Author: The Gathering Nashville

RG2G 043 Rescuing the Church From the Clutches of Cool

One of the things I keep hearing from people over and over again is how legalistic and institutional most churches seem to be – even the churches that claim to be cool. And by the way, cool is a new trend in the American church: cool video, cool look, cool name, hip clothing.  It’s a cosmetic make-over.  You may like it, you may not like it.  I kind of like it. But the danger is that cool goes too far.  When you take the gospel and try to make it cool by extracting from it some of the features that make you uncomfortable, you’ve gone from cool to heresy.

So today we talk about the cultural cool and ask the questions, “Has it gone too far?  Are those who lead the cool movement trying to redefine the gospel to make it so palatable and acceptable that it ends up having no hope and no help?” All of this today on Rengade’s Guide to God.


It’s Not What You Sell, but How You Sell It That’s Your Problem

Without exception, the world is changing.  And I’m talking about not just the world out there, I’m talking about the world that we all live in every day. Technology has allowed some pretty amazing things to be possible: eBooks, print on demand, to name just a few.  These changes can also be very destructive and very disconcerting.  They can cause us to question what we’re doing.  But before you question your product and whether or not it’s relevant any longer, maybe you should question your organization.

Oftentimes we change our whats (what we offer, our product, our service) because we see the world changing, right?  And we’ve got to change with it.  The problem is, most of our products, if they are good ones, need tweaking, need stylizing and updating, but they probably don’t need changing if they have any value.  And if you’ve been able to live off of it so far, it’s a good sign that it does.  Of course there are some exceptions like buggy whips and sunshades on railroad cars.

What becomes obsolete more than our what is our how.  How we function as a group or organization becomes institutionalized very quickly.  The creep toward the hardening of institutional arteries goes on day-by-day.  It’s brought on by age, growth, and sometimes even success. So it may not be your products and services that are the problem, but the fact that you can’t just simply deliver the product to people when they need it, where they need it and how they can consume it.  Your customer service may suck.  You may have a great product but people don’t feel valued and wanted when they engage you and your teams.

When deciding to fix what’s wrong, the leader always understands there’s a human element first, then the product second.

How Will You Be Remembered?

We began a brand new teaching series yesterday at The Gathering entitled, “Leave No Doubt: 6 Things Worth Standing Up For.” The heart of this teaching series is to acknowledge the fact that all of us want to be remembered.  But we want to be remembered for the right things.  How often have we heard people talk at a funeral unable to say anything about the person who has passed away because they don’t know much about what they stood for?  When I am finished with this life I want people to know what the themes of my life were.

As I’ve counseled, led, and coached people over the years, I’ve come to understand that while we may all be different, from different places, even different cultures, we’re still all very much the same.  We all want to be heard, we all want to be respected, and we all want to be remembered.  The question is, what for?

So yesterday we talked about the four things in my life I want to be remembered for.  As you listen to this talk, maybe you’ll resonate with one or all of these things.  And while they all may be good things, maybe you would describe your life differently. The question is not what four do you adopt, but the fact that you take responsibility to live so clearly and distinctly before people that people remember you for some important things.  It’s your life and you get to choose not only how you live it, but how you’ll be remembered.

RG2G 042 I Can’t Stand My Parents; Can I Still Be a Christian?

One of the hardest things it seems for Christians to deal with are relationships.  And the hardest relationships it seems to redeem, are family relationships gone bad.

The Scriptures are very clear.  As a matter of fact, it’s one of the Big Ten – that we should honor our father and mother.  But what does a person do when they become a Christian and they realize that they are supposed to love everyone, especially their parents, and yet they’ve been estranged from their parents for many years?  Maybe the relationship has been toxic since childhood.  Oftentimes young Christians deal with how to approach parents that were abusive and just simply abandoned them in the past.  The question is, “How do you understand the mixed feelings of wanting to honor your parents according to the Scripture, because now you love God and want to please Him, and yet the difficulty of forgiving and healing deep wounds over time?”

The truth is, the command to honor your father and mother is not what a lot of people promote it to be.  And that is, just allow your parents to run over you, mistreat you, abuse you, and smile and give a big “God bless you.” In this episode of Renegade’s Guide to God, we’ll help set you free from the bondage of loving parents.

