Mike Edmisten Follower of Jesus. Husband of Nicki. Father of Ryan & Brock. Communicator of the Word.

Psalm 9:1

"I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." (Psalm 9:1)

God has been good to me. And He has been good to you. Gratitude is our automatic response. Giving thanks to God should be as natural as breathing to us.

But gratitude isn't just thanking God. It's also bragging about God. In Psalm 9:1, there is a direct connection between the two. David thanks God: "I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart." But he also says that he will brag about God: "I will tell of all your wonderful deeds."

We are called to tell people about God; to share our faith with people who don't know Him. It's a demonstration of our gratitude for the goodness and grace of God in our own lives. When we share our faith, we are telling God, "You have been so incredibly good to me that I simply can't keep it to myself. I have to share it with others. I want them to experience You, too."

When we tell others about Jesus, we are also communicating how much we love them. Perry Noble said it this way: "It is insane for me to claim to love someone if I refuse to share the gospel with them!" Seriously…how can we claim to love someone while, at the same time, we act like we don't give a rip about their eternity? That really is insanity.

Has God been good to you? Absolutely.

Are there people in your life who need Him? Desperately.

What are you going to do about it?

I Love Preaching On Money

We're halfway through our current series of messages called How To Be Rich.

Honestly, I used to hate preaching on money. I would avoid it any way I could. But then, I began to realize just how much Jesus talked about money. In fact, He talked about money more than He talked about heaven and hell combined. How could I be a faithful preacher of God's Word when I was ignoring so much of it?

Now, I love preaching on money. I love it for a couple of reasons.

1. It hits us all where we live. We all struggle with financial issues. We all have to deal with elements of greed and selfishness in our hearts. Money is the number one competitor for our devotion and our worship (see Matthew 6:24). If we're going to be truly committed followers of Jesus, we've got to talk about money. We have to reorient our financial mindset around the Word of God instead of ourselves.

2. I also love preaching about money because, if we get this right, so much of the other stuff falls into place. Once people learn to trust God with their money, trusting Him with everything else happens almost automatically. So why wouldn't I preach about it?

I've talked to a lot of people during this series who have said things like…

"Man, I needed that."

"You were talking right to me."

"I've got some changes to make."

God is changing hearts and changing lives because we're talking about money. And I love it.

I'm a Big *Bleeping* Deal!

I watched the season finale of Hell's Kitchen this week. This show has to set a record for the most bleeps of any show on network TV. Seriously, the guy who inserts the bleeps over all the profanity had to make a bundle for all the overtime hours he worked.

Anyway, this show is a competition between a bunch of different chefs. The winner of this year's competition would become the head chef at BLT Steak in New York City.

The guy who won the competition in the season finale had this to say about himself. "I'm a big *bleeping* deal!"

My immediate thought was, "Wow. Who would want to serve on this guy's team?"

This dude may be a great chef, but he's got a hard leadership lesson to learn. Great leaders are humble leaders.

I've worked with humble leaders and I've worked with arrogant leaders. There is no comparison. Humble leaders have healthy, bold, loyal teams. Arrogant leaders have frightened, disgruntled, impotent teams.

Leaders have a choice. They can send one of two messages to their teams.

Message 1 – I'm a big deal.

Message 2 – You're a big deal.

Jim Collins teaches that great leaders display "window and mirror maturity."

When things go well, great leaders point out the window, giving credit to factors other than themselves; they shine a light on others who contributed.

When things go awry, they do not blame circumstances or other people; they look in the mirror and say: "I'm responsible."

Humble leaders have window and mirror maturity. Arrogant leaders also have windows and mirrors. They just have them in different places. When things go well, they look in the mirror. When things go poorly, they look out the window.

If you're in any type of leadership capacity, you can imagine yourself as a big deal. Or you can communicate to your team that they are a big deal.

But make no mistake about it. The choice between the two really is a big deal.

The Power of Perseverance

"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." (Hebrews 10:36)

Many of the promises of God are conditional. Some, of course, are not. God has promised to love us. He has promised that He will never leave us. Those promises are unconditional. But that doesn't mean that they all are.

Much of what God wants to do in your life is conditional. This verse tells us that we will receive what God has promised if we persevere. Those are the terms of the agreement. God will live up to His end of the bargain, but we also have to live up to ours. We have to persevere.

We short circuit the work of God in our lives if we don't persevere. If we give up, we forfeit much of what God wants to do in us and through us. It doesn't mean that He leaves us. It doesn't mean that He doesn't love us. But it does mean that He can't do all the work that He intended to do in our lives.

Before you start making excuses, I've been there. I know what it's like to feel stuck. I understand what it's like to feel like you're sitting still…or even moving backward. But I have also seen what perseverance can do. Don't get me wrong…I'm not perfect. I've given up more times than I could ever remember. But as I've grown, I've also come to understand the power of perseverance.

