BOBBY MCGRAW

speaker + instigator of hope

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Choosing Joy

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Bobby McGraw - September 5, 2019

Choosing Joy

Choosing Joy
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Today we’re wrapping up a conversation about choices.

We’ve said that our lives are shaped choices we make. Choices, even small ones, change the course of our lives in pretty significant ways.

Today, I want to highlight the 4th choice that I believe can make a big difference in your life. These four choices are simple but powerful.

Choice # 1 is to Love God

Choice # 2 is to Love People

Choice # 3 is to Pursue Excellence

Choice # 4 is to Choose Joy

This is an attitudinal choice. One of my favorite verses about joy is Psalm 100:2: “Serve the LORD with gladness.”

I have days when I do this pretty well. And I have days where it seems harder than it should be. I want more good days than bad days. My guess is that’s true for you as well. What I’ve learned is that my attitude is a choice. That’s true for you as well.

Your attitude is a choice.

Choosing Joy

1. Be Joyful

Our happiness is dependent on our happenings — our circumstances. True joy is independent of our circumstances. True joy comes from a deeper place, a relationship with our Heavenly Father that brings security and peace, even in the hard times. 

2. Be Positive

Are you a glass-half-empty or glass-half-full kind of person? If you are typically a half-empty kind of person, you may end up struggling with being a negative person. We typically get more of what we look for. So if we are looking for what’s wrong, we’ll see even more of it. This can lead to a downward spiral.

3. Be Encouraging

Jesus’ half-brother, James, reminds us that life and death are found in the tongue. (See James 3.) What that means is that our words can help or hurt. They can heal or create wrongs. One of the most tangible ways to choose joy is to intentionally use words to create life and encourage others.

It all comes down to choices. These choices are relatively simple in concept, but deep in application. Give them a try. Put them into practice for a month. At the end of the month, reflect back and see if these 4 choices haven’t made a positive impact on your life.

Love God.

Love people.

Pursue excellence.

Choose joy.

I’m cheering for you as you do!

Pursuing Excellence

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Bobby McGraw - September 3, 2019

Pursuing Excellence

Pursuing Excellence
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We’ve been talking about choices a lot lately. Why? Because making wise choices is a big part of living a better story. Our lives are made up of the choices we make. 

Here is what we’ve said so far:

Choice # 1 is to Love God

Choice # 2 is to Love People

Today’s choice is to Pursue Excellence.

I visited a nearby church a few years ago that places a high value on excellence. It was evident everywhere you looked. Because of it, you felt welcomed and comfortable. You felt like they were intentional. While it was hard to put my finger on at first, I left that church reminded me that excellence matters — a lot.

Think about this: God created this whole world and said, “It is good.” He designed everything with intentionality. I know some who read this are into the design shows on TV. Go ahead and admit it, you’ve been thinking about buying shiplap!

God is the ultimate designer. He is into the details. He cares about how things are done. Because of this, details and excellence should matter to us as well.

Ever since the fall, there has been a natural drift away from order and excellence. Things naturally deteriorate and drift from the ideal. It’s part of life on this earth. 

Yet, as followers of Jesus, we can choose to live lives of excellence. We can join God in bringing order to the chaos.

Pursuing Excellence

Do things well.

Whatever you set your mind to, do it really well. 

Daniel, who we read about in the Old Testament, did things well. 

“Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.” Daniel 6:3 

Daniel didn’t cut corners. He served with excellence, and it set him apart from the rest of the crowd. He gave him incredible influence i.

Invest your time wisely.

(And respect other people’s time!)

We talked about adding value to people in another post. One way to do this is to respect their time. 

“Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it.”  — Rick Warren

“Serve God by doing common actions in a heavenly spirit, and then, if your daily calling only leaves you cracks and crevices of time, fill them up with holy service.”  — Charles Spurgeon

“So, then, be careful how you live. Do not be unwise but wise, making the best use of your time because the times are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Ephesians 5:15-17

Put people ahead of personal preference. 

Paul reminds us in Philippians 2 to put other’s needs ahead of our own. The point is people.

“Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” Philippians 2:1-4

Excellence doesn’t require more money or other resources. It just comes down to a choice. So today, strive for excellence, not perfection.

Choosing to Love People

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Bobby McGraw - August 29, 2019

Love People

Love People
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A few days ago I started a conversation about choices. Our lives are shaped choices or decisions we make. Choices, even small ones, change the course of our lives in pretty significant ways.

Today, I want to highlight the 2nd of 4 choices that I believe could make a big difference in your life. These four choices are simple but powerful.

