• Remember our Pizza and Praise on February 22.  It will start at 6 PM and go until 6:50 or so.  I will provide the pizza and anything necessary for eating.  If you intend to come, I only ask that each family provide one of the following: chips/dip, drink (a box of 12 cans would be best), or a dessert.  Once again, Pizza and Praise is for any family with a kid or teen.  Please take the time to sign up on my door what you intend to bring so I can make sure to fill in any gaps and everyone can have a good meal.
• We are taking a trip to Rainbow Omega on Saturday, February 25.  We will be playing games with the residents (if it’s a nice day we will play kickball or something like that, otherwise we will be indoors).  This is open to anyone from the church who wants to come and help out.  If you want to go, let me know and I can give you the information (which is also posted on my door).
• I will be talking with youth group members about helping out with the Senior Banquet next week.  To make sure that we have the proper numbers, I will also be talking with the parents.  Just a heads up, but we will be serving the dinner and also helping in other ways.  This is a perfect opportunity to serve!

As usual, we have some great stuff planned, and I really hope that you make plans to come.  We’ve got anything from service to hanging out over the next month, and this is the perfect time to step up and help out.  I’m looking forward to it!

Since it is the end if January, I’d like to go over what we have planned for February.

• Next week (February 5) our monthly devo will be here at the church.  We will do what we have been doing the past few months and meet in the teen classroom to sing, then follow up the devo with dinner in the fellowship hall.  As always, parents are welcome to stay if they would like.
• Don’t forget the Area Wide Youth Series (February 19) at Roebuck Parkway.  We will be leaving at 4:30PM.
• We will have a Pizza and Praise on Wednesday, February 22, at 6PM for any family with kids in the 1^st-6^th grades as well as the youth group.  I will have sign-ups on my door for those who want to come. I am asking that you bring only one of either: chips/dip, drink, or dessert (this is per family, not per head).  I hope that you can make it to dinner and fellowship before we worship that Wednesday!
• The following Saturday (the 25^th) the youth group and any parents who want to be involved are traveling to Rainbow Omega to play games with the residents.  We will be leaving at 12:45 that afternoon and returning around 4:15.  If it is a nice day outside we will play games such as kickball outdoors; if the weather does not permit that we will play board games inside the resident’s homes.  If you are on the fence about going, be sure to talk to anyone who went last year to see what a great time was had by all.  I hope that you are able to make it!

I’m looking forward to a great month.

Jesus called us to lead lives that are radically different from the world.  His disciple Paul commanded us to leave the world and “be separate” (2 Cor. 6:17).  This means we should get the world’s attention by the way we live.  Our lives are supposed to be different, strikingly different.

Here’s where we need to be careful.  Just because you are different, that doesn’t mean you are living the life Christ intended for you to live.  Take, for example, the Jews who rejected Jesus Christ.  Paul said, “They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom. 10:2).  They were different alright, and enthusiastic too.  But their lives were not reasonable, and that was the problem.  Many Christians have made the same mistake.  They make sacrifices, they change their lives, they get attention, but they harm the cause of Christ because they are being unreasonable.

Peter said, “But in your hearts honor Christ, the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Pet. 3:15).  Two words from this verse demand our attention.  The first is “defense,” which is translated from a Greek word that comes from the same word from which the English word “apology” is derived.  However, Peter is not talking about saying “I’m sorry.”  The word he used is the regular term for a defense before a judge (Acts 22:1; 25:16).  Here it applies to a reasoned explanation.  The second word is “reason,” which is sometimes translated “account.”  This word signifies intelligent discourse.  So what Peter is saying is, “Always be prepared to give a reasonable explanation to anyone who asks for an intelligent conversation with you about the hope that is in you.”

Studies show that disagreements are more likely to be resolved when the people on either side of a problem understand one another.  In the same way, the world is more likely to respond to the gospel when they understand the reason why Christians live the way they live.

The Christian life is not simply radical.  It’s reasonably radical.

