Last weekend’s message was simple but very difficult for me to deliver. Remember the major point from the weekend, as Malachi helped us to Reset Justice?  – “Correcting injustice in the world, begins with God correcting injustice in me. “  It was a heavy message for me to deliver, but God lifted my spirit in an amazing way as someone literally allowed God to immediately deal with the injustice in their own hearts.

After the 11:00 service a man approached me and said he needed to ask me to forgive him. Immediately, I wondered what it could be. He told me that when I was introduced as the candidate for the position of Senior Teaching Pastor, he didn’t vote for me. “I am sure that many people didn’t vote for me.” I opined. So, his comment was no big revelation to me. What he said next was. He said, “You need to know why I didn’t vote for you.” I continued to listen. Because of his experiences in the past, he had developed a spirit of prejudice and racism against black people. In essence, he was saying he didn’t vote for me because I was black. He began to weep and asked me if I would forgive him. I said it wasn’t a problem. He retorted, “Listen! You don’t understand. I really need you to forgive me. I don’t want the junk of prejudice and racism spilling over into my kids’ lives. I didn’t vote for you and I was wrong. God has been and is using your preaching to impact my life.”Wow! To His glory!

I realized what God was doing. This man heard God and was acting on what he heard. I forgave him. We hugged for a good while, weeping in one each other’s arms (Glad we weren’t in the men’s bathroom doing this – Smile! It was a joke). I was moved, humbled, and I rejoiced as I was reminded that God has me in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. God, thank you for using Malachi to help us see that: Correcting injustice in the world really does begin when we let God correct injustice in us. For His glory!

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I am always looking for powerful questions I can use or that my closest friends can use to edit and vet my life. Though I will add to this list, here is a list of questions that I think am going to settle on for a while. These questions were produced by the Church Multiplication Association.  The ten questions are as follows:

1. Have you been a testimony this week to the greatness of Jesus Christ with both your words and actions?

2. Have you been exposed to sexually alluring material or allowed your mind to entertain inappropriate thoughts about someone who is not your spouse this week?

3. Have you lacked any integrity in your financial dealings this week, or coveted something that does not belong to you?

4. Have you been honoring, understanding and generous in your important relationships this past week?

5. Have you damaged another person by your words, either behind their back or face-to-face?

6. Have you given in to an addictive behavior this week? Explain.

7. Have you continued to remain angry toward another?

8. Have you secretly wished for another’s misfortune so that you might excel?

9. Did you finish your reading this week and hear from the Lord? What are you going to do about it?

10. Have you been completely honest with me?

What do you think about these questions? Are there others you can add to this list? Do you have someone in your life who can edit your life with these questions?

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USC is imposing sanctions on its Men’s Basketball Team for violating NCAA rules involving former player O. J. Mayo. The university submitted to an internal investigation and found rules were violated during Mayo’s one season with the Trojans in 2007-08. The severe self-imposed sanctions include: 1) One year ban on postseason play, 2) a loss of one scholarship for this season and 2010-11 season, 3) a loss of one coach permitted to engage in off campus recruiting during the summer of 2010, 4) twenty less recruiting days allowed during the 2010-11 academic year, 5) vacation of its 21 victories during the 2007-08 season when Mayo competed, and 6) returning to the NCAA tournament money it received through the PAC-10 in 2008.

Athletic Director, Mike Garrett, said: “When we’ve done something wrong, we have an obligation to do something about it, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here.” I think it is commendable that USC was willing to suffer embarrassment and loss in order to maintain the integrity of its school and basketball program.

I wonder how different your life, my life, and our churches would be if we were that radical in maintaining the integrity and purity of our hearts before God and others. The way USC has handled these violations has caused me to ask several questions about when I violate God’s standards and when the integrity of my heart is at stake:

1. Am I willing to submit my life to a spiritual investigation by the Holy Spirit and God’s word?

2. Am I willing to acknowledge and confess the sins that God’s investigation reveals?

3. Am I willing to change my mind about that sin(s) and realign my behavior to meet God’s standards?

4. What radical inward and outward actions am I willing to take to prove my repentance?

5. What am I willing to lose to prove my repentance and to maintain the integrity and purity of my heart?

What other lessons can we learn from the USC saga? Are there other questions that we can ask to help us maintain integrity and purity of heart before God and others?

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I have been in ministry a number of years, serving in small, midsize, and large churches. There are ministry mine fields all over, and one misstep can ruin your family, ministry and influence that God has allowed you to develop. Here are some DANGERS to ministry leaders that I have observed over the years. Our ministries are in danger when:

1. We love ministry more than we love Jesus and the people to whom we minister.

2. We are busy with busyness than busy enjoying the joy of our salvation.

3. Our spouses and families get our leftover energy instead of our best selves.

4. Our spouses and children see more joy in our faces for ministry than for them.

5. We begin to believe and embrace our own press clippings.

6. Our primary motives for ministry are applause, recognition, and idolization from our peers.

7. We allow our accomplishments to cause us to accept and live with “reasonable” sins in our lives.

8. We allow our abilities and gifting to cause us to become less dependent on God.

9. We allow our addiction to success to cut our appetite for our desire for Jesus.

10 We allow work to replace solitude and activity to replace prayer.

11. We let the addiction to the praises of people to keep us from living the truth and convictions of God.

What other dangers to ministry leaders can you add to this list? With which danger(s) do you most identify? How can you guard yourself against these dangers in ministry?