Please Don't Give Me What I Deserve

As a teenager, I wrote a poem in which the subject is crying out to God, complaining about how miserable his life has become and how unfair God has been to him so far. He then yells out, "God! Give me what I deserve!" Well, God hears that prayer, and rewards him with Job type tribulation, and each possession and relationship that he was given to him by God is taken away. The final line has God telling him, "You do not even deserve your life."
This morning, I was reminded of this poem by Alistair Begg's daily devotional, "AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL GRUMBLED." In this devotional, Alistair discusses the grumblings of Christians today and throughout history. Within the devotional, he asks the question, "Are you punished as severely as your sins deserve?"
That is a sobering question to ponder when you feel that you need to grumble to God about how unfair he has been to you.

Trading My Sorrow - Amish Style

As a result of my wife's cousin Marlene living near and spending much time with many of the Amish in an area not far from Fort Wayne, Indiana, I have recently developed a particular interest in learning about these seemingly odd people.
My previous knowledge of the Amish was much like yours probably is. My first real memory of the Amish came from a Weird Al video, "Amish Paradise." I've heard comedians make fun of their life choices such as not using automobiles, phones or modern appliances. I always assumed that these folks were just idiotic. .....I now fully believe that I am idiotic. We all are.
The Amish got it right. They are not idiotic. They are living life at a pace that is much more conducive to having real relationships with our Maker, our spouses, our families and our friends and community. What kind of relationship do you have with your community? Chances are, the answer is "What relationship?"
Prior to singing "Trading My Sorrow" last week, I shared a story that was told by Richard Blackaby in which the pastor of a church in South Africa was shot by one of his own members in the church. The gunman then killed himself. The wife of the pastor demonstrated her love for her Lord and Savior by insisting that the church family embrace, comfort and financially assist the family of the killer as they were doing to her. She traded her sorrow and pain for the joy of the Lord.
I am sure that few do not recall the shooting that took place Oct 2nd, 2006 in a one room school house in Amish Country in Lancaster, PA. The killer, Charles Roberts IV, killed 5 and injured 5 young girls 13 years of age or younger. He then killed himself.
Once again, in this modern world where we are so smart, and the Amish are so backwards (sarcasm is intended), the Amish got it right. Here is a link to how the families of the victims responded. Amish Response
And, here is a link to how the family of the killer responded in kind. Roberts Family Response
Honestly, I have no idea how I would respond if faced with the tragedy that these folks experienced. But, I do know that I fully believe that the way they responded served God, the Roberts family, the victims, the survivors and themselves in the most positive way. That is a true living breathing example of living by faith. The actions of those fine people spoke volumes more regarding God's love, God's mercy, God's strength and Christ's ability to heal than any book or sermon ever could present.

Camp Nathanael

My wife, Debi, and I took part in a "Couples Retreat" at Camp Nathanael in Knott County, KY this weekend. It was an excellent experience for us, and will likely be an event that we will look back on years from now and say, "That really made a positive impact on our relationship." This event takes place annually, and is held the last weekend of April. If I remember correctly, this was the 16th such event held here. Our cousins Tim and Kim, who invited us to attend, have been to the retreat 13 different times, and plan on returning as many more as the Lord will allow.
The retreat was remarkable for many reasons: excellent speaker, thought provoking knee slapping skits, excellent subject matter, excellent food, calming environment, fun activities, excellent food, great accommodations, lots of laughter, great worship music, great staff, great fellow retreaters, and did I mention excellent food?
I highly recommend that all couples consider attending this event next year. Further, I recommend that you go to the Camp Nathanael website, and learn more about this amazing place that has been performing an amazing ministry for 75 years now. They have events going on year round for all age groups. I will be creating more posts in the future regarding events.

Why Pray When I Can Worry?

