Sin Makes Us Fools

We all need to read this. It comes from http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2009/12/10/sin-makes-us-fools/

Anthony Carter|9:39 am CT

Sin Makes Us Fools

When I was playing football (seems like a lifetime ago), we would often say, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” Since I have been a Christian, especially since receiving the call to ministry, I have been frequently reminded, “Sin makes fools of us all.”

Much has been made of Tiger Woods and his admission of sins and our collective gasp at the seemingly frequent and foolish indiscretions. I admit to not only being saddened but even shocked at these revelations. Also, I am thoroughly disappointed. My disappointment, however, is not only at Tiger, but even at myself. The self-disappointment is the lack of time I really give to consider the nature of my own sin, and if given Tiger’s situation and opportunity, how might I fair.

The Bible reminds us, “Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated. The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good. He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil” (Psalm 36:1-4).

One popular comedian has said, “A man is only as faithful as his options.” While I would take serious issue with this statement, I am nevertheless left to ponder what might my heart be without the grace of God, the restraining power of the Holy Spirit, a praying wife, and an accountable Christian community of brothers and sisters. Though I like to think otherwise, because of the nature of indwelling sin I am often more like Tiger than I care to admit. To look at Tiger’s life and then to think of him risking all of it for a few (or however many) fleeting moments of pleasure is to think of only one word — foolish. Yet, sin makes fools of us all. And whether it is David, Nebuchadnezzar, Tiger, or me, folly is only a sinful thought or deed away.

The good news is that because we are fools, we are prime candidates for the redeeming grace of God. The Bible reminds us that God redeems the foolish (1 Cor. 1:26ff — at least those who are willing to admit to the folly of their sin). The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the everyday reminder that I have been graciously received into God’s Recovery Program for Fools.

And Tiger, while there are millions already enrolled, there is always room for one more. However, you must be willing to say, “Hi. My name is Tony. I am a fool saved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, my Lord.”

Lets Stay Focused

As a pastor I have heard a lot of complaints about a lot of different things. And as a pastor I do my best to keep an open mind and allow people to share their complaints and I try to do my best to allow people to share without trying to impute my opinion especially when I have one of a different opinion. I have heard complaints over music, over preaching style, over bible translations, over drinking coffee or water in the church, about using the church for the public to use, over how could I marry people that are living together and have children together already, about how can people come to church in jeans and a shirt, this is to name some of the ones I’ve heard on more than one occasion(most of these I have heard at my prior church) I have heard a lot of people complain about a lot of stuff. And on an occasion I have been told because these complaints they were leaving the church or if it didn’t change there were leaving the church. As a pastor when you hear that it breaks your heart. You know what though? Let me tell you what I have never heard. Never, not once in my 6 years of pastoring have I heard someone say, “Pastor I am leaving the church because people aren’t getting saved.” No one has ever approached me and said, “Pastor if more people don’t start to get saved then I am out here.” I also have never heard people come to me and say, “Pastor I am leaving the church because people just are not being changed.” No one has ever said, “ I am out of here because people in this church are not becoming more like Christ.” And I wonder why? I wonder why we get so excited about the stuff that doesn’t matter? I wonder why we get so emotional and so focused on stuff that when we die isn’t going to matter at all to God but on the stuff that will matter we just are quiet and show no emotion. Why is it we will complain and actively protest on lets say, what people wear to church but when it comes to sharing Jesus Christ to the neighbor or co worker we never say a word. Why is it people are going to hell and that just doesn’t faze us like it does when the carpet got dirty. Why is it we can be vocal and opinionated when we it comes to this stuff but when we are in a Sunday morning church service we rarely are moved by worship we sit or stand and we sing with frowns on our face. We hear the word of God preached and rarely shout out amen in agreement. Why is it when it comes down to the things that matter we have become emotionless, unconcerned, un passionate but for other stuff we are very emotional, very passionate and very concerned. Why? I don’t know the answer do you?

I read this blog and found it interesting and helpful. You can find it at http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2009/12/01/im-thankful-for-pain/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email

Tullian Tchividjian|9:19 am CT

I’m Thankful for Pain

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

For various reasons, this past year has been the most painful year of my life by far. As of late, God has graciously given me a mild reprieve, but I still spend a lot of time thinking about all that happened this year and the way God used trials and tribulations to remold and reshape me.

