iPray - pt. 3

Here are a few quick thoughts from the last night of the iPray series I did at Fuel.

• Jesus could have talked about any facet of prayer, but He focuses in here on these three things... 1. Declare God's Greatness. 2. Get Your Will in Alignment With His. 3. Acknowledge Your Dependence On Him. Then He launches into this story in Luke 11 about that thing that frustrates us more than anything about prayer, and I am so glad He did. He begins to talk about what happens when you don’t get what you want from God. He could have said anything about prayer right here, but He chooses this area because He knew the frustration we would feel.
• Jesus tells a parable about a man who asks his neighbor for some bread...at midnight. The man tell his neighbor to go away...it is late and he doesn't want to wake his family. The man finally gets out of bed and gives his neighbor some bread...not because the man is his friend, but because he is tired of his neighbors consistent and persistent knocking.
• The moral is kind of clear…if you want something from God just keep banging on the door and eventually He will get up and do something for you. Not because he loves you, but because you just bother him to death.
• This is not as weird as we might think…Remember a time when you just bugged your parents to death and they gave in just so you would shut up! Your parents don’t love you any more or less when that happens. Really it has nothing to do with love or your relationship with them. Sometimes you go ask your parents for something and they say no...and you say, “Yes sir” and walk away…and your parent says, “Hey common. Let’s go!” Your response to them caused them to change their mind because you had such a good attitude.
• God is not bothered by your persistence asking, sometimes he is moved by it. The parable could not be any clearer: tell God how great He is, align your will with His, and tell Him what you need…and oh yeah, DON’T QUITE ASKING!
• Your persistent prayer has the potential to move the heart of God. You have that kind of potential!

iPray - pt.2

Last night was the second installment of the iPray series at Fuel. Here are some quick thoughts from last night:

• Matt. 6:9 - We are told when we pray we are to start with God! I know there are times when I bypass this and head straight to me. Declaring God's greatness is vitally important in prayer. Why? It puts into context who it is we are talking too and who we are. You see, THE MORE TIME WE UNDERSTAND AND RECOGNIZING WHO IT IS WE ARE TALKING TO, THE LESS CONCERNED WE WILL BECOME ABOUT ALL OF THOSE UNRESOLVED ISSUES WE CAN’T WAIT TO ASK HIM TO RESOLVE. Declaring God's greatness gives us confidence in God and who he is!
• The second part of the "Lord's prayer" in Matt. 6:10 is this issue of surrendering our will to God. THIS IS THE WHO ISSUE OF PRAYER. Before we get to our needs, wants and wishes, we need to tell God that no matter what the answer may be, we do not want our will for our lives, we want His! This is very difficult to do IF we are lacking in the first area. It becomes a little easier to surrender your will to His once we get a solid picture of who He is!
• Lastly, we get to the part of the prayer that we are pretty good at, "Give...". Matt. 6:11-13 tell us to acknowledge our dependency on God for our daily provision, daily pardon form sin and daily protection.

You see we start with God, end with ourselves and it is the middle where the issues arise...whose agenda, will and purpose is going to take control? What about you? How are you doing with that second part? Do you have anything you aren't giving to God? He is begging you to come and talk to Him about this issue that you are not trusting him with. God doesn't want what you are holding on to, He can take that anytime he wants...He is God! He does want you heart. Will you give it to Him?

A Letter About Sex

Last Friday I sent an e-mail to each of the high school parents. The email informed them that on Thursday, Oct. 23 we will be talking about sexual sin in chapel. I have to admit, I was blown away by the response. The POSITIVE response. I must say that I thought most of the feedback would be a little hesitant on the parents part. After all, we are covering the issues of pornography, oral sex, masturbation and homosexuality. These are not easy topics to discuss...but the students did ask for it. If they are already thinking about these issues, why doesn't someone address them in a Biblical way?

There are always a couple, no matter where you are, that think there child does not need to be a part of such discussion. That is fine. I am sure the parents think they know what is best for their child...and most of the time they do.