One of the speakers at the Great Commission Prayer Conference summed up a lot of prayer lives as being like a relationship with a vending machine. In essence, utilizing prayer only when a need arises.
Unfortunately, the reality is that at times many of us don't have a praying relationship that meets that meager standard. I will be the first to confess that I often seek God's help regarding issues only after I've already exhausted every other possible solution. I was just beating myself up regarding that very issue yesterday, and lo and behold, look what Alistair Begg's daily devotional discusses:
It is strange how little use we make of the spiritual blessings that God gives us, but it is even stranger that we make such little use of God Himself. Though He is "our God," we scarcely give ourselves to Him, and we ask so little of Him. How seldom do we seek counsel at the hands of the Lord! How often do we go about our business without seeking His guidance! In our troubles how we constantly struggle to bear our burdens ourselves instead of casting them upon the Lord, that He may sustain us!
Take a look at the entire article and the related scripture. And, seek Him today in faith with your cares, worries, stresses, pains, decisions and needs. Daily Devotion

I'm Trading My Sorrows

Sunday, we will be singing I'm Trading My Sorrows in church. The message of the song is clear, "Give it up to the Lord. Regardless of what happens to you in this world, he's got better things in store."
While singing this song, I recognize that all the trials, pains, ills, hurts, sorrows and shame that I may suffer today can be used for God's good someday. Thus, my prayer is "Here I am God. Use me."
Take a look at the song's author's motivation for writing it at Trading My Sorrows

National Day of Prayer

Coming off our recent 24 hour prayer and fasting vigil Easter weekend, our church seemed to have a much needed shot in the arm in terms of seeking God's face. This past week, however, has seen many challenges, not the least of these being the flooding that prevented us from holding services on Sunday or the emotional/spiritual baggage associated with being bombarded by the tragedy at Virginia Tech on Monday. With adversities, as we have seen, comes the additional responsibility of a praying church to increase their emphasis on seeking God's Will through prayer, fasting, scripture reading and meditation.
The National Day of Prayer will be held on May the 3rd. Our pastor has requested that we consider holding another 24 hour prayer and fasting vigil in honor of this day. So, you may be asking, "What is this Day of Prayer thing?" Well, here is a site to go to in order to learn more about it.
National Day of Prayer
Their mission is simple "The National Day of Prayer Task Force's mission is to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership in the five centers of power: Church, Education, Family, Government and Media. "
Take a look at the history of the National Day of Prayer: History of NDP
Additionally, you may look at NDP Event Search to find a prayer event near you.

Below is the listed event that is closest to us:
Pikeville's Noon Event
Additional Information:
The public is invited to meet at the gazebo in the City Park. The DAVA will present colors. The Ministerial Association president will introduce prayers for our Families, our Churches and our Nation as people gather in groups to pray.
Location:
Pikeville City ParkCollege StreetPikeville, KY 41501
Start Date & Time:
05/03/2007 12:00 PM
End Date & Time:
05/03/2007 01:00 PM
Coordinator:
Debby Bailey (606) 424-1669 debby.bailey@wcg.org
MapQuest directions

ApologetiX song video

I found a video made to the Bethlehemian Rhapsody. Very funny. Watch the whole thing including the credits.
god-wins-every-battle

Amazing Grace

I attended a Promise Keepers conference in 1995 at RFK in Washington DC. It was a spiritually transforming weekend for me and for thousands of other men. There were over 52,000 men in attendance at the event, and it was a thing of wonder to hear us all singing together praises and adorations to God.
One song that I remember singing was Amazing Grace. It was lead by a man named Wintley Phipps and literally transformed that football stadium into a heavenly place on earth. He shared his interpretation of the origins of the song. I have shared this story with multiple people over the past 12 years. Well tonight, I ran into a video of that very night at RFK, and if you will click on Amazing Grace, you can be transported back to 1995. Look carefully. I was sitting on the field section on the right, towards the middle, in the 6th to last row. You just might see me. Remember though, back then I had hair.

Cosmic Chicken

It seems the Cosmic Egg that was the birth of our universe logically requires a Cosmic Chicken...

I love that quote. I don't care who you are, that's funny!!! Take a look at the article that contains it.

Purpose Driven Life in Neutral?

