Sin, Is It More Fun?

John 8:34,36 - Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

A mother told her young son to go to bed and be sure to say his prayers and ask God to make him a good boy. The boy's father, passing by the bedroom, overheard his son praying: "And make me a good boy if You can; and if You can't, don't worry about it, 'cause I'm having fun the way I am."

Does this sound familiar? How many times have I thought this in my lifetime? I don't think that anyone would admit it, but we all know that sin is much more fun. Why is it fun? It should not be, but it is, because it is easy and it gives instant gratification. That is not what God calls us to do though. It has been said that the things that mean the most, that are most important and meaningful, are the things that we have to work for. That is the way the Christian life is.

First of all we have to work to be obedient. It is a constant battle to do what is right, but the end result is much better than the instant gratification that we get the other way.

I heard a sermon one time about choices. We all have choices, but what we have to live with is the consequences. What I do today will never change, but the consequence of that choice is something that I will have to live with.

My challenge to you (to me) is to think about what you do and make sure that it is God's will that you do it. Does this situation look like it will be in God's plan? Will it glorify him? That is a question that we should always be asking.

Prayer: Lord, deliver us from the blindness that deceives itself into thinking that sin is more fun. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.
Amen.

Come Lord Jesus

I need you, yes I need you Lord Jesus,
I need you to be Lord of my life,
Without you there is really no purpose,
To all of this struggle and strife.

The answer is really quite simple,
Yes the answer is so plain to see,
I need more, so much more of you Jesus,
And I truly need much less of me.

I want to be led by your Spirit,
But sometimes my flesh controls me,
Please enter my heart, dear Lord Jesus,
Come, let your blood set me free.

Listen to my heart cry this day Lord,
Please open your ears to my plea,
Your word tells me that you are willing,
To come and reside reside within me.

Remind me each day, of this prayer Lord,
And All that you have done for me,
Please remind of that Hill called Golgotha,
and the day of your great victory.

W. Joe Ingram

New Songs, Old Songs

This blog discusses church musical changes that we still battle today on the newer praise songs and some of our traditional hymns. Some things never change…………..

A book about Cane Ridge (The Cane Ridge Bicentennial Sampler) I found that one of its early ministers, Robert W. Finley, got into trouble in the late 1700's (before he got to Cane Ridge) for introducing and using the hymns of Isaac Watts in worship. Other congregations were dividing over their use instead of singing the Psalms. In that period of revival, many were writing hymns in colloquial language using the New Testament rather than the Psalms. The most prolific writers were Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts. It seems that the Church of England in those days had a law that nothing but metrical Psalms from the King James Version of the Bible could be sung congretationally in their buildings. Many other churches also had this tradition, including the Puritans, who brought it to America. Martin Luther and his followers were the first to challenge this by introducing secular folk tunes. John Calvin, however opposed this and wrote, "Psalms alone should be sung in church, because they are the inspired Word of God and are therefore untainted by human error. "Evangelicals in the church of England (George Whitefield in particular) felt bound to keep the letter of the law, but avoided its spirit by using the new songs in their large open-air revival meetings. ( From Steve Turner's book Amazing Grace.)

We are indebted to Isaac Watts for such hymns as
"When I Survey the Wonderous Cross,"
"I'm Not Ashamed to Own My Lord,"
"Joy to the World,"
"We're Marching to Zion,"
and "Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed."

I am thankful for new worship songs such as “Lamb of God”, “As the Deer” and “I Stand In Awe”. I am thankful for the family at Central that recognizes the need of both contemporary and classic hymns in our worship as we try to connect with our culture of today as well as praise the God of the universe!

Sunday Worship

Watching our young men on Sunday lead us in worship made me realize how special Central really is. Our young men did a great job leading us in Worship to our Heavenly Father.

We hear of problems in the Church and young people not caring about the traditions and principles of our faith, I beg to differ. Our young people at Central are some of the best. Perfect? No. But us adults aren't either. I'm very appreciative of our young men and women who have decided to serve God and share their faith with those they come in contact with.