As crazy as this might sound, I have finally come to the place where I am genuinely thankful for all of the pain and difficulty and loss I experienced this year. As much as my family and I suffered, I look back on the way God used our desperation to make us more dependent on him and I am deeply grateful. In fact, I told a friend the other day that I wouldn’t trade one desperate, difficult day for all the dollars in the world. Seriously!

I’ve discovered that being thankful for pain is such a hard concept to grasp because many of us live in a country which has convinced us that the pursuit of happiness and comfort is our “inalienable right.” Therefore, when our comforts, conveniences, and cushions are threatened, we cry “foul.” This has deeply affected our understanding of what it means to give thanks and the types of things we are to be thankful for.

I love reading biographies. And one of the things I’ve discovered in reading them is that the greatest people in history have been just as thankful for their pains as they have been for their pleasures. They’ve given gratitude for their desperations as much as their deliverances; their grief as much as their glory.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Health is a gift from God, but sickness is a gift greater still.” Throughout his time in this world, Spurgeon suffered with various physical ailments that eventually took his life prematurely. He longed to be well but he recognized the supreme value of being sick and he thanked God for it because it was his pain that caused him to desperately draw near to God.

Similarly, David Brainerd was a young missionary to American Indians who died in 1747 at 29 years old from tuberculosis. Toward the end of his struggle, he was on his deathbed coughing up blood and coming in and out of consciousness saying out loud, “Oh for Holiness! Oh, for more of God in my soul! Oh, this pleasing pain! It makes my soul press after God.”

The Puritans used to say that this life was the gymnasium, the dressing room, for the life to come and if suffering here and now better prepared them for the next world then it was welcomed.

To be thankful for our comforts only is to make an idol of this life. “God-sent afflictions”, says Maurice Roberts, “have a health-giving effect upon the soul” because they are the medicine used to purge the soul of self-centeredness and this world’s vanities. Pain, in other words, sharpens us, matures us, and gives us clear “eye-sight.” Pain transforms us like nothing else can. It turns us into “solid” people. Roberts continues, “Those who have been in the crucible have lost more of their scum.” All of this should cause us to be deeply thankful.

It’s been said that pain is the second best thing because it leads us to the Best Thing (God). For, it is only when we come to the end of ourselves that we come to the beginning of God. And it is only when we come to the beginning of God that we come to the beginning of life.

The paradox of Christianity is that if you want to find your life, you must lose it (Matthew 10:39). In the world’s economy, life precedes death. In God’s economy, death precedes life — the cross always precedes the crown. The good news, however — the thing that should cause us to be supremely thankful — is that when we lose our worldly comforts, we gain heavenly ones.

Thank God!

Tullian Tchividjian serves as the Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

I am not going to be surprised anymore. I am not going to allow people to surprise me. It is becoming clear that many people do not want to hear what Jesus had to say about how we should live life. For many people, Jesus has become nothing more than a tolerant, loving, forgiving person whose main purpose is to bolster their self esteem, to help them feel good about their lives and get physical blessing from this world. People just want their ears tickled it seems. People just want to hear about this watered down Jesus so they can keep living in and glorifying their sinful life. Why is it that people are so open to this nonjudgmental, tolerant, loving, caring, and open to anything Jesus? Why is it people can be so moved by all that stuff.? But when you begin to tell and preach the truth, you are told that you are judgmental and harsh. Why don’t more people want to hear from the Jesus that taught things like unless a man is born again He will not inherit the kingdom of heaven? Or that there is such a thing as sin and that we need to mourn, repent and turn from that sin. Or that He and He alone is the only way to Heaven. Or that there is the reality of a real place called Heaven and a reality of a real placed called Hell and that people who refuse to accept Jesus and turn from their sinful ways will choose to go to Hell. The problem is no one wants to face their sin. The problem is no one wants to call sin, sin. We want to call it free choice, tolerance, character flaws, mistakes, laziness, having fun, being stupid, whatever. I look into my life and into my heart and I realize that I fall so short of the glory of God. I have come a long way from that life I lived of sinful drunkenness, fifth and hostility toward God that was leading me to hell. I will not sugar coat this- that life was leading me to hell. I will also not sugar coat the fact that if all I did was say some words about how I believe in Jesus Christ yet still saw nothing wrong with drunkenness it would be impossible for me to be saved. The reality is far too many people don’t see that there is anything wrong with the way they are living and it is leading them to eternal doom. Far too many people do not believe that their sin hurts God and that he is not cool with it. So I have come far in my life but the reality is I still have far to go. I struggle with the sin of pride, I struggle with the sin of anger, to name a few and I will tell you these sins grieve my soul. What about you, do you recognize the sin in your life that grieves God. My challenge to you this Christmas season is to look at your life and see if Jesus is really the precious gift to you that God intended Him to be. The goal of Jesus coming to earth was not so that we would live well. What I mean is that Jesus did not come mainly to be useful to us. The goal of Jesus coming to this Earth was so that we could die well. Jesus came mainly so that HE would be glorified and magnified in and through us. Jesus said in Matthew “^Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13,14. Which gate will you enter?

