Archive of January 2009.
January 29, 2009
A couple of years ago, I was about to board a plane when I opened the USA Today newspaper to read a small article that Ted Haggard was facing slanderous accusations. They seemed so far fetched that I didn’t believe them. It was a moment that registered in my memory. Within the next few days revelations came forward that Ted was living a bazaar life of hypocrisy.
I wondered, “How can a man who has such an illumination of scripture also have the depravity of character?”
Ted Haggard has allowed an HBO special to be aired detailing his life after the revelation. I don’t have HBO so I won’t be watching. I did watch the interview with Oprah.
My response is the same as it was when the news broke in the first place. Sympathy. I am very compassionate toward his wife, Gayle, and their children. As far as Ted, I don’t need nor am I compelled to make a statement or a judgement toward him.
Let me say it this way, when Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggart, Marvin Gorman, and others hypocrisies were exposed in the late eighties, my response was ineffective simplicity and judgment. Now, I hope that I have matured in my character to extend mercy without denial of God’ truth (Proverbs 3:3).
Listen to these words:
“The greatest test of character is our response to someone else’s sin. If our responses are from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which emphasizes punishment instead of restoration, judgment instead of redemption or justice instead of mercy, then our responses might sow seeds that will ultimately destroy our own lives. But if our responses are out of the tree of life, we will not only protect our own hearts from subtle deception but will give the one who is trouble maximum opportunity to find liberating life.”
These profound words are those of Ted Haggard in his book, “Life Giving Church.”
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January 22, 2009
R.T. Kendall wrote in his book, Yesterday’s Man: “A person with a tremendous anointing yesterday can continue to see the momentum of that anointing continuing to manifest itself. He or she may hastily conclude that ‘the anointing is still with us’ when it is but the momentum of yesterday’s anointing. If I do not experience a fresh anointing every day, it is only a matter of time before I become yesterday’s man.”
One of the greatest challenges that I’ve seen over the years is the ability for a person to stay fresh in the Spirit.
History is replete with examples of men and women being used of God in remarkable ways only to see their lives become less than noticeable. The after glory is saddening.
Some loose their fresh touch because of assumption. They assume that simply because they were used means that they will be used. You do not have a right to a future simply because you have a past.
Some loose their fresh touch because of familiarity. They become familiar with the work of God, treating the anointing with contempt. They gimmick the touch of God, using it as a commodity for their own ego or appetite.
Some loose their fresh touch because of alliances. The people gathered around you will have an impact on the anointing. Make no mistake about it. If you have spiritually slothful, crass, mockers, or slanderers around you, the Spirit will not abide with you long. He is not comfortable around those who jest for the sake of crude humor.
Some loose their relevance because of sin. Their delusion is that they have a special gift from God and they can justify their sin while condemning others. Their duplicity will destroy them.
The last twenty-one days, my wife and I have enjoyed (and I really mean enjoyed) a fast. So much so, that we have decided to press on to forty days. The overwhelming sense that I have is that I want to stay current, in the moment, relevant with the Spirit of God.
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January 11, 2009
In Acts 17:16, Paul is in Athens and is confronted by two philosophies, Epicureans and Stoics. The Epicureans believed in secular individualism. They believed that they could exist without the oversight of the heavens. The Stoics were the naturalist, the radical environmentalist, earth lovers of the day. Paul admonished them to look at the God called “The Unknown God.” He said, “It is in Him that we live and move and have our being.”
Athens was the birth place of democracy. Paul is from Jerusalem, the seat of Theocracy. The American experiment is the combination of a democracy under the Head of God. We are “One nation under God.” It is in Him that we trust.
The primary philosophies that Paul confronted are the same “talking heads” that we are confronted with today. They are passionately religious people, committed to their gods, yet secular in their decisions of life. They “babble” on and on without ever saying anything. They cry intolerance when we question their hypocrisies, yet are visceral toward us if we stand for what we believe.
One of the leading voices in this cultural exchange is NBC. The broadcasting giant is now shrinking each day because of its narrow appeal to the general population.
Please take a moment and take a poll
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January 09, 2009
I just finished the Law of Order at City Church. Probably, will be one of my last “live” teaching of the Seven Laws, since we now have the seminar in a curriculum and more of my attention is demanded to work on FivestarMan. I will miss the excitement that people have during the seminar when the revelation of how practical these laws are for their lives. Testimonies of how the seminar “opened up” their eyes to see the little things that they have been doing has sabotaged their own success.
When I started teaching the Seven Laws nine years ago, I came across pretty hard. People struggled with it because of my severe objection to their obduracy. I was motivated by the lack of honor and dignity that they felt toward the Church. The Church should live at a higher level that we have in the past. The dignity of our call, the honor of our Lord, and the supreme importance of our mission should compel us to do what we do with excellence.
Excellence is not perfection. I am not perfect and sometimes embarrassingly prone to do things slothfully. I have to constantly push myself to take the extra 10 or 20 percent effort to do it with excellence. I am very conscience of the fact that I have to constantly work on “me.” The fact is, I have reread my own book. Not because I personally enjoy reading my stuff but because I need faith to follow. I know that the Laws govern me.
My hope is that the Seven Laws don’t just fade away and are put on the back shelf. That is not my intention. I may look for new ways to market it because I like seeing Pastors take churches to new levels of glory. I like to see entrepreneurs double and triple their successes. I also like to see housewives apply the Seven Laws to making their home a place of hospitality for their own family.
I would love to hear back for you. If you have a comment or a testimony concerning what the Seven Laws has done, let me know.
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January 01, 2009
Last year, 8 was a year of new beginnings. The number eight, in biblical numerics represents “fatness”, “anointing,” or “new beginnings.” We can sum up the year without exaggeration, we are in a time of new beginnings. Everything has changed. Economically, Politically, Socially, and I believe Spiritually.
This year is 9.
Nine is finality or completion. The first example of its use is that infinitely sealed first verse of the Bible: “In the beginning God” which in Hebrew is: Brayshith Elohim which has the numeric value of 999. The very next statement “created the heaven” is also sealed with 999.
The number nine is endowed with a peculiar quality, it is finality in itself. Not only is it the final single number, but if you multiply it by any other number, the addition of the resulting figures will always revert back to nine (2 x 9 = 18 / 1 + 8 = 9 etc).
There are nine basic gifts available to the Christian believer through the power of God’s Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:8-10). There are nine basic fruits which should be evident in the life of the believer (Gal 5:22-23). The words “my wrath” have the numeric value 999. The word Amen or verily is valued at 99 and occurs 99 times.
The work on the cross was completed at the ninth hour when Jesus said “It is finished”. The shedding of his blood was final. It saw an end to the old system of animal sacrifice to atone for sin. The word “blood” in this sense occurs 99 times.
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