WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE ?

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE ?

It's late in the afternoon on a beautiful spring day in Texas. Walking alone on a road that rarely sees a car and I am so hungry. All I can think about is how hungry I am. In fact, the walk was supposed to distract me from my growling stomach. But to no avail.

One month earlier I had agreed with 6 other men to enter into a secret month long fast, each man fasting for twenty four hours, and passing it along to the next man. The purpose of the fast was to support the leadership in our church, praying for each elder and his family.  At the time it seemed like a good idea, even though I know I get grouchy if I go without food longer than four hours. And on this particular day I had hit the wall, so I began praying as I was walking.

Lord, I am so hungry. And why am I doing this anyway? It can't possibly make any difference to You, if I'm fasting while I'm praying. Certainly praying is enough. Right? I mean, men do this kind of thing all over the world to appeal to their gods. They practice self denial, they fast, they pray for hours on end, getting louder and louder. They cut themselves and wail and throw themselves on the ground.They sacrifice animals. They sacrifice their own children.  All in an attempt to get their gods attention and to gain their gods favor. So what's the difference Lord, between what they are doing and what I'm doing?

Now I want to stop here for a moment. I'm not one of those guys who hears answers to his prayers. I'm not one of those guys who goes out of his way to have a "spiritual experience." If anything, I lean in the direction of shunning the Spirit, for fear of being scared out of my wits. Charismatic I am not.

Looking up, with eyes wide open, I hear three short sentences. Now mind you, there was no audible voice, but I've never forgotten the words that came into my mind.

"Yes Terry, you're right. Men do these things. The difference is, I'm the real deal."

Since that day, I've thought quite a bit about that encounter with Jesus. I've hesitated to write about it. Not wanting to cheapen it. At the same time wanting to give all the praise to to the One who bore my sin, and who, without scolding me for complaining, gave me an encounter that will last until my dying breath.

MY COMMITMENT

The following was written by a young African pastor and tacked on the wall of his house.

I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I'm a disciple of His. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, or ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me. And when He comes He comes for His own, He will have no problems recognizing me-my banner will be clear.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 02, 2007

BOOMERS

You've heard a lot from us. How could you not? We've made more noise than any previous generation. You see, "It's all about us." If this is news to you just think back over what we have introduced to the world. We're the generation that brought you the 60's. Now many of you may not be old enough to appreciate just how unusual the 60's were, but the fallout from that decade is still wreaking havoc in American culture.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me rewind a little. We come from the parents who were the greatest generation. Our parents were born before the Great Depression, fought their way through WWII and preceded to raise their children in the safest and most affluent time in America's history. It was our parents who instilled in us the importance of character, hard work, honesty, faith and patriotism. And what did we do with this wonderful launch? We threw it in the dumpster. We took the gifts given to us by America's greatest generation and perverted them for our own selfishness.

We're the ones who became physically rebellious on campuses all across the land. We scoffed at patriotism, scorned our military men and women, made fun of hard working fathers and mothers and produced songs that were the threads of anarchy. We gave you the bumper stickers that said, "if it feels good do it." We introduced laws that provided abortion on demand, no fault divorce, started the trend of lawsuits for frivolous infractions, decided that day care was the best way to raise children, preached the nonsense that there is no difference between men and women and raised billboards declaring "God is Dead."

Then just to be sure that our influence and presence was continually felt, we became the professors, the politicians, the lawyers and the social engineers that have kept our self centered dream alive.

We are now entering the retirement years. You may think that you are finally done with our nonsense, but, "Oh---No," we have now increased our demands. We want health care for all of us older folk who need it more and more everyday. But we are so generous with your tax dollars that we are willing to include you in the plan. Besides it makes us look so compassionate. We also want senior care, bike paths, handicap access to everything, senior passes, senior discounts, senior menus, senior, senior, senior. You see, "it's still all about us." we are the leading consumers of not only your tax dollars, we are also leading the charge for every cosmetic operation known to man. And we go around saying things like, "hey, I'm on a fixed income!!", when in actuality we are the richest generation [in terms of money] that America has ever known. And still we demand free prescriptions, Medicaid, Medicare, electric scooters, eye glasses, and shuttle buses. And I hate to tell you this, but we're not through.
If you don't stop us, we will bankrupt the nation. Sacrifice isn't in our vocabulary. We do know that our social engineering has changed the way all Americans think. We have convinced ourselves that you are better off because of us. And of course, we still think that we are vital to the betterment of mankind. It's going to take years of hard work and sacrifice to correct what we have done. The one advantage you will have is we will finally be dead. God help the generation that rediscovers our nonsense.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2007

MISTAKEN IDENTITY

It was a long day. I was tired and wanting to get home, but first, a stop for dinner at McDonald's. As I wheeled into the parking lot there was a car right behind me. One of those imports that has been lowered and modified. The sound system was rattling my windows. As I got out of the truck, the driver of the car parked next to me. I paid scant attention, but I did notice the tattoo's, the trousers with the crotch at the knees, and the untied shoes. What a waste I thought. Another drugged out kid, slouching into McDonald's for some food. Obviously this guy is so saturated by today's culture that he isn't even aware how predictable and annoying he is.

I place my order and then head for the bathroom. As I am returning to the counter I pass by this young man who has already gotten his food. There he was, leaning forward, and what was that printed on his shirt? a picture of Jesus, with the words, "soldier of the cross" written underneath. And why was he leaning forward like that? He was earnestly praying over his food.

Well, shame on me. My self righteousness andprejudging was hanging out all over the place. I was humbled by this young man. What a lesson God was teaching me at that moment.

