Tag Archives: perry noble

January 25, 2012

Stop Complaining About What You Don’t Have! (Perry Noble)

By Jones

I don’t often do this but I read a tremendous blog by Perry Noble, pastor of Newspring Church, that I wanted to share with you…  Enjoy!

One of the most common excuses that people seem to give for not doing something great for God (or at least trying something great) is that they don’t have BLANK, but if and when they get BLANK then they will do what God wants them to do.

However, if we are not faithful with what we have NOW then how in the world is He supposed to trust us with what He wants NEXT?

“But Perry,” you say, “I don’t have anything to offer.  Our church doesn’t have what other churches have.”

I say bull!

This thought occurred to me the other day when I was reading through the book of Exodus and read through the exchange between God and Moses.  God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let the people of Israel go.

Moses freaked out, and understandably so…this was a BIG DEAL!  How in the world could Moses do this?  He had been on the backside of the desert for 40 years!  He had actually murdered a man the last time he was in Egypt.  He had never led anything other than a flock of sheep!  This thing was way larger than anything he had ever participated in.

And so finally he asks God in Exodus 4:1 something like, “OK God, what if these people don’t believe me.  After all, this whole burning bush thing is over the top…but I left my Iphone back at the house and cannot put this experience on instagram so that the people will see how incredible it is.  They are not going to believe me!”

The Lord simply replied in Exodus 4:2, “…what is that in your hand?”

Moses told him it was a staff (like God didn’t know) and then God proceeded to use the staff that Moses had in his hand to bring about an incredible miracle (you can read this for yourself in Exodus 4:1-8!)

The object of the miracle wasn’t something that Moses had to go out and find…he already had it in his hand.  (Just like in John 2 where Jesus turned the water into wine the water jars that were used in the miraculous transformation were already in the house!!!)

What I’m saying is that you already have in your hand what you need to take your next step in your walk with Christ.

Some are saying, “I don’t see how He can use what I feel like I have.”

I promise you…He can.

  • Do you have confusion?  He can use it to clarify truth about Himself and cause you to love Him more deeply.
  • Do you have a shady past?  He can use it to reach others who are currently in the same situation but feel as if there is no way they could ever get free of what they struggle with.
  • Do you have pain?  He can take pain and turn it into progress; in fact, He is the only one I know who can!
  • Do you have just a few dollars to your name?  He can take just a little and turn it into a whole bunch (remember the loaves and fish.)
  • Do you have bitterness towards someone?  He can take it, heal it and then use your situation to tell others that they can be free from the prison that unforgiveness puts us in.
  • Do you have a special talent or ability?  He can use it…and He knows how it needs to be used best because He loved you enough to give it to you in the first place.

He has blessed us all with the ability to do way more than we ever thought or imagined we could accomplish, but that process begins today, with what we have and with who we are.  We just need to stop asking Him for the next best thing and start thanking Him for what we have in our hands!  (AND…if we don’t know what it is that we have, then we should ask!  James 1:5)

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February 4, 2011

What If? (by Perry Noble)

By Jones

Sometimes you read something and you just KNOW it has to be read by everyone you know.  Here’s one of those things for me…  It’s an excerpt from a blog post by Perry Noble, pastor of NewSpring Church in South Carolina.

But before you read it, make sure your perspective is prepared to shift…

What if there was a cancer center that had the cure for cancer?  And…you discovered that you had the disease?  And….someone told you about the cancer center…so you went there, received treatment and were cured!!!

How would you respond?

  • Would you simply be content with going back to that cancer center once a week (or month, whenever you happened to find the time) and sing some songs about the healing you received?
  • Would you want to dive into the complexities of the ingredients that were used in your cure and try your best to form an opinion and debate with others who had been healed of that disease?
  • Would you be ok with after you were cured that NO ONE ELSE was ever cured at “your cancer curing center” because you simply wanted to become a bunch of former cancer patients who were obsessed with your own healing, forgetting what it was like to actually have the disease and forgetting those outside the walls that still desperately needed to be cured?
  • Would you pass by hundreds and thousands of cancer patients in your lifetime, looking down on them and feeling superior to them because you don’t have cancer anymore but they do?
  • Would you find other cancer centers that are actually still being used to cure people and try your best to attack and discredit those cancer centers?

No one with a compassionate bone in their body would even THINK of doing the scenarios listed above if they have had cancer, been healed and knew others who needed that same healing…and if people DID respond like the scenarios above we would call them cruel, rude, inconsiderate and ungoldy…

Yet in church, chances are we would call them normal!

