John Markum

Book Review: “It”

No, not the one by Stephen King! This It is by pastor and church leader, Craig Groeschel about the quality that some churches (and organizations) have that makes them succeed, grow, expand, thrive and have obvious momentum. It’s as if God blesses everything some churches do and they can’t ever mess it up. We don’t know what it is. But we know it when we see it, and we want it too. We also know when we don’t see it. We say things like, “This place just doesn’t have it.”

It’s God’s hand of favor and blessing that, aside from the Holy Spirit, we don’t know how to quantify it. But we want to understand it, because we want it! It talks about “it“, literally. I was most pleased with how much time in the book Groeschel takes to stand upon Biblical principles. He does not take the time to try explaining something that we’re all familiar with, yet cannot articulate. Rather, he talks about where God seems to give it the most, and how we can stand upon solid principle and find ourselves in a position to receive it, use it for the Kingdom, and keep receiving it.

I wanted to pick a favorite page or chapter, but the truth is, this book is full of it! That was a compliment, I swear… Anyone in ministry, or considering going into ministry, should get It, read It, and practice It. I loved It

Blessings,

John

Where Religion Fails

The biggest thing that God has taught me in 20+ years of following Jesus, is the most basic:

It’s not about what I do. It’s about who He is.

The implications of this simple thought, however, are far-reaching and profound. You see, religion, of any flavor, is a human attempt to appease a Deity(ies). It’s biggest question ultimately is “How do I not get in trouble?” This is why getting churched-up doesn’t change your life for the positive.

Getting religious only demonstrates how broken and far from God we are. It accentuates our failures and minimizes our successes. And no one stays in that situation for long… unless they fake it. And those who are not willing to fake it begin to see the hypocrisy of those who are. Eventually they come to the conclusion that religion is full of fakers. Sadly, they are correct.

But God knew our broken status and our inability to affect lasting change. His solution was not “do these things and not those things.” Instead it was “Come unto Me all you who are weary and heavy burdened… You’ll find rest for your soul.” You see, it’s not about what you do. It’s about who He is. The best thing we can do, is get close to the Person who makes change happen in our lives for His glory and our good.

Try as you may, you can’t chase away the shadows from your life. So stop attempting to clean your act up and just open the blinds and let the Light come pouring in. And interestingly enough, as we get closer to Jesus, and farther from a list of Do’s-and-Do-Not’s, the darkness that once entangled us becomes far less appealing. We do not overcome our faults by trying harder than we’ve ever tried. We overcome by drawing close to the One who overcame for us.

Blessings,

John

5 Things you MUST do to make 2012 better than 2011

This past week at our Saturday night worship service, I preached on 5 things you must do to make this year better than last year. I thought it would be good to share them with everyone following the blog, so here you are:

  1. Leave the past behind. Phil. 3:12, 13. God cares more about where you are going than where you’ve been.
  2. Do something difficult. Phil. 4:11-13. God is calling you to do things that require Him.
  3. Find yourself in God’s story. Eph. 2:4-7. Start seeing yourself through God’s eyes.
  4. Focus on people. Eph. 4:32. Start seeing other people through God’s eyes.
  5. Start today. 2 Cor. 6:2. Do not hesitate to do what God is calling you to do.

Blessings,

John

The phrase no pain, no gain has been a mantra for athletes and fitness junkies for years. And what they understand about physical pain needs to be broadened to a much more general use in all of our lives. Pain hurts. That's the whole problem. No one enjoys it, and if someone does, we rightfully

The Premium of Pain