The Coming of Christ

Sarah Grace and I are going through an Advent Devotional Book with the family this year to prepare for Christmas and teach our children and remind ourselves about the importance of the coming of the Messiah. The Advent Devotional that we are using is called the Jesse Tree Advent Devotional by Ann Voskamp and Nancy Rodden. This is being offered free through Ann's website.

The devotion includes

Bible Text- "Readings are selected to begin in Genesis and cover significant events throughout the Old Testament — each story pointing to the coming Messiah. It’s like an overview of the whole span of His Story — leading right up to the climax of the coming Christ!"
"A devotional that (humbly attempts!) to be a read-aloud for the whole family – engaging enough for young children and yet meaty enough for teens and adults."

An Action point for the day

A color ornament to hang on your tree to remind you of the stories pointing to Christ.

Yesterday was the first day. Sorry I am not passing on this information in time for you to start on day one but if you start now you can double up today and be on track.

If you want to get a copy of this wonderful devotion, click here.

I Believe

Here is a remake of Rich Mullins' song titled Creed covered by Third Day & Brandon Heath.

Third Day and Brandon Heath perform Rich Mullins "Creed" in the studio from Garrett Viggers on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving

This video made me laugh. Since Thanksgiving is almost upon us, I thought I would share it with you.

David Crowder Band Is Awesome!

When we listen to How He Loves, Gideon will say "Is this song about Jesus?" "Yes, son, this song is about Jesus" The he says, "Yeah, its about Jesus!"

Right Now Conference Day 2

Here are some of the thoughts that came out of Day two of the Right Now conference last week.

Paul was a Christ Intoxicated Man. We need to strive to be Christ Intoxicated.—Pete Briscoe (This was actually from day one; I just wanted to make sure I added it in. Think about that statement. If you are intoxicated, it changes you, and you act differently. We should be so overwhelmed with the presence of Christ, that it changes who we are, how we act, and what we do.)

Don’t wrap yourself with an identity achieved; wrap yourself with an identity received. –J.R. Vassar

Look for the significant, not the sensational. –J.R. Vassar

Revival is when God’s people are saturated by His presence. –Joann Hummel

Your identity is not in a position it is in a person. Our identity is in Christ Alone! --J.R. Vassar

Don’t worship your work, but let your work be a form of worship. –J.R. Vassar

What if every job paid the same thing? Would you be doing the same job? --J.R. Vassar

Bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to saving souls. We need to God size our church, not super size our church. –David Kinnaman

Bigness ≠ Deepness --David Kinnaman

The Greek word for church is Ecclesia. It stands for “called out ones.” --Tony Evans

We don’t need to grow the church; we need to be the church. –Tony Evans

This was a great conference. I hope to go again next year. Between now and then I look forward to the Gospel Wakefulness Conference at Conroe Church of Christ with Jared Wilson as the Key Speaker on April 1-2, 2011 and the Sent Conference, which is at Champion Forrest Baptist Church in Houston on April 8-9, 2011.

It Is Almost Here!

Thursday November 25, 2010. A day for Joy! A day to create memories! A day to… SHOP! Oh, did you think I was talking about Thanksgiving? No, I was talking about the Toys-R-Us sale of the year, which has been moved from Black Friday to Thursday. Yes, Thanksgiving Day. A day that could be used for family, joy, memories, or helping those in need, but now instead we can go shopping one day earlier, to fuel our materialism and in most cases waste money on gifts that people don’t need. In a year they probably won’t be using them, and in 10 years they probably won’t remember them.

I know, I sound like Scrooge! It is not that I don’t love Christmas. I truly do love Christmas time. I watch Elf year round and proudly blast “Santa Clause is coming to town” (The Live Bruce Springsteen 1970’s version) from my radio and sing as loud as I can. I have just started to have some concerns for how we celebrate Christmas. Here is my main concern. For a day that is supposed to be celebrating the birth of Christ, we spend an awful lot of time, and money, making it about people other than Christ.

I have recently read a couple of blogs about Christmas time and the giving of gifts. I liked what both had to say. One was from Jared Wilson titled The Goodness of Gift Giving: the Real Christmas Conspiracy. The second was from Ann Voskamp titled: Christmas: Thinking About Whose Birthday It Is. They take two different approaches to answering the Christmas question. I suggest you read both of them.

For those of you who have stuck with me to the end of this post, let me say, I am not telling you that you are wrong for buying gifts for your family. I am not telling you that my family is not buying Christmas gifts any more. Our boys will have stuff under the tree. But it is just that; it is stuff. It is stuff that will rust or rot, stuff that will get lost, forgotten, or destroyed. It is not eternal. So what I am is asking is that we as believers spend some time in prayer this year before we do go out and do some binge shopping. Pray about and consider what your plans are for celebrating this holiday. And however we are going to celebrate, let us be certain to spend more time this this year sharing the truth of Christ and the truth of why we are celebrating.

Thoughts From The Right Now Conference

Choose Daily, Hate Injustice, Work as Worship, & Act Swiftly.

Last week I was blessed with the opportunity to go to the Right Now Conference in Dallas with three of my brothers in Christ. The conference was great. It was a breath of fresh air and it challenged me to make changes in my own life and to encourage changes in the life of my church. I am posting some great statements that I heard from this conference. They are only punch lines & thoughts of lessons and do not explain the full context of what they were addressing, but I feel like these thoughts were beautiful and can encourage and challenge you with out the full context. These statements came from sessions on day 1 of the conference. I will include more stuff from day 2 later. Share your thoughts about any of these statements. I pray they encourage you.

We must never allow the authority of books, institutions, or leaders to replace the authority of *knowing* Jesus Christ personally and directly. When the religious views of others interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we become unconvinced and unpersuasive travel agents handing out brochures to places we have never visited. --Brennan Manning in the Ragamuffin Gospel (shared by Pete Briscoe)

Walk with Jesus, don’t work for Him. –Pete Briscoe

Be traffickers of God’s Grace. –Pete Briscoe

The Church is God’s chosen vehicle to take the gospel into the world. –Pete Briscoe

Don’t judge what God is doing by what we do or don’t like. –Larry Osborne

We like to be a Servant Leader until someone wants us to be a servant. –Larry Osborne

We exist [individually & as a church] to live out the Great Commandment and to carry out the Great Commission. –Dave Auda

God Loves You, He created you uniquely, He gifted you specifically, & He placed you strategically. Remember this and be used by God right where He has placed you.—Dave Auda

How are we going to get people into a relationship with Christ while we are squeezing them through the tiny hole of religion? --Tim Ross

God places boundaries in our lives for His purposes and there is true joy in submitting to those boundaries. –Todd Phillips

Seek wise council, especially when you are most certain. –Todd Phillips

God’s solution for a hungry & hurting world is a compassionate church. –Max Lucado

Compassion is our finest Apologetic. –Max Lucado

The book of Acts is in the Bible, not to show us what the church did, but to show us what the church can do. –Max Lucado

Don’t neglect compassion. 2000 verses in the bible tell us to care for the poor. –Max Lucado

My Tongue

Last week I received a text message from one of my coworkers asking what I would do with a billion dollars. My response was that I would use it to bring glory to God. I later explained that this is where my heart is and I hope it doesn't change no matter how much money I have.

It was at this point that I realized I was sending all of these second round of text messages to my brother-in-law and not to my coworker. I sent a message saying "oh sorry those were meant for someone else." I thought "At least these messages were about God & not about something embarrassing or inappropriate."

In this I was just reminded how I need to control my tongue (James 3:2-8) and use it to build people up (Ephesians 4:29).

What if before I text, email, or speak, I think twice and consider who I wouldn't want to see or hear it? Maybe if I wouldn't send or say it to someone in particular I shouldn't send or say it to anyone.

Take A Risk For The Gospel

Taking Care Of Our Bothers And Sisters

This is talking about financial needs but is not limited to them. May we always take care of our bothers and sisters financially, emotionally, and physically whenever there is a need.