All posts by mjfelker1980

Discipleship

The Call

I’ve been preparing and studying this week for a series on the Sermon on the Mount I’m calling The King’s Speech. We will kick it off this Sunday and to be completely honest, I don’t think I have ever been this excited about a teaching series before. I can’t wait to share what I feel God has been teaching me about what it means to live in His Kingdom and under His rule through the power of His Son.

I’ve uncovered some amazing similarities between King George VI’s speech at the beginning of Britain’s involvement in WWII (made famous most recently by Oscar winner Colin Firth and the film), Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey, and the Sermon on the Mount that I want to share with you here on the blog. However, there is something that I want to just marvel at for today.

Matthew 5-7 is where you can find what we have traditionally called The Sermon on the Mount.

When was the last time you read this and stopped to remember: These are the words of The Son of God. Jesus spoke these words to call us to live within his Kingdom. These are the Words to Life. This is Truth. These words lead to real life now and eternal life in the presence of the Almighty.

It has been this realization and intentional observation that has made all this difference for me this week as I have studied and sought God’s direction and instruction for my life.

Take some time today to read through Matthew 5-7 and marvel at the words of Jesus. Imagine he is speaking directly to you. He is calling you to choose Life.

Will you accept or refuse His call?

Jesus, Ministry, Sermon Series, Sermons

Sneak Peek

On Sunday I’m wrapping up our series UNSTOPPABLE on the life of Elisha. Our next sermon series is…

King's Speech iPad Wallpaper

THE KING’S SPEECH will be a study in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has so much to say to us about LIFE, PRAYER, WORRY, and what it means to really FOLLOW HIM. I am so excited about this series! We kick it of on March 27th!

Best Practices, Leadership, Planning, Preaching, Sermons, Study

Sermon Prep

Over the last few years I have been experimenting with my weekly schedule in order to maximize my time studying, ministering, teaching, and planning so I can then make sure that I am growing personally and relationally in my own faith and with my family. I have to stay on top of things organizationally because, frankly, organization doesn’t come naturally to me. I get a real kick when people tell me they think I am “really good at organization.” Any semblance of order has come from many hours of trial and error, flexibility and expiermentation.

Now that I am having to present a message in the form of a sermon each week, I’ve been playing around with my schedule again trying to figure out how I can adequately prepare for the weekly message and do everything else I need to do. Nelson Searcy says, “Someone pays the price for the sermon preparation. Either the pastor pays the price during the week or the people pay the price on Sunday!” I firmly believe that!

One goal I have set is to have everything for Sunday- outline, presentation, notes, full sermon- ready to go by Thursday afternoon. For the most part, this has happened and I have felt like my schedule and crazy life has really benefitted from this goal.

Having the message finished by Thursday allows for a few thing:

1. Friday is my day off. The last thing I want to do is worry about, fiddle with, and obsess over my message for the weekend. My day off is for me to abide with the Father and spend time with my family. Fridays are Hewson and Daddy days. I owe the Father and my family my attention for the day. Having my message finished by Thursday actually helps me be present where I need to be on Fridays.

2. Everything is ready for the bulletin. Each week, I provide a fill in the blank outline for people to follow along with on Sunday morning. It is my responsibility to make sure that I’m not throwing something together at the last minute.

3. After spending the whole week on my message, stepping away for a few hours helps me internalize the message. This is a personal conviction I have: I believe that standing and reading a script (not-so)subtly communicates to people that “This message didn’t impact my heart enough to make much of a difference in my own life so… yeah.” How sad.  If I can’t remember the message to deliver it, no one who hears it will remember it or apply it tho their life either.

4. I’m not staying up late on Saturday putting together a PowerPoint presentation. When I was a campus minister I had to put together a ppt presentation almost every single day so I’m pretty proficient. Still, that last thing that I want to do is mess with my slides. I want to be running through my message, memorizing, cutting unnecessary tangents, and praying over the words I’ll be saying. Visuals are super important to me but they aren’t what I want to spend the bulk of my time on when the pressure is on.

