A few milestones in my life came to fruition in 2011; I turned 40, became a father- a by product of this was putting my Corvette up for sale and buying a 4 door sedan, our church will celebrate a silver anniversary, and I entered my 7th year as pastor of New Hope Baptist Church (which officially makes this the longest period of time I have ever worked at the same place- In other words I have been a pastor longer than I have ever been anything else). As a pastor, people have often come to me for advice and answers and I am happy to announce another milestone, I know the answer to everything… I have discovered the answer to all of the problems in the world today.
That’s right I know what to do! No matter what ails, pains, disturbs, irritates, frightens, dismays, discourages, confuses, troubles, tires, angers, oppresses, depresses you; I know how to fix it!
Here (or better HE) is the answer- Jesus Christ.
To all of you who read this and hurt- call on Jesus. To all of you worried- call on Jesus. To all of you suffering illness- call on Jesus. To all of you in a rut- call on Jesus. To all of you buried in debt- call on Jesus. To all of you at the end of your rope- call on Jesus. To all of you sick with envy and greed- call on Jesus.
Troubled marriage? call on Jesus. Unruly kids? call on Jesus. Hate in your heart? call on Jesus. Addiction? call on Jesus. Want to quit? call on Jesus.
Remember, around 2000 years ago the creator of this universe looked upon His creation and saw all the problems plaguing all the people on earth, His answer- Jesus Christ.
Whatever problem is plaguing you today, the solution is the same- Jesus Christ.
We will have our annual Christmas party on December 21 from 5-6:30PM (pizza, cake, and soft drinks will be provided for free).
Our Christmas Eve. candlelight service will be from 2-3PM on December 24. There will be no service on Sunday night December 25.
Peavey Park Celebration 9/17/2011
I learned something interesting about the word “Christian.” Of course this word originated in Scripture, “and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”- Acts 26:11. The word is only used in the Bible a handful of times so it is relatively easy to understand it was defined as “follower of Christ” or my favorite “Little Christs.” Bottom line: Ownership by Jesus Christ which was a prerequisite for this moniker and those upon whom it was dubbed were “so owned” that they appeared as “Little Christs” to everyone they encountered…. Let me say that again, they appeared to be “Little Christs” to everyone they encountered.
If we ponder what the word Christian means today, how we hear it used, and look into the modern definition, we get a bit of a different picture. The definitions vary from the traditional to “showing a loving concern for others; humane,” “all that is noble, and good, and Christ-like,” and “the hero from Bunyon’s Pilgrims’ Progress.” Even the outspoken atheist Dr. Richard Dawkins considers himself to be a cultural Christian. Let’s face it, today we have a different definition (lifestyle, values, appearance) of the word “Christian” than when it was first used in Antioch. There is no avoiding the fact that there are millions of people claiming to be Christians without adhering to anything remotely resembling what we see in the Bible. There is also much industry in music, movies, books, and the like which all fall under the “Christian” label but do not glorify God at all. We all know this is true…matter of fact, to go into more detail on these things would be an exercise in unnecessary verbiage.
So what do we do? Fight back for our word? Get bitter about the way the world is besmirching it? Go about and attempt to prove wrong everyone who has ever misused the term?
Nope… I believe this can be solved if we ask ourselves one simple question, “Am I a Christian or am I a ‘Little Christ’?”
