- I returned this past weekend to GCC and our series through the book of Nehemiah called, “The Wall.” Even though I have taught through this book twice before—I am still amazed at how much more there is to learn from the greatest leadership book ever written! If you want to join us on our journey through this book, you can follow our podcasts by going HERE. Or, you can download the GCC App from the iTunes store (Just put Grace Community Church, Centennial, CO in the search window). This past week we learned the importance of understanding that people (most of whom are naturally resistant to change) will become even more resistant to changes that they didn’t see coming—even positive changes! Truth is, “People are almost always down on what they are not up on!”
- Everyone is motivated by something. In fact, we pretty much only do the things we are motivated to do. Wait! Before you say it, you know, that you aren’t motivated to go to your job, but you do it anyway—I would argue that the reason you do it ‘anyway’ is that you are motivated. You’re motivated to get paid! So see, everyone is motivated by something…or, you probably won’t do it.
Example. I’ve noticed that the house needs to be cleaned numerous times in my life, yet instead of doing it I have to admit I sometimes found myself vegging in front of the TV. Why didn’t I clean the house? Simple…
I wasn’t motivated.
Maybe I would have been if there would have been enough of a mess that I thought my wife would get angry. Maybe I would have if I had friends coming over and didn’t want to be embarrassed, but on several occasions, those two things didn’t quite motivate me.
Just keeping it real. You know you’ve done the same thing!
But watching TV? Come on, there’s hardly ever a show on these days that can justify shirking one’s responsibilities in order to be deeply educated by the relational wisdom one garners from episodes of, The Bachelor! Or the vital survival skills one can acquire from tuning in to Survivor.
But I LOVE Survivor! One time I downloaded and watched 4 episodes in a row until 2:00 am!
They say confession is good for the soul. So glad I got that off my chest!
Why do I share all this? Because little has changed in thousands of years. Most of us still won’t do the things we are not motivated to do—even if we know they are best. Even if we know they are good for us and others.
The Israelites in Nehemiah’s day were not any different. They knew they were God’s people. They knew they should rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. They knew they should worship regularly at the Temple of the Lord, however…
They didn’t do it. Why not?
They weren’t motivated.
But all of that changed when Nehemiah came to town. Somehow Nehemiah managed to get the people together and fired up about rebuilding the wall so much that they finished in 52 days what no one could get down in the previous 141 years!! And the book of Nehemiah is a look at his personal journal detailing how God used him to lead the people back into the center of God’s will. It’s a fascinating study on motivation. I hope you will join us at GCC for the rest of the study or follow the series by downloading the GCC App and listening to the messages. You’ll be glad you did!
- So proud of the family of Grace Community Church for providing fully supplied backpacks for Urban Outreach! (uodenver.com). This is what true religion is all about. Here they are starting to stack up!
- The prayer ministry (The Boiler Room) continues to grow! This is great news! It’s impossible to do great things for Jesus without a love and adherence to a vibrant, deep prayer life. More and more people at Grace seem to be catching the fire every week and I couldn’t be more pleased! Thank you Dale and Verna for heading this vital ministry and leading by example!