Divorceproofing your marriage. Doesn’t that sound like a great proposition? You’ve got to read this hilarious “top ten list” at
I would add one more thing to their list for sure… We need to put Jesus at the center of your marriage, and see each other as He sees us. so many people think that their marriage and their relationship with God are two different things, but in fact when we marry, God says there are no longer 2 people, but one. That’s why it’s so painful to be at war with our spouse, because we’re really at war with ourselves! Starting on Superbowl Sunday, we are kicking off our new series Man vs. Wife. It has the possibility of changing your marriage for way better than you ever dreamed… I know that sounds like a lot, but so many people have marriages that are holding on by a thread. It’s time to change that! God made marriage, it was His design, so why is it so hard??? Maybe we’re going about it all wrong. Maybe God is just wanting you to make a little bitty change… Maybe your spouse is. Either way, I hope you’ll join us, it’s gonna be awesome!
We Started last week talking about Stewardship… I was looking through some statistics, and I thought I’d share:
- Average credit card debt per household with credit card debt: $15,788*
- 609.8 million credit cards held by U.S. consumers. (Source: “The Survey of Consumer Payment Choice,” Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January 2010)
- Average number of credit cards held by cardholders: 3.5, as of yearend 2008 (Source: “The Survey of Consumer Payment Choice,” Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, January 2010)
- Average APR on new credit card offer: 14.35 percent (Source: CreditCards.com Weekly Rate Report, Aug. 25, 2010.)
- Average APR on credit card with a balance on it: 14.48 percent, as of May, 2010 (Source: Federal Reserve’s G.19 report on consumer credit, August 2010)
- Total U.S. revolving debt (98 percent of which is made up of credit card debt): $852.6 billion, as of March 2010 (Source: Federal Reserve’s G.19 report on consumer credit, March 2010)
- Total U.S. consumer debt: $2.42 trillion, as of June 2010 (Source: Federal Reserve’s G.19 report on consumer credit, August 2010)
- U.S. credit card 60-day delinquency rate: 4.27 percent. (Source: Fitch Ratings, April 2010)
- U.S. credit card default rate: 13.01 percent. (Source: Fitch Ratings, April 2010)
Anyone think maybe we’ve changed our focus in this day and age from “In God we trust” to “In God we trust, but I’ve got Visa and Master card on standby?” Something to think about…
Preparing for this weeks message, I read a story told by Kregg Hood:
“Even though I’ve heard the story of the ill-fated ocean liner many times, reading the information in the exhibits and seeing actual artifacts that had been recovered after almost 100 years on the ocean’s floor, gripped my imagination. The Titanic was the most magnificent cruise ship of its time and considered “unsinkable” by many. One employee of the company that built the Titanic was reported to have said that “even God himself cannot sink her.” While the accuracy of this quote is somewhat controversial, and no one can confirm for sure if this statement was actually made; it’s obvious that most people thought the Titanic was a totally safe means of passage from one side of the ocean to another. At the very least, the ship’s builders, captain, crew, and passengers thought it was practically unsinkable. Yet, in the middle of the night, during her maiden voyage, the great ship struck an iceberg and sank in only two hours and forty minutes. No amount of wealth, success, and fame could keep more than 1,500 people from losing their lives in the icy Atlantic. If only they had known they were headed toward destruction. How many would have changed their plans? We can easily assume that every passenger would have made different decisions.”
The story got me to thinking about our spending decisions. How often we regret purchasing something, and how often do we ride our own “Titanic” because of faulty decision making? And if all decisions are ultimately “Spiritual Decisions”, then what does that say about us? Just some things for us to chew on!
In the bible, a generation is considered to be 40 years. That’s almost how long I’ve been alive, and this coming year of 2011 the Circleville Christian Church will have been in existence for over 3 times that! This new year we are going to be beginning our 125th year of preaching the Gospel to Northeast Kansas. Happy Birthday! I am really starting to get excited about what this new year holds as we look back at all that has been accomplished over these past 3 generations, but the thing that really excites me is all that we are working to accomplish now and in the future!
It seemed like a logical choice to begin a new series the day after Christmas titled “the plan.” During this 2 week series, we will be looking at just a tiny bit of what we want to accomplish over the next several years, and into the future. We’ve been trying to ramp up our programs here at CCC in preparation of what God wants to do through his people right here. I believe that He intends for you to get excited as well for our main goal, the one that supersedes every other goal we have for 2011, and that’s to bring people that are far from Him, and help introduce or re-introduce them.