Remembering Our Veterans Phil 1:3,4

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,  ⁴ Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy^” Phillipians 1:3,4

This last Sunday we thanked God for the people that have served our great country. It was such an emotional time for me. Part of the reason why it is an emotional time for me is because of my dad. He served in the U.S.M.C during the Vietnam War. I have always admired him for what he did for me and for this great country. I have talked with him enough to know that what he did required a sacrifice and what he did in serving forever changed him. And so I am just so thankful for what he did and what many other men and woman have done for me and this country. This week I encourage you to let those who have served this great country know that you appreciate everything they did and remember to pray for them. On Sunday we talked about these three specific areas we can pray for them.

1. Pray that our president understands what he has in the US Military and he does everything in his power to protect and honor them.

2. We need to pray that our country supports the men and woman when they come back home from serving our great country

3. We need to pray for all the families of the men and woman serving us . The parents, spouses, children, etc.

Again I thank my God always in remembrance of those who have served our great nation, remembering them in my prayers.

Do You Stand In Awe? Job 25:2

“Dominion and awe belong to Him, Who establishes peace in His heights.” Job 25:2 God is so amazing! The sad thing is instead of standing in Awe of God, it seems as if we are just getting so complacent. Yesterday we baptized 8 people at FBC and it was a great celebration. We celebrated because God got a hold of 8 people’s hearts and forever changed their lives. They were coming to be baptized because they had accepted and made Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior and they wanted to make it a public announcement. This is not to say that they will not face struggles and hurts and trials but we can say for certain that they will not have to face eternity in Hell separated from God because they realized they were in need of a Savior, and responded to God’s call into their life and accepted His son. How amazing is that, but we take it for granted. Think about your life, think about your thoughts, your behaviors, all the ways in which YOU are not holy, all the ways in which you are a sinful person that is hostile to the gospel, yet God said I love you so I am going to give over my son for the ransom of many, for the ransom of YOU. But not only that he allowed us to live and breath until we could respond to what He did. That is what amazes me the most about God, how patient He was(and is) with me and how much He never gave(or gives) up on me even though I was(am) so lost in sin. Let me be personal for a minute so I can tell you what I mean. God protected me from a certain death of eternity separated from Him in Hell on many occasions before I was saved. I remember one time in particular; I was partying with my family and had gotten really intoxicated. My brother in law decided that the best thing to do while drunk was to get in to an old pickup truck and go off-roading. So that is what we did and as we were going along we blew two tires on the truck and we were just riding on rims. But that wasn’t going to stop us from being idiots and we decided to ride down a train track. As we were riding down that train track, sparks were just flying as we were riding rim on rail and I decided to stick my head out the window so I could yell and scream. I did this for about 3 or 4 minutes and for some reason I stopped and I was in the process of rolling up my window and before I could even get the window up, a sign hit the mirror and pushed it into the window blowing the window that I was rolling up out, splattering glass all over me. If I kept my head out the window 5 seconds longer I would have been decapitated by this sign that I did not see. What made me stop yelling out the window and stick my head back in. Many will say coincidence but I say it was Gods greatness. God saved me that day from a death separated from Him in hell, and I did not deserve to be saved but yet He still saved me. I did not deserve and still do not deserve the grace that God has shown me, yet He keeps showing it. I did not deserve the protection He gave me when I was living to fulfill the sinful desires of this world yet He protected me. I did not deserve the grace to be saved the day our daughter died ; yet He showed me it. I did not deserve the call to be a pastor, yet He called me and equipped me. The reality is when we really think about it we have so much to be amazed about with God. So much to be in AWE about. This week I encourage you remember all that God has done for you before and even after you have been saved. And as you do stand amazed and stand in awe of what a great God we have.

