It's God's Fault

I am an avid football watcher and fan, but I do recognize the sports shortcomings.

One thing that drives me crazy is when I see some athletes attempt to show some signal of their faith into the game. Let me clarify. I want genuine Christ followers to play their sports in a way that honors the Lord and shines the light of their faith. What I don't approve of is being fake about this, or trying to shoehorn some demonstration into a situation where it doesn't fit.(See Deon Sanders).
Let me give you an example. As I was watching my beloved Aggies play the evil longhorns on Thanksgiving, I noticed something. Every time that the longhorn punter was about to kick, he made the sign of the cross over himself. Is kicking a punt so dangerous that you have to prepare your soul for eternity? (MLB batters do this a lot, too)

Yesterday, an athlete won the all time knucklehead award for faith and sports. His name is Steve Johnson and he is a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills. On one play he was wide open in the end zone. The pass sails right to him and hits him in the hands. He dropped it! It happens, even to the best.

But, it's not his fault! It was God's fault. This is what he tweeted after the game:

"I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!!" "YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO..."

Wow! This is no joke. He really tweeted this, which means he really thought this. Nice of him to mention his praise and thanks to God while he is blaming God for dropping the pass.

My pastor in college always said, "You can't fix stupid".


"By the mouth of a fool comes a rod for his back." Proverbs 14:3

Sharing Christ Around The Globe - OCC

Imagine a child who has nothing. Christmas comes-- no presents at all. Imagine something worse - a person never knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Is there a way to address both of those problems? Yes.

It is called Operation Christmas Child. This fall our church has participated with this incredible outreach opportunity with hundreds of other churches. The process is simple. Pack a shoe box with toys and items for a kid in an underprivileged part of the world. That shoe box will be loaded with gospel story in their own language and then the child will get the gift.

It is about more than making a kid smile with a simple gift. It is about giving them the greatest gift of all time - Jesus Christ. Countless souls have been changed by this outreach.

I am thankful that we had the opportunity to be a part of the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. I pray that the boxes that go out will be used by God to bring scores of people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Needing a Savior

All human beings enter the world as sinners and condemned because they are sons and daughters of Adam (Rom. 5:12-19). Sin blinds human beings to their own wickedness and tricks people into thinking that they are righteous. Sin is not merely a matter of peccadilloes or mistakes. Human beings are fiercely rebellious and stubborn, which is captured in the metaphor of being stiff-necked. The sin of human beings is manifested supremely in the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. All enter into the world spiritually dead toward God and heading toward physical death and judgment. By nature, humans are children of wrath and rotten trees. From birth, they are under the dominion of the old age of the flesh instead of the new age of the Spirit. They are a brood of vipers instead of children of God.

The power and depth of sin function as the backdrop to God's saving promises, for such promises represent astonishing good news, given the devastation that sin inflicts on human beings. With the coming of Jesus Christ, the era of salvation and deliverance has dawned; with the death and resurrection of Jesus, the tyranny of sin and death has ended."

A quote from Magnifying God in Christ by Dr. Thomas Schreiner, page 172.

Vote

I voted! It is my privilege as an American and my responsibility as a Christ follower. My guiding principals in voting are determined by my first allegiance - to God and His Word. Not my pocket book, not my comfort, not my preferences.

We also have a biblical mandate to love and pray for all of our leaders, even if we didn't vote for them.

Massive Story - The Gospel

An exerpt from Al Mohler's book, He Is Not Silent
When Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:21 that "for our sake Hee made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God", he is talking about a cosmological reversal that is beyond anything we can understand. If our people think of the gospel as a small story in which they get to befriend Jesus and walk alone with Him in a garden, if they don't understand what a massive thing their salvation from sin really is, theen we are robbing them of the gospel.

