SETTLING IN AS THE PREACHER

Standing before a congregation carries a bit of pressure. We want to please God. We want to please the church. Our wives and kids have friends and we don't want to uproot them by moving again and again.

So what I did was to learn to adapt my messages to fit what I thought the critics of the church wished to hear; we were the only true church and all others were wrong. I thought I was doing the right thing, but that tickling their ears passage would not go away.

A problem began to develop within as I didn't believe everything I was preaching. Image of courage and force was important to me. We had been sufficiently warned in school that many others mistakenly yielded along the way to the deceitfulness of liberalism. It wasn't going to happen to me!

I finally went to an elder and told him I was lying from the pulpit; that I was not telling the truth but, rather, I was trying to keep my job. I had good elders who walked beside me at the time and one named Harriel Scarsdale counseled me that I had to be bold enough to make adjustments if God was going to be honored.

As the preacher, his words of assurance seemed to be what I needed in spirit to grow up a bit and move forward. I took my message to the pulpit and cleared the air. There was a significant stirring afterwards; both pro and con.

I hadn't thought of that conversation with Harriel in about twenty years; but it was a significant moment. When that really good elder gave me counsel that Saturday morning a new life began for me....and for Memorial Drive. I started a transition out of preaching Church of Christ into preaching Christ. There is a difference.

It didn't go down easy; but it surely bears Holy Spirit fruit to this day. The days ahead weren't necessarily easier for quite a ruckus ensued. But the stability of being honest with God, the people, and myself put me into a zone I desperately needed.

I had settled in as a preacher trying to keep a paycheck. However, my yielding to popularity had become unsettling. I don't urge any reader to become a trouble-maker. I am, though, saying the preaching of Jesus will stir the pot at times causing many great discomfort. Let it, best you can, be His timing.

HAVING A CRITIC IS CRITICAL or WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN THE REST OF US NOBODIES?

Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you as if some strange thing were happening, Peter declared in his first of two books. Life in Jesus is abundant....and so are moments of the painful process.

Do not be discouraged Joshua heard centuries before. There was reason for the message. Working with God's design contains multiple testing grounds.

And us? Beware of the Messenger of Satan, just as the Saul/Paul warned for such messages are intentionally critical. Yes, you have critics, you who do very effective works.

Read that account in II Cor. 12:5-10. If Paul didn't have stressful attackers, God's work would be going so smoothly Paul might begin to believe he was actually running this show. Critics lead us to depend upon Father. That's why critics are a critical element in our work.

Do not be discouraged when you are under attack. Thank God. Do not wonder what is wrong with you. Rather praise Him for what is right with Him....everything!

We must have those who send messages of personal (even painful) disapproval to sharpen our focus. We must have them to remind us of what Paul declared of himself in that Corinthian text....he gets to do good stuff...but he is always never more than a nobody.

Me, too.

LEGENDS CAMP....COMPLETED

I returned to Tulsa late last night from another baseball camp experience with the St. Louis Cardinals.

What a trip!

I'm so sore that I feel I'm about two degrees from hurt. Fatigue is abundant.

Joy is on overload, though, as God worked so much in so many ways I would make notes at the end of each day lest I forget.

These camps serve as refresher reminders of how it is He works in the most fundamental ways to place us in the simplest of connectabilities. I see Him work and I know what to do, how to reach, what to say.

Thank you for praying. Thank you for cheering.

LEGENDS CAMP....DAY 3

Regarding hitting I am now 0-3. Interpreted, that would mean I have not had a hit in three games. I barely touch the ball to foul it off.

Whereas yesterday I fielded each of eight opportunities flawlessly, not so much today. I didn't make one of my plays. And, as was true of me yesterday, when I made the final out to end the game...so be it today. Did I mention that of the twelve men on my team, I bat.....12th?

Although my play today was shameful, I did have five fans in the stands with signs and whistling and other benevolent attributes. Gerald Lovett from Memorial Drive was there as well as Phil and Shelley Crews of Longmont, CO. plus her parents.

Urgggh. However, not to fret, I made the other team smile many....many....many times!

But the kingdom stuff....ah, the real reason I am here....it is like the Maytag washer....it just keeps going and going and going. I am so appreciative of God.

You know I pray for eyes to see His moves day by day. At baseball camp it seems magnified while I am dealing with both the common and celebrities. Jesus gives the same answer to both...sheer and perfect reason to hope. My job is to watch for Him.

Today verified a significant breakthrough I began to notice yesterday. It pleases me very much. I feel that many of you are praying.

I was mindful of Jesus saying in John 5 that unless he saw the Father do it, he couldn't do anything. At first glance I thought Jesus meant he was staring at Father and if He moved to the lake, Jesus made same move.

From experience, I now believe Jesus meant that if he didn't see Father do it...nothing would be coming about in his ministry walk...Jesus was waiting on God to do the work. As was true for the Son, it is clearly similar with me and with all of us. If God doesn't do it...it won't be done.

This takes off the pressure to make things happen while, simultaneously, awakening us to prayer that God would be active among us.

This is what I wait on patiently in any part of ministry; God's activation. We are not called to manipulate nor to self-impose. We are called to believe Him.

Day 3....oh how very sore I am in body....and how elated I am in Spirit. I saw Him work today.

LEGENDS CAMP---DAY 2

A long day...began by boarding the bus at 5:30 a.m. my Tulsa time.

A busy day...every where I turned...God opportunities...much counseling....thank you for praying.

A good day...scored first run for our team as we won our first game...lost our second...got no hits...made several plays with no errors...looked terrific in my uniform.

A safe day...no injuries...trainers worked on me twice because I'm old...and put me back together.

A very sore day...but not a hurt one.

A very encouraging day...I ministered to many...many ministered to me.

Hot here....sunburned.

LET SPRING TRAINING BEGIN!

I made my way to West Palm Beach, FL today for year number 29 of Legends Baseball Camp with the St. Louis Cardinals.

I checked into the Double-Tree early this afternoon and spent immediate time in prayer continuing to set the stage for what I yearn to be His agenda.

We report to Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter early tomorrow morning. I've already had great interaction with many of the former stars and campers.

While I love the game, I marvel at the hearts so open to God-concepts and Life.

Jesus came that we might have an abundance of it...and Great Life is easy to market.

Pray, if you would, for God to work while I'm here.

Thank you.

THE MASTER EVANGELIZER

Evangelism, like much else in the spiritual world, has been sabotaged. Squint-eyed, red-faced hounders of souls have transformed the sweet love extension of God into a robotic memory presentation of aligned passages geared to meet at the baptistery. This has created a pseudo-urgency which has not always been for love of neighbor but as combatant of a neighboring religion.

Jesus helps us.

The Master possesses that God-knack of drawing people. While it could be legally noted that Jesus reached out; he did so by inviting others in. In simple terms, Jesus found that the way to a person's heart was to ask him or her for assistance.

Take the woman at the well. How did Jesus break the ice on that warm day? He asked her for help. Could he have a glass of water? Thus the story unfolds which eventually drew an entire city to his feet.

Consider the man up a tree. Jesus inquired if he might go home with him to get a bite to eat. The kingdom story not only unfolds; it continues to inspire.

And then there was that kid with a sack lunch and 5000 who needed to be fed. The disciples ask the kid if he would give them assistance. How do you think the lad felt as he skipped back to the house?

A neighbor of mine showed little interest in the church. We had baptized his wife. In the midst of a Joy Bus explosion in Illinois, I asked him for help; would he go with me and drive a newly acquired bus to the church parking lot? Eventually he was baptized and became the Joy Bus driver for my wife's route. Today this man is the head of a Christian organization in Dallas that ministers to abandoned children.

Another neighbor lived on my Tulsa street. I rang his doorbell seeking his help to remove a car battery. This led to a study, his conversion, and his faithful service to this day.

The Master Evangelizer clearly shows us the path to a neighborly encounter. Simply find a way to seek their help. This both softens our approach and ushers a confidence that works so much more effectively.

DEFINE GOD

Some things change.

Others never do.

Some should change.

Others never should.

We live in a day of open mindedness...of sorts. It is more of the norm to be open to all sorts of gods.

How is one to know which is the True God...or if there is only one True God?

Jesus narrows the list to the One who sent him. This list will be consistent as the same One brought him back from the dead. In seeking the True God, I would look for the on who claims Jesus and all that goes with him.

There is a large list of gods. Jesus simplifies the matter. It isn't that he is narrow-minded. It is just that one is only one.

NOTHING BUT A BLANK PAGE DAY AFTER DAY

I tell you a secret to some. I know how to see life click. It isn't random. It isn't happen-stance. It isn't luck. It is intentional and obtainable due to the specifications of Father who nurtures His little ones.

If not careful, one will work against the kingdom of God by practicing concepts domestic to our earth nature and, yet, foreign to the spirit nature. This is always a challenging task. We must not give up, out, nor in to the pressures of such noble pursuit.

As for me, I am a very strange person, indeed. I feel like a very little child every day...every day...clueless, directionless, and pointless. However, I get to engage in the most fantastic moments of kingdom progress. I begin every day as a blank page (not by choice but because I am nothing) and conclude by evening time with the same emptiness of personal skill, talent, and ability.

I am not being superficially humble when I tell you I am a void. Before all eyes, I am a complete dork.

Yet....I tic.

What makes a plain man tic?

The answer is biblically clear. It is God's grace.

