TimHowey.Com

Finding God's Plan for You

Hey Guys,

I was in a Small Group Bible Study tonight and someone grabbed me about how to discern God's plan for your life (as opposed to the people who SAY they're doing God's will but are simply justifying what THEY want to do).  I shot him an email when I got home.

Here’s how I try to help others & myself find God's plan for our lives.  Think of it as a "Biblical Checklist."

• Check it with the Bible - Is it clearly right or wrong?  (Psalm 119:133)
• Check it with prayer - Have you prayed and waited for an answer?  (James 1:5)
• Check it with the Holy Spirit - Is God telling you “No”?  (Acts 16:6)
• Check it with circumstances - Do you have a legitimate opportunity?  (Acts 16:7)
• Check it with who God made you - Are you an "eye" trying to be an "ear"?  (1 Corinthians 12:17-18)
• Check it with Bible direction - Has God spoken to you in the word?  (Jeremiah 32:6-8)
• Check it with your pastors - What have they said?  (Hebrews 13:17)
• Check it with yourself - What do you want to do?  (1 Corinthians 16:12)

Hope it helps!

5 Quick Hits

Here are 5 quick updates for everyone...

• "Elementary-age basketball...it's faaaan-tastic" -- I'm coaching Jacob & Karina's basketball teams again this year.  I coach my 3rd grade girls first, then my 5th grade boys show up...back to back.  It's a blast.
• Reading thru the Psalms -- In my continual reading through the Bible (Genesis to Revelation), I'm in Psalms these days.  Rich stuff.  Here were the last couple notes I wrote in my journal today:
• • Psalm 118:6 - "I used this thought last night, when I was teaching Numbers 9-10."
  • Psalm 119:62 - "Wow.  Do I do that?  Rising from bed at midnight, just to praise you & give you thanks for the righteous judgments of the Bible?"
• Operation Christmas Child -- Guess what my family was up to tonight?  We hit up the Dollar Tree to shop for a boy & girl gift for Operation Christmas Child.  We're encouraging every single family to bring a boy & girl gift to Grace for distribution around the world.  Great way to show Christ's love to people.  The deadline is this Sunday!
• • From the Field 1 -- By the way, did you catch last Sunday that we have a Gracer serving in Central Asia who has witnessed children receiving these gifts personally.  It changed their lives!
  • From the Field 2 -- We have another group we support who are serving the people of Middle East who are launching a similar project ("Children Reaching Children") in their neck of the woods.
• Pounding the Pavement -- I'm starting my slow re-engagement with running after the Wichita marathon.  I did 7 miles today with 8x100 meter repeats in the middle.
• Extraordinary Prayer -- I can't wait for Sunday morning.  I believe we're going to talk about some things that will change people's lives in the area of prayer.  (And here's a quick shout out to you 2nd service people...can you shift to 1st or 3rd service & show some of God's love to people...it's wall to wall in there these days!)

Web Bonus - Choosing Your God

Ok...yesterday we closed out our "Beyond" series with the topic "Choosing your God."  We were talking about how HUGELY important it is to choose to serve The Living God.

To talk about that, we were in Nahum 1.

Yes...you read it right...

The Book of Nahum...on Sunday morning...

How do you like them apples?  :-)

Some thots on yesterday:

• The COOLEST Story -- This book was AMAZINGLY relevant to our lives at the start of the 21st century.  It was awesome.
• Why Nahum?  We were into Nahum because it's "the rest of the story" of what happened to the ancient Assyrian capital of Ninevah, after the end of the book of Jonah.  After this MAJOR revival at the end of Jonah, they were unable to do Children's & Youth ministry successfully...they weren't able to pass on THEIR relationship God to their grandchildren & great-grandchildren.
• Diving into the Dates -- Nahum was written somewhere between 663-654 BC (after the fall of Thebes, but before it was rebuilt).  Taking the date of Jonah to be between 784-772 BC (during the reign of Jereboam), that puts the date of Nahum 109-130 years after Jonah.
• A Popular Book? -- As I started, I asked people to raise their hands if they'd EVER heard centered in Nahum.  In 3 services, only 2 hands went up...and 1 of them laughingly later tole me they didn't count because they were raising their hand from hearing us talk about Nahum in the office.  :-)
• The COOLEST Moments -- The coolest moments were life changes we heard about:
• • We had multiple people in EACH service raise their hand to say they had prayed with me to receive Christ as their Lord & Savior.  That never gets old.
  • One wrote, "Our family has recently started attending Grace Church.  I have to say I feel as though a fresh breeze is blowing through my soul as I soak [it] up..."
  • Another wrote, "I prayed with Tim to get help to talk about Jesus to my brother.  Thank you!  This is the exact thing I need."
• Last Week's COOL Moments -- I didn't have the chance the add these comments to last week's blog entry on "Wrestling with God."
• • One wrote, "This message was one I needed big time.  I've grown so much at Grace.  Thanks."
  • Another wrote, "Tim, I got something out of your message before you prayed and really got into the message. God can use whoever He wants to do WHATEVER He wants. Why do we get so fired up over [stuff]?  The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord and it is God who can move it anyone He wants.  I think I saw that instead of getting FIRED UP, We need to simply pray to see the changes we want to happen through whatever vessel God chooses to use.  Thanks..."
    
