Happy Friday!

This morning, I want to talk again about the subject of Gods LOVE and FAVOR. The photo above is taken from the movie Blindside… the true story of a boy at the very bottom, who is lifted to the very top, through the LOVE and FAVOR of a caring rich lady and her family! Everyone loves a good rags to riches story, because we thrive on the HOPE they inspire!

While natural human ability is a big plus for any human, God’s LOVE and FAVOR is the much bigger deal! Whenever I have to choose between the two, I always choose Gods LOVE and FAVOR over my natural talent, without hesitation!

God can take a commoner… and make him King! (Kind David) He can take a servant girl… and make her Queen! (Queen Esther)

love and favor

There is no person so rundown with nothingness, that God cannot turn them into something beautiful! Of all the forces in the entire universe, there is no greater transformational force, than the force of Gods amazing love and favor!

Whatever God blesses, no man can permanently curse! No matter where you place Gods child, he will rise and rise and rise… again and again and again… no matter how big the obstacle or how tearful the pain, his inner spiritual energy and the beauty of his God induced character will always cause him to rise!

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

the upward current

Every good and perfect gift comes from God… therefore, everything that’s good and perfect in each of us came from God. Whether we serve him or not… God still rains on the just and the unjust… his beauty is scattered all over the earth.

• God is everything good and perfect, the devil is everything evil and flawed.
• God is light, the devil is dark.
• God is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
• The devil is lust, immorality, anxiety, jealousy, depression, rage, manipulation, fear, etc.

The older I become, the more I desire Gods influence in my life! I want to become so much less like the devil and so much MORE like Jesus Christ.

confused people

Really, who wouldn’t? Why, in this 21st century, are we trying to live more and more independently of Gods influence? We are really out of our minds for being like this…

It seems that we are living in the world Isaiah predicted (Isaiah 5:20-21) “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.”

• Evil is good… and good is evil?
• Dark is light… and light is dark?
• Bitter is sweet… and sweet is bitter?

Do you see how confused we’ve become?

the limitless potential of love and favor

Today’s blog was inspired by something I read in the book of Psalms. The following text was written about how God lifted David from a peasant’s life of  shepherding for his father… to the royal courts of the mightiest nation on earth! GOD DID IT FOR DAVID… and GOD CAN DO SIMILAR THINGS FOR EACH OF HIS CHILDREN.

There really is no way to predict just how far God can lift a person with his great love and favor!

Psalm 89:19-24 Long ago you spoke in a vision to your faithful people. You said, “I have raised up a warrior. I have selected him from the common people to be king. I have found my servant David. I have anointed him with my holy oil. I will steady him with my hand; with my powerful arm I will make him strong. His enemies will not defeat him, nor will the wicked overpower him. I will beat down his adversaries before him and destroy those who hate him. My faithfulness and unfailing love will be with him, and by my authority he will grow in power.”

Think about this… meditate on it ALL DAY LONG!

• I have raised up a warrior.
• I have selected him FROM THE COMMON PEOPLE to be KING!
• I have anointed him with MY HOLY OIL!
• I will STEADY HIM WITH MY HAND!
• With my powerful arm, I WILL MAKE HIM STRONG!
• His enemies will NOT defeat him!
• Nor will the wicked overpower him!
• I will beat down his adversaries before him and DESTROY those who hate him!
• My faithfulness and unfailing love will be with him, and by my authority he will grow in power!

Can you see the difference GODS FAVOR can make in a person life? There is so much more to say about this topic… and I have to go change the world in other ways right now. (smile) So, please leave your epic comments and have a most triumphant day! Enjoy the following great video, Something Beautiful by Need to Breathe! Love you all…

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, Facebook, Twitter, Make me a Legend, Destiny Family Center, You Tube

Happy Wednesday!

Tonight is session three of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership @ Destiny Family Center! We have an increasing number of people attending each week, starts @ 7pm… dinner @ 6pm! I’ve heard, this is the hottest thing going on in Virginia on Wednesday nights right now! See you there? I do hope so!

