It really does!

Starting on Wednesday Night, January 11th, I begin a New Bible Study!

I Resolve!

A newspaper in Boston has been allowing people to post their New Year’s Resolutions on their website. Here are a few interesting posts:

• I resolve to stop feeding the office plant leftover coffee. I will use water instead.

• As much as I hate government intervention, I resolve to try and get a law passed that requires every person, on the face of this earth, to have to use his or her common sense at least once a day!

• This year, I resolve to stop eating McDonald's and Wendy’s for 2 out of 3 meals a day.

• I resolve to refuse to take responsibility for my decisions, to never take the blame, to not stand by my promises and to ignore the needs of the poor. In short, my resolution is to become a politician!

• I resolve to become as wonderful of a person as my dog thinks I am.

A New Sermon Series!

A New Sermon Series Starting on Sunday, January 8th!

A New Year!

You did it!

You made it through another year. In just a few short days, 2011 will be history. A new year is right around the corner -- a new year full of possibility and opportunity.  What will you remember most about 2011?

One year = 12 months or 52 weeks or 365 days or 8,760 hours or 525, 600 minutes or 31,536,000 seconds. What will you do with all of that time in 2012?

Now, some people do and some people do not. What do you think I am talking about?  Resolutions!

In the dictionary, a resolution is defined as “a course of action decided upon; a fixed purpose.” Many over the next several days will resolve to do things differently. To lose weight, to exercise more. To be a better person. To dispense with old, bad habits and begin new and better ones. What do you want to see happen in your life in 2012?

Jokes!

What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?  It's Christmas, Eve!

What do you have in December that you don't have in any other month?  The letter "D"!

What does Santa suffer from when he gets stuck in a chimney?  Santa Claustrophobia!

What do you call a letter sent up the chimney on Christmas Eve?  Black Mail!

Why does Santa go down the chimney?  Because it soots him!

God's Greatness!

Philippians 1:19-20 says, "....for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death."

Those are the words of a man whose mind was firmly fixed on what was important! He had hopeful thoughts in the midst of very uncertain times! He concerned his thinking only with things that mattered because for all he knew, death might be right around the corner. Have you developed that skill?

It is amazing how death provides for us an excellent “filtering system” when it comes to what is worth thinking about and what is not worth thinking about!  When a man knows he is about to be hanged, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

If there is anyone in the world that should think hopeful thoughts, it’s the believer! After all, our God is Close!

In Acts 17:27, Paul says this, “God is not far from each one of us.”

Psalm 145:18 says, "The Lord is near to all who call on him."

Psalm 34:18 reads, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Your best thought about God on your best day falls 13.2 billion light-years short of how great and how good God really is! The Happiness of our lives depends upon the character of our thoughts.

Be Kind!

Look what it says in Philippians 1:15-18, "It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice..."

Now, you might find this hard to believe, but even back in the first century era not everyone was pleasant to live with.  Some deliberately tried to cause Paul distress, but he chose to think pleasantly about them and that fostered spiritual growth in his life!

After all, what does it matter!

I read yesterday that there are three things that are important in human life. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind and the third is to be kind. Can I just say this? Be kind to yourself by thinking kindly about others or your spiritual growth will be stunted!

Are their some people that challenge your thinking?

Here is an example of that type of thinking: “I know that there are people in this world who hate their fellow man, and I just hate people like that.”  Love people when they least expect it and when they least deserve it and let your thought life be the proof in the pudding! Let us develop a mental perspective that says, “It doesn’t really matter what happens to us as long as nothing happens to stop the gospel from spreading.”

Incredible!

Look at Philippians1:12-14: "Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly."

That is incredible!

Paul’s words reflect a confident pattern of thinking! Paul was confident that no matter what happened to him, God’s will would triumphantly march on. Paul knew very well the God that he served and his confident mind set reflected it. How about you? Does your way of thinking reflect a confidence in your God?

If there is anyone in the world that should think confidently it is the believer! After all, our God is compassionate.  Psalm 103:13 tells us that, "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him…”

God cares about every detail of our lives. He cares about our house payment, health, success, children, marriage and our feelings so think confident thoughts! Paul had control of his thoughts and that fanned into flame spiritual growth and the same thing can and should be happening in our lives! Paul knew how to take his thoughts captive. Do you?

Are you in the habit of thinking the right way? Are you good at taking your thoughts captive?

A Pecking Order!

Take ten chickens, put them in a pen together, spread a little chicken feed and very quickly, you will witness an amazing phenomenon.

In a matter of minutes, the chickens, previously strangers, will vie for a hierarchy based on dominance, or, in everyday language, they will establish a Pecking Order. Instinctively, they will determine, through a series of skirmishes, who the Number One Chicken will be; then the Number Two; the Number Three; all the way down to the unlucky Number Ten Chicken.

