MOVING FORWARD - pastor mike landry

I’ve started blogging and tweeting. I even have a FaceBook page. Why in the world would I start adding things like that to my plate? Isn’t pastoring a multi-campus church in South Florida enough to keep me busy? The answer to that question is definitely YES. But I’m always looking for ways to help me improve and develop as a Pastor.

When I started tweeting and blogging, I kept wondering if it was a waste of time. The learning curve took me a while to see any kind of value. But now that I’ve used Twitter for about 8 months and blogged for 3 months I’ve come to the conclusion that both have added greatly to my effectiveness as a pastor. I have been amazed at the feedback.

Here’s the bottom line. Transparency and authenticity are more than current buzzwords. People want to know if what they hear from their pastor is for real. They want to believe what they’re taught from the Bible, but it’s hard when they don’t see examples of people actually living out these truths. Tweeting and Blogging are great ways to demonstrate the daily practicalities of Biblical Truth. It’s like supplementing the weekly sermon with daily illustrations from your life. The pastor gets to actually model it. Sometimes as a good example; and sometimes not.

Pastors need to be true to their calling and preach and teach the Bible. But we also need to find ways to practically demonstrate through our lives those things we preach and teach. Tweeting (using Twitter) a few times a day helps others see how we interact with our circumstances and the people we meet. It’s like adding a living commentary to the things you’ve been teaching. What a great way to apply personally, for others to see, the Biblical truths you and I believe. Some would call that MENTORING.

Warning though! You don’t want to just tweet whatever thoughts come to your mind. You want to use discretion, be wise, and constructive. Never forget that you are modeling behavior that you would want others to learn from or imitate. Be sure to keep asking yourself, “How can what I just saw or thought apply to a Biblical principle I’ve learned?” or “Am I speaking the truth in love?” or “Would this really help somebody?”

I think if this technology was available to the Apostle Paul, he would have used it. That’s one thing I think he was saying in his letter to the church at Philippi.

“Join in imitating me, brothers, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.” Phil 3:17 (HCSB)

Art Linkletter visited our church this past weekend and left an indelible mark on me. I learned so much about what shapes a man’s character and how to LIVE until you die. He was so very personable, positive and likable. At breakfast, he was full of questions – wanting to know about me, my family, and the church where I serve. He was not only inquisitive but his follow up questions showed that he was processing everything he heard and still trying to learn. Wow! I want to be like that NOW, not just when I turn 97 years old.

What’s amazing is that here is a man who is about to turn 97 years old and just gave up snow skiing on black diamond slopes two years ago. He said he’d still be skiing but after a spill on the slope that hurt his knee 2 years ago, his wife gave away all his ski equipment. When he asked why, she replied, “I’d rather be your wife than your nurse.”

Dr. Linkletter spoke for about forty-five minutes and was entertaining, thoughtful, engaging, and focused. He talked about playing college basketball, swimming in the Olympics for the USA, hosting TV shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC, getting to know every president since Woodrow Wilson, as well as serving as a missionary for 20 years with World Vision Ministries. He was probably best known to most people for his TV shows, “House Party” and “Kids Say the Darndest Things.”

He amazed us all with his ability to recall all kinds of statistics, dates, names and facts without notes. If you closed your eyes, you’d think you were listening to a 40 year old man who was in his prime. He told us he still lectures at UCLA as a professor of Gerontology.

His wisdom concerning aging was priceless. He was so positive and down to earth. His secret was to “live until you die” and don’t stop a moment earlier. One of his past books summed up this life message with the title, Old Age Is Not For Sissies.

His life has been a model of how pain and suffering mold the character of a person. He told us how he had been abandoned by his teenage parents at birth and adopted by a 50 year old Baptist minister and his wife. He shared, with teary eyes, the tragedy of losing a daughter by suicide, a son in a tragic car accident and then another son at the age of 70 from cancer. He was quick to share how his daughter’s death devastated him and ultimately led to his placing his faith in Jesus Christ.

When asked what he though attributed most to his longevity, he shared a story about a 30 minute meeting in the Oval Office in the White House with President George W. Bush. The president asked him the same question and he told him that he had put together the “OLD GEEZER TEST.” He shared he had devoted much time in the last years of his life to studying this very issue and that the test would reveal one’s odds in becoming an “OLD GEEZER.” The President asked Dr. Linkletter to give him the test while there.

I thought you’d be interested in the quiz, so I’m going to finish this article with the questions that were listed in Art Linkletter’s book, How To Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life (p. 23). The more yes answers you have the more apt you are to become an OLD GEEZER like Art.
THE OLD GEEZER TEST:

1. Do you refrain from smoking? 2. Do you abstain from alcohol consumption? 3. Do you get eight hours of sleep a night? 4. Do you eat a low-fat diet? 5. Do you exercise every day? 6. Do you eat a good breakfast every day? 7. Do you have a sense of humor? 8. Do you have a sense of curiosity about the world? 9. Do you have a passion for what you do? 10. Do you have a happy marriage?

Moving Forward With You.
Pastor Mike

Last week everyone, including the news media, was outraged over the extravagant bonuses paid out by AIG. Me too. It just didn’t seem right to reward people for poor performance that resulted in the collapse of AIG. Contractually the bonuses may have been legal, but were they moral or ethical? In addition, since the government had to bail out AIG with billions of taxpayer dollars, how could the executives of AIG, in good conscience, even consider giving out the bonuses.