• The Amazing Prophecies -- The book of Nahum is filled with prophecies about the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC.  For a list of 12 of them with verse references, check out this link to pg.1495 of The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament.
  

Next week, we're on to the subject of "Extraordinary Prayer"...one of my FAVORITE topics.  We'll be talking about some thing's God's been re-teaching me recently & taking me deeper.  I cannot wait for Sunday!

Don't forget that tomorrow night's Bible Study topic is "How to Receive DIRECTION from God" from Numbers 9-10.  Check it out live, or via our online video feed from 6:45-8:00p.

L8R.

2 Job Openings

We have some career opportunities opening up at Grace Church.  We are currently looking to hire 2 people:

1. A Youth Pastor -- to lead our Middle & High School Ministries
2. A Children's Minister -- to lead the day-to-day operations of our Children's Ministries

If you know anyone who would be interested, their first step is to send a resume to careers@graceks.org.

And be praying we discern who the right people are...the people that God has ALREADY decided HE wants in those roles.  Thanks!

6 Minutes on Small Groups

"Beyond: Jonah & Nahum" Wrap Up - Tim Howey from Grace Church on Vimeo.

Web Bonus - Wrestling with God

Our topic yesterday was "Wrestling with God" from Jonah 4.

When someone is "Wrestling with God," they are going through the process of resolving the tension between THEIR desires and what GOD'S will appear to be.

When we find ourselves "Wrestling with God," we're about as successful as this young man in the red shorts.  :-)

Some "thots" on yesterday:

• Several Profession of Christ -- There were several people (10+ or so?) in all 3 services that recognized that they received Christ as their Savior yesterday!
• A Crash Course on Anger -- I said yesterday that one of the symptoms that appear when someone is wrestling with God is "handling anger inappropriately."  It's not a sin to be angry...that's a big myth among Christians...the thought that it's wrong to be angry.   However, we need to know how to handle our anger appropriately (Eph 4:26).  But what does that mean?  We need to:
• 1. Slow ourselves down -- We need to slow down our emotions and our mouth.  A person who doesn't have control over their emotions is defenseless (Pro 25:28).  A person who doesn't have control over their mouth can't control the rest of their body (Jas 3:2).  A person who is quick to anger is a FOOL (Eccl 7:9).
  2. Find out the facts first -- It's amazing how often we see a fact or two, misinterpret what they mean, then get mad about our own misunderstanding & misinterpretation!  We need to avoid judging things by their initial appearance (John 7:24).  We need to make sure we focus on listening before we allow ourselves to get angry (Jas 1:19).  We need to get the full story before we get angry (Pro 18:17).  To do this, we have to place a healthy MIS-trust in our OWN first impression.
  3. Resolve our anger today -- If we let anger stay inside us, without resolving it, we are just ASKING for problems.  Unresolved anger is like a cancer waiting to spring up and affect everyone around you (Heb 12:14-15).  Unresolved anger is like inviting the devil into your home & life...he lives & works in the space provided by unresolved anger (Eph 4:26-27).
• The Jonah Movie -- Guess what I found online this week.  The entire Jonah movie on YouTube.  It's found here.

FYI, this Wednesday night, we're taking a break from our Numbers study for our Ignite Worship Night (7-8 pm).  Make sure you bring some supplies for Hillcrest Transitional Housing (like Hamburger Helper, Chicken Helper, Tuna Helper, boxed cereal, mac & cheese, canned chicken, & laundry detergent).

