I've Been Thinking About This…

Ed Stetzer:
talking about “Mission is the opposite of self”
We have to work at that.
The heart is an idol factory.
Being a pastor is not a profession – it’s a calling.
We should resist the pull of idols and live the mission.

1. Those on mission focus on God’s glory and His agenda. We must minister out of the overflow. We worry about things, but they’re about us. Talk about being missional is nice, but need encounter with God. (Is 6:1-8)
2. those on mission reflect being on God. It must be obvious to others.(2 Cor 3:16-18)
3. Those on mission should no longer live for themselves (2 Cor 5:14-15) Mission is the opposite of self.

John Bishop:
The bigger our church gets the dumber we can get.
We can be touching lives or play church – be a club.
I blieve in the mission of the local church.
Afraid we’ll let fear or things that don’t matter keep us from God things.
Afraid we’ll be so interested in the good things we’ll miss the great things.
We need to take back the world – starting by going back to the Word.
Jesus didn’t say your church will be fishers of men – said you are. What is my conviction?
I’ll drop everything to take my kids’ phone calls – but is that true of my mission? Everyone says that, but how many actually come into the church?

Toby ?:
When the church leadership acts, the church follows.
If you want to be generous in the church, you must be intentional about it.
Get public about it and so will the congregation.
People are looking for ways to give of themselves, not just money.
- give away $50 each person
- fix my ride.
- used the reserve to look after the people in the community

Shawn Wood:
In the church world today, we get the opportunity to work with an undervalued group – creative people – and often avoid it.
Need to establish & make clear:
G – guardrails – time & $
E – Expectations
A – Accountability – who does what by when
R – Review – not to fix the past but to build more creativity in the future.

Alan Hirsch:
Recapping his book:

1. Recovering Jesus – rediscovery of the place of Jesus in life
2. Becoming like Jesus – a disciple
3. Encountering the world in an incarnational & missional manner
4. Apostolic environment – Eph 4 giftting
5. How the church should organize itself – organic systems
6. Comradeship – putting adventure into the venture

Dave Foster:
The importance of preparation.
Pastors speak sometimes 40+ times a year. Communication is only part of leading. If you are speaking always and only out of the overflow we need to be prepared.
Commit time and make preparation a priority.

Mark Driscoll:
Idolatory is by far the most frequently discussed problem in the Scriptures.
Definition – Rom 1 – exchanged the truth of God for a lie.
Idolatory is living for the worship of the creation.
1. Some idols present themselves as a savior – the woman who deifies motherhood to save herself from childlessness, or a man who deifies getting married.
2. Some idols tell you it can mediate between you and God – we talk to the pastor before God (get me closer to God 2 pet 1). That service is mediatorial – got rid of songs? how can I worship. Even worship worship.
3. Some idols give you identity. A husband; a wife; a pastor; a mother.
Taking a ‘good’ thing and make it a ‘God’ thing is a ‘bad’ thing. People

Matt Fry:
Pastors: Stay focused.
Don’t quit.
Find a mentor who’s a little further down the road.
God has called me to do this.
2 Tim 1:6-9 – For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to [fn] a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

My identity is in my relationship with Jesus, not as a leader.
Compare your church size with others is a dead-end street.
God doesn’t want us to tear down.
Gal 6:9 – And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Don’t give up!

Darrin Patrick:
Luke 24:25-27 – And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
1 Cor 2:2 – to know Jesus and Him crucified
Rom 1:15 – the Gospel to those in Rome…the church.
Col 2:6 – as you have received Christ as Lord, so live in Him.
Repent (see, own & turn from your sin) & believe.
Tim Keller – rejoicing in your acceptance is a way of praising God that sweetens your heart…
2 Cor 8:9 – The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christianity is not spelled ‘D-O’, it’s spelled ‘D-O-N-E’.
if we don’t connect our preaching to the Gospel, we put ‘do’ in front of ‘who’.
Is the Bible a moral story with a little Jesus sprinkled in, or the other way around.

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