Government is an addicted child; taxpayers are enabling parents.

**Disclaimer** The following post is not a comment on Christianity, nor do you have to agree with me to be a devoted Christ-follower.  I am writing from the standpoint of an American citizen, not as a minister who is preaching God's word.  This is my specific commentary and is not a commentary on Scripture nor does it have anything to do with following Christ.

As a minister, I am very often approached by people who want something from me.  They know I'm a minister and therefore have a decent chance of getting what they want. After all, that's my job, right?  Give people what they want?

I remember one guy who was in desperate financial straits.  He had lost his apartment, had his car repossessed, and all the stuff that goes along with it.  I hated it for the guy.  I really did.  I felt for him and I would never want to be in his position.  But something happened that changed my mind towards him.

He demanded that I help him.

He didn't ask.  He flat-out told me that I was supposed to give him money.  He implied that if I didn't take care of him, that I was not a Christian.

In further discussion, I found out that he didn't have a job, not because he couldn't get one, but because he had quit because the boss "was a jerk."  He also had been driving a car that was much nicer than what he could afford, and his credit cards were maxed out on dining out, movies, expensive entertainment systems, and vacations.

In other words, he had lived beyond his means, and when it went south, expected me to pay for it.  No mention of changing his habits, no mention of wrongdoing, no mention of mistakes, no mention of doing anything different.  Just wanted money.  What person in their right mind would help out a guy like that?  The answer:  no one . . . .  in their right mind.

I see the same thing with our government.  You and I didn't rack up $16 trillion in debt.  The government did that.  They spent it.  The government is the one who has lived beyond its means, spending money like a drunken sailor, throwing away tax money on irresponsible projects like Solyndra, and now that reality hits, they come to the American taxpayer demanding that we pay for it.

Just like the guy that approached me.

Why did I refuse to help the guy?  Had I given him money, it would have been wasted.  He would be back the next day, demanding more.  His lack of money wasn't the problem- it was his lifestyle.  And he wanted, no not wanted- DEMANDED- that I pay for it so he could do what he wanted to do.

Same is true of government.  Do any of us think that more money to the government will solve anything?  The government has never once admitted that its "lifestyle" is out of control.  Our politicians truly believe, like this guy, that it is my responsibility to solve the problems they have created.

Are any of us stupid enough to believe that raising taxes on Americans will change the government debt situation?  Let's use an example from daily life- all people who have ever gotten a raise at work will know the answer to this question.  After you got your raise, did you have more money left over at the end of the month?  Of course you didn't.  Unless you were serious about saving and budgeting, that money disappeared and was GONE.  More money doesn't mean more responsibility.  More money means more spending.

This is why I am against raising taxes.  The government is like an immature child without financial sense who spends without any sense of discipline, overdraws his account, and comes to the parents demanding more and more.  We are the enabling parents who keep subsidizing him.  Has any parent, who has enabled a child's addiction to spending or drugs or anything else, ever had the child come to them and say, "You know, I think you are giving me enough.  I don't need any more?"  No!  The child who is addicted to spending, or drugs, or anything else will ALWAYS want more.  He will always DEMAND more.

So, the more we give the government, the more it will demand.  It will never stop wanting more and more.  We need to stop feeding the addiction and we need to stop enabling our government's irresponsibility.  The best thing a parent can do to an addicted child is to cut them off completely.  Let them hit rock bottom.  Refuse to enable their out-of-control lifestyle.

The same thing has to happen to the government.  We, as the taxpayers, have to refuse to give any more in taxes to the government.  It already taxes everything we do.  We pay taxes on the houses we live in, the cars we drive, the water we use, the phones we use, the natural gas we use, the gasoline we use, the electricity we use, and everything we buy.  Then, the government takes a third of our paycheck.  Then the state takes a percentage.  Then the city takes a percentage.  Then, if you send what's left to the stock market, the government takes a portion of already-taxed money out of that.  Then, when you die, it wants to take fifty percent of your estate that you would leave to your children.  And now, the government wants more.

Right now, there is a dysfunctional relationship between taxpayer and government, like the dysfunctional relationship between enabling parent and addicted child.  Only when we start thinking in terms like these will we see the folly in calling for higher taxes to solve our problems.

Just like the guy who approached me demanding that I pay for his lifestyle, the government is approaching us demanding that we pay for its lifestyle.  I didn't create the problems for this guy: he is the one who lived extravagantly beyond his means.  You and I didn't create $16 trillion in debt: the government is the one who has lived extravagantly beyond its means.  He created the problems and they were his responsibility.  The government has created its problems and it is the government's job to fix it, without demanding any more from you and me. 

There are no material, or legal, solutions to spiritual problems

I have been as shocked and saddened by the CT shootings as the rest of you.  I've also tried to stay away from the media circus and the politicians never letting a good crisis go to waste, but even the little I've heard is enough to make me sick.  This is my take on what is actually going on.

The problem is that everyone I've heard from thinks that there can be material solutions to spiritual problems.

This isn't hard to understand.  For years, advertisers have been trying to get us to believe that material things will satisfy spiritual needs.  Are you lonely?  Bud Light is the cure!  You never hear a beer advertiser say, "Bud Lite- it tastes a lot like beer!"  Instead, you see friends kicked back around a campfire, laughing and enjoying one another's company- and everyone has a Bud Lite.  Beer manufacturers don't sell beer- they sell friends, fun, community, acceptance, and love.

We've been bombarded with so many advertisements telling us that spiritual problems can be solved by material things that we practically believe it now.  Depressed?  Buy some new clothes!  The material possession of new clothes will solve your spiritual problem of depression!

Because of this inundation of advertising, we will readily accept that spiritual problems can be solved by material things.  So, it's not too hard to realize why people think that a material thing, such as a law, will solve a spiritual problem here in this country.

Back in the roaring 20's, people thought that the spiritual problem of alcohol addiction could be solved by the material law of prohibition.  It didn't work.  We found out very quickly that a law can't change the human heart.  A material law doesn't solve a spiritual problem.

We think that the spiritual problem of drug addiction can be solved by laws against drugs.  We see how that is working out.  My home community of Nicholasville/Lexington has major problems of drug abuse, particularly the legal ones.  This is because a material law cannot solve a spiritual problem.

In light of the CT shootings, I'm hearing all kinds of calls for gun control laws.  I'm also hearing cries for more mental health help- more prescriptions, more health care, etc.  We as a society think that more laws and more pills can solve the spiritual problem of evil in our country.  How mistaken we are.  We have misidentified the problem, and because we have misidentified the problem, we have also misidentified the solution.

The problem in our society is that we, as people, are evil.  Yes, I said it.  We are evil.  There isn't much difference between me and a mass murderer- the difference is, I have chosen not to do it.  However, I would be a fool- and very blind- to deny the fact that I have the ability to be as cruel and heartless as any cold-blooded killer.  Yes, I have that nature inside me, and so do you.  The Bible refers to that as "the sinful nature."  We were born with it as a result of the Fall in Genesis 3, and it is the reason the world is in the shape it is in today.

Because the problem is spiritual, the answer must be spiritual.  The answer to my sin nature is faith in Jesus Christ.  Jesus does more than just forgive- He wages war against the sin nature that is natural within us and changes us to people that live under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that people that are under the leadership of the Holy Spirit exhibit, "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Every one of these things was absent from the CT shooter.  His life was not under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  His life was completely led and devoured by his sin nature.  A gun control law, or a pill, will not get rid of the sinful nature.  It won't even touch it.  Only the blood of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit can change someone.

So, let's stop looking for material solutions to spiritual problems.  Let's stop looking for legal solutions to spiritual problems.  They won't work.  Our country is rife with spiritual problems, and it's about time we start looking for spiritual solutions for what is wrong with this country.  This country needs God.  This country needs the cleansing grace of Jesus.  We need to bring the fear of God back into our culture and into our homes- realizing that we will be held accountable by God for every action and belief.  We have too long acted as people who will never face judgment.  We have too long acted as people who will never be held accountable for our actions.  We see the results- a society that does not fear God will have more and more incidents like this one.

When we as a people return to God, He will heal our broken land and bless us.  This is our only option and our only hope, because it is the only solution to the problem.

Funny Stuff

Okay folks, most of the time this blog is pretty serious, but today I'm departing from that and will just have a little bit of fun.

Once there was a little boy who lived in the country.  For bathroom facilities, they had to use an outhouse.  All his friends had indoor plumbing, and he hated the outhouse because it was hot in the summer, cold in the winter, and smelled bad all the time.

