As I get ready to head to bed on Thanksgiving Eve I spent some time reviewing my sermon for Sunday and my friend Barry's book The ABC's of Financial Freedom.  This week's chapter ends with some ideas from the G.O.O.D. file (Get Out Of Debt).  Appropriately it pertains perfectly for many that are already out at the stores for Black Friday and millions more that are leaving tomorrow.

1. Don't let shopping take priority over worship.  If we do, we will miss the whole point of Christmas.
2. Don't get caught up trying to outbuy or outdo anybody else when you do your Christmas shopping.
3. Don't charge the gifts you buy for others. Yes, yes probably won't buy as much, but you won't cry much either later on when the bills come due.
4. Give practical, usable gifts that will help meet needs instead of wasting money on frivolous gifts that will go back in the box, in the closet, the attic, or the next garage sale once the holidays are over.
5. Make sure the Lord is at the top of your Christmas list.  Giving at the Christmas Eve service for your church is an excellent way to teach your children and model for your family what Christmas is all about.
6. Do take time to bake Christmas cookies, go see Christmas lights, watch a Christmas video, or some other activity that will help draw your family closer together.
7. Stay on target with your goal to become debt free.  Don't allow your emotions to get caught up in the "spirit of giving" to cause you to get off track and deeper in debt.
8. Be sure to take time to thank God for all of your blessings over the year.
9. Remember the best gift you can give, especially to your family is YOU!

I'm not sure if you avoid the malls like crazy on Black Friday or if you already there.  Maybe your temptation is on Cyber Monday.  Or maybe you struggle every day.  These are nine great points from Barry Cameron that we should all memorize!

Election Eve Thoughts

Tomorrow is such an important day for our country!  The presidential election tops all ballots, but there are many other important races and issues that people will have the opportunity to vote on across the nation.  I pray that the Christian portion of the country votes based on a biblical worldview.  This is made somewhat difficult this year, because while one candidate claims to be a Christian be believes, supports, and forces some very non-biblical principles upon society.  Most notably the belief in the pro-choice agenda.  The other candidate is of the Mormon belief, but his actions are more biblically based.  Bob Russell has written a tremendous document concerning this on his blog at BobRussellMinistries.org or by going directly to http://www.bobrussell.org/2012/07/22/should-christians-vote-for-a-mormon-for-president/

Early this morning my wife and I were on a chilly pre-dawn walk and she reminded me of the story Jesus told of a man with two sons.  It is found in Matthew 21, ²⁸ “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ ²⁹ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰ “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.³¹ “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered.  

Actions do speak louder than words!  I remember my father telling me that it takes a lifetime to build a good reputation and a few bad decisions or even one fleeting moment to destroy it.  When I vote I never vote strictly on party lines.  It shouldn't be about the party.  Both parties are flawed because of the partisanship that they are tied to.  So the challenge in my mind is the question that many have been asking, "Are we any better off as a nation than we were four years ago?".  I can't find any logical way to answer yes to that question.

I googled the National Debt Clock today at http://www.usdebtclock.org 

The counter on that thing is spinning faster than my electric meter, and it is killing our country.  I am tired of hearing that it is someone's fault.  What is done in the past is in the past.  As long as we keep casting blame on previous administrations we will never get this fixed.  One candidate has built and led many corporations, the other one has never led a business of any kind.  His total leadership experience is in elected offices.  

The single issue of human life is something that I cannot ignore.  The greatest single privilege that we have as Americans is the privilege of life, which is slowly being stripped away.  It is being stripped away prior to birth and with the proposed health care reforms it will be stripped away in the decision of who is worthy of socialized health care because of their value to society.  

The next president of the United States will have the opportunity to appoint two Supreme Court Justices.  Those are lifetime appointments.  This election is HUGE.  Not just for the next four years.

