Recently I had an opportunity to attend a Vous Conference. It is apart of a young adults ministry known as the Rendezvous that my cousin Rich Wilkerson Jr. is the pastor of. I have attended this for a few years and I can honestly say that I never had more fun or my life more impacted than at this conference. I want to encourage you to listen to this powerful message titled, "The Bulls and The Bees." ENJOY!!!
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Trust is the 7th characteristic of Leadership from the life of Jesus. I have heard it said that trust takes years to create and seconds to break. Which is so true. I am reminded of a story when I was about 4 years old and I was sitting in my Dad's classroom. My Dad was teaching a Bible class to 8th graders and the question of faith and trust was brought up. My Dad knowing his audience decided, rather than giving a lengthy explanation of faith and trust, it would be better to show them. My Dad said, "Todd get on the desk." I hopped out of his desk chair and crawled up on the desk. I stood at the edge and with Dad stood a few feet away. My Dad then said, "JUMP"! Without hesitation, I jumped with everything that I had into my Dad's arms, where he caught me. My Dad then, looked at the students and said that is faith and trust. Taking a risk, trust God will take care of you. I know that we all have had some sort of experience like that. I often think that we need to jump more often. Many times we get to the edge and say to ourselves, "This time I am really gonna do it, I am going to take a risk and jump." However, we never are able to do it, because we don't trust that it is all gonna work. We have a tendency to over think and under trust. Think about this for a bit, in Matthew 4:18-21, Jesus ask Peter and Andrew what would be later his disciples to give up everything and follow Him. Talk about taking a leap of faith and trust and not thinking and just doing. These men left the trade as fishermen that they did day in and day out to follow a carpenter from Galilee. They took a risk and jumped all in and discovered that this risk would alter the world forever. I bet they had no idea what they were getting into, but they soon found out that it was the best risk that they ever took. What would have happened if they declined the offer, they might not have had the opportunity to be world changers that they were created to be. As we continue throughout our day and lives. I would ask you, how are you trusting in a new way?? Are you continuing to be comfortable in the risk that you take, because you have a lack of faith and trust in your life?? Maybe Jesus is asking you to jump to prove that He will catch you? The key is though that you need to take that step of faith and who knows what the outcome holds. A risk that you take could alter someones outcome for eternity. HAVE TRUST & JUMP!! The 2nd characteristic of Leadership from Jesus is the word Integrity. This word is ingrained in my heart and mind from my high school experience at Life Christian Academy. We as students were required to wear uniforms with strict guidelines at school. However, at times we were rewarded with the opportunity to wear jeans and integrity t-shirts. This was a big deal to us, except the school tricked us. They gave us the privilege of wearing jeans, but if we wore jeans we had to wear the integrity t-shirt, so we were still in a uniform so to speak. The reason these were called integrity t-shirts was that they white with a blue 90's design and said the word INTEGRITY: DO THE RIGHT THING. Although it didn't seem that important back then, I am thankful that people in authority over me took the time to instill this principle and characteristic of Jesus. Jesus is an amazing example of Integrity, because he did it right his whole life. The Bible says in Mark 12:14 (NIV), "Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth." This powerful thought is displayed twofold from this passage of the Bible. The first part is that this was at a point when the religious were trying to trap Jesus. Some of the religious leaders were testing Jesus about paying taxes. The amazing thing is that Jesus was calm, cool and collected in what could have been a time filled with turmoil, because of accusations. Jesus knew himself that he didn't have anything to hide from the beginning, so when people try to trap him he knew that he was doing the right thing. He was so calm the way I picture this is that he looked at the coin with Caesars face on it and in passing he flipped the coin to the religious people and said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is God's." Then walked away, while the on lookers were amazed in his calm integrity filled spirit. Jesus never had anything to hide, because he knew his moral compass. The second part is that others knew of Jesus' integrity. Others knew that Jesus always did the right thing. This amazes me that not only people that followed him, knew he was a man of integrity, but also people that didn't follow him knew as well. It is one thing to have people that love you say you have integrity, but it is a whole different thing to have those not in your inner circle to claim the same statement. What a powerful expression by Jesus. This