Matthew Barnett - The Cause Within You: Finding the One Great Thing God Created You to Do in This World

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The Cause within You: Finding the One Great Thing You Were Created to Do in This World

Copyright 2011 by Matthew Barnett. All rights reserved.

Cover photos by Stephen Vosloo, copyright by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Designed by Beth Sparkman

Published in association with Esther Fedorkevich and the literary agency of Fedd and Company, Inc., 606 Flamingo Blvd., Austin, TX 78734.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Barnett, Matthew.

The cause within you : finding the one great thing you were created to do in this world / Matthew Barnett with George Barna.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-4143-4846-9 (hc)

1. DreamsReligious aspectsChristianity. 2. God (Christianity)Will. 3. Barnett, Matthew.

4. Los Angeles International Church (Los Angeles, Calif.) I. Barna, George. II. Title.

BR115.D74B36 2011

259.086'9420979494dc22 201004624

17 16 15 14 13 12 11

7 6 5 4 3 2 1

I would like to dedicate this book to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who inspired this cause; my gorgeous wife, Caroline; my angel Mia; my little buddy Caden; the Barnett family; and the greatest generation of cause-driven volunteers at the Dream Center. They are changing the world!

Foreword

There are three things you need to know about my son Matthew.

The first thing is that every day, every opportunity, every new person he meets gets him charged up. Ive never seen anyone love life more; he cant wait to get up in the morning. Because of that, people like to be around him. Hes like the Pied Piperjust full of fun, everywhere he goesand hes always building people up through his positive attitude.

The second thing is that he can keep more balls in the air at one time, and do it well, than anybody Ive ever met. Just take a look at the Dream Center, an inner-city ministry offering an amazing number and variety of programs. Against all odds, a twenty-year-old boy got things started because he allowed God to work through him. Today, because he perseveres with that same spirit, Matthew keeps all the programs goingand going strong.

The third is that he has a generous spirit. Matthew is the most giving person I know. Not only is he free with his time and encouragement, on a practical level he cant carry much cash on him because by the time he gets to wherever hes going, hes given it all away to people in need!

Now let me ask you... does this sound like the kind of life you want to be living? Does the idea of all this passion and purpose excite you? Do you want people to talk about you this way? It is more than possible; it is Gods dream for you.

The reason Matthew lives this way is because he is driven by the special cause God has planted within him: when he sees somebody with a need, he feels called to fill it. Thats how hes built the Dream Center ministry, which youll read about in this book. At the Dream Center, we follow Jesus example of finding a need and meeting it; finding a hurt and healing it. Jesus built his own church up on healing and helping and reaching out to people. So when Matthew sees a hurt, he doesnt get discouraged; he views it as a great opportunity to do something for God.

If I can tell you one thing for sure, it is this: everybody must have a cause if theyre going to be happy in life. You need something that makes you want to wake up in the morning, excited, ready to face the day. Matthew is that way because hes discovered his cause, and thats what makes his life. If youre living for something thats not your cause, you may reach your dream, but its going to feel disappointing, like a letdown. Your fun is in climbing, in pursuing your cause. And the reason the cause makes your life is that you never run out of it. You will always have something to give. So if happiness to you is palms upliving only for what you receiveyoull only be happy at your birthday and Christmas. But if you have a cause, happiness is your palms downwhat you can give to other peoplebecause the need will always be there.

Matthew discovered his calling at a young age. Let me tell you, though, if you are feeling the drive to discover your cause, what I want to say to you is that its never too late . I see it all the time in my churchyoure going along with life and then you get a little tap on the shoulder, a prompting, telling you that maybe God is directing you another way. Maybe youre successful in your line of work, maybe you have a good income, and youre pretty well set for life, but you find it doesnt scratch the itch in your heart. I guarantee that you may have more to bring to your cause than even someone who knows theirs at a young age. I see older people who begin to act on their cause later in life, and in many cases they have far more qualifications than someone like me who went directly into ministry. Theyve got passion, drive, business ability, andmost importantlythe freshness that comes with making a new beginning.

Let me tell you a story about Matthew and me that shows how perfectly Gods plan works, how he ordains us to be exactly where he wants us, right in his will, living out our causes.

When the leaders of my denomination first approached me about pioneering a ministry in Los Angeles, they said there was nothing there yet but a dream. They were hoping I could shepherd Bethel Temple, a small, historic church in the denomination, back to health. When they asked me to pray about the opportunity, I couldnt exactly say no! And secretly, my heart leaped within me. I hadnt told them this, but when I was twenty years old and on my way to Bethel Temple to hold a revival, I drove past the Angelus Temple. I had a strong feelingI believe it was a prompting of the Holy Spiritthat one day I would pastor a church in this area. I had hidden that feeling in my heart all those years.

When I decided to accept the opportunity, I knew I needed somebody to work with. I began talking to potential candidatestheyd get very excited on the phone, but when theyd go to LA and see the run-down area where theyd be ministering, suddenly theyd change their minds.

Now, one of my more well-known sermons at the time was called The Miracle in the House. Its based on the idea that everything you need to build a great church is in your house. And one day, a man in my church who knew Id been searching for a ministry partner said, Pastor, youre foolish! Youre searching and searching for the right person to help you when the miracle is right in your house!