127 Sermons

{ August 18, 2008 @ 4:21 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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The internet is a crazy thing. What began as the brainchild of Al Gore has now become a staple of how we live and work in the modern times. In 2001 I was asked to be a part of a mission trip to New Delhi, India among other places. During my stay our group toured the Taj Mahal as well as the squalor of what the locals called the slums. I was shocked that people were able to eek out an existence in what most westerners would call a garbage dump. As shocking, however, was that the people who lived in tiny shacks or huts also were online. Not only were they online, they were working with high-speed internet seven years ago. High-speed wasn’t even available to me back in Oklahoma at that time.

That the internet has changed everything is easy to see. But do you realize how it has changed the face of ministry? For example, in the last few weeks 127 sermons have either been downloaded or listened to from the www.firstbaptistmeridian.com website.

You will continue to see dramatic change in the way the worldwide church preaches, teaches, disciples and evangelizes. Any group of people or body of believers who resist the changes that are sweeping the globe are certainly missing out on the chance to have global reach, from a local context.

first day of school

{ August 14, 2008 @ 9:04 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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For many of us today was the first day of school. Now the kids are back home and feasting from the fridge again. It’s odd to see my kids walk into a classroom with such grown up looking children. Every year I remind myself that all of the other parents are going through the same thing. I’m not the only 30-something who is worried that their kids are feeling the same worried feelings that they felt when their worried parents dropped them off for the first day.

Jesus told us that we can’t add an inch to our height by worrying. To a me, man that is happy to claim that he is pushing 5′7″,  those are strong words. There are simply some things that are and will remain out of our control. This culture and all of it’s trappings is our assignment and therefore the assignment of our children. Remember Samuel’s godly mother who prayed earnestly and silently for God to grant her a child. When God did grant her that child she took him to the temple as a mere boy

and…

left…

him…

there.

Walking the long lonely road home, she must have wondered and worried about whether she had done the right thing. Jesus’ quotation of the New Testament proverb proved true in this Old Testament story, “Wisdom is known by her children.” Samuel heard the voice of the Lord even in his youth and in manhood would stand strong as a prophet of the Lord.

Ahh… that feels better.

Sunday Rewind

{ August 10, 2008 @ 6:14 pm } · { weekend reflections }
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I rarely feel like coming home and immediately starting a new blog post. But today is a little different. I just got back from the best church service I have been in in a long time. I haven’t got the attendance numbers yet, but I know that there were a lot of people there. Not only were there a lot of people, but there were people there that others had invited. Our church is starting to take seriously the strategy of investing in someone and inviting them to experience Jesus’ love and the love of others at our church. I am so pumped.  All the new faces, the new excitement and the expectation that something powerful could happen at any moment drives me towards next week’s look at Good Bad- The Story of Adam. 

So I ask you what were your impressions from today? Soon I will post a link to the podcast in case you missed this week’s message.

the gift of too much

{ August 4, 2008 @ 10:31 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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“God will never give you more than you can handle.”

You have heard it as often as I have. But it is true? Just because something has been said often doesn’t make it true. Have you ever considered axioms that contradict each other? Ex: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” or “Out of sight, out of mind” which is it? That may be important information. I may need to make an important decision based on something I heard someone say and I need to know which saying is true! Consider others..

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

Look before you leap.
He who hesitates is lost.

Nothing venture, nothing gain.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Save for a rainy day.
Tomorrow will take care of itself.

Life is what we make it.
What is to be will be.

As believers it’s vital that we test the things we hear with God’s Word even or especially if we hear it from a purported Bible teacher. So what about this business of more than you can bear?

Consider Moses’ petition in Numbers 11:13-14, “…this burden is too heavy for me.” Also look at the teaching in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that says when tempted God will always provide a way of escape so that we are never in a situation where we are forced to sin against God. This is the teaching and Scripture that most people are trying to convey when they go with the “more than you can handle” line.

I believe that God gives us the gift of more than we can handle to force us to our knees and to acknowledge that He is strong and we are weak. People who stiffen their neck only hurt themselves.

Check back in the days to come as we consider strategies to deal with the gift of too much.

little kids and the big kids

{ July 28, 2008 @ 2:25 pm } · { students, weekend reflections }
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This Sunday we tried something different during the Sunday School hour. The youth invited the little kids to come and sing with them. It went great!! Except the really little kids were sort of scared by all the commotion and the people. Everyone else really enjoyed it though and we will continue to do it!!!!

It is good to see the youth taking time to be with the kids and starting to develop relationships with them. It can only mean good things for FBC Meridian.

hannah montana and josh rice

{ July 27, 2008 @ 9:02 pm } · { students, weekend reflections }
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According to Wickipedia Hannah Montana’s first soundtrack debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 281,000 copies in its first week, beating out such artists as John Legend and rock band My Chemical Romance. In our house, we weren’t sure how to spell “Hannah”, or what a girl who sings songs like “You’re So Vain, You Probably Thought This Zit Was About You” is doing at the top of any chart. For an expert opinion I asked the first young pre-adolescent girl I saw what the hubbub was all about. My daughter is 11 years old and said “it seems really really silly to me. I watched it one time and almost fell asleep, although it was late at night.” Thanks Bailey, for that scathing yet even-handed review. … continue reading this entry.

