A Different Look At Accountability

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Romans 12:6-8

We Christians talk a lot about accountability.
The basic idea is that we should hold each other to Biblical standards.

Some people take this concept so seriously that they form accountability groups, which is not wrong at all. Usually, “accountability partners” ask each other questions like:

Did you skimp on your Bible reading this week?
Were you a good witness at school or at work?
Have you looked at pornography since we last met?
Etc.

The discussion (in my experience) usually revolves around making sure we’re doing all the stuff that makes us “good Christians”.

That’s a good start, but I believe there’s a higher level of accountability required of God’s people.

What if accountability was focused more on making each other great than making sure we were being good?

We would all agree, and rightfully so, that if you see blatant sin in the life of another Christian, it is your responsibility to call it out. To challenge it. To confront it.

But what about when you see blatant potential that is lying dormant in another Christian’s life? When you see underdeveloped greatness in the life of someone you love, isn’t it just as important to call that out too?

To ask each other questions like:

1. Are you consistently cultivating the anointing that God has placed on your life? Or do you have skills and abilities that are rusting in the toolbox?
2. Are you taking full responsibility to steward every gift God has given you, stretching yourself beyond your prefabricated limitations? Are you stretching your faith? Is your faith growing big?
3. Do you have a God sized vision for your life? Are you fulfilling it daily?
4. Have you said no to a risk that God recently instructed you to take? Are you out of your boat?
5. Is your life oriented around changing the world or merely surviving it?

Can I encourage you to do this today and all week next week (in fact your whole life)?

Approach someone in your life who is living below his or her potential and privilege as a child of God. Someone who has let some dreams lie dormant because of fear, insecurity, busyness, or laziness.

Remind them how gifted and resourced they are to do exploits for God.
Get in their face about the greatness of God in their life.
Speak into them about their unlimited and unique potential in Christ.

And call it out.

Stand Firm!

1 Cor. 15:58
Therefore, my dear brothers,
stand firm.
Let nothing move you.
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,
because you know that your labor in the Lord
is not in vain.

Stand firm!

Nothing is move vital to accomplishing the purpose of God for your life than a spirit of resolve.

When your stomach starts to hurt in the few days following a big, risky, God-breathed decision, stand firm.
When you’re tempted to flirt with an old sin pattern, stand firm.
When critics speak lies about you, stand firm.
When friends forsake you, stand firm.
When the money’s low, and your logic says to bail out, but the Spirit of God says don’t back down, stand firm.
When what your witness isn’t popular, but it’s Biblical and necessary, stand firm.

When you feel like giving up reading and reading the New Testament. stand firm.

Let nothing move you.

Hide Yourself In The Rock

Flee from sexual immorality.

1 Cor 6:18

Jack Neo has been in the news for sexual immorality. Couple of months back it was Tiger Woods but Jack is so much closer to home and we all have been reading the news a little shocked and a little sad. What has happened to these celebrities can happen to anyone of us.

Sexual temptation is a primary weakness for men. That is why every man, in humility and in community, must realize the importance of making provision for his weaknesses.

There is a great thought in Proverbs 30:26:
“Rock badgers are creatures with little power, but they make their homes in the crags.”

The principle is simple: If there is an area of your life where you’re weak, like the badger ( a small animal from the weaver family) you’ve got to find a way to cover yourself. It is only then you can protect yourself and flee sexual immorality.

The applications are endless:

· No Christian man should try to handle his sexual struggles alone for his heart will deceive him into sin. Sexual purity is a community project. So make provision for it. Hide yourself in the cleft of the rock. Find other men to be accountable to. That is what the Agape Guys Ministry (AGM) is all about.

· Install accountability software for internet use - like X3 Watch. It another excellent example of the provision principle in action.

· Watch out for highly stressful seasons with the family – seasons that invite conflicts between you and your spouse. Those seasons are especially weak spots for guys. Make sure you minimize the liabilities during those times. Again, guys, every time you have a conflict with your wife or kids, share with a friend. Get prayer. Pray together. Pray alone. Make your home in the crags.

· And don’t leave home for a business trip without bring a closure to your fights. Otherwise, because you feel alone and drained emotionally, you become very vulnerable to sexual sin.

· Of course, never be alone with another woman. Don’t be alone in a car with a woman colleague.