I want to be full of grace. Such a term means not of me and always of Him. I don't do good work. God rents and chooses to set up shop from my---and your--- space. His works are fascinating to us! We can never claim any of the credit for we are completely empty of ability while desperately desiring to be full of His grace.

What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” Zech. 4:7 Mountain ranges topple without dynamite? To move a mountain problem we would say, Bulldozer, bulldozer to it! Or apply God grace to see it melt?

For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. John 1:16 His fullness is His Spirit (Eph. 3:14-21) that the work done comes through us but not of us. It is God who is to be glorified for the accomplishment.

And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. Acts 6:8 Performance comes from the God-skill through the pipes of the human willingness to yield. The human is the zero. Father is the complete power. Grace is Father actively renting our space.

From there they sailed to Antioch, from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had accomplished. Acts 14:26 The work they accomplished only due to their nothingness open to His fullness...His active grace-power.

But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. Romans 11:6 If it is by grace the results are so powerful one can immediately perceive such did not come about due to personal muscle; but rather the emptying of such so He could use such a disciple.

....of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. Eph. 3:7 We are the dork. He is the Master-worker.

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebr. 4:16 When we have need---and we have it every day for it begins as a blank page---confidence is never ours due to skill evaluation; but always due to the might of the Gloried One.

If not careful we will try to hone one's skills to be kingdom productive. The sharpening to be done is not upon the workman's table of refinement; but is to be found in the laboratory of developing the ingredients of faith, trust, and love.

It is God who does the work. Never me. Never us. Never.

If you want to live on top of the world, empty yourself of personal agenda. Accept the blank page you are. And then hang on! For when one dares to say Grace, grace to it! stunning and remarkable and unexplainable wonder takes place.

Get out of the way and then prepare to rejoice. He will fill the blank page with excitement and overjoy...day after day.

CARDINAL BASEBALL CAMP NEXT WEEK

The eyes grow dimmer and the tendons tighten; but the excitement for baseball camp escalates!

As Whitey Herzog said three years ago in front of the entire morning meeting, Everybody knows Terry is the last guy picked for a team..... Uh, thank you Whitey for informing me in front of the other 99 guys and 20 former players.

Not-to-fret....while I would have thought the two blind men would go after me...I pretty much knew I was near the end of the selection list. At 64, I am always excited that I'm on some team...even if they were forced to take me.

It becomes more of a challenge for the coaches to figure where to hide me. I'm just not very hideable! There is sort of a rule in baseball: no matter how hard a coach tries to hide a guy, the ball will surely find him.

Each year is tougher on the body and, yet, easier to connect with more and more of the guys in the spirit. I love watching God work in a most unlikely place. From security guards, to umpires, medical personnel and trainers, to present day players in camp early, to the eight teams of cronies, we have surely carved an inroad to many hearts.

I still attend for the reason I stated when headed to the very first camp. I believe God will work. He has and He does and He will. Some of His moves are sweet, others are outlandish, and then others are in process.

I don't look forward to the aches and pains; but I really get enthused over watching for God's surprises.

WE GO ONLY BY THE BIBLE

To build a faith based solely upon the Word of God is, in my opinion, as highly noble as a lofty goal can get. A pure conviction based upon His perfect revelation is Truth based upon Truth.

Our tribe, though, is guilty of parroting said convictions without faithful follow-through. In a few places we are guilty of adding to and subtracting from scripture while using scripture to prove why one must not.

I was converted with repeated admonition to go only by the sure Word of God. Soon confusion arose as quite vocal stances were issued of which I assumed to be true. The deliverer surely seems convinced so why should I doubt? He was one of us and certainly a respected leader to boot.

But then respected leaders began to wrangle over "what it said". For a young guy intending on always getting it right, such clamor was a major disruption for my training had been based upon the simplicity of the understandable Word.

This was a positive dilemma as it forced me to develop my own faith. I wished all would approve of my conclusions--tried to work it so--but such was inevitably a dream-world of which even Jesus could not succeed.

What to do? How to think? Where to turn?

Fortunately, Father and many of the church hung (hangs) in there with me while I perpetually sort out what He says in the Bible. The early admonition to go by the Bible continues to be the correct avenue to Truth.

When I would hear boisterous claims or read of passionate directives, I finally had to take the verbatim and ask myself, Where is that sentence in the Bible?

I began to re-investigate what I had been told and what I was holding on to in my heart. Where did the Bible say:

• The Holy Spirit no longer works in a believer?





• Churches cannot have garage sales?





• We give God our best?





• If you step from a curb having neglected to ask for forgiveness of your last sin, you will go to Hell?





• You cannot have two acts of worship going on simultaneously?





• You cannot take up a collection for God's causes on any day except Sunday?





• You cannot bounce on your toes during songs and please God?





• Silence of scripture is authoritative?





• Interpretation of the Word is by direct command, apostolic example, and necessary inference?





• The KJV is the only correct Bible translation?





• A church that has a Mother's Day Out program is liberal?





• You cannot have Christmas trees in the building?





• You should sing Christmas songs in July to show we are different than denominations?





• We are not a denomination?





• There is only one reason for divorce?





• You cannot forgive anyone until they ask for it?





• Women can sing in church but cannot say Amen or speak?





• It is wrong to drink anything alcoholic?





• Videos with instrumental music can be shown in church before the opening prayer or after the closing prayer and we will not have sinned?





• It is wrong to eat in a church building?

These are twenty ideas I soon heard when I became a serious believer. I immediately wanted to do the right things by believing only the right things. We go only by the Bible is still a most noble calling. Our challenge will continually be to honestly note which is a Bible teaching and which is a factual and traditional preference of one or many among us.

OBSESSED WITH JESUS

The patent phrase among us we just go by the Bible is both dishonest and absurd. Our goal is to go by the Bible. We surely have a ways to go.

This gesture is neither demeaning nor discouraging. We have great work to do...John 6:28-29...to believe in the One whom He sent.....Jesus.

There is a healthy bend in the church toward Jesus.

Hasn't such always been the case? Surely not. Our slant has been forcefully and emphatically upon doing church right. Still, in too many communities, the church isn't about Jesus. Rather it is about one-up-man-ship on our religious neighbors; they do--we don't, we do--they don't.

Jesus changes the rules, the playing field, and the goals. Pride goes out, humility enters, and a great awakening of what can be arises as the early morn. Jesus puts life in well-oiled church organization and power in routine works. Without him, we remain a testy and belligerent sort who whittle every other group and congregation down to unanimous disdain.

With him--oh with him--darkness cracks open and light rushes in. We see nothing become something and the dead begin to live. This is to be our obsession; not the preserving of the true church but the aggression of reaching the Truth: Jesus.

As Jesus stated in John 5:39ff, many simply are unwilling to come to him. Thus the annoying claims of going by the Bible continue to chant. Jesus, though, pleads that we are to use scriptures to get to him; not to declare ourselves the correct of religious correctness.

We have work to do. We must shift toward an obsession with Jesus.

THE KINGDOM IS FUN, ALIVE, AND EXTREMELY HARD

Discipline is training to move about in a direction that hasn't been the norm. Discipline insists on adjustment. It often involves redirection. Old habits are hard to break. You can't teach an old dog new tricks seems wiser the older the dog.

To me, the kingdom of God is robust with present experience as well as intended potential. What, other than God's realm, would be more meaningful? He is our purpose.

So don't be discouraged when you discover repeated days of heavy lifting. It was our Brother who could not carry the weight of his own cross for he had been beaten so severely. Severity, whether we want it, is a part of the marriage contract with our Jesus.

We will not run. Instead, we will learn.

We will not complain. Instead, we will praise.

We will not hide. Instead, we will speak up.

We will not fight the system. Instead, we will volunteer to die that others may find life.

God's church is not for sissies. For every comment we could offer as to our personal mistreatment is surely our true testimony of being intimately connected to the Jesus nature.

Whether frustration, tears, or sleepless nights, do not disregard the value of things going wrong where you live. These are the very fiber of an authentic disciple.

In these situations are our tests as to whether, even here, we believe God and His resurrection power.

MAYBE OUR GOAL SHOULD BE FOR GOD TO ENTER IN

I like positive thinking. I like the feeling of accomplishment. I really like to listen to the testimonies of the successful. But I'm not sure setting goals in the church is as major as some would believe. I'll try to explain.

Please understand that I'm not anti-goal. I want to see specifics develop in my family and in the kingdom. I have a firm goal of paying my bills. On the other side, I am also aware of the potential to miss-God-in-our-lives if such an infraction is due to our infatuation with a worldly orientation called "setting goals" where we muscle and mind our own fleshly ways.

God has chosen to let me do several things of which I surely feel blessed....and I didn't plan any of them. I didn't intend to preach anywhere but Quincy, Illinois to the extent I told the Memorial Drive elders in 1977---twice---that there was no way I was moving. But God entered in.

I didn't plan on going to the St. Louis Cardinals' Legends Camp more than once. But God entered in and I head out next week for my twenty-ninth year. I didn't see this coming.

I never gave a thought to hosting a nation-wide weekly television program for three straight years in which hundreds were baptized. I didn't have such a goal; but God entered in.

Since truth is stranger than fiction in places, I had no goal of writing a blog. I accidentally set this one up when all I was trying to do was make a comment on Tim's (my son) blog. I didn't understand how blogville worked and in making that comment to him, I established a living blog site that had two hundred and eleven hits the first day....and there were no words. God entered in...and thus you are reading this post.

The list goes on; but enough. I am not against the setting of goals. We at Memorial have Baptism Sundays and Missions Days, etc. where we intend to reach kingdom marks.

