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If you would like to read Stephen Arterburn's book "Flash Points" you can find it here. Note:  As a caveat, I am not aware of his doctrinal views nor whole sale support all of the content. But it's got some powerful and encouraging ideas.

I hope to address different flash points in upcoming episodes. Things like Financial, Physical, Career and Lifestyle. There are many areas of life where a flame of desire is ignited within you. Something good. Something holy. Something God intends for you, for your good and others. How many of those things do we douse water on and continue our standard operation? Far too many.

What if we searched our souls for a flame? What if we weren't scared to see what can happen if we fanned it, prayed about it, and took on the risks included within it? There is simply no telling what might be possible if what is within you is allowed to do what it has the power to do. Especially if God placed it there for His glory!

- What would pursue from within you if you gave yourself permission?

- How has fear of failure or change kept you from your potential?

- What is a "FlashPoint" and how do you identify it?

- What if Moses would have let his fear keep him from freeing his people?

- How can deeper trust in God's presence help you fan flames in your soul?

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Today it is my pleasure to read Psalm 107 for you in the New Living Translation. (I'll explain why). Four times the text says "LORD, help!" - These represent four situations in life where people get discouraged. So often our hope and faith flourish in blessings, but when trials come, we falter. This can often prove that our joy is based more on ourselves and our circumstances, than the enduring goodness of God.

Let's investigate different trials you might face this year. Some of this may be raging in your life right. Crying for the help of the Lord, in full faith, is about accessing wisdom and glory and power infinitely greater than your own and stronger than all your problems.  May we be a people of constant praise! May we tell the world - family, brethren and neighbor - that we cried to God and He answered with deliverance!

- Why is internal faith work so important to external life goals?

- What good is people, plans and a good attitude without trust in God?

- Do we cry "LORD, Help" in times of trial that are not our fault?

- Do we cry "LORD, Help" in times of trial that are absolutely our fault?

- What does God do with the storm, when we cry for His help amidst it?

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Happy New Year! And welcome to season 5 of the ESM podcast!

Have you ever piloted an aircraft? It's quite a thrill. But properly using the instruments is crucial to success. By success I mean: landing the plane instead of crashing it! One of those instruments is called an Attitude Indicator. It shows you where you are relative to the horizon in front of you. Proper alignment is very important as those two things interact at the airport. If your attitude is poor, you can blame the earth, but you are the one who needs to make adjustments for your good and others. 

When it comes to interacting with people, places and things, the way you preset your attitude will almost always tell the story. You and I might argue that others need to change - and that may be correct. But consider Jesus. He was right. We were wrong. But what did He do? He showed humility and adjusted His position to fit what we needed and what glorified God. Let's explore what that looks like in your life and mine.

- How should my attitude be like Jesus?

- What does it mean to adjust my approach to fit the situation?

- Why is "grumbling" and "disputing" a no-go in the life of a Christian?

- How important is it to adjust attitude BEFORE interactions begin?

- What do you do when a flock of birds fly in right before you land the plane?

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The topic of God's Grace is beautifully complicated. It is simply too great to fully understand while we live here in the limitations of the flesh. But giving up on understanding grace can lead to big mistakes. Maybe we believe God covers everything not matter how we live. That's not right. But neither is the other side of the spectrum, where we look at our lives as a series of works we must accomplish to eventually get the grace. This is equally as foolish. 

David Osteen and I take different angles on the topic of grace, but we are in ultimate agreement in how it motivates us to live great and faithful lives. In this interview, you get to hear our independent answers to some straight forward questions about God's grace. 

Kenny Embry hosts the Balancing the Christian Life podcast. If you enjoy this interview style, go check out his podcast. He has conducted some truly incredible interviews on needful topics. 

- How would you explain grace without using "unmerited favor"?

- Why is grace such a controversial topic?

- How would you explain grace to your 12 year old kids?

- Why is a lack of grace just as dangerous as focusing on it too much?

- How is it liberating to know you are saved by God and His grace?

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I hope you are excited for a productive and incredible 2023. This starts with a proper planning. And great planning includes evaluating the people in your life. Today's episode takes us back to one of our earliest episodes: "Your Inner Circle." We need to evaluate the people who are healthy to have close to you, because you are going to need them to build a team who can help you reach your goals. 

We also want to go back a couple of years to the idea of "Building Your Ladders." There is a tried and true strategy for using the calendar year as a 12 step program for building a ladder and reaching a new level. Take full advantage of the January fresh start and prepare for that first rung!

Lastly, in this episode, let's get some really great ideas from Simon Sinek. He did an interview recently concerning how to build a great team. There has to be support when you falter. There has to be trust and people who throw you a party when you fail (in a great way). His instruction at the end will be important in setting up the kind of support that will make 2023 fail safe, so long as God allows!

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"How do we raise faithful kids?" I have asked that many times and been asked that many times. We often answer with environmental factors. We need to raise them in a Christian home. We need to surround them with Christian people. We need to give them a daily serving of the Word of God. All of these are great. They are major factors, but they do not determine the salvation of yourself, nor your children.

