Jack Rambles: the blog of eric gilbert

The greatest risk you can take in your life is to risk nothing with your life.

Haman felt he deserved a promotion within the kingdom. Contacting his inner circle, a conclusion was drawn: The Jews were a stumbling block in the path of his continued political advancement. A wicked plan was derived. The Jews were to be destroyed; removed all together from the Persian Empire. Word spread quickly of the sinister plot.

A Jewish bookkeeper, Mordecai, heard of the evil plan and immediately sprang into action. He decided his best defense would be a good offense. He ran to the palace, demanding to meet with his niece who long ago had been taken into the King’s court. She was secretly a Jew. If he could convince her to utilize her influence with the King, the enemy’s plot could be averted. Esther was reluctant to embrace the gravity of her uncle’s words. Surely, Haman could not be so evil. But Mordecai would not relent! He had to help his beloved niece discover who she was really destined to be. Esther was a bride of the king. She had influence, but if she did not use it for the sake of her people, Mordecai assured her that all Jews would be destroyed — including her.

Mordecai posed a heart-piercing question, “If not her, then who?” Esther, at a climatic moment, embraced her destiny and forever established her legacy with one simple statement, “If I perish, I perish.” Esther came to realize that “for such a time as this” she had been brought to the kingdom. She broke political protocol by doing a very politically incorrect thing, and thereby utilized her God-given influence with the King. The culture of her land had set in order a plan to annihilate her people, but because she embraced her true identity, the enemy’s plan was shaken to its very foundation. In fact, Haman’s plot ended with his own neck hanging from the gallows he had built for influential Jews.

An entire culture was shaken because of one woman’s courage to risk it all! Esther found a love for something beyond herself and embraced a cause greater than her own well-being. While doing so, she probably never even realized that the greatest risk she took while denying Mordecai’s plea was her initial unwillingness to risk anything! Had she remained passive, she would have surely been killed during a Haman-led Holocaust.

Is there a cause you would risk everything for? To live life without finding something worth dying for, may be the greatest risk of all!

The enemy is ever-persistent in his attempts to numb our hearts with indifference. As history teaches us, the reason for hell’s consistent push for us to be politically correct and blend in with the indifference of our age is because all that must happen for evil to prevail is for good men and women to do nothing!

The Church is Scripturally identified as the bride of King Jesus. Now is the time to take a page from Esther’s book and advance forward into the realm of faith-filled risks. A nation’s livelihood may very well depend on it.

“If any man seeks to save his life he shall lose it” —Jesus

Charles Scwab was the first man to ever make $1 million dollars a year while working for someone else. There were millionaires at the time, just none who arrived at the status while on another man’s payroll. 

Schwab’s rise to elite financial status came as a result of his employment under Andrew Carnegie. He was responsible for overseeing Carnegie’s empire of steel manufacturing. A reporter once asked Schwab what qualification equipped him to earn $3,000 a day. Was it his knowledge of steel? “Nonsense,” he firmly replied. “I have lots of men working for me who know more about steel than I do.”

Schwab believed he was handsomely compensated because of his ability to motivate others. “I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm, the greatest asset I possess.  Any leader who can do that can go almost anywhere and name almost any price.”

Following the path of Charles Schwab’s turn of the century insight, motivational speaking has now become a multi-billion dollar a year industry. Motivators are apparently highly valuable because great ones are few and far between.  Most people desperately need motivation, so they can’t effectively give it to others. (After all, we humans tends to give the least of the thing we personally need the most.)

Some time ago, I was persuaded by a friend to attend a conference where great speakers were set to encourage an audience with rousing speeches. I reluctantly tagged along. I was shocked, when arriving at 7:30am in the morning, there were already 15,000 people present. People were motivated to get motivated! It was a strange scene. Expectancy was in the air. The mass of people was a abuzz with anticipation. You could discern each one’s certainty, “I will leave this place feeling better about life.” 

An hour into the six-hour ordeal, all I felt was ripped off.

