You’re Better Than This!

Happy Monday!

We had SO MUCH FUN at the DFC Thanksgiving dinner last night! Delicious food, tremendous turn out, lots of laughter, karaoke… Heaven and I even SANG-We Will Rock You by Queen! Everyone seemed to have the time of their lives. Thanks to Caroline Law for overseeing the event and for everyone who helped make it a great success! I can’t wait for the Christmas dinner!

Yesterday morning, I finished out the CHARACTER sermon series: You’re Better Than This! Everyone seemed to benefit from the message: ONE Can Make a Difference… So Do Something With YOUR Life! I really enjoyed that series… wrote more than 80 pages of notes for that 7-week series. Really, it was transformational. For anyone who WANTS to read the HIGHLIGHTS… I’ve listed them below!

Part 1: We Can Make You Better

• We marked the beginning of a significant spiritual, character, and personality transformation. We agreed to discover who we are, admit where we are flawed and commit to change. We bid farewell to the old us and we anticipated how good we would look in seven short weeks!
• We used Hebrews 5:14 Solid food is for those who are MATURE, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between RIGHT and WRONG and then DO WHAT IS RIGHT!

Part 2: Just Be Yourself

• We talked about how many Christians are oppressed with false humility… how they simply CANNOT say anything positive about themselves without feeling dirty and arrogant and humanistic.
• Galatians 3:26 For you are ALL children of God by faith in Jesus Christ!
• Ephesians 1:4-5 Even before he made the world, God LOVED US and CHOSE US in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what HE WANTED TO DO, and it GAVE HIM GREAT PLEASURE!
• Went over signs of insecurity:
  • Defensiveness
  • The Inability to Enjoy Silence
  • Excessive joking- being obnoxious
  • Self-Promoting
  • Bullying
  • Overly Authoritative
  • Overly Competitive
  • Materialistic
  • Jealously in Relationships
• We confessed that we were accepting Gods love and his mercy for all our past sins… that we are forgiven… and loved… and that we CHOOSE to love ourselves. We announced that we no longer need acceptance from another human to FEEL COMPLETE! We chose to appreciate the UNIQUE PERSON God has made each of us!
• We prayed for deliverance from the spirit of REJECTION and NEGLECT and GUILT… and we cut ourselves from the spirit of our PAST!

Part 3: How Would THAT Make YOU Feel?

• Empathy: the capability to share and understand another’s emotions and feelings. It is often characterized as the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes!
• This is where we talked about walking in other people’s shoes!
• I held up a few pairs of shoes, including the shoes of a man who served two gruesome tours in Vietnam… was shot two times… lived as an alcoholic for 29 years… was in jail 3 times… went through PTSD programs, electronic shot treatments to the brain several times… 4 or 5 drug and alcohol programs in Salem Va, and crossroads two times!
• Luke 10:33-35 NLT “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,[a] telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’
• We talked about the difference between this out-casted Samaritan verses all the other people who walked on the past this wounded man on the other side of the road!
• HE FELT compassion… HE FELT!
• I asked that audience:
  • When YOU see hurting people… are you moved?
  • When you see angry people… are you moved?
  • When you see obnoxious people… are you MOVED?
• Talked about how mankind is LONGING for someone to UNDERSTAND… for someone to CARE! This is one of the deepest needs we have… to know someone really sees and FEELS our pain!
• I mentioned how Jesus WEPT at the tomb of Lazarus… and how the whole world was SHOCKED. For they had encountered a LEADER that CARED… a man that FELT THE PAIN of his friends SO MUCH THAT HE WEPT!

Part 4: Dry it Up

• This is where we learned the phrase: “I am not offendable!”
• Luke 7:22-28 where John the Baptist sent messengers to Jesus asking if he was the promised one or should we wait for another… and Jesus responded: tell John what you have seen… and tell him, “Blessed is the man who does NOT (get offended or take offense or) fall away on account of me!
• Jesus was saying… John, you’ve come too far to turn back now… you’ve seen too much… you’ve been so effective… John, you’re blessed IF you do NOT get offended during this time! I know this doesn’t make sense to you… I know it seems like I have let you down… AND JOHN, YOU HAVE TO GUARD YOUR HEART!
• We talked about how EVERYONE has MANY good reasons to FALL AWAY because of OTHER PEOPLE!
• I asked my fellow church members not to ever fall away because of something YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND about me!
• We talked about responsibilities of the person offending AND of the offendable person!
• I explained that LEADING OFFENDABLE people is a TORMENT for CARING LEADERS!
• How this is not fair to Pastors… not fair to husbands… or wives… or parents or children or bosses or employees… that we need to FREE PEOPLE FROM THE TERROR of always feeling like they may offend us!

Part 5: If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say… Don’t Say Anything

• Ephesians 4:29-30 KJV Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
• Talked about how the tongue… is restless and evil, full of DEADLY POISON! (James 3:8)
• How people FAIL with their MOUTH more than in anything else!
• In that message we sought to RECLAIM our mouths!
• Especially when I read to you Proverbs 6:16-19

There are six things the Lord hates-
no, seven things he detests:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that kill the innocent,
18 a heart that plots evil,
feet that race to do wrong,
19 a false witness who pours out lies,
a person who sows discord in a family.

