The main focus I as a Christian should have is sharing the gospel of Christ. The Good News of the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus. How that by Jesus coming to this earth and dying on the cross for our sins, we have the opportunity to live forever with Christ in heaven.
We at the Central Baptist Church have been focusing a lot on the importance of our personal evangelism. How spreading the gospel should be a FOCUS for each one of us. During a discussion recently, it was brought up that much of our conversation to others on their need for salvation focuses on eternity. This is absolutely true, and should be an important factor in a person’s decision to follow Christ and accept him into their heart as their personal Savior. But what if we put more of a focus on the benefits of living a Christian life right now!?! Would that help influence more to listen to the message?
Back to the title of this post, “If Jesus was here….” how awesome would that be?!? I have never ran a poll on this, but my belief is that Jesus would be a top vote getter in the ole’ question: “If you could have lunch with one person past or present, who would it be?” This post could go in the direction that we do have that opportunity through prayer (this is TRUE!), but not the direction I want to go in this conversation.
Instead, lets look at a group of people who had the opportunity to eat lunch with Jesus, his disciples. For years, they followed Jesus around. They listened to the parables. They witnessed demons cast out of men and into pigs. They walked next to the formerly lame. They saw blind men gain their sight. They talked to people who had not previously been able to speak. (Now I’m starting to sound like a Christmas song) Though they experienced ALL THIS AND MORE, Jesus said to them, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” – John 16:7
Now there is some perspective. The disciples did not want Jesus to leave, but He knew it was better for them if He did go. Not just better “someday in the distant future”. Better Today. Better Tomorrow. Better for eternity. Jesus wants to change our lives NOW, all we have to do is let Him work…
I have long tried to keep the content on this blog to certain areas of my life. Everyone says niche down as specific as you can. As a matter of fact, I have said that myself. However, I have changed my mind. From now on all the content I write, videos I make, and audio I record will be published to this website. I have been working on a video to explain basic Snapchat functions, I have a bunch of carpet cleaning posts, and lots of marketing material that will be coming soon. If none of that interests you, send me an email to tell me what might interest you (maybe I’ll write on that too)…
I recently heard Seth Godin say that everyone should blog everyday. One of the biggest reasons why is because it causes you to live intentionally (which is a buzz word for my life these days). If you know that you have to publish something today, you will be more aware of the things happening around you. You will be more mindful of lessons that you can learn from everyday life.
On December 28, 2014 my co-ed indoor soccer career took a huge setback. I wasn’t doing anything stupid (unless you are one of the people who think playing soccer at 35 is stupid). I was just going up to head ball an airborne soccer ball. There was nobody real close to me. I didn’t get taken out by some genetically altered female (although that did happen to me in 5th grade). I just landed on it funny.
<LOUD POPPING NOISE>
(Thanks Orlin & Cohen for the images)
Suddenly my knee transformed, much to my dismay, from the top image to the bottom image. I especially like the redness around the tear in the bottom image, it really gores it up! I also tore the medial meniscus, just for good measure.
I will spare you all the details, but after many phone calls to doctors, health insurance, etc. I am in pre-op rehab. I hope to have my surgery scheduled soon.
I know in my head that the Lord promised that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord… but my heart is having a tough time with it currently. I know both sides of this conversation. “Feel sorry for me, I’m on crutches” – “It could be worse, you could be in a wheelchair” – “I can’t do anything productive” – “There are a lot of things you can do sitting at a desk!”
I could go on and on. However, each and every one of us has some version of this conversation in our head almost every day. So, instead of feeling sorry for yourself or dismissing the feelings you have about your situation make a decision to look into the most important measurement in your life.
That 18 inches from my head to my heart…
This is a message that I was able to give at my church, the Central Baptist Church, in Finneytown, Ohio. If you are in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, come on out, we would love to see you there!
Click to Listen: 6 Questions we need to ask ourselves
John 9. The Story of the Man Blind from Birth.
1) Do You Take the Time to See?
2) Do You Take the Time to See as Jesus Sees?
3) Are You Asking the Right Questions?
4) Are You Working to be the Light Where You Are?
5) Do You have Faith Like the Blind Man?
6) Doest Thou Believe on the Son of God?
Click to listen: A Testimonial for Financial Peace University
Truth 1: People respect what is inspected.
Truth 2: It is important to write things down.
Truth 3: Tithes and offerings are the MOST important thing when it comes to money.
Truth 4: Communication is the key ingredient in a successful marriage.
Truth 5: It is important to stay GAZELLE intense.
Truth 6: Fear hates community.
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Click this link to listen here: Podcast episode 1
This is an audio version of my blog today. It is my first endeavor into podcasting. I will give it my best go, because like the top of stephentknox.com says, “It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be.”