Now wouldn't it be nice if this lesson really stuck with me. Of course it would. But it hasn't. I found myself just this very day, doing virtually the very same thing I just described earlier in this post. It is discouraging. However, God is faithful. He will not allow my present state of mind to rule. He forgives. Daily. He renews daily. He encourages daily. Praise His name.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2007

SUFFER REJECTION

Easy for you to say. Personally, I am allergic to rejection. I break out in hives. I get a stomach ache. I want nothing more in all the world than to be accepted by all those who are around me. I'm very insecure. I don't like controversy and I don't take criticism well. So then, why title this post SUFFER REJECTION? Because Jesus asks us to. He made it quite clear that those who would come after Him would suffer for His name. He said, "if they persecuted me, they will persecute you also." John 15:20b.

This discomfort, this putting ourselves at risk for the sake of the gospel, is part of the reason that evangelism is unpopular. In our hearts we say,---boy, anything but evangelism. We will volunteer for almost any Christian duty, but evangelism !!!!----let someone else better qualified, tackle that one. I wasn't called to be an evangelist.

Those who kinda know their way around the Bible are quick to quote Ephesians 4:11, "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers." So you see; they will say, I wasn't called to do that, I don't have that gift, it just isn't my nature. Or better yet, there is the famous quote by St. Francis of Assisi, that goes something like this, "share God with everyone you meet, and if you have to, even use words." This is an extremely popular quote because it suggests to the hearer that your good deeds are sufficient for others to somehow absorb the gospel from that. I don't know about you, but I have never in my life had a man come up to me and say, --you know,-- you live such a good life, would you tell me your secret?

Underneath all of this is fear. And this is where training comes in. This common fear can be defeated with a little simple training and some practice. Be intentional. Get with a guy who has experience and ask him to coach you. Then, put yourself into a situation where sharing the gospel is expected. On a short term mission trip perhaps, or prison ministry, or a soup kitchen.

When Jesus was walking on the shores of Galilee, the first thing He said to the fisherman there was, "follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Then when he was leaving those men the last thing He said was, "go and make disciples." It's really that simple. Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. After you have done that go and make disciples.

Sure there are a lot of things that make up a Christian walk, things that require much attention and regular sacrifice, but the primary thing is "go and make disciples." Look, here's the deal. You are saved because somebody was obedient to the Holy Spirit and shared the gospel with you. In fact, probably several somebodies shared the gospel with you before you really got it. A number of men faced your rejection and perhaps your scorn all because they knew the importance of evangelism.

Recently I was at a large gathering of Christian men. The question was posed, how many of you men were saved in church? Several stood up. Then the question, how many of you men were saved at an evangelistic event. Once again, several stood up. Then the question, how many of you were saved because a man shared the gospel with you, thousands stood up. It is for that very reason that we share Christ. Men want to hear about the gospel from another man, one on one. That's what makes our personal testimony so important. That's why we need training and practice. With training and practice, sharing the gospel becomes a natural part of who you are.

Be willing to love your lost friends enough to suffer rejection. Love them enough to be willing to offend them, if that's what it takes to get them into the kingdom. Then leave the mysterious work of the conversion to God.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2007

DISCIPLINE

No discipline----no growth. Everything else I'm going to say here, can be summed up in that first sentence. It is our tendancy as men to rationalize and procrastinate. The best man among us participates in these two activities, rationalizing and procrastinating. Both of these activities are a cancer on the disciplined life. They are the tools that eat away at the very core of living a disciplined life.

I'll give you an example. I know a man who ranks very high on the discipline chart. He is by all outward appearances the model of constant discipline. He is every woman's dream and every child's hope. He practices the golden rule. He is patriotic, healthy and smart. And if you ask him about his discipline, he will tell you he fails regularly to maintain the standards that are his goal.

So I think it is safe to say, that the best man among us participates in rationalization and procrastination. Why do we intentionally shoot ourselves in the foot? Why, when we know what to do, and when to do it, do we not do it?

Read the book of Proverbs. If you don't have a Bible, borrow one or go on line. Read the whole book. It won't take you long. Write down how many times you see the word discipline in the book. And then, read the warning that accompanies the word. Proverbs is one of those texts that are recommended reading for newlyweds as well as old guys like me. It becomes quickly apparent that and undisciplined life if rife with trouble.

As it turns out, discipline is our friend. Used properly, it will provide daily benefits that add up to yearly gain. If it were easy to attain, it wouldn't be called discipline. The very nature of the word suggests it's meaning.

Jesus had twelve disciples. They were being exposed to His teaching, both through His words and His modeling of how to live life. Did they bumble along? You bet they did. Did they vie for position and power? Yep. Did they miss the point of many of Jesus' statements? Of course they did. Did they end up spreading the gospel until their dying breath? Yes.

My conclusion is keep at it. In second Timothy 2:2, Paul states, "and the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable men, who will also be qualified to teach others." Reliable men are disciplined men. Qualified men are disciplined men. It is impossible to make very much progress with a man who isn't personally disciplined.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 03, 2006

JUST BUSINESS
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2006

Do you live out your Christian walk with Jesus during the week the same way you live it out in church on Sunday morning? If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence amongst your business peers, to convict you? ---My answer was no to both questions.

In the spring of 1975 at the ripe old age of 30 I opened for business. Having worked previously for a man who trained me to run a business in the ways of the world. His training was thorough and I was an attentive student. Along with learning the ropes of being a small businessman I also learned very well how to cheat.

