Episode 107 – Nothing is Impossible for the Prayer Focused Church!

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

 

Welcome to the Transformed podcast.

We pray when we are in trouble, when we are in need.

Like the disciples in the storm, we pray fervently when the storms of life happen in our lives.

Over the course of the past three months, men and women at Pacific Baptist Church of El Segundo, California have found that God does the impossible in response to His people’s passionate prayers!

Lead pastor, Dr. Matthew Smith, reminds us in today’s episode,

“What we have learned is that when we work, we work, but when we pray, God works.”

So why not get your Bible out as we examine five themes from Scripture that confirm the key place of prayer in the body of Christ …

 

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, In His Presence.

In His Presence is a daily devotional that revolves around the reality:

You cannot worship God greatly until He has rescued you mightily.

It revolves around the Biblical truth, “God welcomes you into His presence with joy and pleasure.”

This devotional follows a reading schedule through the entire book of Psalms over the course of the calendar year.

You can order a copy of In His Presence from Amazon by clicking the book cover on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

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Jesus Isn’t An App!

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

As I downloaded yet another app this week, I thought of the fun and convenience technology has brought to our lives. You know what I mean – apps for finding a great place to eat, mapping your route to your destination, saving at local businesses, reading books and magazines, watching TV shows … not to mention tweeting, posting to Facebook and checking email.

 

And while all of this makes like easier, I also noticed a trend in the lives of many busy urbanites: Segmenting life and using people like apps.

 

Think with me about how this works. We used to get together for some relational time over dinner just for a fun time. Now we are in constant contact, reading each other’s news stream as our lives pass by. We start to think, “I wonder how Jane could help me do this?” or “I’ll bet I could get Jim to do this for me.” We seem to be changing friendships into merchandizing opportunities, connections into selfish applications.

 

Nowhere does this seem to take on more of a dark side than in our relationship with the Lord of the Universe. Someone recently commented on this saying, “Jesus can fix that for you!” At that moment I thought, “Is Jesus our 24/7 concierge? Did Jesus become the new (or old) Siri?

 

While the Lord Jesus is a friend to sinners and has called us to “ask and you will receive” (John 16:24), the Bible clearly states that he is not an app –

 

“Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.” (1 John 5:14–15, HCSB)

 

The bottom line is this: Jesus calls us to promote His kingdom and His agenda. When we choose to do so, there are limitless resources than we can’t even imagine at our fingertips. This week, access the Lord of Grace and Mercy and advance His mission – but remember, He’s not an app; He is Lord.

 

 

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Episode 106: When My Friend Gives Up On God!

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

Each of us longs to know what we can do to help those we love restore their relationships with God. Nehemiah – the Old Testament hero – offers us help and hope.

Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor at Pacific Baptist Church of El Segundo, California looks at the 5 actions we can do every day to help those who are giving up God find Him afresh again!

Let’s open our Bibles to Nehemiah 1 and seek to refresh our friend’s faith …

 

 

 

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, Growing Missional Leaders.

 

Growing Missional Leaders is a practical, passionate, Biblical mentoring journey for individuals, small groups, leadership teams and congregations who desire to win their world for Christ.

 

Growing Missional Leaders …

 

* Tells stories – of lost opportunities and successes with friends – that give powerful, encouragement for personal and corporate outreach …

 

* It opens Bible passages – again and again – showing that God’s heart is to bring his lost children home …

 

* And it provides stimulating discussion questions – at the end of each chapter -providing the stepping-stones to launching fresh ministry into your community …

 

Believers hungering to reach their world for Christ will be energized by this passionate call to fulfill Christ’s Gospel and the invigorating manner in which their thought processes will be stretched to God-sized proportions.

 

You can order a copy of Growing Missional Leaders from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

 

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Episode 105 – There Are No Hopeless Causes!

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

 

There are no hopeless causes! While some people’s problems seem so overwhelming and persistent, we learn in today’s episode that God’s redemptive power can transform them into “strong and graceful oaks for His own glory.”

 

In our series, “Walking with the Wounded,” we continue to focus our attention on the theme, “Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves.” As Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor at Pacific Baptist Church of El Segundo, California unpacks Jesus’ mission, we find our own mission in His words.

 

So let’s open our Bibles to Luke 4 and discover our mission in life …

 

 

 

 

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, Growing Missional Leaders.

 

Growing Missional Leaders is a practical, passionate, Biblical mentoring journey for individuals, small groups, leadership teams and congregations who desire to win their world for Christ.