These days, it is not uncommon to find believers who just don’t want to get involved. Some of them are honest about it: “I believe in God, but I don’t go to church.” Others sit on pews every Sunday, but they are just as irrelevant as the people who sleep in on Sundays, because they do not use their abilities in the service of God’s kingdom. The Lord is not pleased with detached Christians. In the words of Brother Burns, “You might be on the train, but when the conductor comes around for the tickets, you will have to get off.”

How can a detached Christian get involved? First, he should examine himself. The church is a body comprised of individual members operating in different ways. Each one of these members is functional and important, for “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose” (1 Cor. 12:18). Before a Christian can get involved in the work of his local congregation, he must discover his special opportunities and talents. A good question to ask oneself is, “How has God arranged me in the body?” Everyone can do something for the Lord. Sometimes it takes a little digging to find out what you do best, but the answer is there.

After examining himself, the next thing a detached Christian should do to get involved is examine his congregation. Every church is unique because it is set in a unique location and it consists of a unique membership. A common mistake that new members often make is assuming that their new congregation is just like the one they moved from. A great deal of frustration and misunderstanding could be avoided by eliminating this presupposition. We should study the congregation where we currently serve to see if we can identify needs that correspond to our special opportunities and talents.

Involvement is a responsibility God has placed upon every member of the Lord’s body. Paul instructed the Corinthians, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). Churches in which twenty percent of the members do all the work do not grow. In the words of Donald M. Kimball, “There’s no place where success comes before work, except in the dictionary.”

• Mind reader.  You’ll hear little or nothing as you think, “What is this person really thinking or feeling?”
• Rehearser.  Your mental tryouts for “Here’s what I’ll say next” tune out the speaker.
• Filterer.  Some call this selective listening—hearing only what you want to hear.
• Dreamer.  Drifting off during a face-to-face conversation can lead to an embarrassing, “What did you say?” or, “Could you repeat that?”
• Identifier.  If you refer everything you hear to your experience, you probably didn’t really hear what was said.
• Comparer.  When you get side-tracked assessing the messenger, you’re sure to miss the message.
• Derailer.  Changing the subject too quickly soon tells others you’re not interested in anything they have to say.
• Sparrer.  You hear what’s said but quickly belittle it or discount it.  That puts you in the same class as the derailer.
• Placater.  Agreeing with everything you hear just to be nice or to avoid conflict does not mean you’re a good listener.

Being a good listener is key to Christian living.  James wrote, “…be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (Jas. 1:19).

Christians must listen as they spread the gospel of Christ.  In the book of Acts there are numerous examples of evangelists who were successful because they began teaching at the level of the student’s understanding.  For example, when Philip encountered the Ethiopian Eunuch, he did not begin with the Creation account or Moses, but began with the Scripture the eunuch was reading and “told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35).  This important method should be continued today, but how can any teacher gauge his student’s knowledge if he is not listening?

Christians must listen as they communicate with one another.  Think about the last conversation you had with a brother or sister in Christ.  Who did the most talking?  Do you remember inquiring about the other person’s life—his family, his job, his problems?  More harmony could be encouraged in the church through an application of Paul’s principle, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4).

Christians must listen as they communicate with their spouses.  Peter advised husbands, “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way…” (1 Pet. 3:7).  But many husbands violate this command by not paying attention to what their wives are saying.  The problem can also work in the other direction, as some wives are in the habit of shutting their husbands out.  Good marriages last through loving communication.

God gave us two ears and one mouth.  Maybe it’s time we stop overworking one part of the body so that we can get more use out of another.