Here is the premise. You are a small businessman and the deck is stacked against you. Taxes are too high. Employees are too expensive, landlords don't give you a fair shake and suppliers only provide deep discounts to volume buyers. Of all of those statements only the last one is essentially true. All of the others are reasons to cheat. Once the cheating begins it is quickly applied to every area. The first and most obvious is what is famously known as "two sets of books." In my case this wasn't true, I had one set of books and I entered only the information that I wanted to be known. The rest of the information and money was unaccounted for. That seemed the safest to me. No record, no case.

Cash was king. I worshiped cash. It made the whole enterprise worthwhile and gave me a sense of power that my cleverness was triumphing over the world. I ran my business this way for 21 years.

In the last half of 1995 I was under great conviction about how I was handling the money that the Lord had entrusted me with. By this time I had been saved for 4 years and my declaration to God, about how I wasn't going to give His church any money until I died, was wearing thin. The problem was I was simply too scared to make any changes. What I had been doing for the last 21 years was wrong, yes wrong, but it paid the bills and left me with spending money. Doing anything to upset that system gave me the willies.

In the last quarter of 1995, with my wife's encouragement, I decided that in January of 1996 I was going to surrender the business to the Lord. That's it. Lock, Stock and Barrel. It was going to be His and I would go on salary. Along with all of the dramatic financial changes that were going to be taking place, I was also going to tithe 10% of all the before tax profits.

It was a surrender second only to giving my heart to Jesus. On January 2nd 1996 I arrived at work and felt as though I was stepping straight off a cliff. I had made all these promises to the Lord. No more cheating---period. My employees would no longer receive cash bonuses. We would declare exactly where every penny was and where it was going. We would start all our company meetings with prayer. We would do all these things in the name of the Lord and with His help. Unfortunately I didn't lay out a plan to succeed financially in this new climate. The only thing I did was project out how long I could last. My calculations told me we would be out of business by the 3rd quarter of 1996. On that happy note I began the most daring journey of my Christian life.

USABLE VESSELS

Vessel is a somewhat poetic discription of individuals who are available and prepared for service to Jesus. In the book of Romans, Paul the Apostle writes about the potter,[God]and the clay[man]. Paul states in chapter nine verse twenty one, "does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?"

It is ours to discover what God has made us for. We are the clay vessels. Some of us are made for noble purpose, some for common purpose. It doesn't matter which purpose God made us for. It matters greatly that we are prepared and available. Part of the preparation is cleaning up our act, so that we are uncluttered when pressed into service. Cleaning up our act in cludes having a mind focused on the eternal. This happens when we are well established in scripture and prayer on a daily basis. I'm talking about personal, private, uninterrupted alone time with God everyday, yes, even Sunday. Along with this spiritual discipline comes some very practical habits. Avoid with a vengance the temptations that are the most vexing. If you are viewing pornography, stop it. If your leisure time includes movies with profanity and provacitive activity, stop that also. Get into the habit of replacing those activities with books and music that encourage spiritual growth. Don't give satan an inch. Learn what your triggers are. The enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for souls to devour. He knows how to lure us out into the open where we are vulnerable. Get serious about cutting the enemy off. If you are the most vulnerable when you are tired, remind yourself in advance that you are pushing it. If vulnerability comes when you are alone, plan to avoid being alone. If you know that your schedule includes unaccountable alone time, prepare in advance for warfare during those times. Don't turn on the television in your hotel room. Stay away from late night activities. After you have practiced some of these basic behaviors, make your own list of priorities. Learn from your failures. Ask for forgiveness and then press forward.

Usable vessels are clean vessels. Usable vessels experience God's work in a very personal way. Usable vessles have a joy and a purpose that is set apart. Usable vessels are men who are dead to the world and alive in Christ.

Here is a practical illustration. You may have seen the tapes of the young men leaving the terrorists training camps. These men have a tape made describing how they want their funeral to take place. They give instructions to their family about the distribution of their possessions. They consider themselves already dead as they head off to be part of a sleeper cell somewhere in the world. These men are dangerous because they are by their own description, dead. A dead man is a dangerous man. O.K., got it. Now, turn this around. Instead of being a dead man for evil, be a dead man for Christ. Be a dangerous man for Christ. Everytime satan tries to lure you with the world tell him to kiss off. You are dead to the world. And you are living for the greatest challenge and joy that is available to mankind. As you journey in this purpose keep your vessel clean, and Jesus will fill it with with His perfect will.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2006

THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN

When it comes to
Christian growth, men generally determine to go it alone. Unlike formal education or job training, which many men will undergo, spiritual training involves personal vulnerability along with the training. This is kind of spooky and because of the personal risk, I often hear the sentence,"I'm going to learn to follow Jesus on my own."

I know this from first hand experience. In my previous posts, I have touched a little on the beginning years with Christ in my own life. I was quite determined to go it alone. As a matter of fact, I was quite determined to start my own idea of Christianity. Under the guise of not wanting my relationship with Jesus to be polluted by another man's influence, I proceded to read my Bible and pray and experience God without anyone else's influence. This was a hoax I played on myself. I was covering up. By hiding my conversion I remained a baby in Christ.

This is the reason it is so easy to find a Christian man who has been saved for a decade or more, and is more or less clueless about his Bible and about his theology. When called upon to teach, or disciple or lead in any way, these men humbly decline.

In the book of 11 Timothy chapter 2 verse 2, Paul states, "and the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." Gee, I wonder what that means?

In 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 15, Peter states, "always be prepared to give an answer to anyone, who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. " So, does that mean we are supposed to talk to other people about Jesus?

You get the point. Without preparation, men will not do either of these things. They will not entrust to reliable men what they know because they cannot articulate it. They will not share their own testimony because they are not prepared to do so. And where does that leave the Christian man? It leaves him going to church, hopefully, and remembering about 10% of what he hears in church. Other than that, if he is really adventuresome, he may attend a Bible study on a sporatic basis, once again drifting through with no real spiritual underpinnings.

