His lead was comfortable. The crowd was ecstatically cheering for the most popular driver on tour. At turn 1 the lead was 7 car lengths. By turn 2 the lead had increased to 8 car lengths. Victory was only half a mile away.

Then Dale Earnhardt Jr. did the unthinkable.

He ran out of fuel!

With no gas in the tank, he coasted to a disappointing 7th place finish.

You and I must take time to fill up.  We need to “cool our jets” and catch our breath.  Have you spent time with the Lord in His Word today?  Could I share something with you about The Spirit and The Word?  I think it’s so important.

Eph 5.18 COMMANDS us, “be FILLED with the Spirit.”  If you read on after that, you will find that the filling of the Spirit results in a joyful singing heart (5.19), an attitude of gratitude (5.20), humble submission (5.21), Christ-like Agape love (5.25ff), glad obedience to authority at home (5.22; 6.1) and at work (6.5), proper wielding of authority at home (5.23; 6.4) and at work (6.9), and victory in spiritual battles (6.10ff).  As Adrian Rogers once put it, the Holy Spirit filling affects your worship life, your wedded life, your work life, and your warrior life.

Now look at Colossians 3.16ff.  There we are COMMANDED to “Let the Word of Christ DWELL IN YOU RICHLY” (NKJV).  What follows being FILLED WITH THE WORD looks just like what resulted from being FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT!  There is a joyful singing heart (3.16), thanksgiving (3.17), submission to authority at home and work (3.18, 20, 22), and the gentle wielding of authority in love (3.19, 21; 4.1).

Don’t fail to cross the finish line.  Stop now.  Fill up.  TWICE!  Start with the Word of God, and you will find yourself filled with the Spirit also.  Grace upon Grace!

If Mr. Falk is in Heaven today, I hope he is aware of the COLUMBO TECHNIQUE that his character has given to the Christian apologist.  Greg Koukl has perfected this technique and teaches it with flair (he does a great impersonation too).  Take a look at this video (about 50 minutes; it opens in a new window) and learn for yourself an extremely easy way to engage the unbeliever in conversation that could lead to eternal life.

Harmon Killebrew, the star of yesteryear’s Minnesota Twins, told this story about his dad:

“My father,” Harmon said, “used to play with my brother and me in the yard.  Mother would come out and say, ’You’re tearing up the grass.’  ’We’re not raising grass,’ Dad would reply.  ’We’re raising boys!’”  

That was a great answer!

Mr. Killebrew (no relation–I’m Kinnebrew) must have been a great dad.  I had one too.  I hope you did (or do).  

If you’re a Christian, you’ve got the best Father ever, and this Father’s Day you might reflect on three glorious gifts He has given you.  

The list is found in 1 John 3.1-3:

• A GREAT DIGNITY

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God!

• A GREAT DESTINY

Now are we the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

• A GREAT DUTY

He that has this hope in Him purifies himself even as He is pure.

The first word in this passage is “Behold.”  It is a command to gaze upon, contemplate, and search out the significance in the great love of the Father that has given us these three great gifts.

I hope you will do that today.  Happy Father’s Day!

The Trinity: “Try and understand it and you will lose your mind; seek to deny it and you will lose your soul!”  At least that’s what some anonymous preacher once said.  I’m not sure the last half is theologically sound, but the “losing your mind” part may come close to the truth!  One thing is for certain: the triune nature of God is not the invention of man.  We would have never dreamed up such a thing!  We couldn’t!  No, we are forced to believe it because Scripture has declared that imponderable fact to be the truth about who God is. 

The bare fact of Scripture is that there is only one God.  That’s fine, and we can see the logic behind it.  But then we are told that there is Someone called the Father who is God, Someone called the Son who is God, and yet another Someone called the Spirit who is God–and none of these are to be identified as any of the other Two!  Okay, now I’m lost!

Ravi Zacharias explained this in perhaps the best way I have ever heard.  I could never do better, so check out  the answer he gave a Penn State student in this video clip.

I have to admit, he has given me a lot to think about.  Nothing, however, has led me to doubt the truth of the faith that has anchored my life to God for the past forty years.  Actually, the examination of the objections to Christianity that I have done over the last year has made me more certain than ever that what I have believed to be true most assuredly is.

One of the objections heard most often has to do with the biblical doctrine of Hell–a subject that has had a lot of press lately due to one “evangelical” author’s surprising rejection of it.  As I was rummaging through my bookshelves for some material on the subject, a little card fell out of a theology book and landed on my shoe.  I picked it up and wept as I realized it was addressed to my son when he was just 5 years old.  The card was from his 1st grade Sunday school teacher, and recounted her love for him and Jesus’ love as well.  The Lord used that little card to remind me that the seeds of faith were planted deep in Joshua’s heart long before the insidious fowls of doubt showed up to try and pluck them from the ground.

I know that Josh is free to reject the teachings of Scripture and that if he does so his fate will be one of eternal sorrow.  But I also know that in order to do that to the end, he will have to close his eyes to the witness of God all around, shut his ears to the witness of God within, and trample underfoot innumerable seeds that have been implanted in his soul from even before he was born.  Please pray with me that he will not do that.  God has worked mightily to see that he wouldn’t.

In The Biblical Illustrator, Joseph Exell tells of a farmer who was cutting down some old beech trees on his land.  He noticed on one a strange design in the bark, barely detectable but shaped like the letters “JL” with some kind of script underneath.  When he had cut the tree down and was stripping it into boards, he was surprised to find near the tree’s core the clear carved letters “J. L.” over the engraving of an anchor. With a little investigation he discovered that a sailor named John Leland had lived there a generation before and in some idle hour had put his mark on the then young beech tree.

Thirty seven rings had grown over that carving (indicating 37 years of growth), but the keen eye of the woodsman was still able to see their mark on the bark.  And so it is with the human soul.  Exell commented, “Many an old man, in spite of the rough usage of the world and the scar of time and trouble, bears upon his walk and conversation the marks of the handwriting which in his youth God put in his heart.”

Today was Mother’s Day.  Tonight I thank God for the power of parental influence, and I pray that the good seed planted in my children and yours will bear fruit to the glory of God and the eternal joy of our families.

I saw the last two seconds of this TV segment out the corner of my eye as I was leaving for work and thought, “Oh, Lord, what did they just say?”
 
Knowing what the media usually says about such things as marriage and monogamy, I suspected the worst.  To my surprise and delight, however, what could have been a disaster was not so bad.
 
Of course, some biblical insight and instruction could have made the comments superb, but at least Dr. Salz acknowledged that there are undeniably important benefits to viewing marriage biblically as a lifelong covenant.  Some important “takeaways” from this discussion were that:

• We are “hardwired” to bond to someone–promiscuity is not, as so often asserted, the natural way to live

• Monogamous marriage has great rewards in fulfilling our deepest needs

• Maintaining monogamous relationships takes work and wisdom

What would have made the segment better?  The biblical picture that I give in TentmakersTenderTouch.

Get that for FREE here.

I’m teaching Ecclesiology this semester.  Here’s a little outline from Matthew 16 that might help you.

We know what’s wrong with the church. We hear it all the time. But is there anything RIGHT WITH THE CHURCH?

YES! We Have:

The Right Foundation–”Upon This Rock”
The Right Founder–”I Will Build My Church”
The Right Fight–”The Gates of Hell”
The Right Future–”Shall Not Prevail”
The Right Function–”I Give You the Keys . . . Whatever You Bind . . . Loose”

There are the bones, you supply the muscle, ligaments, and skin!

A “prime example” of that, according to Rosemond, was the sudden, immediate, non-negotiable, and universal ban imposed upon the four words that parents everywhere had found so effective and efficient from the beginning of time: 

“BECAUSE I SAID SO!”

Or, for those occasional cases that call for more explanation: “BECAUSE I SAID SO–THAT’S WHY!”

If you’re from my generation (yes, the sixties), those words are very familiar.  Familiar to the ears, but maybe not to the tongue.  For though we heard them plenty from our own parents, we were strongly cautioned never to speak them to our kids.  Turns out, that advice was ill-advised!

As Rosemond rightly observes, those four forbidden words are ”a simple, declarative statement of leadership, of authority.”  And if there is one indispensible element in parenting (there are actually several) it is authority.  “Because I said so” is “shorthand” for “I know what I’m doing.   You don’t need to understand.  In fact, at this point in your life you cannot possibly understand.  But you know I love you and am looking out for you, so trust me.  When you are older you will see the wisdom in my decision.”

Children need to know that someone is in charge.  And despite loud signals to the contrary, they want to know that the someone in charge is not them.  When mom or dad feels compelled to “explain” their decisions, they remove some of that assurance that they really are the leader.

Think about it in terms of the parent’s role as a representative of God.  “Honor your father and your mother” is the “bridge commandment” connecting the first table of the Law (where our obligations to God are spelled out) to the second table (where our obligations to humanity are detailed). 

There is a reason for that.  We give to our children their very first picture of the Heavenly Father.  We are their source of being.  We are their sole provider.  They come into the world helpless and entirely dependent upon us for their food, shelter, warmth, and protection. We guide them and teach them, and we require their trust and obedience.  Signs of incompetence, indecision, or uncertainty undermine their trust and distort the picture we transmit of the Father God. 

“Because I said so” communicates that we are not unsure or incompetent, and that we don’t need their help in leading the family.  It sends the same message that God sends to us throughout our life: “I’m taking care of this.  If you don’t understand why I’m doing things the way I am, you don’t need to–trust me and do what I say. You’ll be glad you did (and sad if you don’t).”

Do we refuse to answer sincere questions?  Of course not.  God has answers for sincere seekers.  But the ”Why?” or “Why not?” that gives rise to the ”Because I said so” answer is almost never a request for understanding.  It is simply a beligerent challenge to your authority. If you doubt that, how many times has a reasoned explanation of your “why” resulted in an “Oh, I see” or a calm and thoughtful dialogue that caused you to see another perspective? 

As Rosemond put it, if your child’s ”Why?” and “Why not?” were genuine questions, they would “listen respectfully and at least occasionally agree.  Instead, they interrupt and begin arguing. . . not some of the time, but all of the time.”

His conclusion: “There is no such thing as an argumentive child.  There are only parents who are not comfortable with their authority and cannot bring themselves, therefore, to say ‘Because I said so.’” 

You ARE the authority.  Get used to it.  The Ban is off!  Use those four words!

To see Rosemond’s article click here

For your Biblical Counseling degree click here

For more parenting help click here

Mark Twain is said to be the source for this insight:

“The secret to getting ahead is getting started.  And the secret to getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks and starting on the first one.”

Mr. T. (if he did ever say that) was foreshadowing a business theory called Kaizen.

Kaizen is a concept adopted from the Japanese automobile industry. Roughly translated, it means continuous improvement through tiny, incremental steps.

John Wooden, the famous UCLA basketball coach (and one of the most successful college basketball coaches of all time) put it this way:

“When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur.  When you improve conditioning a little each day, eventually you have a big improvement in conditioning.  Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made.  Don’t look for the big, quick improvement.  Seek the small improvement one day at a time.  That’s the only way it happens — and when it happens, it lasts.”

Simple enough, and fairly intuitive, right? 

So how are you going to apply it? 

Yep, “there’s an app for that” in your:

• Marriage Life (Maybe a little gift on the way home from work?)

• Parenting Life (A trip to the Dairy Queen and your undivided attention?)

• Ministry Life (Subscribe to TentMakersTips?)

• Devotional Life (Get one?)

• Educational Life (Take a class?)

• Business Life (Open an autoresponder account?)

• Physical Life (Hit the deck and give me twenty!)

Just pick ONE of these areas today. 

What ONE LITTLE THING could you do RIGHT NOW (in the next 15 minutes) that would move you closer to your goals in that area?

Got it?

Okay, great!

On your mark,

Get set,

GO!

And go again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and . . . Yeah, things are going to change baby!