Planting a church is kind of like fighting your way through a jungle, attempting to forge a path. You are so focused on the vines and creepers right in front of you, remaining to be cut, that you can’t focus on how far you have already gone. What is behind you doesn’t matter. For all practical purposes, you start over with every swing.

We have been working on this stretch of jungle for three and a half years now and though we have seen God do incredible things, we are still swinging like we just began. I never want that to stop. I hope and pray that no matter how long God tarries that we will still think and work with the fresh intensity and raw zeal of a start-up work. We are still planting this church and always will be.

The moment you begin to sit around talking about how far you have come and maintaining the status quo, not only do you stop moving forward but the jungle actually begins to close in on you. You have to fight to maintain the hunger and drive that comes from just starting out. There is a slowness and a deadness that comes from thinking like an institution. No matter how long you have been at it, grab your machete and start hacking like you just started!

I have a friend who went through a phase where he would try and go as long as possible without getting gas when his warning light came on in his car. He would ride on fumes for mile after mile, even driving with his a/c off in the middle of the summer, and then at the last possible moment he would creep into a gas station and fill up. Each time he did this he was playing a game of chicken with his gas tank and sometimes he lost. On more than one occasion I can recall bringing him a gallon of gas, once on a freeway onramp.

As crazy as that seems, do you realize that your entire life is a lot like that brief period of lunacy between the warning light coming on and my friends car coming sputtering to a stop. James says that “life is a vapor,” and he means that it will be over before you know it. No matter how old or young you are, the gas light is on and you are riding on fumes. It could go on for a long time or you could be dead by the end of the week. The harsh truth is, none of us are guaranteed anything beyond today.

The goal then should be to make this brief life count, but how do you do that?

Robert Murray McCheyne, an awesome Scottish preacher, used to regularly say “Live so as to be missed.” He died before his thirtieth birthday in 1843 and yet because of his laser-like focus on eternity and his infectious passion for lost people, he is still impacting people today, myself included, through his writings and his example. He lived so as to be missed.

2 Chronicles 21:20 describes someone who did just the opposite. It says, “Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. No one was sorry when he died. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the royal cemetery.”

When you read about Jehoram you find out that he became king in Judah during the days of the divided kingdom, to wipe out the competition he murdered his own brothers. He married a daughter of the phenomenally wicked King Ahab, who ruled in Israel, and Jehoram led his people into the worship of idols. Finally, the prophet Elijah wrote him a letter letting him know that he was going to get an intestinal disease that would cause his bowels to fall out of his body. He died in agony. No one cared.

What a vivid contrast. I think that we all want our lives to count, to be missed and we’d definitely rather not have our bowels fall out! But what are you doing about that today? You must remember that you are writing your epitaph each day as you live your life. If the fumes ran out today and you died, would you be missed? Are you making your brief life count for eternity? It’s been well said, ‘Only one life, will soon be past, and only what’s done for Christ will last.’ May God fill you with His Spirit and give you the tenacity and the power to focus on Him, like a heat-seeking missile, that you might live to make Jesus famous in this world while you still have time.

Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.

Last night at Skull Church we looked at the miraculous healing of Naaman in 2 Kings chapter 5. The story is such an awesome portrait of the gospel. You have this Syrian General who, from all outward appearances, has it all together. He is rich, powerful, successful, and popular. He also has leprosy, a slow decay of his nervous system that will lead to ultimate disfigurement and death. This is a picture of what sin does to the human heart. He hears about a miracle working prophet in Israel, from a household servant, and heads off to see this Elisha guy with a truck-load of cash. This is much like the person who thinks they can earn God’s favor or buy their way into heaven with good works.

When he arrives at the prophet’s home he is surprised and disgusted that the man of God doesn’t treat him like a VIP, he doesn’t even talk to him at all! He simply sends a message telling Naaman that if he were to dip 7x in the muddy Jordan river he would be healed. In the same way that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” (1 Cor 1:18) Naaman thinks this plan is the stupidest thing he has ever heard, and he almost leaves. In the end he humbles himself and does what he was told. As a result, Naaman’s leprosy was healed and his heart was transformed. He became a God-fearer and we can look forward to meeting him in heaven.

As riveting as the entire story is, to me the most exciting detail is the part played by the servant who referred him to Elisha in the first place. We don’t know her name or anything about her except that she was an Israelite that had been kidnapped and forced to live as a slave in Naaman’s house. Only two verses are given to her in the entire Bible (II Kings 5:2,3) and yet she was used powerfully by God in the healing and conversion of her influential master. How differently Naaman’s story would have gone had she not piped up. She certainly had every reason to NOT tell him about what God could do if he would make the trip to Israel. When raiding bands took slaves they often killed the men. She potentially saw her father murdered before being dragged off to live as a slave. In spite of this, she was filled with compassion and spoke spoke up in love.

