This podcasts focuses on a Christmas Unknown… we all know the story, but do we know all the story!
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The Happiest Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving!
I love this holiday because it forces most of us to ask ourselves the question, and often ask the question of others… “What makes you thankful?”The answer to that one brings a myriad of answers:
- My family (probably first on the list, it’s a mandatory response)
- My health (followed by mass consumption of food that’s good for nothing even close to a healthy lifestyle)
- My job, my car, my friends, my, my, my…
Please do not hear this is being too snarky, the Bible does tell us to be thankful for all things, and that includes every corner of our lives.
So, when the youngster says their most thankful for their puppy… that’s actually good theology in training.
But, since we’ve grown a little older and wiser, and also understand there’s a lot more to be thankful for than just puppies, let me make sure there’s one more thing on your list for which you have expressed thankfulness.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
More important than anything else we can come up with, even the things that jump right to the front of the line in our mind because they are so near and dear and appreciated, is the one thing that we have absolutely nothing to do with.
Our salvation as a free gift of God. It should be first to cross our lips when speaking of thankfulness every time!
The only thing we have ever owned is our sin, everything else belongs to God. But, if we confess our sin look what it says… “He” is faithful and “He” is just and “He” can cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
This Thanksgiving we will over eat, we will rest and recreate, we will indulge in all kinds of things, but don’t forget to be thankful for the thing that matters most.
There is a God, He loved us even when we were unlovable, and He has done everything we need to save us from ourselves.
I challenge you not only to remember this, to offer a prayer thanksgiving, but to be the one at the Thanksgiving table when asked what they’re thankful for does not neglect to point to the God who saved them.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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The Cross Eyed Life in print
The Cross Eyed Life has gone to print! This online blog, site, media collection has entered a new phase. As of November of 2015, the Baptist Digest of the Kansas Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists (KNCSB) has determined to print an article of mine monthly.
It’s very exciting, and I used the first edition to introduce the concept of living the Cross Eyed Life. So, I thought it would be a good refresher for those of us who have been here all along, and I am posting what has already been printed.
So, let’s welcome our new print family members to the Cross Eyed Life!
________________________________________
PRINTED IN THE BAPTIST DIGEST NOVEMBER 2015 –
I am starting a new adventure here with the KNCSB Baptist Digest, and with it a thank you to our new KNCSB president Joe Stiles.
When I expressed I would miss writing the Presidents Perspective each month, he responded with a gleam in his eye and asked me to keep on writing.
Thank you, Mr. President! But, we probably ought to change the name of the column, so, let’s christen this new adventure: The Cross Eyed Life.
I know, what in the world is a cross eyed life? Let me explain.
A few weeks ago my wife and I were making our way to a missions gathering in Salt Lake City and had to start out early: up at 3 am, on the road by 4 am, at the Wichita airport by 5 am for a 6 am flight… that left at a little after 9 am.
Yeah… It was one of those days. We missed our connection; they misplaced our luggage, and about 100+ people sat in the terminal losing their religion.
What made it worse was the weather. As the sun came up (which we got to see every minute of), it was a beautiful day, and it was so nice the clouds themselves had formed the words zip-a-dee-do-dah.
So, obviously there were no weather delays.
Maybe the plane wasn’t there yet? So, I asked the gal behind the counter… nope, that’s our plane sitting right outside the window.
Mechanical problems? Not it, it’s all good.
I know, the pilot hasn’t made it in from a connecting flight yet? Sorry, no go. He’s already sitting on the plane with a full crew.
So, with a dumbfounded look on my face I asked the gal behind the counter one more question, “So, can we all get on the plane and leave?”
I will bet you know the answer. She said no.
It was then that I learned a new term: low ceilings.
Apparently, the weather in Denver was different. Low clouds meant it was too difficult to land.
Even though everything on our end was perfect, it would have still been a huge mistake to take off because where we were going wasn’t ready yet.
It was at this point I moved from disgruntled to thankful. Thankful that someone knew what was going on and had a better plan than I did.
It’s all about perspective. You have to see things clearly if you are going to move in the right direction.
And that’s what “The Cross Eyed Life” is all about, seeing things from the right perspective.
As a follower of Jesus, we have to learn to see things through the lens of the cross.
The cross changes your perspective on love and passion.
The cross changes your perspective on suffering and sacrifice.
The cross changes your perspective on everything in life.
First Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
How great would it be if every believer spoke with the grace of the cross? If we felt with the passion of the cross? If we walked with the power of the cross?
Wouldn’t it be great if our vision were constantly obscured by the image of the cross.
That’s when we would truly start living The Cross Eyed Life.
Learning to turn aside
Make a Difference
Sharing a moment with you from Reno Valley Middle School… had the opportunity to present as a motivational speaker on the issue of “Making A Difference.”
Please, enjoy and share!
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Blind Spots
This week allow me share with you an audio podcast about something we all have… blind spots.
By definition, you do not know what yours are, but let me give you a way to start to see what’s not been in view… then we can do something about it.
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Pause
Go ahead, hit the button, just for a second.
I am talking about the pause button. You have one, everything has one, but you probably haven’t hit it in a while.
Hitting the pause button is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. It’s not a full stop or even a change of direction. It’s just what the button says, a pause.
If you’re like me, and most of the world, life gets a little out of hand more often than we’d like to admit. Between your children’s insane schedule, your spouse’s need for assistance and that other thing you do; what do you call it, oh yeah, your job… you pretty much live a nonstop life.
A pause is necessary if you’re going to survive. The pause button lets you rest for a beat in the midst of whatever, whisper a prayer to God for help or thankfulness and just breathe.
Last night ended with a furious pace: freshman football, home to prep supper, clean up, organize the homework schedule, write a sermon, try to sleep, up early, youngest to 7 AM zero hour class, press the suit, return the emails, grab the two boxes that go to the church, head to the office for the video conference, mentally prep for the funeral in three hours, calendar reminds of pastors conference and premarital counseling headed your way, overwhelming feeling of being crushed settles in… but, no time to die yet, it’s not on the calendar.
It’s 7:18 in the morning, one bag on my shoulder, one box in my hands, another bag hanging from my teeth. As I close the truck door with my foot, I look up to see… that sunrise.
Probably not the most beautiful sunrise anyone’s ever seen.
And the church parking lot, definitely not the most scenic overlook.
But, it was just what I needed.
Pause… Breathe… Thank you, Jesus…
Today can probably get pretty crazy, if it isn’t already. Remember everything has a pause button… Even you.
Hit it.
The world can wait for you to breathe, think and speak with your God.
Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. 2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.
Maturity… start now
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This blog is a follow-up to a teaching at CrossPoint church on pursuing spiritual maturity. Whether or not you are a CrossPointer, please use the resources that follow for your own discipleship journey!
Spiritual maturity is both a goal and a discipline. Make no mistake, I know it is God who gives us growth, but we can’t ignore all of God’s instruction from His word that puts some responsibility on us. These responsibilities are what we call disciplines.
The figure above is a very nonscientific way of analyzing what area of your spiritual life probably needs the most attention.
First, put an “X” on the number in each of the four boxes below that best reflects where you are in that area of spiritual discipline.
Use the scale of 1=“not great” up to 5=“outstanding”. Second, connect the points to form a box. You’ll begin to see a picture of where your spiritual disciplines are weakest (like in the figure to the right).
There’s not one cure-all to spiritual maturity deficits, but one thing is for sure… if we don’t do anything, we will not grow. So after you’ve mapped your journey using the tool below, and you have identified your greatest area of need, look to the corresponding category and make some plans to introduce a new discipline to your life.
Let me suggest you only work on one thing at a time. Do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like additional help: email.
Prayer
We have been told that prayer is as natural as just having a conversation, so many of us feel guilty if this is not a strong area of our life. Well, don’t!
Even the disciples who walked with Jesus, chosen by Him, asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. We all have to learn. ( Luke 11:1)
Add the discipline of prayer to your life by committing to 10 minutes of prayer every day using the following the following model for the next 21 days. Why 21? Because we know 21 actions create a habit, and we’re trying to develop a discipline.
This practice should lead you to deeper, longer, more meaningful and less formulaic prayer, but if this is how Jesus taught His disciples, then it’s probably good for us as well.
Jesus gave us a model for prayer in Matthew 6:9-12 when He said,
9“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”10 “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” 11 “Give us this day our daily bread,” 12 “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” 13 “ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
- Adoration (vs 9) – Tell God how amazing He is and thank Him for everything.
- Submission (vs 10) – Agree God is right, and your job is to yield to Him.
- Provision (vs 11) – Ask God to provide, acknowledging the difference between needs and wants.