Reality is that if you are in Christ then you were cured of something WAY worse than cancer!!!  AND there are BILLIONS on this planet that need that same cure…let’s go get them!!!

For some reason when a large hospital is built people applaud…but when a large church is built people get mad.  I am simply asking…which one does more good when it comes to the perspective of eternity?

 

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January 21, 2011

Forgive Us Lord!

By Jones

Yesterday, Perry Noble posted this prayer on his blog and I just can’t stop thinking about it.  So I wanted to share it with you so you can pray it too!

*****

Dear Lord, please forgive us, YOUR church…

#1 – For praying small prayers.  We read in the Scriptures where YOU sent FIRE from heaven, you healed sick people, you brought the dead back to life, you put interstate highways through the Red Sea, you slayed giants, you enabled people to walk through fire, you spoke and the world EXPLODED in creation and you said we would do greater things in John 14:12…yet we refuse to pray and ask for BIG things because we believe that somehow Your reputation is on the line.  May we pray BIG PRAYERS!

#2 – For allowing Disney to out dream us!  They have a mouse, we have Your Holy Spirit and yet we have seemed to drift towards the normal, boring and predictable.  You said in Ephesians 3:20 that you are able to do WAY more than we could ask or imagine…and maybe you are, maybe the best we can imagine is a few people in a room talking about things that the rest of the world does not care about.  However, I refuse to believe that a company without YOUR Spirit should be able to trump YOUR church who does have YOUR Spirit when it comes to big dreams.  We should have THE BEST artists in the world…may we recapture that!

#3 – For allowing Apple to out innovate us!  You are the Author of creation…YOU!  And since Your Word is clear that we are created in YOUR image then it is so clear that YOUR church should be leading the way when it comes to innovation and creativity.  You are FAR from dull and boring…your church should be as well!  May we STOP doing poor work and then blaming it on Your Holy Spirit.

#4 – For allowing a rising stock market to celebrate more than we do.  For some reason in church world it is ok to celebrate when our 401k’s increase in value, but it is NOT ok to talk about/celebrate when people repent of their sins and trust Christ as their Savior, despite what YOU said about the angels celebrating in Luke 15.  For some reason we don’t like to celebrate when a church sees people turn their lives over to you.  We don’t like to celebrate it when another church grows.  The truth is we want great things to happen in OUR church…but not in someone else’s.

#5 – For allowing credit card companies to out market us!  We all know the phrase “what’s in your wallet” because they market their product so darn well; however, all too often we seem to be content sitting back and “trusting You” when in actuality You have entrusted and empowered us to go and reach the world with the Gospel…that takes “marketing!”  We have the greatest message on the planet…may You continue to reveal the best methods in regards to how to get it out there more and more.

#6 – For allowing MTV to reach a generation that we’ve seemed to forget!  Forgive us for the fact that in many of our churches there is more money in the cemetery fund than there is the youth and children’s budget.  Forgive us when we neglect to see that the age group that is under 18 is the ripest mission field in America…and so instead of investing heavily in them we force them to sale doughnuts, have car washes and make hot dogs to do the things the church should be making a priority in the first place.

#7 – For allowing missionaries to use culture on foreign fields to reach the community in which they are in…but when that same approach is done in America we call it compromise!  We tell missionaries to not criticize the culture in which they live but rather to learn it, understand it, and then leverage it to introduce the Gospel.  We think that is the best way to do it “over there,” yet when that approach is used here we become angry and accuse churches of “watering things down” (AS IF YOUR Gospel could EVER be watered down) and/or compromise.  May we not stick our heads in the sand but rather admit where we are and use the world that people live in as a tool and resource to introduce them to Jesus.

Forgive us Lord…may we RISE UP and be YOUR Church, the ONE YOU have called, equipped and enabled us to become!  When we are focused on You, talking about You, pointing others to You and doing exactly what You say to do…then…

  • Your power is undeniable!
  • Your people are unstoppable!
  • Your presence is unexplainable!  And…
  • Our potential is unimaginable!

May we be YOUR Church!

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November 13, 2010

God Cleans Up Your Mess

By Jones

Here’s the fourth video in my “Week Of Great Teachers” series.  Hope you enjoy Perry Noble!