The outhouse was sitting on a bank of a creek and the boy determined that one day he would push the outhouse into the water.

One day after a spring rain, the creek was swollen so the little boy decided today was the day to push the outhouse into the creek.  So he got a large stick and pushed.  Finally, the outhouse toppled into the creek and floated away.

That evening his dad sternly told him to sit down.  Knowing he was in trouble, the little boy asked why.  His dad replied, "Someone pushed the outhouse into the creek today.  It was you, wasn't it, son?"

The boy answered yes.  Then he thought a moment and said, "Dad, I read in school today that George Washington (our first president for our international readers) chopped down a cherry tree and didn't get in trouble because he told the truth."

The dad replied, "Well, son, George Washington's father wasn't in that cherry tree when he chopped it down!"


And if that wasn't enough, here are the top ten WORST pickup lines ever:

10.  Can I have your picture so I can show Santa what I want for Christmas?
9. Hi- I'm Mr. Right.  I heard you were looking for me.
8. If I had a nickel for every woman who was a beautiful as you, I'd have five cents.
7. Girl, you must have a license to drive me this crazy!
6. Is it hot in here, or is it just you?
5. I've lost my number.  Can I have yours?
4. Your dad must be a weapons expert because you are the bomb.
3. Drop the zero and get with the hero, baby.
2. Are you tired?  Because you've been running through my mind all night long.
1. Are you a parking ticket?  'Cause you've got FINE written all over you.

Life is too short . . . .

Life's too short to worry about what others think of you.  Be yourself.

Life's too short to hate.

Life's too short to stay off the dance floor.  Nobody cares if you can't dance.  Just get out and dance.  Look like a moron- try it, it's fun.

Life's too short to worry about expressing yourself in worship.  Get as crazy in church as you do at a football game.

Life's too short to go around with a pessimistic attitude.

Life's too short to be constantly worrying about your weight.  Think about all the people who passed up the dessert cart on the Titanic.

Life's too short to be consumed with yourself.

Life's too short to be consumed by things.  Things don't count.  People do.

Life's too short not to laugh.  When you stop laughing, you stop living.

Life's too short not to love the Bible.  Too many people go from cradle to grave without ever experiencing the greatest love letter ever written.

Life's too short to neglect your family.  They are the ones most likely to stick with you when you fall.

Life's too short to worry about how much money you make.  In the end, your financial situation will be determined by how much you spend, not how much you make.

Life's too short not to tell jokes.

Life's too short not to share a hug.

Life's too short to take everything you hear personally.

Life's too short to let popularity consume you.  So what if you aren't popular?  95% of the people in the world aren't popular, and if the 5% who are popular moved somewhere else, they'd join the other 95% of us.

Life's too short to let this world write a script for your life.

Life's too short to watch commercials.

Life's too short to listen to music or watch tv that kills your joy- depressing, suicidal, hopeless music or sex-saturated, violent shows.  Those things only bring you down.

Life's too short not to love- God, your friends, your family, your enemies, nerds, geeks, dweebs, morons, skinheads, losers, winners, and everyone in between.  Just love.

Life's too short not to pray.

Life's too short not to find your purpose.  You have a purpose, a design, and a Creator who loves you.  To go through life without finding your purpose is to live in a constant state of despair.  Despair will choke the life out of you.  Like William Wallace said:

Everyone dies, but only a few truly live.

Not me.  When I reach my final day, I want all the music inside of me used up.  I want to have laughed every laugh, loved every love, and have invested myself in people.  I don't want tons of possessions, tons of awards, or tons of money.  I do want peace, happiness, and a strong relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus.  I want my Bible to be worn out from all the times I read it.  I want my knees calloused because of hours of prayer.  I want my voice completely gone because of all the laughter, all the jokes I told, and all the words of encouragement that have come from me.  I want my ankles to be worn out because I never sat out a dance.  I want a large family around me.  I want the people who didn't like me to be confused because I still loved them.  I want my tear ducts to be empty because of the tears of joy and sorrow that have been cried out.  I want the world to know that children are important.

And most of all, I want my funeral to be a celebration of the life I lived, not a mourning of the life I COULD have lived.

We only get one shot at this life.  Make it count.

Do this one thing to make Sunday morning 1000 times better

I didn't get serious about being part of a church until I was in college.  Actually, there was an extremely gorgeous college-aged woman that I knew was going to be there, so there was extra incentive to not miss a Sunday.

Being in college, and therefore having a college-style sleep schedule (which basically meant in bed between 3-5 am and sleeping until noon), getting up on Sunday mornings was particularly difficult.  However, I had plenty of incentive (see above paragraph), so I rolled out of bed at 10:45, threw on clothes, sped, ran red lights, rolled into the church parking lot on two wheels, ran into the service ten minutes late . . .  and wondered why I didn't get much out of the service.

I wouldn't treat work in this manner, or a job interview, or a date with my wife, or anything else that would be seen in my life as important.  So why would I treat my one chance per week to worship God with my church family? 

What I just described bothers me, because although it may not have been sinful, but it certainly wasn't my best.  I hate that.  I hate that all those years that I went to church I never gave God my best on Sunday morning.  Oh, I gave other things my best- the college soccer team, studying, my fiance, working out- but not Sunday mornings.  At the corporate worship service, the time to worship God with my church family, I gave leftovers.  I brought an unprepared mind, an unprepared heart- I treated it like an afterthought.

At the height of Israel's devotion to the Lord- under the leadership of Joshua- they were about to enter the promised land.  The Lord said, "Consecrate yourselves, because tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you." (Joshua 3:5)

In other words, spend today getting ready for your encounter with God tomorrow.  The next day, the Lord stopped up the Jordan river, which was at flood stage, and the entire nation went across on dry land.  They then took the city of Jericho without a single siege ramp or battering ram.  Truly, the Lord did amazing things among them.

When I read this, I realized with sadness how many amazing things I have missed because I had never "consecrated" myself the day before.  I had never gone to bed at a decent time (like I would before a soccer game, a big test, or anything else important) so as to be fully rested and at my best in the morning.  I had never spent concentrated time in prayer on Saturday night, preparing my heart for worship, God's word, and the presence of God in the church community.  I had never been still, listened for the voice of the Holy Spirit, fearful and awestruck that tomorrow I would be allowed into the presence of the Almighty to worship Him with my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I had missed all that.  Plus, I had missed all the amazing things God wanted to do.

Here is what I suggest to all of you who truly desire to worship God:

1) On Saturday night, pray for your pastors, because we really need it.  Pray for the visitors God will bring, pray for the volunteers that will serve, pray for the teenagers and children who will be there.  Blanket the worship service in prayer before you go to bed Saturday night.

2) Go to bed at a decent hour, so that you will be able to present to God your best attention.  He definitely deserves it.

3) If you have a family, refuse to deal with anything Sunday morning.  Don't deal with homework issues, marital issues, housework issues, etc.  That is not what Sunday morning is for.  Sunday morning is for only one thing- worship of God.  All that other stuff can wait until later.  Don't give any time or energy or attention to something that would take away from your worship of God.

4) Leave the house so that you arrive at church thirty minutes before the service starts.  Don't rush.  Walk into the church building with a sense of expectancy that God will do amazing things that morning.  Pray for the pastors, the volunteers, the unbelievers that will be there.  You might even want to walk the aisles in the sanctuary, praying over each chair that God would touch the person that sits there. 

5)  Maybe for the first time- thoroughly ENJOY worshiping God, because you were ready for it.

Maybe one of the reasons we don't see more amazing things from God is that Christians simply don't consecrate themselves before worship.  We enter worship with the wrong mindset, with the wrong heart, with the wrong attitude, and absolutely no preparation, and therefore miss an amazing encounter with the God of the Universe who loves us and wants to bless us. 

What would Sunday morning be like for you and your family if you approached worship this way?

Why America's greatness will come to a sudden stop, and soon.

America, the most prosperous nation in the history of the world, a nation that is the envy of other nations around us, the most dominant force our planet has ever known, has a major problem.

Our current way of life is built on a house of cards: Our powerful society is only made possible by our ability to borrow money.

Here is the irony:  the most powerful nation in the world needs outside sources to fund it.  We cannot fund our greatness with our own resources.  If we could, we wouldn't be $16 trillion in debt.  So, that leads us to the question- are we truly that powerful?  Or is our power and influence based on a shaky lifeline that could be cut off in an instant?

