Happy Birthday Robert

Today is Robert's 9th Bday....have a great day Robert we love you

Celebrate Christmas?

Some Christians believe that any association with Christmas is wrong.
I want to share some thoughts this morning about Christians and Christmas that I’ve wanted to share all my life.
Why do people, especially Christians, oppose Christmas when you would think we are the ones who would celebrate it most of all?
Usually the objections sound like this;

1. THE WHOLE CHRISTMAS SEASON SMACKS WITH PAGANISM- we do not know the date or year Jesus was born. Most Christians celebrate December 25 but the Eastern Orthodox celebrates Christmas January 6 and the Armenian Church celebrates Christmas January 19th. Even in Christendom there is not agreement of the day Jesus was born.
How did December 25th get chosen? Well in the early days of the church the pagans had winter solstice. It was a season of partying, drunkenness, and orgies. The Bishops in the 4th century wanted to change that so December 25th was the height of the solstice so they bishops converted it and made it a Christ Mass. That is why the church began in celebrate December 25th as the Birth of Christ.
It is a fact that many of the trappings of Christmas like Trees, wreaths, and gifts actually have their origin in pagan customs. That is why some people say we shouldn’t celebrate Christmas because it smacks of paganism. The reality is those things have long been forgotten and they carry no significance for people today.
Now if you are going to be consistent about that logic I should preach “Ladies, don’t wear earrings.” Because pagans wore them on their ears to ward off false Gods and if you wear them you believe in idols too.
Meat sacrificed to idols- some still believed in idols and wouldn’t eat the meat. Paul said if you don’t believe in idols and don’t think about it go ahead and eat the meat there is nothing wrong with it. I don’t think about false gods when I put up a tree or wrap gifts and if you don’t go ahead and celebrate.
It is true much of the origin of Christmas came out of Paganism. Let me remind you, when God looked down to choose a day for his son to be born there were not any clean days to choose. Their whole world was pagan that is why we needed Jesus. They were all dirty days.

2. NO COMMAND IN THE BIBLE TO CELEBRATE JESUS BIRTH- True. Just because something is not expressly commanded in the bible doesn’t mean it is forbidden. Why is this argument never made about thanksgiving or Mother’s Day? There is no command in the bible to take a day out of the year and honor our mothers.
Did you know that God never commanded the feast of Purim that is celebrated in Esther 9 when the people defeated the evil Mordecai? But the Jews still celebrated it and so did Jesus.
God never commanded the feast of dedications in John 10. Started during the Maccabes. Jesus in John 10 is in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Dedication.
The idea that you can’t have a celebration because God didn’t command it doesn’t carry weight in the bible.

3. THINK ABOUT JESUS’ BIRTH MORE THAN JUST ONCE A DAY- DUH!!! When God commanded Passover he didn’t say think about it once a year and the rest of the year forget about it. God wants us to think about what he has done all year long, but he realizes there is value in taking a specific time of year and rekindle in your heart the joy of what God has done for you in a specific deed and that is why God gave us the specific feast and that is why we celebrate holidays.

4. CHRISTMAS HAS BEEN DISTORTED BY MATERIALISM AND SECULARISM- Of course it has. Why should we be surprised that Satan would try to pervert a celebration as significant as Christmas? Realize that only valuable things ever get counterfeited.
Has anyone ever come up to you and said; “You want to see my stash of brown paper bags?” We don’t counterfeit paper bags. But, have you ever seen a counterfeit diamond? Have you ever seen a counterfeit Christian?
We only counterfeit the things that are valuable.
So why should we be surprised that something as powerful and wonderful as the birth of Christ would get counterfeited by the devil?

It seems that the churches responsibility is to keep Christmas a converted holiday. Refuse all efforts to squeeze Christ out of Christmas. Bottom line is Romans 14:5-6a; “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers everyday alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord.” So my word to you is, if you are going to celebrate Christmas keep Christ in it.

Everything Happens for A Reason? (Part 1)

There is a spiritual urban legend that has gone around for years. If you have been in Church or been around church in your life you have heard it and when you hear it you will say, "That's not an urban legend. That's true, I have proof." This urban legend is one that usually comes up in the midst of a tragedy, a difficult time, a death or a loss, a breakup or a divorce. Like have you ever had something bad happen to you and people come up to you, and they're well intentioned, they mean good, they're trying to be helpful, and they say things like:

- God must be up to something.

- God doesn't make mistakes.

- You must be very special for God to trust you with this.

- Won't it be great to see how God uses this?

- Isn't it good to know that everything happens for a reason?

Basically each of these statements contain this Urban Legend: Everything happens for a reason. Now on the surface that sounds good, doesn't it. It's supposed to bring comfort when bad things happen. Actually, that's usually when we hear this statement. Your dad dies: Everything happens for a reason. Your boyfriend or girlfriend breaks up with you: Everything happens for a reason. Your dog runs away: Everything happens for a reason. But is that really true? Does everything really happen for a reason? Now, in one sense, when people say these things to us they are absolutely right. No matter what happens, God is in control. He is the King of the universe. He's a good God.



But that in no way, shape or form means that he's the direct cause of everything that happens. It doesn't mean that everything that happens in our lives is something that he wants to happen. It certainly doesn't mean that everything that he allows to happen is good.

Think about it: God did not cause Satan to rebel. God did not cause Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. God did not cause David to sleep with Bathsheba. God did not force the Roman soldiers to kill Jesus. Or think about this: When the Nazi's killed 6 million Jews, did that happen for a reason? When the Tsunami killed 150,000 Indonesians, did that happen for a reason? Did 9/11 happen for a reason?

Let's make it more personal. Did you're parents getting a divorce happen for a reason? Did your breakup with your boyfriend or girlfriend happen for a reason? Did the abuse that happened to you when you were a kid happen for a reason? Was God behind all of that? Does everything that happens happen for a reason?



Many of you are thinking of Romans 8:28 rignt now. This is a verse that is used in funerals, or when tragedy strikes, to bring comfort to those who are suffering. But does it really say that everything happens for a reason?

No verse gets misquoted more often when it comes to trying to make sense out of life's trials. Christians and non Christians who have a nodding acquaintance with the Bible quote it more than all the other verses combined. It's the favorite proof text for the everything-is-good-if-you-wait-long-enough crowd. It's plastered on coffee mugs, posters, greeting cards, and all kinds of Jesus junk.

But Romans 8:28 doesn't say or mean what most people think it does. In fact, as we're going to see, it doesn't even apply to a large percentage of those who turn to it for comfort.



The verse in KJV says: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." THe KJV is more confusing that accurate. The verse does not say that everything is good but that God works in all things.



This promise for a specific kind of person. It's a person who's supposed to meet two important criteria. What are they? They are to be someone who (1) Loves God, and (2) has been called according to his purpose. Now who is that? Who are those people?

Jesus is pretty clear about what a person who loves God is. Look at this verse in John 14:15, this is Jesus talking: If you love me, you will obey what I command. So you tell me, what characterizes somebody who loves God? Obedience. So first, this verse applies to those who are obedient, because that's what it means to love God. Second, that phrase, who have been called according to his purpose, refers to those people who have become followers or disciples of Jesus.That leaves out a lot of people. That may leave you out. It leaves out the person you work with who has no interest in spiritual things but just found out she had her third miscarriage. God loves her, yes. God has a preferred future for her if and when she turns to Jesus. But Romans 8:28 has nothing to say to her present heartache. These conditions also leave out the really nice guy who lives next door to you, who you've been trying to witness to, you've been inviting him to church, who lost his job a month ago and may have to foreclose on his house. When you tell him that God must have something better for him, it might make both him and you feel better, but it's wishful thinking. God doesn't promise that to those who aren't followers of Jesus, no matter how nice they are. Some Christians are even left out of this. Like, if you are living in deliberate disobedience to God in some area of your life, God doesn't promise that he's going to step in and fix the mess that your disobedience has created.



Larry Osborne talks of a time when he was meeting with the parents of a Pregnant Teen. They wanted to know how to best handle the situation. At one point they said, "We're not sure why God let this happen, but it is good to know he has a reason." Well unless we're dealing with another virgin birth God didn't have anything to do with it.



