Friday, May 24, 2013

WHAT KIND OF LIFE DO YOU WANT TO LIVE?


What does a successful life look like to you? I’m going to have you do a quick exercise, but here are some questions to ask yourself prior to starting: Is success a place or an object? Objects are okay to want, but if you base your success on these kinds of things there can be problems. The saying goes, “The end justifies the means”, and what are you willing to do to get the stuff you want? As Christians, our dreams should be about things that will take a faithful life to achieve. Do you want things that could hamper or kill your growth? This is a second problem with having objects in our dreams. Once you achieve the object, what’s the point of perseverance, hard work, or dedication to the team? Your goal should be a championship, not a scoring title. In 60 seconds write down all the things you can about your dreams for your life.

I listed mine in order:
-A life with God.
          I don’t want to know about God, I want to KNOW God. Jesus didn’t die for us to achieve a ticket into Heaven. He died so we could have a relationship with the Creator. We were reconciled back into a relationship like what Adam and Eve experienced. They walked and talked with the Almighty. Heaven is a byproduct of our relationship with God, it’s not the goal. If heaven is the goal, how terrible will eternity be? You've reached the goal, now you have to stay stagnant for ETERNITY. Relationship with God is the goal. Revelation 3 tells us that he reveals a new side to himself every day in heaven and the angels cry out Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty who was, and is, and is to come. That's what should drive us, not a fear of an eternity spent in hell.

-A life with my family.
          I want my wife to love me more when we’re 100 and wrinkled then she did the day we got married. I want to fill my kids’ minds with so many positive memories that they would have trouble picking which ones would make their top 1000. I want my family to know that they come before any other human being on this planet

-A life worth living (making an impact with and on people).
          I want to live life with people. I want to know that my life meant something. If your goals are to retire on some island away from everyone else, you’re missing out. When you invest in people you always get your money’s worth. The return on investment is always worth the risk. I’ve found that when you challenge and empower people, they become something truly special, the greatest version of themselves. John Maxwell always says, “If you help people accomplish their dreams, they’ll help you accomplish yours.”

-A life where I’m challenged spiritually and personally.
          I’m an athlete, and I love to push. I love to push the boundaries of my body and my prayer life. I want people to remember me for walking the walk. You can’t challenge others to be great without pushing yourself to the limits too.

Our needs can be boiled down to these things: Intimacy with God, feeling loved by someone who knows everything about us, belonging to a group, finding your purpose in life, and being significant in this world. As a young adult, these years of our life are our foundational years. Now is when we determine whether or not we'll achieve these things or the extent to which we achieve them. One of the most common questions I get as a young adults Pastor is, “How do I get where I want to go?” “How do I know it’s where God wants me to go?” I always respond to these questions by asking them, who is influencing you? Rick Burke always used to say this to us in 180, “If God wants to do something in your life, He’ll put a person in your life. If the devil wants to do something in your life, he’ll put a person in your life.” Psalms 32:8 (NLT)-The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Are you seeking God for the answer to these questions? Is he the #1 influencer of your life? Psalms 37:23-24 (NLT)-The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.

The next question I always have for young adults is this: who are your friends and who are your mentors? Proverbs 27 tells us so clearly that our friends are what sharpen us. 1 Peter 5 gives us a biblical process for mentorship. If you want to get somewhere, you’ve got to find someone who can guide you along the way. In our relative world people will say, find your journey, make your mistakes, and learn what works for you. I say, get a road map from others, learn from their mistakes so you don’t have to have their pain, and apply it to your life in any way possible. I can spend $20 really easily. I can either spend it on a steak that will taste great and be gone in an hour, or I can spend it on a book that tells me all a person’s secrets to their personal success and failures. Your mentors give you a lasting picture of what success looks like for you. Your friends determine if you get there or not. They’re the ones who are either pushing you up the hill or dragging you down it. If you’re the only one in your circle of friends that has any potential, EXPAND YOUR CIRCLE. Find people who want to be great. Be the least successful person in your circle, because nothing motivates like competition.

Get a picture of success in your life. Don’t let anyone rob you of your dreams. Allow God to determine the direction of your life, and remember to do His job, the potter has to apply pressure for the pot to go from formless clay into His masterpiece. Be blessed, change the world, and express the love of the Father to everyone you meet. 

Thursday, May 16, 2013

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SECOND TERM IS ALREADY MARRED BY A LEGACY OF SCANDAL

WASHINGTON TIMES: A LEGACY OF OBAMA SCANDAL
     It's been a "bumpy" ride for the Obama camp to start 2013. Their only real positives are the unemployment percentage, as flawed as it is, has dropped steadily(UNEMPLOYMENT #'S), and the many vacations his family has been able to take I'm sure have been a great break from the madness (4 MILLION DOLLAR HAWAII VACATION ON THE TAXPAYERS DIME).  However, there's the fact that only now are we seeing anyone be noticeably punished for the Fast and Furious fiasco, there's Benghazi, the IRS singling out Rightwing organizations, the unlawful tapping and seizure of AP phone records, and the fact that now the "real" numbers are coming out on just how detrimental Obamacare will be to the national debt. So lets start with F&F:

FAST AND FURIOUS: WALL STREET JOURNAL- F&F REPORT
     "Operation Fast and Furious was run by the ATF in Phoenix in 2009 and 2010. Agents allowed sales of about 2,000 guns, mostly variants of AK-47 rifles, to suspected smugglers. The aim was to prosecute top traffickers, but many of the firearms have turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S., and hundreds more are unaccounted for."

