Don’t panic. This is not actually happening at our church. But a New York City realty company recently offered their employees a 15 percent raise if they would tattoo the firm’s logo on their bodies. Over 40 employees took up this offer by getting the Rapid Realty double R tattoo on various body parts, including ankles, arms, and necks. The company CEO stated that the tattoos show employees’ commitment, adding, “Talk about marketing- they’re walking billboards!”

It is true that God states in Lev. 19:28 that His people should not tattoo themselves. But in their cultural context we understand that tattoos were connected to pagan worship practices. In recent years I have met more and more young Christians who have decided to get a tattoo that represents their faith in Jesus. Although I personally have no desire for a tattoo, I appreciate the younger generation’s desire to go public with their faith.

Christians should be walking billboards for Jesus. In Matthew 5:16 , Jesus said He expects us to be a light to a dark world. Jesus then explained that our neighbors should see us doing such good deeds that they know something is different about us. Do your actions this week demonstrate to people in a dark world that you are a follower of Jesus? If not, consider what actions you could take this week to show your neighbors or co-workers that you have chosen to follow Jesus. If you can’t think of anything, maybe you should consider a tattoo.

It was a shock for me to hear. How could this happen without me hearing about it first?? One of our CCA school staff had called me to share that a church member had come to school that day sharing that the PCBC Executive Pastor had just resigned. Since it was still early in the day, I considered it might be possible that I would resign before the day was over. But it had been a good really good week….we were still celebrating the life change stories from our Tailgate Baptism….so I really did not think that was likely. Fortunately, the school staff were not persuaded despite the church member’s strong conviction that I had resigned.

On this occasion, no harm came out of someone sharing false information. But this example reminded me again of God’s teaching about our tongues from the book of James.

⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, ⁸ but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.�� James 3:7-12

Are you quick to speak or do you repeat things without checking to make sure they are true? Consider God’s encouragement to make sure only good comes out of our mouths. We should desire to do everything we can to tame our tongues so that the Lord will commend us one day for producing positive results with our tongues rather than the opposite. With His help, all things are possible (Phil 4:13 )!

I had just informed our two sons, AJ (7) and Cayden (5) that they needed to clean their playroom before they would be allowed to play xbox (great motivation for young boys!). Cayden immediately turned to his big brother AJ and said “since you are bigger than me you should probable clean the bigger part of the room, ok?”�� AJ thought for a moment and then responded “well, actually you are a much better cleaner and faster than I am so you should probable clean the larger side of the playroom.”

I was proud that my boys were calmly presenting their logical arguments to each other to try to convince each other they had the best plan. On this�occasion they handled�their different opinions on�how to clean and what to clean very�well.� It does not always go that smoothly.�At�this young age, my boys are�ready to battle for their personal opinions and preferences.� The problem for all of us, at one level or another, is that even by the time we are adults we have not unlearned this self focus and assumption that our way is always best.� By the time we are adults, this is so natural that we may not even realize when we are doing this.�� It is embarrassing at times to watch people, even in the church, argue over their personal preferences. We need to constantly remind ourselves to prayerfully consider what is most important to Jesus at all times. And when we disagree, we must learn to disagree agreeable and show that we still love each other. If you are having a disagreement with a brother or sister in Christ, I suggest you make it clear that you still love them despite your disagreement. We want to do everything we can to protect our relationships with our family in Christ because we became family through the precious blood of Jesus…and it directly impacts our witness for Him. Take a look at�Philippians 2 again this week and consider how God wants you to apply this.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴ Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Phil. 2:3-4

It started in a dreaming session at our favorite local coffeehouse. Future senior pastor Jay Hackett, Pastor Chris from New Destiny Church, myself and Pastor Dean were dreaming about goals that would please God. We were discussing how our churches could work more together and make an impact on our community. Someone suggested a joint baptism service. We all quickly got excited and began to dream together. We wanted to create a greater celebration than we usually have for baptism. Pastor Jay suggested a tailgate baptism and the idea stuck. We set a God size goal of 30 baptisms even though this was more people than we baptized in an entire year in some recent years. Some people and even some staff were skeptical of our goal and timing. But we began to plan and trust God. The week before the big event we had 24 people signed up for baptism. Two backed out midweek. The morning of the big baptism service we shared again our goal of 30 and our belief that God was calling more people to go public with their faith. And at the end of the morning, God exceeded our goal by leading 32 people to be baptized!!! It was a tremendously uplifting day as we celebrated God’s hand at work in our church as He gave people boldness to go public with their faith.

Have you set any goals that would please God this season? I encourage you to consider setting some goals that would please the Lord. God wants to grow your faith as you trust Him to help you accomplish good goals for His glory.

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, ²¹ to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21