What would you do for a Klondike Bar?

When I was growing up, there used to be a commercial for Klondike Ice Cream that would ask the question, "What would you do for a Klondike Bar?" The ice cream was apparently so good that people would do anything just to eat that Klondike Bar. There would be people that would place their bodies in harmful, embarrassing, and awkward situations just to have this ice cream. I love Klondike Bars, but there are a whole lot of things that I would not do just for that ice cream.

Instead of ice cream, I want you to think about what you would do to inherit eternal life. There are people in this world that would give their life to kill others in order to win salvation. There are those who would help the needy to guarentee a spot in heaven. There are those who want to just sit back and do nothing but simply trust that Crhsit paid their way. There are some that believe in nothing and feel that if there is a heaven, we could never know; therefore, we have no eterenal destination. My answer to each of these responses is that there is a major lack of responsibility. They see no need to be responsible for the way we conuct our everyday lives, and there is no hope for an eternal home in heaven. Salvation is more than a decision.

Think about New Year's Resolutions. We all have made them..."I am going to lose weight"..."I am going to spend time reading God's Word"..."I am going to actually do my homework"..."I will never say never again (oops)"..."I am going to exercise." There are tons of decisions that people make on New Year's Eve that are good in their intentions, but they never become a reality. The reason is that a decision doesn't change you; your decision gives you the reason to change. If your decision is truly meaningful, you will probably fulfill that decision by changing.

God is not going to give the gift of salvation to someone who tries to work for it by killing people or doing good deeds. This would nullify the fact of it being a free gift. And yes, salvation does come by faith, but not dead faith. James tells us that faith without works is dead. Therefore, what would you do for salvation? Does your decision to trust Christ as Savior provoke you to live a changed life? A life that is holy and separated for God.

Klondike Bars are wonderful, but what would you do for eternal life?

It's that time again...Mime-Time!

School is now in session. Wow, this summer has flown by. I remember those days like they were only a couple of years ago...maybe, because it was. Everything seems to go great during the summer. You have a great golden tan. You may have met someone that you think is "the one." And now it all has to end because it's that time again...mime time. School has bbegun and right out the window flew all of that fun.

I grew up watching the greatest cartoon, Animaniacs. Wakko, Yakko, and Dot were hilarious, but I also liked the segment called "Mime Time." They would have this weird-looking mime that would act like he was reaching up pulling on a rope, adn all of a sudden a piano would fall down and crush him. Everytime he tried to act like he was doing something real, something bad would happen to him. Little did I ever think that Mime Time would actually display some spiritual truth. The truth that I have found is that when we don't like something, we tend to become a mime and fake it.

Granted, school is not the most fun and exciting place, but really it is what you make of it. So what are you going to make of it this year? Don't think about next year or last year; concentrate on this year. Are you going to apply yourself and do your best, or just blend in and get by?

A mime is a simply a person who is trying to act like someone else. Another word could be: model, mimic, impersonator, imitate. Basically, the Mime Time comes about when we see a bunch of cool people at school, and we decide that we want to be like them. Maybe you choose to imitate celebrities, family members, or the popular kids at school.

You also mime others not just by the way you look but by the way you act. It has become cool to disrespect teachers, act up in class, not do you homework, and pick on "non-cool" kids. And because that is now thought to be cool, everyone wants to do that. Schools have become a breeding ground for Mimes. I watch as students show up at our school everyday. There is a common look on their faces. It is stale and petrified. It kind of looks like they half-way woke up and then plastered their face in that shape. It is extremely disturbing and quite nasty. School becomes so routine that we learn to just zone out.

Here is the problem! Teenagers today are trying to mime, mimic, imitate a wide variety of people. Understand this, it is not people that we should be imitating no matter how good or godly they are. We are called to imitate Christ (Phil 2:5). What a revolutionary thought. If we would focus our time on Miming our lives after Christ rather than people, we would all be better off.

So this year, don't fall prey to the routine of school life. Make this year an unforgetable challenge of becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. If you are going to mime someone, I would recommend miming the one who no matter how hard he pulls on a rope, no piano will ever crush Him.

