On the Side of Truth

The other night I was flipping back and forth between various news channels attempting to understand a particular world event. What I found amazing was that each station had their unique spin on the story. In fact, the spin was so great, that one would have thought they were talking about two different events. The stories were so opposite of each other, that there was no way they could both be true. Either was one lying completely, or both were lying a little. I suspect the latter. But the bottom line is that much of what we hear on the news is based on lies. In fact, I have begun to wonder how much of our entire culture is based on lies.

Politicians lie to us all the time. We have gotten so used to it we no longer hold them accountable. People lie in court, and somehow we think that if we have a powerful enough lawyer, it is okay. People lie to their boss at work when they want to take a day off and take no thought about those who have to cover their shift at the last minute. People lie to their friends or their spouses without realizing the damage it does to the relationship. People often lie to themselves and after a while, they begin to believe their own lies. Can a culture based on falsehood endure?

The prophet Isaiah wondered the same thing. In Isaiah 28:14-15, 18-19 he calls our attention to this issue when he says, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem! Because you have said, we have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter. Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it. As often as it passes through it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be sheer terror to understand the message." In the context of this scripture the leaders in Jerusalem had hidden behind carefully crafted lies to get what they wanted. They thought their web of deceit was so strong that the truth would never come out. They thought they would never be held accountable for the truth. But lies make for a pretty flimsy refuge. Falsehood makes a poor shelter. When the moment of truth comes, it would be overwhelming and break through all lies and falsehoods. Since truth will eventually be revealed, it is better to build our lives on truth instead of falsehood. That way, when the truth comes out, we will already be on the right side.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett is a church planter in New England. He is a happy husband, proud father, giggling grandfather, thankful cancer survivor, and the author of numerous books aimed at helping small churches become healthier and individual Christians grow in their faith. You can find his books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-TerryDorsett

By People With Foreign Tongues

Does a scripture passage ever grab your attention and make you think about something that never occurred to you before? One passage of scripture that recently did this for me is Isaiah 28:11-12: "For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people, to whom he has said, This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose; yet they would not hear."

The context of this scripture is that God had been calling His people back to Himself, but the Jews had not been listening. Therefore, God said He would send a foreign people to the Jews to tell them of the peace and rest they could find in Him. This scripture is being lived out today as Messianic Jews and their evangelical Christian partners reach out to Jewish people around the world.

But I think the reason this scripture caught my attention so much is because it also happens to be one of those scriptures that can be applied to the church.

When I look at the state of the church in North America, we are far from God. God has been calling us back to Him for decades, but few have listened. Now God is bringing Christians from other nations to our shores. Many of them have a robust faith that is challenging the status quo that grips most of the North American church. While some educated upper middle class white people might be intimidated by these people who speak a foreign tongue, I am thankful for them. I see them as missionaries who have come to our lands to help us remember who God is. Instead of looking down on them, or despising them, I look forward to partnering them to share the Gospel with those around me.

Baptism: What Should We Believe?

The rite of baptism has been an important step in the spiritual journey of Christians since Christ Himself was baptized in the Jordan River. The story of the baptism of Jesus is so pure and powerful. God the Spirit showed His approval through His appearance of a dove. God the Father showed His approval by supernaturally voicing it immediately after the baptism. Clearly God wants people to be baptized. It sounds so simple and easy.

But the reality for many people is less simple and often not so easy. Many are confused about baptism because various churches teach different things. Many Christians want to walk in obedience to the Lord in this matter, but often are just not clear what that means. One way to cut through the confusion is to change our question from what does "the church" teach about baptism to what does the Bible teach about baptism.

What does the Bible teach about baptism?

The New Testament teaches that people repented of their sins and believed in Christ FIRST. Then they were baptized as an expression of that saving faith. Consider Acts 2:38 "Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." We find this teaching in numerous places and contexts.