There have been people with all of those aids who did not love God. And there have been people with none of those benefits who became humble servants of the King? Why is that? What is truly at play?  To help with that, I want to tell you the story of king Josiah. He had a heart like David's heart and it made ALL the difference. 

I hope this episode brings about better questions between parents and teens. I hope it helps you dig in with questions for yourself. Questions about what you believe, how you feel about God, and how must you know that God loves you. In a believing heart all things are possible. But without such a heart, no other factor will save us.

- Why is a spiritual environment so important in raising faithful kids?

- Why doesn't that always work? And why do people in the world come to Christ?

- How does the heart of a person and the choices of their heart factor in?

- Can you make someone have a tender heart? How can it be developed?

- What kind of an environment will you build if you have a tender heart for God?

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks!

I really hope you enjoy this investigation of the Gestalt Effect. The triangle image for the episode is a practical example of how the eye fills in the details. I first came upon this while reading an excellent book on modesty. I'll share a link for that book:
Secret Keeper by Dannah Gresh

The word Gestalt simply means seeing things as a whole, as a full picture. The mind takes in pieces of information and instantly tries to fill in something common and make a judgment. Different principles dictate this almost instantaneous action. We will look at Continuation and Closure. How does this information affect the clothes we choose to wear? Are we ready to take ownership of our impressions on others? 

To move that forward, what about our speech? When we share just a word or a short message, do we understand how others hear it? A word spoken can be a full paragraph in the ear of the hearer. A moment of tone can convey a tidal wave of emotion. Let's dig in some on why minding our words is as important as our dress.

- What is the Gestalt Effect and how is it always in play?

- What is the power of an impression and how can we own that power?

- How does dress and modesty relate to the Gestalt Theory?

- How does spoken words - sarcasm and tone - carry more weight than we think it does?

- Can we take advantage of Gestalt to use a little input to make people's day a lot better?

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks!

Israel was baptized through the Red Sea. They sang a song of victory and rejoiced in the grace of God. But... most of those celebrating that day did not make it home to the promised land. Why not? Pride. They began to feel entitled, and that caused them to turn attention from God to themselves. 

Part of our episode today will investigate the  mistakes of Israel in I Corinthians 10. How can we be less like them, more dependent on God, and beautifully humble? 

We will also list 8 things from Kevin Deyoung's book, Crazy Busy. These words, all starting with the letter P (its a Letter P day!) represent more subtle ways that pride sneaks into our lives. Having sought humility in these things, you and I will be better positioned, at the foot of God's throne, to be more useful to Him.

"A Manifestation of the Many Manifestations of Pride" (pg 35-38)
- People Pleasing
- Pats on the Back
- Performance Evaluation
- Proving Myself
- Possessions
- Prestige
- Pity
- Posting

Ooh, I see some of my own pride in that list. But what does our year look like if we know where we need to be humble? If we ask the question: "is this about me? And if it was about God and others, how different would it look?" 

May the Lord, who has blessed us in His grace and Spirit and Son, use us well and give us a life of gratitude, thankfulness, and service. 

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Crazy Busy Book

Let's turn our attention back to planning through the end of the year and preparing for an amazing 2023. Part of this is spacing out your goals to avoid being "crazy busy." That is not a compliment. Crazy busy people make unneeded sacrifices and end up not enjoying the journey nor the destination. Let's examine how to be more like Jesus. Part of that is knowing your limitations, finding humility, and being ready to be what God wants you to be.

7 Thoughts from Crazy Busy:  Calming the Crazy Man Inside (pg. 47-50)
1) I am not the Christ
2) There is Good News
3) Care is not the same as Do
4) I can always Pray Right Now
5) We have different Gifts and different Callings
6) Remember the Church
7) Jesus didn't do it all

Can you lay out a few things that represent your most crucial priority?
What matters most and can you attach actions and growth to those things?
Be prepared to have a "posteriority" list. Things that belong at the bottom.

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks!

"Denominational" Baptism. "Church of Christ" Baptism. We come up with lots of adjectives before the word baptism that are not found in Scripture. This often leads us away from the simple truth of the Gospel. It leads to labeling, party system, and sectarianism. 

The temptation to implement our judgments on a person's baptism is strong among God's people. We want to know who baptized them. We want to know who the teacher was. What church they were in. And other factors to decide if they are like us. All of those are factors. But be careful. Anyone, anywhere, anytime, can read the Scripture and obey it, without asking your permission or using your local church's baptistry. 

We want to know: have you submitted to God in the One Baptism:
- Full Immersion in Water - John 3:23. Acts 8:35-39
- To Follow and Obey Jesus - Matthew 3:15; Mark 16:15-16; Matthew 28:18-20
- For the Forgiveness of Sins - Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16
- Uniting with Christ's Power - Romans 6:3-7
- To be Added by God to the Body - Acts 2:47
- To Begin a New Walk in Faith - Acts 2:31-47

How much did they know beyond this?
- Some say a whole bunch - Acts 2:40
- But Scripture argues differently - see Acts 8 and Acts 16

- But what about the Baptizer?
- And what about the Teacher?
- Or the Church they came from?
- How will our Church handle that?

Let's dig in - cutting through sectarian and denominational thinking and getting back to the Word and the simple connection between and Individual - the Gospel - and God.