The immediate knee-jerk reaction from our Congress was to pass a bill that would tax those who received the bonus with a minimum of a 90% rate. Now that really solves the problem, right? I don’t think so. But that’s not the point of this particular article. My point is that the outrage stems from an inherent sense of right and wrong that we are born with. Sometimes our reaction or solutions may be just as outrageous as the wrong deed done, but nonetheless, our outrage over a social injustice is legitimately proper and right – and should be dealt with justly.

We also see a similar reaction from the general public whenever a child is kidnapped, abused, or murdered. Inherently, we are outraged by this act and want justice to be served. The wrong needs to be righted. Nobody taught you to feel this way…our conscience inherently knows it is wrong.

I like what C.S. Lewis said about this in his book, Mere Christianity, “Whenever you find a man who says he does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later. He may break his promise to you, but if you try breaking one to him he will be complaining ‘it’s not fair.’”

Because we want outcomes to benefit us, we tend to adjust our standards as needed. We may feel a little better for a while but ultimately it puts us deeper in a hole that we cannot climb out.

Hopefully, what we have been experiencing will force us to take a step back and ask some different questions. Instead of merely casting blame and proposing temporary solutions to immediate pains let’s go back to the root of our problem.

We have neglected and even tried to deny that there are timeless and absolute standards of right and wrong. These exist because they are an extension of the very nature and character of God who created this world and all of us. When people seek to know that God, not only will the standards begin to make much more sense but also real forgiveness for the violation of those standards can be experienced.

It’s time to turn back to God and ask Him how to proceed. He is certainly not surprised at what is going on and definitely has a proposal on the table for how to proceed.

“If my people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

Entering into a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ is really not that difficult. That’s because you were made by God, for God. It is His desire that you and I know Him intimately. John 17:3 even defines eternal life relationally rather than numerically. It says,

“This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent—Jesus Christ.”

The excitement and joy you experience when entering into this kind of relationship is undeniable. New Christians are so refreshing to be around for that very reason. The passion and lifestyle associated with a life in relationship with Jesus Christ is contagious. But isn’t it amazing how quickly we will judge this kind of experience and outward demonstration as evidence of immaturity or shallowness…especially when we haven’t felt that way for quite some time?

Instead of pursuing God we begin to pursue spiritual knowledge. In our quest to go deeper and know Him more intimately we often substitute the critical elements of a relationship with God for simply the facts about God. In my conversations with others, I find this to be typical of everyone’s experience including my own. I personally find it as easy as triggering a cruise control button on my car's steering wheel. After I hit the button, I’m still heading in what appears to be the same direction but find my heart and passion for God becoming incrementally a bit cooler and harder. I'm not as focused as I was after I push the button.

A. W. Tozer said,
“We have substituted theological ideas for an arresting encounter; we are full of religious notions, but our great weakness is that for our hearts there is no one there…The spiritual giants of old were men who at some time became acutely conscious of the real Presence of God and maintained that consciousness for the rest of their lives.” (God’s Pursuit of Man)

Can I make a suggestion?

Today, in your pursuit of God, go beyond a simple knowledge of the facts.

• Ask God to make you sensitive to His presence.
  

• Take time to listen to God.

• Look for His fingerprints and activity all around you.

• Let the facts about God that you glean from the Scriptures trigger a pursuit of God.

• Choose to relate to God rather than simply be content with more information about God.

What a trip...no...what a journey. A trip is simply traveling and moving from one destination to another. Pictures are taken, memories are stored, and bodies are wearied. After the trip, you simply return home with another notch carved into your travel belt.

My Holy Land adventure was much more than a trip. It was a life changing journey. Sure, a lot of pictures were taken, new experiences were engraved as memories, and I did return tired. But I'm no longer the same person. My trip became a spiritual journey that God used to adjust my frame of reference. My journey put a Biblical frame around real people, real places, and real conversations. For example:

When traveling the same path that Moses led the Israelites on from northern Egypt to Mt. Sinai, I gained a whole new appreciation for the miraculous nature of the trip and provision/protection of God. We're talking about an 8 hour trip by bus through some of the most barren terrain you'll ever pass through. Nothing but rocks and dirt and mountains. My friend and fellow pastor, Bill Hild, says it's the closest thing on earth to walking on the moon. He's right.

I try to imagine a couple million Israelites (men, women, and children) traveling on foot down that same path. Only with the miraculous intervention of God and His protection could they have made it. God was using this short hop to teach the Israelites AND ME that the journey itself may even be more important than the final destination. It's along the journey that we learn to really trust God. You see what I mean...a bus ride from Mt. Sinai to Cairo became a video prepared by God for my heart to teach me that I need to pay attention along the way instead of always being so obsessively focused on getting to my final destination.

Since going on this journey, I cannot read the Bible the same anymore. The locations and the settings all mean so much more now and help me to better understand the truth of God's Word. Talk to anyone who went on the journey with me and they'll tell you the same thing. It's amazing. This journey to the Holy Lands was like getting another degree from seminary.

If you get a chance sometime to go...don't hesitate...you will never get over it. Plus, you're going to establish some new friendships with the people you travel with. You'll find that they become like close family -- which by the way, is another priority lesson that God wants us all to learn...the value of relationships. This is definately not the kind of trip you want to do alone...you need to be able to share it with others.

Hope we can do it together in the future sometime. I hope to go back in a few years.

Shalom