They you for being an example to us older folks as we strive to live a life for Jesus!

Happy Anniversary

25 years ago today at 2:00 p.m. at the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Church of Christ, Debrorah Faye Ellis became my wife. What a great day that was. It was 108 degrees outside and felt like 150 degrees in my white tux. It was so hot, when they threw rice at us, it started cooking when it hit the pavement.

I will never forget the first time I saw Debbie as she walked into the church auditorium in her mothers wedding dress. My eyes teared up because of her beauty.

Our good friend Kent Hall the Education Minister for the congregation married us on that hot summer day.

Many things rush through my mind as I look back on 25 years.......

But the one thing that I can truly say is that I did marry the most beautiful and wonderful woman in all the world. Thank you Debbie for being faithful, supportive, forgiving, loving, caring and a blessing as we walk side by side in our Christian relationship.

May God continue to richly bless our relationship!

P.S. You don't have to cook tonight....

A Family

“You’re no longer strangers or outsiders: You belong here… God is building a home. He’s using us all-irrespective of how we got here-in what he is building… He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, getting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together.”

Ephesians 2:19 The Message

Camp Week

Be in prayer this week for our MS/HS campers and sponsors. It will be a great week of study and sharing as our kids grow spiritually.

A Frustrated Jesus

Lately I have been very frustrated over certain things. I work daily on trying to be patient and content but lately I have really have been frustrated over items and people in my life. What I think should happen just doesn't happen. And I’m frustrated. It has caused me to lose sleep, not trust people, become irritable, and I'm constantly thinking, " what’s next?" Then I realize - you selfish individual. Who is the one being constantly blessed by God? Your frustrated? God should be the one frustrated with me. Not placing all this at His feet and trusting and having faith that He will make the very best out of it.

In Matthew 17 beginning with verse 14:

There’s a story of a frustrated Jesus.

“Jesus and the followers went back to the people. A man came to Jesus and bowed before him. The man said, "Lord, be kind to my son. He has epilepsy and is suffering very much. My son often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought my son to your followers, but they could not heal him." Jesus answered, "You people have no faith. Your lives are all wrong. How long must I stay with you? How long must I continue to be patient with you? Bring the boy here." Jesus gave a strong command to the demon inside the boy. Then the demon came out of the boy, and the boy was healed. Then the followers came to Jesus alone. They said, "We tried to force the demon out of the boy, but we could not. Why were we not able to make the demon go out?" Jesus answered, "You were not able to make the demon go out, because your faith is too small. I tell you the truth. If your faith is as big as a mustard seed, then you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there.' And it will move. All things will be possible for you."

Why had Jesus' closest followers not been able to heal the boy?

Matthew 17:19 says that it was because they did not have enough faith.

But why was that? Was it because of Jesus' absence? Was it because of the leaders' among the apostles being with Jesus? Was it because they simply lost faith in what Jesus had equipped them and empowered them to do?

What frustrates you?

Jesus is surely frustrated with our vain attempts to live for him and bless others with his grace. Just as Moses came down from his mountaintop experience with God and found frustration and faithlessness, Jesus does, too.

The message for us? Surely we must understand that we must have faith and when we do, Jesus can do great things through us.

But ... Jesus can and will do things without us if we choose not to follow and obey him. The issue is one of honoring and blessing him by having faith.

Frustration will occur at times. That’s being human. But Christians can take all that possible negative energy and turn it into great positive accomplishments for Jesus and for others.

Home Where I Belong

In 1978 our Broken Arrow Youth Group enjoyed singing this song as we anticipated a better life in a place that God has prepared for us. Through the difficult life situations its great to know that God has prepared a Home for us.....