I am, though, not enamoured with the idea of establishing high-pressured goals as if we are on a humanistic sales campaign. It is my conviction via observation that Jesus stands at the door and knocks is not only for a lead into an invitation song. It is God's effort to get us to open to Him that He might enter with His surprise mode of operation for the moment.

It also seems to me that during the very times I was trying to appear active and leader-ish in the church, I was simultaneously missing God opportunities while I was trying to reach up the ladder.

We should have goals. One of our first ones should be to note God in the very center of situations we might label as mundane...or even hopeless.....Romans 4:17-25. You see...even in the tomb of dead Jesus....God entered in.

THE SENSIBLE. THE REASONABLE. AND THEN THERE IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD

We are surely involved in a very fine-line religion....God's kingdom.

Just about the time we think we have things figured out, God will move the yard markers. He warned us to remain flexible like being blown about by varying wind currents...Jn. 3:-3-8.

Whether church shepherd, pulpit minister, or committee chair, we are to be on our toes to avoid imposing humanistic reason onto the church scene. God's ways are not our ways. We quote Him on this....only too often to proceed with "our way" of conducting business.

Just about the time the church has God nailed down, He slips the knots. He is a master at doing business beyond the minds of the one or the many. We can't figure God. We can only believe Him and trust Him.

Considering the scramble God caused that one Sunday morning in the cemetery, we surely can afford to be reminded that God can do anything when He gets ready. Our job is to be ready for His readiness. However, our habit is more inclined to believe God operates under the same umbrella as we....reason.

Fortunately for us....He doesn't.

THE CONTAGION CHURCHES DREAM ABOUT

I have spent many an hour throughout my years trying to land upon that magic and God-oriented move that would set a congregation on course for authentic Life.

The Matthew 28 text known as the Great Commission has not done it. Yes, I am all for evangelism. Outreach is my heart. However, for too many decades the bulk of the church membership has given this proof text more lip service than foot action.

I wouldn't want to be held too literal on this next statement, but I will say, I have found the Greater Commission is found in Mark 5:19. I say Greater because this passage bears two fruit; powerful evangelism and church contagion.

Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.

The avenue for a congregation to be contagiously evangelistic is not found in the organization of our twenty-five top verses. It is found in the testimonials of those who experience God.

The more we conversationally share of God's personal handiwork the greater awareness of His walk with us begins to be acknowledged. Members begin to tell clusters of friends about their God-stories. Excitement follows. And, God does seem to inhabit such praises while He gives us even more to praise Him about.

The contagion churches dream about resides in the many hearts of the moment which are fearful to share. Encourage His people to tell of His excellent greatness which it actually residing in front of our eyes everywhere we turn.

If you want to motivate your church to reach out, before you remind them of Mt. 28-18-20, maybe it would be to the kingdom's advantage to rehearse aloud exactly what it is we see God doing among us. This will build an automatic contagion....for the good.

FOR PREACHERS ONLY: WHEN TO LEAVE

One thing I discuss with myself every anniversary of July 15 is whether I still have the drive to remain at my dear church that meets at 747 S. Memorial. I adore this people. Their endurance of me is to be recognized as a faith testimonial that there are yet a people who believe God can override the man in the pulpit...and love the little guy anyway.

I've never been tempted to exit due to difficulty. I am highly self-conscious, to the extent I seek guidance from my elders, as to whether my time is up. Each day I am here is one day closer to my departure.

My friend, Wade Hodges, www.wadehodges.com , now has a second book published.

When to Leave (How to Know It's Time to Move On...Because You've Stayed Way Too Long) is a call to all in such positions to weigh two of our tougher and conflicting questions: Should I stay? Or, Should I go?

Wade discusses openly the arguments that seem to await upon our pillows about 10:00 pm. We surely hit these walls.

I'm in a rather unusual position on this topic as I have been at Memorial Drive for 34+ years. It hasn't been easy. Yet, it is still thrilling. Hundreds have left because I wouldn't. I believe I have single-handedly caused more attendance growth for area Churches of Christ than any other minister in Tulsa. This saddens me; but I must grow up and grow on.

Honestly, there are those who would not walk across the street to hear me preach...and I don't blame them. If I were still the yeller and shouter I once was as a preacher, I wouldn't go to hear me either.

From When to Leave, Wade issues humorous declarations shuffled alongside sobering ponderizations.

• "There is always an easy solution to every problem---neat, plausible, and wrong." H. L. Mencken



• When you leave too soon, especially amidst difficult circumstances, you miss the opportunity to learn lessons that only hardship, resistance, and disappointment can teach.



• Why do so many great professional athletes play one season too many and retire only after it's become painfully obvious that they no longer belong on the court or field anymore?



• His followers didn't want him to go. They had just gotten him back from the dead. They wanted to cling to him, to hold on and enjoy the new reality of the resurrection with him. He left anyway.



• So at some point you have to ask: Am I actually doing a disservice to the church by staying? Am I hindering people from developing a faith of their own?



• If you sense you're losing your ability to dream, and if you can no longer summon the necessary energy to take bold and risky action that could lead to something wonderful, then you may have stayed too long.



• You started going along to get along.



• "The only thing holding some churches together is lack of communication." Randy Harris

One thing about Wade Hodges that has remained true from the get-go; regardless of personal injury and pain, he never quits imagining what God might do to guide us to our best. I like that about my friend.

ARE YOU IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL?

The church isn't a social club where one compares success stories of church work. Neither is it a place where one brandishes his or her endowed gifts for God as trophies to be admired. Yes, the church is surely social as well as a display case for God's accomplishments. But more, the church is the testimonial of a people not willing to give up on God when under fire.

Oh how I love to learn and share the God-stories. The more we tell of them it seems the more of them He gives us for yet additional testimonies. Keep it going.

It must occur to us at some level of Christian commitment that God's true kingdom is riddled with crosses of weakness, insecurity, inadequacy, imprisonment, confusion, and even death. These aren't rare innuendo; they are reality for the believer.

If you are in this for the long haul, surely you realize disappointment and disturbance reign. From Moses' burning bush to Joseph's pit to Gideon's army reduction to Jesus on trial to the early church scattering....the kingdom is all about things not going right and God's ultimate delivering of absolute and definable victory.

Try to refuse a life of seeing that all goes well. It will; but only after the stage is clearly set so disparagingly that if God doesn't come through....come through doesn't come.

PREACH THE WORD

I love preaching. It is rewarding, exhilarating, and terrifying....all in the same moment. I love it because I love God and I love seeing people hold on to hope. The Word is ever transforming in nature.

When I began preaching full-time I would try to think of a good story or illustration and build a sermon around it/them with linking passages. Today is different. I love to find a main text and two or three supportive ones. After that, I then look for a way to illustrate their meaning.

Do not lose confidence nor focus of the Bible. Life resides within such texts. Read them once or repeat them over the years and the truths of God continue to ignite Life in us.

Preach the simplicity of the Word. Preach the Jesus of the Word.

Watch him. Notice his eyes, his touch, his vulnerability as he passes a street corner or a tree along the route. Hear his tone as he heals the one or the seven. Watch him turn his back on the throngs for an escape route to the shore.

Watch Jesus in the Word.

Relax.

Let the Word teach you and then relay it. After all of these years I still find my preparation, as well as my delivery, in need. But I never find the Word of God anything but current and lively.

Our people are deserving of perfect hope. We best not dilute His message of firm hope with our distractive education nor our unfocused indifference. The world is always brighter when God's children are aglow with the glory of the message preached from the Word of God.

Old hat? Nope. New life...Sunday after Sunday!

THE SCORECARD OR THE GARDEN

John Mark Hicks' recent commentary on Denver Broncos' quarterback, Tim Tebow, is a good one. Tebow's Christian faith is the strong pro and con chatter of the sports talk shows. He is good.

Verifiably, faith has within itself an embedded nature that arouses protest from unbelievers of every corner. I am becoming even more convinced that the sweet nature of Jesus is so right based on how prohibited it is throughout the human system. The flesh just can't take it.

(Ooops...I've got a meeting at 7:00. I'll be back to finish this in a bit.)

So an hour and a half later I return from a meeting to pick up. Now where was I?

We are not to be scorecard Christians to the extent we determine how the kingdom is doing according to our victories---or the number of responses at the invitation song, the attendance at Ladies Class, or the number of baptisms for the year.

We are not called to a scorecard faith. Rather, we are to live in the garden where fruit is born.

We are to find the Holy Spirit fruit in our orchard. Oddly, the fruit is the answer or the solution to a persecuted, loser-feeling, individual who must find help in time of need. Don't you get it?

Anyone (including those who do not believe in God) can show signs of any of the fruit listed in Galatians 5 as long as everything is going in their favor; yet no one can display it under severe pressure. It must come from the Spirit for the flesh just can't be kind and patient in unfair and inflammatory failure. Without the Spirit we can't pull it off.

We must do what we can to refrain from a scorecard walk. Love does not keep records. Our move is to be one of availability to the Holy Spirit sort of fruit. Thus, our confidence is in Him although we are inadequate in the flesh...II Cor. 3:4-5.

FIND SOMEONE....

...who might be on the outer edge of your circle today who might be sorta looking in.

Call to them.

Assure them they are important, meaningful, and loved.

And when you walk away....

....remind yourself that such is just like what Jesus would have done.

WHAT THINKETH YE?

I am forming a Think Tank of committee members to help me with a new project. Those members are (YOU) readers of this blog. Do you accept?

