(excerpt from a recent message at Mission Hills. You can view the entire message here) Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to…
I think every leader feels the same tension. On the one hand, there’s the things we want to be doing for the organization. Thinking about the horizons, anticipating new obstacles, planning for new opportunities. On the other hand, there’s the things we need to be doing for the organization. Offering encouragement. Developing new leaders. Having tough…
It’s a pretty simple formula: humility + ability = opportunity. If you don’t have the ability, there are simply some opportunities you’re not going to be offered. Maybe you need to work harder or maybe you need to come to grips with what you’re wired for. But if you’re not an effective leader of 5…
Our church just celebrated its 75th anniversary. That’s a big deal to me, but maybe not for the reasons you suspect. What I love about my church (Mission Hills) is that we see all of God’s past faithfulness as a reminder of His future faithfulness. We see the past as a foundation for the future.…
I get asked this question pretty frequently, usually in response to me challenging Christians to live missionally and be involved in “building the Kingdom.” It’s a very reasonable question, and a humble one. The heart behind it is basically “It’s God’s Kingdom, so isn’t in arrogant to think that we can build it? Isn’t that…
Manuscript from this past week’s message from James 5:1-6 at Mission Hills Church: The Case for Condemnation Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify…
Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? (James 2:5) I suspect that James wrote these words while thinking of what he’d seen of God in his…
It’s a simple reality that we can easily forget: those places we are most comfortable are precisely the places we’re most likely to be disobedient. Am I comfortable in my marriage because things are going pretty good? I’m probably not listening for God to tell me how to love my spouse better. Am I comfortable in…
I can’t remember if it was Andy Stanley or Craig Groeschel (or maybe both) who said that the greatest danger to future success is present success. I couldn’t agree more. But I’ll take it a step further: great success in what God has called us to in the past is the greatest obstacle to discerning what…
As Jesus neared Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he sent two disciples ahead to a small village along the route, telling them to retrieve a donkey and her previously unridden colt they would find there. Anticipating that the owners would have some questions about what the disciples were doing, he instructed them to say “The Lord needs them”.…