Mark Beeson

God Is Great

 

Sheila and I worked for the last few days on leadership strategies for GCC's next season of ministry. We were with Bill Hybels and several leaders involved with Willow Creek's Global Leadership Summit. I learned a lot.

Early one morning I looked over the ocean and saw this long string of White Pelicans flying out of the fog. The order and pace of their flight was strangely comforting to me.

I had one simple thought: God is great.

Psalm 104:1-3

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, You are very great:
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment,

Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.
He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters,
Who makes the clouds His chariot,
Who walks on the wings of the wind.

 

What's Obvious?

 

Look at this picture. I took it a couple of days ago as Sheila and I shared an evening stroll.

     What do you see?

     What stands out to you?

     What's obvious?

I'm amazed at our inclination to concentrate on what's missing from our lives rather than celebrating what we have in our lives. Why would we focus on what's missing, instead of what's adding value? The "glass-half-empty" syndrome blinds us to the goodness of life.

So, back to the picture ....

Do you see grandeur, order and a picturesque symmetry? Is this a scene worth celebrating? Do you see beauty, or are you focused on the burned-out bulbs that need to be replaced?

It's difficult to see what's good if you're focused on what's not. If all we can see is what's wrong, missing or flawed we may have deeper issues than we'd like to admit.

 

Psalm 73:1-2

No doubt about it! God is good—
    good to good people, good to the good-hearted.
But I nearly missed it,
    missed seeing his goodness.

 

What's Your Story?

 

Bill Hybels' story is being written through the lives of the people he led to Christ; one of those people is David Wright. 

I recently snapped Dave's picture as he helped some pastors board a bus. I know his story so I breathed a quick prayer. I thanked God Bill helped him meet Jesus a few years ago when he was one of Bill's sailing buddies. Now Dave serves on the Church Relations Field Team for Willow's Global Leadership Summit.

Our stories are being written with indelible ink through the lives we touch; Bill's is; Dave's is; mine is and so is yours. 

 

John 1 :41-42a  -  The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.

 

365 Days Ago...

 

One year.

It goes by in a flash. It seems like such a brief and fleeting measure of time, but it's filled with possibilities.

My granddaughter Norah changed from a helpless newborn to a laughing toddler in 52 weeks. The difference a year made in her life is amazing. 

I wonder what the next 52 weeks will produce in her life ... and ours. 

During the next year, we're invited to play a part in God's master plan; it's a plan that stretches the imagination and boggles the mind. The plan is clarified in the scriptures and though we've all heard people say, "I just can't understand the Bible," most of us can learn the Bible well enough to know how to radically change our lives and join God in His mission. Too often the parts of the Bible we know (and understand) are dismissed from our plans because we'd rather do what the Bible says to do later, not now.

But God's plan is about knowing Christ now. We were created to live every second of every minute of our lives surrendered to Him. So as our years pass like the sands of time pouring through an hour-glass, the best advice we can give or receive is, "Know Christ."

This is the year God has given us. This is our year to know Christ. This is our opportunity to discern God's will and do it. And if we do, maybe 52 weeks from now we can look back on the year-gone-by with deeper gratitude and appreciation for the lives we live in Christ.

 

Ephesians 5:17  -  Do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

 

 

 

What Are You Reaching For?

 

I've been thinking a lot about our mission in the last few days and my answers to these two questions keep running through my mind:
 

1. What are we reaching for?
    
2. What are we willing to do to get it?
    

Most great visions are realized through intense focus, massive investment and grand collaboration. Few achieve lofty goals with little effort. It is faithful Resolve that reaches courageously into the future to grab the prize. 

Everyone runs; not everybody wins.

What are you striving for?

1 Corinthians 9:19-25  -  Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally.

 

Do You Think She Looks Ready For A New Baby Brother?

 

Sheila and I spent Valentine's Day at COSI with Amber and her two kids: 3½ year old Ruby (who watches over her little sister) and 1½ year old Clara.

What Clara doesn't yet realize is that Amber and Ryan just found out Amber is going to have her first son on the 4th of July. Clara's little brother is on his way.

Does she look like she's ready for a new baby brother to you?

 

- This picture by Amber -

 

 

Exodus 2:4  -  The baby’s sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him.

I'm Talking SEX at High School GSM Sunday Night

 

 

For what it's worth, I'm speaking to the High School students about sex this Sunday. We meet from 6:30 to 8:30 PM, but I'm only speaking 50 minutes. My talk is titled, "8 SIMPLE STEPS TO SEX." 

At GSM, we're adding three weeks of biblical counsel to the lessons High Schoolers are already learning from their friends and from the "research" they're doing on-line. So,if you want me to talk with your teenager about sex, get them there. If not, I’m sure their friends are already helping them learn about sex, so if they won’t be without help either way.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:3  -  God wants you to be holy, so don’t be immoral in matters of sex.

 

We're Expecting A Lot of Our ACTS Experience

 

I spent the last two days with GCC's Senior Management Team working through The Paterson Center's STRATOPS (Strategic Operating Plan Process). If we're going to "take our next steps toward Christ together," as our Mission states, then we want every step to logically and systematically build a foundation for our next. 

We're focusing like a laser on the 2016 Vision God gave GCC.

• Just as The Book of Acts begins in Jerusalem with Christ's followers huddled in a room together waiting on the Lord's Promise, we're prayerfully waiting together too.
• Just as the Holy Spirit came to rest on those first Christ-followers and empowered them to be faithful witnesses, we want the Holy Spirit to come and empower us so we can be faithful too.
• Just as The Book of Acts describes the ripple effect of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those first disciples, we're expecting the Holy Spirit to flow through our lives too.
• Just as those first Christ-followers relayed the Good News about Jesus everywhere they went, we're expecting to pass along the Good News about Jesus wherever we go too.
• Just as those disciples faced opposition, we're expecting antagonism too.
• Just as our spiritual forebears carried the Gospel to cities from Jerusalem to Rome in less than 35 years, the same power is available to us and we're expecting to deliver the Gospel to the cities of Michiana in our first 35 years too.

This has been a very long day. I'm happy to be ending it with you, following Jason as he leads us through "The ACTS Experience."

 I'm expecting a lot. 

 

Acts 1:8  -  (Jesus) "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

America's Fascination With Football

 

I came across this little video and thought it might entertain all the people spending Super Bowl Sunday wondering about the fascination everyone else seems to have with the NFL. 

 

 

Although I do recognize his language as English, I have no idea if any of this guy's facts are accurate. They are however, quite entertaining.

 

1 Chronicles 12:23a  -  Here are the statistics...

 

One Week Ago

 

Last weekend volunteers took the initiative to distribute thousands of colorful boxes to food pantries and soup kitchens across Michiana. Each box carried a message of love: on the outside hand-drawn expressions of personalized kindness and on the inside hand-packed cans and packages of food.

God is at work reconciling the world to Himself. Because God loves us, He invites us to reset our lives and join Him. So when those receiving a box ask why we give them food, the simple answer is, "God loves you."

 

John 3:16a  -  God so loved the world that he gave...  

 

You're Not Dead. You're Not Done.

 

When you feel like you're done, and the buzzards are circling overhead, don't quit. God is still working and when the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe reveals to you where He is working, you're invited to join Him in His activity.

The ignominious end of a wasted life, that offers little more than food for the vultures, is tragic - and unnecessary. Instead of sitting down and waiting for the finale, accept God's invitation and take action.

You're not dead and you're not done. 

Respond to God.

Reset your life.

Live.

 

2 Peter 1:3-4a  -  Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God.