Anthem Lights:[youtube id="4iEgs0WKR-c"]
Chris Tomlin:
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Matt Redman:
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Matthew West
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How about the rest of your day now that you have things put into perspective?
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens
Blessings,
Dante
Titus 2 The Message (MSG)
A God-Filled Life
2 1-6 Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior. Also, guide the young men to live disciplined lives.
7-8 But mostly, show them all this by doing it yourself, incorruptible in your teaching, your words solid and sane. Then anyone who is dead set against us, when he finds nothing weird or misguided, might eventually come around.
9-10 Guide slaves into being loyal workers, a bonus to their masters—no back talk, no petty thievery. Then their good character will shine through their actions, adding luster to the teaching of our Savior God.
11-14 God’s readiness to give and forgive is now public. Salvation’s available for everyone! We’re being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears. He offered himself as a sacrifice to free us from a dark, rebellious life into this good, pure life, making us a people he can be proud of, energetic in goodness.
15 Tell them all this. Build up their courage, and discipline them if they get out of line. You’re in charge. Don’t let anyone put you down.
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Where to begin?
Once you have this down, then you can instruct the others!Blessings,
Dante
The Habit Poem 
I am your constant companion.I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.I am completely at your command.Half the things you do, you might just as well turn over to me,and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me.Show me exactly how you want something done, and after a few lessons I will do it automatically.
I am the servant of all great men.And, alas, of all failures as well.Those who are great, I have made great.Those who are failures, I have made failures.I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine.Plus, the intelligence of a man.You may run me for profit, or run me for ruin; it makes no difference to me.Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will put the world at your feet.Be easy with me, and I will destroy you.
Who am I?
I am a HABIT!
(Author unknown)
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My son has a very fast brain and also has central processing disorder and ADHD in that he has a hard time following through. My wife and I have been working on giving him tools, by which he can survive later in life, to help him through daily routines. My wife sent this to me last night via Facebook and we both had to sadly laugh as our son has all 9 (as even some of these things apply to us): DSM-IV-TR Criteria for ADHD, Inattentive Type A child must display six of nine of the behaviors listed below: 1.often fails to give close attention to details, or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other activities; 2.often has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities; 3.often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly; 4.often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the workplace (not due to oppositional behavior or failure to understand instructions); 5.often has difficulty organizing tasks and activities; 6.often avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort (such as schoolwork or homework); 7.often loses things necessary for tasks or activities (toys, school assignments, pencils, books, or tools); 8.is often easily distracted by extraneous stimuli; and, 9.is often forgetful in daily activities. - our son has all 9 of these by the way.
Even with some of his disorders he is a straight A student. The problem, though, is that he can become disheartened or frustrated in his daily jaunts because he lacks the central ability to process. His brain is amazing. His memory is photographic. His heart and compassion and understanding of God's scripture blows me away.
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This got me thinking on our daily walks. Without a healthy habit, without a good routine, how can we, as Legacy Dads, succeed in our mission - we simply cannot.
Some good habits that we can learn from Jesus:
Blessings,
Dante
This past Saturday, in men's group, we talked about our words and deeds in life. We never know who is watching and/or listening to our testimony. The Book of James has a lot to say on this matter and really puts it out there for those of us who profess the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. All of this, being said, relies solely on the fact that without Jesus nothing is possible for life. Words also happens to be a sermon series in our church and has been very powerful on how it is speaking to the body of Christ.After the men's group, one of my fellow elder brothers texted 3 other brothers and myself, "Gents I have loved this song for a long time for many reasons and play it/bump it often in the car with my kids. This morning's discussion immediately made me think about this song and about how often, because of selfishness, I collapse into the evil one's trap (the snare of the fowler), and choose death talk. May we listen. May we plead. Holy Spirit come and convict me/us to do what is not natural for us (unselfishness) and choose to speak life. Love you guys. Pass along"
The song that he is referencing is from Toby Mac called Speak LIfe
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Some of the lyrics states:
Some days, life feels perfect.
Other days it just ain't workin.
The good, the bad, the right, the wrong
And everything in between.
Though it's crazy, amazing
We can turn a heart with the words we say.
Mountains crumble with every syllable.
Hope can live or die
So speak Life, speak Life.
To the deadest darkest night.
Speak life, speak Life.
When the sun won't shine and you don't know why.
Look into the eyes of the brokenhearted;
Watch them come alive as soon as you speak hope,
You speak love, you speak...
You speak Life, (oh oh oh oh oh oh) You speak Life. (oh oh oh oh oh oh)
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The book of James puts it this way:
James 1:19-27 (NIV)
Listening and Doing
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
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As I have share one of my favorite poems called Watch Your Words, by Frank Outlaw:
“Watch your thoughts, they become words;
watch your words, they become actions;
watch your actions, they become habits;
watch your habits, they become character;
watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
The next time you engage life and speak into it:
Guard your tongue:
James 3 (NIV)
Taming the Tongue
3: 1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
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This past Saturday morning's bible steady convicted me and encouraged me in the following ways with my wife, my kids and my Christian walk:
As you read through this, think on the things written here and reflect on those things that you have to do, confess, give-up and grow.
