You've Got a Friend in Me

Anyone from 7th - 12th grade and a few years either side of that recognizes the song lyric "You've Got a Friend in Me" from any of the Toy Story movies. In themselves they are pretty good entertainment, and they leave us with that statement of friendship that either we can relate to or we can struggle with.

Throughout history we (man) attach ourselves to people that are our peers and whether we are only tied to them because we share a classroom with them for the better part of our lives, or we share backyards with them through our childhood; we call them our friends.

Neither one of these two scenarios are bad in themselves, but if we really look at the Biblical model that we should take we should look within the home first and foremost.

Now I know that some people might try to argue, "Well my home life isn't great, I don't have great example that I can follow." Point taken. Obviously that observation has been made, and you've come to the point of acknowledging you need a better example. You wouldn't know that what you live in is a bad example if you haven't already witnessed a good example. Go to that good example.
There might be a family that you can connect with better than you own, great! I'm not telling you to abandon your family, but I am saying that if Godly counsel is not in your home, look for it the closest place you can find it.

Now parents this is for you: We are called to Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

That means that our relationship with our children has to be one that we know what is going on with them, we have to know their needs, their dreams, their struggles. And the hard part of that we may not can do anything about it. We may not can help fulfill those dreams, defeat those struggles, or meet those needs, but we serve a God who can.

Dad and mom, we are called to "Train" not raise, or rear even. (Which I know that rear is correct grammer) If we call on the Lord as our King, we are called to train our children up. So many times we just throw the blame of what they do against the scale of their age, and what does that do? It takes the blame off of us. What if we took responsibility for our child's actions, answered for them, and we had to pay the penalty? In our opinion that would royally stink. But that is what God is telling us through His word. He is telling us that it is our responsibility to teach our children how to live, and we do that by preparing them to be worshipers of the King.

Some of you parents might not relate to this. Some of you may say, I didn't get that as a child. Fine, you didn't get it, but you say that you are a Christian now. Then follow the word now!
2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if we are in Christ, know Him as Lord in a personal way, then we are a new creature through Him. Everything before that doesn't matter anymore. So if you were raised in a Christian home, but you are a Christian parent you are under obligation to pour into your child the ways of the Lord, not the ways of your parents no matter if they are Mr. Deacon, and Mrs. GA's or Mr. Drunk, and Mrs. Harlot.

We have to befriend our children, where they come to us before the run to their peers when they need guidance. Most people think that if we need to befriend our children it means that we need to entertain them, and their friends. Or we need to try to impress them with our style, or what we allow them to do/get away with. It doesn't matter what age, children will always be able to entertain themselves, and we need to impress in them the things of God, and guide them in the ways of God. We have to take every opportunity to pour into them the ways of God, rooted in the word of God. And going back to the statement I made about tossing blame on the age scale, the term Teenager is less than 100 years old. Technically my grandparents where never teenagers, according to society. (It was used in around 1938 for the first time during the Great Depression) Before that we used more of a Biblical model from childhood to manhood/womanhood.

We as society have tossed the idea of Training our children to be Biblical men and women. That is why they would rather go to talk to their friends that they make outside the home about their struggles, their needs, their dreams.

We need to win our children back to training them to be men and women for the Kingdom.

There are 2 resources that I have found that would be a good help, other than the Bible of course:

Raising a Modern-Day Joseph - Larry Fowler
Parenting with a Kingdom Purpose - Ken Hemphill & Richard Ross

How's your swordplay?

Ever since I was a younger boy, I've always loved movies. Don't ask me for a top 10, too difficult. But I can remember watching action movies, and seeing people like ninjas handling swords. Now Luke Skywalker was, in my mind the coolest carrying the light saber. And of course you had Leonardo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But one of my all-time favorite movies is "The Sword in the Stone." I never owned it, and still don't for that matter (it's probably safely tucked away in the Disney Vault awaiting some anniversary attributed by some precious stone, or metal) but hope to in the future.

But I can remember the scene where people were trying to pull the sword out of the stone and no one could do it, and then along came some scrawny kid named Arthur and just pulled it out with ease. Then to his surprise came upon him great responsibility.

This visual has stuck with me and reminds me of a very important Biblical lesson with 3 points. (that should make some of you happy that I have 3 points.)