Home Where I Belong
Words and music: Pat Terry © 1976 Word Music (ASCAP)

They say that Heaven's pretty
Living here is too
But if they said that I would have to choose between the two
I'd go home, goin' home
Where I belong

Sometimes when I'm dreamin'
It comes as no surprise
But if you look you'll see the homesick feelin' in my eyes
I'm goin' home, yes I am goin' home
Where I belong

Chorus:
While I'm here I'll serve Him gladly
And sing him all these songs
I'm here, but not for long

When I'm feelin' lonely
And when I'm feelin' blue
It's such a joy to know that I'm only passin' through
I'm headed home, goin' home
Where I belong

One day I'll be sleepin'
When death knocks on my door
And I'll awake to find that I'm not homesick anymore
Cause I'll be home, I'll be home
Where I belong

"Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11:16

Worship

"At the root of god's revelation to His creation, worship is shown as the prerequisite for man's ability to receive and live within the high possibilities and rich benediction of God's plan"

Jack Hayford

Sunday Worship

Order of Worship
Sunday, July 16, 2006

Announcements

2 We Praise Thee, O God (Verses 1,2 and 5)
718 We Shall Assemble
71 As the Deer

Prayer

Wonderful, Merciful Savior
176 Lamb of God

Communion
Contribution

Dismiss 2x2

431 Break Thou the Bread of Life
Ancient Words

Message

Invitation

Announcements
Closing Prayer

True Worship

I read this blog entry the other day from a former worship leader who left a church because of changes that he did not agree with:

It was a strange final Sunday. I thought our worship time went quite well (although I'm probably not the most unbiased to judge it), but the unusual thing today was when the Elders presented the results of a survey done back in November and then told some new directions the church would be heading. I was personally quite surprised for how little support there really was for the three major changes; I expected a fair number of people to object to some of the changes, but I thought there'd be at least 2/3 or 3/4 clearly in favor of the change. My own opinion is that maybe the survey showed a need to wait a bit longer or do some study/teaching before moving ahead. However, what was announced was that the Church would be changing their name (dropping "Church of Christ"), adding instrumental music (perhaps as soon as next Sunday!), and expanding women's role as ministry leaders and in public assemblies. Though I'm praying for God's blessing on the Church and it's leaders, I'm left wondering a little about where they're headed. I think it will be a tough road, at least in the near future.

The article above is a sad one. When God’s Word is ignored on how New Testament worship should be conducted because individuals feel they prefer these items in their worship it deeply hurts the church.

Pray for the church worldwide. We are undergoing some great divisions and treading down roads that we haven’t gone down since the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

Pray for the Central Church that we will be true to God’s Word in the complex changing culture of today.

Mission Trips

When I was 16 years old, our youth group from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma took our summer mission trip to Apple Valley, Minnesota. This was one of our mission points as a congregation.

We knocked doors, set up studies, encouraged the local congregation and heard five nights of excellent lessons from Walter Buchanan who was a visiting evangelist from Texas.

That was a special week in my life.

Many of us have memories of mission trips that we took that impacted our mission to reach out to a lost world.

I am thankful for our young people and sponsors who traveled to the New Orleans area to minter last week.

I know they were a blessing for a people searching for hope in a hard hit part of the country.

A Dreamer

A Dreamer

I have been a dreamer since day one. With that mindset, my main fault has been not being content with the present. I work on that daily!

What do I dream about?

I dream about the school district that I lead. I believe we can be the very best district in the state if we work harder than ever before reaching each and every student.

I dream about my family. What will Brian and Craig become in their vocational careers after college? Will they marry? Will they have children? Will they be leaders in their churches? Where will they move (I know Craig will be living in some large city)?

I dream about Debbie. Will she shoot a 90 on the golf course one day? Will her health improve with her new medication?

I dream about Central.

I dream about the family that meets at the corner of Huntoon and College. I dream about a family that reaches out to all economic classes, races and individuals. I dream about a family that is loving, forgiving, serving and unified. I dream about a church that is Bible-centered and spirit-led. I dream about a church that prays daily and lifts holy hands to God in thanksgiving for the blessings and situations that He has helped His family go through on a daily basis.

I dream about a church that is a light to a dark world.

I dream about a unified church in Topeka worshipping together, holding hands as brothers and sisters and praising the God that we love.

