kiss

I am sure that most of you have heard of the KISS method to accomplishing a task. 

I remember sitting in my class in junior high and hearing my math teach say remember the KISS rule which stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. 

As I was reading the Bible this morning that seemed to be what Jesus was saying when it comes to life.  He was telling his disciples if you really want to experience the kingdom of God you must become like a child in terms of faith.  I don’t know about you, but I have this problem.   When I start to over think things, it causes all kinds of doubt.

This is true of every relationship.  When I start to over think about what people say, I start to question their motives and that breaks down trust and causes me to have doubts about them.  When I over think golf, I hit the ball in the water.  When I over think about God and try to figure out why God does what he does, it causes me to have doubts.

But when I just use the KISS model for life and relax my mind, it brings peace.  I have found that I can only use the KISS model when I trust God and other people.   Jesus was telling all of us that real peace comes from trusting like a child.   Most children are not skeptics and you and I were not born skeptics.   The world has just taught us to be one.

So here’s the question that you and I have to answer.   Will you use the KISS model for life or will you keep over thinking everything and live in torment and not trust God or anyone else?

Matthew 18:2-4 (Msg)   For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom.

 

choose your side

Today I heard on the news, like many of you, that the shooter at the army base at Fort Hood in Texas who killed 13 people and wounded 30 others was a known enemy of this country.  He was able to serve in the army because of our government trying to not be offensive to anyone.  I think we have had enough of being politically correct in this country.  It doesn’t work.

In order to be a great nation, great church, or a great family you have to have unity on some basic principles.  Our nation rose to be the greatest nation on earth because of our unity on the moral principles the Bible gives.

Here’s the deal.  We must decide who sets the boundaries for our lives.  I watched a little of the Monday night football game last night and they had side lines and goal lines that set the boundary in which both teams understood the game was to be played in.

If our marriages, our families, our churches or our country is going to survive, they have to have agreed upon boundaries. 

What has kept Rhonda and I together for over 22 years is not just our love for each other, because there have been times that we didn’t feel that strong of a love for each other.  It was God’s Word that set the rules before we got married.   We agreed that no matter what, we would honor God with or marriage.  We agreed to honor what God wants over what we want.

If you don’t set that standard for your life and your family, you will fall into the trap our army just fell into.  In the name of not wanting to offend anyone, they moved their boundaries to accommodate the enemy within their own ranks.  The end result was death to innocent people.

And that is what always happens when we don’t have Godly boundaries in our lives, innocent people die.  Like the baby that will be aborted today, the child whose innocence will be stolen because of a child molester.  Like the kid that is not like everyone else so the world will steal his or her innocence and convince them they are gay.

My prayer is, “God give us men and women who are like Joshua in the Bible.” 

Joshua 24:15 (NIV)   If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

What holds you back?

Last night was a great small group meeting. I really enjoy breaking up into a smaller group with the men. Last night we talked about the things that hold us back like fear, guilt, worry, doubt and pride. The question was asked, “Which one of these do you think you struggle with the most?” My answer was, “It just depends on what is happening that day”. As we are finding out in our Life’s Healing Choice series, the greatest choice is to trust God. When we as humans admit that we are not God and that we need him, it removes pride. At this point we stop trying to control things that are out of our control. It’s only after this point that we can move to the next level of trusting God and that is to believe he has the power to change me and my situation. From there, we move to the next step of giving our will and life to Chris’s care and control. Here’s the bottom line that is being revealed to me… If I want to live without fear, worry, guilt and doubt I have to choose to trust God. The result of trusting God with my life is peace in my mind and heart. Someone said in my group God doesn’t want to take the steering wheel out of our hands he just wants to be the GPS that we follow.

 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

hope, help and healing

I read a statement this week that I think is so true, “WHEN WE LOOK BACK WE LIVE IN REGRET, WHEN WE LOOK AROUND WE LIVE WITH WORRY, BUT WHEN WE LOOK UP WE LIVE WITH HOPE.”

I, like most of you, have had a time of looking back over my life and have seen all the mistakes I have made as a husband, father and pastor.  If I dwell on them, I get down.  Especially when I think if I had done things differently with my children, they would not have some of the struggles they have.  I think that is a road block for many parents…blaming themselves for every problem the kid has.  A Christian psychologist told me once that God was the perfect parent to Adam and Eve and his children still made big mistakes.

