The Concrete Trucks

As we look for signs that the economy is turning around, each of us have our own ideas. I couldn't help to notice recently that there was actually some new construction, some commercial and some residential going on lately in our community. I mentioned this to a local builder, and he said to watch for the concrete trucks. Once those guys start getting busy, then you know something is up. Hmmm.
God is up to something at LT. I've noticed a certain prayer being answered. I've been asking the Lord to send more workers for the harvest. As I slowed down for a minute today to catch my thoughts, I realized that God has been sending bunches of people our way. It looks like He is getting ready to do something big. He's laying the foundation. The concrete trucks are running.

Steps

I believe if you got most people to sit still...be quiet and know that God is God; and confess that they are not...truly get real with God---they would admit they know what God wants them to do. Indeed, (Ps.19)"the heavens declare the glory of God." That literally means the "heavens preach or explain God to us." Romans 1 says that "man is without excuse of knowing God" because of the creation alone. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that " God has hidden eternity in the hearts of men." Listen, men can be stubborn, but in moments of great crisis (e.g. 9/11) the hardest of men will cry out to God. In darkness men want hope. God is that light. With all that said, if we will be honest before God in stillness; we will admit we know of at least one thing God wants us to do. ---That brings us to the next step. I'm 4/6 of the way through the sermon series (http://www.livingtruthchurch.com/podcasts.htm)dealing with what is holding you back from being what God had in mind when He made you. So what is it? And what is the next step to get you headed His direction. Is it a baby step? Is it a giant step? Is it a leap of faith? I encourage you to not despise the little steps, but take those. They get you ready for the giant step and the leap of faith. However, no matter the size of step, it is God in whom we trust. Pray hard.

Live your life above the crap

Tossed and turned last night due to something I ate. Yeah, it was one of those nights. The temptation was to share that on the social networks. After all, it was a big part of my status at 2:30am,2:38am, etc. You get the picture. But then I thankfully rethunk that! I don't want to hear about your crap, so you don't want to hear about mine.(almost sorry about that well-placed pun, but you understand it was too good to pass(uh-oh, another one)up.) Plus that wasn't the biggest thing that happened in 24 hours. ---In 24hours I got to meet with a person that is growing like crazy in their faith, helping me grow in my spiritual walk, had a great Bible study and prayer time visiting one of our small groups, good conversation with a dad who had a success with his kid's car project, got to help lead a 7th grade girl to the LORD, got to chill out with my wife for a little bit, sprained my wrist putting the Christmas tree in the attic (coulda left that one off the list), was reminded during the day of so many people that are growing in their faith as two more people were hooking up for a mentoring relationship, listened as a group was already plotting their next $100 challenge mission, saw my little girl growing up as she was in bed by 9pm practicing to be a school teacher, got a reminder by God to call a friend that is going through chemo, I obeyed, and the person texted back to let me know God's timing was perfect. So, is this a rant or what? I don't know. Maybe I'm just be happy to be sitting in a comfortable chair instead of on the ...(almost did it). Maybe it's just a reminder to all of us. Think before you hit "send" on your status. What part of your day do people really care to hear about? Sickness, getting run off the road, etc. are all part of life---send those out in a message as a prayer request or something. Hey, it's a free country. You can still put your stuff out there for people to read. I'm sure people get tired of reading Bible verses I put on, and maybe my blog, and maybe whatever I write. It's thoughts like that that keep from hitting the send button a lot. Have a great day, and live above the crap; dwell on the great events of the day!