There have been other benefits to getting everything together by Thursday but these are the ones that I have seen week in and week out. Sure, life gets in the way and the Spirit has challenged me to stray from my outline late Saturday night. However, I have found that when I am prepared I am much more flexible and in a position to react with an open heart and open mind because I’m not rushed and frantic.

This has worked for me. Maybe it will inspire you to find what works for you.

Bible Study, Life, Music, My Life, Thoughts

Bring Me a Harpist!

This weekend I’ll be preaching in 2Kings 3 as we continue in our UNSTOPPABLE series.

In ch 3, there is a fascinating story about the King of Judah, Israel, and Edom coming together to make war against the King of Moab, who has decided that he no longer wants to pay tribute to Judah. The political intrigue in this whole scene rivals anything out of Egypt or Lybia on CNN today. The 3 kings feel God is calling them to make war on Moab but they now find themselves, their armies, and their provisions marching circles in the desert. They are tired and severely dehydrated. They decide to seek God’s counsel (finally) by speaking to Elisha.

I won’t spend any time on this on Sunday, but there is something in v. 15 that captured my attention and made me stop and think.

2Kings 3:15 ESV
“But now bring me a musician.” While the musician was playing, the hand of the LORD came on Elisha.

How cool is that? Music aided in Elisha’s communication with the LORD. Warren Wiersbe writes, “The music of the harpist brought quietness to the prophet’s mind and heart and helped to facilitate his communion with the Lord.”

I can definitely relate to that. Music and song help me connect with God too. When I study or when I need to get my mind and heart right, I often do so through music. You can often find me singing alone at my desk early Monday mornings before I open up my Bible. Listening to music through my headphones while I read different books often helps me shut out unnecessary distractions like my cell phone. I love listening to Bethoveen’s 6th and 9th symphonies to put me in the right frame of mind or in the background while I write. Lots of great mediation on lessons, classes, and discussions have happened on long car rides listening to music.

I would have loved to have been there while the harpist played and Elisha communicated with God. Wouldn’t you like to know which Psalm Elisha liked to listen to?

How about you? Is there any song or music that helps put you in a place physically, cognitively or spiritually where you are more ready to commune with God?

Bible Study, Discipleship, Leadership, Ministry, Mission, Personal Leadership, Questions, The Word

Leadership Tuesday

Each Tuesday, I’ll be posting thoughts, resources, and challenges to help develop our Leadership muscles. Today I wanted to share with you some of the questions I began wrestling with after reading Philippians yesterday.

As I read, I noticed that Paul is pleading with the church in Philippi to live in unity, have one mind, and to be singular in focus. As leaders, Paul is speaking directly to us. If you have some time today, please read Philippians before you read the rest of this post.

Here are 9 Leadership Questions that we each need to think about and pray through if we are going to be all that God desires us to be:

1) Am I praying with joy for those I lead? Philippians 1:3-5 – Paul prays with joy for those he considered partners in the gospel. You and I have to do the same if we want to be a true spiritual leaders of the people God has entrusted us with.

2) Am I praying for an increase of love and knowledge and depth in my own life and in the lives of those I lead? Philippians 1:9-11

3) Am I living in such a way that those closest to me will know that whatever happens to me- good or bad- Jesus Christ will be praised? Philippians 1:12-26

4) Am I looking to Jesus as my model of service and unity or am I simply trying to keep everyone around me happy and cordial? Philippians 2:1-4 – Jesus shows us what love looks like in public.

5) What am I complaining about? Philippians 2:14-16 – If we want to be different than the world around us, let’s start by putting the KIBOSH on complaining. In Inception, Leo DiCaprio’s character has a great line where he tells his team that he believes “positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time.” As a leader I have the responsibility to serve as an ANTIBODY within my sphere of influence to STOP INFECTION and DECAY (complaining, divisiveness) IMMEDIATELY. This starts with stopping the infection in myself.

6) Am I committed to the mission of following Jesus? Philippians 3:7-11 – As I read this passage I was reminded of Dallas Willard’s quote about THE COST OF NON-DISCIPLESHIP, He says, “Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly the abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring (John 10:10)” Failing to commit to Jesus is a bigger risk than following Him.

