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.

A NEW HEART

We recently became reacquainted with a high school class
mate of my wife. As we shared the happenings of our life, she shared that she
had received a heart transplant. We were surprised as she told us about this
happening. Her heart became diseased through no fault of her own and was
slowing dying and the doctors were able to give her a "new lease on
life," as they say.

I can remember hearing about the first human heart
transplant taking place many years ago and the feeling of amazement that such a
thing could be done. It's still an amazing thing to me. I can understand some
of the basics regarding the procedure, but no way do I understand the
intricacies involved in all that is done, yet I know it is done on an almost
daily basis. They tell us there are about 2,000 heart transplants per year now.

There are lots of changes that
take place for a person with a heart transplant. They must make lifestyle
changes, change their eating habits, perhaps exercise differently and they are
told, "You'll need to take immunosuppressant medications daily for life to
keep your body from rejecting your donor heart".

As I thought about someone receiving a new heart I realized
it is no different than becoming a child of God. The scripture that came to
mind first was Psalm 51:7-10 where
David writes: "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be
whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed
rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me
a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

"Create
in me a new pure heart," what an amazing idea for us, yet it
happens to thousands of people every day, perhaps hundreds of thousands every
year in the spiritual realm. It is possible and no less amazing than a physical
heart transplant.

It's
just like what God promised the Israelite nation in Ezekiel 36:26-27, "And I will give you a new heart, and I will
put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give
you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put My Spirit in you so that you
will follow My decrees and be careful to obey My regulations."
(NLT)

That
is what God is about, it's what he does, and He takes out our stony, stubborn
heart and gives us a tender, responsive heart. But just like a physical heart
transplant it needs constant care. Perhaps changes need to be made in our life
style and other physical habits and there will definitely be "sin
suppressant" treatments daily for life to keep us from rejecting our new
heart".

Of
course this all comes from having a new relationship with our God and His Word.
This in part comes from having a new relationship with His church. I have met
so many people in my lifetime who say, "I don't need to go to a church to
feel spiritual," but that's like someone saying, "I don't need to go
to the doctor anymore after I receive my heart transplant". They both are
missing a key ingredient to keeping your heart alive.

How
is your stony, stubborn heart doing? Perhaps it's time to listen to God and
make it tender and responsive once again.