Who Will Dig The Graves?

Last Sunday night I had Steve Sheldon speak at our Sunday Evening Service. Steve and Linda Sheldon are missionaries with Wycliffe and FBC has supported them for many years. Many things that he was reporting on and many of the stories that he shared fascinated me. One particular story caught my attention. He told us how he and Linda were in the mission field 9 years before they had a person converted to Christianity. After this man came to know Christ as his Savior, Steve was interested in trying to find out what made him finally come to know the Lord. As Steve talked to him he found out it wasn’t the translation of the Bible in his language, it wasn’t the Bible verses that he told him, it wasn’t those “spiritual things” per say that made this man accept this Savior that Steve was telling him about. His reason for wanting Steve’s Jesus to be his Jesus too was because Steve dug the graves. See at the time there was an illness going around and many of the villagers were dying. These village people only believed in evil spirits. According to the villagers there were evil spirits of the air and also evil spirits of the ground. Steve said that there would be times when their house would be full of village people because the spirits were after them. So by Steve digging the graves he did something that met a significant need in their life because it saved them from having to be tormented by these evil spirits that they believed lived underground. So here is the question I have been thinking over since hearing Steve, “Who will dig the graves?” What I mean is, what is the equivalent to digging the graves here in Sibley? See for Steve digging the graves for these people were the way he showed them the love of Jesus. The man that was saved thinking was like this, If you dug the graves for us because Jesus loves you and you want to show us this love then this love of Jesus that you talk about must be so real. So how will we show our community the love of Jesus? People don’t see love through a denomination, through the color of carpet, through a constitution; people don’t even see love through words unless it is followed up with action. See we have a great opportunity to be that church that meets people where they are at in their life. We have a great opportunity to be that church where people say, they really know how to love people. I don’t mean loving people that are in the church, because most churches in Sibley has that down, most churches in Sibley know how to love the insiders. What I mean is, loving the outsiders, loving those people that look different, loving those that act different, loving those people who are in need and are hurting. We have an opportunity to be the church that is known in the community as “the church” that is there for the community. And all it will take for us to become all of this is to dig some graves. So the question that we all need to think about is this, are we ready? Are we ready to dig graves? If we are it’s going to require us to think outside the box at times. If we are it will mean that at times you will become uncomfortable. If we are it will mean that you will get dirty? If we will be it will mean that you might have to put others first before yourself. But if we will people will get saved and Sibley will be changed. So I don’t know about you but I think we should “dig some graves.”

A hypocrite! Not Me! Matthew 23:2-12

"The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. 4“They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. 5“But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. 6 “They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men. 8“But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 “Do not be called 1leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. 11 “But the greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted." Matthew 23:2-12
I have thought a lot lately about hypocrisy. Non-Christians sometimes accuse Christians of being hypocrites. Indeed, if you don’t like hypocrites, you have a lot in common with Jesus. But there is a difference between a hypocrite and a sinner. A sinner acknowledges his sin and works to correct his shortcomings. A hypocrite acknowledges others sins and short comings and never sees anything wrong in their own life. The fact is at times Christians have rightly deserved the title hypocrite and at other times people have just used it as an excuse not to go to church or as an excuse not to explore Christianity. At a recent Sunday evening service we studied Matthew 23,where Jesus called the Pharsies hypocrites seven times and condemned them by placing woes upon them. Let me share a couple conclusions we made as why Jesus saw the Pharisees as such hyporcrites and why he was dealing so harshly with them. In doing so, let us try to avoid the same behavior so we can avoid being called a hypocrite.
1. They did not practice what they preached. Nothing will get us labeled as a hypocrite faster than doing this. As Christians we must be careful that we don’t talk one way and live life another. As a pastor friend of mine put it, “Your behavior is what you believe all the rest is talk.” I think many people see professing Christians talking a different game than what they live.
2. They enforced rules without giving meaning to them. The Pharisees were so good at setting up rules and following them. They were able to live by the law and were great at making others feel unworthy when they could not. As Christians we can’t expect non Christians to act like us. We cant expect them to follow certain do's and don’ts when they don’t understand the “why” behind them. Even in the church we are horrible at this. The premise of certain do's and don’ts is good because God has told us some things that are right and some things that are wrong and understanding that helps us to grow closer to God but if we don’t give the “why” people will not understand and just see us as setting some rules.
3. Everything they did was for show and for the praise of man and not God –They were clean on the outside but on the inside they were filthly. Their number one motivation was so that people would see them and everything that they did. As Christians I think it is so important that we are constantly looking within ourselves to see if our motives are right. Our motivation can’t be so people will see how good we are. Our motive can’t be so people will see our good works and give us praise. It must be in our hearts that we want to please God and no one else.

