Lies

This week we are going to hit on something that I’m sure you’ve heard your whole lives, and something that I’m sure you’ve heard from everyone from your parents, to random celebrities and actors on after-school specials. The foundation of it all, though, lies in the Bible.
The lesson is about lying. Everyone does it to some extent, and very little mind is paid to it along the way. There are plenty of ways of lying. The biggest obviously is through speech, which is the biggest piece of what the scripture addresses, but there are lies that we tell ourselves and the world everyday. When we walk out of church on Sunday and immediately head on to our regular life without a respect to what we just went through at church that morning, were telling a lie. We are telling a lie to ourselves, by convincing ourselves that we are doing some good for ourselves by going to church. We are telling a lie to those around us by making them think that church is a part of our lives.
The biggest lie, however, is the lie that we are telling to God. In my lessons I have given you tools to live by, philosophies, acronyms, strategies, and quotes of scripture. If you apply these to your lives, you WILL succeed in making yourself a better person, and even go as far as saving the world. No, I’m not being dramatic, or illustrating a point through embellishment. I’m serious, you can absolutely save the world. Think about it. If you apply my lessons from LEAP and Eat That Frog, you can go out, show your friends what it really means to be a Christian, and inspire people to do the same thing. My personal life mantra is based on those two principles. I use it in my career, I use it as I sit down to write these lessons, and I use it with my family and in my every day interactions with people.
People want to know that you care, they want to know that you are genuine. The quote remains “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” What’s true in the business world to influence consumer decisions on the company they frequent, is also true in the type of people they want to surround themselves with as friends and confidantes. From here lets read the scripture and head to wrap this up. The scripture is from Proverbs 26: 24 – 28.
24A malicious man disguises himself with his lips,
but in his heart he harbors deceit.
25Though his speech is charming, do not believe him,
for seven abominations fill his heart.
26His malice may be concealed by deception,
but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
27If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it;
if a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him.
28A lying tongue hates those it hurts,
and a flattering mouth works ruin.

Bottom line here? What comes out of your mouth is what WILL be what you are judged on by others. If you choose to lie, you WILL get caught and WHEN you do, that’s a bridge you’ve burned that takes a lot more work to repair than it ever did to build, and in a lot of cases with a lot of people, they don’t want to invest that much in the repair. They will just go out and get a new bridge.

Arguments

  So often these days we see people “of the church” arguing. They don’t agree with the others’ ideology or view on Faith. Now, keep in mind when I say “of the church” I mean members of the community of Faith, not any one church. I have to say that I have on more then one occasion preached the value of Audacity. As a matter of fact it is one of the key elements of the philosophies I have built my faith, my daily life, my professional life, and my ministry on – LEAP. However, Everytime I use it, I clarify it. Audacity is the blatant disregard of circumstance. You can take that one of two ways – you can take it as an ego thing, an arrogance thing, something that is ALL ABOUT YOU, or you can take it as an invitation to spread the word of love, The Word of YOUR SAVIOR(!) No matter what you are facing.

      So, of course, disagreements WILL happen. We are human, and Faith is a very personal thing, but under no circumstance is remotely OK, to use the Gospel as an excuse to spread hate or your own personal/political agenda. 2 Timothy 2:22 – 26 says “22Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” What are some key words in this? Faith? Love? Peace? Those are big ones don’t you think? How about the phrase “foolish and stupid arguments”? I would say that’s another tell-tale there.

Summary – The Gospel that I read, The Gospel of The Holy Bible, is a Gospel of Love that has no room for Hate-speak. Religion is a man made political agenda, that I don’t care for. What I want is a Relationship with my Savior. Faith is all about following the Lord. The Lord wants us to Love, not hate, so that’s what we are instructed to always do. Just follow the greatest commandment - 34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”~ Matthew 22: 34 – 40.
37Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’b 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’c 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

You Say It Best...

  This week its all about that classic your mom always should have said to you and Im sure you have heard before."If you don't have anything nice to say, dont say anything at all." As Christians, we have a calling to set the examplefor others when it comes to modeling how to live. One of the biggest places we have to do this is how we speak to others.





            When we are put in a situation with other people we should feel obligated to build them up and make them feelgood about having just spent time with us. When someone feels good about spending time with you they are going to feelgood about what you have to say about faith. When you look at someone and the first thing you have to say is critical,or rude, you have just single-handedly lost the battle, and made it harder for someone else to recover that loss.





            It all gets summed up in one of my favorite scriptures, from one of the most prolific writers of books of the Bible,our friend from Tarsus, Paul. The book is Epehesians, Chapter 4, Verse 29: "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."What have you said to someone lately? Was it something you want them to associate you as a Christian to? Did you buildthem up, or did you bring them down? This is something we must ALL ask ourselves, everyday, because the second you losesight of that, is the second you lose sight of your mission as a person of Faith.

Stories

 Todays lesson is another short one, but again, I think a lot of this will all come together when we begin out Storying adventure. The scripture is probably the shortest yet that I have used. ""He began to teach them many things in parables."  ~ Mark 4:2.

