Book Review: Enemies from the Heart by Andy Stanely

“Enemies of the Heart” by Andy Stanley is a republishing of “It Came From Within,” written a few years ago. The book are thoughts from a sermon series preached around that time.

In Enemies of the Heart Andy focuses in on four emotions that seem to constantly overtake us in our lives: guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy. He goes in depth why a person has a tendency to give in to these four emotions. It is all rooted in our hearts. The things that we say or do actually come from deep inside of us. They come from our hearts. We just filter them most of the time.

The four emotions: guilt, anger, greed, and jealously can the most detrimental to our hearts. Andy gives excellent, practical advice on bringing those emotions out of us so we can confront them. By bringing our guilt out in the open, answering anger with forgiveness, letting generosity stamp out greed, and using celebration to curb jealousy we can overcome these enemies of the heart.

In the last part of the book Andy takes time to discuss lust. He explains that we were created to lust. It has a place within our marriages to be directed at our spouse. This is an issue that we are usually encouraged to stamp out of our hearts. Andy tells us it is an emotion to be managed within marriage.

If you are someone who might be struggling with any of these issues, this book is highly recommended.

Kayaking Rescue

Just recently, I saw this TV show about this British kayaker who capsized in heavy seas off southern England a few years ago.

Mark Ashton-Smith,  a 33 year old a lecturer at Cambridge University, knew he was in serious trouble  when he fell into the ice cold water. He clung to his upturned kayak in treacherous seas off the Isle of Wight.

Fortunately, he had a phone with him, but his immediate thought wasn’t to call nearby emergency services, which were only a mile or two away. Instead, he decided on something different. He told the reporters, “I spent several minutes racking my brains to think of someone who could help and could only come up with my sister and my dad.”
His father Alan Pimm-Smith was training British troops in Dubai 3500 miles away when he got the call from his son. Without any delay, the father called the Coast Guard nearest to his son. Within 12 minutes, a helicopter was dispatched and Mark was rescued.

As I thought about this, here is what came to mind...No matter what kind of troubles you may face, you can always count on God, your heavenly Father, to help you. You call on him and he will help you!

Student Missionary

My daughter, Chelsea, is spending this next school year volunteering as a teacher (2nd Grade) in Palau. If you want to keep up with her, check out her blog at http://chelseaaguilera.blogspot.com/

1 Corinthians 13:11 - “When I was a child…”

1 Corinthians 13:11 - “When I was a child…”

When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought (or reasoned) as a child: but when I became a man (adult), I put away childish things (and ideas). What is the single most important idea about your religious experience that you have changed as an adult?

Unlike Robert Fulghum, author of the book, “Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” many of the ideas that are important to me are those that I learned as an adult.

For example:
1. The distinction between what the bible says and what someone say the bible says is important.
2. Honest, informed Christians differ about the interpretation of scripture.
3. Right doctrine is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
4. Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics, Baptists, etc…have something to teach us.
5. Having “The Truth” can be a curse.
6. Our relationship to other people defines our relationship to God.
7. It’s is all right to be happy, to have joy.

Something to think about…

"Please" and "Thank you"

Here's a devotional I read the other day...

It’s common practice to teach your kids to say ‘please’ and then ‘thank you’ when they have requests. It’s considered proper protocol. And when talking to adults, it is. But with God, things are a little bit different.
God has a protocol for how He wants to be approached. And it starts with thanksgiving:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:4, 5

With God, "Thank you" should always come before "Please." The first thing that needs to come out of my mouth in prayer and worship needs to be praise for who God is and what He has done. Not just instructions for what I want or even need Him to do.

Thank you is the key that opens the door to God’s house. There’s a lot of reasons for this, but more than anything, it’s about perspective. If you thank God for everything before you ask Him for anything, it makes you realize you deserve nothing. It gives you the worldview that but for the grace of God, you would have no chance for eternal life. And in turn, it makes you even more thankful. And because God still answers your prayers.

Additionally, starting with ‘thank you’ is just practical. When we start with praise, we establish the goodness and greatness of God right off the bat. Now all of our subsequent prayers and complaints can be answered by a good and great God who can both respond to us and who wants to. It’s impossible to be self-absorbed and God-conscious at the same time. Realign your perspective in prayer today.

Start with ‘thank you.’ And then move on to ‘please.’

I encourage to practice this each day this week. Let's thank God for all he has done for us!

