We all need to ask ourselves the Question, “Are you a Fan or Follower os Jesus”? The reason this question is so important is because of the words of Jesus. He says there will be many who claim to be His followers that He turns away.

I grew up playing sports and one of the determining factors to victory was taking care of the “Ball”. If you’re playing football you have a great chance to win if you have possesion of the ball more than the other team. The goal is to keep the ball in your possesion until you get it in the Endzone, and then you kick it to the other team and try to get it back. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a coach say keep 2 hands on the ball. Yet in spite of all the coaching and all the practice we see athletes consistently “drop the ball”.

Well, we have been given possesion of the ball, (the Gospel of Christ) and we are called to be a light to this world .

Matt. 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

As we let our light shine it adds weight (Glory) to who God is. As we move into 2012 let’s not dropped the ball when it comes to the opportunity to make an Eternal impact  in the lives of people this year. Shine your light and shine it bright. Fall in love with the Gospel and be influenced by it,  and you will be willing to do incredible things to make Jesus known – to make Him famous. You can never have enough light. Light gives direction and draws attention to it’s source. We are to live in such a way that we light the path and draw attention to Jesus. #dontdroptheballin2012

Joseph grew up in a family that was driven by deception. When they wanted something they schemed and manipulated to get what they wanted, but Joseph broke that pattern and allowed God to forge the path to the dream He had planted in him to save the Children of Israel. It started with a Dream and it was that dream that was the driving force in Joseph’s life.

Genesis 37:5 One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. 6 “Listen to this dream,” he said. 7 “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!” 8 His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them. 9 Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!” 10 This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?” 11 But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie, Inception. It’s about dreams. Specifically  how a dream can be multi-layered. God doesn’t give a man multiple dreams, but they are multilayered. Joseph’s dream was just a continuation of the original dream that God had give Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation, Israel. It would be through that nation that Jesus would come into this world and give His life for all mankind.  When God gives you a dream it is simply a continuation of His dream, another layer if you will. God imparts into you your part of His big picture dream to save this world from their sins. If your dream isn’t centered on the purposes of God it may be a good dream but it’s not a God dream.

Joseph had no idea how twisted and tortured the path would be to the fulfillment of that dream.. Just because we know the dream doesn’t mean we know the path.

All too often when that dream doesn’t come fast enough we inject our own plans into it.

Proverbs 16:1  says, We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer.

Your best bet is to Write your plans in pencil. God doesn’t give you a map because if you knew everything that was coming you would check out. His dream is certain but his path is unpredictable. Joseph didn’t try to create his own path, he accepted the one God put him on.

I’ll never the forget the amazing wisdom of Forest Gumps mom, Life is like a Box of Chocolates you never know what you’re gonna get. When someone gives me a Box of Chocolates, I start poking holes in the bottom of each piece until I get the one I want. If we’re not careful our box (life) will be full of crushed chocolate until we get the one we want. We need to learn to trust God with the fulfillment of our dreams, after all they are His dreams placed in us. Trust in the fact that God has been to your future and He has it under control.

Joseph never lost sight of God’s dream for his life and as a result God used Him to his full potential. Trust God with the journey and get out of His way. Stop trying to make the path easier and let God be the guiding force of your life.

Steve Jesmer, Pastor of Dialogue Church:

HONOR GOD WITH YOUR WEALTH – BRING THE FULL TITHE & LIVE SACRIFICIALLY

Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. (Proverbs 3:9 NLT)

I love tithing. A tithe literally means “a tenth” or 10%. It is God’s way of teaching the heart to always honor Him.  Why does He use money? Because money is the greatest competitor for our heart’s HONOR & WORSHIP!

We all like to treat money like its our god.  We often believe that money will make everything better.  We think, “If I just had a little more money then my life would be so much better.”  But that is a lie, because everytime we get that little more money, our lives aren’t any better, we still have the same stresses that money brought in the first place.  Why? Because so often we believe that MORE, MEANS MORE FOR ME.

Instead, the Bible teaches that we should GIVE IN PROPORTION TO WHAT WE GET.  This is talking about tithing.  God says, I have given you everything you own.  In fact, all of my stuff is really God’s stuff.  And God says that He wants His portion.  When I bring back God’s portion, the tithe, I am really honoring God with all of my wealth/stuff.

