Big Is The New Small

Everyone has a different opinion about the sequence of numbers 666.  Often times people will change their hotel room, phone number or a host of other things if the number 666 is anywhere within.  As a matter of fact just recently I had a family in my church that had to ask me to write a letter to the Social Security Administration on behalf of their young child who was issued a Social Security number ending in 666.

Here is the context from scripture in the book of Revelation.  “This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.” Revelation 13:18

Again, there are some people who are not bothered at all by the number…  I have a pastor friend whose mobile number ends in 666.  On the other hand there are people who are really bothered and the thought of the number causes them mental discomfort.

Where do you fall?  Are you bothered by the number 666.  Are you the person who will change your numbers and such or do you simply say no big deal?

Share your thoughts!

It truly breaks my heart every time that I hear about people having affairs; especially those who have been entrusted with a leadership role.  It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about the President, Politicians, Teachers, Pastors, Coaches, Worship Leaders, Sports Superstars…  These individuals who have been blessed and entrusted with the responsibility of leadership influence should hold that influence tightly, lightly and responsibly all at the same time.

Honestly, as a pastor this selfish cheating mess is probably one of the most frustrating/irritating areas to counsel people through; especially when the individuals don’t seem to understand the impact of their selfish actions.  Not only do they not realize the impact, but they would have probably continued if they hadn’t gotten caught.  This tragedy can also be one of the most rewarding areas to celebrate/praise on the other side, through total repentance and legitimate restoration.

I know people may say Scott you are naive and it can happen to anybody, but I say this with all the humility I can muster up “IT DOESN’T HAVE TO HAPPEN TO ANYBODY!”  I read through 1 Corinthians 6 again today and I don’t care what version I read, The Message, New Century or NIV, they all communicated the same thing.  Run, Flee, Your Body Is A Temple, You Were Bought By God For a Price.  As Christ Followers and especially as Christian Leaders; we don’t get to pick and choose how we act.  We are held to a higher standard and if we can really do all things through Christ who gives us strength; I have to believe that “all things” encompasses honoring our covenant vows before God and to our spouse.

None of us are perfect, we all sin, we all fall short, we all know right from wrong and I would argue that even a non-believer understands that they are not supposed to cheat on their spouse. Marriage is serious, Treat It As Such!

A word to Pastors, Leaders or anyone else who is cheating, flirting or going down that road: Stop, Flee, Run and Pray.  Proverbs 5:5 talks about the adulteress woman this way, She’s dancing down the primrose path to Death; she’s headed straight for Hell and taking you with her.

Satan doesn’t have any power over you, only the power to deceive.  If you’re choosing to go down this road of deception, ultimately Satan is Playing you like a drum and Pimpin’ you like a prostitute!

Pastors, Leaders, People…  Stop Having Affairs!  Thank You!

This is by far the easiest solution and application to Read The Bible In A Year via iPhone.  YouVersion has updated the app to reflect the new changes and offers many daily reading solutions.  Start the year off right!

Do you use your iPhone for your daily Bible reading? If so, What do you like best about the app? If not, Will you this year?

Salvation Animation from s mchargue on Vimeo.

Here is Salvation Animation Video put together by my man Sean McHargue.  For those of you who are creative types, the details of how he put it together are here.   This video does a great job of simplifying sin, Jesus, The Cross and Salvation.

Although my boys had already seen this video in LifeKids, we watched it again together.   Take a look at this video and once you finish watching it (alone or with your children), share your thoughts!

Let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t. If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching.

If you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder.

Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath.  Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down.  Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone.If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody.  Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”  Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness.

Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good. To Be a Responsible Citizen.

This is a profound rant that describes how we should live and what we should do (aka Romans 12:6-21 MSG ).  Sometimes I have to read the Message Version, because the “real talk” speaks loud and clear.

This Is How You Should Live…  Don’t try to be something that you aren’t!

This past weekend I was about this close to preaching entirely from my iPhone.  In case you are wondering how close “This Close” is; put your index finger and your thumb about 1/2 inch from each other and that’s how close I was.

There are many different methods that pastors use when preaching a sermon, as it relates to their notes and Bibles.  The various methods that Pastors use include, but are not limited to the following: notes in a notebook with the sermon fairly written out, mind-map style notes on a single piece of paper and Bible, moleskin notebook with written notes and Bible, notes placed inside of the Bible, no notes at all and the Bible and the list goes on and on.

