DAY 151

I pray you will be blessed today by these words from my most recent devotional, A Daily Encounter With God.


And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. —Jeremiah 18:4

Are you a broken vessel today?

As clay in the potter’s hands, we can get marred because of impurities in our lives. On the potter’s wheel, any foreign object in the clay can cause a fracture in the vessel.

Sometimes the potter must stop and remove the impurities before going on. Do you feel resistance in your life today? Maybe there is an impurity or reluctance that is keeping God from creating His masterpiece in you.

And maybe you’ve already been fractured. If you are a broken vessel today, you may be wondering, is it too late for me? Absolutely not!

If you will give God the broken pieces of your life, He’ll put you back together. But you must be willing to turn loose of the impurity or resistance.

When you do, today’s Scripture says the potter can make the vessel again. I’m so glad God is a God of a second chance, third chance, a tenth chance, and even a one-hundredth chance!

He gave Jacob another chance, Jonah another chance, Sampson another chance, Peter another chance ... and He’ll give you another chance, too

God can take you in your broken condition and make you over again!

GIVE GOD THE BROKEN PIECES OF YOUR LIFE SO THAT HE CAN REMAKE YOU IN THE VESSEL HE WANTS YOU TO BE.

Hometown Idol

Deb and I are big American Idol fans. We’ve been watching it since Season 3. Our favorite singer over the years has been Carrie Underwood. But, this is our favorite season; this year is special. Not only has the talent been amazing, but there’s one contestant in particular that we’re really pulling for—Kris Allen.

He is incredibly talented and genuinely humble, and he hails from my hometown of Conway, Arkansas! He’s put that little town on the map.

Photo Courtesy of New Life Church

But here’s the most important thing, Kris is a believer with a heart for worship and missions work. He’s helped lead worship at New Life Church in Little Rock and Conway the past six years. The way he’s carried himself the entire season with a quiet confidence says a lot about him … to millions of viewers every week. (What a platform!)

Whether or not he beats Adam Lambert — who was anointed the frontrunner early on — in the finale this week, Kris has a great future ahead of him and an even greater testimony.

Great Golf...Greater Cause

Every year for the past 19 years, I’ve carefully assembled a team of very good friends who happen to be great golfers for our Prestonwood Golf Classic.

The tourney benefits our Prestonwood Foundation, which during these tough economic times is providing assistance to a lot of people in the community with resume writing and career transition workshops and financial planning classes. Our foundation does much more. Proceeds from the tourney actually went toward our Global Missions Endowment, helping provide financial support to members who have a heart for missions but are unable to afford the cost of a short-term missions trip. So we were playing a great course for an even greater cause.

OK, some people say I’m intensely competitive. I don’t know about that, but I’ll tell you what, I don’t like to lose! So my four-person scramble, which included Jim Martin, John Cheney and David White, was built to win. We had a storm blow through yesterday morning but by our afternoon tee time it had cleared up and we were ready to play the Hills Course at Prestonwood Country Club. (FYI, for those of you who live outside the area—our church doesn’t own this course, it just happens to be nearby.)

We played a great round and finished tied for first. But, it appears that one of our young ministers recruited a couple of ringers and his team won by a scorecard playoff. Needless to say, that young minister is no longer employed at Prestonwood!

Just joking. We (220 of us) had a great time, and we helped raise more than $10,000 toward our missions endowment. It doesn’t get much better than that. (Well, except maybe winning.)

Graduation Day

At Prestonwood this weekend, we recognized our high school seniors who are just a couple of weeks away from graduation day. (Remember those days? For some of us it’s been decades!) I brought the message “Graduation Day” from my series Eternity Now. Here’s the thing, this message is for everyone because a much greater graduation awaits us. Eternity begins now ... it begins today ... as we look forward to that graduation day when we are in the presence of the Lord.

Where Are You Spending Eternity?

This is from the “Daily Word” devotional I send out to thousands of people each morning. The message is so critical, I wanted to post it and provide you the opportunity to share with friends and family. If you’d like to receive my devos, please visit powerpoint.org to sign up.

“It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” —Hebrews 9:27

The Bible says so much about the brevity of life and the necessity of preparing for eternity.

Because the fact is, you and I will spend eternity somewhere, either in heaven or hell. And we must recognize and accept the brevity of life and the severity and the gravity of choices today.

There are no exceptions. There are no retreats from the appointment that we each have. It is appointed by God himself.

I believe that there are perimeters and boundaries to every life that God established before we were born. Now, scientists may say that we are genetically programmed… that each one of us has a genetic composition that is programmed for life and for death.

But let me tell you. It isn’t just scientific programming, but rather God himself programmed each of us. And so we must each face God and we must each face eternity. We are not going to live forever on this earth and we must come to grips with what God has to say to us about being saved.

Are you ready to meet him? You can take the first steps of preparing for eternity right now by repenting of your sins and asking him into your heart right now.

THERE ARE NO RETREATS FROM THE APPOINTMENT THAT YOU HAVE. IT IS APPOINTED BY GOD HIMSELF.

Ready for Some Football?

If you’re a diehard football fan, you’re likely ready for some football right about now … so you stayed glued to the TV watching the NFL draft this weekend hoping your favorite team picked up some franchise players. (Of course, we Dallas Cowboys fans didn’t have to watch the first day of the draft since we didn’t get our first pick until the 3^rd round! But that’s a whole other story...)

Well, if you want more football and you live in the Dallas area, you won’t want to miss PowerLunch on Tuesday. Todd Graham, one of college football’s premier coaches, will be joining us at the weekly gathering we host that features great guest speakers.

Now, Todd’s not related to me, but I sure don’t mind people thinking that he is! Todd has led the University of Tulsa to consecutive 10-win seasons. Before that, he led Rice University to its first bowl berth in 45 years, which earned him Conference USA Coach of the Year honors. At Tulsa, they love him so much that in January he signed a 10-year deal. Not many coaches get that kind of security!

We love him, too. I’ve known Todd since 1996, when he was coaching at Allen High School, where my son Josh played. He led Allen to five playoff berths in six seasons. More importantly, he was a great coach and mentor to a lot of boys.

Come join us and learn about leadership from one of the most successful leaders I know.

PowerPoint Ministries Anniversary

This is a special time in the history of PowerPoint Ministries. We are celebrating our 15^th anniversary! And we do so with the awareness and the gratefulness that God has blessed this ministry exceedingly abundantly above anything we could have imagined.

When my wife, Deb, and I had the vision for this ministry, we wanted to take the Gospel message preached in the Prestonwood pulpit beyond the walls of our church. Through various partnerships we are able to proclaim the Word of God in the Dallas area and to the ends of the earth through television, radio and the Internet. As today’s technology continues advancing at breakneck speed, we anxiously await all that He will do through PowerPoint.

I am grateful for the support of listeners and viewers like you! I am always so encouraged by the many e-mails and calls we receive about softened hearts and changed lives that have come from hearing the life-transforming Word of God.

Thank you for joining us on this journey as we continue to carry the story of salvation to a lost and hurting world.

(It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years! View one of our first PowerPoint messages below.)