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August 16, 2010

A Few Thoughts…

By Jones

Perry Noble (www.perrynoble.com) posted this blog on August 11 with so many great thoughts that I had to pass it along…  Enjoy!

Sometimes there are things that I read, hear or think that keep coming back to me over and over…here are a few that I just can’t seem to shake…

#1 – “In the Bible God calls those who will not work lazy, but He calls those who will not rest disobedient.” (See Isaiah 30:15)  John Walker

EVERY leader needs to wrestle with that one!!!  When we get tired we give up on God and begin to think the world is completely falling apart…remember Elijah, he faced down hundreds of false prophets and then ran from a woman who was mad at him!  (See I Kings 17-19)

#2 – “In order to reach the people no one else is reaching we must be willing to do the things that no one else is doing.” Craig Groeschel

Leaders…IF you do this you WILL be controversial because people usually have a problem when the status quo is upset, especially in the context of church!  I am seriously wrestling with the question and asking myself, “what else is it that we need to be doing to reach people who are far from God?”  And please understand…I am NOT asking, “what activities do we need to add to our agenda to try and reach more churched people who are desperate for more Christian activities so that we can provide them with opportunities to isolate themselves from the very people Jesus commanded us to reach.”  There is a huge difference!

In order to go where God wants us to go…we must be willing to embrace both the unknownand the uncomfortable!

#3 – “Of course criticism hurts, its supposed to!  If you ever get to the point where it doesn’t bother you anymore then something is dead inside of you.” John Walker.

One of the dumbest things you can say to someone is “don’t let that criticism hurt you.”  That would be equal to kicking a man in the nuts over and over again and then getting perplexed as to why he is on the ground screaming in pain.  Telling him to “not take it personally” isn’t going to help!

#4 – “Becoming obsessed with what others think about me is the quickest way to forget what God thinks about me.” Craig Groeschel.

Craig’s words remind me of Galatians 1:10!

I can either allow what others say to define me (positive or negative)…or I can allow God’s Word to define me!

#5 – “We must dream, because we are made in the image of Him who sees things that are not and wills them to be.” DL Moody

I think God is bothered and disturbed NOT because we ask too much of Him…but because we ask too little!  Church leaders should have bigger dreams and plans that ANYONE ON THE PLANET!!!  How dare we allow Apple, Disney and Facebook to have a bigger vision than us…we are HIS CHURCH!!!  It’s sort of like what CS Lewis said…

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased!”

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May 3, 2010

Seven Danger Signs That Our “Walk” May Be A “Limp” – Perry Noble

By Jones

Perry Noble (www.perrynoble.com) posted this on his blog a few days ago and I thought it was worth sharing with you!

#1 – When We Lack Humility

Intimacy with God will always result in humility…period.  BUT…when a person becomes obsessed with who they are rather than who HE is then it will ALWAYS show!  (Sort of like the church where the pastors picture is everywhere…even in the restroom, which is TOTALLY UNNECESSARY!)

Now…please understand, if someone tells you that you are not humble then you cannot argue (and if you try then you just prove their point.)  (BTW…I blogged in detail about that here if you want to read more.)

#2 – When We Read The Bible For Information, Not Transformation

All too often as a “professional minister” we open our Bibles to try to figure out how to shape other people rather than hoping that God, in His mercy, will shape us!

#3 – When We Listen To A Sermon On Sunday’s And Think, “I Hope THEY Are Getting This,” rather than, “Jesus, shape MY life through this!”

#4 – When We Say Things Like, “That song doesn’t really do it for me anymore.”

(Which is always sad and funny to me @ the same time because…”that song” wasn’t written for the purposes of “doing it” for you…but rather to honor/exalt the name of Jesus!  So…if HE is pleased with it…then we should be as well, unless the singing experience is all about keeping us happy!)

#5 – When we make excuses as to the way we are instead of actually practicing confession and repentance.

If someone is a butthole…and then they are that same butthole 10 years later…they probably aren’t walking with Jesus.  We can’t walk with Him and stay the same!!!  (BTW…the only people who got mad at this point are the buttholes!)

#6 – When we complain that other people aren’t recognizing our gift rather than faithfully using it every single day.

When our desire moves from affection for Christ to receiving the attention of others…there’s a SERIOUS problem.

#7 – When we refuse to celebrate God’s blessing and favor on the lives of others because it seems to be “out shining” what we are currently doing.

When we begin to tear down other people and ministries out of insecurity it is merely exposing a problem in OUR lives…no one elses!

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