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I wrote recently about being careful where we abide and listed a few potential problem areas, including sports. One morning as I was reading one too many sports articles on the ESPN app (Clemson football was in it!), I came across this sentence:

By now, you’ve dutifully studied three-year projections for quarterbacks, offenses, and defenses.

We have? Dutifully studied? 

There are guys who may not have read a book since college. Who, if they are believers, may protest, “I don’t have time for daily time with God,” or “I can’t memorize scripture.” But ESPN expects that they will have “dutifully studied…” sports statistics—not even statistics—projections! Or maybe it’s politics or cars or fashion or something else. 

There are distractions out there, and we all need to be on guard. I speak to myself.

But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. (Mark 4.19, NIV)

Be on guard! Be alert! (Mark 13.33, NIV)

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I spoke last Sunday and am speaking again this Sunday. In both cases, my goal is not to tell folks things they don’t know, but to lead them in applying the scripture to life. Jesus was clear:

But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. (Matthew 7.26, MSG)

James echoed it:

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)

My job as a teacher is to make applying the Word easier for people. Andy Stanley in his marvelous book Deep and Wide talks at length about “practical teaching” in chapter 7:

Jesus taught for a response. He taught for life change. He didn’t come to simply dispense information…Remember the first time you were challenged at that level? Remember how interesting the Bible suddenly became? You sat on the edge of your chair. The time flew by. You took notes…Your faith intersected with his faithfulness and your confidence in God got bigger. Practical teaching that moves people to action is one of the primary things God uses to grow our faith...That being the case, our messages and lesson preparations are not complete until we know what we want our audiences to do with what they are about to hear. To grow our congregants’ faith, we must preach and teach for life change.

Andy is blunt with us teachers on this score:

As long as you are dishing out truth with no “here’s the difference it will make” tacked on the end, you will be perceived as irrelevant by most of the people in your church, student ministry, or home Bible study. You may be spot-on theologically, like the teachers of the law in Jesus’ day, but you will not be perceived as one who teaches with authority. Worse, nobody is going to want to listen to you…You will end up with a little congregation of truth seekers who consider themselves superior to all the other Christians in the community. But at the end of the day, you won’t make an iota of a difference in this world.

The good news is that if the goal of teachers is to help people apply the scripture to life, we can all fill our God-given role as teachers!

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, … (Hebrews 5.11, 12, NIV, emphasis mine)

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom … (Colossians 3.16, NIV, emphasis mine)

Ezra had committed himself to studying the Revelation of GOD, to living it, and to teaching Israel to live its truths and ways… [and King Artaxerxes said,] “Anyone who does not know the Teaching, you teach them.” (Ezra 7.10, 25)

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My Navigator hero Skip Gray has taught early and often: “The need does not constitute the call.” Skip added a new metaphor recently: “Life is like baggage claim. Not every suitcase has your name on it.”

Just because a business acquaintance needs something I might be able to do, doesn’t mean I have to do it. I’m trying hard to hold that line on a particular project, and even after I explained what I could do and what I couldn’t, and he responded, “Understood and accepted,” it’s apparent he doesn’t understand and hasn’t accepted! 

It’s important to me NOT to say I’ll do something that I know I can’t do or won’t have time to do.

But let your “Yes,” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment. (James 5.12, NKJV)

LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart…He who swears to his own hurt and does not change… (Psalm 15.1, 2, 4, NKJV)

June sensed God speaking to her spirit during her prayer time recently. It’s a word we both need to remember:

These could be the best years of your life if you listen to me and don’t overload.

I’m praying I’ll be able to implement that caution and Philippians 1.9 – 11. Anyone can discern good from bad. I need to discern and commit only to what is excellent!

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1.9 – 11, NKJV, emphasis mine)

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The St Louis Blues hockey team won their first Stanley Cup championship yesterday, winning game 7 against the Bruins in Boston. I watched only the last 8 minutes, but it’s always fun to see a team win, especially when it’s unexpected.

The Blues had the worst record in all of the NHL on January 1, 2019, having won only 15 of their first 37 games. They went on to win 30 of their last 45 regular season games, finishing third in their division. Then they won four playoff series, including the Stanley Cup Final.

Proving, once again, it’s not how you start, but how you finish.

Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. (2 Timothy 4.9, 10, ESV)

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. (1 Timothy 1.12, 13, ESV)

O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. (Psalm 71.17, 18, ESV)

The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (Psalm 92.12 – 15, ESV)

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I’ve written before that I strongly believe that the primary sound during a church’s worship time should be the people singing, and I was privileged to experience that Sunday at Woodland Bible Chapel, a small church in rural Lake George, Colorado.

By contrast, professional worship leader and author Danny Byrum just wrote an eloquent blog decrying the practice of many churches, where leaders are designing worship services that effectively eliminate the people singing. Here’s some of what Danny said:

Millions of dollars are spent to remodel sanctuaries, build new ones, purchase gear, keep up the latest trends in stage production – live video capturing – and worship song-set automation software. Yet, many who attend services find themselves standing in silence, watching screens, and observing performers on a platform. 

He continued:

C.S. Lewis recognized this problem over 70 years ago: “The perfect church service would be the one we were almost unaware of.  Our attention would have been on God.  But every novelty prevents this.”

Instead of trying to emulate the big churches, the folks at Woodland set up their small worship ensemble at the back of the room. We used either the hymnbook or looked at words on the screen. And the primary sound was the people singing. Refreshing. And decidedly NOT professional.

I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. (Psalm 104.33, NIV)

Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people. (Psalm 149.1, NIV)

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. (Colossians 3.16, NIV)

By the way, you can listen to the sermon on Indifference I preached there on June 9, 2019, here.

