Watch what you say!

When we go to church on Sundays, we often get caught up in unintentional but habitual lies. What? Lying in church, who would have imagined?


What is the most common lie on Sunday morning? That’s too easy. It’s response you hear when you see someone and ask “How are you?”


Quick, what’s their automatic...thoughtless…insincere response? “I’m fine!” There it is! Right there in God’s house, or at least on His parking lot.


We begin our Lord’s Day expressions by lying to one another.


God has a lot to say about being honest and speaking to one another with integrity. Mean what you say…say what you mean.


Ephesians 4:25 “ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”


Colossians 3:9 “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices.”


Why do we tell this Sunday morning lie?


Because we have believed a lie.


The enemy lies and tells us things like “no other family has disobedient kids…financial pressure…marital stress.” Let me use a Greek word for that…BALONEY.

John 8:44 “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Any family that pretends they have it together is lying to you and themselves.


The real missed opportunity is that when people become real and vulnerable, God can really work.


Risk the trauma of transparency and tell someone the truth next time they ask how you are doing?


They’ll either not hear you, be speechless or may give you a hug.

Have you met TED yet?

Have you met Ted yet?

How many people have you met that really improved your life?  

Have you met anyone on the net yet that can do that?

Would you invest 15 minutes of your life to learn something new?  Challenge the way you think?

Let me introduce you to Ted.  This stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design.  This group has held 2 conferences annually to bring together some of the world’s most innovative thinkers and doers.  They are asked to give the presentation of their lives and do so in less than 18 minutes.

TED is committed to the spreading of ideas, thus they have a free website with 900 of their best presentations.

Let me challenge you to go to their website during lunch someday and pick a topic or presentation that looks interesting and stretch your thinking.

You will find the talks will sometimes irritate…fascinate…and educate.

Our minds are like other muscles in the body. They must be stretched, exercised and used or else they grow weak.

Check out www.TED.com and begin bodybuilding for your brain!

Simple Salvation

What was the genius of Steve Jobs? He did not invent the mouse, the MP3 player or the personal computer. His genius really was simplicity. Real genius can take something complex and make it simple to understand and accept.

I am still in the life insurance business and have qualified for the Million Dollar Roundtable. It is for the top 5% of agents in the world. The top level is Top of the Table. These agents sell a ton of insurance to a lot of people. How do they do it? Not with 20 page financial plans or scenarios. Most of them bring a yellow pad, pen and a simple concept to meet a prospect. They listen to the prospect, discern their stories and needs and then draw out simple one page solutions.

No mention of premium or dollars per month, just simple, easy to choose solutions.

One of the downfalls in how we live our faith is we tend to overcomplicate things. We tell people they have to behave a certain way, read a chosen translation of the Bible, attend OUR church to really get to heaven and the list goes on, and on, and on…

God must weep.

Read the story in Luke 15 of the Prodigal son. This is a simple story to communicate the gospel.
Son chooses his own way (sin), leaves the father (separation), comes to his senses in the pig pen and decides to return home, (repentance) and humbles himself to the father (restoration).

More telling is the father’s heart. He grieves over each one of us who turn from Him. He welcomes us back without “I told you so”. He gives us a robe to cover our filth, (His righteousness), a ring to show authority (the Holy Spirit inside us) and party to celebrate our homecoming (rejoicing over us with love).

Home sick yet?

Come home to God. It’s simple.

Right question leads to right answer

Romans 14:7-8 “ For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.  For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.”

There is a question we face  in our lives.

“What am I here for?”

Good universal concept, but wrong focus.

It’s not WHAT but WHO am I here for is the focus.

The answer for believers…it’s Jesus.

To live for yourself is shallow…superficial…unsatisfying

To live for other people can bring temporary happiness but ultimate frustration. They will disappoint you. They will not be grateful for “all you have done for them”. They may turn on you…turn from you…turn you away.

Jesus never will.

When you live unto the LORD there are at least three things that happen.

God’s glory is magnified.   Your life points to someone higher and greater than you  He is the reason you work better and harder than anyone else. He is the reason you look at your classroom conduct and performance as a ways to honor Him with your best.

Your gain comes with it.  Jesus told his disciples that those who followed Him would be blessed and He would multiply their family and friends in this life.  Make sense right?  Who wouldn’t want to be around someone who walks humbly, tenderly and lovingly with God?  You  become like those with whom you spend the most time.

Your good can follow.  Jesus tells us to remember we are light of the world and a city on a hill. Our good works should refresh others and reflect on Him. The word says to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you.

If you are living to Him…the answer is Jesus.

God used who?

