Archive for honor
Values that MATTER!!
Posted by: | CommentsBefore we launched the Dialogue Church I thought I knew what our values would be. But you can’t really just predict your values or say what you want your values to be. Values are something that get revealed over time as you are tested. Real values are what are leftover after you have been abandoned, beaten, abused, ridiculed, mistreated and YOU ARE STILL STANDING FOR THESE THINGS! Values are what you are willing to fight for and die for, not just think are cute and cool ideas.
Here is one value that I know we won’t turn our backs on: HONOR.
We want to honor up, when we honor up we honor all the way up to the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to honor God, God’s Word, God’s man (the Pastor), leaders, guests, and with our finances! Honor is something you give. Sniff out dishonor in this church: gossip, criticism in the wrong direction, division, rebellion, sin, selfishness, apathy toward the vision, lack of energy around the mission. Don’t let anyone talk trash about your pastor, his family, or his staff team. Don’t let anyone think its ok to give God less than their best!
Here is another value: EXCELLENCE
Excellence matters. Because what we do matters. What we do represents the Lord Jesus Christ and for all of eternity what we do for Christ will last. Let’s make it count. Excellence honors God and attracts the unchurched! Excellence in the little things will lead to excellence in the bigger things. If you are faithful with a little, you will be given more to manage and use for God’s purposes! Everything matters, do it will excellence. All that you do, do to the glory of God, do to the best of your ability and keep improving! Excellence is doing the best you can with what you have. Be excellent! And require excellence from those on your team; it is the best way to honor them!
Here is another: EVANGELISM
I don’t really care that this word seems to be old hat or old school. The definition is “leading unchurched people to become hardcore followers of Jesus Christ.” We won’t ever get away from reaching out to the unchurched. We will never get so mature that we don’t need to focus on the one lost sheep (Luke 15). We will never stop trying new approaches or different ways of communicating the gospel to those who are far from God. Oh yeah, and we won’t ever stop ticking off the people who just want church to be “ALL ABOUT ME.” We will do whatever it takes to reach as many people as we can with the good news of Jesus Christ!
How about this one: THE GOSPEL
The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I realize this is a belief, but its also a value. We won’t ever get so deep that we don’t talk about the gospel every single weekend. We won’t ever get so big that we don’t bring it back to the gospel every single weekend. We won’t ever get so New in our methodology that we don’t celebrate the old old story. We won’t ever get to polished that we don’t talk about the old rugged cross every single weekend. It’s all about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Period!
One more: PREACHING
Since the time Jesus came walking on the earth, to now, the church has evolved but one thing that has remained is the simplicity of preaching. Speaking the word of God into people’s lives. There is nothing more catalytic to making life changing decisions than clear biblical preaching. Preaching is biblical teaching + spiritual leadership. You need both to be an effective preacher. Preaching is about proclaiming God’s Word, not my personal opinions. “Thy word not my word, changes lives.” We are called to declare the gospel not decorate it. I don’t know exactly why this is, but God has chosen to use the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. God has chosen to use the simplicity of preaching to make known His Word and to change lives! Elevate the man of God in order to elevate the Word of God!
Somebody HONOR Somebody, Pt.5
Posted by: | CommentsHONOR THE WORD OF GOD
I honor and love Your commands. I meditate on Your decrees. (Psalms 119:48 NLT)
We all have questions we want to ask God, big questions. And every weekend we get the opportunity to hear from God through His Word. But do we really listen? Do we really expect to hear from God? Are we honoring God’s word in how we attend church, how often we attend church, how we focus during the preaching of God’s word?
Honor the Word of God by attending your local church’s worship experience every weekend. We get 6 days to work for our families, but we only get one day to worship with our family! Make the weekends count, don’t waste your weekend, worship with it!
Honor the Word of God by listening intently to the Pastor’s sermon. If you have trouble staying awake, drink more coffee, grab a 5 hour energy, pop a caffeine pill;-) BUT DO SOMETHING… Don’t just let week after week go by and you are sleeping through God’s message for you! Try taking notes on your smartphone. Try tweeting important statements or principles from the sermon. Try updating your facebook with a Scripture verse from the sermon. And most importantly write down in your notebook or journal HOW YOU CAN BEGIN APPLYING THE SCRIPTURES RIGHT AWAY!
Honor the Word of God by reading it every day. Grab a journal and a bible. Take notes, write down questions, and look for answers in the Bible. Try getting a Bible reading plan from www.youversion.com. I also love THE ONE YEAR BIBLE by Tyndale.
Honor the Word of God by studying it in a small group every week. It’s fun to learn the bible in community, and often times its necessary to have accountability and encouragement from other believers in order to apply and live out the Bible. Try joining a life group at www.theDC.tv/groups.
Honor the Word of God by responding to the sermon each week. This might be taking a faith step at the end of the sermon as the pastor leads you, or simply clapping, shouting, or responding when the Pastor prompts you to do so during the message.
Somebody HONOR Somebody, Pt.4
Posted by: | CommentsHONOR 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!
Somebody HONOR Somebody, Pt.3
Posted by: | CommentsCELEBRATION AND EXPECTATION HONOR GOD
Then I will praise God’s name with singing, and I will honor Him with thanksgiving. (Psalms 69:30 NLT)
At The Dialogue Church, we are very intentional about creating a culture of celebration and expectation. On the weekends every staff member, every ministry director, every team leader, & every volunteer work very hard to create an atmosphere of celebration and expectation. We truly believe that JESUS IS GOING TO CHANGE LIVES LIKE NEVER BEFORE! We are privileged to serve Him!
Every week we are intentional about clapping, hooting, and hollering about LIFE CHANGE! Whenever one sinner turns to follow Jesus all of heaven throws the biggest block party! And we want to celebrate what heaven celebrates! So, we clap, we yell, we chant, we passionately lift up the name of Jesus through singing, preaching, giving, serving, and leading!
A culture of passionate celebration over the blessings of God and His greatness HONORS GOD! Anything less would be sinful! When we honor God in this passionate celebratory way, it not only honors God but draws the lost to Him as well! BUT WATCH-OUT BECAUSE HONOR IS INFECTIOUS!
A culture of expectation is all about BELIEVING THAT JESUS IS GOING TO DO WHAT HE ALREADY PROMISED HE WOULD DO, BUILD HIS CHURCH! A culture of expectation is “BELIEVING JESUS AT HIS WORD”, it’s about FAITH. And it’s impossible to please God without faith. So a culture of expectation pleases God! Every leader has to own this in the church so he/she can pour it into each volunteer team member! When you come to church, come believing God for the impossible! He is still in the life changing, church building, and eternity altering business!