As I wrote last week, I have many friends who will vote differently than I will tomorrow and as far as I am concerned I hope they still consider me a friend tomorrow night regardless of the outcome.  In my mind this election has nothing at all to do with race or party affiliation.  If people want to make it into those things that is their silly choice.  This is much bigger than those issues.  It is about this nation doing the right things, remaining one nation under one true God, indivisible with liberty and just for all.

Why Should I Vote?

There is so much talking going on about the election next week.  Those who know me can figure out where I stand on most issues.  I am strongly conservative in my political views and to those who believe that the church or a pastor shouldn't speak at all about politics I apologize but am extremely confused as to why you believe that.

 

If the Christians, churches and pastors don't speak up about issues that effect the moral foundation of our nation who will.  It is extremely puzzling to me why the Christian voice is always as the one the is "politically incorrect".  Even in the oft used excuse of separation of church and state, which by the way is a phrase never used in the Constitution, but most often quoted as such, the issue is forcing about forcing an entire nation to have the exact view.  While I might wish that were possible I would strongly oppose forcing my views that Jesus is the risen Son of God upon any one.  God has never forced himself on anyone, and neither did His Son.  If He had then there never would have been a cross.  God is a God of choices!  Yes you can choose to believe in Him or you can choose not to believe.  What you cannot choose is what parts of Him you want to believe and what parts you don't. He is an all or nothing God! 

 

Elections are the same.  We are blessed as American citizens to have the right to choose.  Men and women have died and continue to die to protect that freedom. 

 

My struggle is to understand how people who claim to be believers in God and followers of Christ can vote in ways that directly oppose the teaching of the inspired word of God.  I realize that not everyone believes that the Bible is the inspired word of God, but that takes me back to the fact that I don't believe we get to pick and choose what parts of God we want.  Having a biblical worldview means that we apply the Bible to all of the decisions we make in life, including who we vote for.

History very well records the downfall of nations who took there eyes off of God.  Read the book of Romans and then read history books that define the fall of the Roman Empire.  It is impossible to read and not feel you are reading in dejavu.  We are experiencing exactly what happen to that world empire.

 

The greatest human right that we have is the right to life.  We kill more babies daily in America than four planes killed on September 11.  Even if we were to agree to be pro-choice, shouldn't the choice belong to the one that is going to live or die.  Life is precious!  Conception is miraculous!  Safe sex is talked about all through scripture.  Once again it is your choice to believe or not believe the Bible.   How can intelligent logical politicians vote to allow a child to be aborted and charge the driver of a vehicle with double homicide in the tragedy of an expectant mother being killed on the highway?

 

All that is free is not always good.  The discussion of health care has been mind boggling to me.  Our health care system is out of control, but the thought that signing a piece of paper is going to guarantee free and "prompt" health care for everyone is ludicrous.  There are no more hospitals being built, no more doctors graduating medical school, but somehow people believe that they will suddenly have there medical concerns taken care of is sad.  People are no doubt going to vote away their soul for that promise only to find out that they will be put on a list and if they are over the age of 50 or deemed to be of no value to society they will be on the end of the list.  The health care might be free, but it might involve embalming fluid instead of chemotherapy.  Sick people need to be taken care of, but this is not the answer.

 

I hate war as much as anyone, but it is the ability to fight to defend your freedom that gives us the right to say publicly that we hate war.  Sometimes you have to be willing to fight for what is right.  How anyone can believe that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were just going to go away is once again mind boggling.  

 

My prayer is that if you are an American citizen you will exercise the right to vote and that if you are a follower of Christ that you will exercise your right to follow and support a biblical worldview.  You are free to choose to disagree and vote differently from me and if we were friends before we voted we will be friends after we vote as far as I am concerned.  Just please don't ask or require me not to share what I believe in.  I am such a sinner whose only chance of salvation is because of the amazing love of God and the willingness of Christ to die to pay my sin debt.  Because of that I cannot be silent!!

What is #cuonthehill

For those of you who may not know what a “hashtag” is, I want to take a moment to explain and set up an interesting connecting point for all of us on "the Hill". Here goes:

Twitter gives this definition: The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.