He tells of a former drug addict friend of his. He was now a Christian but was struggling with the symptoms of Hepatitis C. The onslaught of his disease is not a good thing. It is not God's blessing in disguise. It is the tragic consequences of past actions. Actions he regret, actions he has been forgiven for but ones he is paying for.



There is beauty and promise in Romans 8:28, but it's not that everything that happens to us is good and is from God. It's that no matter what happens to us or how bad things get that God's ultimate and eternal purposes won't be foiled. And for those who love God, who are obedient to him, and who have been called according to his purpose, God can take tragedy and bad things and overcome them.

Spiritual Urban Legends

Over the last weeks at Church we have been trying to debunk some popular Urban Legends that we as Christians believe even though there is not proof of any of them being biblical.

Spiritual Urban Legends are just like secular urban legends. It is a belief, story, assumption, or truism that gets passed around as fact. It most cases the source is a friend, a Sunday school class, a Bible study, a devotional, a book, or even a sermon. They sound plausible, come from a reputable source and they are often accepted without question and then quickly passed on. Then they take on a life of their own. They become almost impossible to refute because “everyone” knows their true. Anyone who dares to write them off is dead spiritually speaking or they lack faith or they are liberal.

The first here is "Faith can Fix Anything" The word on the street is that faith is a potent mixture of intellectual and emotional self-control that when properly harnessed can literally change outcomes through positive thinking and clear visualization. It is why people say they are successful. It is why when our team is down five runs with two outs in the ninth inning we’re not supposed to think negatively. WE are supposed visualize a big inning.

One myth that comes from these legends is that if you have enough faith then you can be successful in life.
There’s a group of well know TV type preachers that say that faith is really a positive mental outlook that has the power to change our reality.
They include Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Morris Cerello, Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, and a number of others.
I only mention their names because they’re on the public airwaves, their books are bestsellers, and they influence a lot of people.

If I say something publicly obviously it’s up for scrutiny. The same is true for these guys.
Here’s a basic synopsis of their teaching:
1. God creates by using His faith through the power of spoken words.

2. Man is a "little god" capable of creating in the same fashion as did God.

3. Man, through faith-filled words, creates or causes to come to pass that which is spoken. Thus by one's spoken words health/healing and wealth/prosperity are created.

The bottom line is that if you just have enough faith you can fix your whole life. No more sickness, financial problems, or family problems.
Have faith, say the right words, and your whole life will all work out the way you want it to. The myth is that everything will be OK if you just have enough faith. Not necessarily faith in anything of substance, just kind of a generic faith in faith. Have faith that life will always work out and your positive attitude will be a self-fulfilling wish. Unfortunately, this kind of hopeful thinking has nothing in common with what the Bible calls faith. The Bible defines faith this way, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." This is the only place in the New Testament where we’re give a definition of faith. You might say it’s more a description of the characteristics of faith.

Faith is the firm ground we stand on because it’s based on what God has promised us.
Faith isn’t nebulous, it’s not uncertain, it’s not what ever you want it to be, it’s the present essence of a future reality. So faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We know that Faith is what pleases God. You have to believe that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him. You want to please God there is only one way and that is Faith. But can faith fix everything.

So then, if I have real faith in God will He fix all my problems? Can I create my own reality by positive thinking?

32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35Women received back their dead, raised to life again.

There’s some people in the Bible who had some great victories over what seemed like impossible odds. Their stories are compelling. Their true. There’s so many lessons we can learn from them. We don’t have time to look at each of these individuals in detail but lets just look at what happened to one, Gideon.
Gideon was a military commander in Israel around 1250 BC. T
he country had been invaded by the Midianites. God says, Gideon, you’re my man to drive the Midianites out. Gideon said, “Who am I? I’m a nobody.” God said, “That’s the point. This one’s going to be all about Me,” and just so there was no mistake he whittled down Gideon’s army from 32,000 men to 300 men. Gideon’s men were outfitted with only two weapons, trumpets and pitchers with torches inside. They surrounded the Midianite camp and on cue all broke their pitchers, held up their torches and blew their trumpets. Judges 7:22 says, When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the LORD set every man’s sword against his companion throughout the whole camp.
The Midianites were routed and God got all the glory. Theres plenty of accounts like that in the Bible. Sometimes I think we make the mistake of only teaching those kinds stories to our kids.

Sunday School lessons are full of these wonderful accounts of God miraculously answering prayer and everybody living happily ever after. Then our kids got a little older and they see that those aren’t the norm and they begin to doubt that what they were taught was true after all.

We need to give them the whole story. Don’t stop in the middle of verse 35 or you’ll get an unrealistic picture. Because we have enough faith doesn’t mean that we won’t have heartaches, sorrows, and disappointments in our lives.


Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned[f]; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
For every one in the Bible who was brought back from the dead millions have died. One guy was delivered from the mouths of lions but tens of thousands of others met their death by the lions.

I’m excited about the promise that I’m going to heaven when I die because Jesus Christ paid for my sins. And when I do it will be great to talk to Gideon, and Barak, and David.

No question about it. But there’s another bunch of men and women that I’m even more anxious to meet. That’s the others. The others who didn’t get the miraculous deliverance. The others who remained faithful to the point of death. The others who didn’t give up on God because He didn’t do life their way. Sometimes God rescues people who are on the brink of death. Sometimes He miraculously heals people. Sometimes He straightens out the hard stuff in a person’s life and it all works out the way the wanted it to.

But those are the exceptions not the rule. The exceptions are there to remind us that God’s very much alive and well but then we’re called to live by faith. Faith may not fix all of our problems but there’s some things faith will do.
Faith will connect us to God. John 1:12-13 “12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent,[a] nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.”

Notice how clear the Bible is. If we’re going to be connected to God, if we’re going to be His children, born in His family we need to receive Him. The way we do that is to believe in His name. It’s by faith. The words “believe” and “faith” are used 500 times in the Bible. There are 150 verses in the New Testament that say salvation is by faith.


We come to God by faith, we connect to God by faith, and we please God by faith.
So faith may not fix all our problems but it connects us to God and number two, it guides us through life.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding:
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
God and His truth will guide us. We’ll know what to do and what not to do. We’ll know how to respond even when life doesn’t play out the way we would have ordered it.
Are you a person of faith today? If it’s a biblical faith you’re not going to believe that you’ll always be healthy, wealthy, and happy in life. But you will believe that God not only exists, but He’s active in our world and in our lives doing what He knows is best for eternity.

Isaiah Charles Sullivan is here. He was born last night at 9:12 and Weighed 8 lbs and 7 ounces. He was 21.5 inches long. He is perfect

Best Video Ever

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Snow Cartoon

Love this Calvin and Hobbes snow cartoon. Thanks for the inspiration Wade

This Says it all

This sign knows as much as the teachers on TV do

Internal Auditing

Did you hear about the IRS worker who was given notice that he was being laid off and who then mailed twenty good friends large, undeserved tax refund checks? Or did you hear about the hospital administrator, about to lose his job, who reduced the bills of several prominent patients by several thousand dollars? Or how about the just-fired defense contractor who changed five-hundred-dollar screw orders to five dollars? Each made many new friends as a result and thereby received several new job offers.
I don’t know if those events ever really happened. But they are somewhat parallel to a story Jesus once told. It’s found in Luke 16:1-13.

When you read our Lord’s sermons and parables, you are struck with the fact that He had a great deal to say about material wealth. He ministered to people who, for the most part, were poor and who thought that acquiring more wealth was the solution to all their problems. Jesus was not blind to the needs of the poor, and by His example and teaching, He encouraged His followers to share what they had with others. The early church was a fellowship of people who willingly shared their possessions with the less fortunate (Acts 2:44–47; 4:33–37).

Craig Blomberg says "Of all of Jesus’ parables, this is probably the most puzzling. It is certainly the one on which more scholarly ink has been spilled than any other. It deals with one of Jesus’ favorite themes—the right uses of riches. But that, too, makes it particularly difficult to preach on in the twenty-first-century Western world, in which so many Christian leaders who talk about money simply harangue their listeners for more, abuse the Scriptures’ teaching on the topic, or (precisely because of others’ abuse) think that finances are not a topic to be discussed in public at all. Jesus avoided the twin dangers of abuse and silence. Approximately one-fifth of all his teaching was about money matters. And so, despite the difficulty of the passage, despite the possible unpopularity of the theme, it’s one we dare not run away from." I agree

Now first we need to understand the story. This man is a steward. The Stewards task was to manage what belonged to another. Trustworthiness is the essential characteristic needed. Apparently this man wasn’t very good at his job. He wasn’t dishonest just not very responsible. The word wasted in the text is the same word used of the Prodigal son in Luke 15. He did not know how to manage money well and the owner was taking a hit for letting this man have the job. So the master says I am going to fire you so make an account for your successor.

The Point of the parable is God knows whether or not you care about eternal riches or temporary riches by how you use money.

Three critical warnings Jesus gives us about money:
Money is a Tool (8-9)- 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwelling. Jesus sees money as a God that demands our allegiance. He does not tell us to disdain money but to capture money, subdue it and to use money for kingdom purposes. We need to examine our objectives that we have for money. What are we using our money to do?

Money is a Trust- 10"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?”

God owns everything. Good stewards must understand that what he manages he does not own.
Have you ever heard ________ _________ died a millionaire.The Bible says that is wrong. Nobody dies a millionaire. You die like you were born, with nothing.

Money is a Test (13) 13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” You cannot serve two masters. Serve money and do other things. But not money and God. Money is a test of your ultimate allegiance. Here is where the people of the world are wiser than us. They only serve one God. Mammon. We try to serve them both.

Are you ready for my accounting of your Stewardship? So who is your master? I hope and pray that it is God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that an objective outsider, say an accountant, could recognize that fact if he or she were to examine your family budget, your checkbook ledger, and your credit card statements, particularly in comparison with your average non-Christian neighbor. We have recovery groups for people struggling with addictions of all different kinds. We have accountability groups for people who are not addicted but need fellow believers to keep them on the right track with respect to sex or alcohol or eating. Perhaps we need to begin to add to our recovery and accountability groups people who will ask us the hard questions about our expenditures, about our shopping, about how much we don’t really need to have. That would free up enormous resources for kingdom work. That would truly make us shrewd stewards.

Happy Birthday Jonathan

Today our oldest son Jonathan is 11 years old. Just in time for Isaiah to make his arrival.

The Fool Test

When a disaster strikes people begin to look at their lives in a different perspective. The earth quake in Haiti has seen this. We begin to count our blessings and see what is really important. Jesus said, “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Several times people have expressed that “I have lost everything, but I am still alive.” Morris Womack “The search for meaning in life is all too often tied up in the worldly possessions.” “Almost everything you have can be taken away from you; only that which is within you is secure.” Our hope in Christ, our faith, the way we manage our lives, how we view what we have are all great determinants of what life is really about for each of us.

In Luke 12 Jesus tells the story of the "Rich Fool." As he is teaching he is interuppted by a man wanting Jesus to mediate an inheritance dispute between brothers. Jesus has no desire to be involved in this. He knows the real problem between these brothers is greed and no answer he can give will cure that.

He tells the story about a man who has a great harvest and needs to build more barns to hold all his crop.Then he can take it easy and just relax. However, he does not know that he will die later that night and will not be able to enjoy his wealth. Jesus ask the question, "Who gets all this stuff now" (Obviously my translation).

Because he was unprepared Christ calls him a fool, and he was. When you read this story ask yourself these questions. The answer will let you know whether or not you are a fool as well.

How do you respond to the wealthy farmer’s dilemma? Here was a man who had a problem with too much wealth! If we say, “I certainly wish I had that problem!” we may be revealing covetousness in our hearts. If suddenly you inherited a great deal of wealth, would it create a problem for you? Or would you simply praise God and ask Him what He wanted you to do with it?

How do you respond to the decisions of the rich man? Are you saying, “Now that is shrewd business! Save and have it ready for the future!” But Jesus saw selfishness in all that this man did (note the eleven personal pronouns), and He said the man was a fool. The world’s philosophy is “Take care of Number One!” But Jesus does not endorse that philosophy.

How do you respond to the farmer’s desires? Are you saying, “This is the life! The man has success, satisfaction, and security! What more could he want?” But Jesus did not see this farmer enjoying life; He saw him facing death! Wealth cannot keep us alive when our time comes to die, nor can it buy back the opportunities we missed while we were thinking of ourselves and ignoring God and others.

Finally, how do you respond to the death of the boastful farmer? We are prone to say, “Too bad this fellow died just when he had everything going for him! How tragic that he could not finish his great plans.” But the greatest tragedy is not what the man left behind but what lay before him: eternity without God! The man lived without God and died without God, and his wealth was but an incident in his life. God is not impressed with our money.

ARE YOU A FOOL?

Follower

This week we are speaking about what it takes to be a Follower.

Follower
Luke 9:23
The Bible tells us in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” In the Gospel Jesus says “believe in me” 5 times, he says “follow me” about 20. He offers us live but calls us to die. So the question to ask yourself is straightforward: “Are you a completely committed follower of Jesus?” Many of us think of ourselves as followers but when we are standing in front of God, the truth may be that we are just a fan. In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”In Matthew 7 there are several questions that need to be addressed when determining if you are a follower:

Question 1: Do you live out what you say you believe? (Matthew 7:21)

We are saved by faith in Christ, but it is important to realize that faith without works is dead. Faith is not something to simply be confessed through the mouth, it must be confessed through our lives.

Question 2: Do you measure yourself as a follower by the good things you have done? (Matthew 7:22).

Placing confidence in works of righteousness leads to a life of simply following the rules instead of knowing and following Christ.

Question 3: Do you Know Jesus? (Matthew 7:23).

Jesus says that it all comes down to this: Do you know Jesus? Does he have your heart? Is He everything to you? Do you invest more in this relationship than in any other relationship? Have you confused knowing about Jesus with actually knowing Jesus?



What is keeping you from being a completely committed follower? Many of us settle for being a fan.



There is so much we overlook from the invitation of Luke 9:23. When Jesus said to take up a cross, it sounded completely different to the First Century Christian who had seen hundreds of people hanging bloody and naked along the dusty roads of Palestine. When Jesus said, “Follow Me,” those First Century Christians had an exact understanding of what he meant. Today, Jesus is still concerned with those who commit to doing what he asks. This is the mark of a follower.

Does God Hate Haiti?

Does God Hate Haiti?

Pat Robertson is Wrong as usual. Earthquakes happen because we live in a fallen world and they will happen until Jesus returns, which this was not a sign of. Thanks Al for this great article

Committed

I was a big fan of Herschel Walker, running back for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. He was the man. “There Goes Herschel There Goes Herschel.” Then he did something I had never heard of. He left school early. He left after his JR year not to enter the NFL draft but the USFL Draft. Some guy named Donald Trump Gave him quite a bit of money. Being young at the time I was not as interested at that point in UGA. I was a fan of the Bulldogs but not really that committed.

I was a fair weather fan. Many of my friends in College were the same way with the Bulls. They win the big games with MJ we love them. He leaves the team retools not so much.

It is our commitment that determines whether or not we are a fan of Jesus or a Follower. Jesus Calls us to Carry a Cross. Followers pick it up and go where told. Fans leave it and find something easier to do.

This week at Shoals We will discuss what our committment is like to Christ. Are we a Fan or a Follower?

Monday Monday

We had a great weekend at Church. Attendance was down a bit but it was better than I expected with the cold weather.

The church gave Tina a baby shower yesterday. We got a lot of great presents and once again was shown what a great church family we have. Robert started basketball Saturday at the YMCA. It was fun to watch the kids learn as they played.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Convicted

Kyle Idleman, who preaches at the Southeast Christian Church, preached a series on Defining your relationship with Christ. As I listened to him talking about really being a Follower as opposed to a Fan it convicted me. Over the next few weeks we will have this same "dicussion" here at Shoals.

Not preaching Kyle's sermon but the idea needs to be presented to all Christians. "Am I a fan or Am I really a Follower?"

Monday Monday

We had a great service yesterday here at Shoals. Even though it was only 4 degrees people came out for worship. The day ended the best it can with two people being baptized.

Now onto a long week. Sermonizing, meetings, buying basketball shoes for Robert and getting him to practice. Thursday is our Faculty Meeting at LBC. I am really excited about our coming semester.

Hope you have a great week as well.

Matthew