The Glory Principle

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 02:00:00 +0000

Amazing God

There are a lot of things that are amazing about God to me. One thing that really blows my mind is prayer. God listens to the prayer of human beings. The Creator bends His ear to creatures. We get to talk to Him. We can talk to Him about making it rain. We can ask Him to help us on a test. We can petition Him about helping us to get a better job. There is no limit of what we can talk about with our God. He listens and He cares.

Another truly amazing thing about prayer is that God listens to millions of people all at one time. He listens to me and a 11 year old boy in South Dakota named Billy at the same time. He can hear and talk with all of us intimately and simultaneously. I have trouble listening to just one person at at a time, just ask my wife. He is the Incredible God.

His extraordinary love and ability gives us the privilege of talking with Him in prayer at any time and any place. Take time and pray to our amazing God today.

Grace,
Chris

Envy the Assassin

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:21:00 +0000

Envy like pride and anger desires to take you down. The jealous heart is developed by comparing ourselves to others. We want their possessions, power, positions and prosperity. It hurts to come to grips with the fact that we lack. We discover we are not all that we think we should be or have what we think we should have.

Jealousy and envy can break down the support system of our life (Proverbs 14:30). When the Apostle Paul writes to the Romans, he says that we should rejoice with those who rejoice. (Romans 12:15) Rejoicing with others who have what we want is a lifeguard for us. It keeps us from being in bondage to resentment and discontentment.

Who can you congratulate today to guard your life from jealousy?

Anger the Assassin

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:07:00 +0000

Anger has taken men and women down throughout history. It is a fact of life because we live in a broken and sinful world. The Bible assumes that you and I will get angry. (The Apostle Paul says, "In your anger do not sin,". Ephesians 4:26)

What you do when you get angry is important. You and I will make a decision when we get angry. Will we choose to sin or to be holy? Today if we find ourselves angry, let's be careful. Sin is crouching at the door ready to pounce if we don't control our anger.

Pride the Assassin

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 26 May 2011 18:21:00 +0000

Pride is an assassin. It seeks to build us up so that it can take us down. Everything that goes up must come down, right? The tricky thing about pride is that we can be blind to it. Pride is easy to see in others, but often very difficult to see in ourselves.

God has given us a bodyguard against pride, arrogance and vanity. Humility acts as protector of our soul. It causes us to see ourselves rightly, not just lowly. This why God tells us in James 4:10 to humble ourselves.

Be on guard today with humility.

Steven Johnson's Tweet

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:11:00 +0000

You probably seen the Buffalo Bills Steven Johnson tweet after dropping the game winning touchdown pass against the Pittsburgh Steelers. If not, here it is....
"I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO..."
If God tweeted, what would He tweet back????
It might sound like this...
"I GRACE YOU 24/7!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!! I DO EXPECT YOU TO LEARN FROM THIS!!! BECAUSE!!! IVE FORGIVEN EVEN THIS!!! EVER!!! YOU'RE WELCOME THO..."
Maybe that's God's response.

Too Much

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:16:00 +0000

I am often overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I need to pray for and it tempts me not to pray.

If you are like me you have a prayer list that is a mile long. Just the sheer volume of it is discouraging. Time and energy seem to evaporate. But I know that I must overcome the temptation to bypass praying by praying. This is why prayer is a discipline of the faith.

A Battle

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:42:00 +0000

#3 - There is always someone or something that will try to keep me from praying. I have discovered that my flesh, this world and Satanic forces are working to keep me from praying. The activity of prayer has to be one of the greatest battlefields in the mind of the believer.

Prayer is essential to God's work that's why I think it is opposed so greatly.

Regrets

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:45:00 +0000

One of the things I have learned about prayer is that I have never regretted the time I have spent praying, but I do regret the times I have not prayed. When I look back over my life I know that I should have prayed more.

I never have prayed and thought well that was a big waste of time. It is just good and right to pray.

May we all pray more...

30 in 30

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:05:00 +0000

I have been sharing the 30 things I have learned about pray in 30 years with GracePointe at Wednesday night Bible Study. So, I will share them with all (or both) of my blog followers.

Lesson #1 - Study the prayers of the Bible to learn how to pray.

The best way to learn to pray is to look at how people prayed in the Bible. I have gained a great education in prayer by studying how Nehemiah, Moses, Daniel and Jesus prayed.

Confession of Prayer

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:23:00 +0000

3 Things I Confess I Need to Do More

Pray more.
Pray more for others.
Pray more with others.