Where are you ready to give up? In what part of your life are you ready to quit? Where do you seem to be getting no traction? Where are you stuck, or even moving backwards?

Are you ready to give up on your marriage? Are you ready to cash in your dream? Are you ready to admit defeat in your finances? Are you giving up your fight against a sin that seems to dominate you?

A hallmark of someone who is truly following Jesus is tenacity. It's a tenacious, stubborn stick-to-itiveness. It is a refusal to quit no matter how much the odds seem to be stacked against us.

That's a pretty rare commodity in a world that believes, "If it feels good, do it. If it doesn't feel good, stop doing it." Perseverance doesn't feel good. But there is incredible power in perseverance.

The power of perseverance is actually the power of God. His promises are not realized through cowardice and defeat. They are fully realized through tenacity and perseverance.

Service Time Change

This past Sunday, we launched our vision for some scheduling changes on Sundays at ACC. Starting on October 2, we will be moving the start time for our service to 10:30 am. We will also bring our Sunday School program to an end.

This is the result of a lot of prayer, meetings, and discussion. This was in no way a snap decision. It took a long time for us to arrive at this point, but we are now sure that this is where God is calling us to go.

For a more in-depth explanation, check out the announcement video from Sunday.

From Mike: Service Time Change from Amelia Church of Christ on Vimeo.

You can also read more about it here.

On a personal note, I'd really like to say how much I appreciate the response to this change. I want to thank all our people for understanding the need to make this transition. Your love for our church and our mission is palpable, and that pumps me up!

Greater things are in store, ACC.

Sunday Night Reflections

A few thoughts about today at ACC…

• The wounds of 9/11 have not healed. In some ways, I felt the same emotions that I felt 10 years ago. The atmosphere this morning was emotional and intense as we relived the horror of that day.
• Sacrifice is worth honoring. We took time to honor veterans and first responders. It actually became very personal for me. My parents were at ACC this morning. I didn't know they were coming, but when we honored our veterans, my dad was standing up. He is a Silver Star recipient who served as a special forces Marine during the Vietnam War. And for the first time that I can ever remember, I had the chance to publicly applaud my dad's service. It was a really emotional moment for me.
• Evil will not have the last word. Days like 9/11 cause us to wonder about this, but it is true. God will destroy evil and vindicate His people.
• I LOVE worshiping with my church. I know it's not a competition, but if there is a better worship band than ours out there, I'd like to hear them! But even better than our band is experiencing worship with our people. Something inexplicable happens when God's people unite to glorify Him. It's one of my favorite moments of my week.
• On his way out this morning, one of the oldest men in our church said, "I think that is the best worship service I've ever been to." And then, speaking of our music, he said, "As long as people are praising Jesus, it's ok with me." This was said after one of the hottest worship sets we've ever had. And I love it.
• Broken people are finding healing at ACC. This morning, a fella told one of our elders, "I found God because of this church." That's what it's all about. That makes every ounce of effort, sweat, and sacrifice that is poured into our church's ministry worthwhile. That is the entire reason that we exist.
• God is faithful. That simple statement blows my mind. Even in the darkest times of our lives, He is faithful. He has never left us, and He never will.

Watching The Game

My boys love the game Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii. If the Wii is on, that is the game that is being played. Almost exclusively.

One thing the boys discovered about this game is that if a level is too difficult, there is an option for the computer to play it for you. It's called Super Guide mode. It's meant to show you how to navigate the level so you can be better equipped to play it yourself. But my boys see it as a way to the let the computer play for them.

It frustrates the fire out of me. "We didn't buy this Wii so you could watch a video game. Who watches a video game?" That's a small sample of the conversations that have occurred.

I know, it's only a game. I know it really doesn't make any difference. I just don't want our boys to fall into this pattern that I see in so many peoples' lives today: the tendency to let someone else do it for you. It's everywhere…even in the church.

People can spend their entire lives in the church and never experience a vibrant relationship with God because they come to watch someone else worship. They watch the band worship. They watch the pastor worship. They allow others to do it for them.

There are lifelong Christians who never serve because they let someone else do it for them. It never occurs to them how the grass gets mowed, walls get painted, and communion gets prepared. They never think about the time and effort that goes into children's ministry or student ministry. They have no idea how much work the people in the band put in every single week. All they know is that they show up on Sunday and these things are just magically done.

Letting someone else play the game for you is a really bad idea. That other person's faith isn't going to carry you through tough times. That other person's service is not going to allow you to grow. And in eternity, God may not even recognize you because there won't be anyone to hide behind anymore.

Stop watching others and get in the game.

Sir Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. He was knighted for this accomplishment in 1581. But his most lasting impact might actually be this prayer that he penned in 1577.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.