If you have ever asked yourself why women make up most of the workers in a church, you have now discovered the reason why. And it all comes back to being the Lone Ranger. Hey---I'm an American guy. I am my own man. I decide what I'm going to do. Besides that-----I'm growing??? I've been going to church now for several years. I must have learned something!!

Believe it or not, there are reliable men who are qualified to teach others. They are in your neighborhood and they are in your church. Some of them are at your workplace. Seek them out. Find a guy, a regular guy. A guy who has been discipled, who you can talk to about regular things. Ask him if he would be willing to invest himself in you. If he agrees, meet him faithfully. Follow his directions. Follow his example. Allow yourself to be teachable. Start the journey that you have been putting off all these years. If you do this the day will come when you will be qualified to teach others. That's the model Jesus built. He picked 12 men and said, "follow me."

You still want to be the Lone Ranger? Go ahead. You can be the Lone Ranger all over the place. In the woods, on the lakes, at your desk or on the road. But when it comes to following Jesus, be teachable.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2006

TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OUT OF LIFE

Life is unfair. The righteous suffer while evil men prevail. Justice is capricious as life appears to unfold in random fashion; Innocent children are victims of war and flood, while piggish dictators ravage their people for personal gain. Good people get cancer and the brutish often live in wealth and enjoy good health and old age. [Ecclesiasties 3:11; 7:15, 8:14, Daniel 4:35; Job 11:7-9;33:13 Romans 11:33-34.]

It is easy to conclude, if God is good, then He must be weak. Otherwise He would stop the suffering and injustice. If He is strong and soverign, then He is cruel and indifferent for allowing the carnage to continue. The story of Job however shatters such thinking.

Job is a prosperous man. He has many children, he has wealth. He is a land owner. By all the standards we have established on earth, Job would be considered a blessed man. The account of Job states that one day, satan was conversing with God, and accuses Job of following God because he is so blessed in life. So, God gives satan permission to take everything that is Job's except his life. Job loses his health, his children, his wealth and the source of his income. Job's friends gather around him and argue that it is because of Job's sins that this has happened. In the end however, Job is given a double portion of all that was taken.

Think about these conclusions;

God reserves the right to use us for His glory according to His will. Exodus 9:16 Job 40;8 Isaiah 45:9; 64:8

Job demonstrates faith when the circumstances are grim and the suffering unimaginable. Job 1:20,21. See Job 1:22 and 13;15.

Job's well meaning friends assume that righteous people are the ones who prosper and that sinful men have tribulations.

Suffering deepened Job's retationship with God. Job 42:5.

God does not owe us an explanation for His actions.

In all of this Job's true blessing was a closer walk with God.

TRUSTING

This is what Jesus asks us to do. To place our trust in Him and Him alone. He makes it clear that money can't buy what He has to offer. Great intelect can't qualify you for what He has to offer. Proper breeding won't save us. Only Jesus can do that.

So I have been thinking about this part that we must do if we want to be saved. We must trust in Him. Trusting is easier for some than for others. Now I ask you, is that fair? Supposing you are like me and you are kind of a naturally suspicious guy. It would be easy to claim that this trusting business wasn't a level playing field. And that since God didn't give you the wiring or environment that spawns trust, you have been dealt with unfairly. You can easily understand why your friend George trusts in Jesus. George trusts everyone. You might even say that George is gullible. But not us, no sir. We look deeper into things. We search for the flaws. We know very well the misery of buyers remorse. We hate being taken advantage of. We like being one step ahead of the proposition. So I ask you again, is it a level playing field?

I Samuel 16:7b says, "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward apperance, but the Lord looks at the heart." This means that God knows us better than anyone knows us including ourselves. It is also an assurance that if we will trust with whatever capacity we have, God will see the measure of it.

Early in the spring of 1991 when I decided to place my faith in Jesus to save me, I was completely alone. There was no dramatic build-up, no music, no beckoning from another, just me in the cab of a 1990 Ford pickup truck. I'm traveling at 70 miles an hour or so in light traffic. It's the middle of the afternoon. And talk about no reverance. I didn't pull the truck over to the shoulder and stop. I didn't even slow down. I didn't close my eyes and my prayer was short and direct. Jesus saved me in that moment. I remember the whole thing as if it were in slow motion.

I don't tell you these things because I am proud of them. Quite the opposite. I tell you this because "the Lord looks at the heart." That is why even the most suspicious man such as me has the same kind of access to Jesus as the trusting man.

The compelling thing about Christ is that He can be trusted completely. And He is patient as He waits for us to trust in Him more.

I move slowly. Trusting just a little bit more each day. And with each passing day I marvel at how faithful Jesus is. The more I trust the more I can rest in Him and His promises.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2006

MY WAY

God has granted me a lot more than I give Him credit for. If you will for just a moment forget about the minor detail that He created us and the planet on which we live and the universe that gives us pause. Leaving all of those things aside I want to focus on daily desires.

Paul writes in Romans 1:20 that God is clearly seen by man through what God has created and that if man would only think about it a little bit he would realize that he is without excuse when it comes to acknowledging the existence of God.

Later in the chapter Paul explains how God gave man up to his own desires, to idolatry and immorality and all manner of evil. The way I read this, God grants man the desires of his heart. Man demands what he wants, proceeds to take what he wants and God grants man the option of being that self driven. When the Bible says that God gave man over to the desires of his heart, the Bible is describing how God is giving you what you want.

