Sunday Evenings at 4 pm.

This post is to let everyone know that our evening services are now being held at 4 p.m. during the Winter months while the days are the shortest.  God Bless!!

Fall in the MidWest

So it's hard to believe, but the 1st day of Fall or Autumn is upon us.  The weather is getting cooler, lows of 50 and the tomato plants have given up the last of its fruit for me. I haven't posted here for well over a year and the world just keeps on spinning. The ONLY constant in my life is Jesus Christ.  Read and apply the Word. . . .

Bible Study Coming Up In July

Just finished up Galatians study on 2nd and 4th Tuesdays ... our next study begins on Tuesday morning July 23rd at 10 am and we'll be studying the book, that is the letter from God through Paul "To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:..." Romans 1:7 

I challenge everyone to read chapter 1 at least ten times, it reads...
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—
2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures
3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.
6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.
9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you
10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—
12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.
15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Questions to consider?
1. Is this hate speech?

2. Since I admittedly deserve death, am I willing to change/repent/turn from my sin?

3. Am I willing to be misunderstood, misquoted and lied about to promote Jesus Christ?

Sunday, June 23rd...

Wow, time just keeps speeding up on me ... These are the scriptures out on the sign this week... Psalms 52.8b reads, "I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever." ... while the south side reads Ephesians 4.2 "Be completely humble and gentle..."

It will be easier to be completely humble and gentle when I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever.

Happy New Year!!!!

Hey, it's 2013 and I'm not saying I'm going to start writing more regularly, I'm just going to write something now.

One of my "breakthroughs" in gaining a better understanding is that as much as we can choose what sins we will yield to in our lives, 1 Cor. 10.13, it is important to also understand we don't get to choose what we are tempted by in the first place.  It is also important to understand no matter what sin I yield to, if it becomes my master instead of Jesus Christ, I am on a certain path of destruction.

in other noteworthy observations, I've always known Tennessee Football is a religion, but I've only recently discovered that politics is a religion too.... :-)

Cheers and Happy New Year!!!

Sermon and Bulletin for 7.29.12

Here is the sermon from Sunday morning July the 29th and also the bulletin final copy from the same day!!

Sermon Addressing the Theater Murders

The latest sermon and bulletin   Note: this bulletin is a rough draft subject to change as the week progressess...

Tim Tebow And Does God Care About Who Wins Football Games?

Matt 5.40 tells us that God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

In football terms this means that even the evil and wicked will win games and even the most devoted follower of God is not guaranteed to win even one game. There are other issues at stake, however, while not applying to football or sports in general, when it comes to life, God principles don't just cease to exist when they reach the athletic arena.

What I mean is this... James 4.10 tells us to "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up." Which area off my life is segregated out of the grasp of this doctrine? That's right, the truth that is God's Word penetrates every area of every being's life. Sports are a part of peoples' lives and God cares about peoples' lives.

On a related tangent, using this doctrine, I'd advise Lebron James to be as humble as he can and he'll start the march toward the 7 championships he boasted about bringing to Miami. After all, which area of my life is not subject to the words found in James 4.6 which quotes Proverbs 3.34 also found 1 Peter 5.5, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

Tim Tebow isn't the one who says about himself, "All He Does Is Win"

R.I.P. Steve Jobs

If I live to be only as old as Steve Jobs when I die, that means I only have 11 years to live. I know that I'm not even guaranteed another day, but when I consider the impact Steve Jobs has had on so many people with the technological breakthroughs he authored, it is VERY impressive to say the least.

Okay, so NOW, today, Saturday, October the 8th.... What is the most important thing to Steve Jobs? The answer was, is and will always be for Steve Jobs and each one of us..... our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Our earthly lives come and go, but eternity ... well, it's, uh .... FOREVER!!!! As the yapping dogs in our lives try to distract us from the reality of how primary our relationship with Jesus Christ is, it is literally an eternal challenge to keep our lives focused on the ONLY thing that will matter in determining our eternal destiny and destination.

Have a great weekend and may God bless.

Currently Studying Acts....

... on Wednesday evenings. Going over Acts chapter 16 where the Spirit changes Paul and Silas' plans on where to go next and after God opens the heart of Lydia the maker of purple in Philipi, she becomes a believer in Christ. Wise people in my life have told me that if I wanted to hear God laugh, tell Him my plans. God tells us that everything we see is temporary, while the unseen is eternal and for us to fix our eyes on the unseen. What a challenge to our everyday living!!!