7) What am I holding on to in my past that is keeping me from experiencing NEW LIFE in Jesus? Philippians 3:12-14 – What ever this is, I must lay it down and move on toward who Jesus is call me to be.

8. What is something I can rejoice in today, right now? Philippians 4:4-6 – One thing that you can rejoice in is that what ever you are worried about- that thing that kept you up all night- you can take that to the Father in prayer. Let this truth give you peace and guard your hearts and minds. Praise Jesus!

9) Do I spend more time thinking about these things or do I spend more time focused on the junk that the world sends my way? Philippians 4:8-9 – Last week, the world spent too much time praising, laughing with/at, and deconstructing Charlie Sheen. Admit it, you gawked at the train wreck. Your neck got sore from staring at the flaming wreckage. Mine did too. This week, let’s do the opposite. Let’s spend time meditating on things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy.

Thanks to Perry Noble for inspiring today’s post with his 21 Questions Leaders MUST Wrestle With from the Book of James.
Discipleship, Jesus is the Christ, Sermons

Unstoppable

Unstoppable iPad Bgrnd

Yesterday, I kicked off a brand-new series entitled “UNSTOPPABLE” that is based on the life of Elisha.

Elisha was FULLY COMMITTED to the mission that God called him to. In fact, he was so committed that long after Elisha was dead and buried a group of Israelites were in the process of burying their friend near Elisha’s burial place. Their funeral was interrupted by the news of a Moabite raiding party and since there was no time to bury their friend, they threw his body into Elisha’s tomb. When the dead man came in contact with Elisha’s bones THE MAN CAME BACK TO LIFE! (2Kings 13:20-21)

Elisha was so committed to God that even his bones did miracles!!! Take about a legacy of faith!!!

We too can have the ability to impact and change lives long after we are gone.

This faith legacy begins when we COMMIT TO FOLLOWING JESUS. Jesus doesn’t just want some of our life- He wants it all. He tells us that he wants all of us- our heart, mind, soul, and body.

Are you FULLY COMMITTED to FOLLOWING JESUS with EVERYTHING you have?

If not, what are you waiting for?

My Life

First Day

Today was the official start to my brand-new position as Lead Minister. Over the last few months, I have felt God’s call and direction in my life to make this transition and I couldn’t be more excited.

As I have been wrestling with this move I have come to see that God hasn’t called me to a specific generational ministry. I’m not a youth minister or an adult minister- I’m just simply someone who serves the church as a minister. That is my identity.

I feel as those I have been blessed with the gift of leadership expressed through teaching, speaking, and coaching. This gift can be used to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with all ages.

I look forward to seeing what God does in and through me over the coming years. I ask that you pray for my family and I. We are beginning a brand-new journey. It starts today!

Collecting Experiences, My Life

Magical Mustang Tour

I’m heading out to Montgomery, AL tomorrow to see one of my former students tie the knot. I’m flying into the ATL and I have rented a Mustang (Saaawweeeeeet!) to drive for the weekend. The plan is also to swing by NorthPoint on Sunday and hang with my friend (wink) Andy Stanley.

I’m dubbing this weekend The Magical Mustang Tour so I’m hoping that Hetrz comes through. The Economy Sized Tour lacks that kind of brand recognition that I’m going for.

I’ll be checking in throughout the weekend on Twitter and Facebook.

The Magical Mustang Tour starts bright and early tomorrow. See you then.

Grace, Remarkable, Theology, Things That Are Beyond My Comprehension, Thoughts, Worship

Grace > Your Sin

I could spend the rest of my life reading about and studying the subject of Grace. I am obsessed with understanding just exactly what it is and what it means for my life. I could spend every waking minute of the rest my life dedicated to understanding Grace but I’m convinced that I would never even scratch the surface of understanding what Grace is or why God gives me that which I don’t deserve.

Today I came across another example of just how big God’s love and grace is for his children.