Spiritual Exercise Involves Walking Your Prayers

When was the last time you prayed without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17)? I don't mean...a 5 minute "I'm going to sleep" prayer or even a 30 second "thanks for the grub" prayer...but a time that you prayed without stopping. We are so accustomed to our Americanized life that we view prayer as a compartment of our spiritual life instead of a completer of our spiritual life. We know that we are to pray before we eat a meal, before we go to bed, during a church service, while taking a test that we forgot to study for, and when we need God to come and save the day. And there are some exceptions that we make, such as:
"It's only an ice cream, so we don't have to pray for it."
"I am just so tired that I just decided to sleep and let God know what I was going to say."
"Well, the preacher got up and was praying for everybody, so I just sat there and thought about what was for lunch."

So many of us, me included, are guilty of treating the privilege of prayer like a beat up pickup truck. We just toss it around and say, "It doesn't matter" and we assume that the truck will be run the way you want it to. The sad thing is that we expect God to "run the way we want Him to", so we just spend time with Him when we need to take a bunch of junk to the dump.

Prayer is not closing your eyes. It is not bowing your head. It is not a moment of silence. It is not a "spiritual experience." Prayer is talking to God.

Think with me for a minute. How well would a pilot fly a plane if he had a radio that only received calls and did not put out any calls, and he had absolutely no visibility. He could be warned of dangers of obstacles in his path and be given some simple instructions and possibly even crash-land the plane; however, it would be impossible to have a good and acceptable landing without a two-way conversation. God speaks to us through His Word, The Bible, and we speak to God through prayer. When working together in the life of a believer, a good and acceptable landing will take place in Heaven.

Prayer is vitally important not only in extreme conditions but in every aspect of our lives. Paul tells the church in Thessalonica that they must rejoice evermore and pray without ceasing. By this Paul is telling them that their life should produce both joy and prayerfulness. They should be characteristics of a believer. When someone sees you, how much joy do you have? How much are you dependent on prayer? Paul was not telling us to walk around with heads bowed, eyes closed, beating our heads with boards, and repeating a rhythmic prayer. That is not prayer; that is religious stupidity.

Prayer is simply talking with God. If God can hear our words, see our actions, know our thoughts, and discern our motives, then all that we do, He knows. Therefore, when you yell at your spouse, you are praying. When you back talk your parents, you are praying. When you gossip about another person, true or false, you are praying. Is God pleased with your prayers? If God knows our hearts, then prayer is much more than words.

In fact many people can "woo" a crowd with a fantastic King James Version prayer that floats with Iambic Pentameter and rhymes every other line, but that is not prayer. God is more interested in a life that prays "talk to God" in a good and faithful way, than in a life that looks good on the outside but is trashed on the inside.

Instead of trying to fit prayer into your spiritual life, let prayer be the duct tape that holds your spiritual life together. We can do nothing on our own, so through prayer and supplication, let your request be made known unto God (Philippians 4:6). The more that you live a life that understands you are always praying to God; the more you will take time to pause and verbally talk with God.

So how spiritually strong are we? As a Christian, how are our prayers being heard by God? Is he pleased by how we talk to Him? Don't make a space for prayer, because it will not fit into a space...instead, allow your knowledge of prayer and your life of prayer build your spiritual life. As we exercise our spiritual life, how well do we "walk" our prayers...

Attacking the Family

Wow, it has been a long time since I have found time to blog...sorry. I have been busy because my wife's family was in town visiting with us. So, between my work that I had to do at the church and spending time with the family, I was running on fumes. We were able to get away for a couple of days and head to the beach. We had a wonderful time while they were here, and it is always tough to see them leave.

I understand that even though I am in ministry, I still must make time for my family. The family was God's first institution. Family is not a concept that was invented by Al Gore (laugh) or by anyone other than God. Because God put emphasis on marriage and family in the beginning, it must be something close and dear to God's heart.

What is America doing to promote family unity? A whole lot of nothing! If you watch TV, you will see exactly how America views family life. There are shows like Roseanne, that picture the American family as being a "war zone". There are shows like The Drew Carey Show, Friends, Dawson's Creek, and many others that portray family as an immoral lifestyle. Basically, these shows make family a relative issue (no pun intended). They say that if I am sleeping with this person then that is my family, but if it changes that new person becomes my family. The depressing part of TV is that cartoons have now become the vehicle through which the American family is portrayed. Shows like The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, and American Dad. These shows are filled with foul language, sexually explicit themes, violence, and mockery of God and families.

