J.R. Lee

There is a situation happening right now with a friend of mine.  He called me a few days ago to tell me what had happened and I thought about this…

I have approximately 8-900 friends on Facebook and 1600 or so “followers” via Twitter.  Do I think that all of them are legitimate friends?  Probably not.  Acquaintances maybe – but not true friends.

Proverbs say’s, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs 17:17).  Also, “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).

It’s easy to be a friend when things are going well, but you find out who your real friends are when they aren’t.

Paul wrote in Romans 5:7-8: “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

If you have forgotten that God loved you in spite of who you were – than you are probably a fair-weather friend.  If you haven’t forgotten – demonstrating the same grace that was shown to you isn’t quite as difficult.

So what kind of “friend” are you?  Don’t say it – live it.

I guarantee that this week will be life-changing for many of the people who fill the house on Sunday.  Invite everyone you can and get there early…

Don’t forget that I asked 40-50 of you to move to the 9:30 Worship Experience in order to free up seats at 11:00.  Thanks for doing so and I look forward to the new 9:30 crowd on Sunday!

“I gotta see it to believe it”.  I’ve said that hundreds of times and heard it even more.  It does seem like seeing something first hand would make it much easier to believe.

But what happens when we can’t see what we are looking for?

Maybe you have a kid running a hundred miles per hour in the wrong direction.  You pray for him, speak into his/her life, but nothing is working.   Proverbs says:  Train a child up in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it.  Sometimes, that promise looks much more like a suggestion.  What then?

Maybe you are struggling financially but God leads you to give. Malachi says, that we should test God in the area of our finances and see if He will not pour out a blessing on our behalf.  What if that promise doesn’t seem to be applicable to you?

Having to “see it to believe it” is nothing more than a convenient cop-out.  I think that in order to experience a miracle – there are times we must believe it BEFORE we see it.  Otherwise, we’re prone to give up when we may have been 5 minutes away from a miracle.

• It was good to back on Sunday!
• Great day all the way around.  Love what we are experiencing right now!
• The two books I am reading right now are both fantastic. Leadership Gold and Leading on Empty.
• Took Monday and worked off-site the entire day.  I am going to do that much more often as the change in scenery helped me focus.
• We changed the food that we provide for our Partners every Sunday morning to a much healthier variety.  I think health is a spiritual issue – not just a physical one.
• Took the family to Centennial Park Sunday night so the girls could play in the fountain.  It’s amazing how many people came out to play in a sprinkler system on steroids.
• We are doing a huge baptism event on June 14th at both Worship Experiences.  Praying to baptize 50 people!  Sign up by emailing baptism@freedomlive.net!
  
• I told everyone at 11:00 on Sunday that we needed about 40-50 people to switch to 9:30 so we could free up some seats.  Thanks in advance for doing that!
• Can’t wait til Sunday!  God is going to do some great things in the lives of people!

Dr. Jerry Falwell
President Obama
Pastor Rick Warren
President George W. Bush

I hate the following phrase, but people use it all the time:  “Love them or hate them”

The men listed above are incredible leaders and have lived and/or are living extraordinary lives.  You may not approve of everything they have done – but your approval or disapproval doesn’t diminish their impact.  It’s REALLY easy to make a great call when you are sitting in the stands gorging yourself on foot-long chili dogs.

You can’t please everyone.  Stop trying.  It’s easy to lead when everyone loves your decisions.  It’s much more difficult when you have to stand alone.

I pray that I have the guts to do both – love me or hate me.