by Aarron Pina | Oct 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
This Friday morning, a lot of you will still be in bed at 6:30 AM. Good for you.
 |
Ron Dunn runs the nationally successful “Carpets
Plus” corporation and leads ONE TH1NG on Friday
mornings at Alpharetta’s Cabernet Steakhouse on
Windward Parkway at GA400. |
However, if you’re in the Alpharetta area (or can find a way to get there), Ron Dunn will open up a conversation (more like 15 or 20 of them) with about 40 to 60 men who show up early at The Cabernet Steakhouse to think out loud about issues of life and truth. Here’s a heads up email from Ron about Chapter 6 of Daniel and a question every guy has to wrestle with at some defining moment or another:
Who Are You?
As a kid when I first heard the story of Daniel in the Lions Den I wondered what it was that this man did wrong and what I needed to be aware of to assure that nothing like this ever happened to me.
What initiated this well-known event is as important as the event itself.
Daniel had an extraordinary spirit in him (6:3). The new king recognized this and was about to promote him above all the presidents and governors. Not everyone was in favor of the move.
There were a group of guys who wanted Daniel out and tried to find something that would result in an indictment. His character stood their exam and close scrutiny. In the end they surmised that the only way to take him down would have to revolve around his close relationship with and allegiance to the God he served.
They devised a plan and needed to sell it to the King. Great selling is an art.
Let’s talk about selling for a minute.
Some would say success is in the pitch. Others argue that product knowledge is the key. Many trainers say great selling is timing…the rhythm of listening well, progressing with the right questions, adding just enough information and then knowing when to ask for the order.
My observation is that in order to initiate movement with a decision-maker you need first to get an appointment. To get an appointment with really busy brass you must grab their attention. The most effective way to capture attention is to make it about them. Identify a problem, introduce a solution that answers their need…and chances are you will close a sale.
Simply said: if you want to get my attention, make it about me.
This group of guys back in 5th century B.C. had this dynamic down. The Babylonian Empire was defeated. There was a new sheriff in town. The Medo-Persian Empire had begun. Achieving loyalty from the 1.2 million people living in Babylon was high on King Darius’ needs, goals and to-do list.
These men devised a plan and drew King Darius in by making it about him. Worship Darius and him only for 30 days or be fed to the lions. The edict was signed, sealed and delivered…a new Law of the Medes and Persians…irrevocable.
After realizing what he had set in motion, Darius said whoa…and spent a day trying to undo it, but couldn’t. He signed the law. Daniel was going to the lion’s den, not for what he did wrong, but because of what he did right.
Note: Take a close look at Daniel. He never paused, never altered and didn’t blink. He did not change a thing about his personal life and devotion to God.
Character is tested and grows through trials. Deep down we know our character. It is revealed when we are alone. Daniel knew who he was. What he did when he was alone did not change. No outside circumstance changed him…including a 30-day law that set him up as dinner for a pack of hungry lions.
Join us at the tables this Friday as we look into character, consistency, trustworthiness, dependence on and relationship with a great God…and how these play out in the life of men, revealing who we are.
– Ron Dunn
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by Aarron Pina | Oct 20, 2011 | Uncategorized
Recently, North Point Community Church featured a sermon series called “Recovery Road”. It was, of course, timely considering what our family and this ministry is experiencing. For those who don’t know, the vision of Seasons of Life Ministries has always been to see those who follow Christ reach maximum devotion to Him in their day to day life, not out of striving and effort but by seeing the roadblocks of their faith removed by His strength, power, and grace. This comes not as we “submit to His will for our life”, rather as we submit to His will for our “now”.
I hope you all get to see this series – it is available for viewing online through NP’s website at this link.
