September 27, 2015

"Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.  When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:2-4

This is just a great story in every way!

I want to focus on another aspect of the story. I want to call your attention to the four men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus!

Are you concerned about bringing your friends to Jesus? 

These men show how to do it!

Bringing your friend to Jesus takes a concern. These four cared enough about their needy neighbor that they came up with a plan to carry him to Jesus!

How can you say you are concerned about a friend if you don't have a plan for getting him to Jesus?

Bringing you friend to Jesus takes a conviction. These men had a strong belief that their paralyzed neighbor needed to be saved and healed. They also had a firm belief that Jesus could heal their friend if they could somehow take him to Jesus. Their conviction was demonstrated by their actions.

Do you have a friend or family member who needs to be saved? Do have a strong conviction that unless they are touched by Jesus they will perish eternally? Are you ready to act on that conviction?

Bringing your friend to Jesus takes commitment. These men had to take time and effort to get their friend's bed carried to the house where Jesus was speaking. After they carried this friend on his bed all the way across town their commitment was challenged when they discovered there was no way to get through the crowd and into the house. What now? Should they give up and go back home? No! They were committed enough to carry their need friend up the back steps and onto the roof, then tear a hole in the roof and then carefully lower the bed down into the house.

Do you have a friend or a family member who needs Jesus? How committed are you to carrying him to Jesus?

Bringing your friend to Jesus may take cooperation. These men obviously all cared about the spiritual and physical welfare of their neighbor. Each of them wanted to see their friend meet Jesus. But due to his situation and circumstances none of them could get their neighbor to Jesus by themselves. To get his man to the Savior was going to require the cooperation of all four. Because they were willing to work together their friend was healed and saved by Jesus!

Christians are not called to be lone rangers. We need each other's talents, gifts, support and encouragement. By cooperating in worship, giving, prayer and serving we can get more people to Jesus than any of us can working alone!

In part, this is what this Sunday's Pigskin & Pig-picking event is about!

Getting people to Jesus is the calling that God has given to His followers. It is the Great Commission not the good idea or the best option!

Be inspired by the example of these four men who had enough concern, enough conviction, enough commitment and enough cooperation to get their neighbor to Jesus. 

Be inspired enough to follow that example!

September 26, 2015

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

The third of three suggested virtues that should be built into Home Run Kids, in addition to honesty and thankfulness is:

PAY THEN PLAY

Immaturity is revealed in a “play first play later” mentality. The natural inclination of a child is to run to third base rather than first base.

Here are some priorities to teach kids to pay them play:

• ·       Character First And Education Second
• ·       School Work First And Sports Second
• ·       Homework First And Play Second
• ·       Chores First And TV/Video Games Second

Parents know things that kids don’t know. They know one thing leads to another. Actions have consequences. We know where the rocks are in life and need to show our kids where to walk.

DR. JAMES DOBSON RELATES A STORY FROM HIS MOTHER’S HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE IN RURAL OKLAHOMA IN THE 1930’s. HER HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM WAS NOTORIOUSLY BAD. FOR AS LONG AS ANYONE COULD REMEMBER THEY HAD BEEN ANNUALLY DRUBBED BY THEIR ARCH-RIVAL TEAM. A WEALTHY OILMAN WHO LIVED IN THE COMMUNITY ASKED TO MEET WITH THE TEAM A WEEK BEFORE THEY WERE SCHEDULED TO PLAY THEIR ARCH-RIVALS. HE GAVE THEM A PEP TALK AND THEN PROMISED TO BUY A BRAND NEW FORD FOR EVERY PLAYER AND COACH ON THE TEAM IF THEY WOULD ONLY BEAT THOSE DESPISED RIVALS. EMOTIONS WERE HIGH AND MAXIMUM EFFORT WAS GIVEN EVERY DAY OF PRACTICE LEADING UP THE BIG FRIDAY NIGHT GAME. THE ENERGY IN THE LOCKER ROOM WAS PALPABLE AND THE SIDELINE WAS AMPED UP AT THE OPENING KICK OFF. THE FINAL SCORE WAS 38-0 IN FAVOR OF THE BAD GUYS.

THE MORAL: Occasional emotions are no substitute for consistent discipline and effort and bribes cannot replace mature motivation.

YOUR KIDS WILL BE THIRD BASE RUNNERS UNLESS YOU TEACH THEM HOW TO CONNECT AT HOME AND RUN TO FIRST.

Coach 'em up, parents!

September 25, 2015

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

If Raising Home Run Kids was easy there would be a lot of them and our culture would be on an upswing. That doesn’t seem to be the case.

