My 4th Grade Goals, Continued

Here are the life goals I wrote when I was in the 4th grade:

1. Teach as much people about God.
2. Learn as much as I can about talking in front of other people.
3. Raise a good family.
4. Try to learn as much Scripture as I can.

I already gave the back-story of my 4th grade life goals HERE and explained the present significance of the first two. Now I want to explain the last two.

I want to raise a good family.

Again, it is amazing to me how the importance of family has developed as a significant theme in my life. It started with my own family. I grew up believing and experiencing that family is important.

My conviction deepened as I spent many years in youth ministry. I observed the spiritual maturity of young people and the fragmentation of the family unit. Many families were not unified and many parents were not taking any responsibility in training their children in the Lord. A desire was born in me to minister to the whole family, and especially parents, equipping them to disciple their children.

Then Dana and I started our own family. Wow, what a privilege and responsibility! We quickly came to the conclusion that the general attitude of our culture was not the way God views children. Children are a blessing, not a liability, an expense, or a burden. Having children and passing faith to them is a central part of God’s program. While we are not opposed to birth control, we have taken that program pretty seriously and now have nine children. Our calling now is to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, teaching them to love God.

Back row from left: Caleb (13), Dana holding Andrew, Matthew holding Isaac (2), Bethany (14).
Middle row: Nathaniel (7), Josiah (11), Hannah (10). Front: Kathryn (6), Samantha Ruby (3).

We also have had the privilege of helping to start a family integrated church in Boone, NC. A family integrated church is one in which there are no nurseries or classes for children to go to. The whole family worships together all morning. It hasn’t always been easy, and it certainly isn’t always quiet, but we love worshipping and learning together! The children get to be observers and real participants in the function of the church family and the parents are given the primary responsibility of leading and teaching their children.

I want to learn as much Scripture as I can.

My parents taught me to memorize and study God’s Word. My Dad taught me to teach God’s Word. My second master’s degree and Ph.D. are in Biblical Studies with a focus in New Testament. I love memorizing, studying, and teaching the Scripture. And there is still so much to learn!

God’s Word is how we learn the truth that sets us free. That is the entire purpose of my ministry:

I hope you can see now why this little paper, written 32 years ago, is so amazing to me. Not long after I gave my life Christ, he began to put in my heart his own desires for me.

“Not that I have already attained all this,
or have already been made perfect,
but I press on to take hold of that
for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
Phil 3:12

Do You Ever Feel Like a Fake? [Podcast #5]

I hate that horrible feeling I have when I am hiding something. I despise the tension in my spirit when I know I'm not living in integrity. Thank God I don't have to live that way! Having a peaceful, clear conscience is definitely one of the keys to being happy.

Podcast episode 5 continues the series on How to be Happy. If you have any questions or thoughts about this episode, please leave a comment on this post. You can also email me at matthew@truthtofreedom.org.

What You Need More Than Air [Podcast #4]

Podcast Episode 4 is the second half of last Sunday's teaching at Highland Christian Fellowship. It is another in the series, How to Be Happy. What is it that will make you happy? What is it that you need more than air?

Facing That One Thing You Hope God Doesn't Ask You to Do [Podcast #3]

This podcast is the first in a series called How to Be Happy. Through the series you will be guided through a sequence of steps to help you process all the desires and fears in your heart and understand how to find deep and lasting happiness in Jesus.

Here is the first step: make a list of answers to the following questions:

As we create our lists, we will ask ourselves if we trust God's plan for our lives. And we will face that one (or two or five) things we hope God won't ask us to do.

My 4th Grade Goals

I am amazed and humbled as I look at this 4th grade assignment that my Mom preserved in our family archives. Later she attached my school picture and framed it for me. Here are my life goals, according to 4th grade me:

1. Teach as much people about God.

2. Learn as much as I can about talking in front of other people.

3. Raise a good family.

4. Try to learn as much Scripture as I can.

I am amazed because this so accurately describes how God has led me through life and why I have established this Truth to Freedom teaching ministry.

I want to teach as many people as I can about God.

I have long believed that my spiritual gift was teaching. I gave my first sermon when I was seventeen years old. This was only a year after I accepted God’s call to give him my career for his service. I have been teaching ever since.

