Month: January 2010

David’s Tweets for 2010-01-14

  • Without an ehical foundation. You will not have a moral compass. #
  • To man up is to keep my promises to my wife. #
  • Most new books suck because they are written by people who need to write, but having nothing about which they must write! #
  • Writers, speakers listen up; if it hasn't thrilled you, it won't thrill them. #
  • To man up is to find a good woman, marry her and spend the rest of your life making sure she never regrets it.! #

David’s Tweets for 2010-01-14

  • Without an ehical foundation. You will not have a moral compass. #
  • To man up is to keep my promises to my wife. #
  • Most new books suck because they are written by people who need to write, but having nothing about which they must write! #
  • Writers, speakers listen up; if it hasn't thrilled you, it won't thrill them. #
  • To man up is to find a good woman, marry her and spend the rest of your life making sure she never regrets it.! #

So Goes Marriage, So Goes America

I read a statistic the other day that shocked me.  That is, in 1930 over 84% of all Americans were married.  But today, the number of married people has dropped to below 50%.

This is shocking.  I am amazed that no one is taking up the banner and waving the flag, because the crisis of marriage in America is the greatest predictor of our future.  Here is the truth: as marriage goes, so goes any society – including our own.

Marriage is important.  It’s key and core.  The Scriptures open with a marriage and close with a marriage.  And everything in between is teaching us to live in families.  And the family is created first of all, when a man and a woman come together in the covenant of marriage.

We must raise the value of our marriages. Men must understand that there is no success without succeeding first at home.  Men in America must understand that their highest goal as a husband is to help their wives and children reach their greatest potential.  My greatest success is not in the marketplace, but in my home.  And out of that success extends everything else I have to offer the world.

If you’re thinking about ending your marriage, don’t. It can be fixed.  There is always hope.  But you give up that hope the day you decide to opt for divorce rather than fight for the most precious thing you’ll ever have, and that is your marriage relationship.  Do everything you can to keep it together because divorce is not only the quickest way to destroy your life, it’s also the number one creator of poverty in our country.

David’s Tweets for 2010-01-11

  • If you want to know what kind of husband a man is; look into his wife’s eyes! #
  • Be care not to get trapped in the little story of me, my, and mine. Jesus prayed, not my will but thine! #
  • Marriage is not 2 living together apart! #
  • The is nothing that makes a woman feel insecure more than a selfish, detached, distant husband! #
  • The fastest way to put distance between you and your wife; is treat her like she’s stupid. #
  • Living for the moment stupid. Living in the moment smart. #
  • Dealing with the stresses of life in an atmosphere of strife; is juggling bowling balls standing on jello. #

You Don’t Have An Addiction Problem

Is it just me, or does it seem that everything today is now an addiction?  We have names for diseases that I’m not all that convinced are diseases.

We live in a therapeutic society that gives us excuses for being the way we are, rather than understanding that the choices we make and the actions we take determine the life that we live.  It’s not an addiction; it’s a choice.

We also use the word “mistake” lightly.  When a professional basketball player took guns into a locker room and confronted his fellow teammates; that wasn’t a mistake, that was a choice. A mistake is going down the wrong road on your way to the restaurant.  A mistake is putting the wrong kind of oil into your engine.  A choice is when you do something that’s illegal, immoral, or unethical and then you face the consequences.

This distinction was never more important than it is right now in America, in our marriages.  Marriages are breaking up over “addictions.”  If a man commits adultery against his wife, he doesn’t have a moral problem, or an ethical problem, he has an “addiction.”

Whatever reason Tiger Woods was driven to do what he did, I’m not at all convinced that it’s as easily fixed as saying, “he has an addiction.”

One of the reasons I think we opt for the “addiction” label is we don’t want to be judgmental.  Who among us has the right to cast the first stone?  But trust me, that’s not the issue.  The issue is this; if we can continue to excuse our behavior, our society is going to continue to fall apart.  Our marriages are going to continue to dissolve.  The number of children without fathers is going to continue to grow.  And without a stable family, without stable marriages, without a home with a mom and a dad in it, children are not going to grow up, to go to college, to enter professions, to earn money, to pay taxes, or support the structure of our society and our standard of living.

