Cheap Grace

I love cheap grace. In fact I love free grace. Nothing is cheaper.

I can't stand expensive legalism. Far too many people must pay for it with grief, anxiety, depression, burn out, panic, fear, anger, worry, and a shallow relationship with God.

18 Reasons it was Impossible for the Early Church to Grow

We know that faith in Jesus impact the world greatly in a few short years and are we doing it His way now? I never get tired of pointing out that Christians grew from about 1,000 when Jesus was crucified to about 35,000,000 when Constantine became Emperor in about 300 AD.

That is a growth rate of 45% per decade! How did that happen?

The barriers to growth were many.

1. No printing press
2. No Radio
3. No TV
4. No youth ministry
5. No children's ministry.
6. No worship band
7. No place to meet
8. No sound system
9. No heat or AC
10. No rides to church.
11. No seminary
12. No homiletic's professors
13. No freedom of speech
14. No paid staff
15. No safety from persecution
16. No roads
17. No cars
18. No Sunday school
19.

How to Multiply Ministers

Go into the whole world and make students into workers so they will do everything I have been doing. Mt. 28:19-20

What is the process of making disciples/students into active ministers? Have you ever been trained to actually Do something new and different? These guys were fishermen IRS agents, sheep herders and hunters. How are they supposed to do ministry like Jesus?

How were you trained to play a sport? Play an instrument? Wash a floor? Fish for bass? Drive a car?

Check the following areas in which you have learned how to DO things in a practical manner.

Listen to lectures____
Discuss the expected action with others.________
Think about how to do it.__________
Practice it in your mind with visualization.________
Watch a film._________________
Read a manual._________________
Practice the skills._______________
Have a coach give you feedback.____________________
Have a video of your practices.___________________
Pray about it.____________________________
Sing about it.__________________________
Other.____________________

What do you prefer?__________________________________

Go to the web for materials, videos and books in Sweeten Life and Patient Home Advantage, L3C. 

How To Multiply Money and Ministry

I hope this title got your attention. I am fascinated by the way so many of us Christians think we are smarter than God. Maybe Jesus was not so intelligent after all. Maybe his model for eliminating poverty and  evangelizing the world was wrong. Otherwise, why would so few Christian leaders teach the opposite of Jesus?

Jesus said, Multiply! Not poverty!

Multiply not Add!

Disciple not Preach!

Equip not Teach!

What a scheme. Let us put it to the test with $$$$$. That is where the rubber hits the road! I will multiply money each year and see what happens.

It is called "Compound Interest". Rich people do it every day and they keep getting richer. Poor people try to add and get poorer every year.

Rich people multiply by saving and investing. Poor people add by increasing the minimum wage.

Rich people work smarter and poor people work harder.

Rich people are contented and poor people are covetous.

Politicians love poor people because poor people can be manipulated.

I want to be rich, so I save and invest. If I have $1,000.00 in the bank and get 6% interest at the end of year one I will have $1,060.00.

That $1060.00 will get me 6% interest again in year two so my interest is "Compounding" every year by building on not only the original capital but also on additional amount I made.

This saving and investing will break the poverty cycle.

That may not seem like much but if I leave it in the bank for 12 years it will double my money and I will have $2,000.00. That amount will double again in 12 years. That gives me $4,000.00 and it will also double in 12 years! for $8,000 and that will double again and again and again!

How do I know it will double in 12 years? It is simple math that I will explain in another post. 

How does that sound?

Get my books and watch my free video tapes to learn how to Multiply your financial, spiritual and emotional life.

How Would You Characterize this Parable Film in one Word?

A short film with an interesting message. 

Not heavy or guilt inducing, I don't think, but a surprise ending.

It is a parable.

Tell Me a Story

The Bible is a collection of stories about His Story. That is one reason it is "New every morning" and why we love to read it.

Jesus was a fantastic story teller. We call many of those stories Parables because they tell a deeper story than what is on the surface. Think about the story about a man with two sons as told by Jesus and reported in Luke 15.

Two brothers. One was rebellious and the other was stuck at home. The younger took his inheritance and spent it all on wild living but returned home, hat in hand when he was broke to find a warm welcome from Dad but a cold rejection from an elder brother.

Can you quickly think of three or four applications to real life and or spiritual life in that one story? It is brimming over with applications but Jesus usually allows us to apply whatever we want to any parable.

Do you tell parables to your family, friends and co-workers? The Decker Company tells why they are important to leadership.

Ten Reasons Why Men Should Not Be Ordained For Ministry

10. A man’s place is in the army.

9. The pastoral duties of men who have children might distract them from the responsibility of being a parent.

8. The physique of men indicates that they are more suited to such tasks as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do ministerial tasks.

7. Man was created before woman, obviously as a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment rather than the crowning achievement of creation.

6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. Their conduct at football and basketball games demonstrates this.

5. Some men are handsome, and this will distract women worshipers.

4. Pastors need to nurture their congregations. But this is not a traditional male role. Throughout history, women have been recognized as not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more fervently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.

3. Men are prone to violence. No really masculine man wants to settle disputes except by fighting about them. Thus they would be poor role models as well as dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.

2. The New Testament tells us that Jesus was betrayed by a man. His lack of faith and ensuing punishment remind us of the subordinated position that all men should take.

1. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep sidewalks, repair the church roof, and perhaps even lead the song service on Father’s Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the church.