Rick Bezet, pastor of New Life Church challenged us to surround ourselves with others who share the same heart to reach people.  This is so helpful.  These Cajuns crack me up.  Here are my notes:

50 Million people used to be in church in America and are no longer.—Barna
Reasons people are not in church
1.    Sermons are boring and irrelevant
2.    Music is bad—You need friends to tell you the truth.
3.    My kids don’t like it.
4.    The people are weird and uncool and so is the pastor.
•    We get that way when we are isolated
•    80% of pastors say they don’t have one person to call a friend.

What happens to a pastor when he lives on Bayou Self…
1.  Dreams are small on Bayou Self.
•    We’ve got to have friends who call and encourage us.
•    “So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.”—1 Thess. 5:11
•    What is it you are dreaming dreams about that if God doesn’t show up you will fail.
•    Don’t ever let your best dreams be behind you.
•    Don’t live life in the rear view mirror.
•    Stop dreaming backwards.

2.  Bayou self is very Boring
•    Matt. 18:20—“For where two or three gather together as my followers,[a] I am there among them.”
•    Rom. 12:15—“Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.”

3.  Weird pastors live on Bayou Self.
•    John 13:35—“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
•    Phil. 1:5-6—“for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. 6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”
•    You develop blind spots when you live on bayou self.
•    1 out of every 2 marriages in the world end in divorce, in the church the stats are 1 out of 2, but in a church where people are in relationship with others where they can share their hurts the stats are 1 out of 1105.—Rick Warren

4.  You live Bayou Self when traveling at a high rate of speed.
•    How many enduring relationships have you built at mach 2.
•    We get so busy we can’t return calls to those who love us.
•    You need people who will come to your rescue when you are hurting.
•    Heb. 4:1-2—“God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 2 For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.”
•    Rom. 1:12—“When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.”
•    Heb. 3:13– You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.

5.  It’s easy to fake it on Bayou Self.
•    2 Cor. 4:2—“We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don’t maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don’t twist God’s Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.”
•    People need to know the true you.  The one that struggles.

6.  Bayou Self flows with the spirit of Unforgiveness.
•    Matt. 6:14-15– “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

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