For example, Phillip, a deacon, preached this same truth in Samaria. Acts 8:12 tells us the result of his preaching, "But when they believed Philip, as he preached the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized." Again, we notice they believed first, and then were baptized as a result of that belief. It might be important to note in this particular verse that it says that it was men and women who were baptized, not infants or little children. There are no examples of infants or young children being baptized in the New Testament. 

Another example, from that same chapter but in a different context, comes from verses 36-38. "As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, Look, there’s water! What would keep me from being baptized? And Philip said, If you believe with all your heart you may. And he replied, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him" (Acts 8:36-38). Once again, we see that a man believed in Christ and was then baptized. One caveat about this passage is that it refers to believing with "all of our hearts." Clearly this is not just a general belief in God, or in the church as an organization, or even in Christ as a concept or idea, but a sincere and deeply held belief in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God.

Sometimes we encounter people who are already religious and active in a faith community but have not yet been baptized. Should they be baptized when they come to believe in Jesus? We find the answer to that question in Acts 18:8, "Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized." This scripture tells the story of Crispus, who was a leader of the synagogue. Crispus was VERY religious and already a part of a strong community of faith. Yet Crispus was baptized AFTER he believed. What ever he had done to become part of the community of faith prior to his belief in Christ could not replace his need to be baptized as an expression of his new belief.

In each of the examples above the people first placed their faith in Christ. Then as an outward expression of that inner faith, they were baptized. The need to believe before being baptized was the clear teaching and practice of the early church. This clear truth is recorded in the Bible numerous times. Regardless of the confusion we may have in the modern church, there was no such confusion in the First Century. There is an important principle to learn in regards to this issue that also impacts other biblical issues, which is, if we stay with the timeless truth of scripture, instead of human tradition, our faith will be much clearer and less confusing.

Because of all the confusion over this issue, there are many people who were baptized by their parents as infants before they were old enough to understand what it meant to be a Christian. Though parents meant well by trying to make this choice for their children, faith is deeply personal and no one should make faith choices for another person. We all know people who were baptized as infants into some church and now that church does not meet their spiritual needs. It does not mean that church has no spiritual value, it just means that church is not right for that person. Such people often find themselves in an awkward situation of being baptized into a church they are no longer interested in being part of but may feel guilty about changing churches because they do not want to hurt their parents’ feelings. Many of these people have dropped out of church altogether because they could not reconcile this issue in  their own minds and now are Christians in name only, rarely, if ever, practicing their faith in a meaningful way. Others came to a more complete understanding of who Christ is and were born again. Now they struggle with the idea of baptism, because if faith is supposed to precede baptism, what are these Christians supposed to do? As challenging as it may be, if we strip away human  traditions and stick with scripture, then people who were baptized before they made a sincere commitment to Christ should be re-baptized. This is important because the Bible teaches that people should be baptized only AFTER they come to committed faith in Christ. Though human traditions are hard to change, when our traditions go against scripture, we must always side with scripture. Re-baptism should be done out of obedience to the Scriptures and with all due respect to the parents and family who were doing what they thought best when we were infants.

What Method Should the Church Use to Baptize?

The word “baptism” comes from the Greek word “baptizo,” which literally means “to dip under.” In the New Testament when a person was baptized they were always dipped under water as a picture of being completely immersed in Christ. Baptism is also a reminder of how Christ stood on the cross for us, was put under the ground for us, and rose again out of the ground for us. Baptism by immersion under water is the best symbol of this as the person stands in the water, is lowered under the water and then raised up out of the water. This symbol should be preserved as much as possible and only changed under rare circumstances.

What is the Connection Between Baptism and Church Membership?