was something that didn't just take words but took actions as well. The greatest action of integrity Jesus displayed was that to going to the cross. This isn't something that he was completely up for. While he was in the garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26, He stated in verse 39, "My Father if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." Jesus didn't want to die, but knew that this was the right thing to do not for his own benefit, but the benefit of all of us. He did the right thing even though it meant death which was death on cross. Since Jesus died for us, we have an amazing opportunity to live for him. I know that integrity is not the easiest thing to do, but it is the right thing to do. Whether that is apologizing to someone for doing/saying the wrong thing or acting in obedience when no one is looking. It is always honors the Father, when we choose to do the right thing. So I encourage you to walk in integrity and ask for forgiveness from others & the Father when you fall short, regardless you are doing the right thing. One of the greatest ways our culture has been influenced is through the power of YouTube. I have enjoyed the amazing, funny and powerful video's all over that web site. As I watch, I often look up encouraging videos to help positively influence me. This video that I am posting, just happens to be from my cousin and best friend Rich Wilkerson Jr. He is a very gifted communicator, which speaks all over the world. This specific video is Jesus through every book in the Bible. I hope this encourages you on this amazing day!!! Yesterday I received a call from an organization that asked me to give back something that we all have. For some reason I jumped at the chance. The call I received was from a blood donation center where I previously gave blood. They asked if I would be willing to give blood to help them. I thought that this is a great opportunity to help someone who I probably will never know.
What has happened since the call has been important to shaping some of my thoughts. I began to ponder about the opportunity we have to give back. We have so many different avenues daily to give what we have to help others. Whether that is knowledge, encouraging words, or money it is all important to influence those around us. What I was reminded about is that everyday is a gift we are given. When the good Lord wakes us up in the morning it is another opportunity to give back to those around you. We have a tendency to think that the only people we should give back is to those in need. However, we are all in need of some sort, some more desperate than other, but it is all important. I think of a man that has influenced and gave me something that I am not worthy of. He has not just told me how to live, but has shown me. His name is Jesus. This man has gave me an opportunity to have new life. He has taken all of my dysfunction and made me function in a way that I am not capable of without him. He is the example of truly giving back, from what he did on the cross. I want to encourage you to take the example that Jesus has showed us of giving back and apply it to you personally. Give something back to others, whether that be your time, your talent or your treasure, we all have a few of those resources to contribute to those around us. What we must do is understand the importance of being intentional about giving back. I have thought about the concept of living Uncommon since Coach Tony Dungy's book came out a few years ago. Since that point I have tried to truly figure out the meaning of being uncommon. I have uncovered that the best way to understand this concept is to use your mission in life to do something different than you have done before, to get something we have never had. So often we search high and low to figure out how to have meaning in our lives, when in fact it is right in front of us.
God created us for greatness! It is inside all of us, we as people need to strive to tap into that greatness and confidence on a daily basis to be the uncommon. However, we typically let our circumstances dictate our greatness, rather than letting our greatness dictate our circumstances. We have a tendency to allow the enemy to create thoughts about who we are, which unfortunately sometimes we believe. Rather than believing that God didn't make a mistake in creating us to be the uncommon person we are. I have noticed that the most uncommon people I know choose to live the greatness God has designed for them. These amazing people continue to strive on a daily basis for that greatness God has for them to be uncommon. They are constantly aware that being common is right around the corner. So they are sensitive to understand that they must rely on God to make them uncommon, rather than relying on themselves. If they are not sensitive to that, the enemy starts producing pride in them, which is never good. In conclusion, Being uncommon comes down to allowing God to take control of who we are. We must submit to him, so that his greatness can take over our weakness. Know that we can't do this alone. Without living by this, we become the common person the enemy wants us to be. |
Coach Corrigan
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