 

Growing Missional Leaders …

 

* Tells stories – of lost opportunities and successes with friends – that give powerful, encouragement for personal and corporate outreach …

 

* It opens Bible passages – again and again – showing that God’s heart is to bring his lost children home …

 

* And it provides stimulating discussion questions – at the end of each chapter -providing the stepping-stones to launching fresh ministry into your community …

 

Believers hungering to reach their world for Christ will be energized by this passionate call to fulfill Christ’s Gospel and the invigorating manner in which their thought processes will be stretched to God-sized proportions.

 

You can order a copy of Growing Missional Leaders from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

 

And now, until next time, this is Mike Powers praying that you would be filled with the love of God so that you can demonstrate His love to the lost and dying in your city! God bless!

 

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Episode 104 – “We Are On a Journey to Compassion!”

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

 

Thank you for joining us today and welcome back to the Transformed podcast.

People are watching you every day – they are watching to see how you treat the wounded all around you.

In our series, “Walking with the Wounded,” we are focusing our attention on the theme, “Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves.” This installment, entitled, “We Are On a Journey to Compassion!” reminds us that there are two kinds of religious people.

Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor at Pacific Baptist Church of El Segundo, California will walk us through a morning interruption in the teaching life of Jesus and show us the difference between the two.

As Pastor Matt begins today in John 8, let’s open our Bibles and discover how we should “love one another!”

 

 

You can take this thought one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, Growing Missional Leaders.

Growing Missional Leaders is a practical, passionate, Biblical mentoring journey for individuals, small groups, leadership teams and congregations who desire to win their world for Christ.

Growing Missional Leaders …

* Tells stories – of lost opportunities and successes with friends – that give powerful, encouragement for personal and corporate outreach …

* It opens Bible passages – again and again – showing that God’s heart is to bring his lost children home …

* And it provides stimulating discussion questions – at the end of each chapter -providing the stepping-stones to launching fresh ministry into your community …

Believers hungering to reach their world for Christ will be energized by this passionate call to fulfill Christ’s Gospel and the invigorating manner in which their thought processes will be stretched to God-sized proportions.

You can order a copy of Growing Missional Leaders from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

 

And now, until next time, this is Mike Powers praying that you would be filled with the love of God so that you can demonstrate His love to the lost and dying in your city! God bless!

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Praying for Church Finances

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

by Pastor Mark Haines

We welcome Pastor Mark Haines to Eagles In Leadership this week. He is a happy husband, father, grandfather and pastor living in the Great Lakes Bay Region of Michigan. You can learn more about him at his website.

Our church has been struggling financially.  Many of our members lost their jobs as well as their savings in this recession.  How can we pray for our church’s finances?

Here are a few suggestions based on God’s principles for finances and generosity.

Principle #1: God evaluates your giving based on your heart motives and your ability to give, not on the amount of your offering.

(Mark 12:41—44; 2 Corinthians 8:2)

  • Ask God to help your congregation’s constituents to see every tithe and gift to the Lord is important.  That way no one will miss out on a blessing by thinking his/her giving won’t be missed.
  • Pray for the ability to give generously.

Principle #2: Find help and instruction to help everyone in your church to enjoy the freedom of getting out of debt.

(Romans 13:8; Proverbs 22:7)

  • Pray that the families and individuals in your church will pay off any outstanding debts they may have in order to experience financial freedom.

Principle #3: Giving should come from the cheerful generous heart of one who loves God.

(2 Corinthians 9:6—8)

  • Pray for your church members to love the Lord so much that they see giving to Him through the church as a joy and a privilege. Then, they will give generously as God enables them.

Principle #4: Give to God not only as an act of thanksgiving, but also in obedience to His command. When you obey Him, He promises to meet all your needs and to bless your lives.

(Malachi 3:6-10; Philippians 4:19)

  • Ask the Lord to give each member the courage to accept God’s challenge to test Him by giving at least a tithe (10%) of his/her income, even if it seems impossible.
  • Thank the Lord for honoring His promise to pour out a blessing on those who give.
  • Ask that as God pours out His blessings, whether material or spiritual, the person receiving them will know them as God’s blessings sent because of their obedient giving.

Principle #5: Your tithe should be the first thing you pay.

(1 Corinthians 16:2)

  • Ask the Lord give each member the courage to trust Him to meet all his or her needs as they give to Him first and then pay their bills.

Principle #6: Money can be used for good or for evil.

(1 Timothy 6:6—10, 17—19)

  • Ask the Lord to give each member the sense of contentment we all need to resist greed, and the desire to “keep up with the Jones’s.”
  • Pray for wisdom in how you spend and invest your money, especially so you can reap eternal dividends.

QUESTION OF THE DAY:

How do you pray for your church’s finances?

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Episode 103: We Are Called to Care!

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

Welcome back to the Transformed podcast. Thank you for joining us!