Inspirational Story

Keenan Cahill is far from your average high-schooler. For one thing, he has overcome incredible adversity, suffering from a rare genetic disorder called Mucopolysaccaridosis (MPS-6) since birth.

For another, at the young age of 15, Cahill has already achieved international superstardom from behind a webcam in his childhood bedroom no less by lip-syncing todays top 40 hits. It was his cover of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” that first threw Cahill into the spotlight earning 36 million views on YouTube and a legion of adoring fans including Katy Perry herself.

But it was Keenan's honesty about his condition that inspired a Chicago news team to ham it up in his bedroom helping him remind others that no matter how much adversity you have in your life, you can choose your attitude.

This made me think...As I was reflecting, I wondered about the influence and impact each of us can have on those around us each day. It's amazing to me how one sick kid can inspire 36 million people without leaving his bedroom! Makes my excuses seems trivial. Hmmm...

Who are you impacting today?

J.R.R. Tokien by Alan Horne

I just finished reading "J.R.R. Tolkien," by Mark Horne. It was a quick read, only 130 pages long. I love all things Tolkien, so this new biography of Tolkien was very enjoyable. These days, many more people are familiar with the literary works of Tolkien thanks to the Hollywood movies directed by Peter Jackson. The three-volume work, The Lord of the Rings, was made into three blockbuster movies, and the Hobbit will soon be a two part movie.

This book serves as an overview of Tolkien life and his way of thinking. As a bonus, one of the things the author adds at the end of the book is recommendations of fuller biographies available of Tolkien's life. The author focuses on the effect Tolkien's life and experiences had on his writing of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's desire (and promise to a friend who died in WWI) was to create stories that would have an impact and inspire readers for many generations.

One of the things I learned about Tolkien is that he was a perfectionist and extremely hesitant to release any of his writings. He was never happy with his latest revision and was constantly rewriting. Were it not for friends like C.S. Lewis, who encouraged him, we might not have The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings.

While Horne shows us Tolkien as academic and Tolkien as fantasy-writer, he also shows us the adventurous years of his youth, such as Tolkien hijacking a bus and driving it through Oxford. He also spends time on the effect World War I had on Tolkien and the effect losing many of his friends had on his writing.

If you are looking for a quick and easy read that gives you a summary of Tolkien's Life, This is it. It is an excellent read! I highly recommend it!

Do you lead something?

Here's a great clip for those of us who lead something...



What leadership books are you reading? I, like Bill Hybels, try to do leadership development as a discipline. My goal is to read 3-6 leadership books a year. I believe those of us who lead something need to read--we have to take responsibility for whatever size platform God has given us- big or small-and grow as leaders. I know I have to read to get better as a leader.

If you lead something, I encourage you to take responsibility for your leadership development and read more and read as a discipline.

Here are some of my favorite leadership books:
"Good to Great" by Jim Collins
"Leadership" By Rudoplh W. Giuliani
"The Leadership Engine" By Noel Tichy
"Drive" by Daniel Pink
"The Speed of Trust" by Steven M.R. Covey
"True North" By Bill George
"Go Put Your Strengths to Work" by Marcus Buckingham

Book Review: No More Dreaded Monday's

No More Dreaded Mondays by Dan Miller is a fun, easy to read book about the rapid changes in our world and how these changes affect our career or career choices. It is filled with wonderful stories, and powerful anecdotes. It is a great motivational read.

Miller reminds us that there are many people today who rise dutifully each morning and head to the office, where they enjoy the time spent with their coworkers, where they contribute as part of a team, and receive a regular paycheck. Unfortunately, there are many others, who do not. The traditional workplace is hostile territory for many people, and Miller spends some time explaining how understanding how your brain works will help you choose the right career. Miller uses the terms right brain and left brain to explain how people work and how certain careers and workplaces make it very difficult for those who are in the opposite camp.

No More Dreaded Monday’s has a lot of practical advice and recommendations for you to begin to hang your own dreams and goals upon. The book is full of hope to those who struggle at their job. I encourage you to get it if you want to be inspired and need a starting point for a new career and a new way of life. You will want to take notes and apply some of the things he outlines. If you are considering career changes or are at a career crossroads, I would recommend "No More Dreaded Mondays."

