here<\/span><\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nWalking into teach class at Sterling College\u00a0last week a couple of students wryly smiled at me and hollered across the room, “Pastor Addis\u2026 one, gun!” and then waited for me to fill-in the blank.<\/p>\n
At Wal-Mart I was browsing the produce section when a concerned member of our faith community thought it necessary to remind me with a gentle whisper from behind, “Don\u2019t forget\u2026 8, gate\u2026 do not steal.” Thankfully they were there and averted my crime spree before it ever began. Saving me from a life of wanton debauchery.<\/p>\n
I have to admit, it has been a lot of fun to see how this little memorization game has affected our congregation. But, as a leader and a pastor it always begs the question: could we\/should we be doing more?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just with the issue of the 10 Commandments, but with all of what we know about Scripture, are we using what we\u2019ve got? Too often I think we\u2019re satisfied with academic performance.<\/p>\n
You know, a little head knowledge must mean we\u2019re better people, right?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think so. It\u2019s time we git\u2019r done.<\/p>\n
Oh, please\u2026 someone shoot me. I\u2019m channeling an overweight redneck with bad grammar. <\/em><\/p>\nI will do my best to never say that again, ever. Anyway\u2026<\/em><\/p>\nWhat I am getting at is the issue of application.<\/p>\n
Long before the word application meant something you installed on your computer, or referred to a piece of paper you filled out to get a job, application is what you did when you knew what to do.<\/p>\n
I looked up several definitions of application and this was my favorite:<\/p>\n
application <\/strong>noun <\/em>1. the act of bringing something to bear; using it for a particular purpose.<\/p>\nApplication really is the key to success in anything. In fact, you can have all the knowledge in the world and without application all you are is a book. (In case you missed it, that was the quote of the week\u2026 I was pretty proud of that one)<\/p>\n
\n- You can know she\u2019s a pretty girl. With a little application she can become your wife.<\/li>\n
- You can know there is an opening. With a little application it can become your job.<\/li>\n
- You can know you\u2019re out of shape. With a little application you can get healthy.<\/li>\n
- You can know our economy is in the toilet. With a little application you can worry about it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Okay, maybe that last one wasn\u2019t the best example, but 99.9% of the time\u2026 application is the key.<\/p>\n
The book of James illustrates this well for us:<\/p>\n
\ufeff22\ufeff Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. \ufeff23\ufeff Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror \ufeff24\ufeff and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. \ufeff25\ufeff But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it\u2014he will be blessed in what he does.<\/em><\/p>\nThe Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Jas 1:22-25). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.<\/span><\/p>\nYou\u2019ll be blessed if you simply apply what you see\/know\/have learned. I have a couple of little boys which I send into the bathroom every morning to get ready for school. They come back into the breakfast table and this is often the conversation:<\/p>\n
“Hey bud, did you look at yourself in the mirror?\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n“Yeah”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n“Did you see the toothpaste in your hair?”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n“Yeah”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n“Did you try to get it out?”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n“Yeah\u2026 I mean\u2026did you say toothpaste in my hair, dad?”<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nAmazing, isn\u2019t it? But, I really think this is how God often sees us coming to Him with a stomach full of His blessings, bloated on His Words and saturated in the Way; yet oblivious to our own need for any kind of lifestyle course correction or attitude adjustment that those same words have indicated.<\/p>\n
Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest California, said recently that 90% of all of Jesus\u2019 teachings were application in their nature. I guess this make sense if His Great Commandment was to love <\/em>God and serve <\/em>people and His Great Commission was to go <\/em>and tell<\/em>.<\/p>\nJesus was not really one for sitting around and pondering a lot. Once you know, it\u2019s time to go, it ain\u2019t no show, don\u2019t be slow, so pull it back, and let it roll.<\/p>\n
Ha, that\u2019s funny right there, I don\u2019t care who you are\u2026
\n
\nOh no\u2026 he\u2019s back\u2026 someone call a redneck exorcist\u2026 hhhhheeeeellllpppp mmmmmeeeeee.<\/em><\/p>\nFriends don\u2019t let friends wear flannel.<\/em><\/p>\nSeriously though, I hope that personal spiritual application becomes the real thrust behind this series on the 10 Commandments, but more importantly I pray it becomes a pattern of behavior for me and other believers: learn it then live it.<\/p>\n
Learning the 10 Commandments is significant and we should not make little of that accomplishment. Moving from a church in which the vast majority of us wouldn\u2019t even know where they existed in the Scripture, to more than 1000 people being able to quote them in order\u2026 That\u2019s beyond cool.<\/p>\n
But, even more important, would be our commitment to live them out on a daily basis. God gave them to Moses so that they would impact lives, change culture and give direction for the future.<\/p>\n
When we think about how we will spend our Sabbath, how we will honor our marriage vows, the integrity of the truthfulness of our statements, the thankfulness for what we have vs. the jealousy for what others get; we should be reminded by the 10 Commandments in a way that causes us to point our hearts, minds, soul and our strength to a loving God.<\/p>\n
Remember He did say, “I am the Lord your God.”(Exodus 20:2)<\/p>\n
May we apply what God has given, and may we be more like what He wants us to be, and not just know more of what he wants us to know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The current teaching series at our church has fun by product. Almost everywhere I go people are shouting numbers at me. You see, I taught about 1,400 people to memorize the 10 Commandments by using these weird mnemonic devices (or word pictures): \u00b7 One \u2013gun \u00b7 Two \u2013 shoe \u00b7 Three \u2013 tree \u00b7 Four \u2013 door \u00b7 Five \u2013 hive \u00b7 Six \u2013 sticks \u00b7 Seven \u2013 heaven \u00b7 Eight \u2013 gate \u00b7 Nine \u2013 spine \u00b7 Ten \u2013 hen (you can learn this pattern too, right here) Walking into teach class in Sterling last week a couple of students wryly smiled at me and hollered across the room, \u201cPastor Addis\u2026 one, gun!\u201d and then waited for me to fill-in the blank. At Wal-Mart I was browsing the produce section when a concerned member of our faith community thought it necessary to remind me with a gentle whisper from behind, \u201cDon\u2019t forget\u2026 8, gate\u2026 do not steal.\u201d Thankfully they were there and averted my crime spree before it ever began.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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weird mnemonic devices (or word pictures):<\/p>\n