Pastor Kevin

Real World Rules

Everything in life has rules.  Rules are written, spoken and unspoken.  However they are portrayed, rules govern everything we do.  If you learn the rules, and play by them you are going to go far. If you don't know the rules or know them and refuse to play along, well your life is going to be far less than you ever hoped.

When you are young, it is easy to have a misguided view of how life is to be lived.  However, a few months out in the REAL WORLD will wake you up very quickly. Here are some rules that I have learned over the many years I've lived in the real world.  Unfortunately I've had to learn many of them the hard way. 

1) Small is BIG

5 minutes is not very long.  You can be 5 minutes early or you can be 5 minutes late.  If you are only 5 minutes late to many times, you are FIRED.  Small things make big impacts.

2) Your Intentions mean NOTHING.  Your actions are EVERYTHING

"I was going to but...."  "I thought about it, but...."  "I really really wanted to, but....."  Listen, your boss, your spouse, your kids and all the people in the world don't give a flying flip about what you intended to do. All they care about is what you actually did.

3) No one gives you anything.

A job, a raise, a house, a car, a vacation trip to the Bahama's....you don't deserve any of those things. The only way you will get and keep the things in life that you want or need, is by earning them.  You earn a raise, you save for the vacation, you get a job so you can buy a car.  We live in a society of people that feel entitled to everything, when in actuality they are entitled to nothing. The sooner you learn that no one is going to give you anything, the faster you will get the things you want.

4) Your talent and a one dollar bill will get you a cup of coffee.

Talented people are a dime a dozen.  The world is full of great athletes, amazing musicians and incredibly gifted communicators that never made it.  Far to often gifted people rely solely on their looks, talents or abilities to take them where they want to go.  However, talent will only take you so far.  Talent is a wonderful commodity when combined with character, but alone talent is not very powerful at all.

5) A servants heart will take you places you never dreamed.

What do Donald Trump, Quick Trip, Toms Shoes and Samaritans Purse all have in common?  They have mastered the art of SERVICE.  I need something to watch on Sunday nights, Donald Trump serves my need every week by taking time to make the Apprentice. People need gasoline and snacks for road trips, Quick Trip serves those needs by offering them in their stores.  People need shoes,food, and medical care Toms Shoes and Samaritans Purse serves those needs with all of the philanthropical things they do around the world.

If you want to be great, have nice things, make an impact on the people around you, you must have a servants heart.  When you do, you will go places and do things that you never dreamed.

These are just a few of the lessons I've learned along my 39 year journey of life.  

I do my best thinking when...

The best conversations you will ever have are the conversations that you have with yourself.  Because of this it is very important that you target the places where you THINK (talk with yourself) the best and most creatively.  I do my best thinking when...

I'm in my office.

I love my office, it has very modern furniture, open feel, bright colors, it is a perfect place to sit and think about the future and all God has for me and our ministry here at Oneighty.

I'm mowing my lawn.

I know it sounds crazy, but I get some of my best message ideas while mowing the lawn.  For some reason, driving my old beat up Craftsman Mower around the yard stirs up my creativity.

I'm driving my car.

About two to three times per week,during my lunch break,  I will jump in my car and simply drive around Tulsa, thinking, praying, strategizing.  There have been plenty of great ideas come to mind during these 30 minute drive sessions.

I'm in prayer.

There is noting like plugging into Christ's creativity.  In all of my prayer times I talk with God, allow him to talk with me, then I discuss all of those things with myself.  I love my prayer time.

I'm reading a book.

When I read a book I generally have a pen and notebook close by.  The reason is, I can only read for a few pages before I have to stop and take notes on all the things that are flooding my mind.  Many times these thoughts have nothing to do with the book I'm reading. 

Where do you do your best thinking?  Do you carve out time each week to simply think?  If not, what are you waiting for?  This week, go to a coffee shop, bookstore, or hop on your riding mower and think. You'll be glad you did.

Books that answer BIG questions.

I'm about three weeks into a series here at Oneighty called "The Biggies" in which I am endeavoring to answer some of teenagers biggest questions about God, Faith, Christianity, Eternity and more.  

This has been an incredible series that I've really enjoyed.  Specifically because I've had to jump into the deep end of the theological swimming pool.  Here are some of the books I've dove into.

Worldviews - Think for yourself about how we see God.

A Case for a Creator - Lee Strobel

A Case for Christ - Lee Strobel

Reason for God - Tim Keller

These books have been incredibly helpful in my studying for this series.

If you are a teenager thats been attending Oneighty, a parent of a teenager or a youth pastor, I would recommend picking up a copy of each of these books and jump into the deep end as well.

I'll never forget, I hope they don't either.

Over the weekend my son Logan found an old VHS video of my days as a youth pastor in Ligonier, Indiana.  The video was of our Grand Opening to the all new XTREME Youth Center, back in 2002. 

The weeks prior to the Grand Opening, I had challenged the group of 115 teenagers, that if they were to have 200 students in attendance at our Grand Opening, I would dye my hair blond and pink and keep it that way for a month.  That night 205 students showed up. I've never been so happy to look like a complete idiot.

As the video scrolled thru the crowd I saw Cody Whitesell, Marie Acasta, Emily Lietch, Eric Richardson, Ruben Cevantes, Aaron Dixon, Darin Coy, Bekka Nimtz and so many other incredible teenagers that Veronica and I shared life with almost 10 years ago. It was so moving to go back in time and relive not only an amazing night, but an amazing season in our lives.

The verse in the bible that says "life is but a vapor" is so very true.  The days I had with those teenagers went by almost as fast as they arrived.  Although, my family and I have walked further down God's path for us and we've not seen those teenagers for several years.  I will never forget what God did in that little town, and I hope they don't either.