Again I was considering using my handy dandy YouVersion Bible App for the iPhone as my preaching Bible and have my Sermon Notes as a document attachment; in other words going completely iPhone for the entire sermon.  I decided not to experiment for this particular sermon; however I think I definitely will do so in the future.  I’m old-school and new-school at the same time; I kinda like having my hardbound “Preaching Bible” in my hand.

What are your thoughts on The iPhone Preacher?  Would this go over well with you and your church?  Is this too new-school?  Is this any different than the standard notebook and hardbound Bible?  Has your Pastor preached from his/her iPhone? Questions, Questions, Questions?

10 Years from now this will be a non-issue; however I’d love to get your thoughts today… Chime In!

Recently, I was talking to my sister-in-law who attends one of the local colleges here in the State of Oklahoma.  She was telling me about her experience with the Humanities Professor, who happens to be the University Chaplain as well.  We will refer to her Professor as Dr. “J.”

Dr. “J.”gives his students books of the Bible to read for assignments along with discussion questions.  Apparently during the second week of school one of the students had some concerns about Dr. “J.” giving them assignments out of the Bible.  Here is what the exchange between the concerned student and Dr. “J.” sounded like:

• Student- “I don’t think we should have assignments that require us to read the Bible.”
• Dr. “J.”- “Why is that?”
• Student- “Because, I don’t believe in the Bible.”
• Dr. “J.”- “That’s fine you don’t have to believe in The Bible, The Bible Is Just Literature to you.”
• Student- “That’s not true, it’s used for religious purposes.”
• Dr. “J.”- “It may be used for religious purposes to some… but to others such as yourself, The Bible Is Just Literature…  Your assignment is to read Acts 8:26-28, 1st 2 Chapters of Genesis and Psalms 23″

The reality is… to some people The Bible is the living, breathing, true, life-changing, infallible word of God and to others The Bible Is Just Literature. The sad commentary is that often times those of us who claim to believe The Bible is the True Word of God, treat The Bible as though it’s just literature.

Share your thoughts on The Bible, this post or Dr. “J.’s” approach.

The more and more I counsel with couples and guys who cheat on their wives, the more I am reminded of this passage of scripture.  The more and more I hear about Pastors having affairs, the more questions I have about whether or not those Pastors read this scripture. Yes mistakes, bad decisions and sin happens; however that does not discount the fact that God clearly outlines the fact that the chic he refers to in Proverbs 5 is Headed Straight for Hell and taking you with her.

My friends this is real and it’s straight from The Word.  Stay away from This Chic or That Dude because They’re Headed Straight For Hell!  Let these words from Proverbs 5 MSG speak to you and be a reminder:

1 Dear friend, pay close attention to this, my wisdom; 
listen very closely to the way I see it.

2 Then you’ll acquire a taste for good sense; 
what I tell you will keep you out of trouble.

3 The lips of a seductive woman are oh so sweet, 
her soft words are oh so smooth.

4 But it won’t be long before she’s gravel in your mouth, 
a pain in your gut, a wound in your heart.

5 She’s dancing down the primrose path to Death; 
she’s headed straight for Hell and taking you with her.

6 She hasn’t a clue about Real Life, 
about who she is or where she’s going.

7 So, my friend, listen closely; 
don’t treat my words casually.

8 Keep your distance from such a woman; 
absolutely stay out of her neighborhood.

Share your thoughts about This Chic or That Dude!  Why do so man people allow themselves to head straight to Hell with them?

Like so many of you reading this post, I have read or heard Matthew 5:37 countless times.  It is the Bible verse where Jesus says: Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’  Again, I have read this and heard it so many times; however the other day when I read it, I realized that there was one very important word that I was reading right past.  That word is Simply.

This passage speaks to being a man or woman of your word, doing what you say you are going to do, not just talking about it…  being about it; because at the end of the day, your word is all that you have.  In my opinion the key to this passage, is for us to get to a place to where we don’t have to think about, struggle with, talk about or have any questions about being a man or woman of our word.  It becomes easy, it becomes who we are… It’s Simply What We do!

It seems to be increasingly more difficult for men, women, couples, leaders, teenagers, employers and this generation overall to Simply let their ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and their ‘No,’ ‘No’!

Simply…

Share your thoughts!

I would like for everyone (Including RSS Readers) to share One Bible Verse.  It can be any verse, your favorite verse, a new verse that’s speaking to you, a verse that you heard this past weekend, a verse that you read this morning… or just simply One Bible… One Verse that you would like to share.

I will go first!