There are a number of scriptures in the New Testament that seem to link baptism and church membership by referring to the people who were baptized as being “added to the number” of the church. Some have interpreted the phrase “added to the number” as meaning that the people were placed on a church membership roll. This is possible, but there are other scriptures that appear to separate these two issues. For example, the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8 came to personal faith in Christ and was baptized in the middle of the desert. There was literally no church for him to join. Philip baptized him anyway, resulting in him being a baptized Christian but not a member of any particular church. History tells us that he later founded what has become the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. But that church did not exist at the moment of his baptism, therefore he could not join it. In this situation, baptism and church membership were not automatically connected. Therefore, we should be cautious about making them automatically connected in modern times. While baptism and church membership are not automatically connected, it is very important for people to make a commitment to a specific church so they can serve the Lord with their spiritual gifts and be accountable to the biblical authority of that church. Once a person has been baptized, they should prayerfully take the next step and become a member of a specific church. This would normally be the church that baptized them, but we know from the experience of the Ethiopian eunuch that it might not always be the case.

Conclusion:
Baptism was important enough for Jesus to set an example by being baptized Himself. In the

First Century, baptism was practiced by those who came to sincere personal faith in Christ, regardless of their previous religious expression. Have we taken this important step and been baptized after we have made a personal commitment to Christ? If we have, then we should find a church to join and begin to serve the Lord with passion. If we have not, then we should prayerfully seek baptism even if it means we must be re-baptized. Once we have been re-baptized, we should join a church so we can use our gifts to serve the Lord.

Our Culture is Changing: Time to Withdraw or Advance?

I almost missed seeing it as I set the newspaper aside. But something about the picture caught my eye. I picked the paper up and looked at the picture again of the couple that was embracing and realized it was a same sex couple. The article was about love and family and I realized that the editor has chosen a picture of a same sex couple to illustrate the article. It was not an article about same sex marriage, the article did not address that issue at all. It was just a stock picture that was chosen to go with the story.

Twenty years ago, such a picture would have never have been published. Ten years ago, depending on the newspaper, it might have been published in an article about same sex marriage. Even two years ago such a picture would have produced a flurry of letters to the editor, both pro and con. But now, in our rapidly changing culture, it was just a stock picture in a mundane article that did not appear to stir up controversy at all.

Regardless of where a person stands on that particular issue, we can all agree that our culture is changing. Pick about any topic or issue and it seems that the public opinion is becoming more liberal. Things that only twenty years ago would have been unthinkable have now become so common that we almost miss noticing them when they show up in daily life.

These rapid cultural changes are impacting the church significantly. Churches are an important part of the fabric of our culture. Churches provide services to the poor and needy. Churches offer comfort to the distressed and dying. Churches provide education and health care services to not only their own followers but the community at large. Churches care for the elderly and for orphans. Our culture needs strong and healthy churches. But how should churches engage such a rapidly changing culture?

Some churches choose to adopt the culture and change with it. Such churches jump in with both feet and happily accept the culture's view on all the hot topics. The leaders of these churches assumed it would swell their ranks with open minded parishioners who would flock to their enlightening worship services and volunteer to lead their many community programs. Statistics show quite clearly that did not happen. The majority of liberal churches remain in steep decline. Tony Robinson, president of Congregational Leadership Northwest, speaks and writes, nationally and internationally, on religious life and leadership, concluded:  It may be that relatively comfortable liberals … simply feel little need for religion.

Other churches adopt more of a fortress mentality. They withdraw from public life and huddle in their basement hoping the world will just leave them alone. Recently I had a conversation with the leader of a major fundamentalist religious organization that has taken this approach. He lamented, "We once had 50,000 people at our events over the course of a year, now we consider 20,000 to be a good year." The fortress mentality is clearly not working either.

Churches that want to remain vibrant must look for ways to engage the culture, without actually adopting it. Learning how to speak to cultural issues and work through complicated subjects while remaining true to scripture is important. We can neither adopt the culture, nor ignore it. We must engage it. Though there may be many ways to do that, one of the best is to focus on the life changing power of the Gospel. The Gospel changes lives, but we often focus on other things. When we focus on passing legislation for the community as a whole, or internal regulations for the organizations we serve, we miss the point. The human heart is sinful. It will remain sinful regardless of what the law or the rule book says. The only thing that can change the human heart is the Gospel. As we lift up Jesus and expose men and women, boys and girls, to the Gospel of Christ, they are drawn to Him. As His Spirit enters them, they are transformed. That transformation is far more powerful than all the rules and laws we could ever draft. Therefore, let's engage the Culture by lifting up Jesus.

