Category Archives: Christian Discipleship

IT’S ALL ABOUT YOUR $20

Biblical Truth, BMMC, Christian Discipleship, Master's Commission, Spiritual Growth, , , , ,

Version 2Jesus is Lord. Lord of All  Period. Settled. Done. Nothing will ever change that.  But the question is, “Is He Lord of You?”

This, of course, is a statement that I have heard preached and taught since I was knee high to a grasshopper.  I heard it at least once at every youth camp, every youth revival, and every retreat that I ever attended, and I have taught it at least a thousand times myself since I have been in ministry.

But don’t become deaf to it.  There’s no place for jaded disciples.  It must be an important truth for so many to have made it a priority all these years.  In the English New Testament the word “Lord” appears 618 times– of which Jesus is personally addressed as “Lord” or “my Lord” 249 times.  It’s a big word and a big concept.  It’s synonyms are master, ruler, commander, and “one who exercises absolute ownership rights.”  Absolute ownership.  That’s big.

Doesn’t it seem odd to claim that He is Lord of ALL, without being MY Lord?   How does that make any sense?   Follow my logic.

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NEO-NATAL MELTDOWN

Biblical Truth, Christian Discipleship, Spiritual Growth, , , ,

In my more than thirty years of pastoral partnership with Ron Cox at Kingwood Church, my mind has amassed dozens of humorous stories that we experienced together in ministry. I learned quickly to “expect the unexpected” when working with Pastor Ron. He is like a lightning rod, attracting bizarre and unpredictable strikes in his direction. It’s not that terrible things occur when he’s around, but that hanging around Ron Cox sometimes opens the door to rare adventures—usually originating from life’s most common circumstances.

extreme preemieOne of those “never to be forgotten” moments occurred when Pastor Ron and I were doing routine hospital visits one hot, summer afternoon in downtown Birmingham. We had made a trip to the UAB Hospital’s state-of-the-art neo-natal unit to visit a sick child. While we were there we discovered that one of our church members was a specialty nurse on the unit. She was eager to show us around her workplace, and even allowed us minister to some of the families who were desperately hoping for their tiny loved ones to get well. The quick visit turned into a long and busy ministry opportunity which we welcomed with open arms.

Just before we left, the nurse took us to the part of the unit where the most delicate premature birth babies were struggling for survival. Both Ron and I were moved by the tiny children we saw gasping for breath and fighting for their lives in the incubators. One of them had been born so prematurely that his razor thin skin was nearly transparent. We could actually see his internal organs, and watched his tiny heart beat like it was under opaque glass. The neo-natal nursery was amazing.

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3 THINGS THAT ONLY GOD CAN DO

BMMC, Christian Discipleship, Spiritual Growth, , , ,

Screen-Shot-2016-02-04-at-11.14.53-PMWorship music is powerful. When I first heard Vertical Church Band’s “Spirit of the Living God” a few months ago, I knew immediately that it had made a permanent impact on me. There are a few worship songs in the past that have done that—songs like Chris Tomlin’s “Good, Good, Father” and Kari Jobe’s “You Are For Me.”  Earlier it was Hillsong’s “Shout to the Lord” that held the top spot. Before that it was Keith Green’s “Make My Life A Prayer to You,” and Chuck Girard’s “Abba Father.” I even remember the impact “Oh My Jesus” by Ron Salisbury had on me as a teen.

Those were songs that I would listen to over and over, and sing in my mind all day long. I let them push me and move me toward a deeper personal relationship with Jesus. Everything in my life was touched by them—my prayers, my thoughts, my ideas, and even my vocabulary. “Spirit of the Living God” did that to me when I heard it.  As the wellspring of this blog post, it is echoing in my soul. I am especially fond of these lyrics in the chorus:

‘Cause when You speak. and when You move; 

When You do what only You can do

It changes us, it changes what we see, and what we seek.

I have mulled over the full meaning of those lyrics for some time now, and here is my take.  God, and God alone, is “placed above” and “set apart” from anyone or anything else, because there are some things that “only He can do.”

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SPEAKING IN CURSIVE

Biblical Truth, BMMC, Christian Discipleship, Humor, Master's Commission, Small Town America, Spiritual Growth, , , ,

Last week I spent some time in a retail tire store waiting to get a new set of tires on my truck.  Using the down time to check my email on my smart phone, I found myself totally distracted by a meltdown that was occurring on the other end of the waiting area.  Some guy was not happy about his tires, and was letting the store employee know about it something fierce!cursing  Whoa!  I quickly looked around to make sure there were no women and children in earshot of his verbal tirade.  Although I was interested in what the tire guy had done wrong in case I needed to beware of buyers remorse, it was totally impossible to follow his logic since every other word made me cringe.  Fortunately, the two took it outside and I was spared the full performance.  Later I got a text from a co-worker who asked, “Are you busy?”  My response was, “No. Just listening to a guy speak cursive.”  On the other end I read, “What??”

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HABITS, HABITS

Biblical Truth, BMMC, Christian Discipleship, Spiritual Growth, , ,

SanAntonioSisters[1]Have you ever paid attention to those outfits that nuns wear?  Some describe the way they dress as the “Amish Catholic” style. Their garb is called a “habit.”  That, of course, makes sense because they are obviously in the “habit” of wearing the same thing every day.  Habit is actually our English word that comes from the Latin word habitare, which means “dwelling place” or “the place where one normally lives.”  That’s obviously true for the nuns– they live life in those black and white uniforms.  It’s where they dwell– literally.

Now.  Enough about nuns. What about you and me?  (My apologies to any nuns that might be reading this blog.)  Here is a truth:  Our character is a composite of our habits.  To find out what our true character is, we must look at our  habits. A person’s character is NOT what they WANT to be like, but what has been practiced over and over in life.  Our character is how we live our lives, and our habits– our daily habits– are the evidence.

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