Have you ever wondered what God thinks of your next-door neighbors? In our new series, “Walking with the Wounded,” Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor at Pacific Baptist Church of El Segundo, will explore that very thought.

In this series we will focus our attention on the theme, “Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves.” Our first installment, entitled, “We Are Called to Care!” will answer the question, “How will I respond to the wounded people I encounter?”

As Pastor Matt begins today in Luke 10, let’s open our Bibles and discover how God “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” through us!

You can take this thought one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, Growing Missional Leaders.

 

Growing Missional Leaders is a practical, passionate, Biblical mentoring journey for individuals, small groups, leadership teams and congregations who desire to win their world for Christ.

 

Growing Missional Leaders …

 

* Tells stories – of lost opportunities and successes with friends – that give powerful, encouragement for personal and corporate outreach …

 

* It opens Bible passages – again and again – showing that God’s heart is to bring his lost children home …

 

* And it provides stimulating discussion questions – at the end of each chapter -providing the stepping-stones to launching fresh ministry into your community …

 

Believers hungering to reach their world for Christ will be energized by this passionate call to fulfill Christ’s Gospel and the invigorating manner in which their thought processes will be stretched to God-sized proportions.

 

You can order a copy of Growing Missional Leaders from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

 

We are praying that you would be filled with the love of God so that you can demonstrate His love to the lost and dying in your city! God bless!

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Praying For Our City Leaders

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

By Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

My phone rang yesterday afternoon. It was one of our city council members in El Segundo, California, where I recently accepted a lead pastor position. His kind words of welcome and thanks for my recent note touched my heart. He also offered to go to lunch or coffee soon and get better acquainted.

He was responding to a note I had sent to him, and all of our elected officials, the week before. The note said, in part, “I wanted to introduce myself and let you know I am looking forward to getting to know you in the coming months and years. One of the things that are very important to me is developing a good working relationship with each of the community leaders, including you.

“Part of what I want to accomplish is to build this great relationship with our congregation and the community. As I begin to work on this, I have asked the members of our church to invest in you and the entire council. To start do this on our part, I have asked the congregation to pray for you, our city leaders and our city. In order to make that happen, we have given them a set of prayer targets (on the inside flap of the enclosed church program). We adapted these prayer targets from the city website and newsletter.

“It is my hope that we can get together soon and have coffee or lunch, my treat! Melodee, my wife, and I have yet to move into the community. Until then, be assured of my support.”

With the note, I also included a copy of that week’s worship program, and drew attention to the flap which had this information in it:

Praying for Our Community … Praying for Our City Leaders

“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.” (1 Timothy 2:1–2, NLT)

This week we ask you to pray for the leaders of the city of El Segundo. Please pray for wisdom as they lead, understanding as they work and compassion as they serve the city. Please pray for the following leaders.” And then we posted the names and positions of all city elected leaders. We let our congregation know that our prayer points are adapted directly from the city’s web page.

One of the tenants of our vision and mission is this: “A community will not care about the church until the church cares for it’s community.”

Could your community use a dose of tangible care from your church? We believe ours could.

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A Special Discount to a GREAT Conference For All Our Pastor Friends!

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

A Special Discount to a GREAT Conference for all our pastor friends!

I hope you would consider attending the Moody Pastors Conference this May. Through Eagles In Leadership, I am able to provide a $50 discount for Moody Pastors Conference using discount code: EAGLES. Register now!


Every year God blesses my life with his presence in a powerful way! I know you will want to attend as well!

Moody Bible Institute has a burden and passion for pastors. Each year, the campus is host to one of the premiere conference events for pastors from a variety of denominations and from all over the globe.

Through some of the most gifted communicators of God’s Word, powerful worship, skilled breakout session leaders and fellowship with over 1,000 fellow pastors, this conference is a week that can transform your entire life!

I hope you join me for re|FOCUS Pastors’ Conference 2012, May 21–24.

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Episode 102 – My Donation: What Will I Do to Make a Difference?

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

 

Today we wrap up a 4 message series on the ABCs of Loving God with the study, My Donations: What will I do to make a difference?

As Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor at Pacific Baptist Church of El Segundo, opens the Bible to Luke 6, he focuses our attention on an issue that is dear to many of us: How can I make a difference in this life?

As he wraps us this series, let’s open our Bibles and discover that it’s not the duration of your life but your donation in life that really matters.

 

As we enter into February, we will turn our attention to the Biblical focus of “loving our neighbor as our self.” Dr. Smith will begin a new series next time entitled “Walking with the Wounded: Having God’s heart for our next-door neighbors!” We know you will want to invite a friend to sign up for the podcast notices at our website, EaglesInLeadership.org, so they can enjoy these Biblical messages of inspiration and growth!

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