The beauty of this little # is that it works on instagram as well. When you tweet or post your pic on instagram, if it has something to do with Shelby Christian, use this hashtag:

#cuonthehill

The fun starts when on Twitter or Instagram you search #cuonthehill. Now you can see what others are saying and posting about our church even if you don’t know them or follow them.

I stole this blog from my friend John.  You can check out what is happening at their awesome place at #communityhemet

Have fun and spread the love.

So Much More to Do

Many would think that with modern technology the whole world already knows about Jesus. Many have chosen to follow after him, some have not yet made that choice, but surely everyone knows about him. It is shocking to discover that so many still haven't even heard of the one who came to save them for eternity. Estimates range around two billion people that have not even heard the message of hope that Jesus brought to earth. Millions more have heard and chosen to ignore or simply not respond. If you have a heart for these people I encourage you to be on the hill this Sunday morning and to also check out www.u4theu.com website.

Changing Lives on the Hill

I get so excited about the change that I see in people's lives when they start to really get it about Jesus.  Early in His teaching He told his followers that they were to the light of the world and that a town built on a hill could not be hidden.   I love that our facilities are built on a hill on the east end of Shelbyville.  It is a reminder to me now every time I drive "up hill" to the building that we are here to make a difference and to be seen by men as a place where life change happens.   This new art work is just a reminder that we are all somewhere on the path to following Christ.  Some are just getting started and others have been running for a while, but we are all on a journey.  "The Hill" is just a stop on the journey, because our ultimate destination is heaven.

I also love hearing the stories of change that Jesus has made in people's lives.  I love it when part of the change happened on the hill.  I hope some of you will write about your change and add it to this blog.  I was introduced to a website last night by someone who is really growing in Christ on the hill.  He told me about www.iamsecond.com .  I really like the name, but I LOVE what is documented on the website.

Also if you have been touched by the ministry of Christ on the hill in east Shelbyville we have window stickers that you can put on your vehicle that might provide an open door to share about Jesus with someone.  We have them available at worship times, but if you have moved and want one let us know and we will send them to you.

So many lives have been changed, I can't wait to see what is around the corner.

Follow Me

What would our faith communities look like if those that claim to follow Christ really did?  What if believers in Christ, really found the heart of Christ and began to live like they say they believe?  I think people would follow!

While he was here on earth people were drawn to Jesus.  They were amazed by his miracles and teaching, but the show will only draw a crowd for awhile.  What kept the crowds coming was his love and compassion.  He had compassion on people and thought of them as sheep wandering aimlessly without a shepherd.

Wasn't it amazing to see Philip go find his friend Nathaniel and tell him to just come and see, check this guy out for yourself.  He was motivated out of love.  What about the woman at the well?  Jesus kind of busted her and her living arrangement.  Today he would have been labeled as intolerant or a hater, but she heard it different.  The Bible tells us she ran to the town and told everyone, you've got to come meet this guy.  He knows every thing about me and still genuinely cared.  The Bible says the town responded and was changed because of her testimony.  Matthew was a hated tax collector, but when Jesus accepted him and changed him the first thing he could think to do was throw a party for all his tax collector buddies so they could experience the love of Jesus.

It isn't that hard to see the difference that Jesus made in people's lives by sharing in their lives.  When he left to go back to the father and told his friends to "Go about their business and while they were doing it to MAKE DISCIPLES" it wasn't a stretch because that is exactly what he had been doing for three years.  Disciples are believers or members, by definition they are followers.  Not talking about what Jesus would do, but doing it.  They didn't have to be told to share their faith, they couldn't help but share their faith it just came busting out of them.  He was the original DISCIPLE maker!  He knew how to share in people's lives in such a way that they knew he really cared.

I love the model that Paul gives us in 1 Corinthians 11:1.  It is a simple challenge.  "Follow me (become a disciple) as I follow Christ (the original disciple maker)."  What if we all made that our motto, "Follow me, as I follow Christ."  It gives HIM all the glory as we follow HIM and share HIM  with others.