THE NEW YEAR CAME AND THE OLD LEFT AND I MISSED IT!

Well here we are in the New Year once again, all sparkly and fresh like a new snow fall ready for us to make foot prints in. I'm glad it's here, but I'm really not much for New Year celebrations. This year I had a hard day at work and was fast asleep in bed by 9:30 p.m. So, the New Year came in the old one ended and I missed it, but it really didn't need my awareness to happen anyway. After all, men set the date of the year, but God created the world, makes the days and that never changes.

How are you looking at the New Year? Myself, I'm looking at it with hope! Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 about folks who have no hope and I afraid that includes far too many in or world. Hope of what? Hope of eternal life, hope of a better life now, not based upon what we do necessarily, but based upon our relationship to Christ.

I love the line from Anne of Green Gables where she says, “Each day is fresh and brand new with no mistakes”. That of course is true, but it usually doesn't stay that way very long, simply because we are human and mess up far too often, (1 John 1:10).

I love what Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:3, that “God has begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. Wow! “a lively hope”… in the Greek that means “Not lifeless, not dead, but vital and strong”. (Strong's)

How is you hope and what are hoping in? I saw a sign the other day that said, “Life is full of choices, the problem is that sometimes we make stupid choices!” Some times I make stupid choices, but not when I choose to hope in Christ, to hope for eternal life, to hope of a better life here in this world because of my hope and trust in Christ Jesus.

There is an old hymn that declares, “My hope is built on nothing less that Jesus' blood and righteousness.” I hope you can can sing this song with all of your heart.

Happy Holiday or Merry Christmas?

Which of the above greetings is correct? To be quite honest, I really don't care what your choice is, but then again, I don't care much about being politically correct either. I realize that as a Christian I can call it whatever I want. Is December 25^th the actual birthday of Christ Jesus? Most likely not! Does it matter? No!

There are many that want to celebrate December 25^th as the birth of Christ, yet some who just enjoy the "holiday season" with all of the sights and sounds of Christmas, feasts with the family and exchanging presents, with no thought of Christ. That's OK by me; I really don't care what you do with the day.

Now before you get on your religious high horse, let me again say; that first, December 25^th is most likely not the time of Christ's birth. Second, no where in the scripture are we given instruction to or example of celebrating Jesus' birthday. Third, like most of the world, I really don't care what you do; I have the freedom to choose to celebrate the birth of Christ or just to have a "happy holiday".

You might think, "How can you as a mister say such a thing?" It's really rather simple. Again, there is no command or example in the bible to do so, but there is a scripture that deals with our freedom to choose to do so if we wish. In Romans 14:5-6 Paul writes, “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each should be fully convinced in his own mind.” Should Christmas then be an official church holiday? In my way of thinking, no. It is not in the Bible and all of us don’t even have the same opinion about it. Do we have the right to celebrate it if we want to? Yes!

Yet Paul cautions us in Romans 14:22, “Blessed is the man that does not condemn himself by what he approves (or says is good)”.  You see Romans the 14th chapter deals with problems between brethren who are having faith problems. The brother with the weak faith had not yet grown to the point where he understood that everything we do is to the glory of God, therefore doing certain things, such as "keeping holy days", would cause him to stumble in his faith.

So, even though I don't care what you do or say about this holiday, because it will not affect my faith, yet for some it may. So, be careful of what you "approve," so you "do not condemn yourself". Do I have a problem with our world, our schools, our town counsels, and our federal government telling us that we cannot remember Christ in any way or even mention his name in certain places? You bet I do!

I've made my choice, but you are responsible for your own choices. For me, I'll just close this by saying that I wish each of you a Merry Christmas!

The Fall

Well, I had a “rude awakening” this past week, literally! I fell out of bed… There I was sound asleep, dreaming I was climbing a ladder and my feet slipped and … well, I fell out of bed and landed on my chest, cracking a rib. It has been rather painful this week. There is nothing they can do for it a doctor friend told me, just take it easy. However in my present job, that is easier said than done. This too shall pass however and life will continue.

I was reminded of a story I heard years ago about a little boy who fell out of bed. His parents rushed in to quiet the crying boy and said, “What happened to you?” to which the boy replied, “I guess I just was sleeping too close to where I got in.” Of course my mind jumps to the spiritual application for you and me.

In my years of ministry I have seen so many people start a new relationship with God and not long after they “fall” away or forget all of the promises they made to God. The problem is that they never moved from the edge of the relationship to a better and deeper understanding and relationship to our God. They might start their relationship with great enthusiasm and then they begin to feel that it just isn’t working for them or they really don’t feel any different. They think, when you become a Christian, aren’t you suppose to feel more holy, more spiritual, isn’t this suppose to help you overcome the problems in your life?

