Sometimes the Christmas season can be the toughest for a preacher. Why? Because while the incarnation of Jesus Christ is amazing, communicating it afresh year after year can be trying. Recently on our online social networking site The City, some of my brothers in the Acts 29 Church Planting Network were sharing some sermon ideas and I thought posting some of their suggestions along with my own may be of some help to those graced by God to preach and teach this holiday season. I also want to sincerely thank all the Christian leaders who let me speak into their life and ministry, as it’s a great honor to serve those who serve others.

Sermon Ideas

• A series based on the women associated with Jesus’ birth, such as Elizabeth and Mary.
• An expositional series on all or part of Matthew 1–2 or Luke 1–2.
• A comparison between how John, Matthew, and Luke each explain the incarnation of Jesus Christ in the opening chapters of their gospels.
• A study of either Matthew or Luke’s genealogy, or a comparison and contrast of the two.
• A series on the songs sung around the birth of Jesus, such as the one by Mary and the one by the angels.
• A study of the “I am the light of the world” statements of Jesus in John’s gospel.

Examine OT Prophecies about Jesus

Another idea is to do an examination of the Old Testament prophecies that foretold Jesus’ birth, such as:

• 4000 BC: Adam and Eve receive the prophecy that the Messiah (Jesus) would be born of a woman.
  • Promise: Genesis 3:15 – “’I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’”
  • Fulfillment: Galatians 4:4 – “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law . . .”
• 700 BC: Isaiah prophesies that Jesus’ mother would be a virgin who conceived by a miracle and that Jesus would be God who became a man.
  • Promise: Isaiah 7:14 – “’Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.’”
  • Fulfillment: Matthew 1:18–23 – “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).”
• 700 BC: Micah prophesies that Jesus would be born in the town of Bethlehem.
  • Promise: Micah 5:2 – “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days [eternity].”
  • Fulfillment: Luke 2:1–7 – “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. . . . And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”
• 400 BC: Malachi prophesies that Jesus would enter the temple, which was destroyed in 70 AD, meaning the Messiah had to come before then.
  • Promise: Malachi 3:1 – “’Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.’”
  • Fulfillment: Luke 2:25–27 – “Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law . . .”

Helpful Resources

The following resources may also be helpful in your studies.

• The Miracle of Christmas: God With Us by John MacArthur is an older book that has some good examples of how to explain the birth of Jesus. It also includes some good historical information on how we got Christmas cards, Christmas trees, and more.
• The Purpose of Christmas by Rick Warren is a good and simple devotional book looking at the implications of Jesus’ humility in coming among us.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Christmas Sermons by Edwin H. Robertson is a good collection of sermons from a great Christian leader.
• Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas by Nancy Guthrie includes chapters from John Piper, Randy Alcorn, John MacArthur, Francis A. Schaeffer, R. C. Sproul, Joni Eareckson Tada, George Whitefield, Martin Luther, J. Ligon Duncan, Timothy J. Keller, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Jonathan Edwards, Charles H. Spurgeon, and Augustine.
• Incarnation (Truth and the Christian Imagination Series) by Alister E. McGrath is a devotional-type book that includes beautiful holiday art and great insights.
• The Virgin Birth of Christ by J. Gresham Machen remains the best book outside of Scripture defending the virgin conception of Jesus Christ and is helpful for any teacher/preacher needing to shore up this aspect of their theology.
• Also, in our book Vintage Jesus, Gerry Breshears and I answer the following questions, with chapters 1–5 and 11 being obvious fits for the holiday season:
  • Chapter 1 – Is Jesus the Only God?
  • Chapter 2 – How Human Was Jesus?
  • Chapter 3 – How Did People Know Jesus Was Coming?
  • Chapter 4 – Why Did Jesus Come to Earth?
  • Chapter 5 – Why Did Jesus’ Mom Need to Be a Virgin?
  • Chapter 6 – What Did Jesus Accomplish on the Cross?
  • Chapter 7 – Did Jesus Rise from Death?
  • Chapter 8 – Where Is Jesus Today?
  • Chapter 9 – Why Should We Worship Jesus?
  • Chapter 10 – What Makes Jesus Superior to Other Saviors?
  • Chapter 11 – What Difference Has Jesus Made in History?
  • Chapter 12 – What Will Jesus Do upon His Return?