What do you dream about??

Faithful Love

Faithful Love

When you think of the last phrase of that song, 'For I've seen faithful love face to face, and Jesus is His name,' it calls to mind one of the most dramatic scenes of Jesus' death recorded in the gospel of Mark, chapter 15 verses 33-39:

At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah." One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said. With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"

It says that the Roman centurion stood in front of Jesus and saw. What did he see? He saw the way Jesus died, the compassion Christ had for those who killed Him. Jesus' willingness to forgive humanity for this atrocity.

When we stand before the cross of Christ. . .when we meet at His communion table together each first day of the week, what do we see? I believe that we have a chance to see Jesus and his love. We have the chance to say, 'I've seen faithful love face to face, and Jesus is His name.'

A Report from the Teen Mission Trip

Angie Smith sent me this e-mail today that I wanted to share with the Central Family:

Well, what a wonderful day they had yesterday! They started a new home yesterday and it was that of an elderly couple. Scott said he was going to turn 84 soon and his wife had suffered a stroke and wasn't able to be left alone, therefore he was unable to do much work at their home. Natasha and some of the girls stayed with his wife while the rest of them went with him to their home and cleaned it out. He was very appreciative of what they had done, especially sitting with his wife so that he could go to the house. He is a catholic and told Scott that he couldn't get people from his own faith to come and help him and that we drove 17-18 hours down there and didn't know him from Adam and helped him more yesterday than anyone in his own faith would help! Our group has touched many lives this week and spread God all over and they have been touched as well! They were to start a new house this morning and will finish up this afternoon and then start getting things ready to head back to Kansas. Their goal is to leave around 5:00 in the morning and drive straight through, so keep them in your prayers!!

Do You Believe....

Have you ever heard about the guy who walked a tight rope across Niagara Falls? Many people watched him do it. To them he asked, "Do you believe I can walk a tight rope across the Falls?" They all replied, "Yes." They had already seen him do it. Then he pushed a wheel barrow on a tight rope across Niagara Falls. When he completed the feat, he asked the onlookers, "Do you believe I can walk a tight rope across the Falls pushing a wheel barrow?" To that they replied unanimously, "Yes." Because they saw him do that too. Finally, a buddy of the tight rope walker climbs into the wheel barrow and the tight rope walker pushes him across the Falls. Wow, what a daring feat! When they finished, the tight rope walker asked the crowd, "Do you believe I can walk a tight rope across the Falls pushing a wheel barrow with a person in it?" To that they exclaimed, "Yes!" For they were now believers in this guy's awesome abilities. Then he looked at the crowd and asked, "Who's next?"

Our faith is like that at times. We see God working in our lives but we don't act on opportunities and situations that God places right in front of us because of fear or maybe we don't actually trust that He will provide what's best for us in a particular situation.

Leadership

ON LEADERSHIP: “It is not enough for the ministers of the future to be moral people, well trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and able to respond creatively to the burning issues of this time. All of that is very valuable and important, but it is not the heart of Christian leadership. The central question is, are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to dwell in God’s presence, to listen to God’s voice, to look at God’s beauty, to touch God’s incarnate Word and to taste fully God’s infinite goodness?” (Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus : Reflections on Christian Leadership )

July 4th Weekend

It has been a tradition for the past few years that on the 4th of July weekend the Carriger family meets at our home for fun, food and fireworks. Back in my college years, I was a pyro. I worked for a fireworks team that set off huge firework's shows in Wichita. A typical evening would be black powder from head to toe, a t-shirt with a million holes and loss of hearing. It was a rush!

Today I sit in a lawn chair as my youngest brother, Mike and oldest son, Brian tries to blow up the neighborhood.

What I enjoy is the family time. Time to sit and visit and talk about the past and future. I look forward to this weekend every year.

Be in prayer for our Central members at Family Camp in Estes Park. Keep our Mission Team in your prayers as they minister to the hurricane victims. Pray also for Brian and Russel Bell.