1. You were not properly prepared
2. You were not preaching the message God wanted
3. God was doing something to keep your feet on the ground
4. You are just over critical of yourself

To be honest I take it really hard and usually can fall into number 4.  But I also have to assess myself. I want to be better and I need to confront any mistakes I make to grow. The key is where do you go from there if you don’t make some sort of change then you will fall into a cycle that you don’t want to be in.

What about you? Ever felt this way? What do you do?

Those reasons sound good but this is self examination time.  Who are you? Are you a strong person motivated to do well even when things are tough? Do you take on tasks with a great attitude? Are you a spiritually devoted person following God seeking to serve Him?  If you answered yes then why would you expect anything beyond success. When it is time for transition you don’t just flip the switch off and become bad at your job and everyone around you doesn’t become worthless all at once.  The reason things are working well is because of who you are.   When it is time to move on what you have to ask yourself is not whether or not you are being succesful but if there is something else that would stretch, motivate and utilize you more or in a better way.

It could be a change of job or change of career. Maybe a change in your location or a change in your title.  It really doesn’t matter but the question is are you pursuing what God has in store for you or are you settling for what is safe and comfortable. God isn’t about safe and comfortable just ask Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and the apsotles

1 I get what happened. I understand it. No confusion here. I know what happened on the island was real that the other plane escaped and they lived at least a decent amount of time to have Kate really missing Jack and that Hugo and Ben watched over the island for a good amount of time to form a bond. I also understand that the flash sideways existed outside of time and was created when the last of the group died.

2. I saw Jack dying and Hurley being the true candidate last week. It was a gut feeling and while I hated to see Jack die I was ok with it

3. What really disappointed me was that the writers went some where that  I never thought they would go.  This show had me for a couple of reasons a0 unexplained phenomenon and fringe scientific theory. The time travel and alternate realities really had my juices flowing. And I fully expected the series to sum up in that way. Instead what we learned was that while we were led to believe that the explosion at the Beginning of the Final Season somehow splintered time and reality, it did not. For the whole season we have been wondering about this alternate reality and how it would merge and what changed as a result of the islands destruction and what we found out was that we were duped because none of what was going on in that timeline was real.  The finality of the characters ruined the show for me because the show WAS the characters. I was less concerned about the answers of the island as I was about the angst of the characters and what we have now is only a few that remained alive and then when they died they all reunite in a dream world. It was all very sappy and predictable to me. I have come to expect more twists and turns cliffhangers and wow moments from the writers and this was a “come on!” moment.  To be honest I don’t care what happened after they died. I don’t care if they moved on to a higher spiritual plane. I think they over reached.

4. What I did like. The defeat of the smoke monster, the redemption of Ben, The final scene with the eye of Jack closing in the same place where he opened his eyes in the pilot, The return of Bernard and Rose. and the salvation of Claire.

5 What I would have liked to see instead.  The alternative reality actually been reality, then the characters could move on in reality with the knowledge of what happened on the island and been full and complete people in their new lives Or all the characters die on the island only to be replaced by their alternate reality selves

6. Other options I would have accepted easier. A time loop created where the characters are doomed to repeat the cycle over and over for eternity or the characters being teleported back to the beginning of the island and being the ones that built the temple.

I was left feeling cheated and let down. It ended to easy and to sweet and too “perfect” for what I felt Lost was all about. I know others see it differently and disagree with me but art’s value is in the eye of the one observing and in this eye it was lack-luster

But I am not the only one Check these articles out as well

http://io9.com/5545911/lost-was-the-ultimate-long-con

http://tv.gawker.com/5546274/the-polarizing-lost-finale-cop-out-or-redemption-song

To  really get your leaders on board with the vision that God has given you you are going to have to shape not only their thoughts but how they form them. Through the years countless books have been written on the church and what is going on inside and out. Most ministers/pastors  devote a great deal of time to reading these books along with their normal Bible Study routine.  Through these avenues we find inspiration and God begins birthing visions based on what hHe is revealing to us through these combinations of Scripture and teachings.

Here is the problem

Most church lay leaders are not deep in their Word much less reading other books about the church and culture so when we go to those leaders with a completed vision it is like we are talking an alien language.  So in the process once the vision is developed we will go back from the beginning

1. Take your leadership into a deep study of the Scriptural foundations of what the church is and what the church should be doing.   It has to all start in Scripture. As your leaderships sees you delving into Scripture and see the fundamental components of what you are leading them into their minds, eyes and hearts will be opened and they will be ready for the next step

2. Assign your leadership to read what you have read. As they read what inspired you they will start to glean terminology and methodology and see what roads you are going down this will prepare them to go even farther.

3. Discuss the readings with your team.  These discussions will help you direct the ideas that are forming in your team’s minds and it will plant concepts that God has already birthed in you but in smaller form than the completed vision.

In this way once you have laid the groundwork then the vision casting will unfold with more acceptance and excitement. As you talk they will understand and identify and they will feel connected enough to support the vision. Ultimately setting up a more successful task and satisfied leadership.

Tomorrow I will identify another way we can build our leadership.

1. Understand that while you may be God’s called leader don’t assume that everyone will follow you solely or recognize your leadership.  The church is complex and while you may be in a leadership position it takes many people leading to get a congregation moving in the same direction.  Your church may be elder led or deacon led or staff led but the key is that whoever is in your circle is leading other people. If they support you they will lead others to support you. But to be able to support you they must understand and buy into what you are doing.  Remember they do not think like you. They are not inside your head.  You bear the responsibility of communicating not only your vision but the building blocks of your vision.

