August 12th, 2010 by Tim Moore

To build on what was said on yesterday’s post, I believe that one of the surest ways to silence your critics is not with words.  It’s not “telling them the truth” so they will believe you or even like you.  In fact, if you go there you will most likely end up in a war of words.  That is usually never a great reflection of Christ.

Instead, I believe one of the greatest ways to silence your critics is with fruit.  (No, I’m not talking about sending them a fruit basket!)  In other words, prove them wrong by the fruit of your life or ministry.

In Matthew 7, Jesus was talking in his Sermon on the Mount about false prophets, people in the church that look religious but really are lost.  Many of the false prophets work hard to slander and destroy that which God is doing.  You could say they will be very critical of those who are truly serving God.  Jesus said “by their fruit you will recognize them…every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit”. (See Matthew 7:15-20)

If what you are doing is truly inspired by God and done with the right motives, I believe God will bless it.  The fruit or results of your life and ministry will speak for you.

It might be hard to stay quiet and allow the fruit of your life to speak because you’ll naturally want to defend your name.  But in the end, results speak louder than words.

Bear good fruit and you will silence your critics.

August 11th, 2010 by Tim Moore

No one likes to have critics.  Their words often hurt us emotionally even if we don’t show it.  I have experienced my share of criticism for leading Crossroads.  But what I didn’t expect was the natural desire in me to silence my critics.  I have at times wanted so badly to blast someone back or blog about their remarks or in some what “make it right” by me.

The other day I was reading from 2 Samuel 16, when King David fled the city because he was afraid that his son Absalom was going to take over the throne.  As David and his guys were riding away a man from Saul’s family, Shimei, came out cursing David and his men and threw rocks at them. (2 Samuel 16:5-14)

David had the power to take this guy out.  In fact, one of David’s men asked if he could go cut of his head.  David told him not to do it.

I was blown away by David’s lack of reaction.  I think I might have let the soldier take his head off.  But David let Shimei curse and criticize and simply went on his way.

He ignored his critic, he didn’t make him shut up.

There is something about taking the high road that is painful to do.  Perhaps the greatest example of this is Jesus when he was falsely accused before being crucified.  He simply stayed quiet.

Maybe a lesson to be learned is that if we are going to remain focused on what God has called us to do we must not stoop to a critics level or we will lose altitude.

July 21st, 2010 by Tim Moore

Anyone who knows me well, knows I don’t like the word “Christian”. Especially when over 80% of our country at one point considered themselves Christians. I have an entire message series I’m going to preach on “How to NOT become a Christian”.

My problem is that our definition of Christianity doesn’t really fit well with what Jesus said. For most churched people in America, Christianity is a religion that defines where you attend church on Sunday. It is simply a label that when applied makes someone feel better about their chances of getting into heaven.

Jesus said… (I’m paraphrasing)

[Luke 9:23] If you want to follow me, pick up your cross daily. (Not many want to sacrifice their time or money to be used for God’s Kingdom)
[John 14:15] If you love me, you’ll do what I ask. (Most people ignore Jesus commands if they are hard to do)
[Luke 9:26] If you are embarrassed about me, I will be about you. (Many Christians never invite ANYONE to church)
[John 15:16] I have called you and appointed you to bear fruit. (Most are satisfied with simply attending church rather than being the church)

I’ll be honest…sometimes I wonder how many true Christ-followers there really are in the Church. As a pastor, it bothers me that I can’t make people or even convince them to TRULY give their lives to Jesus. Perhaps that’s because it can’t be faked. Either Christ has really done a new work in your life or it is all a show. And if it is…that won’t go well. [Matt 7:21]

I can promise you that I will always call for a higher level of commitment than what we have now. I want to stand before God at the end of my life and know that I did all I could to lead people to truly follow Jesus.

July 13th, 2010 by Tim Moore

Another question I’ve been wrestling with in regards to this so called dichotomy between faith and responsibility is this:

Can you step out in faith in one area of your life and expect God to bless it when you are NOT being responsible in other areas?

I’m not so sure that God will bless one area of bold faith when you have other areas of your life or business that aren’t measuring up to His standard.

Let me explain.

Some people in the church continually ask God to bless their finances or their marriage, when they are continually living in sin. They might be addicted to alcohol, having an affair or engaging in online-pornography. Yet they still want God to bless their finances or be with them as they begin a new business. I’m not so sure that our obedience in one area compensates for our disobedience in another. In fact, I’m pretty sure it wont!!

When you look at Luke 16:10-11 from this vantage point it would seem that faith and responsibility work together.

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?

This is challenging to me as a church leader who wants to take bold steps of faith to reach people with the Gospel. It causes me to pause and make sure that in every area we are being RESPONSIBLE with what God has given us before we ask him to bless our steps of faith. If we can’t be trusted to be responsible with what God has given to us, how can we expect him to bless us with more?

For you this might mean?
…you need to balance your checkbook and get your finances in order before you take a new job that moves your family.
…you need to confess a sin in your life that may be indirectly affecting God working in your marriage.
…you need to deal with a relationship matter before you begin a new ministry venture.

Before you take your next step of faith, look to see if you are being responsible with what you currently manage.

July 8th, 2010 by Tim Moore

Where is the line between faith and responsibility drawn? Let me explain…

We should live our lives as Christ-followers filled with faith. Faith is when you ACT on something you believe will happen based on the evidence and character of God. When I went full time into ministry – it was a step of faith. I had never done it before and was leaving a great paying job with good benefits. When our church bought our 21+ acres and re-launched in Lithopolis – it was a huge step of faith. We invested every dime into this one step because we believed it was God’s plan. We have and will continue to take bold steps of faith as a church.

Sometimes those steps might look irresponsible to someone looking in from the outside. If they didn’t know the faith God put in my heart to do them, they would think those moves were crazy and maybe irresponsible.

With that being said, I didn’t do those things alone. There were others who through counsel and prayer also felt we should do those things. I think there is a level of irresponsibility we can have when it comes to “taking a step of faith” if we do not seek counsel from others.

Proverbs 11:14
Without wise leadership, a nation falls;
there is safety in having many advisers.

If you feel the urge to attempt something that requires faith…GREAT! That is probably a God size dream he is putting in you to chase. But, sometimes we have the urgency to act on the emotion of that feeling rather than the surety of the call.

Before you sell your house and leave your job, be responsible and invite godly men and women you trust into your life and plans. If it is really from God, they will stand with you and support you. If it is not, they may save you from making a horrible mistake!

More to come on this topic…

July 2nd, 2010 by Tim Moore

Continuing to use my painful dental procedure as a teaching tool, here’s another lesson we could extract regarding sin.

2) If you don’t deal with it…it will mess you up.

I had always heard that if your wisdom teeth don’t bother you, leave them alone. After all, why did God put them in your mouth if you didn’t need them? I didn’t really have very much pain from them at all. I didn’t want to have them out. But my orthodontist told me something concerning. He said that if I didn’t remove the impacted tooth it would eventually destroy the other good teeth next to it. That got my attention! I didn’t want to think about dentures!

What most people don’t realize is that when we leave sin in our lives without dealing with, it eventually will mess up the rest of our lives. Someone who drinks a little too much on the weekend, doesn’t think it interferes with the rest of his life. That is until it causes strife in his marriage and his kids to want nothing to do with him. The Bible says in James 1:15 that sin when it is fully grown gives birth to death.

While your sin may live under the gums now, at some point it will begin to destroy the good teeth. All sin comes with consequences. You might live it up now and think nothing of it. But I can tell you for sure, at some point it will begin to destroy your life.

What you need is an extraction. Only Jesus can extract the messed up sin from your life. The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, if you confess your sins he is faithful to remove it from your life. It might not hurt now, but it will someday. It’s better to deal with it now.

If you are wrestling with a sin in your life and don’t know what to do, here are some things that might help you extract it.

1) Confess it to God. He already knows, but is waiting for you to invite Him to help you deal with it.
2) Tell someone you trust. I have found that until you confess your sins to someone else, you will never get serious about dealing with it.
3) Remove the tendencies to do it again. If drinking is a problem stop buying alcohol. If pornography is an issue, get rid of your computer or put filters on it.
4) Take it one day at a time.

July 1st, 2010 by Tim Moore

I recently went through a rather enjoyable experience (NOT)…I had to have my wisdom teeth extracted! I’ll be honest, I delayed having it done for several months because it freaked me out. I don’t enjoy pain!

I had them removed and I am now in recovery. I look like I’m in a chubby-bunny contest! Yet, I never go through an experience without trying to “extract” something valuable from it (pun intended).

Believe it or not, but I believe there are some great spiritual lessons we can learn from my painful process.

1) What would an X-ray of your life reveal?

I first went to my orthodontist because I wanted my teeth straightened. What he discovered after taking an x-ray is that one of my wisdom teeth was severely impacted. I never knew how bad it was until he showed me the x-ray.

The thought occurred to me, how many people think everything is okay because they never see the X-ray of their life? I can’t tell you how many people I interact with every weekend at church that seem like they are doing well. They put on a smile and say everything’s good, when deep down they might really have a problem. What many of us don’t realize is that God sees the X-ray of our life. He doesn’t just see what we give other people, but He sees the reality of an impacted sin. He sees the hidden sins and evil thoughts that you have that no one else can see. You can’t hide anything from God, so why do you try?

1 Samuel 16:7 tells us that even though men look at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. He knows what you are carrying. Perhaps what we need is for God to show us the X-ray.

What does your life’s X-ray reveal? If you are not sure, pray Psalm 139:23-24 and God will show it to you.

May 13th, 2010 by Tim Moore

The Apostle Paul is one of the greatest heroes of the NT. He wrote much of the NT, started churches everywhere, preached the Gospel to thousands.

But Paul also encountered incredible pain and discomforts along the way. (Read 2 Cor 11:23-28) Even through all of those things, Paul did not give up. Why? Because he wasn’t operating on his own strength, but on God’s.

When he wanted to quit, he said that God spoke these words to him.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:6)

Even if your life doesn’t go the way you planned…finish strong.

Work hard at the job, even if it isn’t what you saw yourself doing in college.
Raise your family with honor, integrity and character, even if you can’t give them everything they ever wanted.
Serve faithfully in your ministry, don’t let your character or moral issues cause you to quit.

In every race it’s not about how you start…but how you finish. You may not come in first, but what really matters to God is that you simply finish strong!

Let these words of Paul be your words. I pray that they are mine!
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:7)

May 11th, 2010 by Tim Moore

The Apostle Paul is one of the greatest heroes of the NT.  He wrote much of the NT, started churches everywhere, preached the Gospel to thousands.

But Paul also encountered incredible pain and discomforts along the way.  (Read 2 Cor 11:23-28)  Even through all of those things, Paul did not give up.  Why?  Because he wasn’t operating on his own strength, but on God’s.

When he wanted to quit, he said that God spoke these words to him.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:6)

Even if your life doesn’t go the way you planned…finish strong.

Work hard at the job, even if it isn’t what you saw yourself doing in college.
Raise your family with honor, integrity and character, even if you can’t give them everything they ever wanted.
Serve faithfully in your ministry, don’t let your character or moral issues cause you to quit.

In every race it’s not about how you start…but how you finish. You may not come in first, but what really matters to God is that you simply finish strong!

Let these words of Paul be your words.  I pray that they are mine!
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:7)

April 30th, 2010 by Tim Moore

We all have this picture in our minds of how life should go.

We would always get a raise.
Our car would never break down.
Our stocks would always appreciate.
Our home would sell in 3 days.
And so on… You get the idea.

But honestly, life doesn’t always go as we picture. When it doesn’t, that is when people often fall into depression, anger or even bitterness toward God.

But this shouldn’t surprise us…God told us to expect it!

Ecclesiastes 3 begins by telling us that life will come with ups and downs. (Ecc 3:1-8) Expect it! It won’t always be days of joy. Sometimes you will experience pain and sorry. That’s part of life. That’s what makes the good times feel so good.

That means when life is good…enjoy it. When life sucks…hold on because it will get better again.