As I mentioned Sunday, raising kids is a bit of a misnomer because we our end game is to raise healthy adults. It takes healthy adults with an intentional plan for raising up the next generation of healthy adults.

There are three virtues that need to be trained into Home Run Kids. Yesterday I dealt with the first one, honesty. Today I comment on the second one; thankfulness.

Darling adorable little newborns enter the world completely and utterly self-centered. Growing larger and older does nothing to curb that tendency. Selfishness must be disciplined out of the nature of each child. There are a number of reasons selfishness must be confronted in a child.

Selfishness leads to ingratitude. Ungrateful people are unhappy, unsatisfied and discontented people. That is not Home Run Kid Material. That is home to third base runner material.

Selfishness leads to inconsiderate kids. When a kid is primarily centered on his own interests, concerns and desires he has little left for others. This is not Home Run Kid material.

Selfishness leads to impatient kids. Self-centered kids tend to be self-indulgent kids who want what they want and they want it now. This kid will never make it out of the dugout.

Selfishness leads to impulsive kids. Self-centered kids are not into delayed gratification. They will fall prey to being manipulated into make emotional decisions. That’s not a winning formula for life.

If you want to raise a Home Run Kid, teach him to be thankful. The key to overcoming selfishness is to lead him to a personal relationship with Christ. Becoming a Christian demands humility and repentance. One of the certain signs of a true believer is gratitude. How else can you respond to the amazing grace of God?

Those who would Raise Home Run Kids should also teach their kid to say, “Thank you” to every kindness shown to them.

In addition to saying, “Thank you” Home Run Kids should be taught to send “thank you” notes for every gift or kindness shown to them.

Home Run Kids are grateful kids, kids who have connected at home plate and have rounded first base!

Coach ‘em up parents!

September 24, 2015

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

In my message last Sunday I shared three fundamental truths you must teach your kids. This week I will share three attitudes or characteristics Home Run Kids must demonstrate. 

Today I will comment on the first:

HONESTY

Sin is always rooted in a lie. Sin originated in a lie and has corrupted the human nature with flawed judgment. Our human instinct is to lie in order to save ourselves. It is natural to tell ourselves lies.

We want to lie but we hate being lied to. We want to live in a world where we can lie but everyone else must tell the truth. Such is the depravity that plagues us.

When you lie you lose because:

• ·  Lies break reliability. One lie breaks trust and each successive lie further erodes your trustworthiness.
• ·   Lies break relationships. People can’t trust a liar and it is hard to love someone you can’t trust.
• ·   Lies blur reality. A lie originates in a false reality and moves further from it. Lucifer really thought he “could be like the most high” – not really!

Parents committed to raising Home Run Kids must confront the dishonesty bred into their fallen nature and speak truth into their life.

How do you do that?

Pastor Kevin Myers, who wrote “Home Run Life”, shares a successful strategy he employed with his kids.  He declared “when one lies everyone lies”.

When he caught his kid in a lie he would confront them with their lie and then say something like, “Ok, if you can lie to me then I will lie to you. Remember when I promised you that new bike for your birthday? I lied. And, remember when I said you could go to the sleep over Friday night? I lied. And, oh, remember when I promised to take you to the Braves game tonight? I lied.

Kids want to know they can count on their parents. When they see the effect of their lying it may cause them to reconsider.

Kids need to learn that sin has consequences and it should cost them something when they lie. For Kevin’s kids this approach worked.

The ultimate goal for parents seeking to Raise Home Run Kids is to keep kids from lying to themselves. That is a Home Plate and First Base issue.

Step up to the plate!

September 23, 2015

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Home plate is the connection base where you help your kids get connected to God by faith. The goal at home plate is a kid who loves God.

First base is the character base where the love of God takes residence in the heart of your kid and shapes it to be like Christ. The goal at first base is a kid who finds a healthy self-love.

Raising Home Run Kids means learning to coach your kids how to win at home and first.

There are three parenting models you could choose to Raise Home Run Kids. I want to review them with you.

Model One: Discipline Without Emotion

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4

This could be the overly diligent parent who in his desire to Raise a Home Run Kids he just tries a little too hard. In his effort to instill the nurture and admonition of the Lord he errs on the side of rules while neglecting the relationship. Rather than being a parent figure he becomes a drill sergeant.

Another variation of this model is a parent who disciplines with negative emotions allowing anger or frustration to enter into his discipline.

Model Two: Emotion Without Discipline

Sometimes an insecure or immature parent will want to be liked by his kid and is hesitant to apply any discipline to his child. The result is a spoiled kid who has not secure boundaries and who learns to be ruled by feelings. Such a child will struggle to make good decisions because his reality becomes determined by how he feels at the moment. This kid will also struggle to become emotionally mature due to his impatience and inability to delay gratification.

