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    Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned - 20th Anniversary Edition: But I Have Several Excellent Excuses
    Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned - 20th Anniversary Edition: But I Have Several Excellent Excuses
    Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned - 20th Anniversary Edition: But I Have Several Excellent Excuses
    Ebook152 pages4 hours

    Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned - 20th Anniversary Edition: But I Have Several Excellent Excuses

    By Rev. James W. Moore

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    About this ebook

    In the past 20 years, this book has never been out or print. Celebrate this milestone Abingdon has created this Anniversary Edition!  

    James W. Moore is a master storyteller. Individuals and groups across the country have read and enjoyed his books and what they reveal to us about God and our selves. In  this book, Moore observes that people often give lame excuses for their arrogance, dishonesty, hostility, and presumptuousness. He challenges readers to recognize such situations and to grow beyond them. He addresses such “sins” as half-heartedness, spiritual arrogance,  deception, overreaction, hostility, presumptuousness, losing spiritual balance, and more. He also discusses the joys of redemption and grace.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDimensions for Living
    Release dateMar 1, 2012
    ISBN9781426741159
    Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned - 20th Anniversary Edition: But I Have Several Excellent Excuses
    Author

    Rev. James W. Moore

    James W. Moore (1938–2019) was an acclaimed pastor and ordained elder in The United Methodist Church. He led congregations in Jackson, TN; Shreveport, LA; and Houston, TX. The best-selling author of over 40 books, including Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned, But I Have Several Excellent Excuses, he also served as minister-in-residence at Highland Park United Methodist Church.

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      Book preview

      Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned - 20th Anniversary Edition - Rev. James W. Moore

      Image1Image2

      Abingdon Press

      Nashville

      Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned,

      But I Have Several Excellent Excuses

      Copyright © 1991, 2012 by Abingdon Press

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Permissions, The United Methodist Publishing House, P.O. Box 801, 201 Eighth Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37202-0801 or permissions@umpublishing.org.

      This book is printed on acid-free paper.

      Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been requested from the Library of Congress.

      ISBN 978-1-4267-4097-8

      Scripture quotations noted CEB are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by the Common English Bible. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

      (www.CommonEnglishBible.com)

      Scripture at the beginning of chapters is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

      That noted NEB is from the New English Bible © The Delegates of the Oxford

      University Press and The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press 1961, 1970. Reprinted by permission.

      Those noted KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

      Many Scripture quotations are the author's own version.

      12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21—10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

      MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

      For my family at home

      and my special friends in the church

      who have shared with me

      the incredible good news

      of God's amazing grace

      Foreword

      As I read the original manuscript of Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned, But I Have Several Excellent Excuses, I was deeply impressed by the spiritual insights of my good friend Jim Moore. He deals with the sins that are most common in our churches and among Christians, and I felt pangs of guilt. However, he does not leave us on the floor of despair.

      This book is not one that condemns but one that brings hope and joy. It is about God's grace. These pages give us insight into our failures, but they also point out the paths to inner satisfaction and joy.

      In the Bible we read about the Pharisees, and Dr. Moore has written a book that those Pharisees needed to read. They would have understood themselves better.

      And we Christians today need to read this book, to better understand our silence, our halfheartedness, our rationalizations. We need the clear and loving answers Dr. Moore has given us— answers that inspire and lift us up, that challenge us and call us to deeper faith and commitment.

      Jim Moore's personal friendship is a blessing to me. He is a kind and loving minister who understands people. As a preacher in the pulpit and over television and radio, Jim inspires great numbers of people and is heard with appreciation by various groups across America. I am glad he wrote Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned, But I Have Several Excellent Excuses.

      —Charles L. Allen

      Contents

      New Introduction

      1. Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned,

      But I Have Several Excellent Excuses!

      2. The Sin of Just Talking a Good Game

      3. The Sins That Reduce Us to Shameful Silence

      4. The Sin of Halfheartedness

      5. The Sin of Spiritual Arrogance

      6. The Sins That Are Deceptive

      7. The Sin of Overreaction

      8. The Sin of Hostility

      9. The Sin of Presumptuousness

      10. The Sin of Losing Our Spiritual Balance

      11. Sin . . . and Redemption

      12. Sin . . . and Grace

      Leader's Guide

      New Introduction

      Create a clean heart for me, God;

      put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!

      Please don't throw me

      out of your presence;

      please don't take your holy spirit

      away from me.

      Return the joy of your salvation to me

      and sustain me with a willing spirit....

      A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God.

      You won't despise a heart, God,

      that is broken and crushed.

      (Psalm 51:10-12, 17, CEB)

      Since 1988 (with the help, support, and encouragement of my good friends at Abingdon Press), I have had the distinct privilege and honor of writing a number of books. Because of that, people will sometimes ask me, Which of your books is your personal favorite? When I hear that question, I usually have three thoughts jump into my mind.

      First, I think of my friend and colleague Dr. Charles Allen, who was a best-selling author. When Dr. Allen was asked this question about which of his books was his personal favorite, he would always mention the one most recently published and then, great marketer that he was, he would give an impressive sales pitch about his latest book. He was always promoting and selling his latest book and he did it very well!

      Second, I think about how much that question, Which of your books is your favorite? is like asking me, Which one of your grandchildren is your favorite? They are all my favorites. Each one of our five grandchildren is special and precious and uniquely valuable to me. I prize and treasure and cherish each one of them. The same thing is true with my books. Each one is special to me, although of course not as special as the grandchildren. Nothing compares to grandchildren.

      Third, I think about how I usually respond to that question. The actual truth is that when I am asked about my favorite book, I usually answer like this: "Oh, I couldn't begin to pick a favorite book. They are all like members of my family. I love them all, each in his or her own unique way. However, I will tell you that the one of my books that has sold the most copies is without question Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned, But I Have Several Excellent Excuses."

      I think a big part of the book's success is in the title. The title actually comes from a quote in Tolstoy's classic novel War and Peace. When the main character, Pierre, is forced to make a candid evaluation of his life, he says it for all of us: Yes, Lord, I have sinned, but I have several excellent excuses! When I discovered that quote, I knew that it would be a great book title. I knew that people would be drawn to those words. I knew that people would buy the book because of that title. However, we ran into a problem. We were concerned that we could not get that many words on the book cover. But then, one of Abingdon Press's senior editors, Mary Catherine Dean, did a brilliant thing. She challenged an artist to find a way to get all of those words on the cover, and he succeeded! Thankfully, he did and the book has done very well over all of these twenty years.

      Yes, we have sinned and we all have a number of excellent excuses, alibis, self-justifications, procrastinations, and rationalizations, but even more,...even more, ...we have a God who loves us and who constantly reaches out to us with mercy, forgiveness, and amazing grace—and that's what this book is all about.

      -James W. Moore

      1

      Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned,

      But I Have Several

      Excellent Excuses!

      Luke 14:15-24 One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, Blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God! Then Jesus said to him, "Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.' Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.'

      Another said, 'I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.' So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.' And the slave said, 'Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.' Then the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.' "

      I don't know if you have noticed this, but we are living in very frank times! Nothing is kept under wraps anymore; we will admit to almost anything. We see people on national television laughing at their numerous marriage failures, admitting they are living together without being married, having children out of wedlock, openly telling of their use of drugs and alcohol. And are you ready for this?—the audience laughs and applauds! Our problem is not that we hesitate to admit anything; our problem is that we are learning how to justify everything! We have excellent excuses for anything we want to do!

      One of my favorite TV actors is Jack Klugman. I especially enjoyed his award-winning portrayal of the sloppy but lovable Oscar, on the long-running and successful comedy series The Odd Couple. Later, Klugman became star of the dramatic series Quincy, in which he played a medical examiner. In one of those episodes, there is a powerful dramatic scene in which Quincy confronts a doctor who had done a terrible thing and tried to cover it up. Quincy exposes the doctor's destructive deed, underscoring the fact that what the doctor did was not only illegal but also morally wrong.

      The doctor is embarrassed; he winces and stammers a bit, then stands up from his desk and says, I'm a busy man. I don't have time to talk about this now, so if you will please excuse me.

      Quincy comes back with this penetrating response: "Doctor, I don't have the power to excuse you or what you have done. The question is, Can you excuse yourself?"

      I don't know about that doctor, but what I have seen convinces me that we have become powerfully proficient at excusing ourselves. We have become amazingly eloquent at justifying our wrongdoings, excusing our worst sins.

      At one point in Tolstoy's novel War and Peace, the main character Pierre is forced

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