Billy Graham, evangelist, speaking in Madison Square Garden, offered parents six suggestions on how to curb juvenile delinquency:

1. Take time with your children
2. Set your children a good example
3. Give your children ideals for living
4. Have a lot of activities planned
5. Discipline your children
6. Teach them about God.

Proud of my Church family this week… http://bit.ly/ArGqyj

So I guess I must be a little bit of a rocker at heart because I LOVE this song right now… The link above is the album version, the link below is a live shot that’s a little longer. Eat whichever course you like, but give it a few minutes of your life, it’s worth it.

via Francis Chan: I Don’t Need Fellowship to Do “American Church”.

Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident. ~ v.3

I don’t know about you, but I don’t tend to wake up in the morning and find an army besieging me, nor do I wake up to find war breaking out against me. It might just be me, but that doesn’t seem to happen in my life. However, for David it did, literally. He literally did find an army against him (more than once to be fair) and he did find war breaking out against him which is why it makes a verse like this all the more incredible. I mean just stop and think about that.

As ruler of a country, when war was coming against him David could respond that his confidence was in God yet when we find the tiniest little thing coming against us we so quickly panic, go into full red alert mode and shut down.

Another thing we should notice here that he doesn’t say ‘When an army comes against me I will hit 40 days of prayer and fasting’, not that prayer and fasting is a bad thing but there’s a key here also. David’s relationship with God was an ongoing, regularly built up friendship so that when these times came, he was already in the shelter of God’s tent (later verse). He didn’t need to find it at that moment when the poop was hitting the fan, he had ALREADY found it years ago, which is why God chose him to be king.

The key to having a confidence like this then, the reason David didn’t have to worry is because he really did have an ongoing friendship with the creator of the Universe and that didn’t change depending on his circumstances, we would do well to follow that amazing example and as a parting thought, for those that want to hyper spiritualize it and apply it to the ‘invisible armies that come against us’, hold you horses folks, because David was being literal, and God proved it here, in 2 Kings 6.

¹⁵ When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.
¹⁶ “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
¹⁸ As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

There’s a dirty word inside the Church. It’s a word that most people don’t like to talk about, it’s a word that some preachers won’t preach about and it’s a word that some people don’t think affects them in any way.

The problem is that it’s something Jesus spoke a lot about, something the disciples had to wake up and smell the coffee on and it’s something the early Church couldn’t stand the sight of.

It can destroy us, separate us, condemn us and fool us and so as we begin 2012 we’re launching a new series at The Shelter to tackle this head on, in the hope that we all realize not just how far away from God we really are, but much more importantly how much Grace we receive from Him every single day of our lives.

Starting this Sunday at 10am.

Video games are not sinful, they’re just stupid. And they’re stupid in this way: Young, particularly men, and now women are joining it, they want to get on a team, be part of a kingdom, conquer a foe, and win a great, epic battle. So they do it with their thumbs and it doesn’t even count. Nobody’s really liberated. The Taliban is not really conquered. Women are not really freed from oppression. Generations are not really changed. It’s all fake. It doesn’t count.

You want to do something? Get off the couch, unplug the electronics, give your life to Jesus, find some other guys, and do something that actually matters. Leave a legacy for women, children, generations, not just the high score on some stupid game. It’s amazing. A whole world filled with guys who want to be on a team, go to a war, defeat an enemy, and save a princess.

That’s the story of this book, the Bible. And if you want to be part of that kingdom, you got to get off the couch and follow that King. And you do not quit. You fight differently when you fight for ones you love, a kingdom, and a King. …

And some of you would want to say you’re a Christian and not see it through to completion. And let me just say this. All of the slots for hypocrite are already filled. All of those positions are filled. We’re not lacking hypocrites. We’re lacking disciples.

The reason I bring this up is very simple. When Jesus was alive with the dirty dozen, his daily life consisted of speaking to people, loving on people, ministering to people and healing people. If that’s what He did then, and he’s still alive now, then it stands to reason that He probably still conducts Himself in the same way today and if that’s the case, then we shouldn’t be surprised when the miraculous happens and / or lives are transformed.

You see just like I am who I am, Jesus is who He is. He hasn’t changed, He won’t change. He was and always will be the dependable guy anyone can turn to who has whatever is needed to fix whatever the mess. He used to change people’s lives in an instant, he still changes people’s lives in an instant. He used to do miracles more often than he changed his socks, he still does miracles more often than he changes his socks.

The only thing that has changed is that we treat Him differently now, and expect far less than He is trying to give because somewhere down the line, something happened where we subconsciously had a disconnect from the reality of the NT and our lives today, but if we can change, and begin to see Him today as the same person in the New Testament… Holy Moly our world may just look a little different.