Where Have All the Heroes Gone?

As our country searches for the answers to our economic downturn, what we’re really looking for are heroes; people who will stand up and not only lead the way, but show the way by their example.

For these past six weeks, we talked about six basic beliefs that can rebuild a nation, starting with believing in God’s favor; that is God is for us, no one can defeat us.  Also raising up values like hope,  work as a calling, money making us responsible, and the value of service.  But maybe the most important variable in the future we face is, can we recover the lost art of compassion?

Two times in the Scripture a question is asked, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  Both questions arose out of sarcasm and cynicism. But the Scriptures use both cases to answer in the affirmative.  What does that mean?  As a Christian, I show compassion, not only because I have to as a follower of Christ, but because I can, because I have a new capacity.  Christians can never be known as apathetic and uncaring.  We lead the way in the world in showing compassion in practical ways. 

Today we talked about six different qualities in a compassionate life.  As you listen to the talk, ask yourself, “Do these qualities show up in me every day? Where am I falling short and at what place can I change so I can join God in His work in the world?”

Can we really call ourselves Christians if we’re not known primarily for our compassion?

FMBS 026 John 9: God Can’t Do That For You

One of the hardest things to get right is how to understand  God’s part and my part. We either think that God does everything without any participation on our part, or that He does nothing.  That we have to earn our way to God and the good or the bad that happens in our life is brought onto ourselves by our action or lack thereof.

Today in John Chapter 9, we learn, in the encounter of Jesus and the blind man, that there are things that Jesus does, like healing out of His power.  And then there are times that He requires our help or participation, like getting up and going to bathe in the Pool of Siloam.

John Chapter 9 is also a typical encounter of Jesus as He speaks truth to power.  Religious abuse is still conducted today in the name of God.  Religious professionals and other weird-type people who have one agenda – power and control – resort oftentimes to manipulation by threat of exclusion from the community in order to get their way.

As you follow along today, get the subtleties of how radical Jesus’s teachings and behaviors were in His day of religious conformity, and ask yourself this question, “Has it changed much in my day?”

RG2G 041 Are Mormons Christians, or Not?

One of the questions I keep getting over and over is, “What about the Mormons?  For all the good that they do and the high moral teaching they hold forth, surely they are Christians.”

This question is of unique interest these days, because some of the leading candidates in the 2012 upcoming election are Mormons.  So it’s interesting to see what Mormonism looks like in the light of day and the scrutiny of public disclosure.

Today we’ll take Mormonism and its teachings apart and see how they stack up against the basic essentials of Christianity.  The principles that we use today can be used not just in Mormonism, but in any movement or group in assessing the reliability of whether or not what they believe and practice can be considered Christian.

 

Dave Rave – My 5 Money Mantras

daveraveIt’s been a lot of fun for me to join with Dave Ramsey and thousands of other churches across America these past several weeks, talking about taking back the economy, and stop waiting for someone else to fix us.

In this series called, “Great Recovery” we’ve been talking about the six basic beliefs that can rebuild the nation.  One of those is to deal with money God’s way.  In the process of writing this series, I’ve come up with my own five basic money mantras.  I offer them here for you in the hopes that you’ll write your own.

  1. Every dime, every dollar, every day is a gift from God. I never forget that because I don’t want to take the resources that God pours into my life for granted. The minute I do, pride and hubris threaten my very existence.
  2. I’m not an owner, just a manager.  The truth of the matter is, everything I have; my car, my house, and all my other possessions that I think I own are just mine temporarily.  They are passing through my life, and I’m a manager. My future is not only the fact that I can accumulate a lot of stuff, but I can manage what I have that allows them to be a blessing.
  3. I am blessed to be a blessing.  God has poured all these resources into my life so I can use them to help other people. I’m not just a consumer and a taker, I’m a maker and a creator, a giver. 
  4. I’m only responsible for my stuff.  I find myself related to people who live lives I don’t approve of.  The good thing is I am not responsible for their choices and behaviors.  Yea God!  Neither am I responsible for yours, and neither are you responsible for others – not even your own children.  So the truth is, I accept responsibility for my stuff.  I can’t accept responsibility for yours, or the government’s, or someone else around the world. All I need to do is focus on my personal responsibility.
  5. There will be a test at the end that benefits.  If you believe the Scriptures, and I do, we’re told that there’s a point when man wants to die and after that, the judgment.  I like what Don Henley said. “In the good old days, words like sin and satan had a moral certitude.  