Anyone who has experienced 40 days walking through the Purpose Driven Life book of Rick Warren's may be able to tell you what their purpose in life is. Hopefully so.
However, based upon postings on sites such as YouTube.com, and the like, one of the major turn offs that the unchurched world has with the churched world is that the vast majority of the churched world really doesn't have a very firm grasp of what their purpose is, what they believe and why. There are multiple individuals that I've seen on YouTube.com, who submit, on a regular basis, video discussions in which they rip to shreds an individual Christian's beliefs utilizing passages from a book that the Christian was not real clear on.....The Bible. These non-believers' biblical knowledge blew the Christian's knowledge away, and the non-believers were able to expose the Christian's lack of knowledge and lack of conviction. The non-believers sum up their videos with "the moral to this story is: Christianity is bonkers because it's followers have no clue what they believe."
This is unsettling to me on so many different levels. However, tonight I have spent some time reviewing short-clip documentary type videos created by a group of Christ followers at a site called Highway Video. (Look in the "Classics" section.) A majority of the 2-7 minute clips were simple roving reporter type films in which a guy with a mic would stop people on the street and ask various questions. Among the questions were: Do you pray?, What happens when you die?, What does it mean to be a Christian?, Is it always okay for 2 consenting adults to have sex?, Are people evil?, Why don't people go to church?, and How do you connect with God? The one that compelled me to create this post was, "What is your calling?"
The answers that were given to this simple question made me realize that humans, regardless whether they are of faith or not, really don't spend much of their time investing in meaningful soul searching pursuits. We are so caught up in the temporal issues that we are unable to even give hardly a moment of pause to something that would seem so vastly more important, such as "Why are you here? What is your purpose?"
Now most of us think that we know what our purpose is, but take this test: Write or record your purpose in five minutes or less. A majority of the people polled in the video, when initially approached with the question, "Do you have a calling?", the answer was absolutely "YES", but when questioned further with, "What is your calling?", these same folks obviously had never really given it any thought before or had become so far removed from their calling, they couldn't remember what it was.
In addition to non-believers not knowing their purpose, they also demonstrated a very poor understanding of what they did believe when it came to things such as life after death, morals, prayer, or the existense of a Creator. A majority of the answers sounded something like this, "I've never really thought about it all that much."
Now for the point. If Christianity is bonkers because a certain number of its believers are not fully clear on what they believe and why, then Non-belief is bonkers for the same reason. In reality, it would serve us all to spend some meaningful time understanding why we believe what we believe and having a clear understanding of what our individual purposes are.
If you would like to start today, here is a good starting point: The Purpose Driven Life.

How Great Thou Art

Tomorrow, we will be singing "How Great Thou Art" in church, and I was reviewing the lyrics to the song when I was struck by what a perfectly balanced song it is in terms of presenting a picture of who God is.

• Verse 1:

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the works Thy hands have made.

I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,

Thy power through-out the universe displayed.

Refrain:

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee:

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

• Verse 2:

When through the woods and forest glades I wander

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur

And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:

(Repeat Refrain.)

• Verse 3:

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin:

(Repeat Refrain.)

• Verse 4:

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!

Then I shall bow in humble adoration,

And there proclaim, my God. how great Thou art!

(Repeat Refrain.)

It starts off with a description of God as a mighty Creator and powerful being, moves on to discussing the beauty and grandeur of his creations, then discusses His amazing grace and love for us as demonstrated through the Gift of His Son, and finally, describes His Awesome Power over sin. He is worthy of us bowing down and humbly adoring Him. My God. How great Thou art!

My appreciation for these lyrics lead me to research the origin of the hymn. I came across the following site....
How Great Thou Art
The history of the song is worth reading. The site that contains this history is called
AllAboutGod.com. It has some well developed resources and materials for Christians, and looks like a great place to nudge anyone towards that may be curious about what this "Jesus stuff" is all about.

Probability of Earth Not Created By Supreme Being

If you have ever wondered what the chances were of Earth just randomly being formed by some fluke of a celestial event such as the Big Bang take a look at this site.........
Theory of Relativity Video
I was a biology major in college, and I remember learning some of the things discussed here, but I've never seen it put together so logically. The world would have us believe that by believing in a Creator, we are being illogical, silly, foolish, simple minded and unscientific. If you take a look at what scientists say in regards to just how amazing our planet and existence is in the grand scheme of things, you would have to surmise that anyone that did not believe in a Supreme Creator must be illogical, silly, foolish, simple minded and unscientific. As our pastor has said, "If you don't believe that God created the earth, let me shake your hand because you obviously have a great deal more faith than I do." Faith, that is, in a theory that has about a one in 1,000,000,000,000,000 opportunity to be accurate at the very best.
After you watch the video, check out the site. It has much to explore. Feel free to invite to the site your scientific minded friends or family members who think that you are illogical, silly, foolish, simple minded and unscientific.

