jmarkjohns

If you are familiar with CCA at all or follow our tweets you know we believe in series teaching. I have been teaching and preaching God’s word for 18 years now, and having pastored the majority of that time, have become convinced that series teaching is the most productive and efficient way to build disciples, create understanding and take people on a journey of transformation in Him. Beginning October 16th we are launching our next 5 week series entitled “Guardrails.”

The concept behind the series is very simple but extremely important. Guardrails on the road are somewhat of an invisible part of our driving experience. Nobody ever really pays attention to them or even notices them until you need them. They aren’t placed there to limit our driving experience or inhibit us in any way. They are there for one reason and one reason only….TO SAVE OUR LIVES. The guardrail stands as both a protector and warning of what lies just beyond.

In very much the same way God’s word gives us guardrails to protect and preserve our lives, our families, our marriages and our futures. This is going to be an awesome series and here are 5 reasons you don’t want to miss even one message.

1. IT WILL ANSWER MANY QUESTIONS WE HAVE ABOUT PIVOTAL ISSUES IN OUR LIVES

So many times in our lives we reflect on events and things that transpired and try to figure out why certain things occurred and how they could have been different. Oftentimes we simply just conclude it was just a part of life. While at times this may be true, many times the trajectory of events could have been greatly altered had we simply understood the power of a guardrail at a strategic spot.

2. IT WILL CHANGE THE WAY YOU SEE SCRIPTURAL INSTRUCTION

For many, the bible is nothing more than a big book of rules and regulations trying to limit our experience and take the fun out of life. You are going to gain a new found appreciation for how much our Father truly loves us and in His infinite wisdom has created a system to allow life to be lived to it’s fullest.

3. IT COULD SAVE YOU FROM FUTURE CATASTROPHE

All of us have regrets. Some of us have huge regrets. The truth is, that thing we look back on and regret the most could have been avoided if we had learned and embraced the principle of the guardrail earlier. The future of your marriage, your children as well as everything else in your life can be altered by learning this simple but profound truth.

4. IT WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND WHY CERTAIN PATTERNS ARE REPEATING THEMSELVES 

We all have a tendency to hope for a better tomorrow without ever truly changing anything to insure that things will in fact be any different. As we talk about various topics I am convinced lights are going to start coming on as to why things have been present in our lives for long periods of time.

5. IT WILL REDEFINE WHAT TRUE FREEDOM IS

We live in a world that defines freedom and liberty very differently than our heavenly Father who was and is the creator of all that we know. The truth is what many call freedom is ultimately bondage and restriction that leads to eventual devastation. When we learn to walk and live as our creator intended for us to walk and live, we experience the power of true discovery. The secret to life if you will. The key to liberty, true freedom and a life wide open.

I’m excited, stoked and ready to watch God do His thing. Hope to see you there and that you will bring someone with you.

All for Christ,

J.Mark

About 2 weeks ago I was checking my twitter news feed when I first read the news that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was stepping down from the companies top post. Whether you like him or not, or agree with his views or not, he has become an iconic figure and the undisputed pace setter for creativity and business in our era. Because I love leadership, business and entrepreneurial information I have always been fascinated by this amazing company and their world changing CEO. Recently, I came across some of his core beliefs on life and leadership and thought they were worth sharing. Enjoy.

1. Follow your Heart- 

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life. The only way to make work satisfying is to truly love what you do. If you haven’t found that yet, keep looking and never settle.

2. Make a dent in the universe-

Being the richest man in the cemetery never mattered to me. Going to bed at night knowing we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what means everything to me.

3. Think Different-

Sometimes your brain needs a kickstart. New ideas come from getting out of the office and seeing something new, talking to new people and being willing to experiment. New experiences never stay compartmentalized, they spark new thoughts and emotions every where inside you.

4. Sell dreams, not products-

Our customers dream of a happier and better life. We don’t move products, we enrich lives.

5. Say no to 1,000 good things-

It’s only by saying no to many good things that allows you to concentrate and focus on the truly great things.

6. Keep it simple-

Focus and simplicity win every time. Simple is not easy to achieve but it’s worth the effort because once you get there, you can move mountains.

7. Make excellence the norm-

In a world of mediocrity and good enough, consistent quality changes the game for not only you but everyone. Come to expect excellence and the world will find you.

8. Break the rules-

There will always be a place in this world for misfits, rebels and round pegs in square holes. The ones who see things differently. Because the ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who generally do.

9. Be yourself-

Never waste your time living someone else’s life. Stay hungry. Stay your course. Everyone is born originals but unfortunately most die as cheap copies.

