The inaugural FSM Roundtable was an amazing experience. Let’s start with the reception. Could have been any better? The setting was spectacular at THE point of Point Clear, Alabama. The Kobe beef burgers were better than the usual cheese spreads at most receptions. The putting contest was a little disappointing for most. The fellowship that evening was a highlight, seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Some stayed late into the night sitting around the fire pit.

Tuesday, everyone awakened to a great day of weather for fishing and golf. Once again, the Grand Hotel staff did a great job on the food. I heard that the fishing excursion was a great experience.

Golf was interesting… let me just say, I need to do a better job of explaining the rules of our format. However, the ambiance of Lakewood Golf Club is second to none.

The Roundtable, hosted at Celebration Church of Fairhope went very well. Pastor Tim Simmons and his guys stepped up and worked hard on our behalf. Derek White supplied the fish and shrimp for the southern style seafood feast - I believe everyone would agree that it was a feast!

My hope was to communicate the vision and strategy of FSM. We wanted to get a glimpse of what is to come in the next few months. We need the content-providers to dive in with their gifts and abilities. We need Encounters to be scheduled. We need to begin to virally connect to hundreds of thousands of men. It is happening.

Although this is the foundational gathering of leaders, actually Fivestar Man has been in the works for several months. I received this vision following two consecutive 21 day fasts last spring. It seemed to be a divine deposit in my spirit. I immediately committed my time and resources to bring the conception of this vision into a reality.

Two weeks ago, we piloted the first Fivestar Man Encounter in the Tennessee valley area of Alabama. Bottom line, the strategy worked. More than 300 men gathered for the event. We expect to have over 100,000 men join Fivestar Man by the end of 2009.

FivestarMan

It is not enough to curse the darkness, it is better to light a candle. (Chinese Proverb)

As Believers, we must reorganize ourselves with a fundamental principle that leads us to action. That principle is this: Unless our lives are influential enough to cause our world to change, we have not lived up to the promise that we are abundant in life.

Unfortunately, the opponents of faith have adopted Machiavellian tactics to gain political offices by unfair means.

The political maneuvering that we have witnessed during the Presidential campaign was engineered by the father of community organizers, Saul Alinsky. Barak Obama has mastered the art of cultural manipulation that the Russian Jew taught him. If you will examine these rules you see the playbook of the Obama campaign.

Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have. If your organization is small, hide your numbers in the dark and raise a din that will make everyone think you have many more people than you do.

Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people. The result is confusion, fear, and retreat.

Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.

Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”

Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.

Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”

Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.

Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.”

Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself. When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O’Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city’s reputation.

Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”

Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.

According to Alinsky, the main job of the organizer is to bait an opponent into reacting. “The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.”

Four years ago, conditions in my life caused me to have a righteous anger. The anger seized me, my natural response could have motivated me to respond improperly. I felt very contentious in my spirit. I allowed it to simmer, and then it moved me to take action. It caused me to reexamine everything in my life and make adjustments that would build a hedge of protection for my family. One of those decisions was regarding my financial condition. I had relied on credit and the use of it to make things happen. Since that time, I committed to “owe no man any debt.” I have worked diligently to remove all credit from my life. With the conditions of the day, I am very glad that I did.

Concerning the present conditions, don’t react like most people will, they will blame the government, or Wall Street, or whomever, examine your own life decisions. Then make adjustments to become better, not bitter.

Maybe it’s because, for years we’ve been masking over the reality of our economy - a over-enthusiastic, irrational exuberance, funded by inflated egos both on Wall Street and Main Street. Now, we have to dig deep - we have to reach down into our character and draw out the best of what we are. We have within us the ability to redesign our economy to be genuinely strong, built on integrity and fundamentals that are unshakable.

In a few days, the conscientious of this country will vote. The candidates are not “Star-Search” personalities but represent two very different ideologies - socialism or capitalism. Believe it or not, the choice before us is that distinctive. We will either vote for an unembellished hero who has fought for our country or a flawed leftist. Think of it. A radical leftist has within his grasp the Presidency of the United States of America!

We must respond to this crisis, not by the weak carnality of human scheming, but by a grass-roots effort to engineer cultural change.