Questions about Giving

Recently I had heard two different people had a question about tithing, giving to God and the church and about how much...all that. So, I thought, if a couple of people had a question maybe I could help answer. First of all, those that know me know that I don't talk about money much at all. I gave my heart to the LORD at 8 years old and starting giving at least 10% as soon as I started earning an income. (My current goal is to give more than my mortgage, and after I reach that goal, I'll seek God's guidance.) Of course, I began tithing because that's what I was taught at church. While many will refer to the Old Testament for the 10% tithe as a minimum, the Jews really gave like 23.3% once they were done with all their offerings according to the Law. But we're not under the Law. So what principles do we use to give? What does the New Testament say? Before we go too far, you do know that it all belongs to God and you aren't taking any of it with you, right? We're just managing the portion God gives us. 1 Cor.16:1-2 Paul writes---Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. ---They were taking up a collection on Sunday's as they met for the purpose of ministry. He put the onus on the person to set aside the proper portion from their income in giving. It doesn't say 10%, although that's not a bad place to start and we get that idea from the Old Testament. But you will find quickly the NT isn't so legalistic considering we're under grace. You'll also see Jesus is a little tougher on us since we're under grace. Since we've freely received, we ought to be free givers. Jesus said that you'll receive from God by the measure you are given. You can read what you want in that, but I see it like this. If I give to God from a spoon, He'll use that to give back to me. If I give to God out of a bushel, He'll use that to give back to me. Caution: don't give to receive, because that's the wrong motive. Give out of love, because you want to. Giving is a heart issue. If you're worried about giving from gross or net income, then you need to check your heart. (IF you were offended by that statement, then there's a sign you might have an issue.)When God saved you by grace, He didn't take a second thought about all the crap you had done. In other words, don't be getting all cheap on God. Finally, pray about it. Ask God, don't ask me. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. Pray about it, and live with a clear conscience. Finally, there's that NT verse about God loving hilarious givers. That's pretty cool.

Why do you doubt me?

Great question! I was reading in Matthew 14 where Jesus walks on water after he had fed 5,000 with a few fish and a little bit of bread. Peter gets brave enough to walk to Jesus on the water, and then he looks at the distractions (wind and waves); and his faith begins to waiver and he starts to sink. ---I don't think little of Peter. I have seen God do tremendous things in my own life. I have seen the dead (spiritually) come to (real, eternal) life. I have seen people that were supposed to die (flesh) live longer than they should have. I have seen men get a second chance. I've been among both of those categories. ---So why do I look at the distractions? Why do I doubt? ---Help me Lord to focus on You. I have no reason to doubt, but at times my life shows that I doubt. Why do I...why do we attempt so little for Jesus, when we could walk on water?

The $100 Challenge

Okay, so what's the $100 Challenge all about? It's the result of 2-3am conversation (me listening) with God. The sleep-interruption came a week or so before my sermon on That Thing That's Holding You Back:Part1- Money http://www.livingtruthchurch.com/podcasts.htm. God has this thing about the pre-wee hours of the morning. Even better He has great ideas that involve people helping people (love). It wasn't my brain-child. My only good deed was that I didn't ignore the voice of God (which is easy to do at 3am). Anyway, the details: each week I'm inviting (not asking, not begging, trusting that God speaks to someone else and doesn't leave me standing there looking stupid) whoever feels led to present a $100 bill to be passed on to a CPR Group leader that volunteers their group to take the said-$100bill and help someone in the community that week and bring back a report to be shared briefly (less than 45seconds, preferably video, low-tech). ---That's all I knew God told me to do. We are to do it for 50 weeks, which means if someone (oh, and it can't be the same person giving the 100 dollars any week) does give then we will have helped the community $5000 worth of love. ---Now, I can look back at God's ingenius (trickery, wisdom, whatever). By Christmas time or somewhere well before then we will have cultivated a collective giving heart, and hopefully have some incredible people (love) stories.Not only are people developing a generous heart, the small groups are having to look around (away from themselves) to see people in need. ---FYI: it's crazy already...I have had to turn several people down and asked them to wait there turn to give $100 away to someone they don't even know. :)