The Biggies "Is there a God?"

Tonight we start a new series at Oneighty titled “The Biggies”.  In this series we are going to tackle the big questions that “un-churched” teenagers have in a way that gives the “churched” teenagers the WHY’s of WHAT they believe.

 In week one we are going to tackled the question “Is there a God?”

This question is at the very foundation of truth; faith, Christianity, morality, eternity and all other big questions teenagers struggle with.  

Here are a few of my notes for this message. 

People who don’t believe in any form of “Creator / God” typically subscribe to these three beliefs.

The Big Bang started it all.

Around 13.7 Billion years ago, before the universe, and even before space itself - tiny particles packed into an area smaller than a pore on your skin, exploded and began to unfold space and the universe itself.  Rocks, stars, planets and particles flew through space forming what we now know as the Universe.

 Our planet and everything in happened because of a giant Cosmic Accident.

As these particles and planets were flying through space, an unbelievable cosmic accident took place, the star known as our sun, the moon, and the giant rock we call earth as well as the surrounding planets in our Galaxy all stopped at just the right location, supporting not only life, but also human life on planet earth.  

When you study the sun you will see that, the Sun’s size, shape, heat and the rays that permeate from it, are all perfectly set.  If any of these things were off just a fraction, the sun would scorch the earth. 

The moon, with its location, shape, and size are all perfectly coordinated so that it orbits around the planet earth and controls the tides so life will be able to exist. 

The Earths tectonic plates, mass, rotation and more allow it to have an atmosphere, gravitational pull, and orbit around the sun in such a way that life is able to exist on our planet.

 After the Big Bang, life started to Evolve.

Inside the water in the earth macro and microevolution began to take place.  And from this, single cell life forms, began to morph, change and evolve into more complex life forms, then eventually into early forms of fish, reptiles, and mammals.  After millions of years our early ancestors eventually evolved into the human race.

In a very simplistic way, this is the theory most people that do not believe in a God subscribe too.  However, when looking at these theories logically there are some questions that naturally arise.

 For those that believe the Big Bang theory, the question that naturally comes to my mind is, before the Big Bang took place, where did the particles, the rocks, and the materials that were all jammed into a ball smaller than a human pore actually come from?  They had to come from something, right?  After all, we know from observing the physical laws on planet earth that it is impossible for “nothing” to produce “something”.  Because of this, those particles and materials that caused the unfolding of the universe must have come from something, somewhere, or perhaps someone. 

When it comes to the Cosmic Accident, the question I have is, is there anything on our planet that shows us an example of something that is complex forming completely by accident?  If I had all the ingredients of a cake, the flour, the sugar, the eggs, the milk, the vanilla, and a bowl, then threw those ingredients up into the air, what are the chances that those ingredients would form perfectly into a cake batter, land in the cake pan, and be ready to bake? 

There is no chance that would ever happen, right.  Well if that is the case, how can an entire planet along with a sun and moon, all stop at just the right place, perfectly mixed together so human life as we know it could exist? 

And lastly, where are all the fossils that should prove the millions of years of evolution?

Many of the “proofs” found in fossilized records that have been used to try and prove the theory of Evolution have been found to be hoaxes.  “Piltdown Man” had an Orangutans jaw. The “Nebraska Man” was actually found to be an extinct pig. “Java Man’s” cranium was found to be from a human being and “Dina bird” a half bird half dinosaur fossil was found to be a complete fraud.

Final Thought.

In a nutshell people that don’t believe there is a God believe that, there was nothing, then somehow something appeared. This small something about the size of a human pore, suddenly exploded and began to unroll like a rug.  As it unrolled, tiny particles, large particles, planets, and more all exploded out from this small pore, to create the entire universe, as we know it.

As these rocks were being hurled through time and space three of them (Sun, Moon, Earth) stopped perfectly to allow life to slowly form. The building blocks of life lived in the water and slowly began to evolve from simple creatures to extremely complex creatures all on their own.  And that is how you and I are here today.

As I look at this theory, I have to say that I think it takes more faith to believe all of that, than it does to believe at some point in the distant past there was someone (a creator) that wanted a world with humans on it. So he created it, formed it, and made it just the way he wanted it to be.   It makes much more sense to believe that we are HIS creation rather than a cosmic accident.

So in trying to answer the age old question “Is there a God?”  I believe the only logical answer is “yes”, yes there is a creator that created the universe, the planet, and human life itself. 

Now, if there is a creator, a God, then that leads us to another set of questions altogether, and we will be answering more of those questions starting next Wednesday night.

 

Its not about you.

Sometimes in life, we have the idea that everything is all about us.  It's my car, my kids, my church, my vision, my salvation, my walk with God.  If we are not careful the words I, me, and mine will come out of our mouths more than any other words that we speak.

This is a real shame, because "It"  is not about you.  No matter what the "It" is, its not about you. Whether it is your family, your finances or your faith, it's not about you.  We see this played out in the words written in Hebrews 12:1-2

"Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which does so easily entangle us and let us run with patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith."

When you read this passage there are certain words that begin to stick out.  Words like we, us, and our, are found sprinkled all throughout this powerful passage describing what our life is really all about.  In fact its pretty amazing but you will not see the words I, me or mine written anywhere in this passage that so vividly describes our faith journey.

What that lets me know is that this thing called the Christian faith, the Church and even life itself is not about you, its not about me, it is all about US.  Let US lay aside every weight and sin.  Let US run with patience the race set before us.  Looking unto Jesus the author of finisher of who's faith? Your faith? My faith? No...OUR faith.

I great thing to remember as we live our lives is that its not about you, its not about me, its about us.

Just something to think about.