Tradition in almost every culture shows that its many hisotries, mythologies, and legends come from an oral story telling type culture. Think about when you were a kid and when your parents or another member of your family would tell you a story about something like Pirates or Princesses or Ghosts. You were captivated. It was something you took with you and remembered. In addition to that, if the person telling the story was a good story teller, you found yourself IN that story. You could see the landscapes, the colors. maybe you could feel the textures, smell the aromas, or even taste the food that was involved.

Now, think about how we get all of our stories today - Movies or TV mostly. How much of it do you remember long term? Not much for myself. In some cases, especially with my wife, there are movies she has seen and claims to have never even heard of. Ask her about when me and her watched Cabin Fever or Dawn Of The Dead when we were dating. She'll tell you it never happened, but our friends that were also there will remember it well. When you watch a move or TV, you see the sights and hear the sounds of course, but how often do you REALLY find yourself in the story? Now Im not knocking TV and movies, technology is GREAT, and I use it every day, and plan on integrating it all into other parts of my ministry, but Storying is different.

Here's what I want from you guys in the next few days. Think about your favorite story. Something you've always remembered, and think about what it was in that story that made you remember it? What kind of memory is it a part of? When we start storying we will bring those elements into our discussion.

Beatitudes

 So Today starts my quest in getting us to dive into the word of God a little deeper, not necessarily for meaning, because that should come to you based on what you see and hear, but on knowledge of God's word itself.  Being the Church Of The Brethren, Im going to start with what is one of the most fundamental pieces that the Brethren go to for insight and to base our beliefs on. The Sermon on the Mount, specifically, the Beatitudes. The scripture is from Matthew Chapter 5 Verses 1 – 12.

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them, saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

From here, I just want to talk. What do you get out of reading this? What words stick out in your minds? Is there something that piques your interest? Something you think is weird or doesn't sound right? If you're reading this before class, think about some questions or some points about it. If you read it after class, go out to a website like Bible.cc and read a different Translation, this one is the NIV. What sounds different? What sounds the same?

Mothers Day

Obviously, today is Mothers day, with that in mind, all I have is one line of scripture, a funny anecdote, and some advice.

The scripture is from Exodus 20:12, and is one of the commandments, Im sure you all know it, but it bears repeating. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

My Mother Taught Me About...

1. My Mother taught me about ANTICIPATION...

"Just wait until your father gets home."

2. My Mother taught me about RECEIVING....

"You are going to get it when we get home!"

3. My Mother taught me to MEET A CHALLENGE...

"What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you! Don't talk back to me!"

4. My Mother taught me LOGIC...

"If you fall out off that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

5. My Mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE...

"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."

6. My Mother taught me to THINK AHEAD...

"If you don't pass your spelling test, you'll never get a good job."

7. My Mother taught me HUMOR...

"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

8. My Mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT...

"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

9. My Mother taught me about GENETICS...

"You're just like your father."

10. My Mother taught me about my ROOTS...

"Do you think you were born in a barn?"

11. My Mother taught me about WISDOM OF AGE...

"When you get to be my age, you will understand."

And last but not least...

12. My Mother taught me about JUSTICE...

"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you....Then you'll see what it's like!"

Finally, the advice, While today may be “Mother’s Day” in my opinion, the holiday itself is an excuse for retailers to sell you something (believe me, I was a manager in a big box retail store for 4 years, it’s a BIG deal). The truth is that your mother is and always will be the ultimate rock for your personal, physical, and spiritual growth, in one way or the other. Never forget that, and never forget to appreciate her for that the other 364 days of the year.

Raising More Than Funds

As I go through the week I try to find things speak to me as lessons that may speak to others, especially my youth. I can honestly say that my heart was filled with inspiration at our Yardsale this weekend. The purpose of our yardsale was of course to raise money for our trip to Colorado in July, but as the day went on, and came close to the end, I found out that we were there for a much greater purpose.

Of course, we did raise a substantial amount of money for our trip, but we also had plenty of fun and came a lot closer to each other working for a common purpose. Now first I will go ahead and give the scripture, and then I will give the story that inspired me. The scripture is from Matthew 25: 34 – 40.

34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
As the end of the sale came we were selling bags for a dollar. We handed people a Kroger bag, they filled it up, we charged them a dollar. A couple came in and we told them the deal. The husband immediately ran to a set of dishes we had with huge excitement in his eyes. He began filling the bag and asked if they could have a couple more bags to fill. As we obliged he began to tell us that their house had just burned down. They had a place to stay and people had given them things, which he was appreciative of, but they didn’t have anything that matched. He just kept saying how “pretty” the plates were. He filled up a few boxes with carpets, rugs, clothes, and dishes. They were very thankful and paid us a few dollars. We told them they gave us more than enough and we helped them load their car.

Now, they took quite a bit of stuff, and didn’t pay much for it, but in my opinion they gave us more than they needed to.