Much of it hit me right between the eyes – personal responsibility, etc. The more recent series is called “When God?”, or possibly more appropriately “When, God?”. It’s about when God seems to be inattentive, uncooperative, or late. At times, don’t we all wrestle with God’s timing and/or response? “Did you hear that prayer, exactly as I prayed it?” Trying to learn what it means to recover from the burnout, wounding, and depression that can so easily befall us in pastoral care ministry, on top of the clinical PTSD diagnosis for Cristine, have forced us both to look at what the word has to say about sabbath rest. We’re often in the business of putting out fires in other peoples work, marriages, relationships, yet we’re called to be available only as and when God would have us. Ultimately, it’s up to the individual/couple to do business with God in the area(s) that’s troubling them.
Would you believe it if Cristine were doing better than I am in entering into that rest? Alright, cat’s out of the bag, right? We spent an entire Sunday at home – watched two church services online, but did everything we could not to “work”. By the end of that day, Cristine was tired, but peaceful. I, on the other hand, looked like a truck had run me over. When she looked at me and said “Are you comfortable just not doing anything, ever?” it pierced my heart. I know mentally I’m comfortable with it, but at a heart level I was challenged in a Holy Spirit get off my chest I can’t breathe kind of way. Challenged to truly ask and answer the questions: “Can you walk through a messy garage the day after the garage sale and not put anything away?” “Can you not look at Facebook, Outlook, or your cell phone for a day?” “Can you trust that all the work you think just has to be done yesterday will still be there for you tomorrow?” and the biggie – “Can you trust God to remind you of that thing you just have to write down, tomorrow and rest?”
by Aarron Pina | Jul 25, 2011 | Uncategorized
Sola Scriptura…
Some believe that using scripture as the ultimate authority for Christian life is merely a means of using a term to define itself – of course. But, we see it as something far more valuable – a crucial tool for sorting out what seem to be inconsistencies, “contradictions”, or ambiguities in the text, especially as it refers to application and worldview. That is, “interpret scripture with scripture” is a vital hermeneutical guidepost that helps insure that we do not “make scripture say whatever we want it to say”.
Effective use of this tool may have saved the lives of
by Aarron Pina | Jun 29, 2011 | Uncategorized
Yes, we’ve been up to a lot of discipleship. In fact, we recently celebrated the marriage of two dear friends whom we’ve been walking with for a while now – Rory Martin and Coral Neurohr were joined in marriage in May of this year at a private ceremony in Cashiers, NC. We’re very excited and honored to have a front row seat for what God is doing in and through them as they stand in the gap and boldly say “as for me and my house, we shall follow the Lord”.
Just
by Aarron Pina | Jun 4, 2011 | Uncategorized
Kelly Kapic describes sin as a two step process “Turning and Taking”. Sometimes, when we’re having discipleship conversations, the subject of a particular sin recently committed comes to mind. From this point forward, I hope we are able to deconstruct the incident in these simple terms: “What made you turn from God and what did you take?”
The first question God ever asks is “Adam, where are you?” Rest assured that when God asks a question in scripture, it is not because He does not know the answer. Rather, it is because He is demanding that we come face to face with the answer. Adam had taken not only the apple, but the lie “surely, you will not die”, and held it in his heart. This is a turning of the heart, a rejection of God’s sovereignty and Word.
One of God’s greatest desires is that we are ever connected to Him – “abiding” in the vine. But, in our broken world and thanks to sin, we turn from Him and take what He has not intended for us to have. Therefore, in preaching the gospel to unbelievers and believers alike the first command we must heed is “repent” – turn away from our sin, back to God. The second, I believe, is “surrender” – though these are really just two aspects of the same command. We cannot hold onto God while clinging to that which we have taken – goods, control, an idol, etc. cannot remain in our hands or our heart if we have truly “turned” from them.
So, what are you holding in your hands? What’s in your heart? Is it something God did not intend you to have?
What are the things you have taken that God did not intend for you to have?
We take money from others when we don’t do our job as if God is our boss. How much time are you spending on Facebook while you’re at work?
We take control when we violate the speed limit – turning from trust that God will get us there at His appointed time rather than ours.
We take purity from our spouse (or our intended future spouse, if we’re single) when we look at images
