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Hi, I'm Craig...
I like to help people grow spiritually, communicate ideas in a way people can easily understand & develop leaders. I try to lead my life with purpose, on purpose. With God's help, I'm becoming a better, husband, father, and man... Everyday.
Find out more about me & what I do.- Email Me
The Decade That Changed the World
Here are my notes from the Alliance Leadership Retreat, enjoy…
I want to ask you a question, Do you know anyone that is easily offended? When we get offended we either call someone to vent, talk to facebook, twitter or our blog to vent, or in extreme cases sue. Just for fun I wanted to talk about a few dumb lawsuits.
1. Allen Heckard sued Michael Jordan and Phil Knight, the founder of Nike because he said that MJ looks like him. The lawyer that took the case, Allen Heckard himself.
2. Anna Ayala sued Wendy’s because she claimed there was a finger in her chili - she would know, she put it there and was then sentenced to 9 years in prison.
3. Kenneth Parker sued the state of Nebraska because he ordered to jars of chunky peanut butter and received one jar of chunky and one jar of creamy. Did I mention that he ordered the peanut butter from the prison kitchen?
4. Stella Liebeck sued McDonald’s because she spilled coffee on her lap and got three degree burns. I know what you’re thinking and no, the Hamburgler did not dump it on her lap.
5. A man sued Anheuser Busch for $10,000 for false advertising. He claimed that drinking their beer did not cause bikini girls to suddenly break into a game of volleyball and invite him back to their hotel rooms. Yes this was filed in a court of law. Can you imagine doing this? “Your honor, I am suing Toyota because despite my best efforts I could not drive my new Tundra up a skyscraper like in the commercials.
Our world has changed… as the history books close on the last decade we’re going to take a look back and see how this affects our future.
For the first time in history we are faced with a parade of major stories that made us stop and wonder, at regular intervals, What is going on in this world? We thought that yesterdays news made us immune to further shock - WE WERE WRONG. Our planet has drastically changed since December 31, 1999.
It was the decade of the Y2K bug, bank accounts would be frozen, planes would fall out of the sky, whole industries would collapse, the internet became king, a young boy is saved out of the Gulf of Mexico and later deported back to Cuba, the USS Cole was attacked by a suicide bomber by the militant group that called themselves Al-Qaeda. We saw our first election decided by a court and we now know what a dimpled chad is. The ipod came on the scene. The .com boom hits hard.
It was the decade 9-11 which changed everything as we were attacked for the first time, on our own soil, and 4 passenger jets were hijacked and inconceivably slammed into buildings. We soon learned what a terrorist really was and that heros were born out of adversity. We saw operation freedom search for the only face we could pin down from a faceless foe, the Taliban in Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden became the most hunted man in the world. Queen Elizabeth celebrated 50 years on the British throne and scandals shocked the nation with Enron and Bernie Madoff. Lord of the Rings became a trilogy and Harry Potter came on the scene.
War in Iraq - again. The Shuttle Columbia tragically burst apart in midair while preparing for landing. Baghdad fell in 2 weeks but like Bin Laden, Sadaam was nohwere to be found, just like the WMD’s. We saw the largest electrical blackout affecting 55 million people. Eventually Sadaam was finally captured. We Abu Ghraib, the Red Sox breaking the curse. Ronald Regan, a legendary leader, left this world, and the second largest quake in history lasting 10 minutes long 19 miles below the surface of the ocean created a devastating tsunami moving at 670 mph and 30,000 feet deep killed between 200,000 and 240,000 people total.
More devastation with Hurricane Arlene in the Florida panhandle and Katrina, a category 5 hurricane, decimating New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the worst natural disaster in American history. It was the decade of Terry Schiavo, a new pope, Watergate’s Deep Throat was outed, surgeons in France performed the first human face transplant and Lance Armstrong wins his record 7th Tour de France. YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter come out of nowhere.
The decade came with Inconvenient Truths, Pluto is demoted as Al Gore makes a polar bear famous. We saw border protection and a crackdown on illegal immigration. Al Gore is given a Nobel prize for what we don’t quite know. We saw school shooting after school shooting, bombings in Mardrid and London. We saw mass murders of children in Russia, terrorism, terrorism, terrorism. Bridges fell in Minnesota and so did the status of the Windy City with the new building in Dubai.
It was the decade of the first African American President and rising gas prices. Michael Phelps single handedly made us watch swimming. We saw hockey moms become vice presidential candidates and the potential of Bill Clinton becoming the first husband slip away from our fingertips. We saw foreclosures and the fall of the market. AIG, Lehman Brothers, and who could forget, the Big 3, riding in private jets. It was the decade of bailouts and stimulus packages. The king of pop dies. And yet another Nobel Prize is given and for what we still don’t quite know.
What a decade it was. Termed by Life Magazine, “The Decade that CHANGED the World”. And change the world it did - forever.
Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives and his disciples came to him privately and started asking some questions… Jesus had been telling them some pretty crazy things and so they said:
Matthew 24:3-13 [NKJV]
3 …“Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
THE SIGNS OF CHANGE:
MANY WILL BE OFFENDED, WILL BETRAY ONE ANOTHER, AND WILL HATE ONE ANOTHER…
Earlier we talked about people that are easily offended. Let me ask you a question Leader: Are you one of them? When someone does or says something you don’t like what is your reaction? Do you run to facebook and tell the world how you hate what just happened? Do you quit your team, quit your church, or leave your family when things don’t go the way you don’t want them too?
Revelation 3:1-3 [NKJV]
1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
Is your reputation bigger than your heart? “You have a name that you are alive…” But you have a heart… But you have a facebook that says otherwise… What tantrums do you throw when you’re offended? We live in an easily offended society. But the last time I check we only live in the world, not of the world.
LAWLESSNESS WILL ABOUND…
Revelation 3:14-19 [NKJV]
14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
You may run the best small group. Maybe you can preach better than the pastor. Maybe you have all the talent in the world… Maybe you’re the Tiger Woods of your church… I have to ask you: What areas in your personal convictions have you let slip? Do you have more standards in your life this year than you did last year? OR do you look back at another point in your life and say, THAT was when I was the strongest for God!
THE LOVE OF MANY WILL GROW COLD…
Revelation 2:1-4 [NKJV]
1 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Leader in the room, if you were honest with yourself where would you say that you stand in your relationship with God? I don’t doubt that you’re saved, I don’t doubt that you’re a Christian but between you and the Lord is just being saved enough? “I have this against you, you have left your first love.”
Matthew 24:10-14 [NKJV]
10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Lawlessness abounds and love grows cold… Have you forgotten what is really important? Let’s take one last look back at this decade that changed the world.
Revelation 3:14-19 [NKJV]
14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
You may say… I am rich. But God says… Buy from me that, you may be rich.
1. rich - (in Christian virtues and external possessions.)
2. rich - (richly supplied and affluent in resources so that you can give blessings of salvation to all.)
This was the decade that changed the world. But it’s our response to that decade that will change eternity.
Maybe you let lawlessness abound…
Maybe you let your love grow cold…
Maybe you didn’t focus on what is really important…
Maybe you were rich in God, but were not a blessing of salvation…
Let me ask you a closing question… Leader, where do you need to refocus your life?