Book Review: His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J Ellis

His Excellency: George Washington spans the early years of Washington's life, as a British officer, his appointment and activity as commander of the Continental army, and his ascendancy to President of the United States. Ellis describes Washington as a private, reserved, man, but bold on the battlefield. He was also an astute observer and delegator regarding political matters.

In the early chapters of this book, Ellis points out two not very endearing traits: first, his sensitivity to criticism, and second, a capacity to play the political game effectively while cultivating the claim of not being interested in it.

From the chapter about the squire time in Virginia, between the British war against France and her Indian allies, and later the War of Independence, Ellis focuses on Washington’s awareness of economics and business management. Washington understood what it meant to be exploited by the colonial master. Initially, his revolutionary impulses were fanned by genuine self interest.

As the military leader of the revolutionary war, Washington lost more battles than any other victorious general in modern times. See, Americans would have lost a short war, but time and perseverance helped make Washington a great General…as well as his personal qualities: he was composed, untiring, and able to learn from mistakes.

After the war of independence, Washington wanted to retire, but he gets dragged into the constitutional debate and can't avoid the first presidency. Ellis lays out Washington’s presidency with great clarity, explaining to the reader why Washington was the perfect and necessary man for the job, and how without him this new country would not have survived. Ellis also paints a wonderful picture of Washington’s relationship with other great people, like Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, and Madison.

This is a great book! I really enjoyed the comprehensive picture of Washington that Ellis paints.

Series on the biblical book of Exodus

This week I will be concluding our five week series on the book of Exodus. If you missed any part of the series, you can see it on our church web site at http://santarosasda.adventistfaith.org/Sermons

This August, I will focus on the Ten Commandments and how they help us build strong families. By the way, the Ten Commandments were not the only laws revealed to Moses at Sinai. Exodus 21-23 contain a miscellany of laws conventionally called the "Book of the Covenant". Also check out what was written on the New Stone Tablets in Exodus 34. Check them out and see what you think.

Eratosthenes

An Egyptian librarian once heard that the sun could be seen shining at the bottom of a well in the town of Syene on the longest day of the year. He surmised that to make a reflection in a well, the sun had to be directly overhead on that day. And a sun directly overhead would cast no shadows from upright columns or posts. Yet on the longest day of the year in the city of Alexandria, where he lived, he observed that straight columns did cast shadows.

So, he decided to travel the 800 kilometers to Syene himself to verify that what he had heard was true. At midday, on the longest day of the year, he looked into the well and saw the sun reflected. And sure enough, the posts in Syene cast no shadows. He reflected on that. After a while, he began to see a bigger picture of what these seemingly unconnected facts meant. Surprisingly, it went against what nearly everyone believed at the time. You see, the librarian’s name was Eratosthenes, and he lived more than 2,200 years ago.

As the director of the greatest library in the world (the library of Alexandria in Egypt was said to possess hundreds of thousands of scrolls), Eratosthenes was at the intellectual capital of the world for his time. In the third century B.C., nearly every scholar in Alexandria and around the world believed that the earth was flat. But Eratosthenes reasoned that if the sun’s light came down straight and the earth was flat, then there would be no shadows in both Alexandria and Syene. If there were shadows in one location but not the other, then there could be only one logical explanation. The surface of the earth must be curved. In other words, the world must be a sphere.

That’s a pretty impressive mental leap, although it seems perfectly logical to us today. After all, we’ve seen pictures of our planet from space. But Eratosthenes made that big-picture connection by using everyday facts and putting them together. What’s even more impressive is that he took it a step further. He actually calculated the size of the earth! Using basic trigonometry, he measured the angle of the shadows and calculated that it was approximately 7.12 degrees. That’s about 1/50th of a circle. And he reasoned that if the distance between Syene (modern-day Aswan) and Alexandria was 800 kilometers, then the earth must be around 40,000 kilometers in circumference (50 x 800 kilometers). He wasn’t far off; the actual circumference of the earth through the poles is 40,008 kilometers.

Not long ago, I had the opportunity to visit Aswan (ancient Syene) and it made me think about how often we don’t use the minds God has given us, and instead are content being mere reflectors of others men’s (and women) thoughts.

"By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures." Proverbs 24:3-4

Why we will still be here on May 22, 2011

Some of you may have heard that Harold Camping, president of Family Radio, has predicted that the rapture will occur today, May 21, 2011. You know, setting dates for the return of Christ has always been a big temptation for students of apocalyptic scripture. It is tempting to study the prophecies, numbers, and symbols in Daniel and Revelation looking for a hidden answer predicting when Jesus will come. But if we are true to the Bible, if we seek the message of Christ’s words in Matthew 24 and 25 with an open heart, we will stop looking to predict the day of his return. Preparing for Jesus’ return has more to do with how we are to live our lives today.