As we look back this year, let us not forget about the sacrifices that the saints here in Circleville have made so we can worship as we wish every Sunday, and lets work to do what we can to make it even better for those who are coming behind us. So…. To the Future (raising my coffee cup) Here! Here! (i don’t know why people say here, here… but maybe it’s to say Youbetchabuddy!)
I heard a Christmas song this past week that I hadn’t heard before. Oh I’m sure it’s been played on my radio many times, and I’m sure many of you know it as well, but It hadn’t caught my ear as of yet, Which is a good thing because many years I would’ve just turned the channel… But but this past week I was visiting with Luke (from Soldier Christian Church) and he was telling me the lyrics to this song, and the verses really grabbed me. It was originally a Christmas poem written in the late 19th century by a woman named Christina Rossetti. It wasn’t published until 1904 after Ms Rossetti’s death. It was then set to music and made into a Christmas carol in 1906. It’s called “In the Bleak Mid-Winter”.
In the bleak midwinter, Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, Long ago.
Angels and archangels May have gathered there, Cherubim and seraphim Thronged the air; But his mother only, In her maiden bliss, Worshipped the Beloved With a kiss.
What can I give him, Poor as I am? If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb, If I were a wise man I would do my part,Yet what I can I give Him — Give my heart.
I love that last line- what can I give—my heart. This Saturday is Christmas, and I know we get wrapped up in gift-giving, and sharing, and spending time with our families, but let’s remember the greatest gift we can give in return for the greatest gift ever given… is to Give Jesus our complete heart.
I was there… I was there as history was made! I stood in my old office down at the old building, while the far back half of that building was wrenched free from it’s attachment to the fellowship hall. I heard David Allen call up to his father in law (Larry Holliday) who was in the attic “There it went Larry… we got it!” And they did have it. I could feel that the old Sunday school classrooms and offices were now suspended on steel beams, and free from the attachment that had for the past 30 years been a part of it- it was now free. It was quite a strange feeling to stand in a place that had for so many years been my study, Dan’s study, my dad’s study, and several other of our past minister’s study… and know that it was now on to new life!
For those of you that didn’t know what is happening to the old classrooms and fellowship hall of the old building- it is getting a new lease on life as a fine home that will be in it’s new location 2 miles west of Circleville, for Melanie Binkley and her family. (The oldest part of the building will be torn down.)
I was thinking about this “freeing experience”, and I began to preacherize it in my head… Because it’s a lot like our lives in this world. We are anchored… tied down really- to all this stuff here in this world, and then Jesus comes along, cuts us away from the old building, and picks us up and rolls us down the highway to a new lease on life. In the same way that I could feel that the building was finally free… so too can we experience that same type of a feeling when Jesus sets us free.
Saturday… Kyle started out the morning at one of our members farms north of town in a tree stand by their pond… spent several cold hours there, and then came home for a while, went out that evening with his uncle to a different spot, and it was his lucky day! He shot his first deer an 8 point buck, from a ground blind at 50 yards. He hit him clean, the buck didn’t get 100 feet. Certainly an experience he will never forget! Awesome job Kyle! I am proud of him for hanging in there. It makes all those hours of target practice, preparation, and waiting in the stand worth it.
Okay, I’ve had several people say this to me… “Last Sunday was so great, we ought to have just 1 service all the time!” It was great wasn’t it? I personally had a blast and some really great food as well! But you know what? You just got to see what I see every Sunday. We had the normal amount of people in church- we had 240, and that’s what we usually have. -It was pretty cool to be all together at one time, even if we did have to cram into some folding chairs in the aisles, but it wasn’t a monumental Sunday as far as our attendance goes. So my suggestion is this… if we like having alot of people in our worship service, lets continue to have 3 services, but invite all of our friends and family and bring them with us… then, rather than having 240, we’ll have 720! Sounds like spreading the Gospel to me! Let’s do it… together. Because God is that Good!
3 years ago I hit my father in law during church on accident with a beach ball… Sorry again Jackie! Since we are talking about the advice Moses’ FIL gave to him (this sunday during the sermon) – i couldn’t resist pulling this one out and dusting it off! Enjoy!