Good.

I want to put something into print to hand to our food pantry clients which would awaken them to their value. In the process, to draw them into Jesus would be the ultimate goal.

Our food pantry is a wonderful and meaningful kingdom mechanism at the moment. These friends not only receive much-needed bags of groceries. They also find friends from this flock who sit with them, listen to them, and pray with them. One lady recently sobbed under suffocating duress, I'm not a crier, but this is the one place in my life I can come and cry and know it is alright.

It seems to me that while we are thinking of ways to reach out into the community, this is one place where the community is coming to us. I'm sure similar circumstances dress the stage where you live and serve.

So I want to write a page, a booklet, or a book--something ultra simple and yet professional--which would give these valuable friends a boost to the next level of encountering God. Over dinner last night, while explaining this concept to Mary and our friends David and Lisa, Lisa discussed great stresses of the past and said that you reach a point when you want to say, Just tell me that you love me!

Ah Lisa, I want to call this writing we are discussing Just Tell Me That You Love Me!

Would you think with me? Your comments matter. Some might open a door that you didn't have in mind, but would cause me to realize even another concept. All thoughts are valued.

My feeling is the same for these as for celebs; each possesses pockets of insecurity where they feels themselves to be failures, lonely, useless, and very unimportant. I want to put together a message which would reverse this thinking due to the magnetic love of Jesus.

Ideas? What thinketh ye?

SIMPLE WAYS TO REACH OUT

Not everyone has a their own bubble gum card. But everyone can make up something creative.

I intentionally include statements about me that are cutting. Weakness opens doors here and there!

When I hand this card out, some are intrigued and others are ho-hum. But when they read the back; all laugh and I'm in the door.

What are simple ways we can reach out? I share some of my tools for caring.

1. Create a business card they will remember.




2. At the bank today I invited the teller to our church with the reminder that the first three visits are free. Some laugh, but one of more recent visitors has been the lady from the loan office that I mentioned such to her at our house closing.




3. Pray. Pray for people when you see no sign of them having any attraction to God or the church. Pray...thanking Him for reaching to hearts.




4. Believe. Believe that every person you come into contact with is filled with loneliness and/or self-doubt in pockets of their spirit life; especially those who try to hide it the most.




5. Relax. Move through life robust for the day. Enjoy God, His creation, and His community.

These surely aren't the most professional; but then we are simply ordinary people reaching to everyone of whom He would think. What a life we have. We are walking invitations. Believe it...there are so many who wish to be invited!

SING. SING. SING. SING.

Jesus died on the cross. He has finished the work. He absorbed our sins. It is over and done. His resurrection is our hope...completed.

Yet, while Jesus has finished the work, faith leads us step by step. Faith is ever ongoing due to or in the finished accomplishment of Jesus' saving grace.

....the unity of salvation is a single piece, and yet a flowing stream. I became a Christian once for all upon the basis of the finished work of Christ through faith; that is justification. The Christian life, sanctification, operates on the same basis, but moment by moment. The whole unity of biblical teaching stands solid at this place. If we try to live the Christian life in our own strength we will have sorrow, but if we live in this way, we will not only serve the Lord, but in place of sorrow, he will be our song. That is the difference. The "how" of the Christian life is the power of the crucified and risen Lord, through the agency of the indwelling Holy Spirit by faith moment by moment (Francis Schaeffer).

...but in the place of sorrow, he will be our song is the verification of the one-time conversion. Who is singing in the center of sorrow? Only the faith-full.

Stress happens to all. Grief is unbiased. The singers of the Jesus song are the believers who get it. Salvation is a done deal. To partake of it at the moment of disruption is surely a sweet aroma to all.

Sing His praises!

THE OLDER WE GET THE YOUNGER WE ARE

When I was a wise 16 year old I began to ponder just how old would be old. I concluded 23. When I reached 23 I upped the call to 30. As 30 loomed, I then I felt mature enough to raise the ceiling to 35. Today? Old is always ten years out.

One of God’s verifications is found in the simplicity of this age thing that goes on within each of us. In my mind, I don’t feel as old as I am and then Could anyone help me out of this chair is a norm for the coffee shop.

In my spirit I can see the ground ball coming. Yet, my feet say Huh? Well, feet, you were a smidge late for that one.

As the pitcher releases the ball toward the plate, my spirit announces it is high time to swing. However, my hands and arms plead for a bit more time only for my low-grade ears to hear the ball smack the catcher’s mitt.

The spirit and the flesh argue over age. My mind feels like I’m fifteen years younger and my body reports me to be ten years older. I have a 25 year war going on in here!

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day (II Cor. 4:16). As I aged it became noticeably more difficult for me to throw from third to first. Today? Well, it is a bit more challenging to see from third to first.

Aging? No. Renewed in the inner man. Newer today than ever! God said.

My friend if you insist that today should feel old to you….give it ten years.

INTERCHANGEABLE WORDS

Blessed and thankful seem to be interchangeable. I can't verify that such is always the case. In many instances it is.

The accounts of feeding the 5000 and then the 4000 portray Jesus as taking the bread and blessing it when in the other he offers thanks for it. Thankfulness is the kingdom match which sets the forest of miracles on fire.

Ann Voskamp wrote of the significance of gratitude in her world. The real problem of life is never a lack of time. The real problem of life---in my life---is lack of thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving creates abundance; and the miracle of multiplying happens when I give thanks--take the just one loaf, say it is enough, and give thanks---and He miraculously makes it more than enough.

We are a one and two loaf people. We always will be as long as we live from stingy or even hoarding hearts. But when we let go of the loaf in our hands, the indescribable wonder begins to unfold.

Offer blessings and thanksgivings for whatever you have. The work of God then has its chance to show its stuff.

BELIEVE AND DREAM PAST THE VISIBLE

Faith sees what isn't.....yet. Romans 4:17 and Ephesians 1:18 are two of my favorite verses to nudge believers to live with their heart eyes wide opened.

So, what do seeing (into the invisibles) eyes do? Being rather small in kingdom dimension, surely I would know only a speck of Truth. Yet, what I do know makes for a good life experience.

Faith eyes see potential when flesh eyes are clueless. Faith eyes believe in people and circumstances when head eyes didn't note a possibility.

For me, I sow seed. I plant crops all over the world and all over the centuries. I have farms coming up that will not be around until I have passed for I pray for some not yet born to have major impact for God.

I sow seed by prayer. Bill Mauer will most likely be clueless when he becomes a believer that I even exist. But I've been there fighting for him in prayer.

I sow seed by phone calls, notes, and simple interaction. Last week I emailed a present-day major leaguer whom I have not had contact with for about two years. My message was that, whenever his young family hits a crisis or trauma, he is welcome to seek my team for prayers for his family. His positive response came immediately.

The church is dull when it operates only in reaction. When the flesh eyes can't see past the seeable, kingdom potential is short-sheeted.

I say that we should do what we can to praise, glorify, and thank God for things to come which have yet to give us any indication such is even possible. In other words....believe and dream past the visible.

SLIPPERY SLOPES

I ran into an old friend recently. I hadn't seen him in years. He once liked my preaching back in the good ol' days. Not so much anymore.

This caused reflection on something I learned a ways back; why I preached what I did and why I preach the way I do. I cannot speak for all preachers; only for myself.

Upon conversion I was immediately exposed to a severely critical brotherhood. According to the church chatter, few preachers and elders and congregations were doing church correctly; very few. With great eagerness, I did not want to be one of "them" who were surely sliding headlong down that brotherhood coastline known as the Slippery Slope.

My primary preaching goal was the Word with heavy slant toward brotherhood approval. Oddly, one way to gain such was to be loud in the pulpit, unbending, naming names, and taking prisoners. The base of many of those I was around at that time took these signals to be sound in the faith.

While my approach was later to be found out as Jesus-less, I stood against liberalism in the toughest of situations! I felt I was due great honor for not caving.

Then a very strange thing happened. This loud, self-proclaimer met Jesus. It wasn't a pretty sight for my preaching style was found to be more beat 'em over the head than Jesus sacrificing. My fire remains; but the noise has been curbed somewhat. The drive to win souls is stronger than before; but to the mean-spirited I appear to have lost my zeal on that fore-warned slippery slope.

Jesus doesn't cool us off, my friends. He redirects our muscle tone. He strengthens us with his Spirit rather than our own ingenuity. Jesus leads us to bear fruit rather than shout at the orchards. He takes us to the finish line rather than bellowing loud claims from the non-participating stands.

We are in the war to be loved by God. We are in the war for people. The war is intense. I had to move from loud barking at cars passing by to joining the ranks of many others on that infamous slippery slope. Middle-of-the-road, as I was informed by one famous brother that I needed to walk, may indeed be safer. But I know nothing more anemic nor unlike Jesus.

We are called to place our all upon his shoulders. Whether in the ditch or on our cross, may God bless us as we no longer serve with screaming pulpitudes; but with tender mercies of faith in His ability. Some will label this as Slippery Slope. I choose to call it Dependence Day on God.

My preaching? Oh, it gets weaker. My hope is the Spirit of Christ comes through....that which is regarded as the slipperiest of all slopes.

ARE YOU THE COLLECTION PLATE PEOPLE OR THE COMMUNION PEOPLE?

I'm still a novice at being a Christian. My conversion takes place nearly every day. I'm both new and in kindergarten. So when God works with me all I can do is to say He told me or He caused me to think about certain aspects of His work/my ministry that I did not receive from flesh and blood.

