Jesus said that if you want to know what the Father is like…look at Him. Jesus loved you so much He left paradise to rescue you and be with you.

He knows who you are deep down inside, and He is head over heels in love with you. He chooses you…whether you’ve run far from home or you’re leaning into Him, letting Him love you. You are always on His heart and mind. He is dreaming dreams for you; He is filled with hope for you. He is pulling for you right now.

Whatever is hounding you today, it is NOTHING compared to His love and pursuit.

If you ever wonder what makes His heart beat…it’s YOU.

1. I can’t WAIT to be back up preaching again this weekend at Quest! This series has had such momentum and has been unraveling so many myths we’ve believed about God, people are really letting Jesus rewrite foundational things in their hearts. I can’t wait to be back up!

2. I’m preaching this weekend on a topic that I think may be the most important of this whole series (& one of the most important topics of our lives!). CHRISTIANITY ISN’T FAIR. Get here this weekend to find out why…and why it’s the best news on the planet!!

3. Your invitation matters and this is a great weekend to be inviting! Do you know that statistics show that MOST people will come if you just risk it and invite them! Your invitation to your neighbors, friends and co-workers matters. It’s the #1 reason people give God a shot. So…make that phone call, stop by a friend’s office, offer to give someone a ride. Get the people you care about here this weekend! (Saturday at 5:55 in Lexington, and Sunday at 9:30 & 11:30 in Frankfort).

p.s. This Sunday night is the SUPERBOWL and THIS will be the best party in town! If you can’t be in Cowboys Stadium live, then you wanna be at Quest! This is one of the best opportunities I know of to invite people who would never come through the doors of the church and actually get them here! (You’d be amazed at how many people are just waiting for lightning to strike when they walk through the doors of a church. I promise…I’ve never seen it happen!)  The game starts at 6:30…the party starts at 6:00. INVITE!

I fell in love with 2 Timothy this summer during my Study Month and I’m loving bringing this great series to you. Out of Paul’s final 1944 words, I became captivated by eight that summarized Paul’s life as a teacher, preacher, author, leader…and now, martyr. I’m praying that they summarize our lives as well.

I know the One in whom I trust. – 2 Timothy 1:12b

Paul trusted God because he knew Him. Wouldn’t that be a nice way to go through life?

Here are a few of the things that stood out to me this weekend:

• I loved the acoustic feel of worship, accented by the Free Falling video, and that little boy reading those scriptures. I watched many of you undone by your encounter with God in worship. (Just how it’s meant to be.)

• Many of us grit our teeth and try to trust God more, but you can’t have the product of trust without the product of intimacy.

• If you heard nothing else this weekend, I hope you heard this: “Jesus has NEVER let you down.” He has never failed you. There’s never been a time when you leaned into Him and He didn’t catch you.

• I hope we all take the Three Steps to Knowing God Intimately:

1. Engage in Firsthand Experience with God – Often we think that to trust God means to make a declaration of trust or come up with a plan of religious activity designed to help us trust Him harder. But if you find yourself trying harder and harder to trust Him, it may not be trust at all. Remember, trust is built on evidence, experience.

2. Avoid the Trust Trap – Don’t put conditions on why you trust Him. Praying prayers offering your trust based off of what He does for you is lethal. Conditional Trust = “If you ______ then I’ll______” will never bring you to a place of intimacy with God.

3. Risk Appropriately – Identify the places you’re not letting love do it’s work in you…places where you’re resisting Him, where you’re tempted to place your trust in yourself rather than letting God be God in your life. Ask Jesus to help you know Him in those places.

What if this were the year you decide you’re going to know the One you trust like there’s no tomorrow? Let’s go for it, friends.

• I gotta tell you, our fall series, Come See for Yourself has been blowing my MIND…Hundreds and hundreds have come to Christ! And hundreds and hundreds more are exploring faith in Jesus and seeing Him in brand new ways. This weekend we’re wrapping up this series with our series conclusion: A Risk Worth Taking AND Our First Ever Weekend Baptism Service!!! Come see real life miracles…come experience a real life rescue. We’re pulling out all the stops! Seriously…you’ve just gotta COME SEE FOR YOURSELF!

