Excel Still More

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! As people of faith, we know that God hears us when we pray. We know He cares and listens and answers. Sometimes we get a YES. Sometimes a NO. Sometimes a WAIT. But why don't we get more YESES? I mean, we are people of faith and love Him, right?  It can be difficult to accept circumstances when you ask Him and He declines...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! It has been a rough week in Texas and across most of the Country. The record cold and snow and ice and loss of power and water... quite a mess. I mean, it got below zero in East Texas! I was handling it fine, until one particular night. But I am thankful for that night, even with its weight and burden. I needed it. God knew w...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Fear is a factor for most of us. We have anxiety and concern about health and safety and COVID, and the government, and any number of things. To say they don't bother us would be dishonest. The question is, have you given these things the power to control your life? Or is your fear of God so absolute, so dominating, that...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Let's talk Bible today! Specifically, and excitedly, let's talk Leviticus!  Okay, not everyone's favorite book. But we do know it, don't we?  God set aside priests, sons of Aaron, appointed by Him to do 5 special things. Most Israelites were not priests, but they came to them for help. Then Christ came. He...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! "I am discouraged" - Have you said that in the last 12 months? I have. What were you saying it about?  Who were you saying it about? Christians have used a lot of social media time and foyer conversations expressing things that disappoint them. Tensions are high. So, why is that happening in the church? Is there any...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Giving is powerful. Being a giver makes you better and makes other people better. Giving builds strong relationships.  HOWEVER... so does receiving!  In fact, where there is a giver, there must be a receiver. And yet, great givers sometimes find it very hard to receive.  There may be some science behind that. Check out 4 obse...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! We are Laying out FOUR Action Terms to set the tone for 2021: 1) GIVING (getting ready to share) 2) TEACHING (sharing the Gospel) Today we add another:  3) LEARNING.   The only way to get better is to learn better. If we don't have new revelation, information, or perspective, how can we actually live better lives? Sadly,...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Jack Wilkie recently released a book, Church Reset, that I highly encourage you to check out. He discusses the 21st century local church model and how much emphasis we put upon people coming to church to be fed a sermon. It is a good thing, but it is a tool to help real growth, not a sign of maturity. Many immature Christians...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Welcome to Season 3 and thanks for joining in! I hope you heard last week's episode, as we saw the story of Lorenzo and Heather. What started with overcoming my personal weaknesses, led to someone being baptized into Christ! Did it require some time and money to meet their needs? Yes it did. Was it worth it? Oh yeah! But...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! How many of us were raised in churches where nearly zero priority was given to the poor? I understand the importance of using the treasury for authorized things, but what about Christians using their own money and time to help the poor in the community?  I confess, I was not raised with much of that, nor was it present in the...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Have you emptied yourself of self-will? Have you asked the big questions in times of conflict or trouble:  Who is this about? Is the really about me?  If so, I pray you have seen how quickly and beautifully God's Spirit fills the void you create when you remove yourself! We can now go back to this remarkable text and loo...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! O Fill My Cup, and let it overflow. Let it overflow with Love! Next week, we will talk about how God will fill our vessel with His power. But first, we need to make sure the inside of the cup is clean.  If I have my own self-will is in the center of my heart, and God has to fit around that, He cannot fill me as I ought to be....

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! This episode is for anyone who knows the right thing to do, but is struggling to do it. You know, with full conviction, what the Bible says, but emotions run high, temptation comes on strong, and you falter. If you have become frustrated with this demeaning and disheartening cycle, this episode is for you.  You can win.  With...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! The Social Dilemma is a documentary on Netflix that explains the monetization of social media and the internet.  If the product is free for you to use, then you are the product.  Billions of dollars is paid by advertisers to social media sites, and the product they deliver to them... is you. Your time, your eyes, your mind, y...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! What a fantastic question!  "What is Truth?" You will find that a lot of people don't ask it anymore. They think they know the truth already, like the Pharisees.  There are others like Pilate, who ask the question, but don't put in the work to answer it. They end up with a lot of uncertainly. And then ther...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Matthew McConaughey is a big celebrity around these parts. He graduated about an hour from here and lives in Austin. He is known for three words: "Alright, Alright, Alright." He is also known for a demeanor and attitude that is laid back and positive. However, in his new book "Greenlights," he reveals that...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Tony Robbins once spoke of success in these terms:  success is not doing 5,000 things, it is doing the few right things 5,000 times. He is speaking of the power of daily habits over time. It reminds us that every decision you make is an investment in your future, IF you repeat those good decisions day after day.  There are no...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! The Excel Still More podcast is heavily invested in self improvement. We want these episodes to help you be disciplined, make great decisions, and reap incredible benefit.  But let's be clear, none of this works if I am only concerned with myself and my growth.  A much more rewarding goal is to help others around you gro...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! The blame game only leads to loses.  Everyone wishes some things in their life was different. Maybe for you it is many things. And while it might be easy to blame others for the circumstances, and express how change can't happen because of things outside yourself... it won't help. In fact, that attitude will only ho...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Have you ever seen the YouTube videos titled: "The Floor is Lava"?  Or how about the new Netflix program of the same name? It's a pretty simple idea - get from one side of the room to the other... with no floor!  Instead of a floor to walk on, there is only water that looks like lava. Instead, there are obstacl...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Gratitude is one of life's biggest difference makers. To be grateful is to be happy, content, and humble enough to express that to others. Gratitude isn't looking for me, it is thankful to others for what they have already done or who they are. Level 3 Gratitude is taking appreciation beyond words and into action an...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Are you making the most of each and every day?  Maybe we should open with this question instead:  how would one go about making every day valuable?  What would each day have to include to say it was lived well?  Oooh, I've got one more question - what if you could live each day over again?  I wonder how many people would...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Before man was created, the Godhead existed.  A friendship between three eternal beings, who shared in things, were there for one another, and knew all about the others. They were the first model for friendship.  Adam was created to be like them, so it comes as no surprise that he was not good alone.  God created a connection...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Everyone wants to be successful. Whether in business, relationships, or life, we want our work to pay off. Especially with regard to faith, we want to live for God and receive the great reward of heaven! But not many people make it, really not in any of these categories.  Far too often people start working, and get immediate...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Everyone knows about the Ripple Effect. But have you thought about it recently? Have you considered that this is actually a principle? I mean, the impact of actions on others is ongoing. It is a reality of your life, whether you know it or not, whether you believe it or not. So we might as well make sure we own this reality....