I have really been slacking on the blogging lately and I feel like I am living the verse that “there is a season for everything.” The problem is all the seasons are happening at once. This weekend we wrap up The Moment of Truth Series. This has been a great series for us. I hope that we will be able to get three out of four messages posted online soon. (Technical difficulties on one) God has really been challenging us through this series about maintaining our integrity in a world that has seemingly lost site of what that means. One of my sons new favorite books (thankfully it is not another Thomas book) is Flo the Lying Fly. It is basically a story based on the “crying wolf” concept but instead of crying wolf she is a habitual liar. So in a moment of distress when she needs people to believe her they don’t. 

If there has ever been a time that we need people to believe us (the church) it is now. The question is have we been caught telling too many lies or withholding too much truth to be a legitimate voice. God has challenged us with some difficult stories like Ananias and his wife Sapphira (Acts 4:32-5:11) and Jephthah (Judges 11:30-35) to help us understand the intensity of the message.  These aren’t exactly common “cherry picked” scriptures used because they don’t really deliver the flowery love and grace message. When you look at the bigger picture, you can see that these accounts are in the Bible for us to share because God doesn’t want other people to fall into these same circumstances.  

In the story of Ananias and Sapphire the bible says that “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.” I wonder how many people that heard the story didn’t follow in the path of Ananias and Sapphira? (Stealing from God with no remorse in their heart) So in reality this is a story of grace for a lot of people. I wonder how many people have because we failed to share it.  This week we take honesty in church to a whole new level with a polygraph machine in house. I am praying for no horror stories on Monday but God pulled some strings for me to get it so we are going to use it. So if you have been waiting for something different to get you to church… just think scene from “Meet the Parents” AT CHURCH.