The problem as I have seen it is that far too often these folks have stayed right on the edge of the relationship and never delved deeper and grown in the spirit themselves.

These are much like the folks spoken of in the book of Hebrews, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil”.  (Hebrews 5:11-14) NLT

Humm… training yourself by a constant use of the word of God… What an idea! You see that’s what it means to go deeper, to no longer stay on the edge so that you might “fall” out of the relationship.

Be careful about staying too close to the edge… you might end up with more than a cracked rib; you might loose your soul.

THE CHURCH AND KARAOKE

We were visiting with some good friends this past week after a long separation. We sat up for hours catching up on every imaginable topic. Of course we discussed our churches and some of the many happenings there.

They shared a recent incident that had happened when a non-Christian friend visited their congregation. Later in the day he was trying to tell someone about his "Church Experience". He described how friendly everyone was with him and how much he loved that. Then he told them about the preaching and how he enjoyed the message and the presentation by the preacher who was not stuffy at all. He then tried to describe the singing, during which the words to the songs were projected on a screen above the pulpit. In describing this he said excitedly, "And they sing Karaoke"!

I found the description humorous to say the least, but it made me wonder about what folks think when they visit our church. Years ago I heard a man discuss the "secret language" used in churches. We use words like, "deacon" and "elder" or even "minister" and just assume folks understand what we are talking about. We write abbreviations such as "Mt", "Mk", "Lk" and "Jn" and assume that people will know that stands for the bible books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We may even sing acapella and assume that folks know that means we don't use musical instruments in our worship.

So, stop and think about what you are doing in your worship sometime. Maybe even make sure our church visitors have a little understanding about what is happening. Not everyone was "raised going to church," and just don't have the same background as you might. They may be like the little girl who innocently said of Communion, "I love going to church, they serve juice and crackers every week, just like my preschool".

We may not actually "sing Karaoke," the way the world perceives it, but hopefully we are those described by Jesus in John 4:23 where he says, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks." Spirit and Truth is a must, Karaoke… not so much!

THE THANKSGIVING TAILGATE PARTY

We have seen many changes take place in our nation over the years, but the growth in popularity of the "Tailgate Party," has amazed me. Whenever there is a sporting event someone will throw a Tailgate Party. For those who might not know, it is a gathering of  like minded friends who gather and share a meal, talk about the coming event and then watch the event together cheering on their favorite team (usually with much enthusiasm).

In the past couple of weeks I have listened as my co-workers have discussed their planned Thanksgiving celebration. It occurred to me for many it was less about Thanksgiving and more of a tailgate party. They were more interested in watching the "Big Game" (sporting event) than being with family. Some were actively planning the big day of shopping beginning late that night and the next day and Thanksgiving was just something to get through before that happened. For some Thanksgiving is just a tailgate party, for some it is an obligation, something to be endured until they can get to the game or shopping.

I'm not saying that these folks will not enjoy being with family, but not once did I hear the idea express of anyone actually being thankful for anything. Again, for many, yet I understand not all, being thankful has become of secondary importance. We as a nation seem to have forgotten why the holiday came into existence. We forget to Thank God for all he has provided and to be thankful for family and the opportunity to spend time with loved ones.

Again, I realize this is not how everyone feels, but I have been surprised to listen to those I work with discuss Thanksgiving.

My prayer is that you will remember what it is about and enjoy friends and family, but do it with a spirit of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for them, Thanksgiving to our God and Thanksgiving for our free country. As the apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:2-3, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you."

May the Spirit of Thanksgiving live in each of our hearts this year and always. 

HOW TO SURVIVE IN OUR WORLD TODAY?

(Paris Mourns)

The events of last week in Paris are still fresh in all of our minds. The questions I have heard several times are, "Can it happen here," or "what would you do in that situation"? Interestingly I just happen to listen to a commentary by Mike Adams whose title was: "How to survive a mass shooting." Now understand that the risk of a mass shooting event in your life is very rare. You may have a better chance of getting hit by lighting. You may not want to hear it or think about it, but there is a chance… Notice a few of the points from the commentary.

Mike suggested that you can:

1. Call 911, realizing that the police will be 10 to 20 minutes away.
2. Flee, run for you life.
3. Hide, try to get somewhere they can't see you.
4. Play Dead, not effective, in at least one of the mass shootings the shooters shot those who were playing dead anyway.
5. Attack physically, get inside the range of the rifle and it can not be used against you. Scratch, bite, kick, hit, and poke eyes, whatever you can. Of course to do this you must be willing to sacrifice yourself to save the lives of others, maybe your family. But in doing so, you may inspire others to help you overcome the attackers.
6. And lastly you can shoot back. In other words, be prepared before hand for when bad things might happen. Arm yourself properly

Now you may wonder, "Why in the world is Russ talking about this?" Well, first I guess, because I am concerned about all of you. I wouldn't want any of you to loose your lives in such a way. But second, because it parallels our fight against the army of Satan.

1 Peter 5:8 tells us that Satan is as a Roaring lion, looking for opportunities to devour each of us.

We get that, we understand that concept I think.

Yet, if you think you can stand up to a roaring, charging lion, you are a better person than I.

Most of us might think, "Well I was Chuck Norris might be able to do it," but we're not; are we? Well, what about being a 12 or 13 year old boy, could you do it then? Most of us would think that idea is pretty stupid, yet that is exactly what David said he did (1 Samuel 17:34-36).

What does this have to do with surviving a mass shooting?

Simply, Satan is trying to kill us physically and Spiritually. We can understand the idea of Spiritual Warfare, but now it has progressed to both Physical Warfare also. The recent shooting at the collage out west, the shooter asked people if they were Christians before killing the ones that said yes.

Whose idea do you think that was? Satan has been working hard at it even before the beginning of the church, 2000 years, starting with Jesus the Messiah. And when the leaders of ISIS and other extremist saying they are coming to kill us, they are not going to target other Muslims, they are going to target Christians.

The best thing we can do is to organize and put on the Spiritual Armour of God and attack Satan. You may have some hesitation on agreeing with this, but notice what Jesus had to say in Matthew 16:13-18.

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

That passage indicates that we need to be the aggressors, not in a physical war against Muslims as such, but against Satan and his armies. Against everything that is trying to destroy our Christian lives and Nation.

Our fight today is against ungodliness, the addictions, the moral decay, and the breakdown of godly family units, the distinction between the sexes, transgender, pornography and homosexuality. All of the things which our nation has been tricked by Satan into accepting as being OK, while God says it is not.

How does this follow Mike Adam's list of survival techniques?

1. Do we call someone else to deal with the problem?

2. Do we run away from it?

3. Do we hide our belief so it can't be seen by others?

4. Do we play dead and pretend we are not Christians?

5. Or do we join the fight and attach Satan and his army?

We might say, "But it's going to cost us something in our lives! Isn't that what Christ, Peter, Paul and all of the other apostles were willing to pay!

Satan is attacking our nation, our society, our churches and our families daily. Just turn on your television and you will see and hear him trying to take over people's lives… and succeeding.

What other decision can we make than to join the Lord's Army?

If we don’t, what is our excuse? Will you die spiritually or allow your friends and family to die, because you are not willing to sacrifice something of yourself?

James writes in James 4:17, "Therefore to him who knows to do good, and does not do it, to him it is sin."

Do you know how to do good and fight Satan?

Are you doing it?

SARAH AND THE HAIRBRUSH

Young miss Sarah, our great niece, has lovely hair that flows down over her shoulders. Her grand mother, my sister had a new hair brush, one of the round ones with fine teeth on it, about which she specifically told her grand daughters "do no use my hair brush". Of course as you can probably already guess, Sarah used her grandmother's hair brush. How do we know? Because while we were finishing a family supper, Sarah came down from upstairs with the hairbrush terribly tangled in her lovely long hair. Not just tangled, but knotted into a large mass on the side of her head.

Being a man I guess I could not imagine how you could ever get the hairbrush out of her hair without cutting her hair. But, three of our family's women worked on her hair for about an hour and got it out. Of course they had to get wire cutters and cut the bristles off of the brush one by one to do so.

When she saw her grand daughter's hair; what do you think was the first thing my sister said? How about, "Didn't I tell you not to touch my hairbrush?" Isn't it amazing that since the creation that type of question is probably the most repeated in history? In the very beginning God asked almost the same question of his very first children. In Genesis 3:3 after Satan whispered in her ear that she could get away with disobeying, the first woman, Eve, admitted: "God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it…" But of course you know how that that went… she touched it anyway. Later God asked, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." Her life had become a tangled mess because she didn't obey a simple rule which was given by her father, God.

How many times are we like Sarah, or Eve? It's a simple thing, no one will know, it will just take a minute, one puff, one joint, one drink, one word; one time in a compromising situation, and after all, no one will know… How many lives have become tangled messes because of "just one time"?

My sister's response to her grand daughters predicament was and destroying her new hairbrush was: "Hairbrushes can be replaced, kids can't". The world if full of people who are suffering the consequences of "just one time". Thankfully we have a loving God who always accepts us back when our lives become tangled messes.

My favorite verses in the bible come from 1 John 1:7-10 that talks about our struggle in life and our far too often failures. John writes: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Now there is a little more to getting into contact with the Blood of Christ to begin with (Romans 6), but in understanding that there is always forgiveness when we get tangled up we find hope to overcome and go on with life.

May you life be without tangles, but if it's not, God can fix it.