Before you go off to a retreat center and spend money you don’t have, and get treated for an “addiction” you don’t have, stop to think.  Maybe it’s time to just make better decisions. Stay off the internet with the porn, don’t drink to excess, show up for work, be a nice person:  simple choices that could save your life.

David’s Tweets for 2010-01-10

  • When most people say they’ve changed their mind, they really mean they’ve change their emotion. #
  • Here's what we're doing at the Gathering today http://ow.ly/UKVR #
  • Think as one who acts; acts as one who thinks. –Unknown #
  • You create what you concentrate on; good or bad! #
  • Watch the live webcast from the Gathering Nashville NOW
    http://ow.ly/UL3G #
  • You are today, what your thoughts have made you! Change your mind and you change your life. #
  • Expect people to love you and help you and they will. #
  • Watch the live webcast from the Gathering Nashville NOW
    http://ow.ly/UL42 #
  • You alone can change your life. How? Change your mind. #
  • Expect people to ignore you and discount you; and they will #

Today @ The Gathering: Inspire Greatness – You Create What You Concentrate On

IG_IconOne of the most powerful truths that you’ll ever entertain is that you can create your life out of your thoughts.  As a matter of fact, your way of thinking is what’s gotten you to where you are today – good or bad.  And if you want to change your life, you start by changing your way of thinking.

This seems to be a contradiction for people of faith because we think that faith is about feelings and that feelings often change behavior.  And the truth is, feelings only reflect behavior.  Beliefs are what define our behavior.

The Scriptures teach us as we think in our heart, so are we.  It’s sowing and reaping.  If you want to reap a different harvest, you have to sow a different seed.  And that begins in the mind.  Today we talked about the 8 ways your mind works.

  1. If you think scarcity, you’ll be stingy.
  2. If you think small, only about getting what you need, you’ll be self-absorbed.
  3. If you think religion, you’ll be rigid.  Often people think that the solution is turning to religion.  And the truth is, religion is about rules, and rules are rigid.  Christianity is about a relationship.  There are rules indeed, but the rules come out of the core relationship.
  4. If you think about God, you’ll be inspired. It was Jesus who said, “Nothing is impossible with God.”  And oftentimes we entertain this idea and then dismiss it because we’re not God and things are not impossible with us.  And yet the Scriptures tell us that God can do more than we are ever able to dare ask, dream, or imagine.  Why is it over time we tend to lose this conviction?
  5. If you think grace, you’ll be grateful.  If you don’t know what the will of God is, it is that you will be grateful; not for the circumstances you are in, but in the circumstances knowing that God is sovereign and He is orchestrating wherever you are, to take you where you need to be and that nothing is wasted.
  6. If you think abundance, you will be generous.  We’re told not to put our hope in wealth, which is fleeting, but to put our hope in God who provides us with everything that we’ll ever need; not just to get by, but so we can enjoy the life He created.
  7. If you think greatness, you’ll be a servant.  This is contrary to how a lot of people think.  They think greatness is about command and control.  And the truth is, it is about influence and inspiration.  That’s what servants do.  Jesus became a servant, obedient to the Father’s will.  And as a servant, He accomplished our redemption on the cross and through the resurrection.  But he didn’t come lording it over other people. He came with humility, as a servant directed toward an epic purpose.
  8. If you think truth, you will be liberated, and you’ll be a liberator.  It was Jesus who said, “If you know the truth, the truth will set you free.”  We’re told in Proverbs 23 to buy the truth and not sell it, to get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.

Your life changes today if you decide that it changes by changing the way you think about yourself and your life in the world.

As we were going out of the second service today, one woman said, “This is great. Now how do I do it?”  And my response to her was, “Day by day, little by little, truth by truth, heart to heart.”  You can change.  You can create something amazing out of your life, and you can do it today by simply changing what you believe.