John F. Kennedy said, “When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters, one represents ‘danger’, the other represents ‘opportunity’.”

Basically, America has reached our credit limit. The bail-out is an attempt to transfer “stupid-tax” to us, the American taxpayer. I think we need to take the opportunity to fire everyone who was responsibility to oversee this mess. Amazingly, the very ones who are claiming that they are ‘saviors’ are the vacuous minds that allowed this to go on.

Finally, let’s put our trust in God’s economy. Plant your seed, water it with your prayers and confessions, and reap the harvest.

This church has worked diligently to position themselves for the future by relocating their church to new property and building new facilities to accommodate their growth. I fully expect that East River Church will experience a 50% growth rate next year.

Pastor Tim has fully implemented the 7 Laws teaching into the DNA of his congregation. They practice the Laws and are seeing the results.

1. Expect the Holy Spirit to enlighten your spirit. A. John 14:22-26 B. First Corinthians 2:9 C. John 16:7-15
2. Always yield what you think that you hear from the Spirit to the truth of God’s Word. A. Proverbs 4:4-13 B. Second Peter 1:16-21 C. John 14:23

God’s word and His Spirit are in perfect agreement. Never follow someone’s teaching that is not Word based.

1. Meditate on the Word of God. A. Few people take the time to dig deep into the Word. They only get surface knowledge. B. The Spirit will instruct you in God’s Word. He always points to the Word. The Word always glorifies the Father.

2. Put the Word of God into action in your life. A. God will not continue to give you revelation if you are unwilling to be obedient to that which you already know. B. Work the Word of God in your life.

Think about the vacuous response to a serious question. How hard can it be to answer that question?

If this is above his pay grade then he needs to go back to school not move to the White House. He will have to answer a lot of serious questions - maybe at 3 am when the phone rings.

I believe that this election will reveal the heart and soul of America. We will choose either a talking head with empty rhetoric or a courageous soldier and public servant.

Proverbs 9:1 - “Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out and set up her seven (perfect number) of pillars.”

Seven is the number of perfection. The very first verse of scripture, “In the beginning God created heaven and the earth,” contains 30 different combinations of the numeral seven.
The numeric value of the three nouns, “God, heaven, and earth” totals 777.
A number in triplicate expresses completeness, ultimate, and total meaning.

Principle: God created everything by wisdom. If He practiced wisdom in building heaven and earth, we certainly need wisdom to establish our homes. Proverbs 8:22

Practice: There are Seven Essentials that every home must have. Proverbs 14:1 - “The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.”

Proverbs 9:2 - Develop an appetite for wisdom.
Wisdom is gained two ways - either by mentorship or by pain. Genesis 3:6 - “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.” Eve was deceived by her appetite and by her eyes. She reasoned rather than obeyed. Adam was not deceived. Adam willingly sinned against God’s Word.

Proverbs 9:6 - Do not live in mediocrity. Change your thinking. The prudent man roasts his game! Wise people do things differently than common people. Excellence reproduces itself. Excellence enables you to focus. Excellence testifies that you value life. It’s a grateful spirit.

Proverbs 9:9 - Be a life-long learner. Solomon was a learner. He spoke three thousand proverbs, wrote over a thousand songs. He studied plant life. He understood animals, birds, reptiles and fish. If you want to grow, you must read! The average millionaire reads one non-fiction book a month.

Proverbs 9:10 - Live with reverential honor toward God. Do not disrespect God. Do not misuse His Name. Do not speak inappropriately about His Word. If you do not know His Word, do not attempt to speak for Him. God sets Himself against those who “wag their own tongue.”

Proverbs 9:11 - Think long-term. Moses rejected the “pleasures of sin for a short time.” Wisdom prolongs life. Wisdom makes your life better while you are living it.

Proverbs 10:1 - Have a home of celebration. Training up a child with wisdom will bring you joy. Job makes 100 sacrifices a year on behalf of his children. If you do not raise your children with wisdom, you will constantly have to bail them out of trouble.

