Twitter Wisdom #1

I have been a Twitterer for over a year and thought I would post some of the entertaining and helpful tweets I have favorited. Enjoy below!

God would be less of a God if He blessed your "image" but didn't heal the real you. TD Jakes

The church has been on birth control too long. They want to have intimacy with God, but they don't want to get pregnant. Justin Jenkins

Pastor, don't quit. Sometimes you are the big dog and sometimes ur the fire hydrant. Stay wit it thru trials! Jentzen Franklin

The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it. David Crank

God is the One whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. Ion Crone

Too many people stop following God bc they think they are letting Him down by their actions - What made them think they were holding Him up? Justin Jenkins

Studies have shown that real development happens on the job, not in the classroom. Gallup

After 34 yrs this is the ultimate truth! "A good marriage is like a casserole: only those involved actually know what goes into it. Tommy Tenney

People who were nothing like Jesus, liked Jesus. And Jesus liked people who were nothing like Him. If we are the body... Andy Stanley

Eat w/ one person, you eat 35% more than if you ate alone; eat w/4 you eat 75% more; groups of 7+, 96% more. What's up with that? Len Sweet

We cannot expect God to bless what we do not do! Shannon ODonnell

Judging is an attempt to absolve ourselves of guilt. It's a defense mechanism at best captivity at worst. Lisa Bevere

You may have time to invite that person you've been praying for to church today. Guts Pastor

Funny thing my dad said speaking @ C3, "I feel like a mosquito in a nudist colony. I'm excited to be here but don't know where to start Pastor Matt Fry

Systems have gr8r impact on behavior than mission statement. Ur staff is doing exactly what u have led & rewarded them 2 do. Andy Stanley

80% of your problems aren't people problems; they're systems problems, b/c systems create behaviors. Andy Stanley

Nobody laughs at God in a hospital. no-one laughs at God in a war. no-ones laughn at God when they're starving or freezing or so very poor. Joel Houston

Here is a copy of our Parent/Teen Driving Agreement for new 16-yr old driver http://is.gd/BEAo . Tim Stevens

We need to love each other passionately and hold each other loosely. Only a cult won't let people go. Mark Beeson

Five Questions Andy Stanley Asks While Preparing a Sermon http://tinyurl.com/cephg3

I think one of the highest compliments you can pay someone is to use their name as a verb. I call it justicating. Justin Jenkins

God's not a plastic surgeon. He's a cardiologist. Justin Jenkins

REVOLUTION: Rehabilitating Beliefs

If you want to rehabilitate your core beliefs you will have to be intentional. It is simple, but not easy! I have provided what I believe are simple steps to effecting the heart with truth.

Faith is the lense with which we view the world. From a Biblical worldview, what is crucial in our lives is…

· Not what happens to us, but how we interpret or understand what happens to us;

· Not what others do, but how we explain what they do;

· Not what is, but what we believe about what is.

Our understanding of events, our circumstances, and the ways in which we relate to others are all affected to a significant degree by the nature of our faith.

· Faith is the way we explain to ourselves, at a deep level, what life brings our way, the way in which we deal with the mysteries of our existence.

· Christian faith interprets life – all the wonder, beauty, and joy, as well as the pain, sorrow, and strife – according to what God has revealed in Christ Jesus.

· A believer is simply someone who looks at his or her life experiences, both positive and negative, in the light of God’s Word.

A believer doesn’t have to know sophisticated theological terms or be a bible scholar or “know all the answers”. Believers are simply individuals who realize their need for God, who accept the saving grace of Jesus Christ’s love and who have chosen to commit their lives to an ever-deepening relationship with Christ as their Lord.

Revealed Truth

1. Hear

Rom 10:17 NKJV So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

2. Understand

Matt 13:19, 23 NKJV When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside… 23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

3. Choose

The Roman Centurion

Mark 5:35-43 ESV While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?" 36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe."

Mark 9:21-23 ESV And Jesus asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." 23 And Jesus said to him, "If you can! All things are possible for one who believes."

Vs 23 – “If thou canst believe…” –

o AMP – “And Jesus said, [You say to Me], If You can do anything? [Why,] all things can be (are possible) to him who believes!”

o NLT - "What do you mean, 'If I can'?" Jesus asked. "Anything is possible if a person believes."

4. Meditate

Josh 1:8-9 NKJV This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Matt 17:20-21 NKJV So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."