Each speaker was there to motivate you to do only one thing: Buy his material! In my estimation, hundreds of thousands of dollars of resources were sold in six short hours. At the end of each segment, the crowd ran like cattle through a gate to greener pastures, stampeding product tables. I remember sitting there, trying to save my toes from annihilation, thinking to myself, “The Gideons could save these people a lot of money.”

Gideons give away Bibles for free. 

The Bible is filled with motivational encouragement: men & women overcoming challenges to arise successfully from public stonings, sickness, persecution, and death.

The Bible is all about comebacks! Within It’s pages raging seas are calmed and even parted, the mouths of lions are stopped, giants are killed, walled cities fall, and the underdog always wins! Yet there is a fundamental difference between the motivational tactics of Scripture and those of the world: Secular motivation is based on being self-made, while Scripture provokes us to seek God first and then everything else will come into line. (Ref. Matt 6:33) Secular motivation is all about what I can do. Scriptural motivation is founded upon what God can do through me. The first is natural, the latter is supernatural. The former will run out quickly, the second is resourced by an endless supply.

Secular motivation is all about what I can do for me, Scriptural motivation is centered upon what I can do for others. One has it’s reward in earth, the other reaps an eternal recompense!

Do you need some motivation? I encourage you to stampede the Holy Bible pages of a God whose love is undefeated. With every line you read, faith in the God of all creation with further rise within you. Prepare to discover a Holy Spirit expectantly waiting to reveal Himself to you and through you. He is ready to release supernatural empowerment into your life through the newly opened portal of your ever-expanding faith! You aren’t waiting on God, He is waiting on you. You may also come to realize that harnessing the motivation to achieve true success isn’t as expensive to your checkbook as you have been led to believe. It will, however, cost you something significant in your heart: Your pride.

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted. (Matthew 23:12)

“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.’ (Romans 12:10)

Mandy and I recently visited the administrative offices of one of America’s fastest growing churches. We were beyond amazed to observe the undeniable culture of honor that had been created. Every staff member, leader, and volunteer was intentional in their attempt to build up with honor (through edifying, affirming words) each new person they introduced to us. I honestly had never witnessed anything quite like it before. It was incredible. Best of all, the product of their honorable behavior was a love-filled atmosphere of acceptance, joy and peace. My life has been changed by experiencing it.

I’m so glad that a core value of 3trees Church has always been to cultivate a culture of honor. After this wk, I have never been more certain of how important this principle really is to our future! I am so moved that I have spent extended time in study reviewing anew what the Bible has to say about honor. It is staggering to Scripturally observe that, without fail, in nearly every Biblical account involving the subject: God honors honor and with wrath judges dishonor.

The sad reality is that dishonor is always a symptom of something deeper and more toxic infecting a person’s heart. After all, it was dishonor for Jesus’ approach to ministry that led the Pharisees to crucify the greatest move of God the earth had ever seen. That is a heavy, heavy thought! And after an in-depth Biblical study of the subject, I am certain that a dishonorable attitude and/or behavior toward those who are over, beside, or under us is a sin.

I recognize this is a challenging principle to incorporate into our lifestyles, because we live in an increasingly dishonorable society. We do not want anyone telling us what to do and we tend to question every motive and decision made (especially by those over us) in corporate, religious, and governmental structures. Honor is not the norm. But, this is what makes it so beautiful when you do have the rare chance to see this timeless Biblical truth lived out. May we come to realize the Bible does not suggest we behave honorably, the Bible commands us to do so.

Here are some Biblical excerpts to help encourage you to embrace and live a life of honor:

HONOR JESUS
John 5:23 
23 that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honors not the Son honors not the Father that sent him.

HONOR JESUS’ SACRIFICE
Revelation 5:12 
12 saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might and honor, and glory, and blessing.

HONOR GOD
1 Timothy 1:17 
17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

HONOR GOD THROUGH TITHING
Proverbs 3:9 9 
Honor Jehovah with thy substance, And with the first-fruits of all thine increase:

HONOR MARRIAGE
Hebrews 13:4
4 Let marriage be had in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

HONOR MEN
1 Peter 2:17 
17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God.

