There is something that happens in the heart of a man when he becomes a dad…or, at least, something should happen. I have been a dad for a quarter of my life, now. I have six incredible children (The Sonic 6; sometimes they are incredibly loud). So I get that commercial.

Lately, however, I’ve been asking myself a different question: “Is it efficient?” How many miles per gallon can I get? My car has a 14 gallon tank. I figured that if I could add 3.5 miles per gallon, it would be like getting two free gallons of gas; very appealing, given the price of gas these days. But I knew that it would take some pretty radical changes to reach 3.5 miles per gallon.

My first change was probably the most radical, especially in the state ofMassachusetts—I would drive the speed limit (65 MPH) on the highway. Fortunately, my car is also equipped with a cruise control. (My “natural” cruise control has been trained to be 10 to 15 MPH higher after driving in this state for too long.)

My second change was to accelerate, and decelerate, more slowly. Basically, I figured that anything I could do to keep my RPMs down while keeping my MPHs up would increase my RPGs (Alpha-Bits, anyone?). It seems to be working. I have learned several truths by experience:

• MPGs are easy to lose if you let your car warm up for too long
• MPGs are easy to lose in a traffic jam
• MPGs are a lot easier to lose than to gain

I’m only starting my second week of this experiment, so I don’t know what the long-term effects will be yet. I do know that I spent $8 LESS on gas this week. I do know that the computer in my car suddenly thinks my fuel range is over 400 miles. And, I do know that I find myself driving MORE aggressively, but in a safer way; I am tuned into my car, other cars, and the road more than ever as I try to literally drive my numbers up. The only difference is that I am driving up my MPGs, not my MPHs.

Do you dare to do likewise? It’s harder than it sounds. What do you think? Leave a comment and share the wealth.

The answers to these questions are important. We have tons of God-given potential that we don’t live up to like we could, or should. We dream dreams, plan plans, and set goals, only to wipe out somewhere in the land between where we were and where we want to be. It turns out that Jesus was right when He said that, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

How can we overcome our own weaknesses in the face of temptations that draw us back to the land of slavery? In the moment of decision, we need to be able to take the moral high-ground with ourselves. How do we get there? Good question.

Most people who write about goal-setting strategies talk about writing your goals down. They also talk about the importance of writing down your motives for setting particular goals. This is a good idea; when push comes to shove, you need to remember why you wanted to set the goal that you did. While it is a good idea, it may not be enough to see you through the most intense temptations. Your motives do not give you the moral high-ground you need to do battle with your own weaknesses.

The moral high-ground comes from somewhere, or rather, someone, else. If we were to work backwards through the book of Exodus, we would find, near its beginning, that Moses had an encounter with God. Standing before the burning bush, Moses received a command and a promise from God. The light from that burning bush lit the way for him through the darkest of times. It gave him the moral high-ground he needed to press on against his own weaknesses—and those of the people around him.

Allow me to make a guarantee. Every worth-while goal you can set, plan you can make, dream you can dream, or potential you can see to live up to, has a command a promise from God that covers it. You need to find it and write it down so you won’t forget it. In moments of weakness, when you are battling the temptation to go back to the land of slavery, it will give you the moral high-ground you need.

If you can’t find a command and a promise from God that covers your particular goal, plan, or dream than you need to take a harder look: either at the Bible—to find your command and promise—or at your goal—to see if it is really worth-while. (For instance, if it is your goal to make a million dollars this year so that you can live in luxury, you will probably have a hard time finding a command and a promise from God to support you.)

In moments of weakness and temptation, having light from a burning bush will help see you through. Go, find that light.

To read more about the importance of writing your motives when setting goals, check out The Missing Ingredient in Most Goals, by Michael Hyatt.

As ever, if you have thoughts please share them. Leave a comment and share the wealth.

That is the basis of The Elephant Room. It is organized and hosted by James MacDonald, the Senior Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel. His intent: bring together diverse church leaders to graciously converse about areas in which we disagree. These are, he says, the conversations you never thought you’d here. It’s a recipe for controversy. Not that the participants are strangers to controversy. They are all leaders of mega-churches and the successful will always be lambasted by the envious. I respect the men involved and find the premise of the Elephant Room intriguing, which is not to say that I agree with any of the men involved in all points; but that is the point.

