Psalm 50:17- For you refuse my discipline (instruction/teaching) and treat my laws like trash (cast my words behind you).

Is the word of God important and your highest priority or does it your bible collect dust or better yet have a mysterious location (lost). Maybe you are an avid studier of scripture but what do you do with the word you know?

I’ve challenged myself and Remnant this year to read the bible through in this year. It is by far one of the best personal and leadership decisions I have made in a long time. I can honestly say there were times in the not too distant past where I did treat the word like trash. I would hurry through the scripture just to say that I read it although wasn’t changing me. I would read it and not even consider what the scripture was really saying, inspired by the Spirit, to me. As a result, I was definitely not applying the word either and because I wasn’t I didn’t see any results which gave me more reason to back off.

I’ve learned the way you treat the word will determine what you receive from the word. If you are convinced that the word is full of life and wisdom, ripe with potential for incredible life change, and even a daily invitation to encounter God himself, you will not be disappointed. The word will come alive and build you up making the foolishness of treating it like trash even more frustrating and embarassing. One of satan’s greatest ploys is to blind us to the word’s power and nurture a “meh” attitude about God’s word.

Won’t happen. Not here. Not to me. I’m sold. I’m still thanking God for that great decision He led me and empowered me to make: Getting in His Word everyday.

I don’t think enough people leave church in the middle of the message because they are so mad and offended at the truth.

I am definitely over cool sets, metro worship leaders, and killer graphics. No power or presence and it sucks anyway and no slick series title can change that.

I’m sick of watching people come into church nonchalant, laid back, and TOO comfortable. If I’m getting ready to meet with God I think my demeanor would be slightly different.

I’m tired of nice church people. Part of the problem they aren’t mean enough. No aggression. No swagger. No killer instinct. Are we really in a battle with eternal rewards and consequences? They seem to be nice but not kind. Fake kindness I guess.

Stiff church people make me nervous. They seem to want to watch through thick plexiglass where they can have a front row seat but they can’t be touched. So sterile.

I want to run to the nearest garbage can when I witness a Christian trying to convince someone that thinks they are lame to like them and think they are cool. Won’t work. Hasn’t worked. Will never work.

I can’t wait to preach this week. Bombs will be dropped. Encounters will happen. Religion will lose. Jesus will reign. The enemy barked up the wrong tree… now he has to pay for it.

It seems most of us live life waiting for the greatest thing in our life to happen. Some day. One day…. as time ticks.

Let me make this easy for all. The GREATEST thing that could possibly every happen for you, everyone, and anyone already has. The Cross.

The GREATEST thing that could ever happen to you is Jesus. The timing of that is subject to our will and choice.

If we lived from this “greatest” reality we would live from an increasing faith, joy, hope, and love.

Looking for a leader? Watch who is serving the most.

Mark 10:43- Whoever wants to be a leader among you will be your servant

The desire to be a leader is seen through the intensity of service to whom one is trying to lead.

Leadership is not measured in how many people you can tell to get you a startbucks.

You can NOT lead without serving. Leading is serving.

As Americans, we love to be comfortable. We like our AC, cell phones, wireless internet, overstuffed couches, pool lounge chairs, and our convenient fast food. If we had the choice to choose comfort or suffering we would choose comfort every time…. who wouldn’t? If we think like this the Holy Spirit should be our best friend as his job is to comfort us.

Why? Why would the Holy Spirit have to comfort us? Possibly, because the great commandment and great commission will make us UNcomfortable. Let me rephrase that, not possibly, DEFINITELY. We will be very uncomfortable if we are to obey Christ’s commands and live for Him and others. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in, He gives us the grace to be uncomfortable because He ministers comfort to us.

The problem is most Christians aren’t very good at the great commandment and still don’t know what the great commission is and as a result they are living so comfortable they don’t even need the Holy Spirit to comfort them. I know because I’ve been there. What’s missing in this equation is this: Experiencing the Holy Spirit’s comfort makes living uncomfortable worth it. In fact, its almost even embarrassing to even compare the two. The Spirit’s comfort is something special. It’s something we were created to experience.

You don’t really experience The Comfort Zone until you leave yours. The Spirit’s comfort zone is better.

We watch American Idol in the McGovern household. I personally endorse my boy Mr.Grady with the 70’s vibe going on. However, it seems like the panel of judges despises anyone and everyone that is NOT ORIGINAL. Stars don’t shine as cover bands but rather as originals. Everyone wants something authentic, different, unique… original. God does too.

Leviticus 18:3- Do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life.

God not only wants HE DEMANDS an original. The key is to understanding that ANYTIME WE OBEY WE ARE ORIGINAL. We sin when we try to copy what other people have done or will be doing. We aren’t to imitate people but rather God (Ephesians 5:1) and when we do we become original.

What Simon, Kara, Ellen, and Randy are looking for are some God obeying Christians to show them what original looks like.

Last week in our Marriage Class I challenged each person to share 1 thing they love about themselves from 9 different categories. Let’s just say it was enlightening, hilarious, and edifying. We all grew in love for ourselves and therefore increased our capacity to love God and love people.

So what is my 1 Love of myself? My passion. I am in love with the passion God has put in my heart. That is the one thing I really love about myself.

So I have recently had this thought…. What if we celebrated the race itself more than the finish line? We have been taught to celebrate when the race is over but what about celebrating during the race? What happens after our celebration of the finish line? Do we race again?

I dream of the day when we are bummed out to finish because we celebrated and enjoyed the race more than the finish line. Paul tell us we are to “run to win” but aren’t we winning every step of the race because we choose to run?

I am convinced more people don’t finish because there is no celebration during the race and going to long without any joy or party makes us weak and lends itself to us giving up. I believe we are to live a life of celebration that causes us to keep running ( see Forest Gump.. “from then on anywhere I was going I was running”). I want to run through the finish line right into my next race because its a bummer to finish when the party is during the race… and is the race.

In my 1 Year bible reading (Leviticus 13) I came across some of the duties of a priest recently that made me wonder “Really”. This wondering has led me to this guest appearance from Inspector Clouseau… somehow I knew he would make his way into this blog sooner or later.

Priests had to look at people’s bodies, skin, and infections in order to diagnose whether or not they were ceremonially “clean” or “unclean.” This is an often overlooked detail in a Pastor’s job description. We are all Pastors as Christians called to serve, influence, and nourish the people God has placed into our lives within the Church and those far from God.

It makes me wonder if we were better at diagnosing the roots and symptoms of sin, pain, and disappointment how much more successful we would be in treating and overcoming the disease. If our relationships carried enough depth to reveal symptoms they would surely carry the source of healing too.

Hopefully this makes sense and was not just a weak attempt to get some ghetto Inspector Clouseau clip art on the blog.

Happy 50th to all my Remnant people. 50 days ago we started our ONE challenge:

- One faith filled prayer every day

- One verse of scripture memorized each week

- One guest brought to church each month

- 1st Fruits Giving

- One person we lead to Christ by the end of 2010

- One portion of scripture everyday

I am blessed to say that is the LONGEST amount of time that I have been focused in daily scripture reading since I gave my life to Christ almost ten years ago. The consistency feel great. Being focused everyday and in the scriptures I find myself:

- More Aware of God

- Conscious of God’s Love for Me

- Stronger and More Comforted

- Hearing God More

- Feeling God More

- Knowing God More

- Wiser

- Loving People More

… And the list goes on and on. I can only imagine where I will be and what it will look like 50 days from now! WOW!