No Waste of Time

How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How Long will my enemy have the upper hand? Turn and answer me, O LORD my God! Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.--Ps.13:2-3
I couldn't help to be reminded of how often we go through tough seasons of life (3,5,10,40 years). These seasons can vary from person to person. I'm not sure if our own stubbornness affects the length of time or if that is God's timing. Either way it is real. Moses experienced 40 years of shepherding until God had him lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt. Prior to that he had spent 40 years in training. To top it off he had to endure the 40 years of wandering with that griping bunch of Hebrews in the wilderness. David had to wait several years and put up being hunted down before he actually became king. ---In between we pray as if God has forgotten about us. He may be waiting for us to get over something. He may be waiting for us to come around to His way of thinking. He may be training us through life experiences. It is good to pray during these times. But there is one thing for sure, that time is not a waste of time. While I spent 15 years in the tire business and felt like a "fish out of water", God used that time to train me in life experiences for what only He knew I needed. Then when the call came to preach, there was more time in waiting and preparing. Learn from those years. It's not a waste of time. Time is all you have. Reflect on your time. What positive things can you apply? If you dwell on the negative you will not progress. In fact, you may stay stuck. Maybe it took that time for Moses, David, others to be on the same page with God. Maybe they needed to get over something. Jesus had to wait 30 years to do his thing. Don't you think he was capable at 20...25? "O LORD my God! Restore the sparkle to my eyes."

The Fallacy of Innocence

We serve an Awesome God! He has been generous in putting us on this accomodating, greenish-bluish planet. He makes us feel like the world spins around us...that the sun shines for us. So, not surprisingly, we often think it's all about us. When in fact, the rest of God's wonderful creation twinkles, shines and waves knowing that it is all about God! IN Matthew 18 following verse 21:
Jesus tells a story showing how God has forgiven man of sin and how man is to forgive his fellow man. Ten thousand bags of gold represents a debt this is un-payable( literally millions of dollars that the man did not have, and no way of procuring). The man was doomed. Man is un-redeemable as far as man is concerned. That is a hopeless situation! All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.—Isa.64:6
It doesn’t say our sin is filthy rags. Our righteousness is filthy rags. There is this fallacy among mankind: we think we are innocent. but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”---Gen.2:17 Let's delete a false assumption: it is this assumption that some people are innocent. Not true! We are all guilty of sin before God. So, when we say something about a person being innocent, it’s not true. No man is innocent before God. There is none righteous. This is the plight of man due to disobedience. For the wages of sin is death---that is the ruling. The 10 Commandments merely show that no man is able to be righteous. However, as we read on, a merciful God has provided a rescue plan. Don't revel in the idea that you are good, because you are not. You and I are in need of a Savior. In God's great mercy and grace He allows us to walk through our daily journey not dwelling on our guilt. Of course, the only way to be truly free of this guilt is to put on the righteousness of Christ. Study God's Word this year. Understand your standing.

Getting It Right

Matthew 8:2 NLT

Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”
* Notice the difference in attitude between he and rich young man from Mark 10:17-. This guy knows(admits)he is dirty and needs a Savior, needs to be healed ; while the rich kid thought he was righteous before the Lord. He just wanted to know what he was lacking and what he could do. He wanted to be his own Savior. Seeing the need for a Savior precedes salvation. It's not about doing: its about yielding to the work of Christ. Trust in Christ alone, not in your good works.

The Deeper Things

"I want to go deeper." That's one of those comments doled out by church people on occasion that drives pastors crazy. Why not just say "I want to pray more."? Because the response should be the same "Go ahead." Go deeper, pray more because no one is stopping you , but you. But how does one go deeper? I can tell you what has worked for me through the years, and someone else can add to the list. 1. Prayer. Often, continually, persevering. In good times and bad. Balanced prayer: Adoration of God; Confession to God; Thanksgiving to God; Supplication for others. 2. Scripture Reading. You knew these were #1 and #2, but the problem is people don't do them. I'm not talking about reading the Bible through in a year (even though that is good). I'm talking about reading the Bible like a cow chewing cud, getting everything God tells you from a certain passage and not moving past that until HE lets you. 3. Christian Radio. Not the songs necessarily, but the teaching and preaching. While I don't do this much now, there was a time in my life when I needed a growth spurt. On the road (or now you can podcast at your convenience)or in those unfilled hours one can pour positive, godly teaching into the soul.4. Accountability partners. Iron sharpens iron. Two are better than one. For one year, perhaps the greatest growth year for me, I met with 3 or 4 guys every Monday night for an hour or two challenging each other in our respective faith-walk. It was shortly after that God called me to preach. Hmmm. 5. Sharing Jesus with others. There is no substitute to sharing your faith with others. I started telling people about Jesus at eight years old. I'm no Billy Graham, but I do know that jumping out (facing potential rejection) there causes growth. It's funny how many people say they want to go deeper, but rarely lead anyone to Christ. *Hear from God, Learn from God,Learn from others, grow with others and do. Doing is perhaps the epitome of going deeper; everything else is just talk.