Due to this I have learned to wait with great confidence for Him to supply parts to the sermon each week. He does so throughout; yet I have practiced noticing last minute details that show up as perfect fits.

This morning I was showering and He gave me this thought: My people are one of two categories. They are either needy takers (like in collections plates) passing themselves around specifically to be noticed and stroked or they are selfless givers like communion (fruit crushed or bread broken) which blesses others by their attentive ways.

The former have lines of worrisome foreheads and seldom are willing to get happy while the latter are those who hand out happiness with twelve baskets left over--and in turn--are a very delightful sort.

Not so strangely, both groups have equal burdens. It is the style of the crushed and broken (communion) who choose to be thankful in the midst of difficulty (sharing with others how they are blessed by their brokenness) that lets in the Light from above so that one may pursue His mighty riches beyond imagination.

The hope that excites me is I lived too long in the church as a Collection Plate person. How many times was it said to me, It isn't about you!? My misery was transformed when I learned by watching Jesus give hope to any nearby all-the-while being persecuted and facing a torturous cross.

I am sympathetic to the Collection Plate person. For their misery runs deep. The help and hope is to learn to transform the very things which crush them into useful tools in which to pay attention to others who hurt.

Life is miserably lonely for a Collection Plate person who arrives on the scene to spill their story (again) so that needy words of sympathy might return. Life is brand spanking new for those who convert to glorying in their crushing hardships by noticing the pain in others...for joy returns rapidly.

A Collection Plate person or a Communion person? Which will it be? We decide.

THE MARVEL OF FAITH IN GOD

So many opportunities brush past me for complete failure. The older I get the more instruction I receive from conscience of my pale feebility. I am worthy of nothing but stones....truly.

This, then, leads me to pause at the marvel of God. Give God your best, I am now convinced, was an Ishmael-like fleshly stab at serving God in strength during years gone by. While the phrase has a noble ring, it has a strong odor of self-assertion and self-accomplishment.

Just like Abraham taking charge via Hagar or Moses declining in reluctance God's first offers at freeing Israel, we tend to gauge opportunity upon our assessed contributional possibilities. And in step with Abraham being in grandfatherly years and Moses debating in resistance, we are at our best when we can't.

When I was first converted at age 23, one of the first sermons I heard was that we must bury our "can'ts". Today I think we need them to press us as God did both of these historical ambassadors to convince us through our failures that God is indeed both able and willing.

The marvel of faith in God is that He can do things with losers. Not all of God's stories reflected the brave Esther or the virgin Mary. He posed powerful potential in stammering, stuttering, idiotic followers who didn't know up from down in the true way of kingdom operations.

At this stage in my life, I am no different. And....neither is God. He is still doing His stuff through the scrambled messes of those like you and me. Faith in God....it is still very marvelous, don't you think?

DISCIPLESHIP: THE COST AND AFFECT

Discipleship is a serious matter. I am convinced I'm nowhere near such an expectation. I'm not depressed; but I also am surely not parading my most amazing faith for I sorely lack.

I am curious about the need for discipleship among us. Some have lived through the Crossroads and Boston Movement eras. Each seemed exciting at first; but then legalism soon arose as demanding standards (which did not come from scripture) were enacted. From my perspective, therefore, we have taken stabs at sober discipleship only to find glaring missteps and misapplications.

Would I be off-base, though, to say that we mainline churches don't do discipleship as much as we do active volunteerism?

If this is true---and I don't feel I am far off---might we evaluate such a pattern?

Volunteerism is great muscle to our sacrificial body. Service and servants mobilize as ant farms; duty, responsibility, interaction. A negative to this procedure is the sheer lack of allowable correction; we as individuals are not approachable when we don't come through at the best level.

Volunteerism has overtly developed a "hands-off" or else I'll move to another group that will appreciate my efforts. This approach leaves us with either giftedness or not; but little training will be permitted for, after all, I'm serving the best I can. Not.

I think of my Preaching School days where one would deliver his sermon in Homiletics and while the remainder of the class checked those traits well-done and not so well-done. And then....both orders would be verbalized to the deliverer in front of the class; You mumbled, your voice is too high, your lifestyle doesn't back what you just said, etc.

Not only am I not an expert in discipleship, I'm barely a novice. My critique is to be taken with such consideration. I do believe that our volunteeristic processes allow immaturity to remain at immaturity for we have groomed our people to be touchy as well as indifferent to self-improvement in the spirituals.

HAVE A NON-AGONIZATIONAL DAY!

I am a well-trained and professional worrier. I began such a career when I was about six months old. I know how to fret with style. Harmonious agonization is where I live anxiously over four things at once.

My head swam at Troublesome Time Lake and Overly Concerned River. I would head out right after school for these shores. Later I learned to try to get there an hour before my workday started. One cannot afford to be negligent to a healthy set of fears.

For me, worry and fret were a control mechanism. My frustration was that I wanted to be in control of people and circumstances and I was rarely either.

And then God moved in.

He told me to let things go. Psalm 46:10 Be still and know I am God. Be still can also be translated Let go. Repeatedly the Word reflects, DO NOT WORRY!

So my concern is that if I do not worry and if I curb my frets and if I let go, how will everything work out? Ah.....God knows....really.

When I'm misunderstood or I misunderstand, sometimes the only thing I know to do is to let it go. God will iron these wrinkled sheets. I can't. I don't understand the problem of me or of them. God clearly does.

To let go of dis-ease and nervous apprehension is like being handed a new life. Another Ah!

God runs the show. I don't. God can make lemonade out of lemons and if He should wish He could also make lemonade out of bananas. He can do it all.

This All-Doer clearly instructs us to let it go. But we then feel irresponsible. True irresponsibility is to fail to trust Him. Life for me is so new because I have climbed so many mountains only to find them to be mole-hills in perspective.

Have a non-agonizational day!

SO WHAT WOULD BE WORSHIP BEYOND 11:00 TO NOON ON SUNDAYS?

I was many years into ministry before I became a worshipper; even during the Sunday morning hour. My early days of preaching were about how good or poorly I did....maybe not to others; but to me. They were about how we performed as to whether the morning assembly went well.

There was little concentration on my part regarding God. It was more about how we lined up.

With the help of spiritual leaders over decades, I began to realize I wasn't praising God. I was more about earning credits, and points, and praise. Eventually, a heart-felt communication toward Him grew. After awhile, this worship moved beyond the auditorium walls.

I pause to speak of our worship as to whether we truly are. And...only the heart of the worshipper knows. I knew when I wasn't...and when I was.

But how? What does worship mean. How will it look?

Giving God praise and glory is worship. Using our lips, not only in song, to speak of how amazing God is should be one's goal. To discuss God's awe verifies that He fills our hearts for from the abundance of such one speaks.

To worship Him is to pray, to praise, to bless, to vocalize, to dream, to ponder, to notice everything in thanksgiving; a bird in flight, a wrapper blowing across a street, an infant's sigh, or the scent of good cologne. When we live thankfully, we speak thankfully, and when we speak thankfully of and to Father, we worship Him....because we simply worship Him.

Finally, to truly worship God would begin by simply having Him on our minds and hearts as routinely are our days.

TWO ITEMS THE CHURCH HAS YET TO RESTORE

Would it be all right with you if I point out something about us that remains in great need? If I do, would you understand how much I love being us? Would you understand without us I would have been lost? Do you get it that 34+ years in one congregation does not reflect impatience with us or with myself?

Good. We simply have much work to do.

Would you mind, therefore, if I point out a couple of places that need major work if we are going to claim to be the church Jesus is building?

First, there is a great chasm from where we are and where we should be regarding the absolute adoration and worship of God. Emphasis has been on attendance, protocol, and silence of scripture. It has not and still is not---I speak in general terms of the conglomerate Churches of Christ---the urgency upon the lips of us to give glory to our God unless it somehow shows up in the words of a song.

We are surely more prone to speak of a sports team, a world catastrophe, or our grandchildren over offering loving praise of Father in the midst of any casual gathering. In general, we are praisers of God from 11:00 to noon on Sunday.

Second and in general, we are still shy in our own communities. While we do make intentional effort to contribute to a drive or fund-raiser, the majority of our people are afraid to carry on a meaningful conversation with a stranger needing the attention of Father. True, we have worked on greeting others, but our willingness to truly meet those we don't know seemingly will not budge.

If we are to be like Jesus, surely one of those strong traits is the interaction with strangers regarding kingdom matters. Small talk is our agenda, but not Jesus'. He would start with the small talk of course, give me a drink of water. Yet, his thought was always of drawing strangers toward the kingdom of God.

I know the enormous fear of loving others by carrying on interactive communication with those not yet my friends. I wasn't just afraid; I could not do it. Yet, I had to learn. The church has not felt the need to have to learn. Our volunteerism has excused us from restoring the church to the outreach/neighborly connection Jesus walked.

In essence, the Church of Christ has failed in the two most pronounced doctrinal matters to the heart of Father: (1) love God, and (2) love your neighbor as yourself.

I speak not disparagingly nor hopelessly. I speak to any, though, who yet pride themselves in being a part of the true church now completely restored. We aren't yet.

SHE DIDN'T KNOW

Mary and I are in Atlanta. Wendy's live here. Dusty's live here. Tim's are in from Guadalajara. I've overdosed on grand kids mugging me with requests to be tickled and given zerbert kisses where Crappaw starts to kiss their cheeks only to blow loud LOUD noises onto their faces.