It is time to emerge from our holy huddles in the church basement and start engaging our friends and family with the Gospel. Let's talk about Jesus. Let's sing about Jesus. Let's replace those political bumper stickers with ones about Jesus. Let's pack up our t-shirts promoting sports teams and musical groups and start wearing ones that talk about Jesus. Let's be willing to have the difficult conversations about cultural issues and then steer the conversation to Jesus. Let's reach out to people who hold different view points and talk about Jesus. Such an approach may be considered counter-cultural, but let's do it anyway. Let's make faith once more about Jesus and just see what happens.




To learn more about how churches can engage the culture, read Mission Possible: Reaching the Next Generation through the Small Church.

Ten Things My Father Taught Me

My Dad - Wayne Dorsett

Today is Father's Day. I am thankful for my dad today. Among other things, he taught me:

1. A real man loves God with all his heart.

2. A real man always loves his wife and remains faithful to her.

3. A real man takes his family to church every week, not just once in a while.

4. A real man works hard, even when it doesn't pay much, because there is more value in work than in sloth.

5. A real man serves in his church because he is a giver not a taker.

6. A real man sacrifices for his family but also knows when to assert his authority and tell the family what to do when he needs to.

7. A real man encourages his children to get a good education but loves them just as much if book learning is not their strength.

8. A real man does not complain about stuff, he just does what needs to be done.

9. A real man is not afraid to make a big move away from all that he is familiar with if God opens a door and tells him to go.

10. A real man can enjoy a hobby, or two, but does not let them take away from the family.

Thanks dad for helping me learn how to become a real man.

Dr. Terry W. Dorsett is a church planter in New England. He is a happy husband, proud father, giggling grandfather, thankful cancer survivor, and the author of numerous books aimed at helping small churches become healthier and individual Christians grow in their faith. You can find his books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terr

5 Unhealthy Expectations Small Churches Have for their Pastors - Guest Post by Dennis Bickers

In my role as a resource minister with the American Baptist Churches – USA of Indiana and Kentucky, one of my responsibilities is to assist our churches when they seek new pastoral leadership.

A major challenge when assisting smaller churches is to find potential candidates. It's often easier to find persons willing to serve in larger churches than smaller ones.

Many smaller churches are increasingly becoming bivocational, which means that most persons who could fill that position will be found geographically near the church. Few people are going to relocate to serve in a bivocational church.

Another thing making it difficult to assist these smaller churches is that many of them have unrealistic expectations of their next pastor, especially if he or she is bivocational.

Let's look at some of those expectations.

1. This person will be the one who will save their church.

I repeatedly hear from many smaller churches that they are looking for someone who will grow their church or grow their youth group. What they are really saying is they want someone who will save their church from dying.

Often, their church hasn't grown in years, and the only young people in the church are grade-school children brought by their grandparents. Few of these young people will be found there once they enter junior-high school.

These churches hope their next pastor will solve this problem for them.

2. Despite the fact that many of these committees say their church wants a pastor who will grow their church, the truth is many of these smaller churches want a chaplain who will care for their existing members.

One committee assured me the church wanted a pastor to grow the church, but a survey I did of the congregation revealed they really wanted a chaplain. When I pointed that out to the committee, they didn't know how to respond. I explained that if they call a pastor with spiritual gifts conducive to growing a church, he or she will be in trouble within the first year for not meeting the pastoral care needs of the congregation.

3. Their new pastor will come in with a vision for ministry that will unite their church and return it to the exciting place it was 50 years ago.

I ask every pastor search committee to tell me the vision that has unified their church, and virtually none has been able to give me one. A few have read from some vision statement document.

When that happened recently, I responded, "The fact you had to find that statement and read it tells me that statement really doesn't direct the activities and ministries of this church." Most of the committee nodded their heads in agreement.

4. While many churches are paying for a bivocational person, their expectations are that he or she will work as a full-time person in the church.