It is awesome to have a idea burdening your heart develop the vision and then cast it. It is quite discouraging, however, to see a bunch of blank faces staring back at you after you are finished. What is possibly a more effective approach is to take the idea develop it and then go back to what sparked the idea. And walk your leaders through it slowly.  If they can see each step along the way they will not feel lost, in fact they will feel included and invested int he idea and they will in turn sell it to the people that look to them for leadership.

Tomorrow I will discuss some ways that you can cultivate the thoughts in your leadership.

They are doing there top five but a lot of mine are equal so here are my top scores

Tied for First – Administration, Knowledge, Helps, Shepherd, Intercession and Wisdom

Tied for Second- Faith, Prophecy, Leadership, Discerning of Spirits

Third place- Teaching

There was only a two point difference in 1st and 3rd places

I am not real sure about these things because I am not a good assessor of myself. Sometimes I am too confident but I can be exactly the opposite.  How about You?

Week in and week out we see people come in to the church and leave completely unchanged. They profess Christianity but they wallow in their sins daily with no evidence of remorse. It is time that we start calling sin what it is…..SIN!!

We have got to start taking our sin seriously- It is not okay that everyone is doing it. It is not okay if you are getting away with it sin is sin period and it separates us from God and deters people from Christianity when we allow it into our life without repentance.

We have got to STOP trying to legitimize our sin- I don’t care that you are a  country boy/girl that does not make it right to cuss, drink,smoke,  chew, dip, party on Saturday and go to church on Sunday and call yourself a Christian. That isn’t the Christianity I read about in the Bible!  I don’t care if you are in the backseat of the car and you haven’t crossed the line with your boyfriend/girlfriend yet, your mind is FULL of sin and you need to repent

We have got to remember the consequences of our sin- Not the consequences that might happen, but the consequences that already happened. Your little white lie killed someone. That someone was innocent and you killed Him. He took on your sin and mine as well as the entire world no matter how small or how big it is. We forget the cost.

When I was 16 I totaled my car. I had only had it a week. I remember sitting at the light and turning left the next thing I remember is being pulled out of the twisted smoking wreckage. I remember the taste of blood and the searing pain on bits of glass all over my body. I remember the look on my mother’s face when she got to the hospital and saw me for the first time, covered in blood. There was a song years ago called “Feel the Nails” It posed the question “Does He still feel the nails when I fail”.  My tragedy has stayed with me and I still get nervous about left turns and it has been 12 yrs.  I wonder if every sin that I commit makes Jesus cringe from the reminder of the punishment He endured. If so we have a lot of explaining to do don’t we?

“He was pierced for our transgressions, and crushed for our sin ……and by His wounds we are healed”

Our sins nailed Him to the cross and we are still driving them in everyday moment by moment….do we care?

How long are the days in Genesis 1? Why?
How old is the earth and life? Why?
Did man and apes share a common ancestor? Why or why not?
Were Adam and Eve real people? Why or why not?

Now understand something about Jason Roth. I ain’t nothin’ but a white boy from the country straight out the trailer. Excuse my English but it is the truth.  Other than having very little growing up I had NOTHING in common with these kids.  I did however have the insight of having worked in the neighborhood reading light and water meters. I had visited most of their homes to get readings and I had seen their living conditions.

Quite soon after I got there  I realized that I was going to need to do something different. My teaching style wasn’t working, we had too many behavioral problems, the girls quit coming and things were just a mess. So I had to sit back and ask God what I needed to do.  As i walked my route each day reading meters I fervently prayed asking God what it was that He would have me do. Through those prayers God  birthed a vision in me that, when implemented, saw great success for the kingdom. It was not without hard work though we had to make some drastic changes.

If you are ministering to troubled inner city teens here is my advice

1. Smaller groups- The larger the group the harder it will be. Recruit teachers and rotate with them so that you can have maximum exposure with them

2. Age appropriate groups- The younger ones feed off the older ones keep them separated

3. Gender specific groups- The guys show out in front of the girls and the girls do not like the guys. Believe it or not even though they present themselves as buying into the trashy image they are really little girls who feel offended by the ways the guys treat them. Our female attendance went from 3 to 23 in 6 weeks.

4. Don’t get worked up- These kids don’t get attention at home so if you get all bent out of shape they get what they want. If one acts out tell them to leave and see you afterwards.

5. Move to a topical approach- Expositional teaching is a little more than they can handle. Focus it in on how Scripture applies to their life. When they realize that God speaks to them and not just the suburban middle class white kids they begin to open up

6. Actively pursue understanding of their situation- I don’t know what race and cultural barriers you face but likely there may be one if not several. You have to learn everything about their culture that you can so that you understand just how rough they have it. Take a walk through the neighborhood. Go hang at the Ball courts. Just look and listen. Take some people with you if you don’t want to go alone. Interview some of the grandmothers in the area. There are always grandmothers that would love to have someone pray for their grandkids with them. Ask them tough questions be real and honest. It will open your eyes wide.

7. Develop trust- Don’t be a narc! Let the kids know you are not there to learn their secrets and then turn them in. Say it early and often.

8. Make a plan- Write down the course of action. Put in the steps and show your people that it is going to take time but you are working on things progressively. If you have it down on paper it will show  you are thinking critically and are organized enough to do this job. People will get behind that.

9. Encourage- These kids get told everyday how worthless they are through verbal, emotional and physical cues. Tell them they can be more, that they can do better. That simple phrase will mean more than you will ever know.

Most of all follow God’s direction every church is different and He has a special plan for you if He has put you there.  Feel humble and honored that He would charge you with so great a task.