But let's dive right in:

1. The Word of God is our SWORD!
In Ephesians 6 we are told that we are given armor to withstand the wiles of the Devil, and our only offensive weapon is the word of God. We, Christians, have the responsibility to take the word and to take it in. I personally have around 20 Bibles. Some are antiques, some are keepsakes, some I have to use as examples. Some are paraphrases (which I don't recommend), some are closest translation from the original texts that we have, and I even have 1 Hebrew bible. And they all are important because each one of them holds the truth of God and His son Jesus Christ within the pages. And the awesome thing about the Bible is that it's not just pages that were translated and written down hundreds of years ago, each one is alive, because the words on that page tell of the power Christ has to change lives.
Our sword is a powerful weapon, and we need to look at it as such. We sometimes tend to think as the young Arthur did, "that's pretty cool, I think I can handle it." We take hold with both hands and start swinging, not really looking where we are aiming, but since we are Christian we "know" what we are doing.
The scary thing is when we read God's word and we act on our own ideas we are crossing the line of being in control. His word is our sword, and He gives it to us freely, but He also gives us the Holy Spirit which guides us in understanding (learning to use our sword) and without that we are still that scrawny Arthur that can barely pick it up, but we still don't mind trying to swing it so people see us "using" our SWORD.

2. We've got to study the SWORD
Fast-forwarding to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, we see 4 turtles that have been changed by some chemical material into turtles that would stand about average height with you or me. But they've also been training to be ninjas since the time they began changing (I really don't know why I gave a rundown of TMNT because everyone should know this movie). But they've spent time mastering their weapons, and Leonardo, not only master 1 Sword but 2. He had studied his weapon so well that he could handle it with no problem and use it both offensively and defensively.

2 Timothy 2:15 reminds us that we are to study to show ourselves "worthy" or "approved" in the sight of God to accurately handle God's word. We must spend time everyday in the word. Whether it's listening to the Bible on CD, or podcast. Bible study with friends, but especially spending some quality time just you, your Bible, and God.

God has given us the Holy Spirit to be our helper, to be our guide through His word. When we don't know the word, and haven't spent time in the word, then how are we expected to know how to use the word.

This means a few things for those of us that find it important to study God's word in order to use God's word.

The first: Context
The second: Context
The third: Context

When we use God's word out of context we are not fulfilling 2 Timothy 2:15, we are not handling God's word accurately. We are in simpler words, grabbing the sword by the blade and swinging the handle at the Enemy. When we do this we hurt ourselves. Think a minute about if you went into your kitchen right now and took out a carving knife held it by the blade and began chopping up vegetables, or fruit or some dessert. Your hands would be brutally hurt, and until they healed you wouldn't be able to handle things properly.
That is the same way when we use scripture to make "our" point to people, or we use scripture to "make ourselves in the right" or we use scripture to make a cool T-shirt fit something we think is neat. (The last one i had to throw in there because you all know you have seen one.)

So we have to study the word! If we don't we are only going to hurt ourselves.

3. We MUST use the Sword!

If we recognize the Bible as our sword, and we learn how to use it, but we let it sit on the shelf then how have we honored God? How have we ministered to God? We are called to first minister to Him, then to others. It is possible to do both at the same time, but we must honor the Father before anyone, or anything else.

We don't need to minister to God, or to other solely based on "our live experiences". Now we do need to go and tell what the Lord has done for us, and what He is doing in our lives. If we look at the writings of the Apostle Paul we see that is what He did. The awesome thing about it though, is that Paul always pointed it back to Christ. He never pointed to himself.

So many times we think we are praising God, but we are truly praising ourselves. We MUST use the sword. If we can't reflect back to the word, as we are reflecting on what God has done in our lives then we find ourselves relying more on our words than HIS WORD.

There is nothing that we will go through that we can't find: comfort, solution, any kind of answer for it in His WORD.

So how is your swordplay?

Catch of the Day!!!

Some of my earliest memories were of spending time with my family on some land we own right outside of Maben, MS. It's not a whole lot of land but to a child it was huge. We had trails all over the place, forts, creeks, and even a pond that was always the source of hours of entertainment. I can remember going fishing with my grandfather, dad, and brother many times and spend hours there. It is something that I long to share with my kids, even though they are small now I know it's never to early to pour into their lives and make memories with them. For father's day they got me a new fishing pole, and they each got their own as well, so I guess it's about time to get them started with days full of memories. Here are some pictures of fishing at our Family Life Center at church.

What Kind of Learner Are You?