Today, they are replaced with self-help jargon; words like dysfunction and anti-social behavior discouraging any responsibility for one’s actions.”  Amen, preacher Don. I want to be able to stand before God at the end of my life and hear Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

Leaders Don’t Run, They Walk

Back in Graduate school, I was part of a doctoral seminar on conflict and conflict resolution.  There was a lot said about how to find agreement and negotiate to peace.  But one of the most indelible things that our professor said during the seminar was, “Never let them see you running, or in a hurry.”

I’ve heard the old saying, “Never let them see you sweat.”  But not, “Never let them see you running or in a hurry.”  He went on to say that leaders walk steadily, methodically, and paced toward the goal.  The point being, a leader can’t communicate to his team that he is in the panic mode, or that he doesn’t understand what is going on.  He can’t become too emotional and distraught.

One of the greatest challenges to leaders is to manage their passion in such a way that their passion doesn’t get mistaken as anger or vindictiveness.  How people interpret you is one thing.  How you behave is always under your control.

So remember this: leaders don’t run, they walk.  They don’t panic, they prepare.  They don’t react, they respond 100% of the time.  And if you can do that, you can navigate and negotiate any crisis.

It’s Not About Me

One of the most important things you’ll discover in life is that you’re not here to be self-absorbed and self-obsessed.  The true way to success is by serving others; in other words by waking up every day and realizing it’s not about me.  It’s about the people I work with, the people on my team, and my family.  I’m here to serve them and pour into their lives. And the more I serve them, the more others serve me.

Jesus said it this way, “Give and it will be given to you.”  We usually think that’s just about money, but it’s not.  It’s about everything in life.  Business book after business book, testimony after testimony keeps coming across our path telling us that the way to success is service. Today we talked about the most important thing in all of life.  And that is serving God by serving His agenda. What is His agenda?  Simply this: loving people, being involved in the three epic movements that have been going on since Jesus was on earth – redemption, reconciliation, and restoration.

So today we talked about the 7 reasons we serve.  We used the word “reason” and made it an acrostic so it would make it easy for you to remember.  As you listen to this talk, use it in your workplace, at home, raising your children, with your teams so you’ll all understand why service is the most important thing you’ll do in any given day.

FMBS 025 You Think You’re Free, But You’re Not

We continue in our study of the Book of John with Chapter 8, verse 12 and finish with verse 58.

One of the key messages of Jesus is that if you know Him you know the truth, and if you the truth, the truth will set you free.  The response of the Pharisees is that they had never been in bondage, so they didn’t need to be set free.  How blind is the person who is in bondage to his sin, his opinions, or his fears, and doesn’t realize not only does he need to be set free, the One who can set him free is standing right in front of him?

As you share today’s study with your small groups or friends and your family, ask yourself these questions: “Are we really free?  Are we living in freedom? What does it mean to be free in Christ?  What does it mean to be free from?  What does it mean to be free under?  And what does it mean to be free for? This is the trinity of freedom that Chirist offers.

RG2G 040 How Do You Go About Getting God to Bless Your Business?

One of the most important things anyone can have in their life is God’s favor.  The question is, “How do you get it?”

Some people believe that you earn God’s best blessing on your life, in your business, or in your marriage.  That somehow doing daily devotionals, reading the Bible, and being disciplined in your spiritual life through reformation and activity can obligate God to do good things for you.

So why is it that God seems to bless some people who don’t have daily devotions, who don’t attend church on a regular basis, and who don’t really practice the disciplines that we think good Christians should?  And yet God seems to bless everything they touch.  While at the same time, other good, godly businessmen and women can work really hard at attracting God’s favor and yet it seems as though their business endeavors flounder.  We’ll talk about the key and the secret today on Renegade’s Guide to God.