Next Sunday, we'll close out our "Beyond" series talking about "Choosing your God" from Nahum 1.  Nahum was written about Ninevah some 70-100 years after the story of Jonah.  It's "the rest of the story..."

Hanging with Ravi - Pt.2

Here's part 2 of my time last Friday afternoon with Ravi Zacharias.  (You can read Part 1 here.)

The second part of his talk centered on what the church should do about the global cultural trends he's been observing recently.

His 3-Part Proposal:

1.  We need an apologetic that's not just HEARD, but SEEN (Our Lifestyle) -- This is making sure that we not only PROCLAIM the gospel to pepole, but LIVE the gospel before people.  It's what Francis Shaeffer called the "Two Legs of Evangelism: (1) proclamation & (2) charity."  This is making sure our good works reveal Christ to people as much as our good words.

2.  We need an apologetic that's not just ARGUED, but FELT (Our Passion) -- This is making sure we go beyond just what we say.  It's being sure that Christ IS our #1 passion; that Christ comes before everything else in our lives; that we embrace the fact that our faith in Christ IS our life...knowing that & believing that to our core.  This is living with the passion that Christ IS our life.

3.  We need an approach that reaches not just ENDS, but MEANS (Our Bible) -- He commented that many churches have had a sincere heart to accomplish good "ends" (i.e. to reach people for Christ).  Unfortunately, they have abandoned the Bible as their "means."  In doing so, they have taken the Word of God out of the position God designed it to hold: to change lives.  He said the church needs to make sure to use God's Word as the "means" to the right "ends."

Loved it.  Loved it.  Loved it.

Hanging with Ravi - Pt.1

I had the PRIVILEGE of hearing Ravi Zacharias speak to a group of senior pastors from around KC last Friday afternoon.  It was stimulating, challenging, & encouraging...all at the same time.  I thought I'd share an executive summary of what he talked about.

The first part of his talk centered on some global cultural trends that he's been observing recently.

Global Cultural Trends:

1. The Concept of the "Death of God" -- He pointed to the growing popularization of the concept that "God is dead" (or "there is no God") and the stridency of people now willing to live with its ramifications -- the way people view morality and ethics in our culture is indicative of this.

2.  The West Misunderstands the Discussion -- He said the West erroneously believes it's in a "dialogue" of ideas with a multicultural world.  In actuality, the rest of the world is in "monologue" with the West -- wanting to promote it's religious & cultural views in the West, without reciprocating (& even suppressing by force) by allowing the awareness of Christian ideas within it's borders.  It's one-direction only.

3.  The Trend toward Visual Learning -- He pointed to the trend of society being informed more & more through visual elements.  Entertainment is now supreme.  He also pointed out that people are beginning to blur the lines between the real and the imaginary (i.e. think "virtual worlds").

4.  The Shift to a Younger World -- He pointed out that 60% of the world is not under the age of 24.  And of them, over half live within a 3-hour flight of Singapore (I think that's what he said...I was furiously taking notes then).  This caused him to point out the need for International Youth Ministry efforts to support that growing population.

5.  The Visual/Emotional Generation -- He concluded by saying that our generation has begun to "listen" with its eyes (i.e. visual learning) and "think" with its feelings (instead of it's mind).

Very thought-provoking stuff.  I'll share his proposed solutions tomorrow.

The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team

"Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people (i.e. "regular/imperfect/flawed people") to attain uncommon results." -- Andrew Carnegie

I saw this statement at the bottom of my Leadership Wired newsletter.  Great quote.

Been thinking a lot about teamwork recently.  Even took the staff pastors through a book called The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni.  I LOVED the book.  I'd recommend it to anyone on a team (corporate, ministry, marriage, etc.).

The book is a easy-to-read story of a fictional team which illustrates some of a major dysfunctions which hamper true teamwork & how to overcome them.  It's a quick & insightful.  Even gives you a test to evaluate your level of teamwork.

Get the book & take your team(s) through it.  The 5 dysfunctions (starting with relational issues, and moving to productivity issues) are:

1. Lack of Trust
2. Fear of Conflict
3. Lack of Commitment
4. Avoidance of Accountability
5. Inattention to Results

Anyone else out there read it?

The Greatest Moment

I failed to mention the GREATEST moment of yesterday's services.  We received a handwritten note on one of the Connect Cards, which said:

   "I prayed with you."

Pure celebration.

Luke 15:7.