I'll give you an example from my own life. For several years I wanted a particular boat. I had never owned a boat but I traveled in the circle of friends who did own boats and I had my heart set on a particular brand and style of boat. I loved boats. I loved everything about boats. They consumed me. They were in my mind and in my heart even in the off season. And then one year, I made enough money to buy the boat that I wanted. My first boat. Not realizing it at the time, I worshiped my boat. It was my idol. It defined me. I cared for it more than I cared for anything else.

That my friend is idol worship. It is what Paul was describing in the 1st chapter of Romans. God had granted me the desire of my heart. Put another way, God was punishing me by giving me what I wanted. God punishes the human race by giving the human race what it wants.

In our minds we stop being the creators creatures, and we start being our own God. And when that happens we start saying things like, " I'm a self made man." I don't need anyone or anything. I can make anything happen that I want, starting from scratch." It's that kind of talk that gets us to believing that there is no creator. Or if there is one, He's not really part of my life.

This is referred to as a hardness of the heart. Once we are fully given over to the mindset that we are the god of our own lives, we are living very far outside the possibility of redemption. So much so that we have ourselves convinced that we don't need redemption granted to us, we can grant it to ourselves. This is very dangerous territory in deed. We can go to the end of our days convinced that there is no ultimate justice, that there is no reconing, and that somehow everyone moves on to a better place because that is how we would design it.

So you see, this is how easy it is to be outside the redemption of God. This is how easy it is to be blinded by our own nature. God not only reveals Himself to us through His handiwork which is all around us, He reveals Himself to us through His word, The Bible. Give yourself a break. Think outside of yourself for a moment. Consider actually reading His word and allowing Him to speak to you through it

FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2007

DON'T CROSS ME

I know my rights. You try to take advantage of me and you will be sorry. I've been in this town before. I know the back alleys. I know when the guards go home. If you think you are going to get ahead of me, you better think again.

I am a small businessman. I have managed my own company for over 30 years. For 20 of those 30 years thepreceding paragraph describes my management style. Right or wrong, good or bad, respected or not, the results spoke for themselves. I stayed in the same location and I never filed for protection or bankruptcy. As far as I was concerned, this style of management worked for me.

After Jesus saved me, I spent several years fighting vigorously to keep Him out of the business. Why? I'll tell you why. Jesus declares a management style that is one hundred and eighty degrees in the opposite direction of mine. I style that I not only didn't trust, but I also did not understand.

Here are but a few examples of what Jesus tells us.

"If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it."

"If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit for tat stuff."

If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, gift wrap your best coat and make a present of it." [Luke 6:29&30;Matt. 5:40-The Message]

Now you have got to admit, this is a hard teaching. This is quite different from what would be commonly referred to as "running an honest business."

Many Christians run an honest business. It isn't easy, especially a small business. But Jesus isn't asking us to simply obey the 10 commandments. He has raised the stakes.

There are two primary reasons for not adopting His practices. They seem so unfair. But where in the Bible does God guarantee us fairness-this side of eternity? The fact is, Life is unfair. Your character development is of far greater interest to God than your guarantee of fairness. The second reason is, We might not survive if we allow people to take advantage of us. Where is it written that you are to survive? Jesus submitted to evil people to the point of being crucified by them, and He calls us to the same standard of surrender.

So the question is, can we trust our Sovereign God in simply obeying His Word without rationalization? Without compromise? And leave the outcome to Him? Jesus did. And He calls us to the same quality of faith and obedience.

I said earlier that His style was one I didn't trust and I didn't understand. I now say, I still don't understand it, but I trust it. After 10 years of repeated surrender over every conflict and injustice and uncertainty, Jesus has made a way for us that is His alone. It is the practice of having an eternal focus, that provides the willingness to go forward in Him.



WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2007

THE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES

There are seven primary spiritual disciplines. They are Bible study, Bible memorization, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving and stewardship. I have not listed these in order of importance. Since these represent the major spiritual disciplines they are all of equal value in the life of the committed Christian.

Personally I tackled these disciplines one at a time. Shortly after I was saved, I prayed and told the Lord that I was not going to participate in his church or giving any money to his church. That was a mistake, but it was what I did. So, I eliminated two of the disciplines right off the bat, stewardship and worship. After that I began reading my Bible everyday, followed by personal prayer. So, without knowing it I was exercising two of the spiritual disciplines in the early days of my Christian life.

Establishing those two disciplines led to curiosity about the others. I began to understand that giving was part of the Christian's life, because the Bible told me so. The same was true of serving, evangelism and worship. All of these things are modeled in the Bible. The only discipline I didn't find modeled in the scriptures was memorization. Actually, it was modeled all over the place, but because the word memorize is no where to be found in the translation that I study,[NIV], and I am a real literal guy, I had to learn the discipline of memorization through the encouragement of another man.

As I say, I ventured into these disciplines pretty much one at a time. As the discipline became an established part of my life, I embraced the next discipline.

I am not recommending this, one discipline at a time idea. Every man has his own way of learning and growing in Christ. What I want you to know is that God is patient and encouraging and forgiving. These are all wonderful traits of God, but they are not to be used as an excuse for laziness. Neither the Old Testament or the New Testament give any quarter to laziness. Having said that, God knows how you are wired and He knows how long it will take you to get a spiritual discipline firmly established in your life. Work dilligently at establishing these disciplines. Work at it as though your spiritual life depended on them, because your spiritual life does depend on them.

One final caution. Don't play at this. Many men worship their work, work at their play, and play at their worship. Don't do that. Examine yourself. Be brutally honest. Don't settle for add ing up the dabbling you've done in these spiritual areas, and then give yourself a passing grade. Chances are you will cut yourself off from the deeper blessings of fellowshiping with Jesus.