The most recent Elephant Room (Round 2) took place last Wednesday (01/25/2012) and featured James MacDonald, Mark Driscoll, T.D. Jakes, Jack Graham, Steven Furtick, Crawford Loritts, and Wayne Cordeiro: that is a pretty diverse bunch! For the record, I did not attend the event, which was broadcast live via satellite to numerous venues. I did, however, follow the event on Twitter and the blogosphere, both of which were abuzz (though it somehow failed to make the nightly news).

The most widely anticipated (read, controversial) conversation was titled “Ticket to Ride” and was between Mark Driscoll and T.D. Jakes, moderated by James MacDonald. The purpose of this particular conversation was to discuss the “majors” of Christian doctrine that cannot be denied by anyone who is to truly be considered a Christian. Of particular issue was the doctrine of the Trinity. Mark Driscoll is VERY Trinitarian, believing that God eternally exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and The Holy Spirit all of whom are coeternal, coequal and consubstantial. T.D. Jakes has, historically, been somewhat less clear on this issue, but has leaned toward modalism, believing that God manifests himself, at various times, as the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit.

The Trinitarian view of God is considered orthodoxy and has been a foundational tenet of Christian doctrine for centuries. The modalist view of God is considered error (or even, heresy).

When pressed, T.D. Jakes said that he does believe that God exists eternally as three persons and that he is, in fact, Trinitarian in his understanding of God. He acknowledged that this is a position he has come to through the study of Scripture, and it is not the position he started with (he also acknowledged that it is a position that is not widely held by his peers). He defended his continued use of the term “manifest” as being the term Paul used. He says that God eternally manifests himself as Father and Son and Spirit. Semantics aside, the relief in the Elephant Room was palpable. An acquaintance of mine, who did attend the event, summed it up nicely when he tweeted: “Apparently my favorite preacher is going to heaven after all!”

The doctrine of the Trinity is that important.

At Sheldonville, we started the year talking about the Trinity. You can check out those messages here. It is my hope that we would take doctrine seriously; we need to know what we believe—so much the better if we know why we believe it. I fear that too few Christians really know what they believe.

We have been given the Word of God and the Spirit of God. In other words, we have the resources and the responsibility to know what we believe. I know, that’s not necessarily easy. But it does not have to be complicated, or even couched in theological terms. We each need at least a basic understanding of what we believe.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV)

So, where are you in all of this? Leave a comment and share the wealth.

God created the heavens and the earth; all that is seen and much that is not seen. He sustains all that he created. Yet for all of that, we don’t like him. He’s just too demanding. What gives him the right, anyway?

Oh yeah. He created us.

But that doesn’t work for most people. History has proven that many people have plotted evil against God and those who love him. As the psalmist noted, they cannot ultimately succeed. They freely hatch their plans against God. He sovereignly weaves the into his plan. It must be maddening.

But that doesn’t mean they will stop trying any time soon.

Genesis 50:19–20 (NKJV) — 19 Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

Here’s where this becomes important for us.

Joseph had been sold into slavery by his own brothers. He worked his way up the slave ranks to become head slave, only to be falsely accused of trying to rape his owner’s wife. That landed him in prison. He worked his way up the ranks to become head prisoner, only to be forgottenm. Then came the day that Pharaoh had a problem and Joseph had the solution. That solution vaulted him to the head of Egyptian government–only Pharoah was greater than him.

The end of Joseph’s story is the stuff of Hollywood. But the 13 years of languishing in slavry and prison because of people’s betrayal had to be hard to take. Joseph survived because he truly believed God was sovereign and trusted that God was good. Whatever his lot in this life was made tolerable because he knew that God was working his plan. It was all right if everything was not all right.

Do we believe that God is sovereign? Do we trust that God is good? The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. If we do, it will be all right that everything is not all right. If we don’t, then we’re in trouble; everything is not all right…including (maybe, especially,) us. That’s not a good way to live.

Thoughts? Leave a comment and share the wealth.

It happens every week about this time.

If you were going to pick a song that was your theme song for the day, which song would you choose?

I have to confess, that, as a child of the 80′s my first thought on Friday is “Everybody’s working for the weekend.” Most of you, regardless of your age, just sang that song title in your head…some of you may have sung it out loud. It’s that kind of a song. I wonder if Loverboy had any idea how iconic that song would become when they released it back in 1981. Yes, I said 1981; the song is 30 years old. Ouch!

So much for confession.