     "The report came 645 days after a Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was killed in a shootout with traffickers in Arizona. Two guns tied to Fast and Furious were found at the scene."

     "Mr. Holder "has clearly known about these unacceptable failures, yet has failed to take appropriate action for over a year and a half,'' Mr. Issa said."

     "By dismissing some of the most heated allegations against Mr. Holder while finding dysfunction beneath him, the report leaves room for both sides to battle on. Congressional Republicans continue to demand access to White House documents that President Barack Obama has shielded, citing executive privilege."
    
BENGHAZI: FOX NEWS: EMAILS TAINT WHITE HOUSE TALKING POINTS
     "The documents also showed the White House, along with several other departments, played a role in editing the so-called "talking points," despite claims from the White House that it was barely involved. And they showed then-CIA Director David Petraeus objected to the watered-down version that would ultimately be used as the basis for U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's flawed comments on several TV shows the Sunday after the attack."
    

     "The early versions stated that "Islamic extremists with ties to Al Qaeda" participated in the assault and discussed links to militant group Ansar al Sharia -- and referenced prior attacks against western targets in Benghazi, as well as intelligence warnings."

     "State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland: The penultimate point could be abused by Members to beat the State Department for not paying attention to Agency warnings so why do we want to feed that either?"


POLITICO: BENGHAZI DEATHS COULD'VE BEEN PREVENTED BY MILITARY ACTION
     "The U.S. military could have intervened and saved at least two of the four Americans killed in the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Sen. Susan Collins said Sunday."

     "Collins said there was a plane in Tripoli with security officers who were held up"
 
IRS TARGETS CONSERVATIVES: CNN: IRS SCANDAL
     "The Internal Revenue Service has admitted that it targeted groups with "tea party" or "patriot" in their names. We've since learned that a wider array of groups concerned about spending, debt, high taxes, government growth, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights -- basically any conservative or libertarian issue you can name -- was targeted."

     "On Wednesday, the president requested and received the resignation of Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller -- but that is not enough. The executive branch has been aware of this scandal for nearly two years and now, only as a result of massive public pressure, the administration has found a scapegoat."

     "The president did not announce that Miller was responsible, and we still don't know who came up with the idea to target the tea party. The IRS is under the president's jurisdiction. He needs to fully recognize the gravity of these charges."

     "The First Amendment was written to protect many different types of expression. But the Founding Fathers' primary concern -- and a first principle for every generation of Americans that followed -- was the protection of political speech. Apparently, the IRS was even targeting people who criticized how the country was being run."

     "We have learned that some tea party groups had unduly long wait times for tax-exempt status. Some eventually withdrew their applications out of frustration."

     "This is not about Republican vs. Democrat or conservative vs. liberal. It is about arrogant and unrestrained government vs. the rule of law. Imagine if the IRS had targeted liberal or progressive groups under the Bush administration. The First Amendment cannot be renegotiated depending on which party holds power."

AP PHONE RECORDS: REUTERS: AP RECORDS SEIZURE JUST LATEST STEP
     "The Justice Department's controversial decision to seize phone records of Associated Press journalists was just one element in a sweeping U.S. government investigation into media leaks."

     "Attorney General Eric Holder, who recused himself from involvement in the case, largely sidestepped questions from angry lawmakers on Wednesday about his department's secret seizure of AP records, which the news agency revealed on Monday."

     "The seizure, denounced by critics as a gross intrusion into freedom of the press, has created an uproar in Washington and led to questions about how the Obama administration is balancing the need for national security with privacy rights."

     "Floyd Abrams, a prominent First Amendment and media attorney, said, 'The breathtaking scope of these subpoenas served on the telephone companies might suggest that after all this time, they have no idea who they're looking for. Justice's targeting of a large number of phone lines and the AP journalists who use them taken together, certainly makes it look like the largest, most intrusive action by the government vis-a-vis the press that I can remember.'"

OBAMACARE: CHRISTIAN POST: OC TO ADD 6.2 TRILLION TO NATIONAL DEBT
     "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, passed three years ago with President Obama saying it would not add one dime to the federal deficit, is now projected to add $6.2 trillion to the deficit and inflict severe cuts to Medicare and Medicaid payments to hospitals and physicians."

WATCH THIS 2 MINUTE CLIP:


     So needless to say, the President has had a bit of a rough go of it the last couple months. He has made a positive impact on the gun business however: