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F.A.Q. Is Gambling a Sin?

April 25, 2012 in Confessional, Life Change, Revolution Church with Comments Off

Sunday was week three of “Frequently Avoided Questions” at Revolution Church. We covered breast implants, alcohol and the question “can I lose my salvation?” I had also planned on covering the topic of gambling, but because of time I was not able to. During the worship experience I promised to answer this question on the blog, so here it goes…

Some people claim that the Bible talks directly about gambling when we see the casting of lots. For example, whenever Judas took his own life, the disciples cast lots to see who would be the next disciple. That sounds more like a form of decision making to me, not gambling.

Other people will say that in Matthew 25, where Jesus told the parable of the talents, that the guys in the story gambled what the master gave them. I believe that is a misrepresentation of the text. The story is talking about good stewardship – about investing wisely the gifts and talents and resources that God has given us. Its not really speaking about gambling.

The Bible does not specifically condemn gambling, betting, or the lottery. I would say that because the Bible does not specifically condemn gambling, there are times when a little bet may not really be a sin.

Maybe you are playing cards with friends or you get in on a March Madness pool at the office. Maybe you are playing golf with a friend and you say “Five bucks says I can make this putt.” I am talking about those times when at worst you may be wasting money and at best you are having some light-hearted, friendly entertainment…those times its probably not a sin.

At the same time, much like alcohol, this can very quickly and often does become sinful and dangerous. If gambling is an issue for you, I would challenge you to ask yourself three questions; when, where and why.

WHEN? When do you gamble? If it’s once or twice a year, or if you play a little bingo or hit up the casino a few times on your cruise vacation, it’s probably entertainment and not a sin. If it becomes a monthly or weekly thing, be very careful. Gambling could be an issue for you. If anyone has called you “Clark Griswold” lately, go get help.

WHERE? Where do you gamble? If you go to a buddies house and you play some cards, its probably no big deal. But if you go to a place where the women are half naked, everybody is drunk, and then some big guy named Guido shows up at the house ready to take you out, you could have crossed the line into a sinful environment.

WHY? Why do you gamble? Is it just a little fun and you can afford it? Or is your reason “if I don’t go win some money I can’t pay my mortgage!”

The sin of greed is very dangerous and your answers to these questions tell a lot about whether or not you have crossed the line.

1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Gambling is often about more than gambling…many times it is attached to other sins. I can’t tell you the number of times when I’ve seen people take what seems like innocent fun and quickly pierce themselves with many griefs. I’ve seen gambling wreck marriages, homes, families, college degrees and peoples’ future. Not much good ever comes from it.

If more than one person has told you that you have a problem, you probably should get help. That is my take on gambling.

Walking Worthy

April 19, 2012 in GOD, Leadership, Life Change, Revolution Church with 1 Comment

Several months ago I was reading Ephesians four and the first verse literally JUMPED off the page at me. The verse tells us to “live a life worthy of the calling I have received.”

As a pastor, there are many things that living a life worthy of the calling that I received could include. Things that immediately come to mind are seeking God daily, loving my wife, loving my kids, staying pure, leading, and loving people. Those are sort of obvious things that come with my calling.

Lately, I’ve been thinking of the less obvious things that the calling to pastor brings. Something HUGE that God has taught me since starting Revolution Church is that everything the pastor does matters. And I mean everything.

Here are a few things that I am giving extra energy and attention to in order to live a life worthy of the calling God has given me:

Health: I don’t ever want to become the pastor that is 80 pounds overweight and preaches on everything BUT gluttony. I think health matters and when pastors ignore their health, they lose credibility in many ways. I am not perfect, but I do my best to run and hit the gym at least 4 days a week. Plus, when I stay healthy, I feel better and have more energy to share the Gospel. I’m in this for the long haul, so health is paramount.

Thanksgiving: As our church grows, I find myself becoming more thankful. I stop and say thanks more, I hand write a ton of thank you cards and I but a LOT of thank you coffee and ice cream. That sounds bad at first glance, but think about it. With so many people its difficult to have a personal relationship with many (I don’t believe that is my job anyway, but that is another post for another time.)

These days, I am trying to make it a point to never walk past a volunteer or a staff member without saying thanks and honoring them. It only takes seconds out of my day and literally makes their day.

I think we would all do better in our calling(s) if we would realize how big of a difference a simple, real, honest, heartfelt thank you can mean.

Style: I think pastors should get with the times and get some swag. I’m not talking about buying a thousand dollar suit and wearing a rolex. I’m talking about being relevant to the people you are trying to reach. Here are some tips: you can use an IRON. Shave. Get a haircut regularly. We have a mirror at the stage entrance, not because I like seeing myself (that’s the band!) but because I think my appearance is important. After all, people have to look at me for 30-40 minutes every week as I preach. Every week, pastors bring the most meaningful message ever! Maybe we should look like empowered messengers!