It is appalling to think that we care no more about our families than to use disfunctional families as a marketing ploy to make people laugh. Yes, there are many disfunctional families in America, but it only causes more when the TV promotes them as being comical. A teenager watching Family Guy may see Stewy cuss out his parents, so he begins to do that and to teach his little brother to do the same thing. What people watch on TV does influence the choices they make. In fact, if Benford Tools was a real brand of tools, I would buy them just because of Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor. As kids and parents watch TV that degrades families, they will begin to follow that pattern.

My question for you is, "How is your family?" No family is perfect, but you could have a good family relationship; or you could have a bad family atmosphere. The only thing that I would give as advice about families is this...You can never change problems of other people, but you must change the problems with yourself. Simply stated, don't focus on others problems; just fix your problems and see if that doesn't help fix the other problems. Remember, God gave you your family, love them.

Passionate About What?

Humans are passionate beings. I have never seen a couple of animals hugging, high-fiving, or celebrating…except on that Geico commercial with the squirrels. That is just the way that we are made. God made man to be a passionate creation with whom God could have a personal relationship. Contrary to popular opinion, being passionate and emotional is a characteristic of worship.

I have grown up in Baptist Churches my whole life. For the most part, my Church experience was an audience-focused ceremony. Basically, I was under the impression that the members of the Church came together to be the audience for whoever was speaking or singing that morning. It was so predictable that I, along with other kids, would make a game out of guessing the “order of service”. We would go as far as to pre-mark the hymns that would be sung that morning, so we could be the first to stand up and have the page ready to go. I had the disillusionment that Church was the service.

Now I understand that the Church is people. And you know what, as we gather together as one body, we are not the audience awaiting a message. We are to be the worshippers, and God is our audience. We tend to focus a whole lot on ourselves and the “things” that are going on around us. That is when we need to stop and return our focus and praise to God.

Because of the reversed impression of Church that I had, emotion and passion were never in the formula for worship. I was basically told that I could be passionate about sports, entertainment, family, or other worldly things, but when it came to worshipping God, it must be formal and lethargic. No one ever said that to me, but that is what I gathered as I watched and studied what went on in Church.

People, we need to wake up. The most passionate thing in our life should be worshipping God. It should dominate our being, so that everything we do, say, or think will ooze with passion for the one “who loved us and gave himself for us.” On the other hand there are those that are passionate and emotional while they are at Church, but their life the rest of the week is dead and decaying. If we put the focus on God and off of me or you, true worship will be a passionate experience.

Steven Curtis Chapman had a great example of how we treat God’s glory on his CD, Declaration. In the song, “See the Glory”, he talks about how his children act in different situations. His one son was playing the Game Boy while they were at the Grand Canyon. His daughter was playing in a mud puddle in the parking lot when they went to the beach. His other child was eating candy at a formal dinner that they went to. He tied it together to show how we treat God. Who in their right mind would play a silly video game while visiting the Grand Canyon? The same person who would look at their watch every ten minutes during a Sunday worship service…

We need to wake up and see the Glory!

The Power of Darkness

"Are You Afraid of the Dark?"...what memories of my childhood. Nickelodeon started this show when I was a kid about scary stories and pranks. It was meant to be a childish show that would spook kids, not to terrify kids. However childish it may seem to be scared of the dark, most of us would have to admit honesty that there is something creepy about darkness.

What are some things that take place under the shadow of darkness? Most crimes are committed during dark hours. Prostitution, drug dealing/using, gang fights, burglaries, murders, and trespassing are all crimes committed predominantly during the concealing blanket of night. This is the prime time to do things that are wrong because not many people are around to see what is happening. We, as humans, tend to have the mindset that if no one can see what I am doing then it is not wrong. Not many times do people try to do horrible things during the middle of the day because they don't want to be noticed. Now, I understand that there are some very crazy exceptions to the rule.