5. Act

James 1:22-25 AMP But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. 23 For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; 24 For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. 25 But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).

Many people …

· Sing the Word

· Talk the Word

· Quote the Word

· Analyze the Word

· Put the Word on magnets and bumper stickers

· Tatoo the Word to their arms

· Study the Word

· Write papers on the Word

· Set Word promises on small cards around their house

· Listen to the Word on Cd and MP3

· Go to conferences for the Word

· YET still refuse to do the Word!

Do you agree or disagree?

This teaching outline and notes is predicated on the previous teaching and should be viewed in the context of it. To read the previous teaching script, audio, video and train with “change exercises” go to http://www.mylifepointe.com/audio-and-video-teachings-from-olathe-lifepointe-church.aspx .

REVOLUTION: Misbeliefs About God - Part 9

3 Things About Telling Yourself the Truth (3 of 3)

3. Objections to Truth / Identifying Misbeliefs about God

Spiritual misbeliefs, the seebed for every other misbelief, involves false assumptions about God, our relationship with Him, and our relationships with other people. Some of these statements may reflect theological concerns with which you’ve seriously struggled, or these thoughts maybe have only crossed your mind. Listen through this list and check in your mind any statement that reflects thoughts you’ve had:

1. If God really loved me, I wouldn’t suffer so much hurt and pain.

2. What I pray, nothing ever changes, so I really doubt that God cares, hears, or answers.

3. I must be so wicked, sinful or at best “filled with shadows of doubt in His promises” that God won’t help me.

4. Because I feel so guilty and unworthy, it must be true that God hates me.

5. Everything bad that has happened in my life is either because of my sin before God or because God hates me.

6. Good things in my life means God loves me and bad things in my life means He doesn’t love me.

7. No matter how much I pray or how hard I try, it’s never enough to satisfy God (or me).

8. God has not right to tell me what to do and what not to do.

9. It’s unfair of God to give people a bunch of commandments that they can’t keep; we have plenty of reason to resent it.

10.When I look at he world and all the evil and suffering, I can’t believe God is really good.

11.If there were a God running things, everything wouldn’t be in the mess it’s in.

12.I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul, and nobody else can run my life.

Below are some self-talk statements that many people have but have never considered what core beliefs are driving those statements.

EXAMPLE:

1. “If we surrender to the Lord it will cost us more than we will gain.” Or, “To serve God fully will be dissatisfying for

my life, my season, and my age…I may lose established relationships with people who aren’t going for Christ.”

What Does the Bible (Truth) Say?

Mark 10:28-31 AMP Peter started to say to Him, Behold, we have yielded up and abandoned everything [once and for all and joined You as Your disciples, siding with Your party] and accompanied You [walking the same road that You walk]. 29 Jesus said, Truly I tell you, there is no one who has given up and left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for My sake and for the Gospel's 30 Who will not receive a hundred times as much now in this time — houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions — and in the age to come, eternal life. 31 But many [who are now] first will be last [then], and many [who are now] last will be first [then].

What Are My Misbeliefs?

If I am not willing to give myself fully to God, why? What are the core beliefs and self-talk statements that I am

believing? As you hear these sample statements don’t review with a heart attitude of condemnation, but

exploration!

1) ____________________________________________

2) ____________________________________________

3) ____________________________________________

4) ____________________________________________

5) ____________________________________________

Check out the entire teaching on the topic via video, audio or teaching script. Isn’t it time you joined a revolution?

• Video, Audio, Scripts and Exercises -http://www.mylifepointe.com/audio-and-video-teachings-from-olathe-lifepointe-church.aspx

REVOLUTION: Misbeliefs About God - Part 8

3 Things About Telling Yourself the Truth (2 of 3)

2. Baseline of Truth / Beliefs about God

Once you take care of the “sin nature” or “spiritual death” you need to ask yourself if there is an objective standard of truth. If there is, it should be true all the time for all people in all applications. In other words it isn’t simply relative truth or situational truth.

2 Tim 3:16-17 NIV All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Of course the Christian worldview is that Scripture is that truth. Christian Scripture isn’t an additional source of competitive truth to be put in equality of credibility with all other sources. But Scripture is the only authoritative source of truth to compare and subject all others sources to.

As soon as you say that there is a plethora of skeptical self-talk that roars in opposition. These harassing thoughts of internal monologue spring from core beliefs and unresolved questions like…

• What about other religion’s Bibles?
• What about all those contradictions in the Bible?
• What about falsehoods of the oppression of women, endorsement of slavery, allowing polygamy, condoning anti-semitism, etc.?
• The word of God can’t be trusted because of how many various interpretations come of it!