Darkness Will Come As Soon As Light is Gone John 12:35

My pastor Steve Dekok lately has been asking me many silly questions. The other day he asked me this silly question, “Just wondering again. If the speed of light is 186,000 miles per second, what is the speed of Dark?” And I thought it was a really silly question so I posted the question on facebook and one of my nieces responded with, “I guess you could say that darkness "arrives" when light departs. So the speed that light "leaves" the observed space would be the speed of darkness; meaning the speed of darkness would be the speed of light, about 3.00 × 108 m/s.” I thought well that’s a great answer so I wrote back to Steve with that answer which he responded with, “Doug that was one of my silly questions that has great significance to spiritual growth. Darkness will come as soon as light is no longer gave.” You know what a great reminder that is. Darkness will come as soon as light is no longer given. It reminded me that there is a time coming in which darkness will prevail. A time when the light will be gone and darkness will rule. “So Jesus said to them, “^For a little while longer ^the Light is among you. ^Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who ^walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. 36“While you have the Light, ^believe in the Light, so that you may become ^sons of Light.” John 12:35. A day is coming when the light will be gone and darkness will prevail. Because of that we need to live with a sense of urgency. We need to walk in the light now and we need to encourage many others to do the same. We need to encourage people to get right with Christ now. We need to allow the Light to shine in our lives so that people will clearly see Jesus. We need to encourage other believers to remain faithful, to endure till the end. Darkness has not yet come, but the sun could very well be setting, so while there is still light live in that light today and be more like Christ at the end of today than you were at the start.

Silly Talk 2 Timothy 2:23

"Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights." 2 Timothy 2:23 NLT

So this week I got engaged into a conversation that turned into a lot more than it should have. It involved “foolish and ignorant ^speculations” that I knew would “ ^produce ^quarrels.” This took place through the internet so it was a typed public conversation. It all began with a discussion about a video of a class of kindergarten kids singing a song that they were taught in school about how great our president is. The song they were singing was set to the tune of Jesus loves the little children but was replaced with the name of Barack Hussein Obama instead of Jesus. The original point of the post was that there are many people that are making our president out to be like God and how we disagreed with that idea. The point we were discussing was that God and God alone should be praised and it turned into a political debate about policies concerning the poor in which political parties were defended. I knew half way through the dialogue that I should just have dropped it because I knew it was going in the wrong direction and that there would be nothing positive that would come from it. . I thought it, my wife thought it and even told me, “just let it go it’s pointless and someone is just trying to get you frustrated” but I did not listen to myself or to her and I continued to have a dialogue that was pointless and indeed stupid. The problem was I felt personally attacked and when I do I always feel as if I need to defend myself. I was called an arrogant worm, hypocrite and a heathen and my salvation was questioned just because I did not agree with a political party policy. So instead of refusing to engage I defended my character. The question that I have thought about since this conversation is, does it really matter what people think about me? And another is, why do I always feel the need to defend myself? I have concluded to the first question. The answer is usually no and in this case it was a definite no. It shouldn’t have mattered one bit to me what this person thought of me or what he called me. I should have just left it alone at that point because I knew that there would be no benefit to the ongoing conversation except for Christianity to look foolish. The answer to the second question is simple but I think we struggle with it, God is our defender and we don’t always have to defend ourselves. The fact is all that matters is that God knows our hearts and it doesn’t matter what others might say or think. What a great reminder for me to, “refuse foolish and ignorant ^speculations, knowing that they ^produce ^quarrels.^” 2 Tim 2:23