Likewise, this kid will find it difficult to reach spiritual maturity because of his undisciplined ways. Galatians 5 describes a kid like this.

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:16-21

When you read this Scripture substitute the word “feelings” for the word “flesh” and you see where this immature way of living leads. This is NOT a home run life!

Model Three: Emotion With Discipline

This is the model that Raises Home Run Kids. Such parents teach their kid to say “no” to selfish emotions and desires and say “yes” to God’s Word and God’s way. Paul describes this parenting model in Galatians 5:16-18; 22-25

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5:16-18 & 22-25

Living a life disciplined by the Word of God and led by His Spirit will be a life set free to express and experience a wide range of emotions!

Three models of child-rearing. Only one of them produces Home Run Kids.

Do you recognize your parenting model?

September 22, 2015

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

One of the things that is so charming and disarming about infants is their innocence. They have no idea of the potential dangers that surround them on every side. The learning curve they face is extremely steep and possibly disastrous if not carefully nurtured by adults who love them. As the old expression goes, “What they don’t know could kill them.”

Adults (parents) know things that kids don’t. The responsibility of a parent is to teach their children those things they know that their children have not yet discovered. Parents much teach their kids the things that they know that their children haven’t yet learned, especially the harmful things. We often hear horrifying stories of tragic things happening to children left unguarded or unsupervised.

In our teaching paradigm of the Home Run Life, parents must teach their kids how to connect with God at home plate and then how to run the bases in a winning way.

Even though I played college baseball, I didn’t learn about playing baseball at that level. There are a lot of big, strong, hard throwing guys at that level. Someone who didn’t know what he is doing could get seriously hurt! I learned all the rules and skills and fundamental in the safety of practices under the supervision of little league coaches. They knew all the things I didn’t know and patiently taught me. Because of the training and knowledge they imparted to me I was able to adapt at each higher level of competition.

Such is the role of parents with their kids and the Home Run Life is a helpful paradigm for healthy parenting.

That is why we are dedicating five weeks on the teaching series “Raising Home Run Kids”.

In case sports analogies don’t register with you, I share with you one of my favorite jokes to illustrate my point.

A Roman Catholic Priest, an Anglican priest and a Baptist preacher were standing near a river conversing when the subject of which church was nearest to the teaching of God arose. The Roman Catholic priest said that of course there was no argument that the Roman Catholic church was they were descended directly from the Apostles, in fact Peter was their first Pope. He said in fact so close are we that I can even walk on water like Jesus and he proceeded to walk on the water to the other side.

The Anglican Priest said the Anglican church was very similar in origin to the Catholics and he too demonstrated his ability to walk on water like Jesus Christ. The Baptist preacher said that he could not care where their origins were, he studied the word and preached it purely, and without any embellishments. Since they could walk on water he should be even better at it. He took one step forward and sunk knee deep into the river. As the Baptist preached flailed wildly in his attempts to stay afloat, the Roman Catholic Priest whispered to the Anglican Priest, "Do you think we should tell him where the rocks are?"

Children need to be taught where the rocks are by someone who loves them.

September 21, 2015

When Jesus wanted to illustrate what grace is like and how it operates He told this story:

"Then he said, "There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, 'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.' "So the father divided the property between them. It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any. "That brought him to his senses. He said, 'All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' He got right up and went home to his father. "When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.' "But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time. "All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day's work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, 'Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.' "The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen. The son said, 'Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!' "His father said, 'Son, you don't understand. You're with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he's alive! He was lost, and he's found!'" Luke 15:11-32

You know this classic story as the "Prodigal Son". The word "prodigal" means "extravagant". 

Who was the real prodigal in this story when it comes to grace?

Right! The father!

Both boys were extravagant in their foolish abuses of grace! They illustrate the two ways grace is most often rendered ineffective.

The younger son exploited it. He took selfish advantage of the father's love and kindness. He took the money and ran because he could.

The older brother expected it. All he had ever known was the goodness and generosity of the father, so it lost its impact upon him. Grace is primarily about relationship and the older son lost his appreciation for his father.

While the younger son abused grace the older son refused it.

In your experience, aren't those the two most common ways we abuse grace? Regardless of which way we damage our relationship with God it is equally foolish and disgraceful. Let's call it what it is - sinful!

Will you take some time and reread this story?

Will you meditate on the love and grace of the Father?

Will you allow the Spirit to search you to see if their is any disgrace in your heart or mind that keeps you from knowing the grace of God?