Darkness not only carries a sense of crime along with it, but it also has a sense of evil to it. Here this, there is nothing evil about darkness in and of itself. God made light and divided it from the darkness and He called it good. However, Satan has found darkness to be a great way to work his evil. Most witchcraft, wicca, black magic, and sorcery is centered around darkness.

Now teenagers and adults alike are making a bold stand for darkness. There are those who call themselves Gothic. Most people tie the word Gothic with Psycho dressed in all black. Now it is a characteristic of a Gothic to dress in all black, but Gothic simply refers back to a German history. There is Gothic architecture, literature, and time period. Today's Gothics have a strong passion for darkness. They look to Hitler and other German leaders as idols, and they want to suppress their emotion by covering it all in black.

Really, Gothics are people who have issues, like us all, and they want attention, so they get it by dressing in black and painting their hair and faces. They don't like light because light exposes problems. God is light. Therefore they have to desire for things of God. The only way to fix a problem is to expose it, so the only answer for the problems of a Gothic or anyone else is to look to God and let Him expose their sin and change them.

This is a warning to all teenagers. Do Not Get Caught Up In Dark Things!! Once you open up your mind or ears to things that are deceptive and dark, they will take you down. If you read this and you are involved in some dark issues, e-mail me and I would love to share with you a better way.

Abstinence vs Safe Sex

I had the privilege to attend a meeting last week with a group of medical doctors, college professors, high school superintendents, pastors, and community leaders. This meeting was called to order to discuss the rising problem of teen pregnancy, abortions, and sexually transmitted diseases. The really mind-blowing part of this meeting is that all were there to promote sexual abstinence, not "safe sex".

The overall goal of the meeting was to state the purpose for an abstinence program in schools and communities and to find a way to implement this program. We had three great speakers that discussed the psychological issues that sex has on teenagers, the physiological issues that sex provides teenagers, and the overall value that is placed on sex within marriage. Remember that the group is made up of Christians and non-Christians. The group as a whole believed that sex is for married couples only and only within that marriage. I never thought this would come about.

I believe that abstinence is the way...However, I don't know if an abstinence program is the way to solve the problem of sexually active teenagers. Follow my thoughts here. Why would a person choose to shoot someone? Maybe they made them mad...Maybe he was paid...Maybe he was tricked into it. The point is that behind every act that we do, we have an ultimate purpose for that action. If the purpose is centered on ourselves or on our situations, then our response or action can change because we are beings that change. Therefore, the ultimate purpose for our choices must be based on God.

If a student decides to stay abstinent until marriage, and Mr. Right comes along, what will they do? Some may push aside their decision because now they have someone who cares about them. Only when we focus on Jesus Christ as Lord will we be able to abstain. Daniel, while being taken into captivity, "purposed in his heart that he would not defile his Lord." That is what it takes to be abstinent. Not just the decision, but the purpose behind the decision.

Have you purposed in your heart?

24..."Real Time"..."Real Lies"

The hit show 24 has swept across America captivating many people. It is filled with high tech visuals and great acting. The show is riveting and keeps you guessing, "What is going to happen next?" I have, along with many others, become quite glued to my television when it is time for 24 to begin.

Each episode is one hour long and the show proceeds through a "real time" schedule through the season. The entire season is twenty-four hours long; therefore, you watch 24 one-hour episodes. It is a one-of-a-kind show. Basically, you are living through one day in the life of Jack Bauer. Jack is a federal agent with the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) in L.A. He does all that he can do to protect America from the threat of terrorists.

The plot has some good American patriotism to it, but there is some other issues that are shown throughout the seasons of 24. For example in the last season, Habib Marwan was the main terrorist who was an extreme islamic radical who wanted to attack America by way of Nuclear Warfare. That season was criticized as being slanderous toward Muslims, but the show was portraying how the extreme, not all, Muslims would be toward America. It hit on an issue that America is facing in today's society.

This season the terrorist is President Logan...the President of the Unided States. Logan allowed terrorist to gain control of nerve gas to release on Russia. The plan was to release the gas on the terrorist once they were out of the country, but they caught on to the plan. To make the long story short, President Logan had several people killed during this one day just to make a political statement. He sacrificed many lives to better his own. The scariest part is the way that he controls himself when he is forced to lie. He lied to his wife, his country, his chief of staff, himself. He became so good at lying that it doesn't even phase him to lie right to his wife's face.