If you haven’t answered these issues there is no wonder you struggle with intimacy with God. What helped others of you overcome these objections?

Check out the entire teaching on the topic via video, audio or teaching script. Isn’t it time you joined a revolution?

• Video, Audio, Scripts and Exercises -http://www.mylifepointe.com/audio-and-video-teachings-from-olathe-lifepointe-church.aspx

REVOLUTION: Misbeliefs About God - Part 7

Have you ever attempted to change your life but deep down knew you didn’t have it in you? One of the writers of the New Testament also found this challenge.

Rom 7:15-25 NIV 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me… 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord! …

What the Apostle Paul is saying is for life change to happen at the deepest levels we must deal with the “sin nature.” From that place we have to ask if we have established a baseline of truth, a final authority of truth in our lives. Once that baseline is established we can move into discovery of our personal objections to truth and thereby identify the misbeliefs we have about God.

3 Things About Telling Yourself the Truth (1 of 3)

1. Sin Nature / Spiritual Death

According to the Christian faith, there is an age-old reason for human problems. Psychological earthquakes occur along fault lines running through a person’s spiritual underpinnings. Human unrest, unhappiness, and turmoil result from a major flaw running through all human behavior: a state of alienation from the Source of all life, peace and joy. This alienation, known through the centuries as sin, is not merely doing certain forbidden acts, but a malignant power that renders us incapable of doing the things that make our lives whole.

So have any of you had testimonies of being incapable of change but when the sin nature issue was dealt with it immediately set you free?

Check out the entire teaching on the topic via video, audio or teaching script. Isn’t it time you joined a revolution?

• Video, Audio, Scripts and Exercises -http://www.mylifepointe.com/audio-and-video-teachings-from-olathe-lifepointe-church.aspx

REVOLUTION: INTERPRETING EVENTS - Part 6

Interpreting the meaning of life’s EVENTS

Most of us think that events cause our ups and downs, never noticing how feelings and actions spring from the thoughts fed by our beliefs. It is not the events themselves, but what we tell ourselves as we interpret what’s happening that makes all the difference.

Our culture is heavily influenced by Freudian philosophy, leading us to believe that psychological healing can come only by exploring the past in depth, and the feelings are primary; feelings are the “real problem” or the main thing to be concerned about. However, the Bible, and now current psychological research, clearly refutes that orientation. Your feelings are no more the cause of your problems than the red spots are the cause of the chicken pox on the face of a child. Feelings are not the cause of your emotional difficulties – they are the results!

The fact is, YOU FEEL THE WAY YOU THINK! The solution to the frustration of gray moods, negative self-concepts, and dismaying habits is to be found in recognizing simple truth: you feel the way you think; you think the way you believe. Learning to control your emotions begins when you learn to listen to self-talk.

In other words, identifying your self talk is the first step to determining what your basic beliefs are. AND you should know, your beliefs we are talking about are NOT THE RATIONAL BELIEFS YOU THINK YOU HAVE. We will talk more about that in a moment.

Matt 7:24-27 NKJV (Jesus said)"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

This story of Jesus is one of my favorites. It tells us straight up that it is not the storms of life that defeat people. It is not the circumstances, the pressures, the card hand we were dealt. What defeats people in life is the refusal of letting truth govern their lives. When we let truth be our objective foundation we will stand through anything. But when truth is exchanged for a disregard our foundation is sandy and cannot sustain the elements of stress.

Yet most people will blame whatever the “event” is in their life for the problems in their life. They point at their spouse, their job, their boss, their kids, their economic condition, their physical limitations, their educational limitations…and the list goes on and on. The first step to living a free life is to recognize that it is not the circumstances of life that are defeating you. It isn’t even your fundamental DNA that seems to sabotage the greatest of dreams. It is simply what you are doing with truth that is making the difference…one way or the other!

Join the REVOLUTION and commit yourself to the 8-week challenge! If you haven’t already, wrap your heart around the first of 8 weeks of teaching via video, audio or teaching scripts. Then check back to patricknorris.net for regular exercises to strengthen you and prepare you for a tremendous life with Christ!

Video, Audio, Scripts and Exercises - http://www.mylifepointe.com/audio-and-video-teachings-from-olathe-lifepointe-church.aspx