Space: I’m talking about my car, my office and my home. It needs to be kept clean and orderly. I think its kind of hard to set a good example in life with a car full of starbucks cups and an office that smells like fast food.

Money: I’m talking personal finances and church finances.

Personal finances: If I am going to teach Biblical principles like tithing, investing, saving, spending, bringing an offering and more, I need to be doing those things well! My family got all of this in order through Financial Peace University many years ago. We are debt free and therefore free to give. We have a goal to increase our percentage giving by one percent every year. Right now, we are working hard on making our money work hard for us by investing in new ways.

Church finances: I refuse to waste a single dollar or a minute of time on a program, piece of equipment or ministry position that isn’t the best option to reach the most people. We do more with less at Revolution Church and I have to champion that. I think this is a huge and vital part of walking in my calling.

Speaking: Over the last year, I’ve been very convicted that I need to improve on my speaking. I think sometimes, pastors get into a rut and just do their thing week to week when truthfully, there is a ton of room for improvement. That’s why I was so pumped when some of my friends launched Preaching Rocket. Great, powerful preaching is more than words. You have to learn how to move on stage, how to use volume, tone and inflection and more to really present well. Comedic timing, when to pause, where to look…preaching is so much more than just talking. I want to be one of the best communicators on the planet, every single week.

What less obvious things do you need to work on when it comes to walking worthy of your calling?

F.A.Q. QuestionERS

April 17, 2012 in Confessional, GOD, Leadership, Revolution Church with Comments Off

Right now we are answering questions submitted by people (mostly anonymously) at Revolution Church. Our series is called F.A.Q. – Frequently Avoided Questions. In just three weeks we received over 200 questions; the response was huge!

But one thing happened that I did not expect: a handful of people decided to use the question form as a way to complain and criticize.

I’ll admit, it caught me off guard. As a result, once again, God is teaching me about “questionERS.”

People are going to question how you do things, no matter how you do them. Jesus was questioned a lot. In fact, I would say that if people aren’t asking questions and getting offended at least a little bit, then you are not being like Christ! Just one example in the life of Jesus was when He was accused of sinning for working (healing people) on the sabbath.

For some reason, instead of celebrating our differences, we have chosen to rip each other apart in Christian world. Instead of developing from our differences we let them divide us. Its sick and its sad.

Here is where I am at: I have figured out God’s unique calling on my life and I am going to push forward in that calling with no apologies.

To my pastor friends out there…when you shy away from God’s calling on your life because of the “questioners”, you slap God in the face. You choose peoples’ opinions over God’s heart. Pastor Craig Groeschel says, “Becoming obsessed with what people think about me is the quickest way to forget what God thinks about me.”

Just about everything you do will be questioned. That is why you had better have your own questions answered like music style, church staffing, preaching style, strategy, etc. If you don’t, one day you will look up and be pastoring a church that spends all its effort and energy trying to please everyone (which is absolutely impossible). Worst of all, if this happens, your church will reach NO ONE.

But here is the beautiful thing…when it really comes down to it, you only answer to one authority – JESUS. After all, it is His church.

That is reason enough for me to be who HE called me to be! That is reason enough for me to do church how HE called me to do it. I’ll offer the best answers I can to the “questionERS” and the haters out there, but I won’t waste valuable time. There’s just too many people that need to be reached.

I am Grateful for Easter

April 12, 2012 in Confessional, Life Change, Revolution Church with Comments Off

Easter was an amazing day at Revolution Church! I spent some time reflecting and thanking God today for all He did. I believe it was incredible and went so well for three reasons:

1. Jesus is powerful! In Matthew 16 Jesus tells us that He will build His church. I believe that Jesus is building his church at Revolution! This whole thing is bigger than any of us and He wants to do immeasurably more at Revolution than we could ever dream up.

2. Found people find people! Brangers brought it! Seriously, the reason we had 862 people at Revolution this weekend was because the people that are living out their faith at Revolution went out and invited people like crazy! The week before Easter, I personally invited about twenty people…and it was funny because out of those twenty people, three of them said “oh yeah, I was invited already and I will be there!”

3. Saved people serve people! I have never seen so many people step up, work so hard and unify around a common goal to pull off something so great! We had more people serving on REV Teams than ever before. Every single team did incredible and went above and beyond to make people feel welcomed and loved.

The fruit of all of this was over 30 people accepting Christ, 12 Easter Egg hunts, 4 worship experiences, over 60 first time families and lots of life change!!!

I am extremely grateful for every person that served, every person that invited and for our powerful God!

Thank you for serving God and loving people Revolution Church! You are incredible!