We all need to realize the important role we have in the work of evangelism as we do something as simple as inviting people to a church service, an outreach or telling them about an online webcast they can watch where they will hear the gospel presented. Evangelist Greg Laurie, who has preached to over 4 million people in crusades says that says 85 percent of those who come forward at the invitation to follow Christ were brought by a friend. Opportunities to speak up are all around us and we never know what ginormous things God could do through our smallest act of faith.

History might remember the healing of Naaman as one of the miracles that God did through Elisha’s ministry, but in the Lord’s eyes this young chick was an equally important part of the process. In the end, both the one who sets and the one who spikes will receive equal spiritual rewards (1 Cor. 3:6). So look for an opportunity to be used by God today!

When God gives you a burden that becomes a calling, a vision of something you believe He wants to do in your life, one of the first things you need to do is to protect it. These visions are most vulnerable when they are in their nascent state, before they have begun to take shape. Like a polar bear hunting a baby seal, the enemy would love to destroy what God wants to do, before it has a chance to grow up, and so you must take steps to protect it.

I believe that one of the greatest things you can do to protect your vision is to employ strategic silence until the opportune time. You see this in scripture. When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem with a vision to rebuild the walls he said nothing for three days. He didn’t even tell the people who were going to do the work until the time was right. (Nehemiah 2:11,16) It would have been easy to let it slip, but he didn’t want any neigh-sayers to put their own spin on it as they broadcasted the news. He wouldn’t forfeit the right to be the one to impart the vision to the people himself.

When God revealed to Mary that she was raising the Messiah it would have been easy to respond to that annoying mom who had a “my kid is on the honor roll at Nazareth elementary” bumper sticker with a nonchalant, that’s nice. Oh and did I mention that my kid is ‘destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel?’ But she didn’t. Luke 2:51 specifically says she, “kept all these things in her heart.” She protected the vision of what God was going to do with strategic silence for a period of time.

If you want to know what can happen when you share your dreams too early, look no further than Joseph. Over a bowl of fruit-loops one morning he casually mentioned to his family that they were all going to bow down and worship him one day. Joseph was sharing exactly what God had revealed to him, and it would come to pass exactly as he saw it, but his family wasn’t too keen on the idea at the time. Sharing the dream so early on lead to some rocky days for young Joseph as his brothers took steps to keep it from coming to pass and that is what can happen when you don’t protect the vision with silence early on.

Looking back on my life, I can think of times where I let dreams out of my heart too early or with the wrong people and got discouraged as a result. It’s easy to do. You want affirmation. In fear you desire to hear from others that you aren’t crazy, that they think it will work, that you should ‘totally go for it.’ And because “in the multitude of counselors there is safety” you seek out feedback. Be careful. To all but the eye of faith a God-sized vision looks impossible. The eye of the flesh will see the problems, the reasons why it won’t work, those who have tried it before. And you can easily end up bailing on your calling because some hater told you that there is no way you can kill a goliath with a sling-shot. It just can’t be done. And they are right, you can’t. But God can.

Check this out, Psalm 115:3 says, “Our god is in Heaven, He does as He wishes.” If God wants to do the impossible in your life–that’s exactly what He will do. Nothing is too hard for him. I’m not saying you shouldn’t seek out godly counsel, before you take action, you should. But when you do make sure it’s from those with gutsy faith who won’t just see all the reasons why it won’t work. Seek out advice from people who have taken risks that God has blessed.

To use a coffee illustration, there might be a season where you need to just keep things brewing before you push the plunger down and pour it out. There are dreams in my heart, I believe God is going to do in my life and ministry one day, that only a select group of individuals are privy to and there are other ones that no one knows about but my wife. If I said them out loud in public I would probably scare myself right now. I am protecting them with silence until the time is right. Protect the vision God has given you!

“There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish… it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter.

Last night I saw a prayer answered right before my eyes. A couple approached me after I spoke at a Bible study in Orange County. The man had tears in his eyes and had responded to the gospel invitation that night. I had met the woman before, 3 months ago, the last time I was in California speaking at that same study. After the service she had come up to me and asked me to pray for her husband, that he would give his life to Christ. We prayed together and I encouraged her to keep praying and living righteously so that he would be won over like Peter says, “without a word.”

In God’s great providence, He allowed me to come speak again on a night when, unbeknownst to me, her husband had agreed to come and I got to be there as He answered her prayers and her husband gave his life to Christ. It was wonderful to celebrate and have the chance to pray with them together, thanking God for His grace and committing them to the Lord as a brand new couple in Christ. I don’t always get to see such a nice bow put on people I pray for, especially when I am speaking for a night and then gone the next day–I have to trust God and wait until heaven most times–so this was very special and encouraging.

In short, prayer works! It is powerful. Don’t stop praying!

James 5:16 “…The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”