Keeping Christmas Merry

For many of us, Christmas has ceased to be a merry time of the year. It has become a hurried and harried time. There is not enough time to do all of the shopping, decorating, cooking, baking, school and church programs...Ho, Ho, Woe.

Perhaps this year is the year to bring back the more simple days of Christmas past. We see readily how abuse of credit has gotten the world's economy into a mess. Charlie Brown was surrounded by those who were caught up in the commercialization of Christmas. The retailers depend on us buying now, and paying later. Let's not get caught in that trap this year. Let's do what we can, perhaps in a more simple way. Let's enjoy celebrating our Savior's birth. Let's be reminded of God's love for us. Let's be reminded that Christ followers have our citizenship in Heaven.

Here are a few gifts that cost little, but return great rewards. Friends are one of life's greatest gifts. Use this Christmas season to nurture these relationships. I Timothy 6:6-10 reads, "Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." This Christmas give yourself the gift of contentment.

It is more blessed to give than to receive. Give yourself and your family the gift of giving to those in need. The recipient and the giver will be greatly blessed. Take some of what you would spend on yourselves and help a person in need have a Merry Christmas.

My friend Tony Cooke shared these thoughts recently. He compiled a list of eight things we can all give (and receive):
Give the gift of listening.
Give the gift of affection.
Give the gift of laughter.
Give the gift of a written note.
Give the gift of a compliment.
Give the gift of a favor.
Give the gift of solitude.
Give the gift of a cheerful disposition.

These are a few tips that could make your Christmas a bit more merry.

Merry Christmas and peace,

Stan

Guest Blog by Micah Ferguson

Ahh, here we are the day before Thanksgiving in beautiful Colorado. We've had the pleasure of enjoying time spent with family all week. We can't help but think of all the things in our life we are thankful for. Instead of listing the material things, we would like to go in a different route.

During this time of year it's easy to be distracted, overwhelmed and overextended. There are so many things demanding our time, energy, and of course our money. Yet we're determined not to get sucked into the usual holiday madness. We're going to make every effort to focus on the "Reason for the Season" who of course, is Jesus Christ. First and foremost we're thankful for His love. The fact that He died on the cross so we can live eternally with Him is what keeps us going every day. We're also thankful for all the intangible things He has given to us: Our health, peace, joy, love of our family, our freedom, and His Word.

1st Thessalonians 5:16-18 says - Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

We don't know about you, but we have learned, witnessed, and grown quite alot this year. Our circumstances have changed and caused us to realize that at the end of the day, all we can really do is trust in the Lord to take care of us.

Our hope is that this year, you find hope. That you experience God and all that He is. He can, and will be your provider, your best friend, your counselor and comforter - if you just invite Him to do so. During this season, don't lose sight of the source for everything in which we are thankful.

Eat, love and be thankful, as much as you can. Have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

Obsessed

I find myself obsessed with the Lord's eternal obsession: the harvest of souls. Jesus came into this world with one purpose, to seek and to save the lost. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:15,“This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” I am so glad that Jesus came looking for me.

James 5:7 tells us the Lord is waiting patiently on the precious fruit of the earth. In 2 Peter 3:9 we read, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” After talking with the woman at the well in Samaria, she ran into the city to tell everyone that she had met the Christ. The people flocked out of the city to see Jesus. Upon seeing this, Jesus said in John 4:35, "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest?' Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!" God is obsessed with the idea of people receiving eternal life through Jesus Christ.

As I sit at my desk in my church office, I am seeking (thinking, meditating, reasoning; to enquire into, aim at, strive for) the lost. Jesus' mission is our mission. The church, for the most part, has lost her way, its reason for being, lost its Priority One—the seeking and saving of the lost. We live in a day of distractions (lovers of pleasures, pet doctrines, useless trifles). Preachers of the Gospel have lost their way.

Charles G. Finney, in Revival Lectures, wrote, “Prayer is an essential link in the chain of causes that leads to revival…Some have zealously used truth to convert men, and laid very little stress on prayer. They have preached, and talked, and distributed tracts with little success. And the reason was, that they forgot to use the other branch of the means, effectual prayer. They overlooked the fact that truth, by itself, will never produce the effect, without the Spirit of God, and that the Spirit is given in answer to prayer.”

Leonard Ravenhill, in Revival Praying, wrote, “The state of praying that we seek is free from all personal request for personal benefit. We are seeking a love for the will of God among men, for the manifestation of the glory of God among men.”

Let us pray, plan, seek and save the lost.

Peace,

Stan

Great As It Gets

As I sit in my bed thinking about the last week. Hundreds of people called on the name of the Lord receiving eternal life. Dozens were healed of pain and diseases. A little girl around 10 years old had never been able to speak. She spoke for the first time in her life on Monday night. That's as great as it gets.

I have met people from a different culture. I have bounced all over a brand new country in a van. I spent a couple of days in a dusty village watching the donkey carts pull heavy loads up and down the narrow streets. I watched little old ladies pick cotton. I watched crusty little men cut wheat by hand with a cycle. Then they thrashed it by beating they sheaves over a big rock. Cool, huh.