I wonder if anyone in Washington is preparing for what would happen if all of a sudden we were no longer able to borrow money.  We currently borrow 42% of what we spend.  Forty-two cents of every dollar spent by our government is borrowed.  Is there a contingency plan for what we will do when, not if, that borrowing is cut off?

Will we truly be a superpower if we can no longer borrow money?

Take this analogy:  a prosperous city grows and grows.  It becomes an economic power in the land.  It has a strong military.  Its education system is the best in the business.  Its population grows as more people flood into it, making it the most powerful city in the entire kingdom.

Everything is going right for that city except one thing.  It has a population of 500,000, but its water supply can only support 300,000.  The city leaders make a deal with a neighboring city to buy enough water to supply the additional 200,000.

Things are going great.  The city thrives, times are good, all is well.

Then something terrible happens.  The neighboring city experiences a water shortage.  It cuts off the water supply to the prosperous city to keep the water for its own citizens.

The prosperous city has no contingency plan.  It has no water reserves, no plan for what might happen if the 40% of its water supply is disrupted.  Prices for water skyrocket as shortages loom.  There are riots in the streets, businesses close, people die.  Soon half the city's population is either dead or have left in search of other water sources.  The prosperous city becomes a third-world city- a shadow of its former self.

The city's prosperity was built on the assumption that an outside source could supply its needs.  It was based on the fact that they could always get water from an outside source.  Its greatness was dependent on someone else supplying its vital needs.  Once that was gone, the city was gone.

The same is true of the United States.  Our greatness is built on the assumption that we will always be able to borrow money from outside sources.  From a national security standpoint, and from a simple common sense standpoint, this is a disastrous foundation for a society.  What happens when we can no longer borrow money?  What happens to our government, to our military, to our people, to our disabled, to the people on Social Security, to the people on welfare?  What will we do?

Is anyone in leadership asking these questions?  We borrow $1.2 trillion dollars every year.  What happens when we can no longer do that?  Is the United States truly on a strong foundation?  Or are we on a shaky foundation that could collapse at any moment?

If our leaders had any sanity whatsoever, they would realize the precarious position that we are in right now.  Sure, while we can borrow money, things appear great.  Wise leaders, however, are farsighted enough to see the consequences of their actions.  The consequences of basing an entire country on the ability to borrow money are terrible.  This is true for a nation, a business, a family, or a person.  I am very concerned, because no one is able to borrow anything indefinitely.  No nation can survive spending more than it brings in.  No person can thrive while piling up debt.  No family experiences peace while beholden to debtors.  No nation has an unlimited credit card.  Sooner or later, money runs out.  Then where will we as a nation be?

The Disappearance of Hell is bad for American Christianity

The big mega-preachers never talk about it.

People who talk about it are caricatured and mocked.

Christians tell other Christians not to talk about for fear of turning people off.

Yet, Jesus spoke about it all the time.  Is something that Jesus spoke about so frequently all of a sudden off-limits in American churches?  

Hell is disappearing from American Christianity.  I don't preach on it often.  Most pastors I know don't even talk about it much.  Heck, Rob Bell came out with a book a few years ago that says hell isn't even permanent.  We've been told that speaking about hell turns off visitors from our churches.  You don't want to be labelled a "fire-and-brimstone" Christian (by the way, what is a brimstone?) and so we rarely mention hell.

In the meantime, we read all kinds of studies that show that Christianity is on the decline in America.  Is there a correlation between the disappearance of hell and the decline of Christianity?  You bet.

We are told that Jesus is our Savior.  A Savior  . . . . from what? 

If there is no hell, what do I need to be saved from?  If there is no hell, why did Jesus come to earth?  It wasn't to help us live our "best life now."  It wasn't to move us in a positive direction.  It was to save us from an eternity in hell- a place described in the Bible as the eternal presence of suffering- a place where the "fire is never quenched and the worm does not die." It is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth; a place where all parts of God have disappeared and Satan has free reign.  It is a place where there is no hope, no laughter, no pleasure, no friendship, no gratitude, no peace, no love- the total absence of everything good.

However, churches aren't preaching that, and Christians aren't thinking that.  Therefore, our American society hasn't so much "hated" Christianity as much as it has simply decided there is no need for it.  Why would I need a Savior if there is nothing for me to be saved from?  Good question.

We've left people wondering why the Christian faith is important.  

Without a true, sober understanding of hell, we will never truly understand Jesus.  When you understand what Jesus was doing, why He was doing what He was doing, and what He was saving us from, all of a sudden Christianity takes on an entirely new meaning.  It's more than just a way of maximizing your potential and alleviating guilt.  It is the momentous decision where the Son of God entered the world in order to save us from hell- to save us from eternal separation from the God who loves us dearly but whose justice had to be satisfied.  Christianity only makes sense when you realize the reality of hell.

Think about that the next time you grow critical of a pastor who speaks about hell.  Think about the fact that the disappearance of hell from American Christianity has minimized the sacrifice that Jesus made so many years ago on the cross and is causing the culture to simply not care.

The disappearance of hell has been bad for American Christianity.

Deciding to Need God

It is extremely difficult to be a Christian in America.

You say, "Why?"  Christians in other countries are persecuted- we have religious freedom.  We aren't arrested, tortured, denied jobs, doubly taxed, ostracized, or anything else for being believers in Christ.  So why would I make such an erroneous statement?

Answer: Because American Christians have to actively seek out ways to depend on God.

First-century Christians devoted themselves to prayer, because the mission they had been given was far too big for them to handle.  They were a ragtag bunch of misfits, whose leader had just been killed, and were given the task of converting the entire world.  They HAD to pray.  They had no other option.  They had to depend on God- it was right in front of their faces.

Christians in Nigeria, where churches have been bombed and numbers of Christians killed, don't make Sunday afternoon plans.  They don't know if they are coming home from church- so they pray for God's protection.  Unless God protects them, they die.  They have to depend on God- it is right in front of their faces.

I have never had to depend on God for my safety on a Sunday morning.  On one level I am thankful, but on another level I see how that moves me further away from a living breathing relationship with Him.  I can go to church with or without God's help or protection.  Therefore, I don't depend on Him.

I have never had to depend on God to "give me this day my daily bread."  I have more food in my refrigerator and pantry than 90% of the world's population sees in a week.  Therefore, I don't depend on Him.

Because American Christians don't HAVE to depend on God for things, the conscious need for God diminishes more and more.  We have all of our needs supplied by the supermarket, the power plant, and the paycheck.  The average American doesn't need God for anything pressing.  Before you disagree, how many of you lead lives that if God doesn't provide food for you today, you starve?  How many of you lead lives that if God doesn't provide shelter, you sleep on the street?  This is the story of believers all over the world and all throughout history, but it is not the story of the American Christian.

Therefore, the American Christian is in a unique place.  I believe we are the first people to have to make a conscious decision to NEED God.  We have to seek out areas where we will be lost without Him.  Instead of finding ourselves in circumstances where we have no other option other than to depend on God, we have to actively seek out ways to trust Him and depend on Him because it is possible, in America, to go through life with all our needs taken care of, never needing a supernatural provision by God.

The consequences of NOT seeking out ways to trust God and to need God are being seen in our churches.  Church attendance is declining in every state.  Why?  The answer is clear- why do we need God?  We have food, shelter, cars, internet, phones- everything.  We have all we need, and we also have most of what we want.  So church attendance, and the entire Christian faith, becomes something that is an option as opposed to a necessity.

Christians need to stop structuring their lives in such a manner that faith is not necessary.  Most of us could get rid of all faith that we have and life wouldn't be all that different except for being able to sleep in on Sunday mornings.  We wouldn't be missing any major blessings from God, because we haven't been depending on His blessings anyway.  We wouldn't be missing any major supernatural provisions, we probably wouldn't be going hungry, we probably wouldn't be out on the street . . .  because we haven't needed God to provide those things.

I am thankful for the blessings of living in America.  I truly am.  I love A/C in the summertime and heat in the winter.  I love being able to eat what I want when I want, I love the internet and I love electricity. I love knowing that if I get sick that I have health insurance to pay for a doctors' visit.  I truly love all those things.

But what has all that done to my faith in God?  Have those things moved me closer to God or drawn me away?  Is God essential to me?  Do I realize my human weakness and my absolute dependence on Him as my Lord, Savior, and Provider?  Or have I relegated Him to a sideshow on Sunday morning and the guy who can only handle the forgiveness of my sins?  Do I even have a concept of what the Bible says, that "the righteous will LIVE by faith?"