Blessings,
Dante
Whether in church or in your neighborhood or at any social gathering, all of us like to watch how other people live. We are people who are built for community, just like our Creator is in community as the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). That being said, no matter the socioeconomic status that a parent may be in, one thing is constant in parenting - there are good and intentional parents, there are mediocre parents, and than there are parents who are self-absorbed, and if we are honest, are not really good parents.Before you dismiss me on this, think about the Christian walk - there are Christians who abide in God's word and walk in step with His Spirit and yield to biblical truths; there are Christians who try to serve two masters: 1) the world and 2) God, and then realize that they are divided and conflicted in which way to go; there are Christians that have a lot of head knowledge of God, but have never connected the heart (the question then becomes did they ever surrender to self and truly repent to God as Savior? That is not for us to decide but that is between them and God.) Scripture gives us a way to know them by their fruit (Galatians 5.) All of this is to make the point that there is no clear-cut way to parent. Many of us, if we are honest, can look at any set of parents and realize that even with different parenting methods, there are those 3 types of parents. Today, however, I would like us to focus on the good parenting and give us 10 ways that are good and healthy ways to build up our child.
Deuteronomy 6:5-7 (ESV) 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Here are 10 healthy ways to build up your child
What are some of your ways to build up your children?
Blessings,
Dante
In case you didn't know, I am a music man. I love most kinds of music barring a few notable genres. All that being said, I have become a songwriter over time. I love raw and honest songwriters who really put it out there. That being said, there is this one song that I cannot get enough of. It is called, Borderland, by John Mark McMillan. There is one part of the song that the lyrics go like this:Help me holy Jesus won't you show me how to liveI've got monsters at my table I've got Bibles bent like shivsHelp me holy Lord I see the light of Heaven's porchbut so many of us are born here outside your chain link fence
These lyrics are raw and to the point. If you listen to the entire song you can reflect on The law of Moses compared to the finishing work of Jesus Christ on the cross for you and me. It is a deep song and it puts things in perspective. Whether we want to believe it or not we have two things working against us as Disciples: 1) Our old self nature and 2) Spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm).
I think the things that we have to realize (to discern) is when temptation comes our way that we have to ask ourselves is if this is warfare or old self coming at us. We have to equip ourselves with other brothers to carry us through these times and troubles. We have to be raw and open and honest with these brothers in order for them to help us carry these burdens in life. Above all, we have to yield to the Holy Spirit who convicts us at times, encourages us and leads us in the way that we should go.
In these times of trials and tribulations, we should pray, "help me holy Jesus and won't you show me how to live" because we do have monsters at our tables and we need to have our bibles bent like shivs (to know the word and to live it gives us a might weapon to defend ourselves).
The song also states this:
Living in a borderlandI don't feel like a boy I don't feel like a manAnd the things I don't understandThings like love. Like the law, the law of the jungle
None of us are perfect nor can we earn our way into Heaven. The law was given to condemn the sinner. Jesus Christ came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it! Before Jesus came we were called to obey the law and if we were guilty of one of the laws then we were guilty of all of them. Jesus overcame that for us and become our new covenant. His life was perfect and he fulfilled every prophecy about the Messiah - because He is the Messiah!
Because he died, we can live. Because he lives we can die to our old selves and be a new creation in Christ.
Trust and obey, for there is no other way!
Blessings,
Dante
PS - John also wrote, How He loves me (also performed by David Crowder Band)
2 Chronicles 24 English Standard Version (ESV)Joash Repairs the Temple
24 Joash[a] was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba. 2 And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3 Jehoiada got for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.
4 After this Joash decided to restore the house of the Lord. 5 And he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that you act quickly.” But the Levites did not act quickly. 6 So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the congregation of Israel for the tent of testimony?” 7 For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God, and had also used all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord for the Baals.
8 So the king commanded, and they made a chest and set it outside the gate of the house of the Lord. 9 And proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. 10 And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until they had finished.[b] 11 And whenever the chest was brought to the king's officers by the Levites, when they saw that there was much money in it, the king's secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and take it and return it to its place. Thus they did day after day, and collected money in abundance. 12 And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who had charge of the work of the house of the Lord, and they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of the Lord, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the Lord. 13 So those who were engaged in the work labored, and the repairing went forward in their hands, and they restored the house of God to its proper condition and strengthened it. 14 And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, and with it were made utensils for the house of the Lord, both for the service and for the burnt offerings, and dishes for incense and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord regularly all the days of Jehoiada.
15 But Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and died. He was 130 years old at his death. 16 And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house.
17 Now after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them. 18 And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. 19 Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. These testified against them, but they would not pay attention.
Joash's Treachery
20 Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’” 21 But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. 22 Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and avenge!”[c]
Joash Assassinated
23 At the end of the year the army of the Syrians came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. 24 Though the army of the Syrians had come with few men, the Lord delivered into their hand a very great army, because Judah[d] had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. Thus they executed judgment on Joash.
25 When they had departed from him, leaving him severely wounded, his servants conspired against him because of the blood of the son[e] of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. 26 Those who conspired against him were Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonite, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabite. 27 Accounts of his sons and of the many oracles against him and of the rebuilding[f] of the house of God are written in the Story of the Book of the Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
Some questions to ask when reading this text:
And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada. (David did what was right all the days he was with Jonathon) and so goes the course of Christian brotherhood.
Galatians 6:1-10 English Standard Version (ESV)
Bear One Another's Burdens
6 Brothers,[a] if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load.
6 Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Recently, I attended some training on sharing the Gospel from an organization that does full-time evangelism. Some of the comments the trainer made really rocked me and my wife and caused us to examine not only our lives but how we spend time in ministry.In Matthew 28, we are commanded to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" The command is quite clear, if you are a Christian, you should be sharing the good news with others. God doesn't say this is only a command for full-time paid ministry staff, but for all Christians.
One of the first comments that struck a chord with us was this:
"Most Christians spend a lot of time, money, and energy making their churches wonderful with the belief that if their church is great, the lost will stop by one day and find Christ. The reality is that most people that need to hear the Gospel will never set foot in your church. You need to bring the Gospel to them."
We can make this argument all day long, do people come to a church and get saved, absolutely. But is this the main purpose of a church? Not really. The church (building) exists as a place for people to gather, worship God and fellowship with other believers. It should also teach, train, and equip believers to become disciples who then "Go and make other disciples."
If you are reading this, you are probably the type of person who is open to attending church but the reality is...most people are not. In our experience planting churches, my wife and I have literally invited hundreds of people to come to church on Sunday and despite people saying they are Christians, only about 10% actually show up on Sunday. We've found that people are much more open to attending a small group gathering or social event than coming to the dreaded "Sunday Event."
Research polls shows that less than 20% of the US population attends church on Sunday and this number is expected to fall to 15.6% by 2020. However, this number is deceiving as many people are open to faith and even consider themselves Christian but they just don't attend church on Sunday. What this tells me is that people don't have an issue with God or Christianity but with the Modern Church. I've written quite extensively over the years on why people feel this way to include: hypocritical believers, not accepting of outsiders, poor vision from leaders, not engaging the lost and hurting, too political, etc. The bottom line is that many people believe the modern church is not an accurate reflection of Christ and his teachings and therefore don't want to attend.
However, this does not mean that they are not open to the Gospel. This means that ordinary Christians need to bring the Gospel to them.
We each have a missionary field - our neighborhood, our community, our social sphere, people we see everyday at the coffee shop - all these people are in our missionary field.
My wife recently shared a video message on Facebook talking about all the wonderful blessings and prayers answered this past year and two of the most unlikely people contacted her and asked her how they could have faith and joy like that in their lives.
This leads me to the second comment that struck a chord with us, me specifically:
"Speak the truth in love but don't waste your time debating people."
Part of my personal faith journey was spending a lot of time studying Apologetics and being able to defend my faith with science, logic, facts, and reason. I can defend the New Testament and give you dozens of reason for the authenticity and accuracy of the Gospel.
However, when I talked with the trainer in private, I asked this question:
"I don't run into people who have never heard the Gospel, most people have grown up in church or have heard of Jesus. I run into people who were once a part of a church but no longer want anything to do with it or atheists and agnostics who want to debate every detail incessantly."
His answer - "I don't waste my time arguing or debating people, there are too many hurting and receptive people out there that it's just a waste of time to debate."
This may seem callous and you may want to quote him the parable of the Lost Sheep from Luke but his point was that he did not spend hours trying to debate someone either in person or online to accept the Gospel. Speak the truth in love but don't waste your time or breath on people who are not ready.
"until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather,speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." - Ephesians 4:13-16
He followed the "Red Apple Evangelism" philosophy. This philosophy states that there are Red Apples who are ripe for the Gospel right now and Green Apples who need to be loved on but are not ready for the Gospel. The key is to spend 95% of your outreach time on Red Apples.
This statement made me realize how much time I've wasted trying to debate or convince people of my faith, beliefs, opinions, or even accepting Christ. Part of this is my personality, I believed that if I could just say the right thing, give the right evidence or facts to win the debate - somehow that person would see that they are wrong and believe. This rarely happens however.
It's even harder and more personal when that person is a family member or someone close to us.
Ultimately, this training made me change my view on ministry and outreach. I no longer spend any time engaging in debates or even answering social media comments that may end up in a debate. People send me messages all the time and now, I just politely tell them that I no longer have the time to engage in debates.
This also made me rethink how I spend my time on ministry. I've spent countless hours on planning, vision meetings, and even writing on this website. Ultimately, I could say that this was all "tending the flock" type ministry but am I really doing what God has asked?
No offense to my pastors out there but I'm no longer interested in building a bigger church, making praise and worship better or finding the best small group curriculum. I'm interested in going, reaching people, and making disciples of all nations.
- Lance