Johnny Lang

For those of you who have never heard of Johnny Lang, he is an incredible musician with an incredible story. He received his first guitar when he was 13 and by the time he was 15, he had a Platinum album, "Lie to Me." Lang spent his teenage years with guitar legends like B.B. King and Buddy Guy and toured almost non-stop with the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and Sting. Altogether, he’s recorded five albums and earned a Grammy nomination.
Running with a crowd like that was probably a blast, but it had it's price, too. He became addicted to alcohol and drugs, and was fascinated with magical religions. He was as far from wanting a relationship with God as you may possibly imagine........ God chose him.
His testimony of his salvation is remarkable. It is evidence that you need to keep praying for those souls that you've been praying for. God can move anything or anyone.
Take a look at Johnny Lang's Testimony and see if you don't agree.
Also take a look at his website.

Praying Scripture

I came across a bulletin board at ourchurch.com with a multitude of discussion points. In our efforts to diminish the quantity of temporal and self-centered prayers, shifting our focus to praying scriptural promises and praying for the kind of things that Jesus and the Apostles prayed for can only help. Here is an excerpt from the bulletin board. Click on "praying scripturally" to see more.

PRAYING SCRIPTURALLY
-Ask the Lord to send the people He wants to the fields He wants them in - Luke 10:1-3
-Ask the Lord to send hard working people to spread the Gospel -- - - Luke 10: 2
-Ask the Lord to give us opportunity to share the Gospel - Col.4:1-3
-Ask the Lord to give us the right words and the right way to say them - Col. 4:4
-Ask the Lord to make us bold but loving in our deliverance of the Gospel - Ephesians 6:18-19
-Ask the Lord to keep the government from interfering with the church, the ministers, and the
deliverance of the Gospel - 1 Timothy 2:1
-Ask the Lord to keep each minister/laborer shielded from their enemies - Romans 15:30
-Ask the Lord to help us believers to accept His Word when we hear it - Romans 15:29-30
-Ask the Lord to help us believers live clean lives above reproach - 2 Corinthians 13:7
-Ask the Lord to help us to remain constant in prayer - 1 Thes. 5:17

Fear of Change

Henry Blackaby's daily devotional for 4/11/07 shares insight into the fear of change. Sometimes the fear is more deeply rooted than just the typical, "We can't do it different.....We've always done it this way." Sometimes the fear is a demonstration of resistance due to a heart that wants what it wants when it wants it.
Ask yourself the question, "Am I only being obedient when it fits my needs or is in my comfort zone?" What blessings are we missing out on because we are holding on to something else. Jamie Martin shared an old prayer request last night that sums it up pretty well.
"Lord, keep me in Your Will so that I'll stay out of Your way." Amen.

ApologetiX

Anyone who loves the sound of secular music (but not necessarily the message), has a sense of humor, loves new ways of learning scriptural truths, and has found at least one of Weird Al's songs entertaining MUST check out this site and this band.
ApologetiX - parody band
I have heard two of their songs on XM-radio, "We're a parody band" (sung to the tune of Grand Funk Railroad's "We're an American band") and "Meshach" (sung to the tune of "Love Shack" by the B-52's). Both songs were very well done musically and lyrically. Both contained scriptural references. They were humorous but not overly edgy or offensive or disrespectful to The Word.
I have not heard but have seen the lyrics to their version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."Their version is "Bethlehemian Rhapsody" and tells the story of David and Goliath in rock-operatic fashion. Hilarious lyrics. I look forward to hearing it.

Roland Martin - Where did he come from?

I don't know where Roland Martin came from, but I am very impressed with his ability to land himself on a big market channel like CNN primetime on a Friday night and discuss Christian matters with major Christian figures for an hour. Very impressive! His show Friday night included TD Jakes, Paula White, Jerry Falwell and Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life), and a majority of it was spent discussing the same issues that were discussed in his editorial Friday morning. The common theme throughout the show as "If Jesus where here now, how would he handle today's issues?"
Rick Warren stated that he thought that He would spend a great deal of His time with HIV/AIDS patients and referred to them as the "lepers of today." Interesting.
My overall take on the hour long show was that it was managed very well by Martin, allowed for some pointed discussion regarding real issues facing Christians and the world, and did not appear to be watered down nor overly slanted.

