Success or Failure?

This has been on my mind lately: Maybe the reason we don't succeed more is that we don't fail more.

It's easy for me - and I'm sure for many of you - to live life in a very 'play it safe' mode. Try to have a game like Tony Romo last night - no interceptions, no touchdowns.

God continues to nudge me out of my comfort zone for His Kingdom. I think He wants our church more and more out of our 'comfort zone' - looking for ways to courageously and creatively pursue Him so that people will know Jesus.

It's easy to live in this comfort zone that is controlled by the fear of failure. I like what Mark Batterson says: "The antidote for the fear of failure is not success but small doses of failure." With a vaccine, the idea is that you get just enough of the disease to train your body to reject it. It's the same with failure. If we just go for it, we'll see that failure doesn't kill us. It's not trying - living the listless/apathetic life - that kills us.

Craig Groeschel says this: "Fail! If you're not failing, you've stopped dreaming. You'll eventually stop learning. And you will stop growing."

Where do you need to go for it? Where do you need to live out your faith in a radical way? Where do you need to sacrifice so others will see Jesus?

"For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power." 1 Cor 4:20

Kingdom Plan

"For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power." (1 Cor 4:20)

If you weren't in Celebration on Sunday, I encourage you Creekers to go to our new website and listen to Sunday's message about our plan to fulfill God's vision at Oso Creek. (Sermons are on the front page right side)

Everyone of you is part of God's Kingdom vision.

That we would all be good soil by . . . .

Having a Growing Relationship with Jesus,

Living in Authentic Community; and

Being On Mission Across the Street and Around the World

A Fan or an Experience?

I started watching the Chicago Cubs on WGN in 1980. I was a fan. In some seasons a huge fan.

But before last Friday I had never actually been to Wrigley Field and been part of the excitement in the stands, the aura of being part of Wrigleyville and the Cubs family.

For 30 years I had been a 'fan' in the shadows, I even bought a couple of caps and shirts, but I had never experienced the Cubs!

Alright, some of you are thinking: 'He's really freakin' out on this whole Cubs thing!'
Hang on a minute because I think it's a great picture of how we can fool ourselves into becoming a 'fan' of God but never experiencing God!

There are so many folks who like the whole idea of God and His Son Jesus dying for us and the power of the Holy Spirit. Maybe it's the comfy smell of family church traditions that keep them engaged. They enjoy talking about the Bible and spiritual trappings . . . But they never experience God!

What a waste.

In John Stuart Mill's 1859 essay "On Liberty" he was trying to explain how words lose their meaning. He then offered Christians as the best example of this phenomenon. He observed that Christians 'seem to have the amazing ability to say the most wonderful things without actually believing them.'
Like: 'blessed are the poor and humble' . . . 'love your neighbor as yourself' . . . 'he who is faithful with little is given much' . . . 'He must increase and I must decrease' . . . . . .
Mills concluded: "The sayings of Christ co-exist passively in their minds, producing hardly any effect beyond what is caused by mere listening to words so amiable and bland."

It took some effort to actually finally go to a Cubs game. And others had to help us as many of you provided the trip for our family. But in the end we had to go! Now I'll never watch a Cubs game the same.

Some of us are still waiting to 'go'. And what I mean is that you're content with watching God from the shadows, with buying a goofy Christian t-shirt and having the latest Christian-fad Bible . . . and you're missing the whole stinkin' game! Your missing the power and experience of God right in the here and now.

"The Kingdom of God is not just fancy talk, it is living by God's power!" (1 Cor 4:20)
The Kingdom of God is now! The Power of God is now!

What is God saying? Where is He asking you to follow? Don't settle on being a fan. Go.

Mixed Messages?

Or is it that we just want our cake and also for it not to make us fat?

What kind of mixed messages do we send about the Kingdom of God?

"For the Kingdom of God is not just fancy talk; it is living by God's power."
(1 Cor 4:20)