Christmas Sermons for Study

Lastly, some transcripts of good Christmas sermons may be helpful.

Luther
Sermon for Christmas Day
Sermon for Christmas Eve

Spurgeon
Joy Born at Bethlehem
A Christmas Question
The First Christmas Carol

Piper
Why the Son of God Came into the World
The Word Became Flesh

Keller (audio form)
The Courage of Christmas
Christmas War
The Begats
Christmas Wisdom

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Like many people, I can still remember the mix of rage and horror I felt as I fought back tears, seeing the television report that an extremist cult compound in Texas had been raided because girls were being held there essentially as slaves to be abused by pedophiles who claimed to be religious leaders.

Thankfully, that case is now coming to trial as the Houston Chronicle reports,

More than 150 potential jurors, including 10 women in prairie dresses and braids, crammed into a makeshift courtroom Monday as jury selection began in the first criminal trial stemming from the raid of a polygamist sect’s ranch last year.

Raymond Jessop, 38, is charged with sexual assault of a child, stemming from his alleged marriage to an underage girl. The girl, according to church documents seized by authorities, gave birth at age 16 at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado. If convicted, Jessop faces 20 years in prison.

Following that, Jessop will face Jesus Christ, who said tying a rock around his neck and throwing him into the sea would be a better fate than the just and hellish eternity that awaits him.

While we pray for justice to the evil men and loving counseling for the abused girls, the case has brought to light one curious theological question: Is polygamy biblical?

Various cults, aberrant sects, and perverts make the case that the Bible does mention polygamy and so it is biblically acceptable. However, they fail to acknowledge that the Bible speaks of human sin from beginning to end to show the evil horrors of sin. Therefore, just because something is in the Bible does not mean that God approves of it, as is the case with the rapes, murders, and adulteries reported throughout Scripture.

There are many biblical and practical reasons why polygamy is sinful and harmful.

1. The first man to take more than one wife was the godless man Lamech (Genesis 4:19–24).
2. Some of the Old Testament patriarchs did practice polygamy, and it never honored God. For example, Abram married Hagar in addition to Sarai. The results of this polygamy are truly tragic, as is the case with other instances of adultery and polygamy in Scripture. Abram slept with Hagar and she bore him a son. God promised that Hagar’s son would become the father of a great nation because he was a son of Abram, though not the son of the promise (which would eventually be Isaac). God promised that Ishmael would be a “wild donkey of a man” and that he would be a warrior in hostility with his brothers who would descend from Abram. Ishmael was born to a Hebrew father and Egyptian mother and became the father of the Arab nations that to this day are in hostility with Jews and Christians alike, as promised.
3. The disaster of polygamy is illustrated by Lamech and Adah and Zillah in Genesis 4:19–24, Esau and Mahalath and other wives in Genesis 28:6–9, and Jacob and Leah and Rachel in Genesis 29:15–30. None of these occurrences was godly or good.
4. The Bible repeatedly shows that polygamy is wrought with favoritism, fighting, jealousy, and mistreatment (e.g., Genesis 35:22; 38:18–28; 2 Samuel 3:2–5; 13:1–29; 15–18; 1 Kings 11:1–4).
5. The New Testament church elders who serve as the pattern for Christian families are to be one-woman men and not polygamists (1 Timothy 3:2, 12).
6. God’s intention is that each man would have one wife (Genesis 2:18; Matthew 19:4–6).
7. Marriage is ultimately a picture of Jesus’ loving relationship with the church (Ephesians 5:22–33; Revelation 19:6–9). Jesus is faithful to one bride, the church, as the pattern for all marriages.




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Every ministry leader needs to be a positive. They also need to know who the positives, negatives, and neutrals are both in official leadership and unofficial leadership in their ministry.

Positives

Positives are people who do gospel things in gospel ways for gospel reasons. They are trusting, supportive, and encouraging. They build bridges and mediate conflict. Positives bring organizational health, work for the good of the gospel over any single issue or cause, and are a blessing because they humbly want the gospel to win. Positives are prone to turn neutrals into positives, while they also work to neutralize negatives. In the Bible, positives are often referred to as shepherds.