Taming the Spiritual Ego Monster

Here is something I read in the Bible this morning…

Background: There was a young man blind from birth… until one day, Jesus came through his village and restored his sight! The whole village went crazy about this miracle. So, in an attempt to hush the hoopla, rulers in the synagogue tried to get this young man and his parents to lie about how the miracle came about. The parents didn’t want to say anything because they didn’t want to be kicked out of the synagogue, so they deferred their obligation of testimony to their miracle son saying, “He is of age, let him answer for himself.”

Well, he did answer for himself saying things like, “All I know is this… I was blind, but now I see!” And while these religious “doctors” pushed hard for a denunciation of Jesus, here is how the story ended…

John 9:30-34

“Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He (Jesus) healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.”

“You were born a total sinner!” they answered. “Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out of the synagogue.

Here are my FRESH thoughts about this 2000 year old biblical classic…

If we can become just like this “total sinner,” like a person just newly introduced to Christ… than we CAN be learning and encountering something NEW about God every single day of our lives!

There is no end to experiencing God! Even to the wisest theologians I say… we are all still so elementary in our experience of God. There is always something more to know about him! We can always dive so much DEEPER in our relationship with God!

Smartest Christians?

I never want to become the “smartest” Christian, and in believing myself to “know it all” about God, I never want to miss the pictures of him being seen through the EYES of his newest followers!

Spiritual Ego

If we’re not careful, we can get to the place where we no longer want to read the stories we’ve already read over and over and over… and we can feel like we already know everything there is to know about God. These synagogue rulers had this problem: a very dangerous spiritual EGO!

Spiritual ego stunts our ability to learn like a child once we’ve matured!

If we’re not very careful, we can start to pride ourselves on what we already know, and we can deceive ourselves into believing WE already have all the best answers. This is a death trap for mature followers of Christ… and especially dangerous for teachers and leaders.

Here’s this ex blind man… he’s saying, “This Jesus guy just healed me… and he HAS TO BE GOD… and YOU GUYS know nothing about him?” And they became so offended about this mans fresh encounter with Jesus, that they drove him out of the synagogue!

Posturing Like Little Children

There is ALWAYS something NEW to learn about God, through study and encounter… as long as we continually tame the spiritual EGO monster. Let’s make this one of our chiefest spiritual ambitions… to always posture ourselves like little children concerning our relationship with Father God!

Here’s a great video for this blog (from 2007) Lay Down my Pride, Jeremy Camp.

That’s all I have time to write this morning… please make it better with your epic comments, and have a most triumphant day! Love you all…

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, Facebook, Twitter, Make me a Legend, Destiny Family Center, You Tube

Happy Monday!

Ask me if I had the greatest weekend of my life! Oh yes I did, my whole family did… it was so far beyond human expression… a moment of PURE love!

First, on Friday night… some very good friends took us out to a delicious dinner and gave us a very good time of dear friendship… and then handed us an early pastor Appreciation card with a pile of money in it! Absolutely BLEW our minds!

Yesterday was Pastor appreciation day @ Destiny Family Center… I wrote two PROFOUND blogs leading up to the event. You guys should re-read them if you get the time.

• I’m Very Hyper! Wanna Know Why?
• We Found the Holy Grail of Unity Established in Love

Really, there are no words available in the english language to adequately describe that kind of LOVE! If you were there, then you know exactly what I’m saying! I felt like I had died and gone to heaven! Really!!

The stories people told… were more SPECIFIC than anyone could have staged! People made my family SEE THE VALUE of our ministry! There is nothing more important to us than to KNOW that people are more effective because of our leadership. Mannnn! Those stories were UNBELIEVABLE! I want to get a cd and play it on every bad day for the rest of my life! Thank you for your kind words…

• Brandy Hatcher
• Emily Beauchamp
• Greg Baker
• Pam Myers
• Tammy Wade
• Theresa Moore
• Lola Widener
• Rose Schleifer
• Charlie Hatcher

The cards and words and hugs and smiles and gifts… they were so SINCERE! Some people actually CRIED when they looked into our eyes! Little kids created homemade cards with the coolest art work EVER!