One committee was recently concerned about their Sunday evening service and was afraid their new pastor would not be able to lead that if he or she lived too far away.

When I learned that service averages about 10 people, I asked if having this service was really a good use of their pastor's time. I cautioned them that if they were going to call a bivocational pastor, they needed to ensure that what was asked of that person was the best use of his or her time.

5. Some are willing to ignore theology to find someone willing.

Recently, a disgruntled group from a church contacted me complaining their pastor didn't do things like a Baptist. I reminded them they knew he wasn't a Baptist when they called him. That pastor has now left, but not before many of the members did.

I recently talked with search committee members from a different church who were excited about someone who had preached there the previous Sunday. Two of them commented he was a "real barn-burner preacher" who got everyone excited. I read his resume and pointed out his experience has all been in a different denomination. I then asked what did they know about his personal theology. They knew nothing.

Can persons cross denominational lines and serve churches effectively? Absolutely. I've known several who have done that and provided excellent ministry, but their theology was solid and their approach to ministry was healthy. Search committees need to make sure that is the case before they present the person as a candidate to the church. 

I could give more examples of unrealistic expectations, but these are the primary ones I encounter. It is critical that churches develop more realistic expectations of their pastors, and that the congregation is united on those expectations. It is also vital that both the committees and candidates spend sufficient time talking with one another and asking questions to ensure they will be a good fit before proceeding to a vote.

This guest post was originally posted at http://www.ethicsdaily.com/5-unhealthy-expectations-small-churches-have-for-pastors-cms-20973 and is re-posted here with the permission of the author.

Dennis Bickers served as the bivocational pastor of Hebron Baptist Church near Madison, Ind., for 20 years before accepting his current position as a resource minister with the American Baptist Churches – USA of Indiana and Kentucky. A longer version of this column first appeared on his blog, Bivocational Ministry, and is used with permission. You can follow him on Twitter @DennisBickers.

- See more at: http://www.ethicsdaily.com/5-unhealthy-expectations-small-churches-have-for-pastors-cms-20973#sthash.i15RcOoE.dpuf

Aligning Our Priorities with God’s

Haggai 1:1-8 

1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:  2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "These people say, 'The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to be built.” 3 Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 4 "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" 5 Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it. 7 This is what the LORD Almighty says: Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the LORD.

Introduction:

•               Around 520 B.C. the Persian King Cyrus allowed 50,000 Jews to return from exile to Jerusalem.

•               Approximately ten years later Darius became King and Haggai was called by God as a prophet.

•               Haggai was the first prophet after the Jews had returned from exile.

•               Haggai began his ministry as a senior adult and it only lasted 4 months. This reminds us that we can do great things for God at any age and even if it is only for a short period of time.

•               Haggai was a contemporary of the prophet Zechariah and also of Confucius in China.

•               Some scholars think he was born in exile, others say he was carried into exile and returned, but either way he was God’s man.

Verse 2 - . . . "These people say, 'The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to be built.' "

•               When the exiles returned to the land, the Lord had told them that one of their priorities was to rebuild the Temple so they could worship Him again.

•               They had been in the land for ten years but they had not even started rebuilding the temple.

•               Their excuse was that it was not the right time yet to rebuild the temple.

•               Though timing is important, the reality was that they just kept finding excuses not to do what God asked them to do.

•               We tend to be good at making excuses for why we cannot obey the Lord right now.

•               At some point, we have to stop making excuses and start obeying God.

Verses 3-4 - Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?"

•               While the people were making excuses, God was calling a prophet to set them straight.

•               Most of us do not like it when prophets point out our mistakes.

•               We prefer preachers that comfort us and make us feel good about ourselves.

•               But one day we will stand before the Righteous Judge and give an account for how we lived our lives.

•               In that moment we will be thankful for some prophets who spoke into our lives and corrected us before it was too late.

•               Prophets ask tough questions that seldom have easy answers.

•               Prophets make us think in ways that are often uncomfortable.