Negatives

Negatives are people who do ungospel things in ungospel ways for ungospel reasons. They are distrusting, unsupportive, discouraging, and contentious. They burn bridges, are wounded by bitterness from past hurts, and are often the center of criticism and conflict. Negatives bring organizational sickness, division, and trouble because they are proudly more interested in their cause winning than the gospel and the good of the whole. Negatives tend to draw other negatives toward themselves as factions, and they also prey on neutrals in order to increase their own power and control. In the Bible, negatives are often referred to as wolves.

Neutrals

Neutrals are followers who are easily influenced. They are prone to being unsure, confused, and fearful. Neutrals are often caught in the middle when there is conflict between positives and negatives. A neutral becomes a positive or negative depending upon who their friends are, whom they listen to, what information they have access to, which books they read, and which teachers they look up to. In the Bible, neutrals are often referred to as sheep.

Sadly, in most ministries, the negatives are the most vocal, most exhausting, and most distracting, as well as the least likely to contribute to growth and health. Though they are few, they are often loud and difficult, spreading—as Paul says—like gangrene through the church body (2 Tim. 2:17). Practically, this means that even a few negatives working together can become quite difficult. The Bible reveals that negatives often pair up like two barrels on a gun, as was the case with Jannes and Jambres opposing Moses, Sanballat and Tobiah opposing Nehemiah, and Hymenaeus and Alexander opposing Paul.

How to Stay Positive

For a ministry to remain positive, three things need to occur.

First, the senior leader and the other official and unofficial leaders who wield the most influence must be positives. Further, they must be continually exhorted to remain positives. This means that even when they deal with negative things, they do so in a positive way for the glory of God and the good of his people.

Second, the negatives must not be allowed into leadership. If they are in leadership, official or unofficial, they must be rebuked. Titus 3:10–11 describes this rebuke: "As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned." Too often negatives are tolerated for too long; the longer their sin is tolerated, the more toxic the ministry culture becomes. Therefore, unrepentant negatives need to be brought through formal church discipline after their negativity has been documented and addressed; this process may end with their removal from the ministry, if needed. Ministry leaders are often reticent to deal so forthrightly with negatives; however, the longer they are tolerated, the more neutrals they infect with their gangrene.

Third, the neutrals need to be lovingly and patiently informed that they are in fact neutrals and that they need to take responsibility to not give in to negatives. Additionally, neutrals cannot be allowed into ministry leadership because they are prone to be influenced rather than be influencers. Sadly, neutrals are often nominated for and voted in to ministry leadership because they tend to be nice people who are likeable because they are amiable and easily influenced. But they are prone to work toward consensus rather than lead and are therefore not helpful for moving a ministry forward into innovation and growth. Change is controversial and requires someone who is a strong positive to build consensus for change and who is also able to neutralize the negatives rather than being influenced by them.

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Change. Every leader wants it. And some are more effective at making it happen. In addition to God's grace, the following process has proven invaluable to me, as I have consciously used it for over a decade. I offer it in hopes of serving those who serve others.

Vision

At this phase, an idea emerges that seems worthwhile but the following questions need to be answered in order to determine its viability. In answering these questions, the input of the staff and deacons, as well as other selected people, will be very helpful to you.

1. What are the measurable outcome goals and do they correlate with the mission objective you are seeking to accomplish?
2. Is this idea best suited for your area of responsibility or should someone else be appointed to lead it since it best fits his or her ministry area?

Plan

At this phase, the idea and its goals are clarified in a detailed written proposal. The proposal could be presented to the staff and elders for approval. Answers to the following questions can provide details for the proposal, specifically details about what implementing the idea would require.

1. What is your biblical/theological justification for this ministry?
2. How long will this take to implement and what is the timeline for the phases necessary to implement it?
3. Who will be responsible for it and how many hours will it require of them to launch and also oversee the ministry?
4. How much will it cost, both to launch and maintain?
5. How many volunteers will be needed and whom do you have in mind?
6. What facilities will it require?
7. What promotions will it require?
8. What type of people are you anticipating will attend and/or participate?
9. How will this require time and energy of the elders and deacons?
10. How might this compete with and/or negatively impact other ministries?
11. How can people pray for this ministry?

Implement

The idea has been justified, planned, and approved; it now needs to be launched as a reality. The plan needs to be executed and at this phase, the hard work begins in an effort to build momentum and make the idea a reality.

Manage

At this phase, the idea has become a new reality but shortly thereafter the ministry will likely lose momentum as the work becomes routine, the systems that were planned need to be upgraded for efficiency, and faithful people need to ensure the ministry continues forward and that the devoted people serving do not grow weary or lose heart.

Review

At the six-month and one-year marks of each ministry (as well as other designated times), the leader of that ministry must ensure that accurate and meaningful reviews are conducted to answer the following questions and determine if the ministry should continue, be changed, or cease.

1. Have you met your objectives?
2. Why or why not?
3. Should this ministry continue?
4. How can you improve?
5. What changes must be made?

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At 11:30pm tonight I'll be featured for the third time on ABC's Nightline. A month ago, Terry Moran and a great crew from ABC came to Mars Hill to talk with me about the second commandment. Terry had seen something I had posted on Twitter around the time of Michael Jackson's funeral and wanted to follow up with me on the topic of idolatry in America.

I sat down for about 30 minutes with Terry, and we talked about how idolatry underlies all sin, how it is rooted on a false promise of happiness, how it ultimately destroys, how it is often the result of turning a good thing into an ultimate thing, and how it shows itself in our culture in how we idolize celebrities, athletes, food, family, sex, money, relationships, and achievement—or rather, what we call American culture.

We also took a drive in my Jeep and discussed some of the cultural idols littering my city. It was a bit precarious for the exceptional cameraman, who stood up in my Jeep while I drove as carefully as possible so as not to kill him. But things went well and we got some great footage of many modern-day temples: strip clubs, Seahawks stadium, Safeco Field, Starbucks headquarters, etc.

Most importantly the Nightline team gave me the chance to explain how Jesus is the only answer to all of our idolatry:

• Idols take. Jesus gives.
• Idols destroy life. Jesus gives new life.
• Idols break apart people and relationships. Jesus redeems and heals.

The episode has been pushed five times and was finally confirmed this week. In God’s providence and goodness the timing has worked out perfectly, because this week is Mars Hill’s 13th anniversary and on Sunday I’m preaching on Acts 17 from the actual Mars Hill in Athens.

I’d like to thank ABC and Nightline for doing a creative series on the Ten Commandments and for giving me a shot to talk about one of them. I’ve really enjoyed working with Terry, Ely, Dan, and the rest of the crews they’ve brought with them.

Please join me in praying that God would work through this to overcome our rebellion and turn all of us—believers and non-believers alike—from our worthless idols to the only true King, Jesus.

Mars Hill Global

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One of the most important skills every Christian, especially a ministry leader, must learn is the distinction between a concern and a responsibility. The younger the Christian or ministry leader, the more likely they are to lack the skill of discerning concerns and responsibilities. In my own pastoral ministry, failures in this area have contributed to extreme overwork and exhaustion. I was recently reminded of this important distinction when I read the simple and helpful book Leading on Empty by Wayne Cordeiro, a fellow pastor whom I have greatly enjoyed the few times I have met with him.

As a Christian, we should lovingly and sincerely have concern for many people and their many circumstances. Our hearts should ache for the pain and trouble that others experience in life. This concern should compel us to speak truth into their life, which can include everything from pointing out sin to giving wise counsel, and intercede for them before God in prayer.

Still, as a Christian we cannot take responsibility for everyone and everything for which we have concern. As finite beings, there is only so much we can do and we must discern whom God has called us to help and how God has called us to help them. When we take responsibility for people and things we ought not, we are sinning by taking off someone’s shoulders a load God has called them to carry and sinning against our own health, family, and priorities by offering to carry it for them.