Confession needs to lead to action.

Angry?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:27:00 +0000

This past Sunday I spoke from Proverbs 29:11 which says, "The fool gives fool vent to his anger, but the wise man keeps himself under control." Solomon observes that both the wise man and the fool get angry. But the way the handle their anger is different. The impulsive fool is controlled by his anger. The wise guy controls his anger.

Passion is good. But passion out of control is dangerous. Moses was passionate for justice, but his strength became his weakness. It is recorded in three episodes of his life where his anger got the best of him. He killed an Egyptian taskmaster. He broke the Ten Commandments. He struck the rock twice when he was only to speak to the rock to bring out water for the people. His anger cost him years of service, respect and the opportunity to enter Canaan.

The wise man considers the cost before his temper is lost.

Great Advice

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:20:00 +0000

A mentor of mine once told me, "Work on your heart everything else is cosmetic." I found this to be wonderful advice for living.

Follow and Following

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 04 May 2010 22:21:00 +0000

I started "tweeting" on twitter last week. It's weird in that you are trying to get people to follow you. You also start following other people. We actually follow and are followed at the same time. That's kinda strange.

Jesus would have called us to follow Him. But He would not be following us.

O T Character

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:16:00 +0000

I was thinking about which Old Testament character would be cool to hang out with for a day. It's a more difficult choice than I had originally anticipated it would be. I think I would choose King Solomon. He fascinates me. I mean how cool would it be to hang out with a guy who was the wisest man to ever live. He knew something about just about everything so you could talk with him about anything.

I think I would ask him...

Why all the women?
What was it like having King David as a father?
What's more difficult to handle success or failure?

Someone from History

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:36:00 +0000

Yesterday, I posted on who I would love to hang out with for a day that is famous right now in our world. Today, I am thinking about one person in history that I would love to chill with for 24 hours. I have a lot of people that come to mind. So, I am going to limit the boundaries who I can pick to spend a day with to someone who is historical, but not found in the Bible. I will get to the Bible guys tomorrow.

I think I would like to spend a day with Robert E. Lee. I read a biography on him last year and was amazed at this guy. I think he was a fascinating person. I would love to talk to him about politics and his faith in Jesus. I would like to know how difficult it was for him to fight against the Union. It must have been an incredible burden to be a General that sent young men into battle knowing that many of them would die. That kind of burden for any man must be terribly difficult to handle.

What about you? What non-biblical historical figure would you like to get to know in person? And why?

One other thing about yesterdays blog on spending time with Mark Richt. I have not been feeling to well and slept much of the day. I have some kind chest and sinus respitory infection. I went to sleep and actually dreamed about hanging out with Mark Richt. It was kinda strange, but cool. I guess later tonight I will be standing on some battlefield with R. E. Lee, at least in my dreams.

What Famous Person of Today?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:00:00 +0000

If you were given the honor of spending a day with one famous person that is still alive who would you choose?

I was thinking about this question on the way to work this morning. I had a bunch of people to cross my mind, but I think I would choose to spend a day with Mark Richt, the head football coach of the Georgia Bulldogs. I would think he would have some great stories to tell about football as head coach and as a player. I would love to hear about what he's learned about leadership over the years. Most of all, I would love hearing about how he integrates his faith in Jesus with life and coaching. He seems like he be a laid back cat that would be good just to chill with over dinner.

Who would you choose and why? I would love to hear from you.

Completing the Work

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:23:00 +0000

It's been quite some time since I last blogged. I am sure both of my followers have been discouraged. But it is a new year so I need to get on the ball here and do some thought sharing.

Life is about glorifying God. If I am going to glorify Him then what must I do. I found this clue last week in John 17:4 where Jesus said these words in His prayer, "I have brought you (Father God) glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.".

So, one observation is that if I am to glorify God on earth then I will complete the work He has given me to do. I will do the job He has set before me.

Professor Splash at Catalyst

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:54:00 +0000

The Catalyst Conference was great this year. I have been to all 10 years and believe that this year was the best. It is here that I saw one of the most insane acts that I have ever personally witnessed. Professor Splash who owns the world record for diving from 35 feet into a kiddie pool with one foot of water was there and did one of his dives. It was crazy. Here is the video from my friend Matt Mitchell who was standing behind me...You can also find Prof Splash at http://www.professorsplash.com/

A Recommendation

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:06:00 +0000

The best recommendation I can give to anyone anywhere for anything is that they follow Jesus Christ. That about sums it up for me.