In John 4, Jesus stops for water in the land of half breeds, Samaria.  Jews viewed Samaritans as impure and mongrels.  Jesus has a talk with this questionable woman.  This woman’s soul was exposed by Jesus with some probing, insightful questions. He exposed her heart about the futile promises of prior relationships.  True satisfaction is found only in He Who is living water. She was so transformed with the living water of knowing Jesus, she left her water jar behind to go tell people she had met the promised one.


With today’s media managers, Jesus would have been told with whom to be seen, where to appear, how to phrase an “acceptable” politically correct message so to get the most favorable exposure.


He cared not for the fleeting fame of men…He cared about the eternal soul of this woman.


Think about it. In the past, when people saw this woman in the streets or the marketplace she was looked at and talked about as “that one”.  Perhaps she was the party animal of OldeTown Slidell or even the French Quarter.  She was a “Girls Gone Wild Mideast Spring Break”, “Real Housewives of Sychar”. She had been marred 5 times and was living with someone without the benefit of marriage.


What an unlikely choice for someone to share the good news about Jesus.


But, are we really surprised?


Look throughout the Gospels at who Jesus hung out with.  Look at the twelve He chose.  Cursing fishermen, IRS agents, revolutionaries, people prone to violence, traitors.  Gutless wonders after the garden arrest.


Imagine this woman going person to person and perhaps door to door to say I have found Him. Considering she lived among the half breed Samaritans, it was one outcast going to another to tell them she had found mercy and acceptance.


Isn’t that what evangelism should be today?


Why did they come to see this Jesus she talked about? He told her all she had ever done. She was changed. She probably had a glow and urgency about her.  She was on fire with a love for Jesus.


Where are those people today?  Not just those who say they are “on fire “for the Lord in the comfort of their church buildings, but actively, intentionally and urgently go into the community to tell others “I have found the one!”


People are fascinated by changed lives.


It gives them hope for the mess their lives are.

I hate resolutions

I hate resolutions. It’s like they are made to be broken. I prefer goals. Resolutions are like verbalized wishes; goals imply plans, objectives and action steps.


Where can Christians look for an example of goal setting? How about the book of Philippians 3:13-14.


“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”




We have 3 simple choices


Release the past- When you hold on to the hurts and offenses of the past, they hold you back and hold you down. The Bible says do not have a root of bitterness. Jesus says to forgive as He has forgiven you. Without reservation…requirements…reminders. When you let someone who hurt you occupy your mind, you are giving them control. Why let someone you are mad at continue to affect you?


Release your falls and failures. Focus on who Christ is in you and not what you try to make of yourself.


Paul suffered shipwrecks, misunderstanding, rumors, gossip, beatings and rejection. What was his response? This one thing... forgetting what is behind, he pressed on.


Reach for the prize- Don’t wait for it to come to you, reach, strive strain to pursue God. Jesus says,” Seek first the kingdom of God ...” Matthews 6:33. It is having laser like focus and faith to pursue God despite all distractions. You become what you focus on. Focus on others...you become like them. Focus on Jesus...you become like Him.


Respond to the person of Jesus Christ. God is issuing an upward call. He invites us to be seated with Him in the heavenlies and see life from his perspective. It is amazing to be invited to the throne room of the universe. He tells us to approach the throne of grace boldly.


Three choices..release…reach…respond. Simple to remember, but hard to do.

Trauma about Teabow

Why the trauma about Teabow?


There is growing conversation and controversy about Tim Teabow, an NFL quarterback, and his public display of his faith. What a nice change.


For too long we have witnessed the self-idolizing by many athletes and public figures. The attitude that leads to many of our problems is selfishness and forgetting who God is and who we aren't.


Why does Teabow’ s public acknowledgement of God cause such discomfort? For non-Christians, I think it is because when darkness is exposed by light, it causes discomfort. Like roaches running when the light turns on. There is no doubt many non-believers are hoping that Tim will mess up in a public way. They are begging for him to have some public scandal like several TV evangelists 20 years ago.


The more telling discomfort is on the part of many Christians. They feel awkward about a believer taking such a public stance.


Let’s read God’s Word. In Romans 1:16 Paul writes “I am not ashamed of the Gospel…” Paul did not care about his arrest record or being thrown out of many “religious” places in his day. When Paul came to town it was always going to be either a revival or a riot. Sometimes both!


More confrontational are the words of Jesus Himself. Matthew 10:32-33. “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” Try to find the wiggle room in that phrase.


The holiday season is a great time to be more vocal in sharing your faith. In addition to “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” why not add “God bless you” or “Jesus is the reason for the season.” You’ll be blessed for blessings others…God will see to it.