Winter Easter Wonderland

Easter Egg Hunt 2007 occurred today at GFBC during a virtual blizzard. There were approximately 25 kids in attendance. We had all pretty much decided that it was too cold to hide the eggs outside, and had elected to hide them inside and just make the best of it. Well, while the kids were eating hotdogs, the sun came out and the wind calmed down. It was actually quite pleasant outside if wearing a jacket. So......... we decided to move the festivities outside and proceeded to scramble outside to hide eggs. After we had "hid" about 80% of the nearly one billion eggs that we had, the sun disappeared, the wind picked up to hurricane strength, the temperature dropped to seemingly -30 degrees and it began to snow your typical April blizzard quantities of snow. I say "hid" because we basically littered the ground with them all.
So, as you may guess, we were faced with a moral, ethical and potentially legal dilemma: Do we send our children out into the blizzard conditions to collect all types of candy and noise making, choking-hazard type toys that no parent would want to give a child? Or do we chalk it up as just one of those humorous twists in God's grand plan for our lives, keep our beloved children in the warm safety of the church facilities? Needless to say...........we then decided that since we had desecrated the church grounds with plastic orbs, that we may as well clean up our mess, and we couldn't possibly find anyone more willing or energetic about cleaning up such a mess as a bunch of 2-12 year old children who conveniently had presented to the occasion equipped with baskets that were ideal for the retrieval of such items. You bet!!!! We bundled them all up, pushed them out the door and sent them out in pursuit of the plastic treasures.
Granted, I am from South Texas, but it was a very surreal experience watching an Easter egg hunt during a winter weather advisory. I am pleased to announce that the kids absolutely had a ball. They were cackling with laughter as they scrambled around through the snow drifts. When it was all said and done, you just had to smile with a satisfied feeling that you have created some amazing memories for a bunch of kids. So, a few of them lost a finger or two to frost bite, but that just gives them another way to cherish the event that was Easter Egg Hunt GFBC 2007!
By the way, I have disposed of all photos and video of the event due to fears of social services interventions.

Women of Faith Conference

My wife told me that she is interested in attending a conference called Women of Faith, so I checked it out on the web, and I was very pleased with what I saw. There is one in Columbus,OH the end of April. It looks good. Max Lucado is one of the many speakers along with Luci Swindoll (Chuck's sister), Sandi Patty, Sheila Walsh and multiple others.
It really looks like a quality program that takes place on a Friday nite and Saturday til 5pm. Basically 10.5 hours of program.

Over the course of the conference, you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Renew your spirit with messages of hope and humor from the Women of Faith speaker team
  
  
• Recharge your spiritual batteries with drama that tickles your funny bone and touches your heart (at the same time!)
  
  
• Rejoice with music from top Christian music artists
  
  
• Reconnect with God and each other as the WOF worship team leads an arena full of women in praise to God
  
  
• Revitalize your life with resources that will help keep the conference experience alive all year
  
  
• Relax in the comforting knowledge that God loves you – right where you are

These are all things that I think we could all use. I am going to encourage her to go, and to take as many friends as possible.

http://www.womenoffaith.com/conferences/columbus/
This is the link to the Columbus conference.


http://www.womenoffaith.com/About/whatsthis.asp
This is the link to info RE: Women of Faith

CNN.com Editorial: WWJD Really?