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I’m often amused at products that make their way into articles in the Wall Street Journal, and I wonder, “Really? Someone would pay that much money for that?”

What do you think of these beach paddle ball sets?

You could buy a purely functional version of a beach paddleball set for as little as $10, but the nice wooden set on the right is from Amazon for about $70. Shockingly, the nearly identical (it appears to me) product on the left goes for $801. $801 for a $10 paddle ball set?

I don’t know anyone who has the $801 version, so I don’t know the motivation. I can only presume that for some people there’s value in paying a really high price for something.

Not me, but on the other hand, I’m not as frugal as Andy Janovich that I wrote about yesterday. If I had his money, I’d certainly have a vehicle newer than his 2000 model pickup (and my cars are newer than his!).

I have to remind myself that there are no “points” for my NOT spending $801 for a $10 paddle ball set. I am responsible to use the money I do have wisely.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13.5, NIV)

Then Jesus said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12.15, NIV)

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? (Luke 16.10 – 12, NIV)

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I enjoy good character stories wherever I find them, and here is a story about a solid work ethic and frugality in Bronco fullback Andy Janovich. The headline in the ESPN article involves his beat-up blue, used pickup truck that he’s had since college.

He’s relatively low paid at $600,000/year (by contrast, Peyton Manning took a $4 million pay cut to earn “only” $15 million his last year with the Broncos), but Janovich could afford a new truck if he wanted one, couldn’t he?

But the truck he has suits him, and when it goes (it has 138,000 miles on it), he’ll look for another used one. In the meantime, he just does his largely-under-the-radar job. The ESPN article observes:

Open the hood on Janovich, and the Nebraska native is a story in perseverance, hard work and vocational selflessness — and there is even some corn. “He’s what you think about as a Nebraska guy,” Broncos running back Phillip Lindsay said. “He works, does his job, doesn’t ask for anybody to cheer him on or anything. He just does it.”

In a league (and a world!) where everyone is screaming, “Look at me!” Janovich summarizes his perspective:

I’m not at a position where I’m going to score a bunch of touchdowns or have a million catches or rushing yards. For the most part, I just block people and make small plays here and there, help other people make big plays. I’ve never been the playmaker. And do I like my job? Absolutely. It works for me.

“And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. (Jeremiah 45.5, ESV)

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It’s Pentecost Sunday, June 9, the commemoration of the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. So here’s today’s question: Who was the first person in the Bible said to be filled with the Spirit? And for what?

The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. (Exodus 31.1 – 5, ESV, emphasis mine)

Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills…And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. (Exodus 35.30 – 34, NIV, emphasis mine)

The first person in the BIble filled with the Spirit of God was an artist, called to work on building the tabernacle and teach others to do the same. 

Artist, worker, teacher. Are those what come to mind when you think “filled with the Spirit?” Me neither, but there it is.

My friend Kathleen, who reads this blog, just retired so she could devote more time to her art of making jewelry. But she was an artist before that, writing computer code for FEDEX.

The three men who installed my sliding glass doors were artists, as was the brother God sent to paint the moldings.

God considers artful work so important that he filled people with his Spirit to do it. That’s worth thinking about as we work!

He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers. (Exodus 35.35, NIV)

Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. (Genesis 4.20 – 22, NIV)

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. (1 Peter 4.10, ESV)

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Here’s another “You have not because you ask not,” story, or, to put it positively:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4.6, 7, NIV)

We just had some new sliding glass doors installed, and they do everything EXCEPT paint the new molding. No problem, I thought, forgetting that I had sworn off painting projects! There were four sets of openings, and after I attempted one, I said to myself, “This isn’t going to work, but who can I call? Not the 17-year old who did my spindles. This is more complicated than that.”

After praying about it, seriously(!), Mark came to mind. Mark, my oldest son, who sells for St Aubyn Homes. He texted back a painter’s coordinates immediately. Adrian was:

• Available
• A believer
• Already on my end of town

He came within the hour and was finished in 2.5 hours, even allowing for extended conversation with June and me about music. His buddy is world class pianist Aldan Cruz, both from Puerto Rico.

Adrian wasn’t in the house two minutes before he said, looking at our grand piano, “Who plays?” “We both do.” “Let me show you this.” And he showed me this stunning video of his friend and two other pianists playing in Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. A performance that Adrian the house painter arranged. It’s worth the 4:20. Click here.

Another reminder of God’s gifts. Instead of an arduous painting project, we were blessed with music!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1.17, NIV)

Play his praises on instruments with the anointing and skill he gives you. (Psalm 33.3, Passion Translation)

My word for the year has been “enlarge,” as in, “Lord, enlarge my heart to care about what you care about,” and, “Enlarge my influence.” Paul prayed for an enlarged influence:

We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others, but our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged. (2 Corinthians 10.15, ESV)

You may notice that I use The Passion Translation from time to time. It’s a new translation for me, and I have gotten increased insights both from the text and from some of the notes. Recently, I found another “enlarge” verse!

God, you are my righteousness, my champion defender. Answer me when I cry for help! Whenever I was in distress, you enlarged me. I’m being squeezed again—I need your kindness right away! (Psalm 4.1, The Passion Translation, emphasis mine)

“Whenever I was in distress, you enlarged me.” I like this: God increases my capacity to handle whatever comes my way. I’m reminded of some of the lyrics of “Day by Day” (not the one from Godspell):

Day by day and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here.

And

As your days, your strength will be in measure, this the pledge to me he made.

Paul experienced this:

I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty. (Philippians 4.13, The Passion Translation)