I envision that everyone has a backpack with responsibilities that God has given for him or her to carry. Some people’s backpacks are big, and others are small. Nonetheless, God has called us each to fill up our pack with specific responsibilities. Some people are lazy and try to take things out of their pack and get others to carry them instead. Examples include the able-bodied man who lives with his mom, making her responsible for his housing and food; the lazy employee who cannot keep a job and expects his or her friends and family to always give him or her money; and the irresponsible young woman who assumes the government, her family, or a wealthy boyfriend will pay the price for her foolish life choices. Tragically, for many, the whole definition of someone being loving, godly, and spiritual is that they are willing to carry the loads God has called others to carry. This is not ministry. This is co-dependency, co-idolatry, and sin.

Scripture, of course, says it perfectly. Galatians 6:2–5 admonishes us, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. . . . For each will have to bear his own load.”

At first glance, this Scripture passage seems contradictory but it is not. It says that everyone, by himself or herself alone, should carry whatever load God has placed in his or her backpack. It also says that Christians should take some burdens out of the backpacks of some people and put them in their own packs and carry them out of love. In the Greek, the difference is between the words “load” and “burden.”

A “load” is a light enough pack that someone should be expected to carry it alone. Practically, this means that the typical person needs to find a job, pay their bills, read the Bible, attend church, pursue Christian friends, pray, repent of sin, share their faith, watch their diet, exercise, and look after themselves and their spouse and children if applicable.

A “burden” is a heavy load that is simply too much for one person to bear without the loving help of Christian friends. Practically, the person with cancer or another debilitating ailment, the mother of young children who is abandoned by her husband, the poor elderly widow who cannot pay her bills, and others like them should not feel guilty for seeking reasonable help nor should they be chastised for doing so. Rather, the church exists in part to help lessen their burden by taking some of the financial, emotional, and practical weight out of their pack and carrying it for them.

One key to ministry is discerning what is a load someone else has to carry (in which case we show concern) and what is a burden we and others need to help carry (in which case we take some responsibility).

Are you someone who is expecting too much time, energy, money, and/or investment from the leaders in your church? Which loads do you need to just buck up and carry without whining until someone else does your job? Have you manipulated others’ concern for your load to get them to take on your responsibilities as their burden in the name of loving Christian community?

Are you a Christian leader who is weighed down by all the loads you are carrying for others who need to carry their own load? How have you sinned by allowing concerns to become responsibilities and others’ loads to collectively become your burden?

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Leadership Is Lonely series: Click | View Series

What should leaders do when they find themselves out ahead of their team, in over their head, and lonely, tired, frustrated, and bewildered?

I am coming out of a season covered by this exact cloud and, as a result of time in Scripture, prayer, and coaching from an older Christian business leader whom God has used on more than one occasion to speak wisdom into my life, I am finding the following steps to be invaluable to lonely leaders.

1. Accept that leadership is lonely.

There will never be a time when there is not distance between you and those you lead. We find that many of God’s leaders, including Jesus himself, spent much time in lonely places and living lonely lives. Even leaders surrounded by crowds need to accept that leadership is lonely because those crowds usually include fans and foes but few friends. Because leaders build community, oftentimes they find themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to having true peers and true community.

2. Use silence and solitude to write down what you need.

Rather than being frustrated because no one understands you, knows your needs, looks out for you, or helps you, use your energy to write down exactly what you need. You are truly the only person who really knows what you need. Personally, I carry a Moleskine with me at all times and make note of things I need in order to be healthier and more productive. This can include anything from a good place to Sabbath, a decent vacation, and the right technology, to staff help, exercise, dietary changes, and so on. Too often leaders do not practice sufficient times of silence and solitude when such times can be invaluable to working on their life rather than staying at the office and continue working in it until they become angry, unhealthy, depressed, and burned out.

3. Pray for God to go before you act.

Most leaders are doers and pushers. This means our first instinct when an opportunity or an obstacle arises is to do more and push our team to do more. Instead, the first thing we should do is pray. The past few days I have decided to write down the list of things I need to do, people I need to meet with, and situations I need to involve myself in. Rather than picking up the phone, sending an email, or taking action, I have decided to wait twenty-four hours on any non-emergency issue and sincerely and specifically pray for God to go before me to move other people to meet the need or for God to take care of it himself. I have been able to check more than half of the items off my to do list by doing nothing but praying, as God has faithfully revealed himself to care more about my ministry than I do.