Yet another term that stems from this word (via the Middle French [i.e. Medieval French]) is the term “culture”.  Culture is something that we are all engrained in, yet is something that is uniquely distinct amongst many groups.  What I mean is that we are all currently residents of the Birmingham area, thus we share a common culture, and we have different cultural interactions from that of people in Atlanta, Nashville, or Memphis.  (In fact, I would say that the cultures of Memphis and Birmingham are indeed different… I still get weird looks from people when I tell them that I support neither Alabama nor Auburn and that football isn’t that big deal to me.)  We do share some commonalities in that the cities listed are Southern cities (everyone has had fried chicken before, and sweet tea is sweet, not iced).  If you were to travel to California, the culture would still be different, but the common language would be English (language is the foundation of what makes a culture a culture).  Still branching out we could say that different generations are different culturally. (Drew, who is only 10 years my senior, and I differ vehemently over what is “good” 90’s music even now as I listen to Collective Soul on Pandora Radio.)

The point of all this is that we live in a unified yet compartmentalized “culture”… each and every one of us.  Yet culture has not always meant, “What age someone was born in, what region someone lives in, and what language someone speaks.”  Culture is something that has something to do with worship.  Here is where we can share a common bond.  Rather than being “citizens of Leeds, born in the year 19XX speaking English,” why can’t our culture be Christian?

We can still like football or basketball better, and we can still prefer to say “Coke” instead of “soda pop” (like my Illinois born grandmother); but the definition of our existence is the worship of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ.  That is what defines our culture!

Much Love.

If anybody belongs in the class of “ordinary” Bible characters, it is Eutychus.  This young man holds the distinction of being the only person in the Bible who fell asleep during a sermon—a sermon preached by Paul, at that!  In Acts 20 Luke writes that Paul and his traveling companions lingered in Troas until the first day of the week, when they gathered together with the Christians to break bread.  Knowing that he had to depart on the next day, Paul preached a prolonged sermon, speaking until midnight.  This was too much for poor Eutychus.  Maybe he had gotten up early that morning, or perhaps it was a little warm.  Whatever the excuse, he “sank into a deep sleep” and fell to the ground out of his perch in a third story window.  This was one nap he should not have taken, for Luke says he “was taken up dead.”  Now, all of us have nodded off in church, but thankfully none of us has lost his life over it!  Paul immediately went down to see about the young man and said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”  The apostle raised his sleepy friend from the dead and Eutychus walked away alive (vv. 7-12).

Maybe some would criticize Eutychus, saying, “He should have stayed awake!  How could he fall asleep to Paul’s preaching?  If he had been taking notes, this would not have happened!”  However, I think Eutychus is to be commended because he was doing his best.  How many young people would have attended a church meeting that lasted until midnight?  How many would have sat in a window when there was no more room?  Eutychus put forth his best effort—though it wasn’t much—and look at the results.  His weakness gave Paul an opportunity to demonstrate the power of God, and the name “Eutychus” has been immortalized because of it!

The next time you get frustrated because you don’t have the patience of Job, think of Eutychus.  When you feel “dull” because you cannot teach with the wisdom of Paul, think of Eutychus.  The next time you struggle with fear or human weakness, think of Eutychus.  Just do your best.  That is all God asks of you.

Perhaps the greatest compliment Jesus ever paid was to an unnamed woman who anointed His head with expensive perfume.  He said of her, “She has done what she could” (Mk. 14:8).  Are you doing what you can for God?  If you are doing your best, that is all He expects.

Imagine you were an alien visiting earth from a planet that had tropical climates all year long, and you arrived in the spring and watched the seasons change from spring to summer, then from summer to fall, and finally from fall to winter. Alarms would probably go off in that oversized, alien brain of yours. “Earth is dying,” you would think. And who could blame you? Nothing about winter indicates that the resurrection of spring is around the corner.

Winter is bleak and cold. I’m reminded of the opening lines from Thomas Hardy’s “The Darkling Thrush,” which go,

I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-grey,
And Winter’s dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

The shortest day of the year is coming up this week. Before there was Christmas, the Romans celebrated this day as the birth of the sun. It was as if the previous year’s sun had died, only to be replaced by an infant light. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the feasting and merriment that went along with this time of the year shifted to a celebration of the birth of a person instead of a star—the birth of Jesus Christ.