Praying for Steve Jobs. That he would come to know the Lord in a personal and profound way and that God would help him in his time of illness. Join me.

Two weeks ago we began a new series at CCA called Summer Love. Throughout this series our goal is to search the scriptures for God’s thoughts and instructions on the topic of marriage and relationships. Who better to seek insight and instruction from than the creator, designer and master architect of marriage Himself? God doesn’t do random. Everything He designs is latent with incredible strategy and purpose and marriage is no different.

The enemy knows well that our homes and families were intended by God to be the university of life where we learn love, selfless sacrifice, acceptance, loving confrontation and grace. So the plan is simple. Disrupt this, short circuit and destroy this and you can send the world as a whole into a tailspin of dysfunctional and destructive behavior.

While many of us have seen this played out up close and personal, there is good news. While you cannot do anything about your ancestors, you can forever change trajectory for your descendants. Cycles can be broken, futures can be altered and new legacies can be rewritten.

When God sat down at His drafting table and designed marriage he stamped and watermarked over the entire set of plans one word….FOREVER. God intended for it to last a human lifetime. In His infinite wisdom He knew this was how a man and a woman would truly be able to experience and drink in the fullness and richness of life.

With that in mind let me offer 3 ways to make forever a reality.

1. THROUGH LASTING COMMITMENT-

Every couple must first remove the word divorce from their entire vocabulary. Through nearly 14 years of Pastoring and counseling with hundreds of couples, I have noticed that some would like to believe that their problems are somehow worse or more unique than others. It’s not true. All couples have essentially the same problems, the real truth is this. The difference between those who make it a lifetime and those who don’t isn’t in their level of problems…it’s in their level of commitment. Not designing an escape hatch or equipping your vessel with life boats to abandon ship means you find tenacious and creative ways to keep it floating through raging storms. Make your vows mean something and stick to them no matter what.

2. THROUGH LOVING COMMUNICATION-

When two lives converge into one at times the fusion can be volatile. You have 2 different backgrounds, 2 different philosophies, 2 different cultures and 2 different sets of ideas coming together and trying to co-exist. It’s not easy for anyone. I don’t care how much you may have in common, it won’t be long before you realize just how different you really are. Powerful marriages have little to do with how compatible 2 people are, but rather how those 2 people learn how to deal with their incompatibilities. Learn how to navigate and communicate through your differences correctly and you will make it.

3. THROUGH LOYAL CONFRONTATION-

In a marriage, problems are very real and more frequent than we would like, especially in the beginning. God never intended for us to ignore problems or just simply hope they will vanish over time. Usually, not only do they not vanish…they get worse. Christ-like confrontation is a necessary part of having long term relationships on any level. Here are 5 quick tips on confronting and correcting issues the right way.

a. Isolate the real problem- Most people fight over what are really just symptoms. Get to the core issue and fix the infection and the symptoms will take care of themselves.

b. Attack the problem and not the person- Don’t make it ego against ego, no one ever wins. See each other as partners rather than competitors and the problem itself won’t stand a chance.

c. Deal with problems when they happen- God’s word says to not let the sun go down with wrath or bitterness still in our hearts. Before the day is done, clear all accounts. Unresolved issues gather steam over time and produce deep bitterness.

d. Learn the art of negotiation- Avoid win-lose scenarios. Learn to give, flex and adjust. When both come with this attitude, everybody wins.

e. PRAY-PRAY-PRAY- Keep close accounts with God our Father and trust me, He will keep you close and honest with each other.

If you want to hear these messages you can listen to them RIGHT HERE. Hope this helps you, be blessed. J.Mark

I was raised in church my whole life but it wasn’t until I was 20 that I surrendered everything to Christ and began to search, explore and long to understand the true meaning of my faith. When I first turned everything over to God I was taught a model that is pretty standard for “Christianity 101″, it goes like this. My life, my decisions and my christianity was described like a little train that had an engine, a coal car and a caboose. These things represented Fact > Faith > Feeling.

The decision to follow Christ was based on the FACT that God loved us and gave his son to die for our sins. This being historical and factual is critical. The FACT is what pulls the train along. If it’s not true, then everything else doesn’t matter because the rest of these cars aren’t going anywhere.

Next came FAITH: This is our conscious decision to trust Jesus with our lives and receive the gift He has offered to all. Faith means you choose to believe the fact and as a result you are reborn spiritually and grafted into the life and family of God.

Now the caboose was the FEELING, or my emotions. It was just kind of tagging along behind. The fear was that if you depend on your feelings then what happens in those moments in life when you don’t “Feel” saved? So the message was very clear. Don’t let your feelings drive the train. Live on the faith that believes in the facts regardless of how you feel about your current place.

