Monday Morning Insights

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    Everythings Amazing, But Nobody’s Happy

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    I’d love to hear your thoughts.

    How have you turned things into amazing?

    How do you deal with unhappy people?

    Have you had any success whatsoever in turning unhappy people into happy people?

    And for those of you who have turned the corner to ‘amazing’… has it come with the same people, or with the introduction of a new set of personalities/bodies?

    I know, I know… I’m full of questions.  Hopefully, you’re full of answers!

    Todd


    Unbelievably funny, and so true. Watch this and let me know your thoughts. This contrasts the church (as a whole), where everything is usually UNamazing, and still nobody is happy. In fact, in many of the churches I work with, Everything is amazing, and most people ARE happy. Pumped, quite actually... Take a look:



    So... what's the mood in your church? Are people happy or unhappy? Are things amazing or utterly non-amazing?

    Comments

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    1. Leonard on Tue, November 18, 2008

      It is so incredibly sad that we posses so little ability to be impressed and almost as sad is what impresses us.  This clip will find its way into our Christmas series, thanks Todd.


      As for your questions… It all comes down to what we celebrate and how we celebrate.

    2. Mike Ellis on Tue, November 18, 2008

      Amen, my friend. We are so damned ungrateful.

    3. Doug Gamble on Tue, November 18, 2008

      I have to confess that I’m guilty!  When I first came to the church I serve I was blown away by the worship because I had come from churches where contemporary meant something from the 90’s.  Now I’m spoiled and my expectations have progressed so much that when I go back to those churches I’m like the guy on the plane, “Well, this is crap.’  They shouldn’t even be allowed on the stage.  Instead I should constantly worship regardless simply because of what Jesus had done.

    4. CS on Tue, November 18, 2008

      The guy in the video was very funny and true, and yet, missed the mark by a tiny bit.  It’s not happiness that’s being examined here, it’s sinfulness.  That inward part of all people, much like the guy denied WiFi on the plane, that causes the comic to say, “How quickly the world owes him something he knew only existed 10 seconds ago.”  Because of our sinful nature, mankind thinks it should be all about them personally.


      Bridging off the comic, in previous generations, this problem of sinfulness and selfishness was more contained and people knew publicly that it was wrong.  But now this sinfulness is flaunted everywhere, and people react accordingly.



      CS



      CS

    5. Randy Wood on Tue, November 18, 2008

      WOW, WOW, WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sooooooo gonna use this in a message.

    6. Ernie Stevenson on Tue, November 18, 2008

      Well to answer your questions Todd,


      In my church the people are unhappy because everyone feels like they are entitled to what they want.  Kind of like the guy on the plane.


      Things are utterly non-amazing because we still try to please all those people that think it is all about them.


      The rest of the questions I’m still working on.  I’ll let you know if we have a breakthough.

    7. Cindy K on Wed, November 19, 2008

      CS is right. 


      Last Christmas my daughter was given a T-Shirt that proclaimed ‘It’s all about me!!’.


      They sell those!  In a store!  And worse, people /wear/ them.  I was horrified.  Praise the Lord that she didn’t like it either.


      In order to appreciate the amazing you have to know that it’s not about ‘me’.  It’s about God.  And then you start to see, feel, taste and smell the incredible.  Only then can you fully appreciate it.

    8. Mike Allen on Mon, November 24, 2008

      Where is our amazement?  We live in an over stimulated, sensual world where our sense of wonder is subdued by the latest controversial claim to “freedom of expression.”  It is difficult to set our mind on the amazement of the Lord when our thoughts are compromised with teeming messages from the internet, television, radio, magazines, billboards and even product literature.  And how difficult still to integrate a skewed worldly onslaught of “who we ought to be”, against the stark contrast of “who we are” in God’s truth.


      The world tells us it is “all about me”.  And in our worldly striving, we are denied any validation of self and left suspicious that we do not measure up or even matter.  Where hope is void, the people groan.  Where there is groaning there is strife, contention, dissatisfaction and eyes blind to the miracle and amazement of the cross.  This is where demanding souls of misery are left insatiable, nodding off in the midst of His awesome glory! 


      However, God calls us to be servants.  Through the example of Jesus Christ we learn that it is not “all about me” and that we are intrinsically valuable for His name sake.  We are crafted for service and commanded to “arise, for this matter is “our” responsibility and He will be with us as we courageously act.” 


      We are not in awe for we do not see.  We are not amazed for we have forgotten who we are in Him.  For he who walks with integrity, walks securely.

    9. mike chubick on Wed, December 10, 2008

      I’ve not seen it yet, it’s not downloading properly. But,  i thought i would write this comment out of obedience to Jesus. And this is the the big deal ( or the microcosm: there is a saying, there is a God He knows your name and He wants to talk. this is not reckless adventure we are involved in, life with no absolutes or mere fairness by our own estimation. But we have an Almighty Father who saw our condition whether victim or perp who sent His son, who died for all in hope that all would come to His microcosm of eternal life. that we would have Jesus’ Spirit that He sent as a comforter to this fallen world to lead us and guide us into all Truth. The universe is filled and glows with analogies of evidences of the creator and neither can it contain them. because He loves us and He says so in His book the Bible and others. It’s all about no other but Him,through Him, and To Him. When we walk through this narrow gate of faith we are awarded eternal life. If we follow we give our life to life, if we don’t, our GPS will need to be reconfigured. He is faithful and cannot lie and so is trustworthy. in Jesus, we know that death is swallowed up in eternity, for some this means that black holes are not the boss of information but he can cast our sin into a sea of forgetfulness.  Who ever wills shall enter into the kingdom of God.. With quarks and strings we can perceive each our desired outcome we are gods. We can sing the song however we want. Ask and yea shall receive, seek and yea shall find ,knock and the door shall be opened to you.Jesus gives rest.

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