Tommy Mann

Who do you share your secrets with? If we have something that we do not want to get spread around, we are very careful who we tell. Our secrets are usually reserved for our closest and most trusted friends. Did you know that God has secrets?    The KJV rendering of Psalm 25:14 reads like this: “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.”   What is this secret that God shares with the ones who fear Him? It is not some deep mystery or hidden Bible code. The secret is used as a metaphor. The ESV translates the same verse this way: “The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.”   The Hebrew word that is translated as secret (KJV) and friendship (ESV) describes a company of persons in close deliberation, and by implication, intimacy. In other words, this word paints a picture of people that are so close to each other that they trust each other with sensitive information.  ...

In the upper room on the night that Jesus was arrested He asked the disciples this rhetorical question: “For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table (Luke 22:27)?”   The question is rhetorical because everyone knew the answer. The one sitting at the table is considered to be greater than the one serving the table. The rich sit at a table in their house while their butler attends to their needs. When we go to a fancy restaurant we get a feel for that. Have you ever gone to one of those nice steakhouses, the kind of place where you get dressed up, sit in a dimly lit room, and hear soft music playing in the background?    At those types of restaurants we expect good service because we are paying for it. We can even get a sense of self-importance, thinking that the wait staff is beneath us. After all, they wouldn’t even have a job if it weren’t for patrons like us. We’re doing them a favor! Some people treat the...

  I read about a businessman who had an idea for a book. The title was going to be  A Million Thanks,  and the book was just going to say “Thanks” one million times. The idea was not to sell the book, but to hand them out for free to his clients as his unique way of expressing his gratitude for their business. He submitted the title to the Library of Congress to obtain the rights to his book.   But the Library of Congress responded by saying, “Thanks, but no thanks.” It is not possible to copyright just a single word, even if it is used a million times. I love what this demonstrates—that no one owns the exclusive rights to “thanks.” Being thankful is in the public domain; no one will get in trouble for saying thank you.    That means we all can and should be thankful people, and more than that, we should express our gratitude often. We should regularly say thank you to those who bless us, whether it is our Sunday school teachers, the ones who work with our ...

What are spiritual gifts? We talk about them a lot in our churches. We ask people if they know what their spiritual gift is, and if so, are they using their gift. We pass out spiritual gift inventory assessments to help people discern their gift. Spiritual gifts are simply gifts—or skills—that the Holy Spirit gives believers to use for God’s glory.    There are many spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament. In fact, there are lists in four different passages. But the lists are not identical in each passage (Ephesians 4, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and 1 Peter 4). There is some overlap, but there are unique gifts in each list as well. I believe this teaches us that there is not a rigid list of gifts. For example, in our modern society there are people who are gifted technologically, working in the AV ministry, the church website, social media, and graphic design. These are not gifts mentioned by the Apostle Paul, but they could very well be gifts given by the Holy Spirit fo...