HONOR WOMEN
1 Peter 3:7
7 Ye husbands, in like manner, dwell with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor unto the woman, as unto the weaker vessel, as being also joint- heirs of the grace of life; to the end that your prayers be not hindered.

HONOR WIDOWS
1 Timothy 5:3 
3 Honor widows that are widows indeed.

HONOR FATHERS & MOTHERS
Matthew 15:4 
4 For God said, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death.

HONOR EMPLOYERS
1 Timothy 6:1 
1 Let as many as are servants under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the doctrine be not blasphemed.

HONOR MINISTERS
Philippians 2:29 
29 Receive him (a visiting preacher named, Epaphroditus) therefore in the Lord with all joy; and hold him in honor:

HONOR SPIRITUAL LEADERS
1 Timothy 5:17 17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.

Dawson ran into our bedroom yelling with a sense of desperation, “Spider! Spider! There’s a spider in my room!”

I asked, “What kind of spider?”

By placing his thumbs and fingers together, he made as big of a circle as his small hands would allow, and emphatically responded, “A big, big one! Now, come kill it Dad!”

I made my way into his room. However, Dawson refused to re-enter the invested space! From the hallway, with a craned neck and big eyes, he pointed to the spot where he had last seen his wretched nemesis — the big, big spider. I picked up the building block to which his shaking little index finger and quivering, four-year old voice directed me. There was the spider. It could have easily sat on top of a No. 2 pencil eraser and still had room to spare. The big, big spider was actually the itsy, bitsy spider.

Victoriously leaving his room, having become his hero anew, I realized something: Fear distorts the truth. Dawson really thought the spider in his room was bigger than it actually was. How many of us have allowed the enemy to distort our perception, resulting in false truths that terrorize our peace of mind? Fear has caused us to see our debt, illness, and even relational issues as bigger obstacles than they actually are!

Fear is faith in need of an attitude adjustment. Our God is exceedingly great. It is time to see a big God instead of a big problem. The result will automatically produce a different perception of our problem: It will become smaller!

AW Tozer said it this way, “A low-view of God is the cause of hundreds of lesser evils, but a high-view of God is the solution to thousands of problems.”

I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. (Nehemiah 6:3)

This was Nehemiah’s response to a great attack on his great work. Tasked with rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, he was forced to overcome more than just the challenges of construction. Perhaps his greatest adversity was simply overcoming distractions.

Sanballat, was a man who had made it his life’s goal to hinder the progress of Nehemiah’s assignment from the King. This vindictive foe developed a sinister plot to send messengers into the town square to read derogatory, prepared statements about Nehemiah’s leadership. The town squares of today’s society are online. In 2012, Sanballat’s tactic would be like using social media for the purpose of maliciously attacking someone’s character: utilizing status updates, comment sections, and tweets or retweets for the purpose of discrediting the life’s work of a leader.

How would you respond if someone attacked you on Facebook or Twitter? If it has happened, how did you respond?

Sanballat sent his open letters (filled with false accusations) directly into the social center of the people Nehemiah was trying to lead. He fully intended to destroy Nehemiah’s effectiveness as a leader. His plan was simple: Limit Nehemiah’s influence by damaging his reputation. Undoubtedly, at the very least, he desired to distract Nehemiah from building by provoking him to spend time defending his reputation and honor.

Amazingly, Nehemiah stayed focused on the task his King had assigned him; ignoring the ridiculous tactics of his enemy. In fact, he gave only one simple response to Sanballat, and with it displayed the passion within his heart, “I am doing a GREAT WORK, so I can not come down.” In other words, I’m not coming down to the enemy’s level!

Nehemiah knew the only way his enemy could hinder a great work was to distract a great leader. He decided to let barking dogs bark — leaving the management of his PR campaign to God. Meanwhile, he stuck to leading his team of builders. 52 days later, Nehemiah completed a GREAT WORK — the same work his predecessor had failed to accomplish in ten years! Sanballat’s strategy may have worked successfully for years, thoroughly distracting lesser leaders, but it was no match for Nehemiah’s focused determination and persistence.