That is why I am calling all Christians to actively seek out ways to depend on God.  Try these on for size: Tithe 80% of your income, so that you can't pay your bills unless God provides.  Get rid of health insurance and trust in God's healing power.  Leave your job and go serve in a third-world country with nothing but faith in God to provide.

See what I mean?  Who in their right mind would do those kinds of things?  See, in America, those are choices.  We can CHOOSE to give 80% of our income and not pay bills unless God provides, whereas believers in other countries don't have that luxury.  God provides or they are out on the street.  We can CHOOSE to cancel health insurance and trust that God will heal.  Believers in other countries don't have that option- God heals them or they die.  Dependence on God is not an option for those believers, and therefore their relationship with God is so much stronger, so much more powerful, so much more . . . . . . REAL.

So, the inevitable question is- is having that kind of relationship with God worth getting rid of all the things that make my life comfortable?  What am I willing to sacrifice in order to live a life of faith and total dependence on God?

Is your church a country club or a team? Part 2

For the church to be an influence in the world, as well as to be faithful to Scripture, it has to function as a team.  It has to have the four characteristics of a team that we talked about yesterday in Part 1.

Now, a football team won't do any good if you show up wearing the uniform, committing to winning, etc.  You can't just send a team out on the field as if by showing up they will experience victory.  You have to show the team how to win.

In football, winning could be defined as "scoring more points than your opponent."  So, in order to win, we have to score points.

In the church, it is essential that the people that are part of the congregation know how to win.  I would imagine that most of the people that darken the doors of our churches Sunday mornings have no idea what it means for the church to win.  They don't know how the church wins, they don't know when the church wins . . .  heck, they probably don't even know that the church is SUPPOSED to win.  That's when leadership comes in and defines how to win for the church.

At Catalyst, the definition of our win is "Build the Body, Change the World."  That's how we win.  When the Body of Christ is built up, and the world is changed, we know we've scored more points than our opponent.  We've won.

Great.  However, the problem is that our football team knows it has to score points, but how?  Well, in football, you score one of five ways:

1) You run the ball into the end zone.
2) You throw the ball into the end zone to a receiver.
3) You kick an extra point or go for a two-point conversion.
4) You kick a field goal.
5) You tackle the opposing team in their own end zone for a safety.

Once the football team knows how to win, you have to tell them how to score points.  The same is true of the church- we know that in order to win, we have to Build the Body, Change the World.  How do we do THAT?

For the church, we have defined four ways to score:

1) Salvation- bringing non-Christian people to a saving relationship with Christ.
2) Community- doing life together in small groups that meet weekly.
3) Training- moving people towards spiritual maturity.
4) Ministry- setting people loose to make an eternal difference in the world.

Once the church knows how to win, and also knows how to score in order to win, it can truly function as a team.  No team wants to lose.  All teams want to win.  The church is no different.  The church should be racking up wins right and left, because not only do we have the truth of God but we also have the empowerment of the Holy Spirit behind us and in front of us. 

The problem is that the church may have the players on the field, but they don't know how to score and don't know how to win.  Because they don't realize they are part of a team, church members then fall back into country club mode where they totally forget about winning, forget about scoring, forget about the competition/war we are in with Satan, and just get their butts kicked every day.  We are in a war, and one side definitely knows it.  Does the other side, the church, know it?

I challenge the pastors who read this blog to begin transforming your church from a country club to a team, unless you are already functioning as a team.  I challenge the Christians who read this blog to stop thinking of their church as a country club and start thinking about being part of a team that is challenged to win.  How different would your Sunday morning experience be if you saw yourself gearing up for competition instead of attending a lecture or a show?

The body of Christ is a team.  Let's start winning.

Is your church a country club or a team? Part 1

I've never been a member of a country club, but I DO think that Caddyshack is one of the funniest movies ever.  As I was watching it the other day (I really don't know why I was watching it- I've seen it so many times that I can quote it line for line all the way through) it just hit me that Bushwood is not just a snobby country club- it's like the church.

That got me thinking- what are the characteristics of a country club?  I came up with four:

1) You show up when it is convenient for you.
2) You join to be around other people that are just like you- same race, same socioeconomic status, same values, same lifestyle, etc.
3) You pay your dues and expect benefits.
4) When something goes wrong, you complain to management.

Unfortunately, far too many Christians look at church in this way.  They show up when it convenient (when it's not too dark, not too cold, not too nice outside, not when they've been up too late, not when they have homework or laundry or housework or a sports commitment, etc).  They want to be around people just like them, who already know Christ and know how to behave in church.  If they pay "dues," they see it as justification for getting what they want, and when things don't go like they want to, they complain and complain and complain.

Is this what the church was intended to be?  Unfortunately, that's what many of my pastor friends describe their church as being.  However, I think God intended for the church to be different than this.

I think God intended His church to be a team.

Now, I've been on many sports teams, and I've even coached sports teams.  Here are the characteristics of a team:

1)  You show up when the team is together.
2)  You join because you have a common purpose and goal.
3)  You want to win.
4)  When things go wrong, you practice.

What if Christians started viewing their church, not as a country club, but as a team?  What if Christians showed up when the team was together, not simply when it was convenient? (If I was the coach of a team and someone skipped a practice or a game because they were out too late, had homework, slept in, or because it was too cold, I'd kick them off the team faster than anything.) What if Christians joined the church because they agreed with the common purpose and strove to achieve it?  What if Christians joined a church because they had a burning desire to WIN?  What if Christians, instead of complaining when things go wrong, went home and practiced?

The church would look a lot different.  However, hundreds of years of church culture has created and instilled the country-club atmosphere, so that Christians literally think they are being Biblical when they do the four things describing the country club.  Many Christians can't even fathom the mind-set shift that would have to take place for them to start viewing their church as a team. 

However, for the church to truly be the Body of Christ, it has to start functioning like a team. 

Part 2 tomorrow will discuss the next step of becoming a team.

Take seriously the Black Friday/Thanksgiving Issue

I read an article entitled, "Is Black Friday Edging Out Thanksgiving?"  With stores moving to open their doors on Thanksgiving and offering fantastic deals early, there is expected to be a large retail day this Thanksgiving.

I believe that this is more than just good capitalism (btw, I believe in capitalism and believe in free market competition as the best economic system we have to offer).  I believe this is a spiritual battle.

Abraham Lincoln, when speaking of Thanksgiving, said this:

"To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. . . .They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

"I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."

Thanksgiving is a day to remember, with humility and with joy, all of the things that our Heavenly Father has blessed us with- to realize the prosperity that we have compared with the rest of the world.  It is a time to be set aside to be grateful.  It is a day of worship and remembrance of Who provides all the things we enjoy.

What could possibly make Americans want to skip such a day?  What driving force could make America forget its blessings and forget to give thanks?

The answer is greed.  Greed and gratitude cannot coexist.  They are mutually exclusive.  Greed says, "I need more!"  Gratitude says, "I'm thankful for what I have."  It is no coincidence that the desire for more is the one thing that is edging out Thanksgiving in our national identity.  It is a spiritual battle, because Satan knows the power of the idol of materialism in America.  How can Satan get America to stop giving thanks to God?  Distract them with their greed.  Promise them more and more and more stuff (to the most prosperous nation in the history of the world, mind you) and . . . . . .  get them thinking about MORE on the day when they are supposed to be grateful for all they HAVE.

It is bad enough that the holiday that marks the birth of Jesus Christ is more known for angry crowds at malls than it is for the birth of the Prince of Peace.  Now Thanksgiving, which is one day set aside for gratitude, will see the angry crowds screaming for deals at malls too.  If I were Satan, I could not have come up with a better strategy for distracting the American people from the gratitude they should have towards God on this special holiday. 

Today, Christians, realize that much more is at stake than a deal or a bargain.  This is a spiritual battle- not fought over life or death or a terrorist attack, but fought over the thing that Jesus said would cause us to walk away from God more than any other thing. 

The question is whether or not people who have more stuff than any other people in the history of the world will stop the frenzied acquisition for one day to reflect, remember, and be grateful for all they have.  Or, will people, in order to save a few bucks on something that will be in a yard sale in a few years, forego the day devoted to remembering the faithfulness of God?

Spend this Thanksgiving gathered around a table with your family with heads down in prayer.  Thank God for all you have.  Thank Him for His provision and His goodness to you.  Don't run off to the mall and see what you can get, as if you really needed more.  Spend the day in rest and joyful praise of the God who has given you more than you could ever ask for. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Why Living Within Your Means Leads To Opportunities

Right now, everyone is concerned with debt.  National debt, personal debt- everyone knows who Dave Ramsey is and everyone is constantly hearing about the burden of student loan and credit card debt that is destroying, literally, and entire generation of young people.

The average college student graduates with more than $8000 of credit card debt alone, and depending on which state you live in, somewhere between $25k to $50k of student loan debt.  They will be well into their late 30s before they pay that off.

Many of us think that going into debt leads to opportunities.  When it comes to education, that may be so- you go into debt to get a degree that will pay off over time.  However, the old ancient way of life, called "living within your means," leads to far more opportunity than debt does.

When I felt moved by the Lord to do an intense 18-day mission trip to teach church planting and preach in countries not favorable to the gospel, a friend of mine discerned a clear call from the Holy Spirit to go with me. 

He took me out for coffee and we talked about it.  He was excited for me, and wanted to go with me.
But he couldn't.  He was $20k in credit card debt and couldn't afford it.

He said, "I know without a doubt that God wants me to take this trip with you.  You're going by yourself and that's not good.  But when I said, "God, I can't afford this trip," He said, "Why?"

My friend told me that it hit him in that moment that his debt was keeping him from following the Lord.

Now, to some Christians, that wouldn't matter.  They wouldn't really follow the Lord even if they weren't in debt.  Their love for the things that this world provides, as well as their affluent standard of living, is way more important that anything God would call them to do.  But, to other Christians that truly want to live their faith, this is a devastating realization.

If you live within your means, and therefore have no debt, you are able to move whenever the Holy Spirit calls you to move.  You are literally sitting on "go."  There is nothing holding you back.  The Holy Spirit wants you to start a business?  You can.  The Holy Spirit wants you to take a different job with less pay so you can spend more time with your kids?  You can.  The Holy Spirit wants you to go on a mission trip?  You can.

Living within your means leads to freedom.  You aren't a slave to a number- a dollar number that you have to earn each month that determines your work schedule, your family life, your giving, your generosity, and your flexibility.  I wonder how many Christians would truly love to do more to help the elderly, the orphans, the poor- but can't because they have spent themselves into such high levels of debt that all their resources go to pay it off?

I wonder how many Christians truly want to participate in the spreading of the gospel and the building up of the church, but can't because of massive debt.  I wonder how many Christians would love to change careers to a job where they can actually do something for the Lord, but can't, because they have to earn a certain amount of money to pay what they owe.  I wonder how many Christians' lives are totally determined by debt.

Living within your means is laughed at.  I know- I've been laughed at constantly.  I couldn't watch the UK game last night because my family and I don't have cable TV.  I couldn't watch it online because my family and I got rid of the internet at home.  All my broke friends laugh at me when I make those decisions.  

But last week when the pictures and stories of 11 orphans came across my desk, and the Holy Spirit challenged me and my family to sponsor three of them, we were able to.  The money that would have gone to internet ($40) and cable ($50) is now going to feed and care for orphans who can put all their worldly possessions in a shoe box.  By living within our means, we were ready to move when the Holy Spirit told us to.

We hear tons of criticism of the church- it's not doing enough, it doesn't care, etc.  I truly don't think Christians don't care.  I've been around Christians all my life, and believe me, they DO care.  They care more than any other group of people I know.  They aren't evil or neglectful of what their faith tells them to do.  They're just simply in debt and not able to do what God wants them to do.

This is why getting out of debt is so very important.  Christians who are in debt because of unwise financial choices, or a lifestyle they cannot afford, are going to hear some very bad news from God on the day of their judgment.  If you don't believe me, read Matthew 25:31-46.  I challenge Christians today to make getting out of debt their VERY FIRST PRIORITY and stop missing the opportunities that God wants you to take. 

Live within your means and experience the freedom and joy that comes as a result of it.  Yes, your broke friends will laugh at you.  Get over it.  Commit your finances to the Lord and do things His way, then watch the way that He uses you to accomplish His will in this world. 

The Bible: The Cure for American Wimpiness

****Disclaimer:  half of this blog is serious and half of it is said tongue-in-cheek.  Here's how to tell the difference- if you read something that offends you, that was the part that was tongue-in-cheek.***

Yes, it's true- America is growing wimpier by the day.

Now, there are a lot of signs of this wimpiness around- kids staying inside on their cell phones and video games instead of playing contact football outside, the disappearance of diving boards in pools, kids needing a bike helmet to ride their bikes next door, the proliferation of "participation trophies" (as opposed to real trophies where the people actually WIN something before being rewarded for it) in sports, and an increasing sense of entitlement where Americans feel that they deserve things they didn't work for or earn.

But I'm not talking about any of those.  The biggest sign, I feel, of increasing American wimpiness is everyone's hyper-sensitivity to "being judged."

When did this rough-and-tumble country that pulled itself up by its bootstraps, set out on the frontier, hacked its living out of the wilderness, kicked Hitler's butt, and set up the most prosperous country in the history of the world all of a sudden start caring about what other people MIGHT say about their choices?

I think this is the biggest sign of a wimpy country.  A country made up of citizens who can't handle someone disapproving of their politics, their religion, their weight, their family choices, their sexual orientation, or their socioeconomic status isn't going to last very long.  When did we all of a sudden start caring what other people approved of or disapproved of?

I was reading in 1 Corinthians 4:3 where Paul says, "I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself."  American wimpiness, and our nation's fear of "being judged" can be remedied by following Paul's example.  We need to move from "don't judge me" to "I care very little if you judge me."

The statement, "I care very little if you judge me," is said by someone who isn't a wimp.  This is said by someone who has self-confidence, has a strong sense of identity, is goal-oriented and focused, and therefore doesn't listen to the cacophony of voices trying to tear him down.  Paul is saying, "Your statements fall off me like water off a duck's back.  I am impervious to your statements, to your judgments, to your opinions- they matter to me about as much as bird doo on a park bench."

We have become a nation that is so fragile in our self image that we can't handle anyone saying anything disapproving about us.  My soccer coach had a term for people like that- he said they were "made of glass."  A player who was made of glass shattered at the first hint of contact.  Have we become a nation of people who are made of glass?  One comment throws us into a frenzy?  

In all seriousness, the increasing amount of people being worried about someone "judging" them shows how we are increasingly dominated by the opinions of others.  People whose self-image and self-respect come from the opinions of others will not last long in this world.  Their day is dependent on hearing the right words from people.  They are unable to handle any criticism, any question, any truth that might tell them they are wrong.  On the other hand, people who don't base their self-image on the opinions of others; rather, on a strong sense of purpose and confidence, don't change with the tide of public opinion.  

I believe that Paul's statement was very significant to the era in which we live.  It was his key to staying on purpose in his mission and calling from God.  It was the reason he finished strong in life when so many don't.  His sense of self and purpose didn't come from the judgments of others.  It came from his sense of self that was born out of his love for God.  This is how he defeated the cultural wimpiness that other people were drowning in.

So, today, put into practice Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 4:3.  Stop worrying about people judging you, because they always will.  So, instead of running around with your hypersensitive antennae up looking for people who are judging you (and telling them to stop), just simply quit caring about their judgements.  Follow the example of the apostle Paul and see what happens in your life.  

At least you won't be a wimp.

For pastors (and the people who care about them)

Since many readers of this blog are pastors, I wanted to write to you all today.

I went to a pastor's meeting yesterday put on by First Southern Bank- it was a pastors' appreciation lunch that was very nice.  Being around all the pastors and hearing their stories reminds me how hard a job we have, having to cover a wide range of tasks- some of which we feel qualified for, and others we feel woefully inadequate for.

But then a thought occurred to me- do we ever consider the fact that it may be difficult for our congregations to deal with us?  And then the second thought that followed immediately was this- do we ever thank our congregations for their patience and love as they deal with us?

Yesterday was a day that I realized how patient and loving almost, and I say almost, all the people in the churches I've been at have been with me.  There are always difficult people, but the overwhelming majority of Christians in churches I have known have been the most wonderful, caring, kind, patient and forgiving people I've ever known.  How in the world they can put up with me and my shortcomings, my bouts of self-pity, my bouts of self-righteousness, my lack of empathy, my leading in the wrong direction is beyond me.

Pastors, today might be the day that we realize how patient our congregations truly are with us.  Today might be the day that we realize how they continue to give us try after try, opportunity after opportunity, as we fail.  They continue to support the churches we pastor even when we are messing it all up.  They are quick to overlook our bad moods, our bouts with selfishness, and the times we just flat-out sin.

Now there will always be people who don't do what I just said.  They are quick to criticize, quick to leave, quick to cause problems.  We know that is true.  But that does not describe even 5% of any church I've ever been a part of.  During my time in the ministry I have been surrounded with the most wonderful people a man could ever be around.  I realize that the people in the church, with very few exceptions, represent the very best that humanity has to offer.  For that, I am very grateful.

Today, pastors, in the midst of your difficult job, make it a point to be thankful for the very patient and loving people you are surrounded with . . . .  also known as your church.  Be amazed at how they continue to show up every Sunday morning to listen to you teach God's word.  Be amazed at how much grace they extend to you as a fallen, broken man in need of constant help.  Be amazed that God has provided these people to walk through life with you as your church family.

And to those of you who are reading this that aren't pastors- thank you.  Thank you for being patient with us and for loving us like you do.  Most pastors don't realize how much you care about us and how much you put up with when you deal with us.  Most pastors get criticism from a few, and think that those few speak for the majority.  I know that I've made that assumption before, and it wasn't even close to being true.  We typically only hear from the malcontents, and it's easy to assume that they speak for everyone.  Don't let us do that.  If you are thankful for your pastor, let him know.

How truly amazing the church is.  God bless the body of Christ.

P.S. I am specifically thankful to the people of the greatest church I've ever known, Catalyst Christian Church, for their constant demonstration of God's grace to me every day.  I am so very thankful for all of you and consider it an amazing, undeserved privilege to be called your pastor.  I love you all!

For all our advances, we are still so very helpless

Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy knocked out power to an entire region of the US.  Millions of people without power.  I read today that it might be as long as ten days before the power is back on.

How long could you live without electricity?

I began to think about my family- what would we do with prolonged power outage?  What would we do if there was no gasoline for the car, no electricity for heat, cooking, etc?  This is a reality up in New York right now.

It makes me think that our safety and security are pretty much an illusion.  We truly are helpless.

I know that my family probably would not survive a prolonged power outage.  I don't have a chicken coupe or a vegetable garden to provide me with a source of food.  I don't have enough firewood to heat the house for a long period of time, and I don't have enough candles to light the place after dark. 

For all of our advances in technology and our arrogant proclamation of self-sufficiency, it was an ordinary combination of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom that flooded subways, knocked out power, destroyed cars, ravaged homes, and threw the New England region into chaos.

We as human beings can't even handle water and wind.  This storm did more than destroy property- it reminded us that we truly are very helpless.  We are not as powerful as we have led ourselves to believe.  The only thing that has kept us alive is the fact that these "reminders"- like hurricanes- don't happen everyday. 

In light of this fact, I have two comments to make.  The words of Jesus in Matthew 6:19-20 were proved true in Hurricane Sandy:  "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." Hurricane Sandy reminds us that nothing we have here on earth is really ours, and we have nothing that is material that can't be lost, stolen, or destroyed.  Every time a Hurricane Sandy comes along, it is a stark reminder of where our treasure truly is.

The second is this:  Jesus and His disciples were in a boat, and there was a huge storm.  He stood up, spoke, and calmed the storm.  His disciples said, in Matthew 8:27- “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

We as humans can't handle water and wind.  But we serve a God who does.  We serve a God who is capable of calming the storm or placing us right in the middle of it.  Whatever His reasoning, He has given us the promise that He will never leave nor forsake us.  So, embrace your helplessness.  Take a true, sober view of the fact that we truly are at the mercy of many things, that our prosperity is based on a house of cards.  Then, embrace the God who CAN handle the wind and waves, who holds all the cards, who does have the power over life and death.

Realizing weakness and embracing surrender are two key points to growing in faith.  There are only two types of people in this world- those that are weak (and know it) and those that are weak (and don't know it).  With your treasure in heaven and your faith in the Master, you will no longer be helpless.

Hating Ourselves

We just got done with a series on the Song of Solomon that was absolutely fantastic- the vision put forth for marriage and romance and dating and sex and all that great stuff was like a breath of fresh air . . . . .  for some people.

Other people thought it was very difficult to hear.  Some people didn't like it at all.  I sat down with a guy recently who quite frankly hated it.

He said, "Why would we listen to a guy who had 300 wives and 700 concubines talk about marriage?  This guy was a womanizer and a philanderer!  How can he be telling me how to do this whole marriage thing?"

I said, "The same way that we can listen to a guy who killed Christians and persecuted them, a guy named Paul, tell us about the beauty of grace in the Christian faith.  The same way we can listen to a guy named Peter, who denied Jesus under threat of persecution, write about standing up under persecution in 1 and 2 Peter."

He said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I seriously don't think that Solomon should be teaching anybody about marriage.  He was practically a sex addict."

Then the light bulb went on.  "So, you're really struggling with a sex addiction, aren't you?"

He looked at me with a deer-in-the-headlights look.  Then he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yeah."

I have found that whatever we criticize in other people is usually what we hate about ourselves.  Whenever I hear a pastor boldly decrying homosexuality over and over and over again, I would bet on the fact that he is seriously struggling with that personally.  Whenever I hear someone say, "No one is honest!  Everyone around me just lies, lies, lies all the time," I know that person struggles with being honest.  Whenever I hear someone constantly saying how judgmental everyone is, I know that person is a very judgmental person.

It's called projection.  We as human beings project the things we don't like about ourselves onto other people.  The guy I sat down with didn't like King Solomon because King Solomon's was doing the same things he was doing.  I constantly see the Christians around me not giving 100% for Jesus because I myself struggle with that daily (and fail more often than succeed).  I criticize materialism in people because I am constantly battling with my heart's desire for more things.

This is how you know what the Holy Spirit is convicting within you.  When you see shortcomings in other people and they really, really bother you, you can be fairly sure that you are actually the one with the problem.   I have noticed that it is the people that cause the most drama that say, "I hate all the drama!" the loudest.  I have noticed that it whenever I call out sin in another person, it is usually the pot calling the kettle black.

Today, take a quiet moment and ask yourself what faults you see in the people around you.  Reflect and ponder about whether that may actually be something wrong with YOU.  Typically that is the case.  Then, stop criticizing the person for what is wrong with you.  Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to overcome in your life the sin that you saw in everyone else.

Parents: Teach your children this one simple lesson . . .

When I was five years old, my parents started to give me an allowance.  My eyes lit up- I could now conquer the world.  I had at my disposal the power to buy off anyone, to have my way, to own all the toys that Thornbury's (yes, Thornbury's in the Fayette Mall, for all of you Lexington folks who remember back that far) had to offer.

My plans for world domination came to a screeching halt when I learned that my parents had one simple rule to govern my massive fifty cents a week allowance.  This one simple rule is one that they enforced over the course of the next thirteen years, and one that I continue to practice today and even make my own children follow.

The rule was the Rule of the Financial Floor.

My parents are extremely fiscally responsible.  They saw the folly of living paycheck to paycheck, and therefore they wisely built margins into their financial outlook.  They forced me to do the same thing. 

Starting at age five, they set a $2 "financial floor" that I was not allowed to go under.  If I wanted a toy that cost $5, I had to have $7 before I could buy it.  At no time and under no circumstance was I ever allowed to have less than $2 in my possession. 

As I got older, the floor increased.  By the time I got to high school, the floor was $200.  I remember very vividly the time that all my friends were going to see a movie (which cost $5 back in those days), and I had $204 in my bank.  Guess what?  I didn't go see the movie. 

I would recommend that all parents teach their children the concept of the financial floor.  They need to know how unwise it is to ever spend your last dollar.  They need to know that wise people build margins into their lifestyles so that they are never caught unaware.  Parents, begin now- it doesn't matter what age your children are. 

I asked my dad why they established $2 for me when we started.  He said, "Your mom and I figured that a good starting point for a floor was one month's income.  You got $.50 per week, so $2 was one month's income.  That's a good starting point."

Parents, your child lives in your house, and therefore lives under your rules.  Whatever your child earns, whether from a job or from allowance, establish the floor at one month's income.  You might even want to establish that for yourself as an example.  Then, periodically check to see if your children are abiding by that rule. 

At a moment's notice, they must be able to produce the amount of one month's income.  This will give them real-life experience, because in life, they will be faced with sudden medical bills, an HVAC unit that goes out, or the sudden need to buy another car when their car dies.  If they have been living by the rule of the financial floor, they will be in a much better position to handle whatever life throws at them.