I'm sure for some of you, you already know what kind of "learner" you are. But for those of you who have never wondered or never tried to discover I hope there is a little insight for you in this. I was required to take some kind of health and wellness class while I was in college and during the course of that class we talked about the different types of "learners." There are Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic learners. So basically you learn by: seeing, hearing, or doing.


Now I was a Junior in college and I didn't know exactly which one I was. So this was very interesting to me. I shortly discovered I was a mixture of visual, and kinesthetic. I can watch you do something, but If I do it along with you I can pick up on it better.
As I went on the seminary, I worked at a camp where we were put in charge of teaching some classes in the realm of "Outdoor Education." This is where I was reminded of the different learning styles, but I also learned a few things that I had never heard. Probably the most interesting statistic to me was that only 10% of humanity is a true auditory learner. God made it possible that I marry one of those 10%. And I personally think that it is pretty-stinkin' cool. You hear it and you got it. This has definitely challenged me to work on paying attention to what I am hearing. This has also challenged me to soak up more and more of what I read and apply those things.
In seminary I was blessed to have a professor that allowed us to listen to the new testament, if we preferred instead of reading it. And for me that worked out really well, and I was able to pick up on more stuff that I would have to go back and re-read. So in this one area of my life God began to develop me into a fraction of an auditory learner. Today I would prefer to listen to a podcast/sermon while I'm driving, or mowing the grass than I would music. It has become a tool for God to get my attention and use in my life.
I had a friend of mine in ministry show me this album about 6 months ago, and it has really caused me to go and re-read the new testament. Especially about the dealings of the church.

Even if you aren't a rap fan I encourage you to check it out. It breaks down the 9 marks of a healthy church in a way that are very understandable.

Why These Nine Marks? from 9Marks on Vimeo.

No matter what kind of learner you are, God will work in you how "He" sees fit. He will give you the tools to use, and grow you into the Man/Woman in Christ you need to be. We just need to keep being obedient to the calling He has put on our lives. He will develop us into the person He wants us to become and use whatever "learning" method that we require to do it.

Over the course of the next several weeks I'm "hopefully" going to be taking a deeper look at each one of these marks. Because no matter what kind of learner we are, we are here to bring God glory, and we, as His children, do that through His church.

We Are Not Alone

One book that I consider one of the best reads, and a must for anyone that is a Christian, is The Unquenchable Worshiper by Matt Redman. Now I'm not telling you to stop your quiet times in God's Awesome Holy Word for this book, and I don't think Matt would tell you that either. But I was introduced to this book my Junior year of College, where I borrowed it read it and loved it. I didn't by my own copy until 2 years later. Since that time I have read and re-read this book about once a year.

In chapter 3 of this book Matt is talking about a worship service that He was truly seeking the Holy Spirit's working in that place. He wrote that he felt that nothing was working, but then the Holy Spirit put a song in his head. It was a popular song at the time You Are Not Alone by Micheal Jackson.



Now you may be thinking ok, that's enough I'm not adding that book to my "Must Read" list. But it was a reminder to him that the Holy Spirit is always with us and always enables us to carry out whatever portion of God's will He has revealed to us at that time.

Personally I'm impatient, I don't know about the rest of you but I pray and seek God but I want an answer, and I want to be able to control the situations that will help me accomplish whatever I need to, to have that answer. And we want all of God's will revealed to us all at once. The incredible thing about that is, that it is 100% wrong. If God revealed His whole will to any of us, why would we need Him? He reveals what we need, let me say that again, what we NEED at that time to further the kingdom work.

Just like this song for Matt Redman, who has written some of the most awesome worship songs of this generation, God revealed to Him what was going to bring HIM glory. We are not alone! We should be excited about that, we should revel in the fact that the Holy Spirit is in us, and that we don't have to live our everyday lives, like we've been living them. We don't have to go to work tomorrow and get in our same routine. WE ARE NOT ALONE!

Why do we refuse to let the Holy Spirit to have complete control of our lives?

Why do we live like we have any control over our lives? This keeps us in our routines, this keeps us from living Holy Spirit inspired lives.

Whether you agree with what the Holy Spirit is telling you, to quote probably the best 1980's catch phrase, "Just Do It." Just do it, Psalms 55:22 tells us to cast our cares upon the Lord, and He will sustain us, He will never let the righteous fall." It isn't about what we like, it is about what God wants us to do. HE WILL SUSTAIN US!!

If we aren't going to live like we have the Holy Spirit in us, why do we boast in His name?