My great passion is to help people know Jesus Christ. I love to teach the truth of God’s Word so that God’s people can live a life of freedom (John 8:32). I want to see people learn to walk in intimate fellowship with Christ, live in victory over sin, and be equipped for a life of ministry. This is the mission of Truth to Freedom.

Intimacy. Victory. Ministry.

I want to learn as much as I can about public speaking.

I did not know in the 4th grade that I would major in communication at Appalachian State University. I did not know that I would earn two Master’s degrees in preparation for ministry with a particular focus in preaching. It is no accident that my father, Wayne McDill, was the senior preaching professor of the school I attended (SEBTS) for over 20 years and author of two books on sermon preparation and delivery. I did not know that I would return to Boone, NC to teach communication at Appalachian State.

And my journey is not over. I plan to spend the rest of my life as a public speaker, teaching God’s Word. I will continue to be a student of communication and public speaking, to be the best I can be at what God has called me to do.

In my next post, I will continue this little history by looking at my last two 4th grade goals.

Do You Have Super-Human Strength?

Are you finding it hard to live the Christian life? You want to be loving and kind, you want to be obedient and pure. But being like Jesus isn’t easy. It is no life for mere human strength.

Amazingly, we often reduce following Jesus to a human endeavor. We feel that we must try harder, be more disciplined, turn over a new leave, set some goals. These are great ideas, and I certainly do them. But these strategies are perfectly insufficient to transform us into all that we can be and do in Christ.

So how do we do it? How does it happen? Carefully read these astounding passages (emphasis added):

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” 2 Cor 9:8 ESV

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”  (1 Cor 15:10 ESV)

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  (Gal 2:20 ESV)

"For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me." (Col 1:29 ESV)

Here’s what you need to know and serve Christ: super-human strength.

Here is the good news: God stands ready to give you grace to make you able in all things at all times to love and serve him.

Workaholic for Christ

“Workaholic” is a bad word in the church. This is because we are often so consumed with our work that we neglect God and family. Work becomes god. This is no good, of course.

However, we must strive for balance (as usual). Significant parts of our culture have now replaced the god of work with the god of entertainment and leisure. I have written here about the warning from Prov 12:11: Avoid Worthless Pursuits.           

We see a very high value placed on work in the Bible. Just look at the Proverbs. Paul also consistently discussed work in his letters. In 2 Thess 3:6-15, Paul warned the believers to stay away from brothers who are idle. He then reminded them of his example:

“We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you” (2 Thess 3:7-8).

Paul sounds like a workaholic to me. But here is the important part: He was not leaving out God and ministry to people. In fact, he spoke the same way in reference to his ministry. “For three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears” (Acts 20:31). Paul was a workaholic for Christ.

Do you work hard to provide for yourself and others?
Do you work hard in serving the Lord? What is your ministry?
Do you have too much focus on entertainment and leisure?

You might be wondering: I’m already worn out! How can I do more?

Here are two ideas for later discussion:

1)    A healthy life includes rest and renewal. Are you resting? Is your non-work time renewing or depleting your energy?

2)    We do not work with our own strength for the Lord!

“For this (proclaiming Christ) I toil, struggling with ALL HIS ENERGY that he powerfully works within me” Col 1:28.

The Secret to Powerful Prayer [Podcast #2]

Sometimes prayer seems mysterious. When will God answer our prayers? What do we make of his promises to answer prayer (John 14:13-14; 15:7-11)? How can we learn to pray his will? If it is his will, why do we have to pray it?

Episode 2 of the Truth to Freedom Podcast is a recording of my teaching at Highland Christian Fellowship on Eph 6:19-20; Col 4:3-4. In these verses, Paul gives his prayer request to the Ephesians, a prayer for communicating the gospel. Not only do we learn what to pray, but we have the opportunity to dig into these challenging questions about prayer.

“1. If we ask him, God will provide opportunities to communicate the gospel (Col 4:3).

2. If we ask him, God will help us to communicate the gospel with boldness (Eph 6:19-20).

3. If we ask him, God will help us to know what to say when we communicate the gospel (Eph 6:19; Col 4:4).”