Atlanta is the place where two years ago I came to officiate my cousin's funeral. She died at 61 of cancer. She left behind a sweet husband, son, and daughter.

The daughter, Cara, has chosen to stay in touch. She is my cousin Jr. I love her, though I rarely ever saw her. Yet, we connected in heart at her momma's funeral.

Since that occasion, Cara has been drawn to God. He was not in her home in her first 30 years. But year 31? Well, that's a terrific story.

Cara has been found by God. She speaks wide-eyed of being found by God. She meets in small groups in churches led by Andy Stanley and Louie Gigglio....and is crazy about it!

As we visited at a gathering on Christmas night I could not help but absorb her fascination regarding the Christmas story of Jesus' birth. In her words with wide-eyed expression, I never knew that!

Oh, I know her feeling and those of you who were also converted later in life know the dynamic. You just can't take in what others have known for so long. And....the wow never leaves!

She didn't know! Imagine the others in your workforce or neighborhood...or even relatives...who would love the opportunity to GET TO KNOW!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Dear You,

Thank you.

Thank you for never giving up on the rest of us. I'm sure you have had moments when you could justify tossing in the towel...but you didn't.

Thank you for believing in us. Sure we mess up. Certainly we wish we had come through with better style...but you never let your disappointment show.

Thank you for being a worshipper toward God. Because of your faith in Him, we benefit from His presence in you. Your faith is showing.

Merry Christmas to one, you, who gains momentum from Christmas to Christmas. The church is blessed because you seem to know the One born in a manger so we could be born over down the road.

Merry Christmas.......you!

GENEROSITY ABOUNDS

'Tis the season for sure.

Sacrifice and devotion to those in need are quite abundant. Memorial's stage will be piled high in the morning with coats, gloves, socks, and scarves. It will be a cluttered wonder coupled with imagination for the brightness flashing across the faces of the homeless recipients tomorrow afternoon....Christmas Day.

Yesterday--here in Atlanta--my two boys and I went over to Dusty's church to pack bags of groceries, toiletries, and toys for homeless families who live in a nearby improvised hotel. These goods were donated by about three varying brands of churches; plus a couple of civic organizations.

Wouldn't it be something if this were to go year round? I thought to myself.

And then myself answered back, It does!

Where Jesus lives, generosity abounds because every day 'tis the season.

GENEROSITY ABOUNDS

'Tis the season for sure.

Sacrifice and devotion to those in need quite abundant. Memorial's stage will be piled high in the morning with coats, gloves, socks, and scarves. It will be a cluttered wonder coupled with imagination for the brightness flashing across the faces of the homeless recipients tomorrow afternoon....Christmas Day.

Yesterday--here in Atlanta--my two boys and I went over to Dusty's church to pack bags of groceries, toiletries, and toys for homeless families who live in a nearby improvised hotel. These goods were donated by about three varying brands of churches; plus a couple of civic organizations.

Wouldn't it be something if this were to go year round? I thought to myself.

And then myself answered back, It does!

Where Jesus lives, generosity abounds because every day 'tis the season.

A SEASON OF CELEBRATION...AND OF SORROW

Christmas is a lavish and child-heart time for every age. I love it!

Some, though, hurt deeply because it is supposed to be a time of celebration....but sometimes it just isn't.

I stood yesterday before an eleven year old boy and his relatives to deliver thoughts at the memorial for his father. This little boy has a strained mixture of emotions as much of the city hustles right past him with malls of fun in mind.

Pain and sadness is rough at any point in any year. My heart goes out to those of you who have buried within a tragedy or a loss in the center of a special time where the communities find wonderful excuse to celebrate.

We invite you into our celebrations....but first know we are aware of how badly your sadness burns within your heart.

You are loved.

ENTERED GOD....AGAIN?

We tend to look for God somewhere within our two-day church platform of Sundays and Wednesdays (you know, those official times the church is the true church?).

So, I am still learning the ropes of the God-work among us. It doesn't necessarily come with a 13 week plan nor an embroidered Church of Christ across the waitress' apron. God uses gospel preachers, gentle courteous waitresses, and all sorts to get His theme across.

We say, Thank you, God, for being so much so vastly so often.

So this morning at 7:08 I spotted our homeless--our recently baptized--toothless Charles embarking on the same day as me. He was entering our shared corner cafe where he enters nearly every morning with purpose. He is important and he is on a mission.

What would homeless Charles find of self-importance at our cafe? Oh, he noticed my suit and tie garb. I informed him I was doing a funeral when he inquired. Immediately he moved to the back to inform the waitress; Terry has a funeral today.

She didn't know and she would not have known had it not been for Charles passing along such pertinent info which for a brief moment was known only by him.

Homeless Charles is to be found checking the cafe's thermostat with a vision of importance to any customer who might note his deliberate slumping to view the numbers through his bifocals. And then he makes his way to our space afterwards to patrol (self-assigned) the entry and halls for the operation of our Food Pantry.

I watched him again today. Isn't that just like Jesus to come to earth in one more form; that of a tall and lanky man wearing a twelve inch brace around his middle for heavy lifting....and then there's that huge gummy smile wider than his entire face?

Yes, I saw Jesus today in his unofficial, non-VBS form, officially standing in as a simple man who desires nothing more than to find someplace on this earth where someone(s) would call him important.

And the church does! The waitress does! Hopefully some scattered along his lonely path do...for he is!

And, yes, it must be mentioned that due to the grace of Father, Charles is no longer officially homeless as he moved into a very small and very humble abode just a few days ago...sort of like a modern day manger.

Entered God....again?

WHAT WOULD CHRISTMAS SAY IF IT DOESN'T SAY THIS?

I love Christmas!

I thrive in it every day!

I'm not kidding!

Every day is like Christmas to me because of who I know and Who I know. My world has been rocked...for the good!

If Christmas says anything, to me, it says personally. Personal is a very much needed commodity in our culture. ATMs and drive -through windows and online shopping (as well as paying) continue to separate people from people.

God felt the twinge first and sent His son that He might be Personal. No, He didn't shout out commands from heaven's balcony. No, He didn't send out a mass mailing. What He did was brilliant.

God suited up as man! That, my friend, is very Personal.

We enter school to earn credits and we leave school to earn a living. All can be exciting and dramatic unless such a process weans the heart from personally being an interactive person.

Christmas is God's card that says, I just want to remind you to be sure to live personally. What would Christmas say if it doesn't say this?

IN TOTAL AWE OF WHERE I GET TO WORK

My head spins at the over-joy of getting to work where I do.

The Memorial Drive church isn't the only church in the town or state or world. But it is surely one of the sweetest kingdom spots and I cherish the thought of getting to be a part of it.

Saturday we had our first "Christmas Store" where we bought gifts for children and allowed parents to purchase items at a highly discounted price. Sheila Cheatham and David Combs orchestrated a stunningly amazing two hours of shopping at "Memorial's Macys"!

Several families from the community are going to have much better Christmases because this congregation captured another opportunity to bless our neighbors. About 60 of our people worked the store. It looked like a little ant farm of delightful activity. Everyone loved it!

And then early Sunday morning one of our homeless visitors over the past two months began at 5:00 a.m. and walked maybe 5 or 6 miles to get here. One of our elders found Chris curled up at the door when he came to pray with us at 7:30. So....he unlocked the doors so Chris could get in...and he even joined us to pray.

And then.....this same one responded at the invitation song and said he wanted to get to Branson, where his family lives, for Christmas; but he didn't have a way. A young couple who was visiting met him afterward and drove him from Tulsa to Branson! Another man---also a visitor---handed me money for him to travel. I have no idea how many of our own members helped with a few dollars as well.

Another of our homeless now has a home! He is sitting in our office as I write. He has a humble little apartment and David Combs will help him go to our neighboring friends at the Park Plaza Church of Christ who have a furniture ministry to get him some good stuff!

My job is to tell God how very much I live in awe and over-joy of His handiwork. It is still going on you know!

BEYOND OUR MINDS

God is breathtaking!

His unfathomable ways are available for all to approach fathomability...only to prove Him right...He remains both unchartable and immeasurable.

So it is with any who determine to believe God. We shall never reach the dead end of imaginational potential.

Thus, I call you to remembrance of the God-work rather than the brotherhood march. I mean do not set your sights on what anyone has accomplished as the epitome of "getting it done". Because of God, newness is always in the wings.

Throughout I have prayed God would show me things and let me do things no one would consider. I will continue to love and respect many great works among us, but I don't want to miss the ones for me by mimicking the good labors of others.

I urge you to do similarly. Just as current civilization is obviously capable of coming up with new inventions, surely Father is more so.

Dream what can be done in evangelism, in giving, in worship, in relationships, in business, in homes, in missions, etc. that has yet to be discovered by our best minds or our bravest souls.

Do not let what has been deter you from praying for His arm to show you what is and can be. Be appreciative for all blessings of all believers. Simultaneously, remain prayerful about the new style and territory which He and you might robustly partner.

May Father's glory wow the multitudes through the few things He dares to let you see.

DOES GOD SPEAK DIRECTLY TO US TODAY?

There is strong need to open ourselves to inter-communication; God and us. Our errant doctrine of the past has left us out of touch with Father....literally. If you want to know why so many of ours spend ultra-little time in prayer, I'm addressing it.

One-sided, non-responsiveness-from-God conversation via prayer seems to lift no higher than our man-made ceilings. Prayer that is not interactively mutual in relationship (Him/us) ultimately starves the soul. A non-responsive and mute God implies a deaf one that leaves us with little hope except by chance there might be something behind door #3.