Why We Do IT

Churches do a lot of the same things but different ways. It is important to know why we do it the way we do it. An important part of LT is our small groups called CPR (Care Prayer and Relationships). These groups are intentionally highly relational. We don't want people to try to do life alone. We've been doing small groups for ten years now and have tried many things and have been tweaking the current model the last few years. Instead of doing many different studies during the week, we are doing the Sermon-based study together during the week in various homes. Here's why we do the Sermon-based small group studies: 1. In sync with whole church. Harmony. Unity. 2. Not too advanced for new growing believers. 3. Not hunting a new study each term. 4. No strange teachings. Keeps the wolves out. 5. Design questions for life application. 6. Free. 7. More Scripture. 8. Bring in more leaders. Easy to use. * The only con we ever hear is from people (very few)say they want something deeper. Pastorally speaking, that excuse is a pile of manure. You can study as deep as you want. If it's not deep enough perhaps you should be leading a group, because you always go deeper when learning (preparing) to teach or facilitate. * We have, however, finally caught up, and will be offering (deeper) Grow classes this next year that will not take away from the vital connection needed in CPR groups. Stay tuned for more as these classes will be covering: theology,evangelism, parenting, finances, marriage, etc. Some of these will be six to ten to even thirteen week courses; while we will offer some one night and weekend seminars. It is going to be an exciting year, and we want to give you every reason and opportunity to connect, grow, serve, multiply. ---No excuses. No explanations. Do what we do.---DMD Disciples Making Disciples---

Ripped off but so true

Below is a blog I totally ripped of from a Pastor named Artie Davis. enjoy. Being a pastor and leader for almost 30 years (I know I don’t look that old, thanks!), I have heard it all, seen it all, witnessed it all & seen all TOO MUCH! But in the middle of hearing God’s voice, intensely following God’s lead, getting your praise on, someone can ask, call, text, em, dm, Facebook or Twitter you one of these Q’s, and I swear, I want to “go off” on that person so bad, they have no idea! So… if you are ever tempted to ask a man of God, who is diligently leading with all he has and trying to follow God, DON’T ask any of these questions… (not responsible for what may come next!)

1. Why are we doing that? We didn’t do that at my other church, what we did was…. (Why did you leave?)


2. Why did we get that color carpet? I like the color at my sisters church it’s…. (This carpet is more godly!)


3. Why do we have to grow? If we get any bigger, I won’t know everybody’s name & then….(It’s not about you!)


4. Why don’t we have a ministry like…. church. I hear they are doing great over there at….(Maybe you should be there doing that ministry)


5. Why can’t I sing this solo? God has really laid this song on my heart! (Maybe it’s because you can’t sing!)


6. Why do we need another service? Isn’t that just church division?(No! It’s called biblical multiplication!)


7. Why do we have to plant other churches, isn’t there enough lost people here in our own city? (Because Jesus said so. Enough said!)


8. I miss church “pot luck” dinners! Why can’t we have those any more? (Because you just come to eat, and you won’t cook for 2-thousand!)

9. I’m just not being fed, why can’t you preach more like…. (Why can’t you feed yourself! I’m not yo mama!)

10. Why can’t there be world peace? (Because there will always be people like you asking Q’s like these!)

Reading the Bible thru

Genesis 2:15-17 God gave man purpose : manage Earth. God also gave man choice of life or death. Was man grateful? Would he live for God? Did man believe God? This would be proven in man's choices.
IT is good to read the Bible through in a year, but it is better to read it slow and get the goodie out of it.
Let me encourage those that have decided to read the Bible through in a year to keep that reading separate from your quiet time where you read slowly and listen to what God is saying to you. There is a difference. You don't want to speed read God's Word. Annual reading helps me find references (Oh that's where that is found in the Bible!). Quiet time reading is where the "Aha" moments take place (Oh that's what God wants me to do!) There is a difference, and there is a place for both.
Read God's Word for life transformation this year.