My buddy Nathan pointed out an editorial in today's CNN.com editorial section called "What would Jesus really do?" by Roland Martin. Mr. Martin is states that he is a Christian who is concerned that we as Christians are becoming too concerned about our own hot-button issues and not concerned enough about issues that we don't feel directly affect us. He also states a concern that there is a lack of Christ-like love and compassion for others and that there is way too much hate language being used by Christians instead. Further, he voices a desire to see more unity among the Christian leaders of America. Here is a small portion his writings:

I'm looking for the day when Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Joyce Meyer, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, James Kennedy, Rod Parsley, " Patriot Pastors" and Rick Warren will sit at the same table as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Cynthia Hale, Eddie L. Long, James Meek, Fred Price, Emmanuel Cleaver and Floyd Flake to establish a call to arms on racism, AIDS, police brutality, a national health care policy, our sorry education system.
If they all say they love and worship one God, one Jesus, let's see them rally their members behind one agenda.
I stand here today not as a Republican or a liberal. And don't bother calling me a Democrat or a conservative. I am a man,­ an African-American man ­who has professed that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that's to whom I bow down.
If you concur, it's time to stop allowing a chosen few to speak for the masses. Quit letting them define the agenda.
So put on the full armor of God because we have work to do.

I thought that he had some very strong points that echo the points that the guys from TheChurchYouKnow.com are trying to make. Regardless of whether you agree with all of the points being made, you probably do agree that we need to be aware of what messages we are really conveying to the unchurched world. Are we focusing our attention where it really belongs? Are we really doing what Jesus would have us do?
What do you think?

Alistair Begg's Daily Devotional

The following is today's daily devotion presented by truthforlife.org which is the website for Parkside Church in Cleveland, OH. The pastor there is Alistair Begg. He is a dynamic speaker with a keen sense of humor and a firey Scotish disposition. I discovered him on channel 170 on XM-Radio. You may hear him for free by going to his website and selecting ListenNow. He is worth hearing.

I thought this devotional was overwhelmingly appropriate today for multiple reasons. In particular, the following lines capture much of what was discussed at the recent Prayer Conference: "Notice, Christian, that Jesus does not suffer so as to prevent your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer."

April 5, 2007
“. . . LAID ON HIM THE CROSS, TO CARRY IT BEHIND JESUS.”Luke 23:26 We see in Simon's carrying the cross a picture of the work of the church throughout all generations; she is the cross-bearer after Jesus. Notice, Christian, that Jesus does not suffer so as to prevent your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer. But let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our case, as in Simon's, it is not our cross but Christ's cross that we carry. When you are persecuted for your piety, when your faith is the occasion of cruel jokes, then remember it is not your cross, it is Christ's cross; and what a privilege it is to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus!You carry the cross after Him. You have blessed company; your path is marked with the footprints of your Lord. The mark of His blood-red shoulder is upon that heavy burden. It is His cross, and He goes before you as a shepherd goes before his sheep. Take up your cross daily, and follow Him. Do not forget, also, that you bear this cross in partnership. It is the opinion of some that Simon only carried one end of the cross, and not the whole of it. That is very possible. Christ may have carried the heavier part, against the transverse beam, and Simon may have borne the lighter end. Certainly that is the case with you; you only carry the light end of the cross Christ bore the heavier end. And remember, though Simon had to bear the cross for only a short while, it gave him lasting honor. Even so, the cross we carry is only for a little while at most, and then we shall receive the crown, the glory. Surely we should love the cross and, instead of shrinking from it, count it very dear, for it works out for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

The Church You Know

I have recently discovered a website created by two guys who say they want to "see the body of Christ (i.e., the Church) transformed into a greater likeness of Christ. We love the Church. We are a part of the Church – not above it, not outside of it. All followers of Christ are on this journey together – a journey that starts with Christ, and remains in Him eternally."
At their website are multiple short video clips that remind you of a public service announcement. The clips are humorous, but also are quite thought provoking. The message of the clips appears to be less about humor, and more about making the point that to be in a relationship with Christ requires some effort on your own part. This could be said in regards to any type of relationship, I suppose.
Again, the clips are humorous and thought-provoking; however, they are definitely not for everybody. Some people will watch them and get their shins bruised. Some people will watch them and feel that certain clips are overly silly for such a serious topic. And some people will watch them and feel that they are being out right disrespectful.
I could see all three of these different peoples viewpoints as having merit. However, the value that I see that these guys' ministry provides is a fresh perspective. These two guys are church going guys who love and serve God. They are stepping outside of their Christian shoes for a moment and are asking, "Are we being relevant? What is the unchurched world seeing when they see us? Are we being Christ-like, or are we being driven by tradition or the desire to please self."
Although you and I may not agree with their type of humor, if we truly want to reach the people that we are not reaching, then we may want to ask got to radically examine us, and to reveal to us the ways in which he wants us to serve Him.