This isn't a concept that kids will figure out for themselves.  It will take parental teaching to make it happen.  By following this one rule, you will set your children up for success- financial success- later in life.  Do it now.

Is Profanity a sin?

I remember students coming up to me and asking me if it was a sin to cuss.  I said, "Well, what do you think?"

I heard some decent thoughts on it.  One was the fact that we use other words that are not considered profane to describe the exact same things that the profane words describe- female dog, bowel movement, making love, etc.  What makes one word, that describes a female dog, and the actual words "female dog" so different?  Another one was the statement by one of my students that if he were to use German swear words, and no one spoke German (and therefore no one was offended) would it really be cussing?

That, plus the fact that profanity is so common now, so accepted, so  . . . .  NORMAL- is it truly a sin?  Does the use of profanity dishonor God?

I have two thoughts on the subject of profanity, one Biblical and the other not.  I'll start with the non-Biblical one.  Before I start, I have to confess that in my younger years, especially in high school and early college, that I was a profane individual.  There were many points in my life where I doubt I could say a single sentence without throwing in a few words that would make a sailor blush.  In locker rooms, in the fraternity house, on the soccer field, and just in casual conversation with friends, my mouth was something that was less than pure and saintly to say the least.

First, the non-Biblical thought.  I have noticed, as I have gotten older, that wise people truly do have a tight rein on their mouths.  Foolish and impetuous people don't control what they say or when they say it.  I have noticed that words, much more than actions, cause the most problems in this world- in life, in relationships, in schools, at work, and in the home.  People who use wisdom in how they speak give careful thought to the words they say, and they rarely, if ever, engage in gossip, condescension, or use profanity.  Wisdom is the ability to foresee the consequences of their actions, and they wisely see that this kind of language rarely brings about the result that they intend.

I have noticed that while many non-violent people use profanity, profanity is nearly ALWAYS used by aggressive and violent people.  Very few violent criminals use the word, "Darn."  The same is true with self-controlled individuals.  While there are self-controlled individuals that use profanity, nearly ALL non-self-controlled individuals use profanity.  Profanity is the lower standard, while the abstention from profanity is the higher standard.

Second, the Biblical thought.  I believe that profanity is simply an expression of a bigger problem.  Jesus told us that, "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks."  The mouth is the megaphone of the heart.  It is a great indicator of what is going on inside.  When a person is full of profanity, it shows a darkness within the heart that is troubling.  I know that before my conversion to Christ that my heart was very dark.  I was depressed and angry and purposeless, and my mouth showed that.  My mouth, through profanity, expressed my depression and anger.  It expressed my lack of self-control and my lack of love.  I look at my former use of profanity as the "foaming up of my shame" described in Jude 1:13.  It shouted to the world that things were not right within me.

A heart that is surrendered to Jesus is not full of depression and anger and purposelessness.  It is filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  For which of these is profanity needed to express?  None.

When I became a Christian, the first thing that God changed about me was my mouth.  I was powerfully convicted by the words that came out, and I was given new eyes to see the darkness that was prevalent in my heart . . . .  shown by my words.  I realized that if I was going to live a life according to the Bible, I was going to have live Ephesians 4:29 everyday, "Don't let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up."

This is why I choose to forego the use of profanity in my life.  I always hope for a higher standard- a higher plane of class- than the use of profanity affords.  Whenever I am tempted to use profanity, I realize that there is something wrong in my heart that needs cleansing and grace.  I also never want to be accused or thought of as a man that lacks self-control or is hot-tempered or has no control over the deadliest part of the human body- the mouth.  I am calling all Christians to examine their use of profanity and realize that it has no place in the life of a person who has surrendered his or her life to Jesus and is filled with the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that the Holy Spirit brings.

The Myth of the Popular Jesus

Jesus is very popular in America.

Most, if not all, Christians think Jesus was a great guy.  So do most non-Christians.  Even many atheists, while denying His divinity, will agree that He was an amazing teacher, a great moral man, and did a lot of good while He was here.

To be sure, Jesus was and is an amazing man.  He is my personal hero.  He embodies everything I want to be, and if I can live my life 1/100th of what He did, I will consider my life well-lived.

The problem is- Jesus wasn't popular.

In the gospel of John, chapter 7, Jesus says this, "The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil."

Jesus was not just talking about His words.  His entire life was a testimony to the evil of this world- the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, the sexual immorality that was so prevalent, the lack of forgiveness, the selfish materialism that ran rampant in the culture, the political corruption, the lack of concern for the poor, and the denial of God in everyday life.  The world could not stand Jesus because He was a mirror- when the people of the world saw Him and His life, it showed how evil and selfish they truly were.

Evil and selfish people don't like it when they see themselves for who they truly are.

Just as people who are facing bankruptcy hate the sight of a bank statement (because it is a reminder of their true position), this world hated the life Jesus led.  The life Jesus led was a constant reminder of the depth of their sin and disbelief.  He was a burr under the saddle, a pebble in the shoe, a grain of sand in the eyes to a world that wished it could just live however it wanted, anytime, anyplace.

That's why they killed Him.  That's what the world does to people it hates.

The point is that if Jesus is popular today in America, it's because people don't know who Jesus is.  The Jesus that is popular in America today is a Jesus that falls in line with what America values.  However, just as Jesus refused to fall in line with the cultural values of His day, the true Biblical Jesus doesn't fall in line with the cultural values of this day either.  He continues to command that we surrender our lives to Him.  He continues to teach that all of our resources- our homes, our cars, our money, our possessions- are really His and therefore He determines how they are to be used.  He continues to teach that you can't serve both God and money.  He continues to teach that we care for the poor and invite the blind, the sick, the crippled, and the lame into our homes with no expectation of repayment.  He continues to command that we go into all the world, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching everyone to obey everything He commands. 

But the kicker is that He continues to teach that He is the only way to the Father.

I wonder if America really would like this Jesus.  Looking at the list above, I really don't think that Jesus would be very popular here, because the things listed above certainly don't seem very popular in our culture today.

Jesus' testimony and life were powerful enough, and annoying and dangerous enough, to get Him killed.  Jesus said that His followers could expect the same treatment.  Christians, if our values and actions are being applauded by those that don't know Jesus, we probably aren't living as Jesus did. 

Popularity is achieved by not offending people, by having a message that everyone likes, and by telling people what they want to hear.  Jesus fulfilled none of those requirements.  He offended people daily.  His message was rejected by most.  He refused to tell people what they wanted to hear- instead, He told the truth. 

The myth of the popular Jesus needs to be exposed for what it is.  A myth.  Christians like me have to realize that Jesus was not popular, nor were His actions and beliefs popular.  Therefore, mine won't be either.  I have to realize that what I teach and preach, if I am being Biblical, will leave more people upset than happy.  I have to realize that stands I take will be increasingly out of step with what is politically correct and easy.  I have to realize that this world will hate me, just as it hated my hero.

That's tough.  Like everyone, I want to be liked.  I want to be approved of.  I don't like to cause conflict.  I'll bet Jesus, in His human nature, was that way too.  However, He subordinated those to the will of His Father and to the truth.  If you are a Christian, you have to as well.  Whatever you do, don't buy into the myth of the popular Jesus anymore.  Discover the Biblical Jesus and follow Him.

5 Hard Financial Truths

1.  It all boils down to how much you spend.  The number one determiner of your financial situation is not how much you make.  It is how much you spend.  You will always be able to spend more than you make.  Instead of lamenting your lack of income, get a hold on your spending.  There are people who make less than $30,000 per year that are in better financial shape than other who make over $100,000 per year. 

2.  Your spending habits are a great indicator of the condition of your heart.  This doesn't mean your physical condition- this means the spiritual condition of your heart.  Where you devote your two most precious resources- your time and your money- reveal what is most important to you.  Many Christian people would be astounded to find out that they are actually idolaters, because the trail of money and their spending habits would lead to something other than God as their number one priority.

3.  Whoever you owe owns you.  The Bible tells us that the borrower is slave to the lender.  Never before in human history have we seen such voluntary slavery, with credit card and student loan debt skyrocketing.  Until you are debt-free, you are a slave to whoever you owe money to.  You will go to work for 40 hours a week just to hand over the fruits of your labor to someone else.  You don't get to enjoy what you have earned.  The person or bank who holds your debt gets to enjoy what you have worked for.  Sounds like slavery to me.

4.  It's not your money- it never has been.  Nothing in this world belongs to us.  We use it for a short time, then we die, and someone else uses it for a while, then they die, and someone else uses it, and so on and so forth.  We don't own anything.  The question isn't, "What will I do with my money?"  The question is, "What will I do with God's money?"