• I taught about the four different types of a gossiper
  • The prayer request gossiper
  • The “I feel so bad for them” gossiper
  • The “news flash” gossiper
  • The “I’m just speaking the truth” gossiper
• How this is the CHRISTIANS’ SIN… and that all followers of Christ should beware that we do not judge the world and categorize their sins while failing to see that we too will be judged… and that we will give an account for every idol word… and that we cause more DEATH with our tongues that the drug lord or the pimp!
• I said that IF God were using today’s language to describe gossip… he would say something like, “The tongue is like a suicide bomber walking into a mall full of thousands of people and innocent children!” or “The tongue is like a kid that is on the verge of a lunatic fringe that walks into a cafeteria at school one day and begins to spread bullets all over the place.”
• We ended that service by playing the telephone game and we realized how WRONG a message can become as it passes through 10-15 people!

Part 6: Ryan Huffer gave us the message of the series: Keep Your Chin Up!

• He taught us that REAL is not easy! In fact it is complicated… disastrous… challenging… discouraging… even impossible… REAL LIFE is about OVERCOMING THINGS!
• We learned that there are FOUR ways people react to REAL LIFE:
  • Some people WHINE!
  • Other people QUIT!
  • Others SNAP!
  • And still others PRETEND nothing is ever wrong!
  • And a FEW OF US… have a different response to difficulties and trials and afflictions… WE RESPOND WITH JOY! Because we KNOW that this is OUR TIME TO GROW AND SHOW OUR WORLD THAT WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS!
• He showed is a video clip about Tiger Woods and taught us that in REAL LIFE the gallery is not always cooperative… not always SUPPORTIVE!
  • He taught us how SOMETIMES, God gives us controlled portions of adversity AS HE KNOWS WE ARE WELL ABLE TO OVERCOME whatever it is!
  • Tiger’s dad would throw his clubs at tiger just when he was getting ready to swing… “and Tiger would stop… and he would look at me… and GRIT HIS TEETHE… and he would STRIKE THE BALL… and turn around… and look at me… and never say a word… but that LOOK SAID, NOW TAKE THAT!”
  • Ryan asked if YOU HAVE THAT LOOK… Because FAITH generates GRIT!
• Ryan taught us the difference between mental toughness and spiritual toughness and he talked about HOW to GET FAITH.
  • The Bible
  • Fellowship with other believers
  • Prayer
  • By obeying Gods written word!
• He rallied us to become people of FAITH… people that MOVE THEIR MOUNTAINS!

Yesterday-Part 7: ONE Can Make a Difference… So Do Something With YOUR Life!

• Matthew 25:29 NLT To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.
• I talked about the importance of MAXIMIZING whatever we are BORN WITH… whether it is LITTLE or MUCH. And when we max that out… and we feel as if we’re never going to be able to grow beyond certain CEILINGS of achievment, we must understand: TO THOSE WHO USE WELL WHAT THEY ARE GIVEN… EVEN MORE WILL BE GIVEN… and THEY WILL HAVE AN ABUNDANCE!
• I talked about the diligence and excellence.
• Quote: “People who soar are those who refuse to sit back, sigh and wish things would change. They neither complain of their lot nor passively dream of some distant ship coming in. Rather, they visualize in their minds that they are not quitters; they will not allow life’s circumstances to push them down and hold them under.”
• I quoted from my book, chapter 6-Earn Your Keep:

Throughout my three decades in the work force I have discovered a very exciting little secret to success. I used this secret to become a top selling insurance agent within months of starting in sales. This secret awarded me the very top salary for a tree climber within months of putting on the spikes! I definitely used this secret to become one of the top producing real estate agents in the nation! It is this same secret that has made me so triumphant at speaking and leading… and now in my new writing career.

Ok, here’s the secret: “Be outstanding everyday- no exceptions!” Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? While almost every other person in your circle ranges from incompetent to average, you are “outstanding everyday- no exceptions!” Now notice the two simple commands given in this statement.

1. Be Outstanding… meaning that your performance is never ever deemed typical! You are always far better than great… you are OUTSTANDING!
2. Everyday- No Exceptions… meaning that you can be counted on every single day no matter what!

I sincerely believe that in today’s painfully incompetent society, it is almost not fair how easily a person can dominate any field of employment. Anyone who sets out to be outstanding everyday without exceptions will very easily ascend each and every career ladder her or she sets out to climb. Life is so much fun for these kinds of folks… they spend their lives climbing… every step is upward and onward. They live from promotion to promotion until the very day they are promoted to eternity.

If you’re working at Burger King, make the finest and fastest burger your lunch crowd has ever tasted! On days when you are not feeling well, keep your pain to yourself… suck it up and with great devotion; put out no less than one hundred and ten percent! On those days when you are a basket case because of some great big emotional crisis… one hundred and ten percent! Throw away all the excuses for not performing… and for the rest of your life, refuse to be like the rest of the crowd! Remember, you are a legend, so live up to your commendable title!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCNTOQvBFVw&feature=fvw

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvr9akeQTG0

Thats it! The longest blog yet… hope it doesn’t burn you guys out! I just figured you might want in on some of this good teaching! I pray you all a most triumphant day!