AnthonyMilas.net

I once read an article about fear. It said "All of us are born with the fear of falling, of the dark, of lobsters, of falling on lobsters in the dark, of public speaking, and of the words "Some Assembly Required." I would like to add my two cents and share A FEAR that is a HUGE THING leaders in church world deal with. It’s called the fear of THE UNKNOWN. Now let’s be honest FEAR IS A VERY POWERFUL EMOTION! Plus it does not always have to be a negative one. For instance, as leaders we can FEAR missing OUR GOD GIVEN OPPORTUNITY TO IMPACT OUR WORLD FOR CHRIST , and TO LEAD OTHERS TO HIM . This is a good fear, because it can be used to MOTIVATE US to EMBRACE all that God brings our way. However FEAR CAN BE HARMFUL , paralyzing, and eliminating. It can eliminate you and keep you from the things that you should and are called to do. Your fear comes because we may feel UNWORTHY and UNPREPARED , and it’s this FEAR that becomes DESTRUCTIVE and DEBILITATING ....

I think I'll do a couple blogs on FEAR. Did you know FEAR and FAITH cannot coexist? It’s true, and as followers of Jesus we are called to LIVE BY FAITH, and to PUT ASIDE FEAR. So, what are you afraid of? What it is that sends GOOSEBUMPS up and down your spine, brings your heart to your throat and makes you want to get sick just thinking about it? Snakes, heights, spiders, enclosed spaces? H ow about the thought that JESUS has entrusted to us the SPREADING OF THE GOSPEL? How about the thought that WE MUST NOT FAIL because ETERNITY HANGS IN THE BALANCE? How about the REALITY that there is no time to play games? The weight of the responsibility JESUS has called us to can be cripple us through FEAR. These thoughts can become intimidating, overwhelming, and scary! These thoughts have the ability to stir up all sorts of NEGATIVE EMOTIONS, but I have some good news for you LEADER. As a follower of JESUS CHRIST, you and I do not have to submit to those EMOTIONS of inadeq...

So I got this phone call the other day from a pastor who was deciding to continue supporting Brother Kim, you know the Brother Kim who sold everything and left everything to move to a communist nation to feed starving children and adults, both physically and spiritually, that Brother Kim. These were the questions this pastor asked me... What version of the Bible do we use What kind of music do we play How do we view sanctification Are we on the left or right (whatever the heck that means) Questions he didn't ask me... How many souls have been saved the past year How many people have been baptized How many lives have been salvaged by the Gospel How many churches are you planting SERIOUSLY! I almost couldn't believe this phone call. Here was a church deciding to continue supporting Brother Kim not based on how many souls are being saved and fed physically AND spiritually (BY THE WAY HE DID NOT ASK ONE QUESTION ABOUT BROTHER KIMS MINISTRY), or how many leaders were being develo...

This is reposted from www.stevejesmer.com. HONOR THE WORD OF GOD I honor and love Your commands. I meditate on Your decrees. (Psalms 119:48 NL T) We all have questions we want to ask God, big questions. And every weekend we get the opportunity to hear from God through His Word. But do we really listen? Do we really expect to hear from God? Are we honoring God's word in how we attend church, how often we attend church, how we focus during the preaching of God's word? Honor the Word of God by attending your local church's worship experience every weekend. We get 6 days to work for our families, but we only get one day to worship with our family! Make the weekends count, don't waste your weekend, worship with it! Honor the Word of God by listening intently to the Pastor's sermon. If you have trouble staying awake, drink more coffee, grab a 5 hour energy, pop a caffeine pill;-) BUT DO SOMETHING... Don't just let week after week go by and you are sleeping thro...

This is reposted from www.stevejesmer.com. HONOR GOD WITH YOUR WEALTH - BRING THE FULL TITHE & LIVE SACRIFICIALLY Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. (Proverbs 3:9 NLT) I love tithing. A tithe literally means "a tenth" or 10%. It is God's way of teaching the heart to always honor Him. Why does He use money? Because money is the greatest competitor for our heart's HONOR & WORSHIP! We all like to treat money like its our god. We often believe that money will make everything better. We think, "If I just had a little more money then my life would be so much better." But that is a lie, because everytime we get that little more money, our lives aren't any better, we still have the same stresses that money brought in the first place. Why? Because so often we believe that MORE, MEANS MORE FOR ME. Instead, the Bible teaches that we should GIVE IN PROPORTION TO WHAT WE GET. This is talking about tithing. ...