Much is at stake in this dance of domination.

Chicken Number One pecks at and intimidates Chicken Number Two, without experiencing any kind of retribution from Chicken Number Two. Chicken Number Two will take it from Chicken Number One, but will turn around and peck away at Chicken Number Three, who will, in turn, take out its frustration on Chicken Number Four.

The Pecking Order continues all the way down to Chicken Number Ten, who, needless to say, has a pretty miserable life: pecked, but no one to peck on."

There is no pecking order in God’s economy.

All of us have bad days! However, all of us having full access to God. All of us can access His power to help us find gold in the garbage and growth in the gutter!

Prayer Part #2!

Once upon a time there was a man who went hunting.

He was hunting for bears. As he trudged through the forest looking for bears, he came upon a large and steep hill. He climbed the hill and just as he was pulling himself up over the last outcropping of rocks, a huge bear met him nose to nose. The bear roared fiercely. The man was so scared that he lost his balance and fell down the hill with the bear not far behind. On the trip down the hill, the man lost his gun. When he finally stopped tumbling, he found that he had a broken leg. Escape was impossible and so the man, who had never been particularly religious (in fact he was hunting on Sunday morning), prayed, "God if you will make this bear a Christian, I will be happy with whatever lot you give me for the rest of my life."

The bear was no more than three feet away from the man when it stopped dead in its tracks, looked up to the heavens and then fell to its knees and prayed in a loud voice: "Lord, bless this food of which I am about to partake. Amen"

See, praying specifically is very powerful!

Prayer!

Three ministers were talking about prayer.

As they were talking, a telephone repairman was working on the phone system in the background. One minister said, “The key to effective prayer was in the hands.” He always held is hands together and pointed them upward as a form of symbolic worship.

The second minister suggested that real prayer was conducted only on your knees.

The third minister suggested that the only position worth its salt was to pray while stretched out on the floor -- flat on your face.

By this time, the phone man could not stay out of the conversation any longer. He said, "I have found that the most powerful prayer that I have ever prayed was while I was dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole, suspended forty feet above the ground.”

A Bad Day!

Mike Grady played third base for the New York Giants back in 1895.

During one single play, he muffed a routine grounder, overthrew first base and then dropped the ball when the first baseman threw it back to him. Grady picked up the ball and promptly threw it over the catcher's head as the runner raced toward home. What should have been a routine ground ball, for an easy out, turned into an error-ridden home run.

Mike Grady was having a bad day.

What constitutes a bad day? Have you ever had a bad day? We must all remember today that God is still God on bad days as well as good days!

FOREVER!

…EVERLASTING FATHER

In the original Hebrew, that phrase, “Everlasting Father,” is literally, “the Father of Eternity.”

Jesus came as God and from God to provide for us the opportunity to live in a relationship with a Faithful Heavenly Father Figure Forever.  It seems like our nation is dealing with an epidemic of deadbeat dads. 75% of all young boys and girls in this country experience only one hour a day with their fathers. However, our God – our Faithful Heavenly Father Figure -- is not a deadbeat dad!  Jesus came as the Everlasting Father in hopes that we might develop an everlasting relationship with a Faithful Heavenly Father Figure -- Forever!

1st John 3:1 celebrates why Jesus came! “How great is the love that the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”

Why is a relationship with the, “Everlasting Father” such a big deal?

Well, I am so glad that you asked! Jehovah Himself – the God that we worship and the God that we owe everything to is not a distant, aloof God who is too busy running the cosmos to give us the time of day, but rather a loving, caring, and compassionate Father….a Daddy who is willing to drop everything, the very instant that we call on His name.

Jesus came to make the relationship possible -- forever!

TODAY, THE SITUATION THAT IS OVER YOUR HEAD IS SMALL POTATOES FOR YOUR FAITHFUL HEAVENLY FATHER FIGURE FOREVER!

Professional Sports!

What contribution do professional sports make to the physical fitness of Americans?

You are correct! Very little! A professional football game allows 75,000 spectators -- who desperately need exercise -- to sit in the stands and watch 22 men on the field -- who desperately need some rest!

The church should not be like that!

• If your only contribution to the kingdom is to do dishes after church socials! Well, do the dishes! Little is much when Jesus in the form of our Mighty God is in it!

• If your only gift to the church is to help put up Christmas decorations – put up Christmas decorations! No gift was or is insignificant in the hands of Jesus our Mighty God.

• If your only contribution to the kingdom is to stand outside and welcome people on Sunday mornings, then get outside and welcome! The ability of Jesus -- who is also known as our Mighty God -- to use your gift or your effort is in no way hindered or enhanced by the size of your gift or your effort!

• If your only gift is to work in our nursery, then love those babies! Little is much when Jesus as our Mighty God is in it!

What Child is this? He is the Mighty God.