Bringing the full tithe (which means I bring back 10% of my gross income to the local church as an act of trust & obedience) is not a suggestion but a command, and certainly one with a huge promise of blessing (Mal.3:10).

It’s easy to say that I HONOR GOD, OR LOVE GOD, BUT IF I’M NOT HONORING HIM WITH MY WEALTH, THEN I’M NOT HONORING HIM WITH MY LIFE!

The God of the Bible is so worthy of our best.  He is not a God of leftovers, He gave us His best, His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus gave us His best on the cross to save us from our sins and give us eternal life with Him.  Now, He honors us by calling us to GIVE OUR BEST TO HIM!

Tithing is not the ceiling, it is the floor.  Tithing is the starting point of obedience level giving.  Once you have grown in your trust of God, its time to learn how to give above & beyond the tithe. This often means re-orienting your lifestyle in such a way that you “seek the kingdom of God first” in an effort to build God’s kingdom, grow God’s church, and invest in eternity!

In Matthew 16 soon after Peter had been declared by Jesus to be the rock upon which He would build His church, we find Jesus telling Him to get out of His way.

Matthew 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.

Get behind me Satan. He was in God’s way.

The cross is so central to Jesus’ purpose on earth. that Peter’s statement essentially tempted Jesus to evade the cross, he unwittingly became a spokesman for Satan. Peter was a “rock” on which Jesus would build his church, but now Peter was a stumbling block in Jesus’ way, interfering with Jesus’ necessary, painful, but victorious destiny. Peter did not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. It was human nature to look for the easy road to triumph, but God’s plan involved a deep valley on the way to victory.

Are you a stumbling block? An obstacle, a hindrance, or a difficulty standing in the way of progress for the Kingdom of God.

Jesus went on to define what a real fully devoted, getting out of HIS way disciple is in 3 ways:

He Must Deny himself, He Must Take up his Cross, & He Must Follow Me. There is nothing to gain if you waste your life on yourself we must pour it out for Christ. It is only when you lose your life do you ever truly gain eternal life. Jesus never told us to Carry His Cross, He told us to Carry Ours!!
Let’s get out of His way and get into His way so He can direct our paths.

A door is defined as a means of entry or exit, allowing us to move from one environment to another. And in the physical sense, we understand that. From front doors to garage doors to office doors to back doors to screen doors to Jim Morrison “Doors” to trap doors, and even revolving doors, we are continually moving from one place to another. We are confronted with doors every day.
When it comes to  the way we live life, there are doors that we purposely choose to open or chose to close. What we do with these doors can have serious backlash or bring about incredible blessing, depending on what we choose do with them. You show me your door and I’ll show you your marriage. What are we going to do with the door?
Song of Solomon 8:6 Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned. -
Many couples choose to leave the door open using threats and manipulation to get what they want in marriage. The only thing that results in is extreme heartache, and nobody want that. How many times have you heard a spouse say, “I’m Outta Here”, or, “If you don’t do what I want I’m out the door”. To which one mght say, “don’t let the door hit you on the backside on the way out”.

This is what happens when you are in a contract marriage. But our God is a God of covenant. All through the bible He is establishing covenants with people. Covenants are for the benefit of the other person and they are pemanant. Covenants bring HOPE to the relationship. I’m so glad God isn’t in a contract relationship with me. I would’ve broken my end of the deal long ago. Because of His covenant relationship I have hope. That’s just what marriage needs, HOPE. That’s whay we’ve got to close the Door of our Marriage and put some Deadbolts on the door and throw the key out. Until leaving is no longer an option, HOPE can’t be restored.

What are you doing to seal and secure the  door to your marriage? The Seal Is The Deal!!

In Hebrews chapter 11 known as the “Faith Chapter”, we see God inspire the writer to talk about His kids. We hear of the faith of Abraham, Noah,  and many others. As a matter of fact we read this in vs. 16,” But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them”.

Wow! God was not ashamed to be called their God. Why! Because of their faith!!! They found God to be incredibly pleased with their faith. How can I be confident that MY God won’t be ashamed to be called My God. FAITH! It can be tempting to give in to doubt in the midst of tough circumstances, but next time that happens, remember that God is just waiting to see your extereme Faith so He can stand up and say, That’s My Kid!!!