While this sets me up for criticism, I still share that God is a God of interaction with His people. I am novice at this for my inner battle over defying what I was groomed to believe has been no minor skirmish.

God speaks to me.

How does He do it, Terry?

It isn't an audible voice of Turn left at the light which the critics would like to believe I propose. All I can say is it is an awareness of Him giving me thoughts. This is very immature in explanation; yet it is the only point I can make thus far.

God says that if we want wisdom we should pray for it. How shall we receive that prayer's response? God said in the same book that it would be sent in from heaven.

Too, God said we are to practice training our senses to discern good from evil. Training our senses from discernment evidently requires more than reading English words from a text. Note: such wisdom might actually be found in a text; but is not restricted to such a location.

For the Word-only group, if every answer is to be found in the Bible:

1. How would a prayer of guidance whether to become a pharmacist or a doctor be conveyed from God?


2. Why would we be told to practice discernment? Shouldn't it say just to read the scriptures?

Is there additional information God wishes us to have which is not included in the Word of God? Yes, the Word of God says so....James 1:5 and 3:13-18.

To dismiss potential dialog with God is to short-sheet experiential lives in walking with Him. The old stand-by And....He walks with me and He talks with me....is evidently a hoax if that song isn't to be experienced.

So let's get more specific. Terry, what has He shared with you recently that the Bible didn't already say? What God told me in the past few weeks are things about the Bible that I did not get from flesh and blood. They were thoughts that just fell out of the air...as if from above:

1. That Peter walking on water was a message from God to tell us to use as sidewalks any disturbance which would normally pull us under.


2. That thankfulness is a doctrine of greater significance and expectation by God than we have let on; that it is key to causing imprisoning and suffocating barriers to fall.


3. That I needed to write a well-known personality of something God wanted me to pray over him.

An admitted problem with my overall proposal is that anyone can make up anything one wishes and claim God told them. Of course, I get that. Of course, that is a proper concern.

Yet, our calling is not to avoid an experiential walk with God because some might abuse it. That is merely falling for Satan's sham. He constantly dupes us. We must do according to the Bible; train our senses by practice; plus seek wisdom by anticipating that such will come from above.

DO YOU HAVE A PERSPECTIVE?

Rather than send you exhortation on this very nice day, I seek your insight.

We at Memorial Drive are investigating the possibilities of Zondervan's The Story by Max Lucado and Randy Frazee. This is an intense thirty-one week focus upon the message of the Bible for all age categories and for all ministries.

If you have experienced this project or know of some who have, would you share with me/us what worked (and didn't work) and what you would do differently if you had it to do over?

If you have a perspective, I would like to be advantaged by your insight.

What thinketh ye?

IDEA FOR A CHRISTMAS GIFT

A few weeks back God sent in a sermon regarding thankfulness that will forever adjust my life. It was and is powerful. Soon afterward my daughter reminded me of a book, One Thousand Gifts, that we had discussed months ago.

I ordered the book.

It is the same sermon God handed me.

You will love it.

To this date I had believed Max Lucado was one of the most descriptive writers found. Ann Voskamp surpasses all skills---my opinionated opinionly viewpoint.

While women will thoroughly enjoy Ann's work, men will glean incredible insight as well.

Excerpts:

Ultimately, in his essence, Satan is an ingrate.....Isn't that the catalyst of all my sins?

Our eyes fell on the glory of God (referencing the Garden). We saw God as He truly is: good. But we were lured by the deception that there was more to a full life, there was more to see.
And, true, there was more to see; the ugliness we hadn't beheld, the sinfulness we hadn't witnessed, the loss we hadn't known.

We only enter into full life if our faith gives thanks.

Make every moment a cathedral giving glory...I am Jacob and the Lord is in this place and I was not aware of it (Gen. 28:16).

The real problem of life is never a lack of time.
The real problem of life---in my life---is lack of thanksgiving.

Several somebodies in your world will be blessed by this book...I believe.

POOLING OUR WEAKNESSES

I don't know anyone exempt from pitiful and humiliating weakness. This secret to some is why we can walk into any heart; we know they too are weak and even fearful. There is no exception.

Weakness is the kingdom secret of God. He can when we can't.

We pool our weaknesses and say to God...Go for it! And, He does!

Abraham was so clueless he has forever messed up the Middle East.

Moses was so self-conscious he argued repeatedly........with God Himself!

Peter thought he was so on top of things he could admonish Jesus when declared he must suffer and die. Peter? No exception.

The church is a corporation of weaknesses glued into the mold of faith....assurance we can't and faith that God can.

Set any congregation up with elders qualified and deacons with deacon pedigree and preaching from the Word and singing without instruments...go ahead and set such in motion. It will be dull, anemic, and lifeless if not enmeshed by members throwing their weaknesses into the faith pot and saying now let's watch God make something of us!

MEMORIAL DRIVE JOY

We no longer have the wonderful Joy Buses which gave us abundant connection with the community. But we still possess the joy!

We can't quite figure how Father does His stuff; yet we are surely enjoying a rich time of connection with people. As a side note, He seems to have so much going that no one at Memorial really knows what, when, or where. We do know the why....glorious Father.

The Food Pantry ministers to so many very needy individuals. We love these and our people are so good at more than just handing bags of food. They befriend them. These, in turn, help us become a better people because each has buried within gifts from Father that we could use as blessings.

Some sister who resides in India has come across our congregation (I would assume through the internet) and makes constant requests for DVDs of our sermons. This lady, in turn, passes them around to area churches in India. I know nothing about her other than she writes with humility and gratitude. God knows and we sit back and enjoy.

Wednesday night our children will have their Christmas Program; an awesome event put together by our Stacey and our Linda and our Brenda. Not only will the kids do their thing which will be awesome, we will have a natural Friends Day where we can rub shoulders with relatives and neighbors.

Next Sunday and the 25th Memorial is collecting coats, scarves, socks, and gloves for the homeless to be delivered Christmas afternoon. We will pile them on the stage for the next two Sundays....it will be an avalanche of garments for our homeless friends. Two were in our assembly this morning!

There is so much more; what our teens do, what our members do in private that is amazing! So I close with one final yippee!

Last Thursday morning I did a funeral for a family that had no church. Fifteen attended. This morning in walked the son of the man who died; bringing his wife and children with him. He said they were church shopping and really connected during the memorial.

It is our church's yearn to make a difference for others. It seems the more we praise Father the more He gives us to praise Him over. Yippee!

GOD CREATED AGE

I become frustrated in listening to unbelievers discuss Evolution as the accurate account for life. It opposes God and His creationistic skill.

I wince at the former who declare scientific tests prove the Earth to be some million or billion years old. Really? They have such accuracy? Rather I believe it to be dishonest guestimation.

There is a factor about Creationism that science seems to overlook; God created age.

Did He not create Adam and Eve? And were they newborns or adults?

Imagine a news reporter walking up to Adam 30 minutes after being created.

• Sir, may I inquire as to your age?




• 30 minutes.




• Sir, may I have a serious response?




• 30 minutes.




• But Sir, science can verify you are at least...ummmm....24 or 25....years.

Scientific research into age of mountains or oceans or people runs into a stressful scenario when it realizes that one of the things God created in the beginning was age.

EDGAR BERGEN AND CHARLIE McCARTHY

A few years ago I talked one of our retired members into being Charlie McCarthy for our church Christmas party. I told him he would be fine...for he definitely is not an up-front-in-public sort.

Still, he was hesitant to be on stage in front of so many. To put him at ease, I instructed him to say I see your lips moving whenever he could not remember his lines.

We had a great time!

BYE-BYE ALBERT

The Los Angeles Angels signed long-time Cardinal slugger Albert Puhols for millions upon millions of dollars. Millions of dollars don't resonate with me as big as they probably should because I live mostly with $5s, $10s, and $20s. Yet, I get the picture---BIG.

So many phone calls, emails, or personal encounters have one main question coming at me, Terry, are you okay? Three police officers at breakfast (that are always in the cafe each morning) inquired if I was doing okay today.

Of course I am.

I'm not only doing good, I'm ecstatic! I didn't want Albert to resign with us.

Love him? Yes. Admire him? Of course. Remain a fan of his? Of course.

Want him to stay? No.

To me, Albert is a case of unfortunate greed. I would wish to be wrong, but I would say that within three years of his ten year contract, he will not produce the results these major bucks assumed. He might leave baseball as one of the best players ever only to be resented by the fans for his paycheck.

Greed, though, isn't just a matter of baseball stars. It is surely embedded into the fabric of our kingdom effort. Money doesn't only talk. It talks in a whisper...with allurement...that we might gain comfort for our self-center.

Greed is a temptation to many to depend on dollars rather than the good hand of Father. May we each do what we can to place our constant trust upon the treasures of a faithful-to-His-promise filling God.

HAVE I GOT A DEAL FOR YOU?

My heart goes out to you soldiers of the cross. We need encouragement from every angle. My goal is to build some segment of the kingdom one brave heart at a time. So, I share with you a book that will fan great flames of confidence in God.

Have you read Kisses From Katie?

This inspiring true story is about a young Tennessee dreamer who was her high school's graduating class president and homecoming queen. Unpredictably she made a bold move four years ago to Jinja, Uganda to serve Jesus. Her faith is riveting. You will be inspired!