Remember, God doesn't want your excuse, He wants your heart.


SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2006

TRICKS

The spiritual world has an unfair advantage over us. For the most part, the spiritual world is invisible. And unlike we mortals who are destined to die, spirits live indefinitely, not having to re-learn the same information generation after generation. Consequently we are easily deceived. Satan and his minions are thoroughly practiced in their deceptions. Something as simple as a lifetime of distraction can keep a soul from examining God's truth. I'll make it even more subtle. A lifetime of compassion and good works can be a lifetime of distraction from God's truth.
When the Bible says that "satan masquerades as an angel of light, " 11Corinthians 11:14, it is telling us the truth. I don't know about you, but if I ever saw an angel of light, I would probably be most inclined to pay very close attention to what it said to me.
The apostle Paul was keenly aware of this kind of deception. He warned the church at Galatia that even if an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the original gospel, let him be eternally comdemned.
This stern warning was made to protect the church. It was also made to heighten the awarness of new believers to be on their guard against such deception. The zenith of such deception is to convince the mortal mind that he {satan}, does not exist. By appealing to our sense of fair play, or more commonly our sense of, things unseen simply do not exist, satan gains the upper hand and we have been outflanked.
I refer to this strategy as a trick. It is a trick. A low down dirty trick. A trick so subtle as to be undetectable. A trick so thoroughly executed by evil, that it's very cloaking is invisible.
When it comes right down to a fight, a 357 Magnum is referred to by most men as the great equalizer. When it comes right down to a spiritual fight, God's word is the great equalizer. Every unmasking that I have referred to in this post has it's origin in the Bible. Without this book of God's truth, we would be left to what ever we could conjure up, in our battle against evil. But with this truth we are able to see the battle for our soul and understand our enemy and know his battle plans. God's word neutralizes what I called the "unfair advantage of the spirit world." The challenge for most of us is, do you believe the Bible really is the word of God to all mankind? As you're thinking about that question remember what the ultimate deception is. Satan doesn't exist. There is no spiritual battle.
In my own life, independence was my goal. Self sufficiency appealed to my pride. Logic was my polygraph test. But now I have learned something very important. The path from God is independence. The path to God is dependence.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2006

SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP...

We have a mandate. God calls all men who have placed their trust in Him, to be the spiritual leader in their home. I remember the first time I heard that statement. I was attending a men's conference in Lake Tahoe. The speaker, Dr. Dwight Hill, was giving us a punctuated message on our responsibilities as men. I remember thinking, "RIGHT, I'm called to be the spiritual leader in my home. Now just exactly how is that supposed to happen? First of all, my wife has been a Christian for at least 30 years, and I have been one for 4 years. I don't go to church. I don't give any money to God's work, I don't understand very much of what I read in the Bible. And follow that up with the very real practical fact, that my wife is independent. We started our marriage with the understanding that we would divide labor and responsibilities according to our abilities, not according to traditional male, female roles.

This so called mandate about spiritual leadership was sounding an awful lot like traditional roles, and I knew this would go over like a lead balloon at my house. Needless to say, I never mentioned it when I got home from the conference. But I thought about it a lot. I prayed about it. "Lord, what does that look like, being the spiritual leader? Lord, you know my situation, is that even possible in my household? Lord, does it really matter anyway? I mean, I know I'm going to heaven, you have already made that a reality for me, and I have never read that sentence in the Bible where it says, "YOU MUST BE THE SPIRITUAL LEADER IN THE HOME."

That's because that exact sentence isn't in the Bible, but spiritual leadership is woven throughout the scriptures. And the way to understand this role is through understanding the Bible.
I finally asked a man if he would disciple me so that I could grow in Christ. Through that discipleship process I began to develop a hunger for God's word and a dependence on prayer. All the while I was conflicted between what the world had taught me and what the scriptures were teaching me. Often times the two were harmonious, but when they were not, I ten ded to lean toward the world and what the hard fought lessons of life had taught me. Gradually I noticed that Jesus' promises were real, and that learning to trust and obey Him was the greatest source of peace in my life. I also learned that spiritual leaders lead by being servants. I was to serve my wife, serve my sons, serve my parents and serve my God.
Then one day, several years later, I was having a conversation with Gail, and during that conversation she said to me, "you are the spiritual leader in the home." The words almost knocked me over.

WITNESSING...

Everytime I get on a plane I have prepared through prayer to be a witness for Jesus. My flights are around three hours. That is enough time to establish a dialogue and share the truth of the gospel. Not every time though. Yesterday is a case in point. I sat next to a very congenial man. He was soft spoken, gentle and from what he told me, very generous. His goals were to be healthy and happy, both for himself and for his family. He was quite wealthy. He gave credit to God for his earthly talents and for his prosperity. As we talked I told him that he had everything except hope. He said a curious thing to me. What do you mean by hope? Describe hope. That set me back for a moment, I thought most everyone understood that term. I gave him an example of temporary hope. What he didn't want to talk about was eternal hope.
Our conversation was lively and punctuated with laughter, but the subject matter was directed by him. I did not share the story of God's love for him. He just wasn't willing to engage.
When we arrived at our destination, he offered me a very generous gift, something only he could do because of his position and power. I accepted his gift, I only wish I could have offered Jesus' gift to him in return.

Dead Broke...

