What is a quality that will truly make the difference in any marriage, family, nation, and church? I believe that the key quality can be summed up in the word-INITIATIVE. I’m thinking about initiative in this way–the catalyst that gets you to start and complete what you know God has called you to do.

In Scripture, we see examples of this great quality. David was bringing food to his brothers who were fighting in war and he heard Goliath taunting the people of God. He took the initiative to go defeat the giant and the spiritual and physical impact was felt by the entire nation. Paul was an initiator.  He pressed and pressed under the leadership of the Holy Spirit to pioneer the gospel to new cities.

We can learn about certain qualities by studying the opposite character traits that we sometimes find in Scripture. North Central been engaged in a series of Bible studies on Sunday nights in the book of Proverbs.  Last night we studied the Sluggard.  By studying the lazy man (Sluggard) we learn the importance of initiative. Derek Kidner, in his commentary on Proverbs, gives us some good insights on the Sluggard.

Consider the following:

1.  Sluggards will not begin things.  Proverbs 6:9-10

2.  Sluggards will not finish things.  Proverbs 19:24

3.  Sluggards will not face things.  Proverbs 22:13

4.  Sluggards are restless with desire.  Proverbs 13:4

We must not allow ourselves to remain lazy.  I heard the story years ago about Charles Schwab, the president of the Bethlehem Steel Company who was discouraged with the progress of his own life and business.  He hired a consultant and offered to pay any price if the consultant could help him be more productive.  The consultant said, “I’ll tell you what I think, you try my advice, and then you pay me what you think it’s worth.”  His advice centered around a simple “To-Do List”.  He said to Schwab, “Start by writing down several things that you need to get done.  Number them by priority.  Work on number one until it is complete and then go to number two.  Continue in the same way until you have completed your list.  If you come to the end of your day and the list is not complete, make the uncompleted items your first priority for the next day and add to them, working down your priority list.”  Schwab tried it and was very pleased with the results.  He paid his consultant $25,000.00.

I have found this method to help me get more done in my life.  It helps me take the initiative to follow what I sense God calling me to do.

What about you?  What is the dream that God has put in your heart for your family, your church, your business, and your ministry.  Make sure that you ask the Lord for initiatve and then write it down and go to work!!

There is a helpful article in today’s edition (2-17-09) of the Gainesville Sun by Ashley Ross which gives us insight into how we can protect our kids from sexual predators on the computer. Keith Dunn, a former detective and member of the National Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, shares some helpful hints about internet safety. The article cites these five suggestions by Dunn to protect your kids: 1. Communicate–Keep open the lines of communication with your children about the internet. If you allow your kids to be online (this is debatable, depending on their age) create a contract of times they are allowed to be online. 2. Monitor your family online–keep the computer in a public place in the home, not allowing family members to be online in private. 3. Watch out for Cyber bullying—it may be easy to ignore, but it needs to be reported, the article says. 4. Be careful posting personal information—Dunn says that sites such as MySpace and Facebook can be dangerous if you include info such as where you plan to go and when. He even says that putting your last name on the site should be avoided. 5. Use Caution with webcams, pictures—as technology increases these features on our computers can be used by the predators. Dunn says that there is software that will turn on your webcam without you knowing it.

Although I don’t know everything that Dunn teaches on this issue, I do feel that this article brings this important issue to our attention. Every family has to decide how it will tackle this problem. I would encourage believers to exercise extreme restraint in allowing their children access to the internet. The risk is too high. Even though there are many benefits we enjoy with online activities, we risk too much when we don’t monitor our computers in our homes.

I hope this issue of the February Lifeline
finds you & your family doing well.
Acts-The Expansion of the Gospel, our
series in the book of Acts is going well.
We are learning principles for growing
new believers & growing our church
family. It is remarkable to watch the
early church form & grow in the book
of Acts.
Our new early morning Sunday school has been fabulous.
One Sunday, almost half of the group that came to the
early morning Sunday school had lunch at Sonnys. They
got in early & they got out early, making for a longer Sunday
nap! We’re thankful for all of the leadership that has
been enlisted for this early morning Sunday school &
we’re also thankful for those that are involved in sharing in
our 10:55 am Sunday school as well.
Strategy for Souls, Sharing the Good News of Jesus, begins
on Monday night, February the 16th. This is an evangelism
training program that will be geared to fulfill two mandates
from scripture. The first is an evangelistic mandate &
the second is a discipleship mandate. I’m asking for our
soul winners, those that know & understand how to share
Christ, to line up two trainees that they can teach & train
in evangelism. We will have a brief class from 6:15 – 6:45
pm on Monday nights, & then we will go out & share the
Gospel, making at least two visits, attempting to share
Jesus with those that need Christ. Strategy for Souls will
enable us to share with the over 200 prospects that we’ve
had in the last 12 months. These are folks that have visited
one of our services.
We will have our first Men’s Breakfast of 2009 on Saturday,
February the 7th. We will begin at 8:30 & end by 10:00 am.
Men, this is our opportunity to get a good hearty breakfast
on Saturday morning, & a good time of fellowship,
one with another. I encourage you to be a part of this
special time. I look forward to it.
Our Upward Soccer Registration is just around the corner.
The registration deadline will be fast approaching. Please
contact our office at 373-3341 to find out details about
how you can sign your children up for Upward Soccer
that will take place here at North Central. We look forward
to a great season.
The month of January has flown by–already 1/12th of 2009
is over! It’s exciting to see God mobilize our church in
reaching people for Christ. I look forward to the days
ahead