Somebody

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:20:00 +0000

Most of us at some point in our week have thoughts about what “ought to” be done. What was the last thing that came to your mind that you really felt ought to be done? Was it some injustice that needed to be made right? Was it some ministry that needed to be started? Was it some person who needed a hand? Was it some task that would improve your community?

Chances are that everyone of us will have a moment today or tomorrow where we will think that somebody should do something about this or that. It is that “ought to” moment that I believe that God uses to prick us towards action. The challenge I want to leave you with today is when you sense that somebody should do something about an injustice, a need or a ministry that you will consider that the reason you have had an “ought to” moment is not for just personal observation only. It may be that God has put it on your heart to be the somebody to do something about it.

Narking

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:31:00 +0000

I was listening to Colin Cowherd on sports radio today. The subject of narking came up. The question was asked, "Would you nark to authorities on your brother if you knew your brother was murdering people?" Cowherd said he would nark on his brother. But the other guy, fish, said he would not nark on his brother. He would defend his brother.

Would you nark on your brother or sister for murder?

What does your answer reveal about your values?

By the way, I would nark on my brother. It is just.

Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:33:00 +0000

Here's a verse you don't hear quoted very often,

"Ears that hear and eyes that see-- the LORD has made them both." Proverbs 20:12

I could have ears that don't hear. I could have eyes that don't see. Sadly, I take these blessings for granted. I live as though I am entitled to have the ability to see and hear. But these senses are a blessing from the LORD.

If I couldn't hear or see then I would miss out on...

watching my sons play ball
enjoying music
hearing the words "I love you!"
seeing the cardinal outside my window
listening to the ocean waves crash on the beach
being able to drive
watching the Georgia Bulldogs play football
seeing my smoking hot wife
reading the Word of God

and I think that would really stink.

So, I stopped today and thanked God for these really great blessing of being able to see and hear.

The Myth of Obscurity

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:27:00 +0000

Sometimes it seems like when you work in a church that you minister to people in obscurity. But the truth is that there is not such a thing as obscure service in the Kingdom of God. I spent 15 years serving in youth ministry. When all the adults were meeting on Sunday evening, I was in a room far away with a bunch of hormonal middle schoolers. It seemed like no one knew and no one cared. It felt like I was working on a lost island.

I was reading Mark 12:41-44. It is the story of the widow who gave a couple of coins that didn't amount to a penny. The crazy thing is that Jesus sees here giving her last dime. He takes note and points her out to his disciples. She thought she gave in obscurity, but the truth is that God saw it.

When you serve Christ you never serve in obscurity. He is omniscient and omnipresent. He sees it all.

There are so many people who serve at GracePointe in what I am sure seems like obscurity. The pastors never say thanks. The people never pat them on the back. They never get called to do a national conference. They don't get a paycheck. They don't even get their name in the bulletin.

But I want you to know that Jesus sees your service and gifts. He knows. You never serve in obscurity because God is aware what you do.

The Greatest Leader

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:49:00 +0000

One way to measure a great leader is in the diversity of his or her following. Most of us who consider ourselves leaders only lead people who are for the most part like us. They look like us. They talk like us. They dress like us. They wear their hair like us. They are the same skin color as us. They really are not that different from us. We don't have a wideness in our leadership. It's not that we don't want diversity, we just are not that good of leaders. True diversity in leadership is shown in those who willing following without coercion, manipulation, fear or a paycheck. It is willingly following out of humble submission.

If you measured great leaders by the diversity of their humble followers, then who would be the greatest leader?

Jesus is the greatest leader in all of history. In Revelation 5:9, we discover that Jesus will be worshipped by people from every nation, every tribe and every tongue. He is gathering followers from all nations. He is making disciples of Egyptians, Americans, Spaniards, Italians, Africans, Polynesians, Iraqis, Iranians, Russians, Japanese and people from the four corners of the earth. He is, without a doubt, the greatest leader of all.

Swirl

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:43:00 +0000

We joined with Perpetual Praise and Worship Ministries for a time of worship. They are black congregation here in Douglas, GA. We had a great time of mixing our worship styles together. It was really cool and reminded me of the words found in Psalm 133,

"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!"

We have different backgrounds, different cultures and different colors, but the worship was sweet! I know that God was pleased.

The Apostle Paul says it like this...

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28