John 3.16

I had the opportunity to speak at my church last night and it was both totally amazing and terrifying at the same time.  I love my church very much and feel any opportunity to speak there is such an honor, but also they know everything about me since I've gone there for so long, which is what makes it terrifying.  

I talked about John 3.16.  As I was studying, God just showed me once again how amazing his love is.  It's so hard for us to comprehend that someone as awesome as God would love us to the point that he would give something as important as his only Son, but that's exactly what he did.  I'm posting my points to my talk on here with a few revisions, hoping that someone will get it.  

John 3.16     For God so loved the world, that He gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

1.     God SO loved us...

What does that word "so" mean?  It means that God didn't just love us.  He loves us so much that it moved Him to action.  He loves us enough to not let us sit in our sin but instead intervened on our behalf.  Genesis 19 tells the story of God destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.  In verse 16, the two angels tell Lot and his family to flee the city because it's about to be destroyed.  In a move that dumbfounds me to this day, the Bible says that Lot hesitated leaving.  Instead of the angels immediately leaving and letting him and his family be destroyed, the angels grabbed them by the hand and led them out.  Why?  Because it says, "...the Lord was merciful to them."  That's God SO loving us.

2.     That He GAVE...

A God that would give to us is a concept that is exclusive to Christianity.  Other religions serve gods who are unknowable, meaning forget having a relationship with them, and require all kinds of rules and regulations for you to even make it to heaven, and then you're still not guaranteed to make it.  Only Jehovah would show us the kind of love that required Him sacrificing something as important as His Son!  

3.     That Whosoever... 

Leave it to God to use a word that can only encompass every single person in the history of mankind.  I don't care who you are, what your title is, how much money you make, what you look like or what you've done, there is nobody that is excluded from the whosoever concept.  

Remember, God loves us and believes in us enough that He paid the ultimate price for all of us whosoevers!

Do You Bounce?

There is something about the warmer months of the year that causes usually competent females of all shapes and sizes to believe that they can wear anything and look good in it.  You know you've all seen them.  They seem to be everywhere...the grocery store, Six Flags, the mall, church (really?), just about anywhere that you can find people with clothes on, you will find at least one of these women.  In fact, I saw a commercial the other day for a show that teaches women who are uncomfortable about their size (big or small) or shape to feel good about themselves naked.  I understand the concept of trying to help people feel comfortable in their own skin, but it's bad enough that we have attractive women walking around half-naked.  Do we really want the ugly ones doing the same?  I hope that didn't come off the wrong way.  

My wife and I did a bake sale at Sam's Club in Tulsa yesterday to raise money for our missions trip to Ireland.  The day seemed to be unusually humid and, you guessed it, there were tons of half-exposed females.  I have trained myself to always "bounce" my eyes.  If I'm out in public, no matter where it is, if I'm looking around I always keep my eyes bouncing before letting them settle on something, that way my mind has time to process the images I'm seeing to know if it's safe or not to let my gaze take root.  This has helped keep me out of trouble on many occasions.  So I'll go back to my original question, do you bounce?

The Dreamgiver...

I read a book a couple of years ago called The Dreamgiver. It's about a guy named Ordinary (me) who lived in the land of Familiar (Pornography). He was given a dream by The Dreamgiver (God). Ordinary faced the grueling task of deciding whether he wanted to stay in the land of Familiar or follow the dream the Dreamgiver had for him. At one point in the story Ordinary gave his dream back to the Dreamgiver because he decided he would rather have the Dreamgiver than the dream.
What is your dream? Is it looking at pornography everyday? Or has God given you a bigger dream that porn is holding you back from achieving? My wife and I went to Ireland last year with our church. We fell in love with the people, the country and the missionaries there. Anybody that knows us knows that our heart is for missions. On that trip the Dreamgiver began to birth something inside of us that is so much bigger than we are that it's almost intimidating. We are going back to Ireland again this year and would appreciate your prayers. Thank you and God bless!

Enough Said...

I just posted a new video to the site. It's from www.youtube.com and it's called cardboard testimonies. Watch it. There's nothing more that needs to be said. God bless!

Boundaries...

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Daniel 1:8 where it says that Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the kings food. I realized long ago that for me to be successful at beating my addiction I would have to purpose in my heart not to defile myself. This meant setting up boundaries. Here are a few things I've come up with:

1. Keep my computer in a public place where my wife can come in anytime and see the screen
2. My wife knows the passwords to all of the accounts I have, including this one (facebook, myspace, att email, gmail, etc., etc.) and she can check them anytime she wants
3. We always check movies before we go see or rent them (http://www.screenit.com/) for language, sex, nudity, violence, etc., etc.
4. Accountability partner (much like the relationship Paul had with Barnabus)
5. Mentor (Paul to Timothy) who shares with me their wisdom
6. Mentee (if that's a word, Timothy to Paul) who I can help, which also takes the focus off of my problem and forces me to help somebody else out of the same situation I was in
7. Don't aimlessly surf the internet or television (I have to admit that this is one that God has really been dealing with me about but I'm getting better)
8. Spend time in prayer and Bible reading everyday!!!
9. Share my testimony with as many people as will listen (not only is this liberating but it also helps me stay accountable because I know others are watching me)
10. Be careful what I let into my heart whether it's through music, friends, television, movies, etc., etc.

These are just a few things that help me. So what does your list look like?