For the record, what I just described is precisely right.

However, after a while the message began to be translated that because feelings cannot always be trusted they should simply be dismissed. So at times churches became full of spiritual Spocks.

When I was a kid I loved to watch Star Trek. The tension between Spock and Bones was palpable. Spock was a rational, logical Vulcan void of any feeling and reduced to exist only in a world of reason. Bones was the passionate, emotional and high strung doctor who lived only in a world of intuition and feeling.

It was top notch TV. While Spock made for a fascinating television character, he doesn’t make for a very good follower of Christ.

God never tells us to ignore our feelings or dismiss them. After all he created us with the beautiful and incredible capacity to feel. It is His gift to us. All He simply does in scripture is WARN US. He warns us that while they are beautiful and make life far more enjoyable, they are also DEADLY and must be managed properly to insure that our lives are not lived in dangerous extremes that can wreck us, our families or our faith.

God makes it clear that if we do not learn to master them….they will indeed master us.

Beginning June 5 we are beginning a new series here at CCA called DEADLIEST CATCH. For a few weeks we are going to see what God’s word says about navigating and mastering our emotions. Trust me, this is one series that could change everything.

Hope to see you there at 9:30 or 11:15.

All for Christ, J.Mark

Church planting is hard. Think of it in agricultural terms. When you walk onto a piece of ground that has never been tilled the process of getting that ground to a fruit bearing stage is immense. It involves clearing debris, removing rocks, breaking up hard and resilient soil, seasoning the soil with the proper nutrients and fertilizers to give it the best chance possible of supporting life, etc. The list is seemingly never ending and because of that, at times, extremely daunting. Having said that I have not experienced anything quite as rewarding either. To have a front row seat in a move of God is something special. Yesterday was not only Easter but CCA’s 3 year anniversary and I just wanted to take a few moments and share with all our members and partners a few thoughts, updates and reflections.

1. OUR FOCUS IS DEPTH MORE THAN BREADTH-

There is an inherent danger of finding value in only what you do. Don’t misunderstand me, action is incredibly important and you won’t get anywhere without it. However, WHO WE ARE is more important than WHAT WE DO. It’s possible to be as wide as an ocean and yet be as shallow as a puddle. These last three years God has been defining our culture, our identity and our DNA. These distinctions have led us to become something that is uniquely CCA. A culture of true love, organization, authenticity, acceptance, holy risk and God honoring excellence in everything we do. Everyone who comes seems to immediately sense these distinctions. We simply have let God shape our hearts and the result is that we are daily becoming a healthy fellowship that is not only touching many lives but has the ability to go the distance. For this, I am eternally grateful.

2. I SENSE A SHIFT IN SEASONS-

It has been three years of plowing and planting and we have certainly seen some incredible fruit. The church has grown significantly from the 35 we began with in a living room and for this we are thankful. Everything in life and ministry is about seasons and cycles. The ability to discern your season is a huge part of being able to endure and persevere when times are tough. I feel in my spirit that we are shifting into a season of gathering and harvest. I don’t say things like this haphazardly or off the cuff as some part of expected pulpit rhetoric. And trust me, seasons of harvest are short and filled with long seasons of fresh plowing and planting in between. But I do sense harvest and I believe between Eggdrop and yesterday we are getting a glimpse into the beginning of this season. We saw some 2500 people representing 400 families reached through Eggdrop which culminated yesterday in 367 people attending CCA to celebrate Easter, 25 of which gave there lives to Christ. I am in awe and so humbled by what the Lord has done and is doing in this shift of seasons. All the glory belongs to God and we acknowledge His presence at work among us.

3. IF WE REMAIN FAITHFUL GOD WILL CONTINUOUSLY MAKE US FRUITFUL-

It has been a wonderful and pressure relieving reality to acknowledge that the ultimate act of increase is not our responsibility. When you read the scriptures in Matthew 25, the Master never addresses the servant on the basis of his productivity, he simply praises him for his relentless persistence. He doesn’t say “Well done my good and FRUITFUL servant.” He says “Well done my good and FAITHFUL servant.” Now, indeed there was fruitfullness but the truth is the servant was faithful with the talents he had been given and God had simply blessed and favored his efforts. We will never stop striving, working, loving and laboring to be His hands extended to the world. There will be many more days of plowing and planting but it is only through this process that we will see God’s hand produce long lasting fruit. I have committed my life to this purpose and thank God daily for the incredible staff, volunteers and partners that have as well. We are in this together and you can believe…..THE BEST IS YET TO COME.

All for Christ, JMark