I have been eating some great new food. Listening to some very interesting music. Having a great time.

The greatest thing is that we get to do it again this week.

Peace,

Stan

Help is on the Way

We live in days that require each of us to live in the Spirit. Living in the flesh will certainly end in disaster. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul described the last days as perilous (difficult & distressing). Jesus in addition to Paul made predictions about the last days.

To summarize Jesus and Paul these days will be marked by great deception to such the extent that some Christ followers will abandon their faith. This is a day of fear—from the news and threats of war and conflict. Fear will result from natural disasters and economic uncertainty. Christians have and will be persecuted for their faith. Families will be filled with strife and hatred. People mostly will be interested in themselves, as their love for others grows cold.

People will love pleasure more than God. They will desire theirs ears to be tickled by preachers, much more than desiring truth that hurts the flesh. Many will have a form of godliness, but deny the power of God. The day will be filled with those who mock God. Paul wrote about people who will constantly seek knowledge, but who will never be able to find it. These are always latching on to some new teaching, but never understand truth.

What shall we do? In 1 Corinthians 9:27 Paul wrote this about himself, “I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.” We can and must train ourselves to live in the Spirit and to keep our flesh under control. We must learn to lean on the Holy Spirit living in us.

Jesus told this to His closest followers in John 16:7, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you." This Holy Spirit must be awesome, if it is better to have Him than to have Jesus. In John 14 Jesus told us that the Holy Spirit would be with us AND live inside of us. What a powerful promise, that God would live inside of us.

In this troubling day, we need this kind of help. The Helper (Counselor, Intercessor, Strengthener & Standby) will advise us. He will make us stronger. He is our personal trainer to help us physically, financially, relationally, emotionally, spiritually, etc. He is always with us and in us standing by in our time of need.

Peace,

Stan

What Matters More?

We are days away from an historic election. Just to mention the name of an opposing candidate evokes hatred and fear in the hearts of many. It seems that so many people are hanging their hopes for the future on the results of this election. Nearly half of the country is going to be certain that we have chosen the wrong solution. To the most convinced, certainly prophecy of disaster will follow news of the proclaimed winners and losers. I think to myself, "Will it matter as much as we think?"

Then other thoughts come to mind, "What matters more?" Can the results of this election matter as much to me as other things? My own hard work ethic matter more that who is President? My own positive or negative attitude must matter more? How I love and care for my family matters to the results of my life more than who is elected to any government position. What matters more?

As I sit blogging, sipping my cup of coffee at the local coffee house, the conversation of the women at the next table drifts over my ears. The discussion is political. Each is convinced of the absurdity of the values of the wrong party. What matters more, their opinion of politics or their hateful attitudes towards those of opposing opinions? As they sit and gossip about so-and-so, it is apparent to me that their uppity attitudes will determine much more of the outcomes of their lives that the results of the election.

The Bible teaches that our choice of thinking about our own flesh or thinking about things of the Holy Spirit will bring drastically different results. There is a constant battle for dominance of our thoughts. What we think about will determine the outcomes of our life.  Colossians 3:2 reads, "Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth." Let's allow the life-giving Holy Spirit to control our thoughts. The results of the election or what controls our thoughts: what matters more? I think you know.

Peace,

Stan

Outsider's View of Church

At the end of August I asked the folks at church what their co-workers, family and friends think and say about God. It seems that many non-church-going-people think that they are not worthy of God. Others think they have no need for God. Still others believe in God, but don't think they fit in with the church going crowd. We found that many people are mad at God for what they believe he has done to them, or not done for them.

One thing we found is that many people are cool with God and Jesus, but they just don't like church people. Church people are seen by much of the non-church going populace as the "church lady" Dana Carvey made famous on Saturday Night Live. Because of church people they have met, they are convinced that to follow Jesus they will have to become angry, judgmental and narrow. They think that going to church will steal all the fun from their lives. The hypocrites in the church drive people away.

Un-churched people perceive church as boring, irrelevant and a pain-in-the-butt that could not be worth being part of. They think they don't have the right clothes or talk the lingo. If they ever worked up enough courage to attend a church they would be looking for a place to love, understand and to accept them. They definitely do not want to be judged by people. I saw a tattoo on a young man which actually read, "No man can judge me!"

Simply put, if the church is going to reach the un-churched we will have to change our attitude towards them. We need to act more like Jesus. We need to be less about rules and more about love, forgiveness, tolerance and serving. We need to explain better why we do what we are doing in a church service. We need to teach on subjects that will mean something to them.

At the end of the day, people need Jesus. Whatever we need to do to help the world perceive Jesus in truth is our duty. Our mission is to introduce Jesus to people. Let's break down the barriers. Let's take a look at ourselves often through the eyes of an outsider. Let's become better fishers of men.

Peace,

Stan