The other candidate for my song today is “This is the day.” You know the one, right? This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Repeat that a few times, maybe through in a round, and you can sing this song all day long. The lyrics are arguably older than most of the songs we sing; they have staying power.

So which song would you choose to have running laps inside your head today? It makes a difference. One song hints at 5 days of drudgery, followed by a night and a day of partying, followed by a day of recovery, followed by the next 5 days of drudgery…and the cycle continues. The other song states clearly that today was made by God and given to us as a gift. It states my intention for the day is to have joy in the day, regardless of what it brings. I can do this because the day, itself, does not bring anything; my loving, sovereign, Heavenly Father sends it. Kind of changes things doesn’t it.

I like both songs, but they couldn’t be much further apart in their philosophies. So, I ask again. Which song would you choose? Perhaps, my choices don’t work for you. That’s fine too. Which song would you choose? Leave a comment and share the wealth with the rest of us. Who knows, maybe next Friday, I’ll be singing your song.

Matthew 14:29–30 (NKJV) — 29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

Now, for the record, you can’t walk on water (not counting ice). Or, at least, you usually can’t walk on water. When Jesus is standing there on the lake telling you to get out of the boat and walk to Him, you can. You should. Peter did. We sometimes chastise Peter’s lack of faith in verse 30. We shouldn’t.  We’ve never walked on water. He did.

Peter did start to sink, but only after he had walked a few feet. According tho the normal laws of the universe, he shouldn’t have gotten that far. But the Creator suspended those laws and the beckoned him to come; so he did. Imagine the wonder of walking on the water! But the storm still raged around him and it quickly re-captured his attention. He suddenly remembered that people can’t walk on water and his body began to sink in an obligatory fashion. What he saw shook his faith and un-suspended the laws of the universe.

How many times, during the storms of our lives, has Jesus, the Creator, beckoned us to come to Him? More than we’re comfortable admitting? And why does this make us uncomfortable? Could it be we lacked the faith to get out of the boat and walk to Him? I will confess that that has been my case. What have we missed in the process?

Don’t get me wrong. Getting out of the boat is not easy to do, especially when the storms of life are howling all around us. But if He beckons us, He will suspend the laws of the universe and we can walk, if we choose to. But the moment we waver, we sink. Maybe we know that. Maybe that’s why we stay in the boat.

By the way, you should read the whole story. It’s short but good. Matthew 14:22-33. What opportunities have you taken, or missed, to walk on water? Leave a comment and share the wealth.

Here are the goal-setting principles we talked about this morning. If you missed the message, you can check it out on the messages page of the Sheldonville Baptist Church website, or you can find us (the church, that is) on iTunes and subscribe to our weekly podcast. Also, if you want to check out the blog I borrowed them from (which I would recommend), it is entitled How to Make New Year’s Resolutions Stick by Michael Hyatt.

1. Keep them few in number. No more than 5 to 7 per year.

2. Make them SMART

• Specific—state what you want to do exactly.
• Measureable—how will you know when you have met it?
• Actionable—start every goal with a verb
• Realistic—stretch yourself but keep it realistic, too
• Time-bound—set a deadline for completion

3. Write them down. This is a powerful step for both your memory and your motivation

4. Go public. Let people know what your goals are so they can help you be accountable.

As an example, my first goal for this year is: Read the entire Bible by December 31st. They shouldn’t be complex, that’s part of the beauty. You will find it easier to meet goals you remember. You will find it easier to remember goals that are stated simple and memorably.

The problem most of us will run into isn’t in the goal setting. It’s in the goal meeting. We set off on a journey to where we want to be and then, bam, we run into rough terrain. Oh yeah, the land between the land of slavery (which is where you are) and the land of promise (which is where you want to be) is rough terrain. The rough terrain can be physical or resource-related, but most often it is mental. We are trying to change ourselves. We all dislike change and resist it at a very basic level. (Someone once said that the only people who like change are babies with dirty diapers. Having six kids, I would say he is wrong–even they don’t always like change!)

So, what happens? Like the Israelites of old, we begin to mis-remember the past, mis-understand God’s motives and direction, and mis-represent the situation to ourselves. Next thing we know, we are turning around and heading back to the land of slavery. The land of slavery may not be ideal, but at least it is a known factor. The land between is an unknown, and it is rough going. The land of promise sounds nice, but we’ve never been there and it, too, is an unknown factor…maybe it’s not as nice as all that. Here’s how it went down for them:

Exodus 16:1–3 (NKJV) — 1 And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. 2 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

And so, another resolution goes down in flames. We weren’t ready for the rough terrain of the land between. We weren’t ready for there to be a land between at all. But it’s there–it’s always there. This is your rough terrain warning. Cross it with caution, but, by all means cross it!