Leaders, refuse to come down from the great work that God has called you to complete! Like Nehemiah, if you stay focused on the assignment the King has given you, in the end, you will also be able to say: “And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard of us, they perceived that our work was of God!” (Neh 6:16)

I met with a young man in our church recently. I love his heart. I baptized him a few months ago and have taken a personal interest in him. I see such kindness in him, that I asked him to serve in our children’s ministry. He was delighted.

After we talked about the opportunity, he said he filled out a card asking to serve in our preschool ministry a year ago and never heard anything. He assumed we weren’t interested in him. I was devastated. Hopefully, he simply fell through the cracks of our system, but this type of thing frustrates me more than just about anything.

Responsiveness is paramount in ministry and leadership. Whether it’s an email, a phone call, or Facebook message, most people expect some sort of response. I realize busyness makes this difficult, but it’s an important enough issue to address. I encourage leaders to figure out a process that allows for diligent responsiveness.

Here are 3 problems with unresponsiveness:

It makes a person feel unappreciated – When someone doesn’t get a response back, the person feels they aren’t important enough. They wonder what they’ve done wrong or why they aren’t good enough.

It makes a person feel unloved – Like it or not, unresponsiveness is translated, especially in the church setting, as an indicator of love. If you don’t respond, you must not love them very much.

It makes a person mistrust you or the organization – People will only tolerate unresponsiveness a few times. Want to wreck an organization’s credibility? Become known as unresponsiveness.

So what do you do about it?

• Make responsiveness an extremely high value in the organization.
• Leaders should lead by example.
• Answer all emails and return calls promptly, even if you don’t have an answer yet.
• Have a system is in place to respond to all queries.
• Never ignore a request.

Even in the best environments, situations like the example above will happen. People will feel they’ve not been listened to, that no one cares, or that they are unloved. They’ll take it personal enough to leave the organization.

The more you can do to avoid it the better you will build an atmosphere of genuine trust.

Written by Ron Edmonson

The Pharisees were the religious elect of their day and simply summarized, they were responsible for flat-out demanding that the Romans kill Jesus.

Pilate, the Roman ruler at the time, tried to stop their madness by clearly stating that he saw no reason to kill Jesus. At one point, he even told the Pharisees he was washing his hands of Jesus’ blood.

Nonetheless, they violently proceeded with their plot.

Recognizing he was losing control of a chaotic situation, and yet still not wanting to be a part of murdering an innocent man, Pilate decided to turn into a poltician — but he soon found his attempt to manipulate the crowd was no match for the self-righteous zeal of the Pharisees. Pilate offered to release Barabas (a hardened rebel and life-long criminal) or Jesus, but the Pharisees’ mob had to make the selection. Certain the Pharisees would not allow for the release of a wretched rebel like Barabas, Pilate was shocked when the religious hoards cried for mercy on behalf of Barabas and beckoned for the death of Jesus!

None of us want to believe that we would have been a part of that mob! Nor do we want to contemplate the possibility that we would have ever been a participant in any Pharisical-type agenda during the days of Jesus. But, how can we know for sure that our hearts would have aligned with the right side of the spectrum?

Here is a caricature of a Pharisee that Mark Batterson put together. I believe it very accurately details what the attitude and behavior of a Pharisee look likes:

“Self-righteousness is chief among Pharisees. They are low on humility and high on criticism. That critical spirit results in a focus on the letter of the law with very little room for grace. Pharisees use, or I should say misuse, the Bible as a weapon. And they have an uncanny habit of focusing on what’s wrong instead of celebrating what’s right. They bring division instead of unity. The sow discord instead of peace. They aren’t advancing the Kingdom of God. They are actually undermining it by backbiting and infighting. And instead of building up, they tear down.”

And I will add, they desire to kill anything they can’t understand (or explain) through cynical viewpoints, negative words, and manipulative tactics. (Read Matthew 23 for further insight.)

Do YOU share the attitude of a Pharisee? If so, remember when you are wrongfully judgmental unto even the least, you have done it unto Jesus… (Ref. Matthew 25)