Generational Slavery

Carlton Gerrell & I were blessed this week to be among the first Americans included in a week long leadership training at Willow Creek Community Church as we joined with International Global Leadership Summit pastors & their teams. Leaders from Albania, Brazil, the Congo, Nigeria, South Africa and many more. As always, you get nuggets of truth that are so valuable, they will live with you forever.

One such truth was about Moses and the children of Israel. "Israel lived for 25-30 generations as slaves. Though now free, they cursed Moses in the wilderness. Why? All they had known was life as slaves! Until your memory gets washed of generational slavery, a person or people will never be able to interact differently in their world."

Many of the leaders we were with were celebrating their freedom from slavery or communism and learning to walk in that freedom. Whatever you were a "slave to" whether a people or an addiction, as the speaker said, you'll never be able to experience the freedom of whatever you were or are a slave to until your memory gets washed of generational slavery.

Every person must choose to live today in what is, refusing to remain stuck in the past of yesterday's generational slavery. Paul said it well when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:11, "And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Amen & Amen.

Some Of The Best Marriage Advice You'll Ever Receive

Time is a special commodity in marriage.  Time is when you communicate...or not.  It is when the two of you get to be together, apart from the noise and interruptions of the day.  We all love our children but the best thing you can do for your children is to make time for one another!

I read this article from Time Magazine posted on Pete Wilson's blog entitled, More Sleep Means More Focused, Emotionally Stable Kids. It is great advice for anyone!  Alice Park wrote…

How important is sleep for children? Getting too little could leave them more emotional and impulsive.

As a nation, we don’t get enough sleep. And we’re passing along our night-owl habits to members of the next generation, which could leave them with less control over their emotions and more prone to impulsivity, according to the latest study.

Lead author Reut Gruber, a psychologist at McGill University, and her colleagues describe in the journal Pediatrics a study in which they either added or deprived healthy children ages 7 to 11 of one hour of sleep a night over five nights. Their goal, says Gruber, was to see if such modest changes in the amount of sleep children get could affect their behavior. The children’s teachers were asked to fill out a 10-item standard questionnaire to assess the children’s attention, impulsivity, irritability and emotional reactivity at the end of the study period.

Compared with their same ratings during an initial five days of unmanipulated sleep — in which the researchers asked parents to allow the children to sleep as they normally would to establish a baseline — those who were deprived of an hour’s sleep had worse scores on behavior measures than those who were allowed to sleep an hour more. (The parents were asked to change their children’s bed times, and while they were able to put the kids to bed an hour earlier when needed, the youngsters ended up sleeping only about 30 minutes more.) In terms of how emotionally reactive, or sensitive, and how attentive the children were, teachers rated the sleep-restricted students on average 4 points higher than their baseline, meaning they showed more irritability, frustration and had more problems paying attention. In contrast, the children who slept more showed an average 3-point drop in these problems.

“Nobody became a genius, and nobody became crazy,” says Gruber, “but the findings show that in children small changes can make a big difference, and that is why this is meaningful.”Sleep, it seems, is just as important as diet and exercise in keeping children’s bodies and minds healthy. “We could have really significant positive and negative impacts on children depending on how we choose to prioritize sleep.”

The dilemma: Is God Real?

Why do I ask this question?  Because too many hearts have become rich gardens for the fruit of sin rather than pathways of righteousness.  Some of you will quit reading at this point because you're thinking, "Bless his heart...here he goes again."  And that is certainly your right. 

My question is this:  Is God real?  Really, really, real?  Or has He become a convenient figment of our imagination that soothes our souls in times of turmoil but has no place in our day-to-day living?

I'm burdened because our actions betray our theology.  Our daydreams are deplorable and our decisions are damnable.  We argue the true authority of Scripture by trying to decide what is possible based upon what is popular.  We've allowed culture to define Christianity rather than the Word of God defining both culture as well as true Christianity.  Then we go so far as to debate one another concerning how close we can get to the edge (guardrail) without going over.  How close can I get to sin without it being sin?

Case in point:  Today, there was an article describing the number one issue on the docket at a major denomination's upcoming conference: Homosexuality and whether or not they will now ordain homosexual ministers and endorse gay marriage.  Yet the conference theme is Make Disciples of Jesus Christ to Transform the World.  How can we do that if we refuse the Word of God as the authority of God in our personal or denominational or whatever life we live?

We need to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are seeking to go forward with the mandate of Jesus: Make disciples.  We need to pray that those who would seek to derail the mandate with the man-date (sorry), would repent and truly believe the Word as the only authority anyone who names the name of Christ has as rule and guide.  Just because we love everyone and desire to see all people come to know Christ, that does not superintend the Authority of Scripture.

Church - Dead or Alive?

The following was sent out from the Willow Creek Association earlier today on Twitter.  I cannot overestimate the eternal value of every person who professes the name of Christ.  Being radically sold out as a follower of Christ is the most valuable thing you'll ever do, period.

The local church is a paradox. In some places the church is flourishing and in others it is declining rapidly or dying out altogether. In regions of the world with limited religious freedom, the church is thriving. In China, for example, there are an estimated 100 million believers today, and the pace at which conversions are occurring will soon make China the largest Christian nation on the planet. In other regions where the church was once strong, the future is not as bright. In parts of Europe, less than 5 percent of the populace attends church regularly.

In the United States, with more than 162 million self-professed Christians, the news is sobering. Each year, between three to five thousand churches in the United States hold their last service, close their doors, and put up the "for sale" sign. Statistics indicate that from 1999 to 2009 the combined membership of the major Protestant denominations declined 6 percent, while the national population has increased 12 percent. The proportion of Americans who claim to have "no religion" has increased to 15 percent, up from 8.2 percent in 1990.

We want to be the best we can be for God.  So at TVCC we are beginning 2012 with the series, Just Walk Across The Room.  It will serve to help us better understand the how and why of reaching others with the Word we have and the lives we live.  

How to Prove Your Love

This Sunday we will celebrate the birth of Christ.  We will enjoy family and friends and festivities.  And we will GIVE! And RECEIVE!  And all of this is good, but is most blessed when done in remembrance of God's greatest gift: Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just because we celebrate the season however, doesn't mean we celebrate the Savior.  One day of merriment living does not wipe out a years worth of miserly giving. If you really want to celebrate, if you really want to enjoy this season of the Savior, then learn to excel - always - in this gracious ministry of giving.  The Apostle Paul said it like this,

"Since you excel in so many ways...I want you to excel also in this gracious ministry of giving.  I am not saying you must do it...this is one way to prove your love is real."  2 Cor. 8:7-8 (NLT) 

How? Give real love, abundant time, and heartfelt devotion to your family.  Take time to "be" together and not just exist in the same house.  Give to God because you want to prove your love is real. This is proved as you serve God with your time, your talents, and your treasures.  Or, to put it as Jesus did, with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind...(Luke 10:27). Not because you must do it but because you want to prove it.  You want the work of God to be built up, to increase, and to go out to others.   

Why? Because you love what Jesus loves and Jesus loves people.  Jesus loves your family.  Jesus died for every person and has given us the charge, the privilege of telling them this Good News!  They are the reason He came. We are the reason He came. 

So this Christmas, prove your love is real by not only giving to one another, but giving your best gift to Christ of all that you are and have.