- Confession (vs 12) – One by one, admit to God where you have fallen short.
- Protection (vs 13)- Ask Him for specific direction and protection in your life.
Download the “Reading It Right Bible Study and Prayer Card” here: 
Bible Study
We call the Bible God’s word because we believe that God gave us a book that is truly His word to us. So, any plan for spiritual maturity must include Bible reading and study whether you consider yourself a “reader” or not.
We practice a method called Reading It Right in which we use the Bible itself to help us learn how to read the Bible.
Add this discipline to your life by making a commitment to read a short passage each day by using this method below for the next 21 days. Why 21? Because we know 21 actions create a habit, and we’re trying to develop a discipline. May I suggest you use a personal journal to write down the four responses to each study and maybe even keep track of prayer requests.
2 Timothy 3:16 says,
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
This passage indicates that every word of the Bible is designed to provide us 4 things: teaching, rebuking, correcting and training. So, reading the Bible becomes a conversation with God in which we discover what each passage means in line with these purposes.
- The Bible is useful to teach, or as we like to call it, summarize. First, discover the basic teaching in the passage. It’s not about deep insight or personal application. Simply, discover the headline, or put the main thought in a nutshell.
- The Bible also will rebuke us, or put another way it will expose. Next, get honest about how this passage evaluates our lives. The Bible challenges thoughts and actions. When it happens, you may feel vulnerable and exposed. Don’t be defensive, be real. However, the Bible may instead affirm and encourage, if we are already in line with it’s teaching.
- Additionally, God loves you too much to leave you the same way so He will correct you which we call change. Making a change is about doing something specific, making adjustments. In light of God’s Word, we discover some things we need to stop and some we need to start. Making these changes will be an uphill climb, but worth every step.
- Finally, God’s word is designed to train us for the future, what we call prepare. This is about seeing the direction God’s Word is taking you. The result of this process is being one step further in spiritual maturity. God has a plan for your life, and the Bible is preparing you for something. Discover/dream/pray what it might be.
In summary, read a short passage, and then journal your responses to summarize, expose, change and prepare. Most importantly, apply it to your life that day! Whatever is exposed and whatever needs to change, get it done!
If you want to take your Bible study to the next level, please connect with the Reading It Right material online, or pick up your copy of the book/journal at a CrossPoint campus or here.
Download the “Reading It Right Bible Study and Prayer Card” here:
Giving
If your first thought is, “Giving is not really a discipline,” then you’re not familiar with giving. There is sacrifice, there is planning, there’s prioritization, and there is much heart/thought in the discipline of giving.
God does not ask us to give because He needs it; He asks us to give because He knows we need to learn how to sacrifice.
Add this discipline to your life by making a commitment to give to your local church in their weekly offering every week for the next 21 visits you make there. Why 21? Because we know 21 actions create a habit, and we’re trying to develop a discipline.
There are two reasons the local church needs to be the destination of your giving: First, it is a biblical mandate that we bring the whole tithe into the storehouse (Malachi 3:8). Second, if we give simply to places and things that we choose, we may be avoiding the issue of sacrifice altogether.
Here are some guidelines to help you start the discipline of giving:
- Start Somewhere – 10% (or tithing) maybe the best practice spiritually, but the reality of our financial situations often does not allow for that kind of obedience. So, until we get ourselves to a financial place of obedience through discipline in spending and good stewardship decision-making, the goal should be to start somewhere. Simply waiting until things get better is a procrastination technique that means you will never start.
- Sacrificial – wherever you begin your bringing journey it should be sacrificial. The point of making an offering by bringing his that it is a sacrifice. Sacrifice means your life should somehow be required to adjust, and that alone will help you continue to remember the God, who has provided for you on a more regular basis.
- Consistent – the key to any discipline is to be consistent in its practice. Scriptures teach in the book of 1 Corinthians (https://biblia.com/books/esv/1Co16.2) that we are to decide each week what we would like to set aside to give. That’s why we take an offering each week at CrossPoint. It gives you the opportunity to practice your personal sacrifice of worship by “bringing” your gift once a week.
Fellowship
It takes very little reading in Scripture to realize that God never intended us to be Christians alone. Our culture allows us to be anonymous, encourages us to be independent and celebrates the Lone Ranger. This is NOT what the Bible teaches for God’s people.
Establishing a discipline of fellowship, in the very same way, cannot be done alone. The book of Acts described early believers as being in one large fellowship and committed to one another personally.