Just as the show is displayed in "real time"...it also displays real life. In this world of fleshly desires, all types of people find lying to be a part of their lives. It can be your parents, your children, your employees, your boss, your friends, whoever; and you lie through your teeth. Lying is a natural response that we see beginning in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and the Serpent. No one has to teach you to lie...in fact, some of us are very good at lying.

If you are familiar with the show at all, President Logan shows no remorse at all as he lies to everyone. It has almost become a natural response. We all can fall into that life of deception. We can either tell the truth and accept consequenses or we can lie and let it go. In the 24 hrs you have each day...during your "real time" life...don't get caught up in "real lies"....

The Da Vinci Code...

"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"...a classic line from Chiken Little. What a cute innocent children's fable, that has now become a children's cartoon movie about aliens. The movie does keep the initial ground work about Chickin Little's fear that the sky is falling, but it then just overflows with creative imagination. Many movies have been high on the box office charts recently that share the same concept of PANIC.

In 2002 M. Night Shyamalan released Signs starring Mel Gibson. This movie is about a Catholic priest whose wife died in a car accident. As she was dying, she told him hints that revealed the coming of aliens to the earth. Along with crop signs that were left in fields, it seemed evident that something was coming. The aliens came and terrorized the planet, and then suddenly left. This is just one of the movies that got it's unmerited views across by using a PANIC mentality.

The War of the Worlds hit the big screen in June of 2005. This film is a re-make of an earlier film which was based on a scandal. The scandal was to try and scare people by telling them that aliens from other worlds were coming to take over the earth. Once again we see the thoughts and principles of people shaken by PANIC.

There are several other movies that we have seen at theatres recently that promote ideas or views by causing PANIC: The Day After Tommorow, Independance Day, Armageddon, and many more. A new movie that is coming out very soon is The Da Vinci Code by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks. This movie is very clever in the way it attempts to promote the thoughts and opinions of Dan Brown. The movie attacks the very core principles and facts of the Bible and Jesus Christ. He does this by promoting a sense of PANIC.

The truth that is contained within the pages of Scripture is being challenged by the misconstrued ideas of Mr. Brown and others that take part in the Da Vinci Code. Both Christians and non-Christians agree that there are many wrong concepts given in this book and movie about history and the Bible in particular. A great movie about this issue is The Da Vinci Deception put out by D. James Kennedy in Fort Lauderdale, FL. It will supply support from many historians and art historians about the fallacies in The Da Vinci Code.

When this movie comes out, do not support it. Instead of going to see the movie, take time to talk to your friends or neighbors about the lies and deception contained within this movie. Remember that the best way to know if something is contrary to the truth of Scripture is to know the Scripture. Check the Bible for yourself and see if the Da Vinci Code is fact or fiction.

The PANIC that movies are using to change our views and ideas about life are based on what is to come. The movie industry loves to strike PANIC in our hearts over the issue of the future. What is out there? Are there aliens around us? They are correct about one thing. The world could end at any moment, but we as Christians do not worry about panic because we know what is to come. Keep that in mind when our faith is shaken. God is in control...not Dan Brown...not Ron Howard...not you...but God.

Think about "My Jesus"

Todd Agnew, a contemporary Christian artist, recently released a song titled "My Jesus". In this song he challenges Christians to think about who they look like...Jesus or the World. He continues through the song to explain how Jesus would not be well accepted in our Churches today because the "blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet."

This song has really caused me to think about myself. Who am I trying to be? As a Christian, I am to be "like Christ"...However, the more I look at my life, the more I realize that I look like the world. I try to be "in style" and "cool", and I want so much to be accepted by this world.

If Jesus were to walk into my Church, would I be like Him? I don't whether Christ would wear patten leather shoes or walk around barefoot. I don't know if He would wear a three-piece suit or just some dirty, shaggy robe. But I do know that it is not about what I am wearing, but it is all about what I am covering up. Who am I under the mask that I wear?

The Church as a whole body would be much better off, if we learned to be honest with each other and take off our silly masks and be open before God and with each other. So, what do you think? How much do you look like your Jesus? It's never to early to take off your mask, but there can be a time that it is too late.