•               Haggai asked the people why they lived in paneled houses but the temple was in ruins.

•               He was referring to fancy wooden panels similar to wainscoting, except that the panels would have been thicker and had hand carved designs on them.

•               Since there were few trees in Israel, such wooden panels would most likely have been imported from foreign lands.

•               They were VERY expensive luxury items.

•               They had time, money and energy for such luxuries BUT God’s house was still a ruin.

•               We find the time, money and energy for the things that are really important to us.

•               We may fool others and even fool ourselves about our priorities. But we do not fool God.

•               Our calendars and our checkbooks reveal our real priorities!!!

Verse 5 - Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: Give careful thought to your ways.

•               Who is speaking in this verse?

•               God – so we should pay attention.

•               What does God say?

•               God says that we should THINK about our actions.

•               Our actions reveal what is really important to us.

•               We tend to rush from one activity to another without thinking about whether those activities are pushing us toward the Lord or drawing us away from Him.

•               We tend to make financial commitments without considering how they will impact our ability to support God’s work.

•               We tend to spend our brain power thinking about too many things that do not matter.

•               Every so often we need a prophet to make us stop and think about what our REAL priorities are.

•               Most of the time God uses a person as prophet.

•               Sometimes God uses illness, job loss or some other tragedy that forces us to stop and think about our real priorities.

•               When we ignore the warnings of the prophets, we end up taking care of our own desires and wants first. Then we offer God whatever is left over.

•               When there is nothing leftover but crumbs, then we give God the crumbs.

•               Do we want to stand before God on Judgment Day and offer Him mere crumbs?

Verse 6 - You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.

•               No matter how hard the Jews worked, they never seemed to get ahead.

•               The blessing of God was NOT on them because they were living in disobedience to God’s priorities. That does not mean everything they were doing was wrong, just that it was not what God wanted them to be doing.

Verse 8 - Go up into the mountains and bring down timber . . .

•               We cannot GO with God if we remain where we are.

•               If we keep doing the same things we have been doing, we will keep getting the same results.

•               At some point we have to get out of our rut and do whatever it is that God has called us to do with our time, energy and money.

•               Once they got up to the mountains they had to choose which trees to take down. Not every tree was right for the job.

•               Some trees were deceased or too crooked to use. Other trees were healthy but too small and needed more time to grow. They had to choose the best ones to use.

•               Some things are clearly wrong to do. Others things are not wrong but just not right for the situation. We must choose the best things in life that meet God’s priorities.

•               The first priority any of us must make is to trust Christ as Savior. Salvation must be our most important priority.

•               When salvation by faith alone through Christ alone is not a priority in our lives, it is impossible for us to make the right choices in life on a regular basis.

•               Even with Christ it is a challenge, but with the Holy Spirit’s help, we can understand spiritual truth and apply it to our daily lives and reap the benefits of godly lifestyles.

Verse 8 -  . . and build the house . .

•               It is not enough to just think about things and make choices about what to do.

•               We must follow through on our choices and TAKE ACTION.

•               James 2:26 - Faith without works is dead.

•               We must act on our new priorities, otherwise we are just talking and talk is cheap.

Verse 8 - . . . so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the LORD.

•               Building the temple was not about gaining honor for the people who built it, but about obeying God and giving honor to Him.

•               When Christians start making right choices and prove our priorities through real action, our lives get better. We are often tempted to take the honor for ourselves for this improvement.

•               This leads to pride, which will get us back in trouble. All of the honor must go to the Lord.

Conclusion:

•       We must stop making excuses and start obeying God.

•       We must be honest about our priorities and the results that flow from them.

•       We must make choices in life based on God’s priorities.

•       We must take action that proves our priorities are real.

•       We should give the honor to the Lord for whatever good comes from our actions.

Dr. Terry W. Dorsett is a church planter in New England. He is a happy husband, proud father, giggling grandfather, thankful cancer survivor, and the author of numerous books aimed at helping small churches become healthier and individual Christians grow in their faith. You can find his books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terr