Rushing/delaying the process: making everything seem urgent, or taking short cuts so things come in your timing, skipping stages, procrastination, etc.

You feel you have to manipulate people when:
-You are hiding something: such as a weakness or a mistake(s)

-You are living more out of your selfishness and not your servant hood

-Your trust isn’t in God but yourself

I found that when manipulation is involved, it usually means God’s will isn’t…

John 15:5 “…for without Me you can do nothing.”

A great story from John 1:43-50, speaks about a man named Nathaniel who was approached by a recently recruited disciple named Phillip. Phillip, who I believe was excited about his new chapter with Jesus, found Nathaniel to tell him about this Jesus of Nazareth. Nathaniel’s famous response of familiarity was, “Nazareth (the place where Jesus was from) – Can anything good come from there?”

As Nathaniel and Phillip approached Jesus, the Son of God who knew man’s thoughts didn’t say anything about Nathaniel’s negative reaction. He decided to go a different route. Jesus proclaimed that Nathaniel was a true Israelite, in whom there was nothing false. Jesus then gave some more insight by telling Nathaniel where he was before Phillip called him. Nathaniel instantly became a believer.

Jesus gained Nathaniel’s respect and broke his familiarity, not by calling Him on his crap, but by seeing Nathaniel as he truly was and leading him to see greater things. I believe that’s the approach we should have in leadership when we are recruiting people to join us on this journey to be used by God. The eyes of leadership should see people as they are, and not who they are in a moment.

Genesis 2:5b-6 says:
“For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.”

When there was no one to till and water the soil, God provided a mist to take care of it. When He doesn’t place it in someone’s responsibility, He’ll take care of it! But, we are responsible for what He does place before us. Now, I’m not saying that, “If you take care of what He placed before you, than He’ll take care of you.” What I am saying is that He takes care of us (period). He even takes care of us when He does put something in our care.

I heard a parent say recently, “well, I was inexperienced when I had the first kid and she came out alright, so the second kid will be the same way.” I was so conflicted because he was right to a certain extent…the kid was alright. When he first started this journey, he didn’t know much and God took care of it… BUT NOW, God has placed under his care some “experience” to go along with the second child. So…we need need to take care of what God has blessed us with. He needs to approach the second child with more wisdom because even if God will grace the second child to turn out alright, he should honor God this time around with what God gave him through the first experience. That’s why Jesus said, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.” (Luke 12:48)

So… When there’s no one to take care of it, God will. When there IS someone God has commissioned to take of it, God will take care of them WHILE they take care of their God-given assignment.