Proverbs 10:13 - Wisdom is found on the lips. Wisdom is a result of the words that you listen to. Wisdom considers their words before they speak. Be cautious with your words. Strife is a result of murmuring words. Words builds or destroys confidence! Words are the building blocks of ALL LIFE. (John 1:3)

There is an incredible amount of discussion concerning the earth and how we use the resources that we’ve discovered to create and enjoy the lifestyle that we want.

The combative ideas are at the very heart of the great debate over “to drill or not to drill” that is the question. The Democrats regurgitate their talking points, “we can’t drill our way out of the problem.” Their argument is based upon a their core belief system that disagrees with supply and demand economics. The Republicans don’t have any new ideas either. They simply want to open up every possible resource that we have to “flood” the market with oil to drive down the costs. Both are old arguments with asinine foundations.

The fact that we are still using fossil fuels to empower our lifestyles is truly amazing. We should move beyond this primitive technology.

The argument for the Christian is simply, ”let’s use everything up, we’re out of here soon anyway.”

That’s the kind of thinking that fulfills the old adage, “too heavenly minded to be any earthly good.”

David was chosen to become the king of Israel after the Holy Spirit rejected King Saul and each of David’s brothers (1 Samuel 16). The Bible says that from the day that Samuel anointed David to be king, the Holy Spirit came upon David in power (1 Samuel 16:13).

Yet, what did David do after being anointed with the oil from Samuel’s flask?

He returned to care for his father’s sheep.

This is where most people miss their moment. Most people would grasp to fulfill the prophesy that they received. They would begin to maneuver or scheme the process rather than wait for God’s timing to step them into the position of prophetic destiny.

When God speaks a Word over your life, don’t rush to fulfill it - it awaits an appointed time. You may need to return to your responsibilities and work patience while the process of God takes you into your new position.

I know a man who is probably the most gifted in the discerning of spirits. I have seen him “read” people and know their thoughts. I have witnessed amazing insight upon the things of the Spirit; however, I also noticed how he can lean toward delusional thoughts. He at times has a sense of suspicion. When he becomes delusional he reacts aggressively, cutting and hurting people with his sharp intellect and tongue. The collateral damage is widespread and has eternal repercussions.

Years ago, I preached a message called “The Glory of the Ungifted.” It was built on the premise that John the Baptist was called “the greatest born of woman” by the Lord Jesus Himself; yet, he was also known to have “never performed a miraculous sign.” I took comfort in knowing this truth because, frankly, I do not naturally possess ministry gifts. Please don’t think that I am in anyway insecure. I hardly have an issue with that, and have never been accused of being so. I do know my gifting. I have the gift of discerning other people’s gifts. I’ve simply recruited other people’s abilities to do the work that God has called on me to do. Doing so actually makes me more gifted than possessing a gift within myself.

Keys to the Law of the Gift

1. The gifted often never recognize their gift because it is “hidden” in their natural ability. They simply think everyone can do it.

2. The gifted often never sharpen their gift because it is to easy.

3. The gifted are often bored with their gift.

4. The gifted are often to arrogant to receive instruction concerning their gift.

5. The gifted often covet others people’s gifts and ignore their own.

6. The gifted often minimize their gifts worth never understanding it’s value to others.

7. The gifted often reserve their gift to draw out harm rather than healing.

8. Those who abuse their gifting to hurt others rather than help others often become confused and ungrateful toward God.

9. Ingratitude is the seed of perversion to the natural state of things (Romans 1).

Men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.

Principle:

Understanding the times gives you an advantage over others.

Practice:

1. Men of Issachar were the descendants of the 5th son of Jacob and Leah.
2. Issachar means “to bring in wages.”
3. Ecclesiastes 7:14 - When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.
4. Hebrews 11:8
5. Abraham was called out of his father’s place in order to step into his future.
6. Abraham’s father, Terah, remained in Haran.

Principles to Apply:

• Understand the times in order to have the advantage of new income. • During difficult times is a time for reflection and seeking God for new opportunities. • Don’t allow the nostalgia of the past to hold you from stepping into your future. • When the brook dries up (God’s former provision) discomfort will move you into your next place. Mark 10:29 Principle!