…then the souls of all the dead people went to the movies

{ July 25, 2008 @ 9:29 pm } · { students }
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Yea. I thought it was weird too. Let me fill you in a bit.

Last Sunday morning the youth got into a discussion involving Gensis. We talked about the flood, why people use to live to be 500 years or older, and we can’t seem to make it past 80 now days. The bottom line, the stuff that is in Gensis is all kinda crazy. Don’t you think? It takes faith to believe that people used to actually live to be 500. Then what about the very first verse in Gensis? “In the beginning God…”,  before we go any further we first have to believe that God was here before anything else. I realize that not everyone was raised and church. I understand that not everyone can look at that verse and believe it without blinking.  So, if they don’t believe that, how do they think the world got started? I was pretty curious.. so I did some research. Which, for me, means I went to google.com and typed in “how the world was made”.  If you want to laugh you can…

The first thing I got was the Cherokee Indians. They believe that the Earth is a gaint island that hovers over a body of water. It is held up by four cords. One day the cords will break, we will all die and the Earth will fall back into the water. How did the Earth get there? Well, all the animals lived above the great body of water, but it was getting crowded. They needed room to spread out. So a beetle jumped down into the water and grabbed some mud from the bottom. Then he let the ball of mud float on the top, and it is now the Earth. (http://www.sacredtexts.com/nam/cher/motc/motc001.htm)

I also checked out  Scientology, because it’s the new “thing” right now. Apparently some people of this religion believe that there once was a galactic  leader named Xemu. He was in charge of a lot of different planets that were getting crowded. So he decided to have some of the people shipped to Earth in DC8 planes. Oh yea, he paralyzed them first. When he got them to Earth, he put them by volcanoes then blew them up with H-bombs. Then the souls of all the dead people went to the movies that showed what life would be like on Earth. Since they all watched to same movie, they all thought they were the same person. They tend to stay together in groups and inhabit humans. Our job is to get them out of our bodies. (http://www.holysmoke.org/cos/what-cos.htm)

The leader of the Scientology church, Mr. L. Ron Hubbard, denies that the church believes this, and that it is perverted scripture (from the church of Scientology, not from the Bible).  (http://www.scientologymyths.info/aliens/what-is-zenu.php) Neverless,  there actually are people believe that alien souls are living in us, and these people just so happen to be linked to Scientology. 

Of course, the Big Bang Theory came up. It basically says that we started out as a really hot dot. A “singularity” to be specific. Then we sorta expanded and got colder and bigger, and that we are still getting bigger today. I have all heard this before, but as I kept reading on this web page I found something interesting. It said this, ” So where and in what did the singularity appear if not in space? We don’t know. We don’t know where it came from, why it’s here, or even where it is. All we really know is that we are inside of it and at one time it didn’t exist and neither did we. ” (http://www.big-bang-theory.com/ ) Isn’t that great? Even science admits that we had to start somewhere. We had to be created. So … there has to be something that was never created, that was always “there”.

I brought all this to the youth on Wednesday and asked them what they thought. Here are the conclusions we made: 

1. We may be amused by how other people think the Earth started, but there are just as many people who think we are crazy for believing that God started it all.

2. We don’t believe what others do, because all the other theories leave questions unanswered. The fact that God was here first explains everything else.

3. If you believe that God created the world, but you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, you won’t go to heaven when you die.

4. If you believe that Jesus really did what He did, then you probably believe that God created the world.

5. If you get into an argument with someone about how the Earth started, maybe it would be best to try to bring it back to Jesus. One thing at a time.

So, what do YOU think?

hot off the press

{ July 24, 2008 @ 5:08 pm } · { media }
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Here is this week’s version of the bulleting for your perusal. sunday-bulletin-7-27-08

coffee time - andy bowman

{ July 22, 2008 @ 2:30 pm } · { christian life, vision }
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Andy Bowman is my dad. In my family we give him tons of grief. My irascible brother and I mercilessly tease and poke him. I have decided it’s because we have so much respect for him and teasing him about things like not knowing how to run a coffee pot makes him seem a little bit more human. But he’s not… at least not to me. He is a messenger of God, a holy man, and an unalterable rock that isn’t moved by the teasing of his kids.

Dad writes an email every so often called Coffee Time. It would be a great blog if dad wanted to learn how to use a blogging website. … continue reading this entry.

WW2

{ July 21, 2008 @ 4:27 pm } · { students }
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Wooter Week 2 is coming NEXT WEEK! I’m so excited! Here is the plan for the week…

Monday: Putt-Putt @ Halliburton

Tuesday: Lip Sync @ church

Wednesday: Swimming @ Robinson’s

Thursday: Mud Bowl @ my parents’ house

Friday: Capture the Flag @ Robinson’s

Just like last year, we will meet at the church every night at 6:30. Rides home will be provided. Bring ALL your friends! Anyone and everyone is invited!

-christie

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