Recently my son, Brady, wanted to sing in church. Now, this was not the first time he has sung in church before, and he has done a great job. The fearlessness of many children (especially Brady) is awesome. If you have not watched the videos posted with this, it is time to do so now. To view the video click on the picture or “Brady Pass It On” under the picture below now.
Now that you have seen the video, you have a pretty good idea of how proud I am of Brady. I still get teary eyed when I watch it. There are several lessons that are in that short video.
Those are all great lessons that I could have learned from this experience, and I did. However, the lesson I really learned is how to deal with the failure of my son. I cannot tell you how much I wanted to keep him from going back up there. I was so worried about him messing up again! I wanted to protect him from further failure so much, that I almost taught him it was acceptable to quit.
It is our tendency as a parent, or any kind of leader for that matter, to protect those that are in our charge. We would advise anyone that asked us that after a failure it is important to go back at it. Get back up on that horse! In the heat of the moment though, we want to protect them, give them a hug, tell them it’s okay, everyone messes up. That is in fact what I did. When he told me that he was going back up there, I told him, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Buddy.” I told him that he could sing it again another week. THAT WAS NOT ACCEPTABLE to him though. He informed me, “I AM going back up there and singing it again. I already told Bro. Phil I was.”
I reluctantly said, “Uhhh, ok.” Looking back, I don’t think it would have mattered if I would have continued to say no. He was determined! I know now that no matter how badly I want to protect my kids and other people who are in my charge, I have to refrain from trying to protect them from MY fears. Sometimes it is best to sit back, and let them do what they know is best.
Have you ever had to hold back from over protecting someone you lead? If so, tell me about it in the comments.
The story has been told many times, in many different ways. I enjoy telling stories, but David Lee Roth can tell it better than I could dream about. Watch the story, and read on.
I heard about this story growing up, and like many other people thought, “What a jerk”. I still think it was a overboard to even cause $200 worth of damage. I absolutely disagree with entertaining ‘temper tantrums’.
If, however, I were to go on with life and forget this story, I would be doing myself a great disservice.
David Lee Roth did not want to be embarrassed. More importantly he likely did not want to be sued. He wanted to provide an awesome experience for the crowd that followed his band. He wanted to make sure that when people left the show he had just put on that they were happy. He wanted his ‘tribe’ to buy copies of his music, t-shirts, and whatever else he could put his name on.
Like David Lee Roth, I want to do the same for the people I do business with.
David Lee Roth was able to accomplish this by creating a system where he was able to double check the people that were responsible for making his show a success. As the old saying goes, “What gets measured, gets done.”
I am going to strive to take this example and create systems that ensure I am measuring the things that I want to get done. I want to make sure that I do not cause myself or the people I work with embarrassment for something that can be avoided by creating a simple system.
If all you had to do is put a line in a contract that says, “NO BROWN M&Ms” to find out if you are being set up for success or failure, wouldn’t you do it?
Here is a video that I produced for my church, Central Baptist. I have been blessed to have attended there my entire life. We are experiencing a lot of positive changes. I can truly say the Holy Spirit is moving, and would love to have you join us at our next service. Feel free to leave a comment on this post or email me for further information (stephen@stephentknox.com).
An asset is a useful and desirable thing or quality. Everyone will have a different view on what their greatest asset is.
Personality? Money? Time? Beauty? Health?
The answers are endless. Everyone has things about themselves that they like and value. I am not going to say that those things are not important. However, I believe that if you have this one asset, it will enhance all of your other assets.
The asset that I want to focus on in this writing is focus. When a person does not focus, their world is limited. They may be great at starting something, but can not finish. If you do not finish things, what good are they?
I recently had a forced home remodel project. I say forced, because I DID NOT WANT TO DO IT! Unfortunately, there was water leaking, and unless I wanted a whole lot of other problems, I had to do something. So, I started. Slowly. First, I just ripped out the tile flooring, but under that tile, was more tile. After I got done to the wood subfloor, I realized that particle board had been used, and it was destroyed. So I went a little deeper. Before you know it, all that was left in my little bathroom was drywall and subfloor. After a week or so off, I began to rebuild. Let me tell you this, the bathroom looks 100% better now! The only issues are: 1)the water supply line to the toilet was too short, so it is not getting any water and 2) the sink drain is not attached to the wall drain, so I am not able turn on the sink.
I have definitely lacked focus on the finishing of this project. So what good is my bathroom? Much to the disappointment of my wife, it is NO GOOD.
Here are a couple of ways to help the focus in your life:
It is amazing how much more beautiful our world can be, with a little focus.