How many of you started out your adult life dead broke? I know I did. Entry level jobs were available. Thank God. They made the difference between having food and shelter and not. I was struck the other day by an advertisement showing President Clinton and the title "The Poverty Trap." I didn't follow up on this. I only thought about the title. The first thing that came to my mind is the suggestion that poverty is a trap. One never hears the statement, "The Middle Class Trap." Or even better, "The Wealth Trap." Somehow only poverty is a trap. This statement or some form of it has been floating around for as long as I have been alive. Statements like "breaking out of poverty," or,"caught in the endless cycle of poverty." To me, this perpetuates the idea that poverty, as opposed to any other style of living, has some kind of additional unseen force that holds people in it's clutches. And those forces are regularly defined as external. Lack of education, limited opportunities, substandard health care, discriminative hiring practices, and so on.

In actuality, there are challenges, disappointments, uncertainties and discrimination at every financial level. Most wage earners and entrepreneurs have faced these truths from the time they stepped into adulthood.

People are moral agents. They have the capacity for both good and evil. They have within them the free will to make choices everyday that directly effect their lives and the lives of their families. The central difference between individuals who stay in poverty and those who do not, lies in the willingness of the individual to make choices that will change their lives. Programs are not the answer. Public housing, food stamps, welfare, child care, and educational opportunities cannot in and of themselves end poverty. Actually these things are destructive in many ways because they are dehumanizing. Social engineering by its very nature suggests that there is a technical solution to poverty, denying individuals their human dignity.

It comes back to being a moral agent. If we want to strip people of their dignity all we have to do is deny the Christian world view, and it's teachings on sin and moral responsibility. In its place we embrace the more enlightened or scientific view that fosters social engineering, eventually treating people as less than human. Once that is accomplished, poverty flourishes, particularly poverty of the human soul.

I am basically lazy. I have been ever since I can remember. I did very poorly in school, failing to graduate. I didn't like advice and I didn't want other peoples opinions and I didn't want anyone to train me to do anything. All I ever wanted was an easy life. Just make it easy for me, so I don't really have to put out too much. I think the only reason that I forced myself to participate was the unacceptable results that laziness yielded. Were it not for that I would no doubt still be dead broke.

Do you see what I mean. Poverty, particularly as it pertains to living conditions, is directly linked to our free will. And poverty of the soul has been with us since the fall of mankind.

RESTING IN CHRIST...

I took Systematic Theology a couple of years ago. Our professor gave us a simple illustration. Placing a chair in the front of the room and facing the class, he stood in front of the chair. With his elbows locked and his hands firmly on the armrests, he began to sink slowly into the chair. After being seated for a few seconds, he used his arms to elevate himself from the seat a little bit, then elevated even more. Then he let himself rest in the chair again.

He said this is the way a lot of us live out our trust in Christ. Perhaps the day we were saved, we rested fully in the seat of the chair. Maybe for several days after we were saved we were still resting in Christ. But then after some time we begin to try and rely on our own strength. We use our physical strength in the place of resting in Christ. Part of the demonstration included portraying individuals who never sat down. They came close to fully resting in Jesus, but as soon as the body was near the seated position, the arms would take over and lift the person out of the seat.

I'm using this illustration today to depict my walk with the Lord. The minute I stop looking up, the minute I stop paying attention to my life of promise, I start raising up on my arms and trying to trust in my own strength. I happens so easily. All I have to do is engage in any human activity. Once my mind is distracted, especially if I have a "to do list," I am off on my own. Now not really. The Holy Spirit hangs in there and doesn't let me get lost for long, but I am surprised sometimes at just how long I have forgotten my Savior and thought I was going it alone.

This is why obedience and surrender are the constant challenge in my life with Christ. How grateful I am that I have permission to fail. He renews me everyday. Hallelujah.

FREEDOM

As far as daily devotions go, I have found the best one for me so far. It is written by Walter A. Henrichsen. The title is "THOUGHTS FROM THE DIARY OF A DESPARATE MAN."It can be ordered by sending him an Email to walter@leadershipfoundation.org, or by faxing him at 619-588-5870.

The following is plagerized from Walter. The text centers around 1Corinthians 9:19, "For since I am free from all I can make myself a slave to all, in order to gain even more people." NET Bible.

The Apostle Paul goes on to explain how he would do anything short of sin and violating his conscience to identify with the lost in order to win them to Christ. It's a valuable lesson for all of us, and particularly for men like me who are closet legalists. Avoiding temptation can restrict access to the lost. Don't throw caution to the wind as you venture out. Paul states a little later in the text that he subdues his own body, making it a slave so that after preaching to others he would not be disqualified.

After years of alcoholism, I was delivered from the addiction. Notice I didn't say disease. I have thought it best to not go into bars, primarily because of the alcohol available, but also because I didn't want to contribute to another man stumbling. Now however, I am able to go into a bar. This is an example of the freedom that Paul is referring to when he says he is "free from all." It is being allowed by God to proclaim Him in the places where many Christians simply don't go.

By making ourselves slaves to others our freedoms increase. Ya, I know, I had the freedom to go into any bar I wanted all those years that I wasn't saved. And I could stay all day if I wanted. But I wasn't free. I was a slave to my own appetites and desires. There is no freedom in being able to meet our own expectations, and fulfill our own hopes. This is actually slavery personified.

My encouragement today is to look for witnessing opportunities at times and in areas where your normal patterns of behavior would be interrupted. The hopeless and hurting are all around us. Maybe they are not aware of the hopelessness, but they are aware of the hurt.

Do something practical beyond common courtesy. Study the faces of those who are near you. Even if your are not interested, act like you are. Before long you will be.

God will honor your surrender. And He will also rearrange your time so that what may seem like time lost is actually time gained.

Now What...