In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve choose to believe the lies of Satan over the promises of God. They were experiencing God’s grace and love in the form of unbroken relationship and care. When they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree their “eyes were open” and for the first time they experienced shame and fear. Realizing that they were naked they fashion for themselves a covering made from fig leaves. The Hebrew word here (chagorah) means something along the lines of a belt. They made underwear from leaves and grass. Not the greatest effort to cover their shame but it was the best that they could do. It was all they were capable of.

In Genesis 3:21, after God has caught his children in their sin, after he has pronounced judgement over mankind, and after removing Adam and Eve from the garden (God’s tangible representation of his relationship and care for his children) God does something, to me, that’s incredible. God once again demonstrated his grace and love even in the face of those who openly reject and ignore his instruction.

“The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”

Did you catch that? God made garments and clothed them. Kuttoneth is defined as a tunic or a robe. God completely covered Adam and Eve after their sin and disobedience. God did for Adam and Eve what they couldn’t do for themselves. What they could NEVER do for themselves.

Adam and Eve covered themselves (just barely) with some twigs and leaves.

Even though their sin had removed them from God’s garden, even though their sin separated and destroyed the intimate relationship they enjoyed with God, their sin couldn’t separate them from God’s grace. God gave them more than they deserved. God’s grace covered them completely.

We are a lot like Adam and Eve. Try as we might, we will never be able to adequately cover up the shame of our sin on our own. Instead of animal skins, God’s grace covers us completely by the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Trade in your fig leaf briefs. God’s grace is greater and more complete than anything you can do on your own.

General

Top 5: Study Tools

Top5

Happy New Year everyone! It is the first week of 2011 and I couldn’t be more excited. The last two months have been a real challenge for me. In December, I began preaching each week during the minister transition at our church. I’ll be preaching for the whole month of January as well. For today’s Top 5 list I have decided to post about my five best friends over the last few weeks- my study tools. Let’s get to know these guys little better.

SB

This is a picture of my ESV Study Bible. The ESVSB is no joke. It’s huge and chock full of great study notes, outlines, essays, and beautiful maps. I primary use two study bibles to help prepare my lessons and classes. Besides the ESVSB, I rely pretty heavily on my TNIV Study Bible. Both of these Bibles are great and I would recommend either one of them in a heartbeat. A Study Bible is a must-have study tool for me.

iPad

When I purchased my iPad back in August I figured I would use it for two things: a) as a tool to preach from and b) a device to read from. Little did I know that my iPad would allow me to do so much more. Here is a quick run-down on how I typically use my iPad each and everyday.

I upload a copy of my sermon presentation into Keynote for the iPad and carry it and a bible into the pulpit with me each Sunday. I also use it when I teach my small group Bible study at my house. Using either the Kindle book app, YouVersion Bible app, or my own notes that I have loaded into Pages for iPad the iPad is flexible enough to meet my teaching needs.

I use NoteTaker and a stylus to write (by hand) notes for classes, bible studys, meetings, or sermons.

I use Pulse to gather all of the blogs that I read into one place so i can read them offline later in the day.

I use the Facebook and Twitter apps to keep up with my teens and friends.

Beats

My dad got me these Beats by Dre for Christmas two years ago and they have been my constant companions since then. The headphones allow me to concentrate on what I’m reading or listening to. When I read I typically have some music going but they have proven to be my favorite headphones to listen to podcasts with. Plus, I look super cool- at least I think I look cool.

Kindle

The reading experience on my Kindle is second to none. When I read on my iPad I get easily distracted- “Oh, let me research that. I have to check my email. Let me download this other book. Angry Birds!!!” On my Kindle, all I do is read and I love it!!! There are a lot of e-readers out there now. The Kindle is the best.

Pens

Let’s get this out of the way- Yes, I keep my pens in a pocket protector. Big whoop! I gots to have my pens ready and easily accessible. Here are the instruments that I rely on:

Highlighters: Zebrite Bible Highlighters
Stylus: Pogo by Sketch
Writing Pen: Pilot G-2 0.38 (I like to write thin and small)
Bible Pen: Micron Archival Ink 01