As a pastor for 33 years, I often wondered why so many new believers drop out of the Christian “race.”  Their conversion is genuine but their endurance is sporadic.  It seems to me that as many as 2/3 of the conversions in our churches never connect or fall back into the world.  Where are we missing it?   

Jesus told the “parable of the sower.”  It gives us the secret to our problem. 

Perhaps we should make this parable into the process by which we help believers to become fruitful disciples:

Your attitudes are determining your altitude.  This phrase tells you if you are headed for the “jet stream” or a “slow crash.” How do you adjust your attitude?  The “Beatitudes” are 8 HEAVENLY ATTITUDES and it is time to “think heavenly.” The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest sermon in history.  Spoken in Matthew 5-7, its theme is “heavenly.”  It describes a mindset on Heaven, a heavenly ambassador who represents how things are done back in his homeland.

The most popular talent show currently is “The Voice.”  While I enjoy watching it, I often think of how so many people would love to hear “God’s Voice.” 

Line up these factors so you are in a position to “listen”:

When I was a child, I dreamed about Christmas while looking at a Sears catalog.  I usually narrowed it down to 10 things I wanted the most.  These days, Christmas is more about REST than GIFTS for me!  I asked myself, “What would I love to receive more than anything else in the world?”

I wrote down the 10 things I want for Christmas this year that have nothing to do with material things. Here they are:

Today, I am thinking about the story of the “four lepers.”   I am presently in Asia where masses of people swarm like an ocean of fish.  Each one has a face, a name, a personality, a family, a need.  Jesus.   Why is missions becoming the lost subject in Christianity with these billions yet in darkness?

Now, we come to the “leper lessons.”  They were starving outside the gate of a besieged, starving city.  They represent me, you, all Christians.  Their story should be our story. 

Here are four lessons I learn from them:

Everybody prays.  Prayer wheels, prayer chains, and prayer lines are everywhere.  However, it can sometimes feel like a penny in a fountain.  How can we feel a sense of certainty when we pray? 

Water, water, everywhere.  Three times the amount of rain fell on Baton Rouge as fell in Katrina!  7 trillion gallons of water deluged over 40,000 houses. With water comes “mold.”  There is a race against time to remove anything wet.  Hundreds of volunteers are stripping out churches, homes, and businesses before black mold takes over.

Do you have “mold in your soul?”  It is a creeping, silent enemy in your heart.   It is a hidden disease, thriving on the darkness.

Here are 5 basic steps to eradicate it:

Your prayer life is the most important part of your Christian life. My prayer life greatly improved when I studied the prayer life of Jesus Himself.  

If you are struggling with prayer, here are ten lessons directly from Scripture about when and how you should pray:

The whole world is upset about borders.  From Brexit to the Middle East to the Ukraine, borders are shifting.  Some propose tighter borders and others want them totally removed.   John Kerry recently referred to a "world without borders."  Someone said that he left that speech, got into his armored car, anddrove behind the walls to his home! During the Katrina crisis, we had 900 people sleeping on the floor of our church. Visiting our church, President Bush remarked about a strip of blue tape we put on the floor between each person's private "space."  In nine months with Katrina evacuees we never had ONE fight.

Here are three areas I have learned to maintain proper borders:

We are in a stressful time.  Political changes are unnerving.  Our enemies are gaining strength.  The economy is fragile.  Diseases are coming out of nowhere.  Travel has become dangerous.  It’s always good to come back to my “true north”:  “how big is my God?”  I was recently in Colorado.  I was dwarfed by the massive 14,000 foot mountains.  Mt. Everest in the Himalayas is 2 1/2 times their height!

If you are feeling small, take a look at five BIG THINGS about God in Isaiah 40:

Steph Curry is the rage of the NBA.  He’s the greatest three-point shooter of all time.  He, his wife Ayesha, and their little girl Riley have become a model family for America.  What a lot of people don’t know, however, is that his parents led their family in a half-hour Bible devotion every morning before school.  I’m concerned about the families I see. We raised our six children with the Word of God at the center.  That’s probably why all six of them are involved in the ministry.

Here are five easy ways you can surround your family with Biblical truth:

I’ve been concerned lately about the Biblical illiteracy in our generation.  A good friend of mine asked me, “What is an epistle?”  I told him, of course, it is the wife of an apostle! I’ve read the Bible through many times and taught each of the 66 books.

Here are my top ten suggestions for becoming a better Bible student:

I’ve been a Christian for over 55 years and a pastor for 40 years.  If I could tell you one of my greatest secrets of success, it would be: learn to stay in step with the Holy Spirit.  That’s exactly how Paul put it:  “If we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5: 25).

How do we walk with Him? 

“The problem with being deceived is that you are deceived.  If you knew you were deceived, you would no longer be deceived!”  Leaders get blindsided.  They didn’t see something coming then it hits them. 

How do you protect yourself from a blindside hit that can scar you for life?

Is it possible that your thought life is holding you back?  I’ve watched hundreds of leaders succeed or fail and almost always it goes back to one thing:  how much they change their thought life. 

Here are a few secrets to a successful thought life:

Everybody sets goals, especially in a new year.  Some are attainable and some are hopeless.  By now, many have abandoned their goals for the year and some never set any!  As a pastor for over 40 years, I learned how to set goals that were motivated by faith. 

Back in September, I could not do a single push-up (maybe one “girl” push-up!).  I felt I could work up to 50 push-ups if I just added one a day.  With the help of a push-up app, I did 172 yesterday (in five sets).  Don’t ask me next year because I may be back down to five!

Just like building up in your push-ups, here are some secrets of setting “faith goals”:

We all reach a point where we need to take a break.  Jesus told His disciples to come apart and rest for a while.

God’s break for you is the Sabbath principle. The Sabbath is not just a day of the week; it is a walk in the cool, refreshing breezes of the Holy Spirit.

Here are some ways I maintain the spirit of Sabbath in my life:

I was blown away last week when I had the privilege to view the smash hit movie, “War Room.” It rocketed to number ONE in the American box office! As I walked out of the theater, the thought came to my mind, "This movie is going to start a movement of prayer in every church in the nation."

I learned the power of spiritual warfare when I had only been married for two weeks and headed off to Africa as a missionary.

In my two years as a missionary in West Africa, I learned some basic principles of spiritual warfare:

Everyone is in a panic.  We operate more on adrenaline than anointing!  We have pressures, commitments, deadlines, obligations, possessions and relationships that require continual maintenance.

Here are some principles I have learned on how you spell “R.E.S.T.”: