How Would You Caption This Video?

Africa is a BIG Continent!

I love maps. I have a big world map over my office desk and enjoy using it to ponder and pray. Many people fail to understand the size of the African continent -- check out this representation to help you get it!

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I Missed Reformation Day!

I completely forgot to blog about Reformation Day (Oct 30), but recommend this short video clip from the film Luther for your enjoyment. How would you handle yourself in this situation?



One more thing -- I rather doubt Luther spoke this quietly!

How Scientific News Gets Distorted

I've long been troubled by the poor reporting on scientific studies by various news outlets. There is far too much truth in this cartoon!

Books I Re-Read

I recently mentioned that some books are on my "re-read regularly" list, because they are so influential and deep that I continue to gain wisdom and insight from them over a period of years.

Here are some of those books (in no particular order) which I heartily recommend to you:

• Spiritual Leadership (J. Oswald Sanders)
• Life Together (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
• In Search of Guidance (Dallas Willard)
• A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (William Law)
• Celebration of Discipline (Richard Foster)
• Knowing God (J. Packer)
• With Christ in the School of Prayer (Andrew Murray)
• The Pursuit of God (A. W. Tozer)
• Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices (Thomas Brooks)
• Thoughts for Young Men (J. C. Ryle)

I honestly don't read a lot of fiction, but I do have two titles on my re-read list:

• The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R.Tolkien). I've read this every year since 1978.
• The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis). Great messages for children of all ages!

What's on your list?

Some Books You Read and Re-Read

There are a number of classic books that are worth reading, re-reading, devouring, and drawing upon again and again.

One of those books for me is Oswald Sander's Spiritual Leadership. If you check the Amazon review site you'll see why it's on the must-read list. If you haven't read this book, get it in your reading pile soon -- you'll be blessed. If you have, dust it off and find some new insights.

Next post: I'll share some more of my "re-read regularly" list. Some books have been very influential in my thinking at a critical point in time, but I don't go back to them. The ones I go back to are those which speak to me in new and refreshing ways as I get older and gain more experience.

Who Are You Mentoring?

Men, here's a short exercise for you: get a sheet of paper, and write down a list of younger men and peers that you are influencing. Who asks you questions? Who hangs around you? Whom do you help with projects, or just engage in conversation?

Two more questions:
(1) Whom do I need to invest in more?
(2) What can I do [today, or in the next week] to more intentionally mentor someone on this list?

Bonus question: What can I do to add more men to my list?

Operation World

Recommended resource: New version of Operation World (The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation).

Dad's, this is great for meal time with your family. Teach the family a little bit about new countries, and give them a world perspective.

Use Stories and Logic

If you want to influence people, you must use stories and logic. God has wired us to respond powerfully to stories, drama, hints, and discovery. But he also wants us to think wisely, including using logic carefully.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philippians 4:8

A Halloween Thought

I encourage you to develop strong convictions about "secular" holidays like Halloween. If you believe your family should not participate or celebrate, lead your family appropriately. If you don't object to sending your children around in costumes to "plunder the Egyptians" of their candy, lead your family appropriately.

One thought I had last night (which was the official "Beggar's Night" in our community): Many of the darkened Christian homes were missing opportunities to connect with neighbors and be seen as a warm, loving adult by the children.

Again, I know families that have strong no-Halloween convictions, and I respect that. I'm not going to break fellowship with them over a disputable matter like Halloween.

The Debt We Owe Hebrew Scribes

You will encounter people who are concerned about the authenticity of the Bible. There are many articles explaining why today's Bible accurately reflects the original texts. But this information from Parchment and Pen was new to me:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Tradition tells us the Hebrew people were meticulous copyists of Scripture. Scribes were so aware of their task they would go to great lengths to make sure their hand-written copy of Scripture was free from error. Hebrew scribes were bound to the following rules:

1. They could only use clean animal skins, both to write on, and even to bind manuscripts.
2. Each column of writing could have no less than forty-eight, and no more than sixty lines.
3. The ink must be black, and of a special recipe.
4. They must verbalize each word aloud while they were writing.
5. They must wipe the pen and wash their entire bodies every time before writing God’s name.
6. There must be a review within thirty days, and if as many as three pages required corrections, the entire manuscript had to be redone.
7. The letters, words, and paragraphs had to be counted, and the document became invalid if two letters touched each other. The middle paragraph, word and letter must correspond to those of the original document.
8. The documents could be stored only in sacred places (synagogues, etc.).

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Wow! He goes on to tell the story of some famous manuscripts, including the Dead Sea Scrolls. Recommended! Let this information add to your confidence level!

One more thought to ponder: the scribes carefully copied everything over the centuries --even those things which probably made no sense to them at all.

I Hadn't Thought About Ironing Boards This Way

Of course many things we consider ordinary and natural wouldn't pass muster with today's mentality. The FDA would ban nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine consumption if these were new products.

Ready to Steer the World?

I love this little poem by Shel Silverstein:

God says to me with a kind of smile,
"Hey how would you like to be God awhile
And steer the world?"
"Okay," says I, "I'll give it a try.
Where do I set?
How much do I get?
What time is lunch?
When can I quit?"
"Gimme back that wheel," says God.
"I don't think you're quite ready yet."