I’m so glad my family drove to church together yesterday! The initial SHOCKER moment came when we opened my office door and found it FILLED with TWO THOUSAND balloons! I felt like I was 7 years old… it produced a kiddy JOY that I haven’t felt in my entire adult life! After church was over, it took 6 of us, 45 minutes of pop, pop, pop, pop, pop… to pop all of them… what a RUSH!

We were given a getaway to the Great Wolf Lodge, a very nice HD handycam, a full spa treatment for Emily, gifts for Coree and Heaven, and a pile of other fun gifts for each of us! Plus a very generous Pastor Appreciation day love offering!

There was a lovely special duet performed by Wayne and Jasmine Howard, and a few special HILARIOUS live skits performed by Robbie Widener, Greg Baker, and Aaron Huffer… and the funnest game I’ve ever played: Easy as it Gets! Ryan Huffer was host, Danae Huffer was our Vanna White, and Dexter Estes, and Marcia Clark were the selected contestants! Unbelievable!

We laughed for an hour and a half straight… it was the BEST MEDICINE! I feel like a new person this morning!

Then Dave Harman gave the best speech I’ve ever heard about myself and my family! He prophesied over my family and the church family… and what an impact that had on everyone! Here’s the text version of those prophecies:

The Lord has a word, for Pastor Chuck: “My delight is in the one who fears Me. I delight in the one who is humble before Me. I take great delight in the one who is courageous and unafraid of man or devil. My pleasure is in the one who relies not on his own wisdom and abilities but whose trust in me. Chucky you have been tested, refined as in a fiery furnace. You have endured much and have stood. Know then, that as long as you are faithful, as long as you continue to walk with me, trials will come. You will be tested and refined over and over again. Not because I disdain you, but because I love you, and delight in you, and take pleasure in you. And I will be with you and in Me you will overcome! We have much to do, you and I” says the Lord. “I have called you for such a time as this. I have called you to care for my sheep and there is yet much room and to spare in the fold, many who should be within it are not yet there and I am coming very, very, very, soon,”

To Destiny Family Center: “You also have been through the refining fire and have stood, You also will continue to be refined further still for I desire purity in your innermost being. This also is a mark of my high regard and great love for you. Your faithfulness, your works, even your tears are treasured by Me. The time is so very, very, very short and your friends, your neighbors, and even those in your family do not yet know Me. Do not be content to let them die in their sins. Think of the horror that awaits those who do and the great joy that awaits those who embrace My love. This is not the time to remain silent. Have I not called on you also to lay down your lives? Do not deceive yourselves into thinking that only those who serve you as leaders must do so. Remember this: It is not those who hear the word only who are approved, but those who actually do what I command.

A tremendous opportunity has been placed before you Destiny Family Center! I have prepared the feast and there are many empty seats waiting to be filled, so I command you to go out and whoever you meet, compel them to come. We have much to do Destiny Family Center, you and I, and I am coming very, very, very, quickly.”

Then, I was able to give my thank you speech… and I read from yesterdays blog and spoke from my heart… and the LOVE everyone experienced during that service was off the charts! Who could imagine that a Pastor Appreciation Day could ever be that FUN and that SACRED at the same time!

Then, after the service… we were invited to a dinner in our honor at the Scheifer residence! The food was out of this world… especially while eating it with such a beautiful team of leaders!

I pray for God to bless everyone that organized and led that appreciation service… and everyone that blessed us during that service… and everyone that blesses us EVERY DAY of our lives! I am overwhelmed right now… and so are my wife and kids!

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, Facebook, Twitter, Make me a Legend, Destiny Family Center, You Tube