Lightning Flash-Matthew 24:27

Last night a loud thunder and lightning storm woke me up. The flashes of lightning seemed brighter than normal. As I laid there I began to think about the verse, Matthew 24:27, "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” As I lay there in bed, darkness surrounded me and then in an instant the room lit up with a strike of lightning. I thought, imagine if the next time the lightning struck the darkness disappeared and there Jesus stood looking at me. As I lay there that thought spurred me in to prayer. I began to pray for some family members that are on my heart, I began to pray for some people in my church, I began to pray for some friends back In Michigan and finally I began to pray for myself. I began to talk to God about some areas in my life that I have been struggling with and I began to confess those sins to Him. And my thoughts went back to our evening service where we talked about the subject of judgment and began to pray that people would began to wake up to the reality of their sin. I began to pray that people would get ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ by getting real about their sinfulness. This topic of judgment is a hot topic these days and it is interesting to me that everybody has a take on it. Many people have sincere beliefs but can be sincerely wrong and many people are just sincerely wrong when it comes to this subject. Many people have adopted this motto, “Only God can judge me.” Well that is a true and RIGHT statement that people shouldn’t be proclaiming it lightly BECAUSE God does and will do this. The bible is clear~ ‘And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,’ Hebrews 9:27. See people like to say well only God can judge me and they say it in a way as if God is going to excuse them for their sinful lives. People need to understand God is a Holy And Just God that will judge people according to HIS Standard. And that standard is not you and it is not I, it is Jesus Christ! See judgment isn’t a matter of sin, we are all sinners that will continue to sin. Judgment takes place when we fail to acknowledge sin as sin and this is the reason why people like to say that we aren’t to judge because they don’t want their lifestyles, their thoughts and their actions to be called for what it is-sin. This is why it is so important for people to realize when they claim Christianity they need to make sure that they are really serious about acknowledging and fighting sin in their lives. Sin is so serious and so much of a problem between us and God He had His Son die on a cross. I often wonder how people can think that God would not judge people that make His sons sacerfice seem unnecessary by not acknowledging that their sin is wrong. Especially when He paid such a price for us to get forgiveness. I am no better or no worse to God than the person sitting in jail waiting to be tried for murder. I am no better than any one you reading this. The only thing that will spare me from facing the judgment of God will be the fact that I have acknowledged there are certain aspects of my life that is not right and I am making war on them and relying on God to help to overcome them. It is my prayer that people who profess Jesus Christ as their Savior will examine their lives see what is sin and that they will admit that it is sin. After all just as lighting comes so will the King of King's and Lord of Lord's

I Got Your Back-I Corinthians 12:12-13

Tuesday, I attended my first Lunch, Learn and Lean. It is a group of area pastors that meet once a month to encourage and build each other up. Yesterday, one of the pastors shared how a statement that was made by a fellow pastor challenged him. That statement was “I Got Your Back.” The pastor that made this statement has a son in the army rangers and this is why he said it. He told us how his son shared with him that the other men in his ranger platoon rarely ever go anywhere alone. When they are on base they are always working together, when they leave the base you rarely hear on any of them going somewhere alone. Basically because they have become this close-knit family, if you will, that always has each other’s back. We talked about that Tuesday and we talked a lot about that is the way we should be as a church. We should be a body of people that has each other’s back. You know, that makes a lot of sense. And it even made more sense to me Wednesday morning. I woke up and my day was going as all other days go. Les and I woke up the kids and were getting them ready for school. At 7:50 the phone rang and my wife answered and said it for me. I got on the phone and a lady said, “I didn’t know whom to call. I just woke up this morning and I think my husband is dead, I don’t know what to do!” I, at this point, thought of Tuesday, “ I got your back!” So I said,” I’ll be right there.” And so I have spent most of Wednesday morning with this precious lady that is now facing life after 50 years of marriage. I will spend as much time as possible with her in the next week and days after that just being there for her as much as I can. We have been clearly taught from the bible that we are a body, I Corinthians 12:12-13 says, “For even ?as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, ?so also is Christ.13 For ?by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether ?Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to ?drink of one Spirit.” We are a body of Christ so we are all connected to one another. I wonder how many Christians feel that way though. I wonder how many feel as if they are really connected to the body. I wonder how many feel as if someone has their back. I wonder how many have this question, when it really comes down to it, would someone be there for me when I really need it. We are living in uncertain times, times in which many people are struggling with all kinds of things. Churches are filled with all kinds of people that are hurting and are in need of knowing that someone has their back. So remember we are a body and we are all connected, so look for people that need your encouragement today.