Best-selling author and pastor Max Lucado offers his insights on how to live with an eye toward purpose and the big picture in his latest book God’s Story, Your Story: When His Becomes Yours (Zondervan).

Pastor of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Max is a prolific author with more than 60 books to his credit.

God’s Story, Your Story helps people make sense out of their own circumstances in their search for purpose.

“Everything changes when you know the rest of your story,” writes Lucado (God’s Story, Your Story, page 22).

“We need to know where we came from. Knowing connects us, links us, bonds us to something greater than we are. Knowing reminds us that we aren’t floating on isolated ponds but on a grand river.

That’s why God wants you to know his story. . . And we are a part of it.” (God’s Story, Your Story, page 20)

In true Lucado style, he poignantly tells personal stories from his encounters with family, friends and strangers.

The 288-page book journeys with readers through God’s stories in the New Testament, intersecting Lucado’s personal stories with his thought-provoking comments on how to apply this to each reader’s life. Readers will be comforted, entertained and challenged.

A small group curriculum is available for churches to use for either small groups or as pulpit material for the entire congregation to participate. Each church member will learn how to incorporate God’s story with his or her own through materials and sermon resources at Church-wide Journeys.

A teen edition is also available. Targeted for teens ages 13-16, stories from the New Testament are illustrated through contemporary examples to help teens see how God is at work in lives today. Max lays out a roadmap designed by God to help each teen reach the destination God has planned for him or her.

Exclusive Internet Webcast Special

In a partnership with the great folks at Ambassador, I am pleased to present the exclusive Webcast Special, “God’s Story, Your Story,” right here on the blog.

Special guests Sheila Walsh and J.J. Jasper provide moving testimonies that offer powerful real-life examples of God’s redemptive work…

Sheila Walsh is a recording artist, author and speaker, who discovered God was working in her own story in the midst of an emotional and spiritual breakdown.

J.J. Jasper is an on-air host for American Family Radio who shares of God’s peace after the death of his son, Cooper, who was tragically killed when the quadrunner J.J. was driving flipped over.

Every Christian has a story

My friends at The A Group were chosen by Zondervan to lead in the marketing efforts to get Max’s new book out everywhere. They have created His is Mine, an amazing media-rich website where you can tell your own story .

This site offers a unique opportunity for you to join Max’s online documentary about the journeys of life. Real life. Join Max in telling others how God has woven the unfailing fabric of His word through your heart and mind. Go now. Someone is waiting to hear your story.

Don’t miss the Webcast Special, “God’s Story, Your Story,” available now for download.

Jesus Christ.

Living proof.

Tragedy can be turned into victory.

(1 Corinthians 1:18)

What was Jacob thinking? He had to know that Joseph’s 10 older brothers were so jealous of him that they wished him dead.

It was no secret.

The Bible says, “…they hated him and couldn’t speak a kind word to him.”

Why would Jacob be so naïve as to send his 17-year old son to check up on his brothers by himself?

Jacob must have been the kind of parent who can’t imagine his children doing anything seriously wrong.

He also seemed unaware that sinners in a pack are doubly dangerous. A mob usually sinks to the level of the lowest participant.

The result of Jacob’s ill-advised decisions was disastrous.

When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming they snarled, “Here comes that arrogant ‘dreamer’ who imagines us bowing down to him. Let’s kill him!” Joseph was seized and thrown into a cistern.

When some Ishmaelite traders “happened” by, the calloused siblings impulsively sold Joseph to them as a slave for 20 pieces of silver. For over a decade Jacob lived with the mistaken impression that his son had been mauled by a wild animal, and he refused to be comforted in his grief.

Sin: yours, mine and ours

Parents need to be perceptive about the sinful nature of their children.

Mom and Dad, your kids probably are not as wonderful as you think they are. The chances are good that they are lying to you at times. They are pulling some antics behind your back that you don’t know about. It’s just human nature.