I would appreciate your prayers on Thursday around noon. Pray for the student body here at GCA. Pray that the others who have not been involved in sexual immorality can continue to make the right choice to exercise self control. Pray for the student that have been caught up in this mess of sexual immorality will be set free. There is HOPE in JESUS!

Helping the Elderly Transition To DTV

This video post from Todd at Monday Morning Insight was funny! I had to share it. Perhaps we (the church) should help them out. This would be a good service project!

glumbert - Are Old People Ready For The Digital Conversion?

iPray - pt.1

Here are a few quick thoughts from my talk last night with the students at South Harriman Baptist Church about the subject of prayer.

• What if we have been praying wrong all along? What if prayer isn't about us getting stuff from God?


• Matthew 6 is the only place in the Bible that I can find where someone asks someone else how to pray. (The disciples were pretty smart. They saw that Jesus was praying differently than them and they wanted to know how to get it right! Great lesson for us!)


• The first point that Jesus makes about prayer in Matt. 6:5-6 is that location is important!


• We can talk to Go the rest of our lives and not feel connected to Him because we do not spend intentional, intimate time with Him in our room with the door shut.


• The reward mentioned in Matt.6:6 is that we will know...no matter if the answer is yes, no or nothing...that God is with us!


• Matt. 6:7 lets us know that words are important. We do not have to impress God. The pressure is off.


• Matt. 6:8 really messed me up when I first understood what it was saying...God already knows what we need before we ask Him...Most of the time our prayers are telling God the stuff He already knows. Obviously we have missed something.


• The most important thing in the world is your personal, intimate realtionship with God because everything else in life flows from that one thing.

We pick back up next week with verse 9 of Matthew 6. I'll post some thoughts about it next Thursday.

iPray

I will be teaching a series on prayer to the students at South Harriman Baptist Church for the next three Wednesday nights. I am excited about this opportunity. Just wanted to share a little video promo I made for the series. I'll post some updates tomorrow.


iPray from Craig Price on Vimeo.

This Is What Happens When You Are Bored...

I had some free time on my hands today so I made a little video of Landon playing in the yard. Enjoy!


Landon playing in the yard. from Craig Price on Vimeo.

Sticky Talk

I am at an ACSI convention in Greensboro, NC. We are required to go to six different workshops while we are here. The first workshop I attended this morning was by Dr. Phil Johnson. His session was on making what you teach stick with your students. Here are some quick thoughts:


Things that we (teachers) want to stick with our students:

• Jesus loves me and wants to be my friend.


• God has a purpose for my life.

Things that end up sticking with our students:

• Melissa farted in class today.


• Mr. Henley said, "sut the pissors down" instead of "put the scissors down".

The point is this, the unusual sticks. Not the mundane, everyday occurrences in the classroom...the unusual.

The same can be said about church. I was thinking throughout the entire session, "Man, all of this applies to the church as well". How many times have I sat in church and the sermon did not stick. It didn't even reach me to have the opportunity to stick. I vividly remember the sermons that have "stuck" and made an impact on my life. They were unusual, out of the ordinary and out of the box. Is it a challenge to make our lessons (and sermons) stick? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Definitely.

I'll have more thoughts on this tomorrow...

Laughing Workout

This may be one of the dumbest things I have ever seen. What do you think?

glumbert - Laughing Ab Workout

Random Thoughts This Morning

My mind has been pretty active this morning. Here are some things I have been thinking:

