THOUGHTS AND IDEAS

1. Observation: In a given culture the passage of death or death rite will reveal one of the most important keys to understanding the true core of their spiritual beliefs.

2. In the world there are the haves and have-nots. In the Christian world there are the halves and the half-nots. The committed and the half-committed.

3. Motive for ministry: The final mature step in ministry is to climb from doing the good you love because you love doing it, to doing the good He loves because you love Him. This seemed to be the maturity level of Jesus as He lived here on earth.

4. Ahh the genius of simplicity. Make it simple, anyone can design the complicated.

5. If you don't take the time to maintain your relationships with people you will end up taking even more time mending them. Make friends and maintain your friendships

6. The minute I accept my fate I determine my fate.

7. US society: Little by little with our technology and protective philosophy we have been taking away the struggle of life, consequently we are developing a weak, dummed down and irresponsible people.

8. Fact: The greedy, whether they be politically greedy or monetarily greedy, will take short-term profits over long term responsibility anytime.

9. God wants to work through us not with us ... but our natural desire is to have Him work with us. If I am working with God we are on a horizontal plane...co-workers. God wants to work through us. I'm called to be a vessel, a glove, a tool. My relationship with God must always be on a vertical plane. My relationship with man is on a horizontal plane.

10. When will man learn that the power of God can't work through a synthetically enhanced gospel or a secularly enhanced gospel? And that's exactly what we have today. Why must we strive to "improve" or "modify" God's methods? His methods certainly worked well in Acts.

11. A man finds his life as soon as he is willing to lose his life. When he finally has no fear of death he can begin to live.

12. In Acts we see the Church being carried into the world by His mandate and now we see the Church dragging the mandate into the world. In Acts we see the Church with dynamic power, today we see the Church powerless and motionless. In Acts the Church was a hot people and today the Church is a cold building. Is it possible that His Holy Church as an organism died in many places because it became our organization.

13. Man, like an animal, is ultimately consumed by what he fears.

14. Artificial motivation is always short-term motivation. Often it will cost more to energize a high maintenance individual than the profit to be gained.

15. Man may make a church building but he can't make a church, only God can do that. Man is limited to being a part of the church. Lest we forget, Christ is the head.

16. The minute the church building takes on a life of it's own, it's church is in trouble.

17. Genuine Christian faith is defined (by the world) by ones lifestyle. Genuine faith becomes a credibility factor and ultimately authority. The most effective Gospel is taught with demonstration rather than simply articulation.

18. Fact: Forget Superman, kids have the only x-ray vision.

19. When I'm teaching I want to leave people with a life changing impact rather than an interesting illustration or intellectual point.

20. We are in many ways simply vehicles. If that's true I would rather go through life as a big bus than a small sports car. People count.

21. Sammy (Davis) had it right, The candy-man can make the world taste very good ... and boy, do today's Christians love that candy!

22. Too often when a church moves into it's building the Church begins to die. Indeed this may be why it dies.

23. No need to fear your bees, just be sure you respect them.

24. There is a point in which the church building becomes a container. Then the big question becomes ... "How do you get the church out of it's container and back into the world where it belongs? A container of saints or a distributor of saints.

25. I'm tired of torquing and tweaking the Word of God to justify the temperature of Christians today. Seminaries seem to have no problem with this.

26. I'm too immersed in reality to be attracted to fiction.

27. If you want good honey and lots of it, treat your bees well!

28. You could consider me a man caught between two worlds.

29. (Aging) It's hard to accept the fact that once you become a prune the plum days are over.

30. I've been in my world long enough to be a stranger to paradise.

31. Indeed charity begins at home but it's not to end there.

32. To love the loveable is not hard at all but to love the unlovable, now that's divine.

33. Until my faith is worth dying for it isn't worth living for ... increase my faith!

34. Love and respect are the healthiest forms of control.

35. If you throw stones at a hornet's nest getting stung should be no surprise.

36. Many church buildings should be shaped like coffins because that's exactly what they are.

37. The other day while I was walking I saw a mother carrying her son. She was of slight build and the boy was a fat little seven or eight year old. Poor little kid had stubbed his toe and Mama was carrying him home. I thought to myself, why didn't she call 911 and get an ambulance out there as quick as possible and rush the kid to the emergency ward so they could put a Band-Aid on his little toe.

38. Warning: Before you decide to open up a can of worms, you had better be prepared to deal with them.

39. To know what we believe is important indeed but to Believe what we know is essential. Our Christian faith.

40. When you haven't a lot of big things going for you, you have to count on the little things to tilt the scale.

41. Pride is a posture as much as an attitude. A posture meant ... to subordinate others.

42. In reading Proverbs 22:28 I was reminded that my country America has removed the bench-mark of it's founding fathers. How dangerous that is and will be for the future.

43. Too often "WON'T power" trumps "WILL power."

44. A nation of kids feeding on toxic Twinkies. Unfortunately Christian kids are feeding on the same toxic Twinkies as the secular kids. Physical Twinkies are bad and spiritual Twinkies are worse.