Guys, we must make provision for our weaknesses. We are not any more stronger than Tiger Woods or Jack Neo. But God has provided a community for us to help us cover our weaknesses so that we can continue to focus in strengthening our families. I realize very few people have the luxury of a support system like that. But in Agape, by the grace of God, He has given us the ‘crags’ to hide in so that we can flee sexual immorality.

Sexual purity is a community project.

Hide yourself in the rock.

What Would _______ Think?

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men?
If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Gal 1:10

I just love this verse from Galatians. It fires me up. I hope it does that to you as well.

This is the question that has been holding way too many of of us back from what God is telling us to do for far too long. This is what keeps us from getting out of the boat and experiencing the tension of faith and this is what keeps us from walking in big, big faith!

Some of you heads of ministries and cell leaders are currently contemplating a bold move of faith. God has told you to do something. He has spoken to you to change something, start something, stop something, grow something, build something, move something… but you just keep revving your engine, fronting like you’re still praying about it. You’re not praying about it. You’re stalling out because you’re more concerned about what the members think and you think too much about "what if it fails" kind of thing. More than what God has said about it.

Dear leader, you won’t stand before the people at the end of your life to give an account. So go ahead. Seek to please God. You answer to Him for what He put in your heart to do.

Some uni student reading this blog needed to dump that charming, spiritually empty guy she’s dating, a long time ago. But what would her friends think? What would the guy think?
Young lady, you need to be more bothered with what God thinks! Look that dude in the eye, tell him the goodbye that God told you to tell him, and date Jesus exclusively for a year, and watch your spiritual life begin to soar again. Then trust God to bring you His guy He has made just for you. That's big faith. That is pleasing God.

Some 36 year old dude with 2 kids, an SUV, and several intimidating loans, car, housing... has a dream to start a business. The plan is solid, and his wife is behind him. But the last time he mentioned it to his friends and in-laws, they all smirked and gave him 101 reasons why it might not work. So he shrugged it off and continues sleepwalking through life; cruisng without faith!
Hey friend: Why are you about to let your no-faith friends talk you out of what God has put inside of you? Who cares whether they think you can pull it off or not? Your God has spoken to you. Get up and step out of the boat. Follow His command. Just please Him. There is nothing more adventurous and more growth triggering than that!

It amazes me how many times we let the opinion of a loser silence the will of our God.

No Justice

Have you often wondered why life seems so unfair? Life certainly was unfair to Jesus. In Mark 14:43-65, one of his closes friends betrayed Him. Together, the "chief priests, elders and teachers of the Law" constituted the Sanhedrin, the supreme religious and legal court in Judea. Yet those who were responsible to administer law plotted toseize Jesus secretly, and dragged Him off to an illegal nighttime trial (vv. 43, 53). The same court, responsible to hear evidence, sought to manufacture it (v.55), and even recruited false testimony (vv. 55-59). When Jesus affirmed His deity He was immediately condemned, even though the Law then called for a full day to pass in a capital case between a finding of guilot and sentencing (v. 64). No, there was nothing fair at all in the trial or conviction of Jesus Christ.

He came, He healed, He taught of God's love, and after the mockery of a trial His enemies took delight in spitting on Him and striling Him with their fists. It was not fair!

It's something to remember when life is unfair to us. God never promised fairness. But yet, He is the God of justice. Life in this world wil never be fair. Even the Son of God was not spared from this unfair world.

The Apostle Peter, remembering that night and the following day, wrote, "If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps." (1 Peter 2:20-21).

If you suffer for doing good, good! It will not be fair, but you will not miss your blessing. God is just!

I read today’s passage in the New Living Translation and picked up something:

John announced: “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—
so much greater that I’m not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals.”
-Mark 1:7

Jesus said that John was great in Matthew 11:11

Specifically, that he was the greatest man ever born of a woman.

But John knew that Jesus was so much greater.
And that’s what made John great.

Remind youself and resound in your mind today:
Jesus is so much greater than any difficulty you’re facing today.
He’s so much greater than the pleasure of any sin you’re considering.
He’s so much greater than any other ambition you could pursue.

To truly be great, never forget that He is so much greater.

And He is able to do FAR MORE than you can ask or imagine. There is NONE greater than Jesus. No wonder we are His followers!