• I am glad we have "fall break" coming up for the next 5 days! It is much needed...for teachers and students!
• I am not looking forward to attending this ACSI conference for the next 3 days. I would rather spend time with Leah and Landon...or at Catalysts 08!
• My mother in law put a rocking chair together for us last night. She did an excellent job. Leah said I probably would have cussed if I had attempted to put it together myself. She may be right. I HATE putting things together!
• I would chose Rick Flair, aka "The Nature Boy" as my wreslin partner!
• I am excited that I get to speak to students 4 times over the next 3 weeks!
• Tennessee may get demolished by UGA this weekend. It is possible that we will lose by 3 touchdowns or more. It is also possible good Ole Phil will pull some magic out of his hat and we will win. I am betting the latter does not happen...but I hope it does.
• I feel sorry for Jonathan Crompton. I know he had to be trying as hard as he could...he just couldn't get it done. Reminds me of some people I have coached...
• Jesus has been praying for me today! Man, that is awesome!
• Over 600 people were baptised at Newspring Church in South Carolina this past Saturday! That would really be something to see...Maybe we will one day here in Knoxville!

That's all for now...

What They Were Really Saying

I thought Perry Noble hit the nail on the head with this post. :)

Top 5 Restaurants

I thought I would share my top 5 restaurants with you...just in case you would like to purchase a gift card for someone...

5. Famous Dave's - Can't beat the "rib tips" there. Over 1lb. And the sweet cornbread muffin is really good!

4. Amigos - This is the best Mexican restaurant I have been to...unfortunately it is in Chattanooga. We try to make a stop by there anytime we are back there for a visit. You will not go wrong with the "steak nachos".

3. Chili's - Yeah, I know...most people would probably not agree with me on this one, but I haven't been there when I though the food was sub par. I have been satisfied with everything every time.

2. Cheesecake Factory - We do not have this restaurant in Knoxville either. To be honest, this one makes the list simple for the "Spicy Cashew Chicken"...and ALL of the unbelievable cheesecakes!

1. Dreamland BBQ - Again, we do not have this one in Knoxville either. I have only eaten at this place a couple of times...but the ribs are the BEST I have ever had...and I have had quite a bit!

Is it ok for a Christian to drink alcohol?

We are doing a series in our chapel services called, "You Asked For It". The students have complained on more than one occasion that our speakers in chapel do not talk about things that are interesting to them. So, I borrowed an idea from Perry Noble. He is the pastor of Newspring Church in Anderson, SC. A couple of months ago they asked their congregation what they wanted to hear. I thought, if they can do it, so can we.

Today, the other Bible teacher here at GCA, Mr. Pointer, had the task of tackling the issue of Christian's and alcohol. This issue came in as the 3rd most popular issue among our students. Here are some of the highlights from his talk:

• We have a responsibility as Christians to live our lives with purpose.
• There are over 10 million alcoholics in America. 3.3 million of them are teens. That is %19 percent of all teenagers.
• We know that Scripture is clear that we should not become "drunk"...But how does one know at what point they become drunk?
• It is illegal for anyone under 21 to drink. (Remember, we are talking to HS students)
• Drinking wine today is not the same as drinking wine in the Scriptures.
• Entire philosophy for drinking today is different from Biblical time. We drink today for pleasure, popularity, etc. People used wine in the Bible for medicinal purposes...to help purify the drinking water.
• Wine in the Bible was 3 parts water and 1 part wine. The lowest alcohol content you can find today is %4 and that is in beer. Wine has bewteen %7-11.
• Christians have to consider what effect his drinking has on other Christians and non believers.

I thought he hit a home run. Was the wine actually "wine" in the Bible? Yes. It was not grape juice. The entire purpose for the use of wine was vastly different than the purpose we have today. Plus, we have so many more options for beverages (I'm talking non alcoholic) today than they had in Jesus' day. So why do we need to tempt ourselves with something that could potentially mess us up?

I know a lot of good people on both sides of the fence...some say social drinking is okay, some say it is not. We need to search the Scriptures for ourselves and draw our own conclusions. For me, it all comes down to his last point today, we have to consider what effect our drinking may have upon other people, Christians or not. I'll have water.

Feeling the PUDGE

I hate washing my jeans. I hate feeling a little pudgy when I put on a washed pair of jeans. I had to wash 3 pair this week. I had to wear a pair last night for about an hour. It was probably the worst hour of my week.

Is anybody with me?