When I look around at all that is going on in the world and our country, it is easy to let worry take over.  I was sitting in our Financial Peace class last night watching Dave Ramsey teach on video about how to get out of debt by being very committed to the process.  He said, “You can’t borrow your way out of debt no matter who you are.”  I thought you and I know that, but some how Washington DC doesn’t get it.  When I look at our country paying over five hundred million dollars a month to China just in interest, it is very concerning to me.  I hear all these new programs that the government wants to start on borrowed money… that concerns me.  Our generation is leaving our children with a country that is broke. 

Here is the good news.  When I look up I see hope.  God is hope and I understand that he is in control.  That is why we are doing this spiritual growth campaign called “Life’s Healing Choices.”  You know, God’s principles are never changing and they work and have worked all through history and will work into eternity.  It is like a compass. No matter where you think north should be, a compass will always point to north.  In this sermon series and during our small group sessions, we will look in God’s Word for real hope, help and healing for many of our hurts, habits and hang-ups.  We will have a new perspective on real answers to life’s problems through finding true north through God’s Word.

alcohol

This weekend I had the privilege of going to the Atlanta motor speedway and watching the race with some wonderful people from SCC.  It was very different from all other races I had been to because it was at night.

The cars under the lights looked fantastic. The temperature was just right.  Going to the race with Joe Anderson and Jimmy Martin is always great.  Joe provides the entertainment by talk to every person around him and Jimmy provides all the “technical gadgets” like headsets that pick up the drivers conversation with their crew.  I just enjoy it all.

The other thing I noticed about the night race was the amount of alcohol being consumed and the effect of what had already been consumed.  Alcohol brings out the worst in people because they lose all self control.  We saw two guys get into a fight three row in front of us, who actually came to the race together. 

When I was a child I was around Alcohol all the time and the results have not changed in all these years.  One person starts running their mouth at someone else and it always ends bad, even friendships and families break up.  That is why the Bible is very clear about getting drunk, because it makes people do things they would never do unless they were under the influence of Alcohol. 

Ephesians 5:18 (NLT)   Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.

God’s Word brings Alcohol and the Holy Spirit up as a comparison because both have to be a choice by an individual to consume.  You consume alcohol by drinking it, but you are consumed by God’s Spirit when you read God’s Word and meditate on it or by listening to someone share it or even praying to God.

The consumption of alcohol brings a state of being out of control in your own body.  Being consumed by God’s Spirit make you more in control of your attitude and actions.

react or respond?

Today as I write this post my body is screaming at me because I tried to treat it like it was sixteen years old.  I am at a pastor’s retreat with six other pastors and last night after our meeting, which lasted until 11:30 pm, we decided to play basketball.  My legs are sore and if that was not crazy enough, we didn’t go to bed until 2:30 a.m. 

So, now it is 7:30 a.m. and I am writing this post before we go to breakfast.  I knew I was in trouble this morning when my alarm went off and I started to count how many hours of sleep I had.  The answer I came up with was….not enough.

I would like to share something with you that Courtney Bon shared with me after our Sunday worship service about reacting versus responding.

The root meaning of the words react and respond are as follows:

“Re” = again  “Act” = behavior
“Re” = again   “spond” = communicate

If we react, we only emphasize the behavior that we don’t want to happen again.  Yelling back at someone because they yell at us puts fuel on the fire.  But, if we focus on communication and respond when there’s a problem, we then can work it out.  Communicating and responding helps us to turn toward the problem for a solution, not to “counter attack.”

So, the next time you are tempted to react, take a deep breath, count to 10…even leave the room, then approach the situation with a calm head and a responsive heart.

“In your anger do not sin” : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.”  Ephesians 4:26

change is good…you first.

Yesterday in our staff meeting we discussed the topic of change.  I had our staff listen to a John Maxwell leadership lesson called, “Change is Good….You Go First.”  The focus of the lesson was on the fact that change is never easy.   To that statement, I say a big AMEN!

I have come to believe all of us want change in our life.  I just think we go the wrong way to get it.  I think most of us address cosmetic parts of our lives, which is the outside and somehow we have been sold that with this idea we can buy change.  Men are the worlds worst at this.  We think if our wives or children are not happy, we can buy them something and it will make them happy.  That my friends, is cosmetic change and it will only last for a few days and then you are right back with the old problem. 

Real Change happens when we admit that we have a problem and most of the time it is a past hurt, or an attitude that we have developed.  So real change starts with me taking a deep look into myself and saying, “What do I need to change about my attitude?  Who do I need to forgive? What do I need to let go of?”

