10.31.2008
First Annual Frozen Turkey Olympics
There is nothing like frozen poultry. Whats more, throwing frozen poultry, kicking frozen poultry, and occasionally catching frozen poultry. Get your strongest team together, and come out to my place on Sunday November 9th at 4pm for our first annual Frozen Turkey Olympics. Bring 5 bucks to help feed the needy in our area!
10.22.2008
What is so great about church?
This post actually started completely different from what you are reading now. Not that the first draft was bad, I mean I was on a role, but I started thinking about what I was trying to communicate and I realized something. There are probably a million other blogs saying the same thing. They probably say it better than I would, so why go that route. Instead lets talk about something else. Lets talk about what is so great about church!
I really like church. I really like coming to church. No it is not because I get paid, it is because I genuinely love it! I don’t mean love like “I love french fries” either. I mean something a little deeper. Why do I love it you might ask…well let me count the ways.
I love church because God established it! Think about this, we were made for relationships. It what we crave, its what we long for, to connect intimately with others. We were created to have a relationship with a loving, caring, just, righteous God. We long for Him, we crave Him. It is our suppression of the truth that keeps us from Him. Look at what he did. He established a means for us to connect with others and Himself! Unbelievable! I can go to church and connect in a real way with people, and I can connect with God with those people. Now, I can and should connect with God every day on my own, but there truly is something incredible about connecting in Worship of a great God with others! Nothing else like it.
I love church because it carries the Truth! I was talking with a new friend today about this. People are looking for the truth! They are looking for something that will deeply impact their lives. They are looking for something that will help, will change, will complete them. Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll are simply ways to try to fill an emptiness. The church carries the Truth! It carries the only message that can change the human heart! Creation is cool, but the power to change the human heart is amazing! To me, that is the greatest measure of God’s power. The church carries this! It raises this banner every Sunday as a beacon of hope for those who are lost. The Truth has power, the Truth impacts lives!
I love the church because it has history. The church has been through the ringer. It has been persecuted, killed, tortured, and maimed in the name of Christ. It isn’t a fad, the latest greatest, a flash in the pan. It endures, it protects, it pushes forward, it throws down the very Gates of Hell. The church has celebrated great victories and mourned sad loses, but it has never been defeated, it has never been disbanded, it remains! The church has a rich history.
I love the church because it points to something more than ourselves. The church isn’t about the church. It is pointing to something greater, bigger, more important. It is pointing to God, more accurately a relationship with God! The church not only bears the Truth, it points to it! It directs, urges, admonishes, and encourages people to the Truth! If the church didn’t do this it would be an institution. Simply created by man for man, but it is so much more because the church is not focused on the church. The church is focused on God!
What is so great about church? A whole lot and I love it!
10.13.2008
HABITS Recap
Well its officially over. The HABITS series is a thing of the past. So what do we do with what we have learned? I really enjoyed teaching this series. I truly believe that the things taught, can and will change your life! Here is a little recap, in case you missed.
The whole premise of the series is that your life is made up of the habits your develop. In other words the things you get in the habit of doing now will follow you the rest of your life. If you start smoking, the odds are you will smoke the rest of your life, start drinking, you will probably drink the rest of your life, cussing, looking at porno, the same thing.
On the other hand, if you start hanging out with God, making accountability partners, memorizing the Bible, involving yourself in church, tithing, and studying Scripture, you will probably do these things for the rest of your life. Your life will be directly directed by the habits you make right now.
So here is the challenge, I dare you to make the following habits in your life. I double dare you. Triple dare. But be warned, if you do, your life will be blessed by God and all that you do will prosper. So go ahead, what are you waiting for? Up to the challenge?
H - Hang out with God
A - Accountability with other believers
B - Bible Memorization
I - Involve yourself in church
T - Tithe
S - Study Scripture