David admitted, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5)

I remember one time when my wife, Judy, started to correct our then 3-year old grandson. As she scowled and charged toward him, he sensed her displeasure and quipped, “Nana, you so ‘bootiful!” He already was a con-man at age 3! (His discipline was not nearly as harsh as it would have been because he’s “so cute!”)

Solomon wrote, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child…” (Proverbs 22:15). Left unchecked, the carnal nature gets worse with the passing of time.

Parents, teens and technology

Middle school teachers related a serious problem with “sexting” -students taking risque photos of themselves with their cell phones and forwarding them to others.

The Bible speaks of youth who will disobey parents and “invent ways of doing evil” (Romans 1:30).

But why would parents give a cell phone with that capability to a 13- or 14-year old child?

(See report that Facebook is openly using all the confidential phone numbers on your phone, a wake-up call for parents to get involved with children and teenagers that have Facebook accounts and cell phones.)

It must be this same naïveté – or indifference – that allows teens to have a computer with Internet access in the privacy of their room, attend unsupervised parties, and spend prom night in a motel room.

Parents, wake up!

Your child has an evil bent.

Your child is capable of even worse things when he/she is with a group of peers. They need restraint. They need parents who care enough to ask questions, check up on them and to say “no” on occasion.

Certainly there needs to be balance. Children need parents who believe in them, encourage them and motivate them to reach their potential. They don’t need angry accusations and unfounded suspicions, but they do need parents who will hold them accountable.

Wise parents trust positive intentions while checking out the facts. If Jacob would have done that, it surely would have saved him a world of hurt.

—

Bob Russell is the retired Senior Minister of Southeast Christian Church and the founder of Bob Russell Ministries. Sermons from Bob’s preaching archives are broadcast on the SermonCast Channel. Courtesy Southeast Outlook.

Questions: What are some of the greatest Internet danger teenagers face? What would you tell tech-naive parents? ?

I admire Stephen Hawking.

First, for inspiring all of us to work for our dreams, even while he’s engaged in his own heroic battle with ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Second, as a world-renowned physicist and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Third, as a brilliant communicator who uses the latest computer and communication technologies to speak and write.

Fourth, for boldly proclaiming what he believes to be true about God’s existence.

In his new book “The Grand Design” Hawking argues that God did not create the universe. During an interview with CNN’s Larry King, he said, “God may exist, but science can explain the universe without the need for a creator.”

The morning after his Larry King appearance, I was still thinking about Professor Hawking.

Here’s a man who at age 21 thought he only had a few years to live. Today, 45 years later, he is the longest-surviving sufferer of ALS ever, an international celebrity, has sold millions of books, draws huge crowds wherever he speaks, and was cited by Time as the heir to Einstein.

A godless hope?

Hawking says beating the odds with ALS in particular “shows that one need not lose hope.” He also believes that God had no part in extending his life.

If only he would get it, I thought. God would reveal the answer to the ultimate question about truth that science is not revealing to him. He could become a powerful voice acknowledging God’s eternal existence and active redemptive involvement in the world.

While pondering these things, I happened to be reading Isaiah 45. In those passages, I began to see the possibility that Stephen Hawking’s life is revealing the existence of the God of the Bible, the author of hope. How is that?

Speaking through Isaiah, “The Lord says, I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places. I call you by name and bestow on you a title of honor though you do not acknowledge me. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me.”

Here we see a man that doesn’t acknowledge the one Creator God. Yet, this same man is still given marvelous insights, prestigious position and physical strength. The prophet says these marvelous gifts of generosity and mercy have been allowed so that the entire world can know that there is “a righteous God and a Savior.”

So could Professor Hawking be fulfilling God’s purposes when he categorically states on the world stage that if there is a God, he had nothing to do with the creation of the universe? That’s exactly how it looks, from a biblical perspective.

Instead of convincingly reconciling creation without a creator, Hawking’s controversial claims release a flood of theological discussion into the public square.

