Christmas Blog is Now Live
Nov/080
The first post on our Christmas blog is up. There will be one post everyday through Christmas Eve. Don't miss out!
Vintage Christmas starts tomorrow!
Nov/080
I love ACC's Christmas series this year! This series, entitled Vintage Christmas, is going to be a lot of fun. It will also be very poignant and significant.
Our creative team worked like madmen on this series. And I believe that God will honor that. He's got some big stuff planned for Christmas '08 at ACC!
Do NOT miss it!
Christmas Blog
Nov/080
Just a reminder that ACC's Christmas blog goes live this Sunday, November 30. There will be one post every day through Christmas Eve.
Each post contains a Scripture link and some reflections designed to help us all keep the Christmas season in perspective. It's a very special time of year for Christ-followers…if they don't allow culture to define it for them.
You can subscribe to our RSS feed right now so you won't miss a thing. Or you can read it on our website each day.
Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation
Nov/080
It is "announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, by the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people." (Abraham Lincoln, 1863)
Is It Really That Bad?
Nov/081
It's no mystery that our country's economy has hit a rough patch. It was THE issue in the presidential campaign. Our government is issuing bailouts-a-plenty. People are losing their jobs at a troubling rate. It's definitely no picnic right now.
But I've got to wonder…are things really that bad? If your job is on the line or you've actually lost your job, I don't want you to think I'm minimizing your situation. I pray that you find steady employment very soon.
But when I hear things like, "This is The Great Depression 2," it makes me want to examine the situation a little more closely.
Let me ask a few questions.
Can I make a simple observation? If you had a positive answer to most, or all, of those questions…you are blessed. Yes, things in our economy are shaky. We don't know exactly what's going to happen. But people who lived through The Great Depression would probably have given a negative answer to every one of the questions I listed.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, keep in mind that we really do have a lot to be thankful for. Even during "The Great Depression 2."
Proverbs 7:10-23
Nov/081
Wow. This dramatic interpretation of Proverbs 7:10-23 is heavy duty. Talk about a creative way to make a passage stick in people's minds and hearts. I'll say it again…wow.
Will This Ever End?
Nov/085
Probably not. But I wish it would.
I just heard about another pastor whose family fell apart. This time his wife left and took the kids.
As soon as I heard this news, I hung my head and thought, "Not again."
It almost feels like there isn't a week that goes by where I don't hear of another pastor who is caught in adulterous sin. Or a pastor who helped himself to church money. Or in this case, a pastor who was blindsided when his wife walked away.
Satan's plan is very clear. He desires to take down any and every pastor that he possibly can. There may be nothing more damaging to a church than this.
It seems like Satan's strategy goes like this: "If I can take down a Christian, good. If I can take down a minister, great! There's a good chance that the church will simply fall apart. And if that happens, I win BIG TIME!"
So what do we do? First of all, if you're in ministry, realize this: your integrity matters more than you can imagine.
Guard your marriage. Protect your children.
Don't touch a dime of church money. Don't even hold an offering plate.
If your wife tells you to be cautious around a particular woman, listen to her! She has a heightened awareness to this kind of thing.
And for Christ's sake, don't ever, ever, EVER be alone with a woman other than your wife. And by the way, I'm not taking the Lord's name in vain. I literally mean that you should do that for the sake of Jesus Christ. His name is disparaged and dishonored every time a pastor falls.
If you're not in vocational ministry, here's what you need to do: pray for the ministers on staff at your church. Pray for them all the time. Seriously. You can't even measure what kind of difference that will make.
The pastor, youth minister, children's minister, worship minister, executive minister, creative minister, pastoral care minister, etc…..they're ALL under attack! They live every single day on the edge, knowing that one bad decision could cost them their career, their reputation, and their family. They need your prayers. In fact, they are desperate for them.
God, we need you…now more than ever.
Wife…then Family
Nov/080
This post is specifically for married dudes. Chicks can read it too, but it's meant for dudes.
I read some great stuff by Paul Byerly from themarriagebed.com recently. It was so good that I thought I'd share it here on my blog.
Guys, listen up. You need to hear, and heed, Paul's words. Our wives are worth it.
Paul said, "I do this reminder every year as we approach the American family gathering holiday of Thanksgiving. The same things apply to any other gathering of extended family.
God is clear – we LEAVE our parents, we CLEAVE to our bride, and we become ONE FLESH with her. This does not mean we abandon our parents or stop loving them, but it does mean that our spouse is to be more important than our parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and so on.
It means we stand up for our bride against any family member who is out of line, and it means if someone refuses to be nice, we limit our contact.
We don't ask our wife to be someone other than who she is when she is with our family, and we do not treat her differently in front of our family."
Right on, Paul. Fellas, it's time to step up to the plate. I've known some guys who stood by while their wife was abused by their extended family. If I just described you, it's time to grow a spine, dude.
Love your wife. Defend your wife. Show her that she is the most important person in the world to you.
The Capacity of Your Heart
Nov/081
The widest thing in the universe is not space; it is the potential capacity of the human heart. Being made in the image of God, it is capable of almost unlimited extension in all directions. And one of the world's worst tragedies is that we allow our hearts to shrink until there is room in them for little besides ourselves.
(A.W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous)