I wasn't sure what all of this meant. I was raised in a Christian home, my dad was a pastor for the first ten years of my life, so I knew full well how a lot of Christians lived. I had rejected Christianity partially because I didn't like the restricted lifestyle. So, I decided I had better get some things straight between the Almighty and me. There were three core issues that I was not going to compromise on, one was attending church, the second was, giving money to a church, and the third was not following other Christians around and trying to act like them. I knelt down and prayed, declaring to the God of the universe, that I was not going to attend any of his churches, and I was not going to give any of my money to any of this churches. And as far as the bahavior thing goes, I knew I was just going to be avoiding most Christians anyway, so I wasn't worried about that.

Then I thought about what I did want to do. I had never read the Bible all the way through. I had never had any kind of a prayer life. These two things became the center of my getting to know Jesus. Reading about Him and praying to Him. Everyday at breakfast time I would open my Bible, spend some time reading and then before going off to work, spend some time in prayer. It took me three years to read through the whole Bible. During that time, I found that God was revealing Himself to me through His word. I know it sound kind of funny if this has not been your experience, but the more I read, the more complete picture I was able to piece together of God. At the same time, I was becoming more and more aware of a stark difference between what I was praying for in the morning and how I was acting throughout the day. Again this was God's word, working it's way into my mind and into my prayers.

At this point, it has been over three years since I was saved. It is the summer of 1994. My brother Monty called me and invited me to a men's gathering that was being held at the Los Angeles Colliseum. He also invited our dad to go. I had never been to an event like this. It was called Promise Keepers, and it was a gigantic event. Over 65,000 men gathered to participate. I came away from that event, challenged to start living a Christian life that was visible. My brother and my dad were encouraging me to grow. It was the turning point in my walk with Jesus.

Left Wanting...

So left wanting was where it was at for me. When the larger questions of life loomed, I put the thoughts out of my mind. Drugs and Alcohol are an excellent tool for altering the mind. I reasoned that everyone struggled with these larger questions so why make a big deal over it. Besides, when I weighed out the predicted results of various religions, it seemed to me that I had no choice in the matter. If, as I believed, there was nothing after death, I had no choice. And if the Muslim was right, he couldn't find out his fate until it was too late, so he had no choice. And if the Hindu was right, he would continue to be recycled, so he had no choice. The most that any man could do was try to be good and hope for the best. Other than that their fate was sealed.

Christianity is different. It starts with the premise that you can never be good enough. I liked that, because I knew it was true about me. Second, it contends that man's only hope is in God. And third, it claims that God made it possible to be with Him after death, because He sent His son to die as a sacrifice for mankind's sins.
Imagine that. By believing that Jesus is who He says He is, and willfully placing my trust in His claim, I could be guaranteed life with Him, in an eternal place where there was no evil. And He claimed that He would accept me just as I was, if I would only trust Him.

At this point I would like to quote C.S.Lewis again in his reference to Jesus' claim.

Jesus: God, Lunatic, or Evil Man

Jesus.....told people that their sins were forgiven. ......This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin.
......I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God."
That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic----on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg----or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

The choice was mine to make. I asked Him to come into my heart and my life and be my Redeemer. And He took me just as I was. He forgave me all my sins. Decades of pride and arrogance, vile thoughts, hurtful deeds, and all the other things I've mentioned. I remember being overwhelmed and afraid. Afraid of what others would think. Afraid that this might mean that I have to attend church. Afraid that being a Christian was a lifestyle I could not do. I decided not to tell anyone. I was alone when I prayed and asked Jesus to come into my heart. So, I could keep it a secret and then I wouldn't loose all my friends. I went home that night, smoked a joint and thought about what had happened that afternoon. Here I was, still a drug addict, still an alcoholic, pornography all over the house, still living like I had always lived, and yet, I was granted the same gift that a Saint would receive. How was this possible? It was possible because Salvation comes thru faith, not thru good deeds.

Dying and Death...

My Mom passed away last night. She died peacefully at the care facility. Several family members were with her just hours before her passing. I am relieved that mom has gone home. It was her request not to have any heroic measures taken and upon death, to be cremated.

While this loss is foremost in my mind I want to talk a little about dying and death and funerals and such. Before I decided to place my trust in Jesus as my Savior, I spent decades living with no assurances and no hope. I went to funerals where the majority, if not all of the attendees, were just as lost as I was. We would console each other, genuinely caring that one of our close friends had lost a loved one, and often cry and grieve the loss. There were any number of nice gestures. Once, at the funeral of a woman who was killed in an automobile accident, we were all given helium balloons. And at the proper moment we released them in unison and all watched them go skyward in a kind of quiet pensive moment. This kind of activity was followed by reassurances of the dearly departed being in a better place. Being in a better place!! What in the world does that mean, I thought? And how do you know it's true? Well, we were making it up as we went. No one ever talked about the Biblical notion of Ultimate Justice. Several, mostly women, thought that we come back and do this again. Ugh!! Do this again? Oh yes, they would say, several times, until we get it right. Get it right? Get what right? Live a perfect life? Not this guy. You could give me a thousand lives, and once I began I would chuck the whole notion of living a perfect life and save it for the next time.

Because I did not want to dwell on dying, and because the very topic made me uncomfortable I didn't spend much time engaged in these conversations. I read a bumper sticker one day that became my motto. It said, "since I gave up hope I feel much better." I thought to myself. Just get over it, there is no hope and people who think there is are delusional. So give up and live for the moment. And living for the moment seemed to work best. I kept the nagging emptiness at bay with distractions and future plans. As long as I had a vacation coming up, or a new purchase, or a new interest, I could go along quite nicely. I tried to ignore the age lines in my face and my sagging gut. I consoled myself with thoughts of selfishness and pride. And in the end, the emptiness was still there. Someday I was going to die and I was getting tired of pinning my hopes on the next new truck or the next vacation. They all fell short of my expectations and left me wanting