• Come this weekend! And I want to challenge you to not come alone! This is a church-wide challenge from your pastor to bring a friend. Bring a neighbor. Bring your family member. And if you’ve been out of the habit and meaning to get back for a while…bring yourself! You want to be here for the conclusion of this remarkable series.

• Church pastors and leaders…I’m incredibly pumped to tell you that The Uprising 2011 is less than SIX MONTHS away! On April 14, 2011 Erwin McManus and Pete Wilson and other great leaders will join me at The Uprising as we come together to be inspired, envisioned and equipped to build irresistible cultures of redemption! The brand new 2011 UPRISING website launches Saturday afternoon with Super Early Bird tickets on sale for only $59!!! Mark your calendars now for April 14, 2011 and bring your whole team!

p.s. Get your Uprising tickets soon…we’ve made it as incredibly affordable as possible, but this price won’t last long!

Monday Night Football. The Chicago Bears take on the Green Bay Packers. And in the last four seconds, the Bears win – after the Packers racked up a team-record of 18 penalties in a single game.

How are you doing paying attention to the basics, leaders? At working the fundamentals? If you don’t work the fundamentals in your life, what could have been your finest hour will become your biggest loss.

For everything else you do right or wrong in your leadership, it’s paying attention to the basics that will determine the fruit of your life. Do you really believe lost people matter to God? Do they matter to you? Are you growing in real love for people? As one who wears the name of Christ you want to love what He loves…and Jesus loves people relentlessly & selflessly.

Take a few minutes and ask yourself these questions: Am I living with a picture of the stakes in my heart and mind? Am I investing in my intimacy with Jesus? What do I need to change in my life to make sure I’m investing in the basics?

Whether you visited Questapalooza last weekend and are considering giving Quest a shot, or whether you’ve been invited for years…

I’d love to invite you to Quest this weekend to Come See For Yourself what God might have in store for you. I’ll be talking about a raging conspiracy that’s impacted almost every single person we know. It might just change your life.

You are invited.

You are wanted. You’re welcome here.

I’ll see you Saturday at 5:55 in Lexington or Sunday at 9:30 or 11:30 in Lexington or Frankfort.

Not sure how to articulate all I saw this weekend…I’m still taking it all in. (I hope you are, too, Questers!) Absolutely UNREAL!

THAT was one of my very favorite Kick-Offs in a long time…

• Loved the drums during Miracles – told Michael Tait & Newsboys they could rip that if they wanted (their manager said they might:))
• Wasn’t sure I could keep it together after hearing those stories Saturday night…some of my favorites of all time. Thanks John, Keith, Lynne and Jay. You are MIRACLES.
• Worship was dynamic – loved singing Alive Again, and it was fun to end with Hold Us Together. (That’s the first time we’ve ever used two songs by the same artist for a kick-off. Cool.)
• The Saturday night service was electric. Can’t remember the last time we used the Saturday night service to duplicate and post on the web…just one of my favorite services in a long time.
• Snazzy-Dog really is just that gorgeous, isn’t she?! (Purely gratuitous!)
• I really believe it all begins and ends w/Jesus. If every church (much less every Uprising Church!) got a hold of that one and made sure everything began and ended with Him, it would change us. If I lived like that, it would change ME.
• The Church is a spiritual hospital for healing and hope. People in compromised positions used to be drawn to Jesus. Around Jesus they felt bigger, not smaller. Loved, not used. Like they had a chance at life again.
• We can all get honest in the light of the cross.
• Loved having Jimmy here from Compassion, International on Sunday…seeing him lose it again every time he saw the video of meeting his rescuer face to face at Catalyst just about undid me.
• My niece Ruth’s rescue was a catalyst for hundreds of rescues later Sunday night…so grateful for a God who will go to any lengths to pull us out of the canyons of our lives.
• We are a church full of rescued people becoming rescuers!