Excerpts from the book's Introduction are:

....I began to delve into the truths of Scripture. As I read and learned more and more of what Jesus said, I liked the lifestyle I saw around me less and less. I began to realize that God wanted more from me and I wanted more of Him. He began to grow in me a desire to live intentionally, and different from anyone I had ever known....

.....So I quit my life.....People often ask if I think my life is dangerous, if I am afraid. I am much more afraid of remaining comfortable.....I am much more terrified of living a comfortable life in a self-serving society and failing to follow Jesus than I am of any illness or tragedy....

Katie Davis is now 22 years old and the mother of her 14 adopted Ugandan children. Her compelling story will clear your sinuses!

So here's my deal. I will give free copies of this book to the first 18 readers who do the following:

1. Request one copy through the comment section of this blog. Do not email or call. The first 18 listed will receive a free copy and you will be able to tell by the number of comments if any copies remain.


2. In your comment, give me complete name, address, and zip. I will not track you down if part is missing.


3. This offer is open for the next 24 hours. Once it is closed I will send the remaining copies to servants here and there.

I think you will be intensely inspired by this amazing woman and God's amazing work in her.

PROVE IT

Have you noticed the extreme nebulicity of God's activity?

We enjoy our multiple labors in His vineyard and we may see great fruit for the moment and we may not for it will come well down the road.

I so love working in such an unframed and unbound zone of nebulicity for God has different measuring devices than we.

When the widow with her mite was praised by Jesus, what do you see of her faith in the following days. Nothing. What good did she do in giving it?

Of the woman who had five husbands, Jesus told her to go and sin no more. What do you have as proof she did? Nothing.

Our walk is a constant score of randomly bumping into people as well as intentional connections throughout the day. Each interaction is pregnant with the Jesus persuasion. Yet, at the end of the day, prove it.

Just as Jesus returned from the grave at the end of three, there were two full days of heavy doubting. And....then there is God. Such is all of the proof we can conceive for much of our effort. Sometimes we see the third-day results and sometimes we don't see it for months or years or decades or never in our lifetime.

Do you think Paul thought about anyone gleaning from his letters in 2011? Doubtful. What we do today for and with God will bear fruit in 2012 and in 3817 if earth lasts that long.

Regarding our kingdom efforts, "prove it" is the wrong phrase. The correct one would be "believe it".

THE HOPE OF A RELEASED FAITH

I wonder if some of our faith is tight-fisted. By that I mean that we are unable to experience the dynamic belief system God envisions for us because we grab a bit of it and hold on tight; never to let it go. Oddly, we actually stunt its intended power by sheltering those few things we have learned beneath our religious robes of fear.

Consider one of the church's favorite gospel stories; the fish and the loaves. The young lad had five and two. His generous release fed beyond his imagination; 5000.

If the boy should have been tight-fisted the 5000 would not have been blessed. Neither would he.

So it might be with faith. When one accumulates a couple of sound doctrines here and there, and then gets miserly with them by refusing to make them available/vulnerable to correction/addition, a great harvest of new learning is never experienced. Upon reflection I can see where I missed some of His greatest encouragements because I was off in my brotherhood corner protecting my few accumulated doctrines.

When I did such, I was unwilling to risk whether more might be out there for my belief files. I didn't want to know about the Holy Spirit for I had five verses on the Word only. I didn't want to know any more about worship for I had two places earmarked against instrumental music. My own stinginess to the Word was keeping me from encountering a vast and new arena of God working.

But when we make all we know available for release (should we need correction), what will be the result? Much more of that which we held dear will bloom before our eyes. Did the young boy share loaves and fish only to find grapes and lettuce expanded? No, he reaped a harvest of much more of what he already possessed.

When we risk letting pet doctrines go, we will not be robbed of them. Rather we will find more and more and much more of synchronized teachings which support His true will. We learn and we grow when we refrain from being tight-fisted with our beliefs.

God has more to share from His eternal Word. If we will quit holding on to the ten or twenty texts we know best, He may just have an avalanche of additional revelation awaiting! My guess....and my experience....absolutely!

OUR WORK IS TO BELIEVE IN THE ONE WHOM HE SENT

Our work is not to lay out plans and then plead for God to bless our directions. Rather it is to believe Jesus has the directions, believe him, and get on board with what he has going.

Blackaby and King's Experiencing God workbook of 20 years ago gave us a major and much-needed shift. We look for God's moves.

When we made such an adjustment, a new world of wonder opened for our congregation. So many things have developed; so many ministries begun. We didn't map them out. They seemed to show up on our doorstep.

When God is in the lead, the work seems to go so much easier. And we wonder why?

I, for one, will always need to improve in all my responsibilities. One that has blessed me beyond imagination is to do the work (John 6:29) that Father insists; believe in Jesus.

MULTI-SITE CHURCHES

While we might still be good at refraining from calling the church house the church (for the church is the people; we all know), there remains among us the tendency to believe the kingdom of God operates mainly from such centralized acreage. It may be time for expansion of such a funneled vision.

Of course I enjoy the crowds in attendance. Yes, I would love to find the count ever-increasing. Yet, it is possible and (maybe) probable that the church could do more at being the church by moving away from our central hub.

Occasionally a few of Memorial's workers will move down the street to our sponsored elementary school for clean-up day....yes, on a Sunday morning. With paint brushes and Lord's Supper involved, a few gather to be Jesus to a public school system.

Last Sunday our Youth Minister took the teens to a workplace where they moved one of our older members from one house to another. Again, the Supper was observed, the fellowship was intact, and the work of the cross in thinking of others was administered.

Don't misunderstand. I'm not antsy to "break us up". But such is what happened among the earliest of beginning believers as they were forced to break up into smaller groups spread into other countries.

We have said it right all along. I'm just not sure we have believed our own lingo. The meeting house isn't the church. The church is wherever the believer(s) is. I love our assemblies; the bigger the better.

Having stated this, I still wonder if more would not be reached through multi-sites. If you happen to disagree with me, that's quite all right. I disagree with me as well.

I just wanted to share this should it click with any in an area I can't yet grasp or even imagine!

While I merely write about multi-site churches, though, others are already doing it....quite effectively.

SANTA HAS TO BE WOWED BY NOTES COMING HIS WAY!

Campbell is my six year old granddaughter sitting in this photo with her very neat dad at a Candlelight Lunch at school.

Her family was at our house last week for Thanksgiving and she shadowed Grandma each day. She even helped prepare the big Thanksgiving dinner.

Once returned to Atlanta, she wrote Santa such a special note (spelling is her own).

Hello Elfis and Santa!

Dear Elfs Santa and Elfis I miss you Guys and I miss Mrs Close to. I love you so much and Merry Cristmas. Did you no I amost fixst the hole thanks giving lunch?

Love, Belle

AS TRUTH UNFOLDS

Lord, teach me would be a useful part of our prayers, I believe.

I have hit points in my ministry where I will call out to Him as I pace our auditorium alone, God, would you teach me what you have always wished someone would learn? Would you open to me a world of understanding that no one has yet thought to seek?

I want to know those types of things. Of course I want to learn from what others of have learned. But don't we also want to know from God what no man has yet to discover? And, don't we believe there is yet much to be unearthed from the Bible and His will?

Do we not believe the Word is deeper than the chemist's ability to discover what has yet to be found? Do we not grasp the fact that God's secrets are buried out in the open where only the baby-like will find them? Surely we haven't taken on the stance that heaven has emptied all of it's wisdom....James 1:5 and 3:13-18.

It seems that nearly every time I spend moments with Him, seeking the hidden, something usually arises regarding the Spirit.

Why do we not seek continuance and extension of Truth?

Could it be because we don't want to know; that additional truth might nullify errors we have always called Truth? Could it be that we have it well-embedded into our senses that the brotherhood believes what it believes and to buck the system will be costly?

A bigger question would be are we afraid to admit that we are wrong so it would just be best not to find out?

This can happen. It has happened. I will happen.

May we believe there is more Truth to yet unfold and, too, may we be unafraid as we grow into it.

BASIC INCLINATION JUST HAS TO GO

We are called to a daunting task. We work for the King.

Man's basic inclination is self-preservation. This basic inclination goes out the window when facing the kingdom life.

Preaching and teaching are pregnant with nervous anticipation. What will we say next? Teach next? Study next?

When I began such a ministry I had two goals: (1) fill up the time, and (2) find out what the brotherhood believed so I could assume their stances of sound doctrine. I preached outlines; but I didn't have much to say from God for His people. I was a likable sort who steered clear of upsetting anyone best I could.

I self-vowed I would never teach anything which would draw the ire from anyone that I was a liberal who left the Word of God and jumped off the deep end. Never! However, I've learned the hard way---believe me---that sticking with the Word is the quickest and surest way of igniting unforgiving fire.

But God broke in and keeps breaking in. He continues to reveal Himself from directions which play havoc upon goals #1 and #2. The less I peruse the Brotherhood Quarterlies and rub up against the poor and the depressed, the more of God I see oozing from life's "spring of what matters".

The Word runs deep, young preacher. If the day hasn't occurred let it, as it happened to me, that you do not run to it to glean lessons for presentation. Rather, you let your eyes rest upon it to say "teach me" what you wish someone would hear.

Our basic inclination is self-preservation until.....until we begin to permissively position ourselves within His sights for true and meaningful ministry. Two things will change immediately: (1) you will have more sermon and class material than you can use week by week which has depth of meaning to those who hunger to hear from God, and (2) you will not escape being in trouble with a brotherhood addicted and devoted to their Brotherhood Quarterlies.