Fire In My Bones

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Last week one of
my best friends showed me what it really means to selflessly lay down your
life.

Last week one of
my best friends, Chris Maxwell, organized a two-day prayer gathering for me in
north Georgia, where he serves as the pastor of a Christian college. Chris had
listened to me whine for months about how confused I was about my future. He
took it upon himself to contact a group of my friends, and they agreed to take
time off work to pray with me about some important decisions.

Chris not only
gathered nine men for this prayer retreat, but he also solicited counsel from
other friends who couldn’t attend, and from my wife. When I sat down in that
living room on the first night, they put me under a microscope and proceeded to
meddle in all my business. It was 48 hours of probing questions, wise counsel,
sober warnings, gushing encouragement, brotherly affection and in-your-face
honesty.

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We’ve dumbed down
the gospel for too long. Let’s rediscover the Bible and become mature
disciples.

I love words.
That’s why I do a crossword puzzle every day—not just because it is the mental
equivalent of a three-mile bicycle ride, but also because I enjoy discovering
that a word such as “coulrophobia” means a fear of clowns, or that
“jobbernowl” means a stupid person.

Words are
especially important to us as Christians, not only because Jesus is the logos—the
word made flesh (see John 1:14)—but because our faith rests on the truth
revealed by God in the Bible. We can’t really know Him apart from the
God-inspired words that describe who He is and what He has done for us.

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Let’s stop the
hypnotism, the guilt manipulation and the high-pressure gimmicks. It’s time to
reclaim our lost credibility.

Normally I’d
rather go to the dentist for a root canal than watch a telethon. But while
channel surfing a few nights ago I tuned into PBS and discovered that Aretha
Franklin, the legendary Queen of Soul, was hosting a fundraiser for the
network. Seated at a piano, she was offering a 5-CD collection of classic
rhythm and blues hits in exchange for a donation to public television.

It was simple.
There were no gimmicks, no games and no strings attached in Aretha’s offer. If
you gave the suggested gift, she explained, PBS would mail you a big slice of
American pop culture—including songs by Gladys Knight and the Pips, Smokey
Robinson, the Four Tops, Al Green and Aretha herself, singing her classic
“Respect.”

God is shaking His church and removing corruption. But we share the blame for giving charlatans a platform.

Al Capone once controlled all of Chicago. The notorious 1920s gangster bribed the city’s mayor, bought the police and presided as king over an empire of casinos, speakeasies and smuggling operations. He dodged bullets for years and lived above the law—and earned the nickname “untouchable” because no one could bring him to justice.

Before Capone finally went to prison in 1932, he justified his crimes by saying: “All I do is satisfy a public demand.” He didn’t take responsibility for the pain he caused because he knew mayors, policemen, community leaders and bootleggers supported him the whole way.

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point A to point B, we sometimes feel trapped in between. Trust God to guide
you to your destination.

A few months ago
I passed through the tiny community of Between, Ga. With a population of only
148, the place is not much to write home about. (And besides, it doesn’t even
have its own zip code). The town got its name because it’s halfway between
Atlanta and Athens, Ga. But as I passed the local convenience store I couldn’t
help but imagine the strange reactions I’d get if I lived there.

“Where are you
from?”

“I live in
Between.”

“In between
what?”

“In Between,
Georgia.”

“In between
Georgia and what?”

“Oh never mind.”

Continue Reading… Delays Are Not Denials

No true message from God will flow through a person who is smug and self-confident. If you want to speak for Him, prepare to die!

I did it again. This past Sunday I stood in a pulpit, looked out over a congregation of mostly strangers, cleared the lump in my throat and preached a message that the Lord had laid on my heart from the Bible.

Thousands of men and women speak publicly like this every week. It’s what preachers do. No big deal.

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Make room for the
Holy Spirit’s bulldozers. He wants to give you an extreme makeover.

Last spring
during a visit to Charlotte, N.C. I stopped by the Billy Graham Library to take
a tour of the evangelist’s boyhood home and to see his ministry’s offices. In a
shaded grove on the same property I stumbled upon the grave of his wife, Ruth
Bell Graham. Her tombstone bore an unusual inscription: “END OF CONSTRUCTION. THANK YOU FOR YOUR
PATIENCE.”

Mrs. Graham (who
died in 2007) apparently saw these words on a highway sign, and she told
friends that she wanted them on her grave marker. Apparently the message from
the road construction crew reminded her of God’s patient care in preparing her
for heaven.

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Do you trust
God’s timing? The path to spiritual maturity requires us to surrender our
selfish deadlines. 

When Mary and
Martha sent news to Jesus that their brother, Lazarus, was about to die, Jesus
didn’t respond the way his friends expected. He actually snubbed their request.
The Bible says when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, “He then stayed two days
longer in the place where He was” (John 11:6, NASB).

For Mary and
Martha, those were two very long days.

Two popular charismatic speakers stood on a stage a few years ago and tried to demonstrate the power of the…