This is reposted from www.stevejesmer.com. CELEBRATION AND EXPECTATION HONOR GOD Then I will praise God's name with singing, and I will honor Him with thanksgiving. (Psalms 69:30 NLT) At The Dialogue Church, we are very intentional about creating a culture of celebration and expectation. On the weekends every staff member, every ministry director, every team leader, & every volunteer work very hard to create an atmosphere of celebration and expectation. We truly believe that JESUS IS GOING TO CHANGE LIVES LIKE NEVER BEFORE! We are privileged to serve Him! Every week we are intentional about clapping, hooting, and hollering about LIFE CHANGE! Whenever one sinner turns to follow Jesus all of heaven throws the biggest block party! And we want to celebrate what heaven celebrates! So, we clap, we yell, we chant, we passionately lift up the name of Jesus through singing, preaching, giving, serving, and leading! A culture of passionate celebration over the blessings of God and His...

This is reposted from www.stevejesmer.com. HONOR IS A MATTER OF THE HEART: ATTITUDE & APPROACH Honor is not simply what you say, but HOW you say it. Honor is not simply what you do, but HOW you do it. It's about attitude and approach. Teach me Your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to Your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor You. (Psalms 86:11 NLT) HONOR HAPPENS IN THE HEART. Honor happens first in the heart. Honor is homegrown in the heart. Honor is honed in the humble of heart.A pure heart honors God. A heart that honors grows pure. An impure heart dishonors God. Dishonor corrupts the heart.You can't honor when your motives are impure, no matter what your lips might be saying. So, church leader, ministry team member, Christ-follower, husband, wife, teenager, mom, dad, teacher - HOW IS YOUR HEART? Do you approach Jesus, His Church, your ministry, your pastor, your spouse, God's House with an attitude of gratitude or with impure selfish moti...

Reposted from www.stevejesmer.com. Follow Pastor Steve Jesmer on Twitter @stevejesmer. It's time to BRING HONOR BACK to the House!For far too long we have removed Gods House from our Homes and our Homes from God's House! It's time we BRING HIS HOUSE & HIS HONOR BACK! It's time we bring HIS HOUSE back into OUR HOMES, and OUR HOMES back into HIS HOUSE! Recently, at the C3 2011 Conference hosted by Ed Young (www.edyoung.com) at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX there was an explosion of HONOR IN THE HOUSE! Some have called it an HONORFEST! i LOVE iT! I started my own study on HONOR and have stolen a lot from Pastor Ed Young and the other speakers at this conference; I also stole a lot from Pastor Anthony Milas and his notes on the conference (www.anthonymilas.net). Here are some of learnings from honor! And I HOPE TO STIR UP AN HONOR-REVOLUTION IN YOUR HOME & GOD'S HOUSE! HONOR STARTS FROM GOD & COMES FROM GOD My victory and honor come from God alone. ...

In case your not aware of this Jesus had the most CUTTING EDGE ministry of his day. People everywhere were experiencing life change, being baptized, and following the Lord as a result of what He was doing. Here are some of the cool things Jesus was doing with His church that separated him from the religious organizations of His day... Jesus focused on RELATIONSHIPS not RULES Jesus didn't focus on how screwed up people were, He focused on what they could be Jesus took time to live in COMMUNITY Jesus attended events, and hung with people "HE WASN'T SUPPOSE TOO" Jesus focused on GRACE AND TRUTH Jesus MET people where they were Jesus drew CROWDS Jesus taught in COMPELLING and CREATIVE ways Jesus GAVE freely, sacrificially, and unconditionally Jesus focused on peoples HEARTS And just when you think everyone would want to do what Jesus was doing, especially the "religious" crowd, just the opposite was true. It wasn't enough for lives to be forever changed, ...