I AM 3 is a series on the Trinitarian nature of God. Parts 1 – 3 are messages and may be heard here, they are:

1. I AM Community
2. I AM Complimentary
3. I AM Compassionate

God is all of these things. He is also creative.

I have made the earth, And created man on it. I—My hands—stretched out the heavens, And all their host I have commanded. (Isaiah 45:12 NKJV)

The book of Genesis tells us that God created the entire universe. Genesis 1:31 records that He declared it “very good.” When He stepped back to look at what He had created, He liked what He saw. And why not? We don’t have to look very hard or very long to agree. The beauty of the natural world is breath-taking. The complexity of the natural systems are mind-boggling. The expanse of the natural universe is…well, we haven’t figured out what it is—let’s just call it expansive.

God created all that we can see and all that we can know, and it is wondrous in our eyes. But, truth be told, we marvel at the broken version.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:18-23 NKJV)

The destructive effects of sin, call it entropy if you will, have broken, worn down, and otherwise tarnished the masterpiece that was God’s creation. And it’s still beautiful. Imagine what the original creation must have looked like. Or what the new creation will look like.

But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV)

Here’s the good news: our creative God created mankind in His own image. That means that we are creative. We have the ability to create art that is beautiful. We have the ability to structure systems that are organized and efficient. We have the ability to create our own wonderful universe in which to exist. At least, we should have the ability.

Why is it that we so readily surrender the creativity God gave us? Why do we allow ourselves to be crammed into a mold of conformity? I can’t answer that one. But, it’s not what our creative Heavenly Father intended for us. He made us creative so that we could create. And when we do, we reflect Him to the people around us. If we do it right, we might even be able to direct them to Him—the source of creation and creativity. So, find and unleash your inner creative and be who God created you to be.

What are some ways that you (or others, if you choose the path of faux-humility) create as a reflection of your creative Heavenly Father? Leave a comment and share the wealth.

You get it from your kids!

The trouble is you’re supposed to cure them, not join them.

Foolishness  is  bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him. (Proverbs 22:15 NKJV)

What does it lool like to join them? It probably varies from parent to parent, but it usually involves frustration leading to either anger or despair leading to foolish behavior on our part. The effect of which causes us to focus on self-discipline and distracts us from the task at hand, driving foolishness from our children.

Once we have dealt with our own foolishness, we can  re-focus on driving theirs away so that it doesn’t continue to drive us crazy. We have many “rods” available to us. While a physical rod may be an option, it is not the only option. Our other “rods” include modelling good behavior, expressing love, extending grace, reinforcing through positive and negative consequences, and even using reason.

When choosing your rod, spend a minute considering the rods your Heavenly Father uses to drive out your foolishness. What ever the cartoons may depict, there are more keys on His keyboard than the smight key.

Two disclaimers. First, I don’t speak as one who arrived, I blew it as recently as last night. Second, I mean no disrespect toward those with mental health issues; I know they are real and can be difficult.

Parenting is a journey…sometimes it feels like it is the proverbial long and winding road. Other than “losing it” what are some of your strategies for dealing with foolishness (yours or theirs)? Leave a comment and share the wealth.

When I read this verse, I see choice. God foreknew, knew ahead of time, who would choose Him. He did not forechoose.You may disagree, and that is fine; these lines are clearly drawn but needn’t divide.

Predestined is a word that gets a lot of people confused but doesn’t need to: it means to set a destination ahead of time. Think of planning a trip to Florida, or driving to work (though that is far less fun). Before you get in your car, you have to decide what your destination is. That’s how predestination works.

The destination that God has set for us is a place where we are conformed to the image of Christ. it may sound like an odd destination, but it is an amazing journey! It is amazing because God sovereignly guides us in the direction we should go.

I believe in free-will. But, if I over emphasize my free will, at the expense of God’s sovereignty, I may get lost and miss my destination. God does have a will and direction for my life in general and each momentt of my life in particular. It is my choice to follow that direction or to take a detour. If I want to end up at the destination of Christ-likeness (and I do), then I would be wise to follow the directions I have been given.

So would you.