The major financial question facing the Christian isn't, "How much of my money do I give to God?"  It is "How much of God's money do I get to keep for myself?"  When you make this mindset shift, you begin to understand how far we have drifted from what God wants us to do with the resources He's given us. 

5.  What you need and what you want are two completely different things.   My grandmother had a framed picture with the motto from the 20's- "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."  That was the statement of what has been called the Greatest Generation.  I doubt very seriously that motto would be very popular today.  The concept of "doing without" is so reprehensible in this culture, because we have confused "wants" with "needs."  We can scarcely differentiate between the two.  The wise person realizes that wants and needs are different.  He or she prioritizes needs, takes care of them, and only then takes care of the "wants."  The fool only sees what he wants, and then expects someone else to take care of his needs.

All pastors should say THIS to their churches about the election . . .

Jesus' most unpopular marketing strategy

I was reading in John 6 the other day- this was a time where Jesus was getting very popular.  He had many followers and was bringing them in by the truckload.  He was so popular that the people were about to make Him the king by force.

Then He looked at the crowd and said, "Bite me."

Well, He actually said this- "“I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man (literally, 'Bite me') and drink his blood, you have no life in you." (John 6:53).  The Bible then says that this statement caused many, if not most, of the crowd to desert Him.

Why would Jesus do such a terrible thing?  Why would He turn what could have been thousands of potential believers away from the Kingdom of God?  Didn't their souls matter to Him?  Didn't He love them?  I'll bet His disciples weren't very happy with this turn of events.  There had been a large number of them and now there were only twelve left.

I imagine that if a pastor preached his church from thousands down to twelve, especially with just one statement, that he wouldn't be senior pastor very long.  

The reason I write this is that Catalyst is going through a period of growth right now.  We are seeing more people at church than we ever have at this time of year, something that church growth gurus refer to as "momentum."  As a church, we constantly think about preaching the gospel to INCREASE the church.

But I've never thought of a strategy that would make 95% of the people LEAVE the church.

Jesus did.  This was not a slip up or a gaffe.  He knew exactly what He was doing when He said these words.  He knew exactly what would happen when He said them, and He chose it anyway.  There must have been a good reason for it, something that Jesus knew was necessary.  It might even be necessary in American churches today.

 Apparently, Jesus wasn't very impressed with people who followed Him but didn't want to know Him.  

This is the meaning behind the, "You must eat my flesh and drink my blood," statement.   Jesus is teaching that unless you allow Me to invade your life; unless you allow Me to come into your very being and live My life through you, you really are lost.  Jesus was saying to His followers that there was a major difference between casual and committed.  He also implied that He didn't even see the need for the casual to stick around.  It was better if they just left and didn't maintain the illusion of being true committed believers.

Someone once asked me, "If Paul or Peter or even Jesus visited your town, would your church be the one they would choose to go and worship at?  Would your church be the one where they would recognize the teachings and practices that they taught 2000 years ago?  Or would they walk into your church and see something so different, so incongruent, and so worldly that they wouldn't even recognize it as Biblical Christianity?"

With Jesus, intimacy is the goal.  With American Christianity, numbers are the goal.  With one statement, Jesus destroyed the false idol of success that exists in modern American Christianity.  It shows what Jesus values, and the reason we have a problem with it is that it exposes the fact that we value something completely different. 

 

Throwing mud on the Mona Lisa

In the church that I pastor, we've been going through a series called "What's Love Got To Do With It?"- a study on the Song of Solomon.  It's a no-holds-barred series on love, sex, dating, romance, marriage, conflict, and just about anything else that goes on between a man and a woman.

After church on Sunday, a woman came up to me and said, "I just want you to know that while you were speaking, I had two thoughts that hit me simultaneously.  One, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.  Second, how angry I am that this is the first time I've ever heard this stuff."

That's what happens when you see the plan of God for the first time.  You are struck by the beauty and wonder of it all, and then you look around at the world we live in and realize how ugly it is by comparison.

You realize that we've thrown mud on the Mona Lisa.

God has given us this beautiful thing called sex to be enjoyed in a beautiful thing called marriage.  There is supposed to be a beautiful attraction between man and woman, symbolizing Christ and His church, with all the romance and passion that that two people could possibly muster.  The beauty of God-honoring sex is a work of art more priceless and valuable than the Sistine Chapel or the Mona Lisa.

And we throw mud on it, removing the beauty and romance and blessing from it.  We splash it over tv and advertising to sell products.  We rip it out of the context of holy marriage and throw it around in the backseat of a car or in a hotel room under and alias.  We log on to porn sites and watch people throw mud on the Mona Lisa that sex is supposed to be, degrading it down to a $1.99 paint-by-numbers kit that a two-year-old could follow.

When you get hold of what God desires for each of us to have, as shown in the Song of Solomon, it doesn't make you feel self-righteous towards people who don't have that.  It makes you weep.  It makes you weep to see what people COULD have if they only followed the vision God put forth for us- how much better, and fulfilling, and holy, and wonderful, and passionate .  . .  and LASTING it could be. 

One of the challenges for Christians is to take the amazing gift of sex that God has given to us and restore it to its honored place as a work of art.  We don't put the Mona Lisa on the refrigerator door- we don't treat it as common or throw it around like it is worth nothing.  We place it on the wall in a museum and guard it carefully, because it is something that is beyond value.  We cherish it, celebrate, and stand amazed at the astounding work of art that it is.

So should be our attitude towards sex.  It should not be thrown around and degraded as something common- it should be held up and honored among all people as something that is beyond value.  A gift from God that is to be held in reverence and enjoyed in the context He designed it to be enjoyed in.  It will take Christians- people with the Holy Spirit of God within them- to lift the gift of sex out of the mud that our culture has thrown on it and show it to be valuable once more.

It starts at home.  Single Christians need to be patient and wait for marriage.  Engaged and dating Christians must practice the words from the Song of Solomon, "Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires."  Married Christians must fight off the temptation to find sexual pleasure in something other than their spouse.  When the world sees Christians cherishing the gift of sex, like a priceless work of art, maybe it will follow suit.

Far too many Christians are like a gigantic government welfare state

I read an article today that said that 9 out of 10 Scottish people receive more from their government than they pay in taxes- an average of L14,000 per household.  That's roughly the equivalent of $22,000 in American terms.

The fundamental law of economics is that whenever you send out more than you bring in, you will go bankrupt.  It's unavoidable, whether its a government or a family income . . . . . . .  or your Christian walk.

How many Christians today are spiritually bankrupt, because they have given out more than they have taken in?

If you plan on serving as Christ served, you need to have the power that Christ had.  If we plan on doing the "greater things" that Jesus referred to in John 14- greater things that Jesus Himself did- we will be sending out an awful lot of love, forgiveness, time, energy, and caring.

Without anything coming in, and with all that going out, we will run up a huge spiritual deficit.  Kind of like a bloated government that spends $1.1 trillion more than it brings in each year.  Eventually, bankruptcy occurs.

When a government goes bankrupt, it ceases all services, lays off workers, shuts down agencies, and basically self-implodes. 

The same identical thing happens when a Christian goes spiritually bankrupt.  He or she cuts out all giving to Christian missions and to churches.  He or she withdraws from the church, from Bible studies, from Christian fellowship.  He or she stops serving in ministry areas.  The dynamic faith that once existed basically self-implodes.

The key point is this:  those Christians who want to truly live out the calling of Jesus had better get serious about being constantly filled with the Holy Spirit.

Jesus withdrew to lonely places and prayed.  He knew that He would be performing miracles, teaching the people, dealing with criticism, serving the poor, loving, forgiving, and confronting.  All of that is time-consuming and energy-draining, even for the Son of God.

He knew that whatever He sent out in the form of love would need to be replaced by the Holy Spirit, or He would go spiritually bankrupt.

We too need this.  As we strive to live out our faith in this world, we need to also strive to get alone with God and be replenished by the power of His love and grace.  We need time immersed in His word.  We need time of silence and stillness.  We need prayer and petition to our Heavenly Father.  Without this, we won't last long.

The government of Scotland, like the government of Greece, will go bankrupt if nothing changes.  It will implode and become worthless.  The same thing will happen to you if you continue to try to live out the teachings of Jesus without first being filled with the power of Jesus.

This week, make sure you have just as much love, grace, forgiveness, and strength coming IN from God as you send out to other people.