Choice # 1 is to Love God

Choice # 2 is to Love People

It’s impossible to read the gospels without seeing that Jesus loved people. He modeled it. 

In fact, in Mathew 9, we find Jesus passing through a city that was jam-packed. He could have kept going. He could have stayed “on mission”. Yet the Bible says that Jesus saw the crowd and had compassion for them. That word “compassion” literally means that he felt for them in his core. 

He didn’t just see a crowd. He saw people.

The Apostle Paul, one of the early leaders in the church, had a similar take on people. In one of the letters he wrote to a group of churches, he said, “We loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. ” (1 Thessalonians 2:8) 

This choice is powerful. What I’ve found is that real life change happens in the context of relationships.

Loving Others Well

1. See the potential in people.

John Maxwell suggests that we put a 10 on someone’s forehead when we meet them. What this means is you rate them a 10 on a scale of 1-10. Instead of looking for what’s wrong, you choose to assume the best about them and believe the best about them. 

2. Speak life into them.

One of the greatest gifts you can give another person is to speak words of life and affirmation into them. Most people, regardless of how secure they look on the outside, are wrestling with severe insecurities on the inside of them. 

It is not uncommon for a leader to tell me behind closed doors that they feel like an imposter. They live as though one day, they’ll be “found out.”

You can speak words of life into the person and describe the potential you see inside of them.

3. Add value to them.

Try to go into every interaction you have with others with the mindset that you want to add value to them instead of taking it away from them. Connect with others. Point them to great resources. Seek to help bring a positive change in their life.

The best way I know to do this is to openly speak of the things of God with them.

I got a text this week from a really good friend who wore one of my Your Story Matters shirts to a local coffee shop. The phrase on the shirt opened the door to talk about Jesus. That’s a fantastic way to love people. 

I’ll close with this. Loving people isn’t always easy. 

Here’s what I’ve learned:

The closer we are to God, the easier it is to love the people He loves.

So that’s decision two. I’m going to choose to love God. And I’m going to choose to love people. It’ll make all the difference in the world.

Choosing to Love God

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Bobby McGraw - August 27, 2019

Choosing to Love God

Choosing to Love God
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Our lives are shaped by the choices or decisions we make. Choices, even small ones, change the course of our lives in pretty significant ways.

In this post, I want to highlight the 1st of four choices that I believe could make all the difference in your life. These four choices are simple but powerful.

Choice # 1 – Love God

Choosing to love God really is the realization that we are made to live in a relationship with him. Relationship is key.

Many people see God as distant, as he’s far off. But he’s not. He designed you on purpose. He loves you unconditionally. And he has a “best” for your life.

So this first choice is taking a step towards God in response to the step he has already taken towards us.

Here are 3 ways to nurture your relationship with him.

Taking Steps Towards God

1. Spend Time with God

The more time you spend with someone, the deeper your relationship will be. This is true in our earthly relationships and this is also true in our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

A great way to spend time with God is to read the Bible every day and spend time in prayer every day. These are powerful habits. When we read the Bible, we are able to hear from God. When we pray, we are able to talk to God. This two-way communication strengthens our relationship.

2. Allow God to Shape You

As you spend time with God, allow God to shape you. Allow him to create his character inside of you.

I often tell people that God is an inside-God. What I mean by that is that he goes to work on the inside of us. That internal work can seem slow, but over time, it leads to visible results.

Don’t fight the process. Join God in it.

I ’m reminded of Pastor Carey Nieuewhof’s recommendation: work twice as hard on your character as you do on your competency.

It’s the reminder that WHO you’re becoming is far more important than WHAT you are doing. Don’t focus just on “what”. Focus on “who”.

3. Lean into your Unique Design

God created you with a unique design. In a similar way that Paul told his young protégé, Timothy, to stir up the gifts of God inside of him, I encourage you to do the same thing.

God has given you a unique personality with specific gifts for you to use for him. When you discover your gifts and deploy your gifts, the kingdom of God will get bigger and your life will be fuller and more fulfilled.

So I want to encourage you to choose to love God.

That’s what the early followers of Jesus did. In fact, Peter and John didn’t have a lot going for them.

“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” — Acts 4:13

That’s a great reputation to have: to be an ordinary person that has been with Jesus! That’s a great choice!

Listen More … Talk Less [podcast]


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Bobby McGraw - April 12, 2018

Listen More ... Talk Less

Listen More ... Talk Less

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From Series: "Weekday Podcast"

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