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:

Fights, fights, everywhere.  In the streets, on airplanes, at political rallies.  I have never seen Americans so on edge and willing to fight at the drop of a hat. 

How do we keep our cool?

Everyone has read 1 Corinthians 13.  Most Christians know it as the love chapter.  I’ve read it a hundred times but struggle to DO IT.  The words seem to blend into a beautiful picture, like a work of art.  The problem, however, is if I just LOOK at it but can’t implement it. I looked at 1 Cor. 13 a different way the other day. 

Here is the way I read it this time:

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 can put people on the moon but we can’t get cell phones to work everywhere.  Communication runs our world now.  From social media to digital cable, Internet, and (of course) smartphones, we all have to learn to communicate better.

Here are some communication skills I have had to sharpen:

Last Tuesday was a major event in my life:  my Dad of 97 years went to heaven.  We cared for him in our home for over six years after my mother died.  He was married for 63 years and in the ministry for 66 years.  This blog is about “generational leadership,” the passing of lessons from fathers to children.  

Here goes my best shot at five things I got from him:

Great leaders have great attitudes.  They always keep their sights above the line.  They know if they let that attitude dip below the line, they will eventually crash.

Here are four personal attitudes I regularly check:

Marriage has to have a foundation.  If it doesn’t, you will endlessly drift on the sea of culture, disappointment, and changes.  I have boiled down my seven most important lessons that give Melanie and I stability now in our 40th year of marriage.  

Check out how you are doing in these seven areas and see if one needs to be adjusted:

Against his parents strict orders, a little boy was sliding on his wood floors at home without his socks.  A splinter lodged in his foot.  He tried to ignore it, butafter several days of hobbling his mother demanded he slip his sock off.  There, she saw the truth.  She gingerly pulled the splinter out and he began his healing process. Do you have a splinter in your foot?

You may be walking around with a “splinter in your foot.” A relationship wound can come through many avenues:  rejection, sexual abuse, manipulation, or deception.  The question is, will you continue to act as though it’s not there?  Or, will you let God shine His light on that wound and put it on the road to healing?

Here are some ways I have seen people deal wrongly with a wound:

Having been in ministry for 46 years, I have seen that perspiration is often as important as inspiration!  People often think of their successful friends as “lucky” or “more talented.” However, they rarely make the connection between their own work-ethic and their success.  A lazy, passive, self-pitying work ethic leaves you negative, blaming, unsuccessful…and usually broke! Nehemiah and his men had a “mind to work” (Neh. 4: 6).  Those hard-working men built a huge wall in 52 days!  They barely slept, they stayed in their clothing, they built while holding a sword, and they amazed the devil’s crowd.

What were the secrets of Nehemiah’s great work ethic?

Everyone is trying to get a leg up on this New Year.  Thousands of churches nationwide are participating in 21 days of prayer and fasting.  I’ve never been more excited about the American church seeking God.  Surely He is going to answer these millions of prayers! Jesus taught us the “three-fold cord” of a breakthrough in Matthew 6 with the Sermon on the Mount. 

Here is how they have worked in my life when I combine them together:

Everybody makes New Year’s resolutions:  lose weight, gain muscle, write books, read books, get a degree, get a raise, and so on infinitum. All of that is great, but I want to give you a completely different starting point for 2016:  get your finances in order.   Do you realize how much of your life will change when you start emerging out from under that pile of bills, credit card balances, and STRESS?

As I start a new year, here are the three primary focuses I renew:

How do you view impossibilities?  Do they intimidate you and stop you dead in your tracks before you ever even attempt to defeat them?  I have found that there are usually 2 different ways to approach an obstacle in your life. The story of Israel’s twelve spies always helps me when I am facing an impossibility.  They focused on the giants but Joshua and Caleb focused on the grapes!  God called this kind of faith a "different spirit”:  “But my servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land he entered and his descendants will take possession of it” (Num. 14: 24)

Here are a few of the “differences” in a different spirit:

The nation was stunned last week when Islamic terrorism struck San Bernardino.  Fun loving party-goers were suddenly sprayed with automatic weapons.  The plot shows a deep hatred for Americans and sinister preparation to kill.  Everyone is thinking, “What’s next?”

Fear is a normal reaction to a perceived danger.   Yes, mass shootings are occurring almost weekly.  Gun and bullet sales are through the roof.  People are concerned to go to a mall.  Every footstep or out of the ordinary motion makes people jumpy.

Here are the five things I use to combat fear:

Ezekiel and John both saw the four awesome living creatures that stand around the throne of God.  Both of them (Eze. 1: 10, Rev. 4: 7) describe their four faces:  an eagle, an ox, a lion, and a man.  Could these four powerful creatures give us an insight into the nature of God’s kingdom and leadership model?

Paul describes a leadership model with all four included in (1 Cor. 16: 13-14):

Negative pessimism is a hard monkey to get off your back.  It colors everything dull and bland.  It stifles creativity, ruins relationships, and makes everything hopeless.  You lose sight of all that you “have and are” for what you “want and are not.”

The other morning I took a one mile walk in the beautiful crisp, fall air with Melanie.  When I got back home I noticed the nice truck I drive, the beautiful home I live in, and the wonderful amenities I am surrounded by (like dishwashers).  Over the course of the day,  it was as if I was continually overwhelmed by HOW MANY blessings I have in my life. 

I would like to list a few, for your sake and for mine: