Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Word for the Day

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
* God with us is the sign that David's kingdom would not be conquered. God has a relationship with His people that includes protection and provision. Over and over His people are told to fear not. Over and over His people are told to trust in the Lord.
Trust Him today.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Pleased

It was a great day(putting it mildly)! I was a spectator, participant at the morethanmarried conference. Our guy (Discipleship Pastor: Andy DeGuire) did the bulwark with a great supporting cast involving Living Truth members and Pine Terrace Baptist(our mother church) members. It was special to watch the two churches work together. I know other churches in the association made contributions, but these two hosted and did the set up and put up. Travis did a great job stepping in for Andy. Kudos! It was great to be in my seat...as God pointed out to me how I used to be a member at PTBC, now I was just a pastor sitting back watching people from a church that didn't exist 10 years ago come up in that place and lead. God can use anybody. How great is our God! (not a question...a fact!)
All of that with icing on the cake---a surprise for all of us as Heidi and Andy walked in to a standing ovation! There is not enough room to tell any of God's stories in one blog, but go to caringbridge.com and search 4heidi deguire if you don't know the rest of the story.
We have a ways to go, but today :)

Friday, September 24, 2010

Tuned Out

I'm hearing about more and more people ditching cable and other high-priced connections for tv. Getting debt free has been certainly part of it, but too high cost for too little options is part of it. It's funny how their are so many channels, so many options, but very little that the average person even cares to watch. The powers that be...those that provide tv are tuned out to what people want to see. Of course, they are doing us a favor, because many have realized they have been wasting time watching junk. ---They are not the only ones out of tune. Politicians are scrambling to see what the American people want, but seem to ignore the obvious signs as they continue to cram legislation down our throats like we don't know what we want. Consequently, the people are tuning out to politics.--- Then what are we tuning into?

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Just Hate It

A problem with Western Christianity in the 21st Century has to do with the distance we keep from sin. First of all, we don't have a healthy hatred for sin. I am not talking the type of hatred formed from legalism. A lot of people with church background don't do "anything" (much) wrong; but they don't do anything (much)right either. More and more Christians are wanting to serve the Lord faithfully these days; but they dip their toes in the edges of sin every now and then. We've lost sight of what sin is. It is not alright to be sexually immoral or to have a hint of sexual immorality associated with us. We are to get a job, so that we can help others. We are not to engage in obscenities and foolish talk. Too many Christians walk the edge in these matters. Enough is enough! We've got the ipad, the iphone, the itunes and "the itouchsin". The Bible says to run the other way. When you see a video or hear a joke that does not glorify Christ...don't laugh anymore. Turn and run. We are not long for this world. We are not of this world. Live like it. Then, the world might see the difference they were waiting for, and have an actual reason to follow Christ. ---If you aren't near smelling or touching distance of sin, you won't do it. ---Just hate it! Meditate on Ephesians 4&5

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Got talked out of it

I try to stay up or at least just a step behind the tech world. Yeah, I tweet, FB, and blog just to communicate with those that network that way. I've been a few steps behind with my phone. I'm still carrying that "razor". Remember, when it was the "new" thing. So, I have been patient fighting off terrorist attempts (advertisements) to get me to buy the latest and greatest IPhone or Droid. But I got talked out of it. No offense or judgment to those that have upgraded, but a person that isn't so tech-savy pointed some things out to me that impacted my thinking. He pointed out the bad things (the evils) of the internet and the abilities of these new phones. While I don't wholeheartedly agree with casting out new technology because what is used for good can also be used for evil; I don't think we can let those who are easily influenced (children and adults that act like children)by evil have such easy access. ---It's too easy to accidentally click on pictures and sites that aren't so holy. Such pics don't show up on my "no-data" plan razor. ---I don't expect to change anyone else's mind, but please think before you give your kids access to evil without filters. God bless.

Gotta Hate It

Hear.
Heard about it.
Someone bragged about it.
Someone glorified it.
So you tried it.
See.
You caught a glimpse.
Someone showed you.
Someone talked about it.
You looked on purpose.
Taste.
Everyone was doing it.
Someone said it was cool.
Someone said it would grow on you.
So you tasted.
Sin starts some where.
Some loser brags about it to bring another loser on board.
People try to make it look cool so they won't feel so lonely and like they got sucked in.
Unless you have a real purpose in life, you cave in; because that's what wanderers do.
Sin. I hate it.
As a Pastor, I (along with family members) are left to pick up the pieces. Sin will take you farther than you wanted to go; keep you longer than you wanted to stay; and cost you more than you wanted to pay.
Have a purpose- truly love God. This is your best defense, when misery comes knocking because it wants company.
Hate sin. You gotta hate it. Turn and run or stay and pay.
Those that are truly "in Christ" are the only ones that will be cool forever.(Eph.2:8-10)
Hell is not cool.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Six Guys

I went to lunch recently with a guy, and the discussion about the morethanmarried.com conference came up. Not long into the conversation he started telling me about a friend calling him up and telling him "you're never going to believe what happened to me." Uh-oh! Before he even told me, I started shaking my head...another divorce. He said the guy didn't even see it coming. His wife started another account, took money out of the safe deposit box, etc. It was nasty. He followed that up with generalities about another guy. All of these with more than 20 years invested in a marriage. He said most, if not all of the guys would be willing to try to work things out; but the women were done. (completely aware there are two-sides to every story). One guy (in the midst of the divorce) was out doing his favorite hobby, when he realized he had been doing that twenty-something years to the neglect of his bride. With disgust (with himself) he picked up his "toys" and went home full-well knowing this neglect of time was the major contributing factor. Why 20 years? Duh. After the kids are gone! Life has been going fast. We've been on the same team, and now that common denominator is no longer around. As a pastor, I couldn't really share those stories, but I hear tons of marriages on the brink. Men: WAKE UP! You married for better or worse; but the problem is many men have given the worst of their time to their soul mates. I can say it because I am one: men are selfish creatures by nature. ---For the love of God, for the love of your mate; do whatever it takes to win her back now, before it's too late. ---Ladies: give that pig-headed man you fell in love with years ago a chance. He is by nature a very stupid creature when it comes to understanding you. If he is trying, cut him some slack; because he is trying to defy nature.
If you get this in time go to morethanmarried.com. There is a marriage conference a bunch of us are going to on Saturday September 25.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Thought

Thought: LTC is a ________ kind of church. What would people say? What would God say? What do we want them to say? Hmmmm.
Some choices: caring, loving, evangelistic, giving, hardworking, follower of Jesus, different; or would they say "They know Jesus at that church."? How can you do your part to shape this congregation?
Some ideas: give God the first five minutes of your day, seriously pray several times a day, obey what you know God wants you to do, faithfully read God's Word, listen, memorize Scripture, meet consistently with other believers, disciple someone else---these are all things we know to do. Just do it. Paul stressed, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death; and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead."---Phil.3:10,11

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Small Groups

Therapy. Most people don't want to go to a therapy session, but that is what small group can sometimes be. Our small groups are called CPR (Care, Prayer and Relationships). While this may sound like an advertisment for CPR (small groups), it isn't; it is just the facts. We lived it tonight. It was refreshing. Sometimes in the ebb and flow of life, it seems like we are given too much pain, stress and what-not than seems fair. We've been attacked as a church from multiple fronts. So this week we called on the groups to not do a Bible study, but to pray as a group. What ensued, was awesome. I can only anticipate what will happen in the other groups. The Word of God spoke through various passages to lead us, and we depended on the Holy Spirit to guide us Spirit to spirit. The end result...is yet to happen, because we will continue to wrestle in prayer. However, one person fairly new to the group weeped and praised God with joy for the church. Amen.

Speechless

Speechless...that's what I've been seen the phone call in the wee hours of the morning of 9-2. Our Discipleship Pastor [Andy DeGuire] called with the news that he was at the hospital with his wife who had suffered from a brain aneurysm. (I'll leave it at that for this posting.)Our prayers continue to be with the family, especially considering we don't know the timetable on this healing process. Things are serious and hopeful, nearly a week later. ---Andy is a champion for marriage and the family. He is spear-heading the More Than Married Conference that will be happening on September 25 at Pine Terrace Baptist Church. While he is in B'ham taking care of his wife, I know that he would be most encouraged for couples to commit 9-25 to work on their marriages.