4. Emotionally wait for your team to catch up.

Don’t default to other-centered contempt and assume everyone else is stupid, lazy, unspiritual, unloving, selfish, and incompetent (though admittedly some may be). Don’t default to self-centered contempt and assume that you have failed as a leader because you are lonely and wallow in the bottomless pit of introspection and self-condemnation. Instead, prayerfully and patiently wait for your team to catch up. Give them time to see what you see, feel what you feel, and know what you know.

5. Teach your team.

Don’t verbally process your feelings out loud with your team, lash out in anger, or cry out in despair. Instead, use your times of silence and solitude to jot down your thoughts and needs as an act of journaling to God, get your heart lined up with God in prayer, and then lovingly pastor your team by teaching them to see what you see, feel what you feel, and know what you know so that together you can do what you need to do by being who you need to be.

6. As a last resort, use a sanctified shove.

Sometimes, when the previous five steps have been followed, there simply needs to be a sanctified shove to get people focused on their task and faithful to it.

I can assure you from much personal experience that doing this process in reverse does not work in any way or for anyone.

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Leadership Is Lonely series: Click | View Series

Leadership is lonely. Anyone who disagrees is likely not a leader.

By definition, a leader is out ahead of his or her team, seeing, experiencing, and learning things before everyone else. On one hand, this causes great excitement and enthusiasm because the opportunity to learn and pioneer is incredibly invigorating. On the other hand, however, the distance between a leader and his or her team is incredibly lonely, even to the point of becoming debilitating.

The more successful a leader becomes, the more extreme the joys and sorrows of leadership become. In extreme cases, the results are akin to being bipolar, with intense mood swings when stress and pressure turn the cracks in our character into fault lines.

For those who are leaders, the question is, what should we do when we find ourselves out ahead of our team? Recently, God has convicted me of sin in my own life and leadership. Specifically, he has graciously revealed to me ways in which I have patterns of sinful response to the feeling of loneliness that accompanies leadership. I am sharing this in hopes of helping other leaders and the people they lead.

For leaders and those who love them and can help them see their own sin, especially their spouse, the following self-assessment statements may prove helpful in diagnosing sinful responses to the loneliness of leadership:

1. I feel that God has abandoned me to an impossible task and have begun to question his goodness.
2. I become annoyed by my team because they do not understand me or the difficulties I face as their leader.
3. I wish someone would just tell me what to do, give me permission to not do so much, and sort out the complexity of my life.
4. I am annoyed by others because I believe they are stupid, lazy, slowing me down, and simply unwilling and/or unable to keep up with me and all the work I have to do.
5. I question if anyone really loves me and secretly think that almost everyone is simply using me.

Does this sound familiar? Many leaders, in an effort to appear more spiritual than they are, think these things in their mind and feel them in their heart even if they don’t say them with their mouth. Is there hope? Yes, and we’ll explore that in the next blog post.

To be continued.

Mars Hill Global

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I am having an amazing tour of Israel with friends, family, and film crew. I am focusing on sites and facts related to the book of Luke. I cannot wait to start preaching the book in September. Nothing I’ve ever preached will even compare to what we have to show you. In the meantime, we’ll share a few clips from our journey as a preview.

If you're reading this in a feed reader, click through to see the embedded video above.

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On October 2–3, my high school sweetheart and I will be teaching in Austin, Texas, for the Song of Solomon Bible Conference at Hill Country Bible Church. Our topics will be dating, marriage, and sex, in that order.

I have had the pleasure of speaking at a few of the Song of Solomon Conferences around the country, but this will be the first one where Grace joins me. I will be preaching Friday night and Saturday morning. Everyone in attendance will be welcome to send in anonymous questions via text message, and Grace will join me on stage to help answer them. The price is super cheap, ranging from $25 for students and soldiers, to $35 for those who register by 9/21, and $45 for those who decide to join us at the last minute. Additional discounts for groups of 10 or more can be arranged by calling 800-729-0815. Complete information can be found here.

We truly are looking forward to coming out, meeting lots of folks, and seeing the Holy Spirit do a gracious work in the lives of many people. So, I’ve polished my boots and will see you in one of the world’s greatest nations, Texas.

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