Marc Estes

I think it is safe to say that our generation is very open to spiritual things but due to the culture in which we live, there is a world of conflicting beliefs that cause one to be suspect to the idea that only one religion holds the real truth. In sharing the truth with others, it is imperative to how we share, not just what we share.

For the most part, I have found that what turns people off in a religous dialogue is not the topic in as much as it is the tone. Many today feel that Christians are simply close minded and arrogant. What they are resisting is not necessarily the truth, but the deliverer.

When people are assessing your comments they aren’t saying, “what is truth?” but maybe saying, “do I want to be like you?” They very well may be thinking, “If I want to be like you, then I will consider what you are telling me. If I don’t like the way you are, I really don’t give a rip about anything you are saying, because if what you are saying is true, that means I most likely will have to become like you.”

With all that being said, the messenger plays almost as crucial as a role as the message itself. The truth will be measured not in what we say, but how we live it out in our lives. Truth is more than just facts. Live like you feel the world should live and you just might find that your message has a new found impact to it.

On Saturday night, I spoke to our young adults group and shared my testimony. At the end of our time together I answered a bunch of questions, one of them asked was, “How do I personally keep myself accountable as a pastor?” I shared that over the years, I have met with a group of guys and we have asked each other the following questions on a weekly basis. I received many requests for these seven questions and promised to post them. Here they are:

1. Have you spend adequate time in prayer and in the Word daily?
2. Did you accomplish things of eternal significance each day?
3. Have you spent quality time with your family this week?
4. Have you put yourself in a vulnerable or compromising situation with a person of the opposite sex at anytime this week?
5. Have you exposed yourself to any sexually explicit literature, music, or movies this week? How has your thought life been?
6. Have you compromised in your financial integrity in any manner?
7. Have you just lied to me in any of the above six questions?