Thanks to the Internet, a worldwide avalanche of questions and answers about God and the Bible flow back and forth. As with previous writings on the existence of God, religious leaders and theologians, even some of Hawking’s Cambridge colleagues, challenge his positions. The blogosphere, online newspapers and discussion groups fill with what Christians believe about creation and salvation.

A search on Google for “God did not create the universe” returns 11 million hits. The first twenty pages dominated by Hawking.

In the debate between faith and science, Hawking and his supporters probably reassure some in their disbelief. A few may even be swayed to adopting an atheistic or agnostic point of view.

Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:22

But I wonder if Professor Hawking realizes that some, already prepared by the Holy Spirit, are also exposed to the truth of the Bible as a result of the religious controversy he fuels. As a focus is put on whether God exists, their eyes are opened. Some may become believers. Seeds of truth get planted for sure.

Online discussions of faith and easy access to technology reminds us why Christians must be vigilant in using the Internet for outreach and evangelism.

So it turns out that while Stephen Hawking is working through physics to try and prove why we’re here, God is working through Stephen Hawking to prove that He is here. One of the world’s most famous atheists is unwittingly calling attention to the fact that God wants all to be saved. Even those fiercely rejecting Him.

Retired Senior Minister Bob Russell delivered “A Prayer for Mom” on Mother’s Day, 2004. Happy Mother’s Day!

Thank you, Lord for this opportunity to pay tribute to our mothers.

Thank you for those who endured the disfiguring of the body, morning sickness, months of discomfort, anxious moments and excruciating pain to bring us into the world. We were oblivious then.

We give you thanks for her endurance now.

Heavenly Father; You said, “In pain you will bring forth children.”

It’s obvious that prophecy wasn’t limited to labor pains. There is ongoing emotional pain that every mother experiences. And today we want to pause and thank You, and them, for the hurt they tolerated for us.

Thanks that our mothers climbed out of bed at 3 a.m. to feed us when we were hungry and held her nose to clean up after us when we were sick. We weren’t capable of saying thanks then. We do now.

Thanks that our mothers sat on hard bleachers in the hot sun for hours to see us perform for a few seconds and then fought back tears when we struck out. Or agonized during a missed note in a recital and then reassured us on the way home that we did great.

Forgive her, Lord, when she when she wasn’t totally truthful, but she knew what we needed to hear. We were probably too immature to say thanks then–we do now.

It’s not pleasant to repeatedly correct improper behavior, tolerate insolence and stay up late worrying about a teenager’s safety. We resented her sometimes then–we say thanks now.

Lord, it had to hurt when she worked for hours preparing a special meal, no one said anything positive when it was over in 15 minutes and everyone went their selfish way while mom was left to clean up alone. She must have felt so taken for granted then. We say thanks for her sacrifices now.

Thanks for moms who taught us about the Bible. We never even dreamed that she could be tired and would just as soon put us to bed without reading about Moses in the bulrushes again. We thought she was in a rut then. We say thanks for her perseverance now.

Lord, it’s got to be extremely painful to see a child, who was loved and instructed about You, leave home and forsake that teaching. When a child goes to the far country, there’s a sense in which a sword pierces the mother’s soul. We laughed at her pleading then. We give you thanks for her devotion now.

Help us to find some way today to encourage her and to let her know that we finally notice and are appreciative.

For those whose mothers are no longer living, would you communicate for us and reward them accordingly? Thank you that you see what is done in secret and you have promised that one day you will reward openly.

Father, none of us has a perfect mom. Instead of blaming them for what ails us, help us to forgive and understand as we want You to forgive and understand us.

It’s in the strong but tender name of Jesus that we pray.

(Courtesy of The Southeast Outlook)

–

Bob Russell retired from his position as the senior minister of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky where he served for 40 years. During his tenure, Southeast grew to become one of the ten largest churches in America. Russell is nationally known and respected for his clear biblical preaching. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including When God Builds a Church, When God Answers Prayer and “Transitions.”

Sermons from Bob Russell’s preaching archives are broadcast every week on the SermonCast Channel.