Harold Camping predicts that the end of the world begins with the rapture on May 21, 2011 at exactly 6:00 p.m. Then, five months later, God will destroy the Earth and the universe. Some people laugh at Camping. Others wonder, “Could this be true?” Well, the answer is not found in blogs, posts, or interesting articles. The answer is found in Word of God.

So, what does the Bible say about the timing of Christ’s coming? Here are four passages from Scripture that guide us in understanding whether Camping’s prediction is true.

One: Matthew 24:36 says, “Of that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
…The Bible tells us every effort we make to nail down the time for Christ’s return will fail.

Two: Luke 21:9 says, “Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore do not go after them.”
…The Bible warns us there are false prophets who attempt to predict the timing of Jesus’ coming.

Three: Matthew 24:44 says, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
…Scriptures tells us to watch and be ready because we do not know exactly when Christ will return (Luke 12:35-40, Matthew 24:50, 1 Thessalonians 5:6).

Four: Acts 1:6, 7 says, “Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.”
…God has not revealed when Jesus will come again. Our focus should not to be on time-setting, but on the mission God has given us.

Camping also predicts that the saints will be “raptured” while the wicked are left on this earth for five months and then destroyed. But, the Bible tells us that at the second coming of Christ the wicked will be destroyed, not left behind (see Revelation 6:16, 17; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 19:20, 21).

Also, the Bible teaches that the wicked and righteous (tares and wheat) grow together until the harvest (Matthew 13:30). Then God’s people are saved and the unrighteous are lost.

The parables of Matthew 24 and 25 teach us that Jesus is coming soon, but at a time we do not exactly know, and that we should always be ready. It is not a test of our Christianity to know the specific time of Christ’s return.

Is Jesus’ coming soon? The Bible is certain that Christ will come again. The Scriptures point to signs in the natural world, in the religious world, and in the increase of wickedness on our planet. Jesus predicted, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). Has this sign been completely fulfilled?

God calls us to be ready at all times. The best question to ask ourselves is “Am I ready?”

Evolution and Creation

These days, there seems to be an ongoing debate in the Adventist church over whether the world was created in seven days or whether it took millions of years to occur. Two things concern me about this debate. One, is the volatility and anger I see and hear from those passionately defending their position, and two, is the way the discussion distracts us from focusing on what is most important.

Here is what I hear from many who I talk to. “Why does the debate even matter? Are we trying to prove that God exists, or that scientists are smarter than theologians? Scientists are notoriously wrong, inconsistent and not even of one opinion when given the same set of facts. I think the debate is just a distraction.”

What seems to be true is that those that accept the biblical account of creation do not need any further evidence that God is the Creator, and those that do not believe won’t be convicted by any arrogant “I know it all” argument. We will have all eternity to investigate this issue once Jesus has come. In the meantime, let us behave in a way that honors our God, and remember that God is more concerned about how we treat people than by what we know.

Thoughts on Osama bin Laden’s death

Mark Twain once said, "I have never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure."

Since the death of bin Laden (I found it interesting that he was buried out at sea) there has been a lot of rejoicing. I understand it and yet part of me wonders if there is a difference between us and the radicals who rejoiced over the falling of the Twin Towers. Anyway, as I listened to the news and all the talk show hosts and their elation, Ezekiel 33:11 popped into my mind:

As I live! declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live.

Or, Proverbs 24:17, 18: Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Or the Lord will see it and be displeased, and turn His anger away from him.

As a Christ follower, I feel this tension between the thought that bin Laden deserved death and that justice was done (and that we ought to be happy about it) versus the idea that, as Christians, we should react another way…and that reacting another way is an opportunity to witness of God’s love. As Christians, we should be acknowledging the realities of this world, yet at the same time reacting and living in a way that honors God. This is part of the tension we as Christians are called to live with.

This quote made me think, “When God's people use and rejoice in the methods of this world's kingdoms, they become an obstacle between man and God, obscuring what God wants to make clear. We understand the world - we are from this world - but we want the world to see another way.”

Hmmm. Something to think about and wrestle with…