This is what the Bible and the Christian life is all about.  Changing you from the inside out.  The Bible tells us that the evidence of the Christian life is called the Fruit of the Spirit.  These work in us helping us have deep change that produces Christ likeness.  What is the Fruit of the Spirit specifically?  Galatians tells us.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Here’s the question I have to ask myself, “Are these qualities growing in me or are they becoming less evident in my life?”

The bottom line is this…. it is far easier to ask everyone else to change than it is for me to change, but real change must start within ourselves.

fan the flame

I read a story this weekend about a race that happened in the Greek Olympics that was different from other races.  In the other races, the winner was the one who crossed the finish line first.  But in the torch race, they lit a bunch of torches and handed them out to every runner.  They started to race with the fires burning, and the only way you could win the torch race was to finish with your fire still lit.  Just because you made it first didn’t count until they checked to see if your fire was still burning.

That’s where I think our focus needs to be in our relationship with God, our spouse and what we do for others.  It is to keep the fire burning.  What good is it if you are the fastest or smartest, if in winning you actually loose?

So the question I have to ask myself is, is my fire still burning and if so how can I fan the flame?  I think the only way to keep your flame burning is to express faith in God.

This is what the Paul in the Bible told his apprentice Timothy.

2 Tim. 1:5-7 (NIV)   I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (fear), but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Let’s fan the flame by expressing our faith in God in every situation of our life.

just wait

I am reading a book by Jentezen Franklin called, Believe That You Can.  He tells a story about a California couple who walked through a canyon and found wild mushrooms.  So they decided to pick some and bring them home and cook them for the evening meal.  The fried mushrooms tasted so good they decided to call some friends over to enjoy the meal with them.  After dinner they let the cat have the scraps that were left over from the mushrooms.  Sometime later the host went into the kitchen only to find the cat foaming at the mouth and panting for breath.

He immediately phoned the veterinarian, who advised the man that he and his dinner guests had better get to the emergency room as soon as possible to have their stomachs pumped.  The vet suspected that they had picked poisoned toadstools instead of mushrooms.

After going to the hospital and having their stomachs pumped, the people finally made it back home.  They expected to see their cat lying lifeless on the floor.  Instead, the cat was in the corner of the kitchen with a brand-new litter of kittens! What they thought were death pains were, in reality, birth pains! 

I tell you that story because I think we give up too soon on God when we can’t see things getting better or as a matter of fact we see things seemingly getting worse.  But, most of the time God is birthing something great in our marriage, finances, faith or health.  The truth is, we almost have to feel like we are going to die before we will become open to the deep change that we need to bring the miracle we have asked God for.  I have found many times it was at my breaking point that God did the miracle.  This is the point we let go of all pride and ask God and others for help.  Listen to what God says to you through his Word.

 ”My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”…
2 Cor. 12:9 (NIV)

just ask for it

I am reading the Bible through this year and I try to use a different translation each year I do this.  I started making it my goal to to do that every other year.  This is my third time reading it through in six years.  This year I am reading the Message Bible.  I love the wording.  This morning I was in Proverbs and came across these verses that are characteristics of Wisdom.  Remember wisdom is asking God what he would have you do in every situation of your life and acting on his guidance.

Proverbs 8:12-21 (Msg)  

“I am Wisdom, and I live next to Sanity;
Knowledge and Discretion live just down the street.
13The Fear-of-God means hating Evil, whose ways I hate with a passion—
pride and arrogance and crooked talk.
14Good counsel and common sense are my characteristics; I am both Insight and the
Virtue to live it out.
15 With my help, leaders rule, and lawmakers legislate fairly;
16 With my help, governors govern, along with all in legitimate authority.
17 I love those who love me; those who look for me find me.
18 Wealth and Glory accompany me—also substantial Honor and a Good Name.
19 My benefits are worth more than a big salary, even a very big salary;
the returns on me exceed any imaginable bonus.
20 You can find me on Righteous Road—that’s where I walk—
at the intersection of Justice Avenue,
21 Handing out life to those who love me,
filling their arms with life—armloads of life!

I don’t know about you but I want wisdom guiding me on my every step because of the promised benefits.   The Bible says the way we get this kind of wisdom it to ask God for it.  He is the only real source of wisdom.  Remember this, there are a lot of people who give what seems to be good advice, and the truth of the matter is, they are just guessing.  God has real wisdom, which is proven principles that work for every situation in your life.

James 1:5 (NIV)   If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.