September 19th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

Yesterday I was all caught up in the Passion that David was showing to the nation of Israel when he danced before the Lord.  When Passion is behind us, we will likely conquer whatever is in front of us.  Passion is a character quality that most successful people display regularly.  That’s because it’s easier to be excellent with Passion.  Just think of these names here and you’ll know what their passion was: Bill Gates, Sam Walton, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin.  None of these people started off thinking to themselves, “I want to become rich and famous!”  They all started with a passion.  Bill Gates wanted to create the easiest to use and understand operating system possible (the new windows are getting more complicated and guess what, they’re selling less! Passion is no longer driving the company!) Sam Walton wanted to offer a one stop shop.  Walt Disney loved animation and knew it could be improved (other companies were 20 years behind Disney in animation, they are just now catching up!).  Henry Ford wanted to build the best vehicle, Thomas and Benjamin… need I say more.

The point is, excellence is driven by passion.  The hardest part of excellence is being driven by passion but driving our passions.  Do you allow God to decide what your passion will be, or do you allow other things to get in the way?  David was a man after God’s own heart, so he was absolutely allowing God to influence his passions.  He was doing an excellent job too, until he forgot to go to war in 2nd Samuel 11:1.

1 It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

Now Ammon had just taken David’s servants and shaved their beard and cut apart their clothes.  They were incredibly ashamed by the Ammonites.  David however does not go into the battle.  Where is the passion?!  Why was David not just plain ticked off by the Ammonites?  I truly wish I had the answer for that question; if you’ve got any ideas let me know!  I do know this, when David’s passion wasn’t where it was supposed to be, it was somewhere else.  That somewhere else just so happened to be taking a bath on a rooftop.

September 17th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

The chain of command. That’s an interesting phrase isn’t it? We all must follow the chain of command, even kings have to follow it. Just look at Saul and his inability to follow the chain of command. He was the king of Israel, placed in charge by God to rule the entire nation of God’s chosen people. However, lets look at what happened:

3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

There in Samuel 15:3 Saul is instructed to destroy all that is in Amalek, but let’s take a look at what happens when he attacks in verse 9:

 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

Saul broke the chain of command! God specifically instructed him in this matter and Saul disobeyed. You see, when he broke the chain God’s link did not break, therefore we know that Saul’s link of the chain broke. Since his link is now broken, it won’t be long before the links connected to him fall away as well. As we know his own son Jonathon ended up “linking up” with David, this would not have had to happen if Saul’s link was still strong.

Remember, if you break the link with God it won’t be long before the followers below you begin falling off of your broken link!

September 10th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

A few days ago I wrote about Jeremiah, and how his leadership style was different than Moses’.  Jeremiah was the man at delegation! He had excellent officers under him whom he had impowered.  He was obviously a good leader, just look what the Bible says in Joshua 24:31a:

Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua

Wow! How incredible that the entire nation served God for all of the days of Joshua.  He was even such a good delegator that this is what the next part of verse 31 says:

and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua,

So the Bible tells us that the nation of Isreal served the Lord for all of Joshua’s days and all of the days that those he delegated to were still alive.  However, what happens next?  Well, to put it simply, Judges.  After Joshua and his officers passed on there was nobody left to carry the torch properly.  If we do not duplicate ourselves into someone else, there will be nobody left to pick up where we left off.  Moses failed to delegate, but he succeeded to duplicate.  After Moses, there was Joshua, after Joshua, there was Judges!  Delegate is great short term, duplicate is great long term.

September 4th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

When you’re thinking about leaders in the Bible many names come to mind. Moses was obviously one of the most miraculous men to ever walk the earth, and he was one of the best known leaders in the OT. What about Joshua? One thing that I’ve always been interested in were the leaders who followed leaders. The men who learned from someone great and then succeeded them in leadership. Most often you’ll find that they lead in a different way than their successor. Think about Joshua and the way he lead compared to Moses. Moses lead a very up front ministry. To put it simply, Moses had the stick. He had to be advised by Jethro before he gave responsibility over to other leaders around him. Joshua on the other hand was constantly doing different things. That means that he wasn’t always doing the same thing! Joshua gave responsibility (not to mention power and respect) to other leaders around him. Look here in verse 10 of the first chapter:

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11 “Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”

Notice that Joshua commanded the officers to pass through and command the people. Many many many times Moses spoke to “the people” but not to officers and those whom he had given responsibility and power (Ex. 13:3, 14:13, 17:2, 20:20, 24:3, 32:20, and many more in Numbers and Deuteronomy.

We all must make sure and lead the leaders around us. Allow them to control responsibility and power, enable them to become all that their potential allows.

August 29th, 2007 by Pastor Matt

When my wife and I were studying last night we chose to take a look at the first few chapters of Jeremiah. The first thing that popped into my mind was, how many more books were supposed to be in the Bible? How many Jeremiah’s should there have been, but they failed to answer the call of God. Jeremiah was so bold to answer this call!

6 Then said I:
“ Ah, Lord GOD!
Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
7 But the LORD said to me:
“ Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
8 Do not be afraid of their faces,
For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD.
9 Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me:
“ Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.”

Jeremiah was just a youth at this point in his life, and in verse nine God tells him that he has put him over the nations and over the kingdoms. That’s a huge area of responsibility! However, God had touched his mouth and given him the ability to fulfill his calling, and he’ll do the same for you. “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the children and over the babies!”