These two tiers are best represented today by church membership and grow group participation.
You may have any number of reasons why you choose not to participate in either church membership or some smaller fellowship, but whatever you come up with you will find yourself arguing against God’s word.
Do not forsake the gathering together of yourselves. (Heb 10.24-25)
They devoted themselves to one another and the teaching (Acts 2.42-47)
I was glad when they said unto me let’s go to the house of the Lord (Ps 122)
To add this discipline to your life, let me suggest two things that will have ongoing, perhaps even lifelong effects.
- First, join a local church. In our context to join a church requires that you be a follower of Jesus Christ, be baptized as a testimony of your faith and have taken our church membership class. To request information from CrossPoint on the next membership class email here and tell us which campus you attend: email
- Second, join a Grow Group. This may be one of the most difficult things you do, stepping outside of your comfort zone and committing some time and energy. However, the rewards are disproportionately larger than the sacrifice. Living life together, supporting one another and growing in community… it’s all part of God’s plan. To request information from CrossPoint on Grow Group email here and tell us which campus you attend: email
Conclusion
Spiritual maturity is a gift of God and a responsibility of the believer. I hope that you will take one of these disciplines and begin to pray actively through it and observe it in your life. There is no doubt in my mind if you do this, you will see maturity.
Philippians 1:6
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
He is our peace
Ephesians 2:14 “For he himself is our peace…”
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There is a way out
The first time I heard the name Ashley Madison I remember thinking to myself, “Oooh, I want some chocolate donuts.”
I was quickly told that I was thinking of another Madison named Dolly. Her cousin Ashley, well, she’s more of a black sheep in that family.
Although the media has been awash with reports of the 32 million names hacked and then released from the “Hey let’s destroy our family” website where married folks gather to have an affair, I’ve been mostly disinterested.
Until today.
A pastor friend called me today and asked for some advice. It had come to light that the names of some of those in his church are… on the list.
Well, we had a good and redemptive conversation, but after hanging up I began to think about things closer to home.
I have no doubt; there will be people I know on the list. In fact, it would be foolish of me to believe otherwise.
- We have decimated the value and meaning of marriage in our culture.
- We’ve made pornography more accessible than a Big Mac.
- We have robbed the gift of sex of its sacredness and made it as flippant as a weekend excursion.
- The marriage and divorce stats from inside the church, don’t show a people any different from those outside the church.
So, once again, the whole mess doesn’t surprise me.
I am just thankful there aren’t other sites spilling the beans on us.
If www.gluttonsareus.com ever got hacked, and all those pictures of me binge Twinkie eating ever got out… I’d be in serious trouble.
Let’s hope www.lazyloafers.net never gets busted or… well, they might be ok. Those folks probably never got around to signing up.
I know, you’re probably thinking I am minimizing the wrongs being committed through this whole Ashley Madison mess. You’re wrong, I am trying to do just the opposite.
I want us to begin to consider all sin, the ones we consider “little stuff” up through the majors, to be vile, offensive, destructive and worthy of immediate and corrective action.
1 John 1:8-10 says,
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
Sin is a disease we all share, and it’s serious business.
We have a collective sense of moral outrage at what has happened, with the exception of about 32 million people I would guess, but it’s too little, too late.
We got to this place because we have collectively starting accepting the “little stuff.” What was inappropriate on TV 20 years ago is on Cartoon Network today. The clothes we buy for our kids today wouldn’t have passed inspection at any school in the country 15 years ago. Ten years ago the language reserved for bathroom stalls is now prefixed with a hashtag or suffixed with .com.
We are all to blame. We are all guilty. We are all in need.
I am a guilty sinner, and even though my name is not on some list for the world to gawk at, I confess that my heart, mind and life are corrupt and need of repair.
So, if you are on the list, or if your name is on a list only you know about, let me offer you the hope to which I cling.
There is a God. He loves you and is willing to forgive. If He weren’t, you’d be a burnt spot on the pavement already.
His plan is Jesus Christ. Not strict adherence to a moral code, but devotion to a person. Jesus paid a price so we wouldn’t have to, He provided a way we could never have found, and He offers us a way out of our mess… whether it’s adultery or Twinkies.
May we be reminded that sin is sin, and we don’t have the luxury of labeling some as worse than others. When we do that, we start the slippery slide to a place like we are today.
No matter how dark things may seem right now, there is Good News. There is a way out.
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