Every time we preach, we need to create dissonance in the minds of our hearers. We need to declare their own wretchedness, our sin, and our powerlessness, and we need to admit frankly that we can't solve this problem. And then we proclaim the gospel. We show our people how God himself did what they were wholly unable to do. We tell them that the problem of sin was only solved when the sinless Son of God died on the cross as a substitute for His people. (page 101)

Massacre at Church

Headlines in many newspapers are recounting the story of a ruthless massacre of a specific group of people in Iraq. Did these people deserve it? Had they broken some laws? What were they doing to provoke such an attack? Nothing but worshiping God. Muslim extremists, terrorist, walked into this church and murdered 58 people simply for being Christian.
Terrible story! What these attackers don't realize is that the "blood of martyrs is the seed of the faith"(Tertullian said that). It just seems to be the way it works. They more they try and stop the spread of the gospel, the more it spreads.

Spend a moment, read this article, and pray for believers in Christ that are being persecuted all over the world.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/11/01/2593238/iraqi-christians-mourn-after-church.html

Making a Mormon My Brother

The next two days I will receive extensive training from the Interfaith Evangelism Program sponsored by the SBTC. The emphasis will be learning how to lovingly and effectively share the true gospel with Mormons.

In my life the two most difficult groups to share Christ with are Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. These two cult-like religions are difficult because they use Christian terminology, but with different meanings. The God, Jesus, and faith that these systems discuss are NOT what is found in the Bible. Most people don't recognize the difference. I have heard statistics that most converts to Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses come from Baptist backgrounds. That is extremely troubling and impresses upon me the need to disciple and educate my own church what the Bible actually teaches.

I am also excited to learn some things that can help me in my encounters with people from these groups. The people that I know and have met from these two religions are great people! I have a lot in common with many of them. I also have a responsibility to love them in Christ and share the true gospel with them for the salvation of their souls.

People Need The Lord

A quote from David Platt's book Radical

"A majority of individuals supposedly saved from eternal damnation by the gospel are now sitting back and making excuses for not sharing that gospel with the rest of the world." page 75

Scary Moment

The last part of our trip home from vacation contained one of the scariest moments I have ever had on a plane.
We were on a flight from Tampa to DFW, been in the air for about 15 minutes. Then there was a loud boom, and the plane shuddered. Everyone gasped, but then the plane just kept on course. No one knew what happened.

So, what happened? An engine blew!!!!! The pilots eventually told us that there was an engine failure and we were turning around for Tampa. The fire trucks would be waiting. They had to shut down all air traffic and we actually landed on the takeoff runway because the pilots didn't want to risk circling for the landing strip. Later, while waiting in the terminal, Michelle saw the plane being towed and the back end was charred black.

While in the air, it took me a few minutes to grasp that something was wrong. At that moment I began to pray. I wanted to live, but if God wanted to take me, I was surrendered to His will. Then I thought, should I stand up and shout out the gospel to all these people on the plane? Then I was thankful that my daughters hadn't caught on that something was wrong. They would have panicked.

I thank God for getting us down and home safely. And I also thanked the pilots for doing a great job landing a plane with a blown engine.

At least life is never dull!

Vacation 2010

Last week was vacation time. I intended to blog and stay in touch while on the trip, but was completely unplugged. No phone, no internet. Probably, a blessing in disguise.

We spent 7 days on a cruise through the Caribbean! It was a wonderful trip. While we were only gone 7 days, the travel schedule required me to miss 2 sundays in a row. This is the first time I have ever done that in my pastorate. A break is always a rejuvenating time, but it also reminds me of my love for what God has called me to do, the place the Lord has led me to be, and the people to whom I am called to shepherd. All that to say, I had a great vacation, but I am glad to be back.

The great part about our cruise was the minimal expense. Michelle earned a trip for 2 through her Arbonne business. For minimal cost, we added the girls and turned it into an incredible family vacation. We got to travel the seas, visit a tiny Island called Labadee, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. There was never a dull moment and we got to spend some incredible time together as a family. What a blessing!

There were many highlights. In the Grand Caymans we got to swim and snorkel with stingrays. The girls absolutely loved it. Petting and feeding these incredible creatures was an awesome experience.

I am thankful to the Lord for my family and the bonding time we got to spend together.