Take a look at www.thechurchyouknow.com and let me know what you think.

Great Commission Prayer Conference

The Great Commission Prayer Conference March 30-31 in Louisville, KY was sensational. From start to finish, I have nothing but praise for the job that Eric Allen and his associates did in preparing this year's conference. The speakers and musicians did amazing jobs, and the choice of Richard Blackaby, as the guest speaker was excellent.
Each year I have come away from the conference with one main thought to chew on and to share with my brothers and sisters at my home church.

Last year's thought was:
Listen - God still speaks
This year the primary message I brought home with me was:
Pray for the Kingdom and let God use you for the Kingdom.

This was exactly the message I needed to hear. God wants us to rely on His sufficiency and on his plan for us. Pray for His Will to be done and then expect your life to be used in His Way; even if it means not sleeping for multiple nights for multiple months.
God is able to use all things to make good come from
it..............however, the "good" may not be evident to you at the time. Trust that He will use your life in a meaningful way. Chances are that He already is.

At lunch on Saturday, many of the prayer coordinators/directors/ leaders in attendance at the conference had the pleasure of meeting for dialogue. [It was called a Dialogue Lunch - someone asked me what that meant, and I said, "I think it means that we may be eating our words."]
This lunch was helpful to many of us for multiple different reasons: new ideas, networking, re-energizing, refocusing and getting oriented. For me it was reassuring to see so many like-minded people with similar stories, similar concerns, similar failings, similar victories, similar frustrations, similar goals and definitely similar love for a Savior who loved us first.

I look forward to growing in Christ with you all, and I pray that God will let His Kingdom to come into your lives in a real way, that He will provide you with your needs so that you continue to seek Him first in all things, and that his continuous presence will be sensed by you through every waking hour of your lives.

God Bless you and keep you near to Him,

First Blog from a man in need of a Savior

Greetings blogging world. It is absolutely amazing how in a world where people are too busy to sit down and have dinner with each other, too busy to sit on the front porch swing, too busy to visit each other and too busy to spend a few minutes in prayer to a Lord that desires a relationship with them, that Blogging has absolutely exploded in popularity. I have been impressed with many of the sites that I've visited in terms of thoughtfulness, creativity, and clarity. Without being overly idealistic, it is almost as if journaling in this fashion has become a type of prayer method for some people...... expressing their pains, joys, fears, hopes, frustrations, needs and awe of their life experience.
Over the past decade, I have become increasingly convinced that humans are utilizing their brains less and less. It has been my contention that a majority of Americans have very rare occasions when they actually venture into an original thought, and are blissfully walking through life as dumb driven cattle; similar to a close up on Homer Simpson's brain processes displaying a TV Test Pattern. However, scanning through multiple different blogs, over the past few weeks, has radically altered my opinion. I have read real people writing on topics of meaning utilizing correct grammar and making valid points that obviously required the use of grey matter.
So, what's the point? My thought is that if we are actually capable of generating original thoughts and are capable of finding time in this overly busy world to reach out to the world to express ourselves and to respond to others' expressions of self, then maybe we can become capable of treating each other with love as Jesus expressed as major priority.
It is my hope/desire to utilize this blog not as an opportunity to demonstrate my immense intelligence......... because it usually only takes about a sentence, if not just a word or two, to demonstrate my amazing ignorance.... but, instead to utilize it as a way to reach out to a world in need of a Savior. I pray that God will be able to utilize His servants to encourage each other, extend their hand to others and do His Will for the purposes of His Kingdom.
Heavenly Father, you are the maker of all things and you are deserving of our praises and our service. Thank you, God, for your forgiveness, mercy and faithfulness. Thank you for the beauty that surrounds us, and allowing us to share in this world that you created for us. Forgive me, Lord, for my pride in myself and quickness to judge others in my own ignorance. I ask you to mold me into the servant that you would like me to be. Conform me to meet your needs. Lord, I ask you to place an urgency within me to seek your Kingdom first, and supply my needs for seeking your Kingdom. Utilize our website and this blog to your glory and purposes only. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen