What does it mean to glorify God? The first part of our 3G mission statement challenges us to be a church that Glorifies God. That means individually and as a church, our words and deeds should honor God. We exist to make his name famous. Sometimes the best way to honor God is by refraining to do what comes naturally. Self-control is a way to glorify God. At other times, God is glorified when we act with bold faith, doing what might be unnatural for us. Either way, our overriding purpose as Christ-followers and as a Christ-centered church is to live in such a way as to bring credit to God. If you were to ask yourself the following question, how would it change your life? Here it is: Does what I'm about to say or do bring glory to God?
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In a previous post, I challenged you to consider how you're living life ... aimlessly or on purpose? The challenge was taken from these words of the apostle Paul: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). For those of us who are in the communication business, I'd like to reframe the challenge: are you an aimless communicator? I'm not sure how many sermons, presentations, or classes I've sat through in my lifetime. My guess is, I've…
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As a church, we've been working our way through 1 Corinthians -- Paul's prescription for this new community called the church. On this blog, I've taken a part of chapter nine and looked at it through the lens of a communicator. One important lesson we can learn is the principle of communicating with self-control: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). I love Paul's line: "Every athlete exercises self-control in all things." Communicating with self-control is…
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We've been looking at Paul's challenge to the Corinthian church through the eyes of a communicator. Here's the passage: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to win the prize. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). If you are paid to persuade, inform, or transform, let me ask you this: are you preparing in such a way as to win the prize? In other words, are you doing everything possible to be the best possible communicator? Communicators are no different than other…
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When was the last time you decided to go for a run without any thought of where you would go? "That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of the town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since run this far, maybe I'd just run across the great state of Alabama. And that's what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on goin'. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on goin'. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far,…
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