One key thing we MUST work at, dads, is helping our families get past entitlement thinking. We don't deserve things. We are children of grace. We should seek and accept responsibilities without asking questions about "what's in it for me?" This is maturity.

And it must start with me and you.

Repost: What Fathers Should Teach Their Sons

What Fathers Should Teach Their Sons -- it's been amazing to see how this has been picked up by others and used. I trust it will be helpful to you, also.

Encouragement for Dads

For all you dads:

Stand firm.
Love deeply, and sacrificially.
The days are long, but the years are short.

God is doing important work in you and through you.

Beware the Me Monster!

Servant-Up!

You know that wonderful promise in Luke 17 where Jesus says "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed"? This devotion isn't about that. It's about what Jesus told his disciples right after that. Listen closely:

7"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? 8Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? 9Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' " (Luke 17:7-10)

These verses aren't covered in many sermons, I suspect, because they're…well…uncomfortable.
"Unworthy servants" and "only doing our duty"- that's how Jesus says we should realistically view ourselves.

But wait, perhaps you're thinking of that phrase we love to quote, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" That's what we are, right? Good and faithful, not unworthy.

Let's look at that Luke 19 passage again, carefully:

15"He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. 16"The first one came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned ten more.' 17" 'Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. 'Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.' (Luke 19:15-17)

The parallel passage is from Matthew 25:
"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

Think carefully, now. There is no conflict between being unworthy and being a good servant. We are unworthy, because we don't deserve the grace that our Lord shows us by calling us to be servants. With His help (see John 15:5 - we don't do anything apart from Him), we accomplish amazing things, but they are simply our duty. We're following His commands.

There is a key message that we as individuals and we as a church need to hear in Luke 19:17: the reward for accomplishment for Christ is greater responsibility! "Take charge of ten cities" is a much larger responsibility than being a steward of a mina (which was about 3 months' wages).

As I have read and reread the New Testament I have noticed that there is something missing. No where does Jesus ever tell someone that their current level of service is fine and they can just coast, slide comfortably the rest of the way. Jesus recognizes good service and rewards it, but short of heaven we will continue to have increasing opportunities for service - which is the grand adventure of following Christ!

I believe God has already planned great things for us to accomplish in His strength and by His sovereign direction. (See Ephesians 2:10) God loves us far too much to let us sit on our past accomplishments, or wallow in our current state of sanctification. There are larger and greater steps that we will take to fulfill the Great Commission, our standing orders.

It's become popular today to challenge a person, saying "Man up!" My challenge to us is that we say - with joy, entering our Master's happiness, doing our duty - "Servant up!"

May God bless you, and bless us, for the glory of Jesus.

Leading to Change the Status Quo

If you're reading this God has put you in position to lead, to change the status quo, to create movements that change the world. There are some terrific insights in this 17 min video from Seth Godin. As you watch it think about your God-given talents and opportunities. (Bonus learning: study how Seth presents ideas and challenges -- this is not your typical boring PowerPoint!)



I recommend Seth's book on Tribes, too.

Three questions Seth poses for you:

1. Who are you upsetting? If you aren’t upsetting someone, you aren’t changing the status quo.
2. Who are you connecting? Connecting with other like minded people.
3. Who are you leading? Tribes are leadership led, not management led.

Defining Love -- a Child's Approach

We have a lot to learn from children! A group of children were once asked, "What does 'love' mean?" Listen to some of their answers:

Rebekah, 8, said, "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time—even when his hands got arthritis, too. That's love."
Billy, 4, said, "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
Bobby, 7, says, "Love is what's in the room at Christmas, if you stop opening presents and listen."
Nikka, 6, says, "If you want to learn to love better, you should start with someone you hate."
Tommy, 6, says, "Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
Cindy, 8, says, "During my piano recital, I was on a stage, and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me, and I saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. And I wasn't scared anymore."
Jessica, 8, says, "You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot."

What would your kids say about love?


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How the Truth Sets You Free

Note: This is from a short devotion I did recently. I've been helping some people who are fond of quoting "the truth will set you free" understand the real context for that statement from Jesus -- Glenn

31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

33They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants[a] and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"

34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."

39"Abraham is our father," they answered.

"If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would[c] do the things Abraham did. 40As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.

John 8:31-40 (NIV)

Putting “the truth will set you free” in its biblical context:

“to the Jews who believed him” (v31)

“if you hold to my teachings” (v31)

Those things come before: “THEN, you will know the truth” (v32)

Obedience issues!


They go back to their default state in v33: “we’re children of Abraham” (under the Abrahamic covenant)

Saying they have never been slaves is fantasy, revisionist history: They have been slaves – under Egypt, conquered by the Assyrians and the Babylonians, now effectively slaves under the Roman Empire. This is why they were eagerly anticipating a political Messiah!

But Jesus takes them to the real issue: slavery to sin in v34. One’s political situation is irrelevant to this heart issue.

There is no path to freedom apart from Christ (v36).

Abraham believed God (Genesis 15:6) – literally Abram Amen JHWH in the Hebrew.

Plenty of people in the world misunderstand the phrase “the truth will set you free.” Let’s help our congregation and the people in our sphere of influence to understand the real context of truth and freedom – centered in Christ.