Questapalooza rocked!

• If you were on the field Sunday, you know we had a record number of people here! Loved watching thousands and thousands experiencing this irresistible community for themselves.
• It took 1000+ volunteers to pull that day off! Thank you for BEING the church!
• Group1Crew, Newsboys & Switchfoot were a terrific line-up…thanks, guys!
• Seeing HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS stand up and ask Jesus to rescue them was UNFORGETTABLE! Can’t wait for the team to finish the final count of who went from DEATH TO LIFE!
• I believe heaven cheered along as Jesus was glorified. I love partnering with Questers to make Jesus famous!
• If you’re one of the hundreds who asked Jesus into your hearts Sunday night, sign up for my twitter to receive encouragements for your first 30 days with Jesus. Let’s be on this journey together!
• Thanks to the dozens and dozens of you who stopped me to say thank you to this church for being a part of your rescue. You are why we do what we do…you are the treasures of heaven!

Questers…thanks for all of your prayers and invitations! THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of people came to SEE FOR THEMSELVES this weekend! Let’s all invite them back!

To our guests…you really are VIPs to us. Thanks for giving Quest the chance to serve you. We really hope you’ll come back to experience Him for yourself!

What a weekend! Nehemiah four is one of my favorite chapters in the Old Testament. I loved diving back into this great story with Questers this weekend.

So many of you relate to the Israelites in the Land Between. Remember: You are not alone. The God of the universe wants to partner with you to accomplish great things…in your hearts, your lives, your ministries. Don’t give up! Don’t bail. He’s fighting for you even now!

What are you willing to risk for? A promotion? A great opportunity? Approval? We’re designed by God to be risk-takers.

I remember taking a risk when I threw a bucket of snakes into my elementary school classroom for show and tell. And taking a risk testing that whole seat belt theory w/a concrete barrier. Maybe not the wisest risks, but what about the parent who risks everything to get their child back? Or a student who risks their reputation to do the right thing? Sometimes going all out to risk is exactly the right thing…even if it makes us look foolish.

God risked EVERYTHING to rescue people like you and me…people who didn’t even know we needed rescuing. And He invites us to take hold of that risk, that mission, and join Him in it. God’s got unbelievable risks out in front of you if want them. The Bible is FULL of the stories of people who risked great things for God, but I gotta warn you, they’re not for the faint of heart. God’s not about ‘risk management’ – He’s a lovesick Father who’s already risked everything to win His lost kids back. THAT’S how valuable we are to Him. And that’s a picture of the risky lives God calls us to live for His purposes.

p.s. Stay tuned for That Just Happened tomorrow…didn’t you love hearing Gospel at Quest Community Church?!

A few random thoughts…

1. AC/DC, Bon Jovi, U2… seriously, you can’t BELIEVE how hard it is to miss so much of My Generation live! For the record, I’m pretty sure if I could’ve sung like Bear Rinehart or Bob Carlisle, I’d have never preached my first sermon.

2. Switchfoot, Newsboys & Group1 Crew! Did you hear the ridiculously LOW the ticket prices for Questapalooza?? $12 for THREE great bands! Get your tickets now before the prices go up at the end of August!

3. I am totally PUMPED about our next series coming up in August after My Generation! If we got the central truth of this series straight in our hearts and lives, it would revolutionize everything! (It all kicks off Vision Weekend, July 31/Aug 1!)

4. It’s an open debate, but I’d have to say it’s possible that my 11-year-old son, Corey, knows more football stats than I do. (Just don’t tell him that.)

5. Heading out this weekend to visit churches and meet with church leaders & pastors in Kentucky & Ohio. Praying for great interactions. I love how God uses leaders to encourage, inspire and sharpen each other!

p.s. Don’t miss this weekend of My Generation at Quest Community…a fun change up: GOSPEL!