Like the Romans, we think of the death of the year in December. We speak of Old Man Winter and picture the New Year as a baby wearing a top hat.

All of this reminds me that I can’t do anything to change 2011. It was what it was. The successes and the failures of the past remain in the past, and there is nothing I can do to either erase them or bring them back.

But, Lord willing, a New Year is about to be born. Will we make the most of it? Will we stretch ourselves beyond the limits of the previous year so that there will be growth in the body of Christ? Will we bring the gospel to the lost? Will we help the needy and visit the sick? Individually, will we mature in our faith and prepare ourselves for the appointed time when we will stand before God in judgment? With God’s help, we will.

Let’s put last year behind us. Good things are around the corner. Happy New Year!

First of all, the figure we receive from Purpose Sunday sets the amount of money we budget for the Lord’s work in the upcoming year. Whether we recognize it or not, individual Christians set the budget for their congregation. Elders can apply only what they receive from the members. They may plan the work around, say, $9,000 a week, but if the Christians under their charge give only $7,000 a week, that is the actual budget. It makes sense to recognize this and plan accordingly. So near the end of every year, we ask our members to notify the elders of what they plan to give for the next year.

We use purpose cards to communicate these plans. A purpose card will read something like this: “Because I desire to support the work of God, with God’s help I purpose to give….” Below this statement of commitment are three lines, one for a weekly amount, one for a biweekly amount, and one for a monthly amount. Members are asked to record their plans on one of these lines, preferably the weekly line. You may or may not choose to sign your name to this card. I find that it is helpful to sign my name to my commitment as a way of setting it in concrete, so to speak. It’s up to you. Anonymous commitments serve the elders’ purposes just as well as the signed ones.

A purpose card is not a contract, just a statement of your intentions. We plan to the best of our abilities, but no one knows what a year may bring. Circumstances may change for the better or for the worse, and your giving may have to adjust.

Purpose Sunday is a smart way to be good stewards of the Lord’s money. The elders say, in effect, “Give to the Lord a portion of what he has blessed you with, and we will ensure that the Lord’s money is spent effectively towards the Lord’s work. This is our responsibility. However, we cannot fulfill this responsibility as well if we do not know what to expect next year. Confide in us the purpose of your heart, and with God’s help, we will lead this congregation in the right direction.”

The second reason for having Purpose Sunday is, believe it or not, more important than the first. The second reason for doing this is that it encourages individual Christians to give in a biblical, loving way. The Bible does not condone the half-hearted, thoughtless giving that is far too common in our churches. God demands that we put some thought into our giving. “On the first day of the week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper,” Paul says (1 Cor. 16:2). The apostle also instructs, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7).

In the New Testament, the preacher reminded the church that God commands us to give on the first day of the week (1 Cor. 16:1-2). Then the church promised what they would give in the next year (2 Cor. 8:10-12). Their giving of the promised and purposed amount was the proof of their love (2 Cor. 8:24), and the preacher urged them throughout the process to perform what they promised (2 Cor. 8:11). This is how the early Christians gave in the New Testament, and this is the pattern we follow on Purpose Sunday.

The exercise of counting your blessings isn’t profitable without gratitude. Gratitude is the ability to “see what God has done,” as the song puts it. Basically, gratitude is contentment, the ability to say “it is enough.” It’s peace, a Sabbath for the soul.

I think Paul was talking about gratitude when he wrote, “…I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:11-13). It’s worth mentioning that Paul wrote these words from a Roman prison cell. He had learned to be content no matter what the circumstances were.

Paul was grateful in times of plenty and in times of need. That means his gratitude must have rested on something more constant than the “many blessings” we usually think of when we talk about gratitude. How many blessings would you be able to count if you were chained to a Roman guard? You wouldn’t need more than the fingers on your right hand.

Paul could be content in harsh circumstances because he knew he could do all things through the one who strengthened him. The “secret” of his contentment, as he put it, was his faith in God.

At the heart of a truly grateful spirit is an abiding satisfaction in God through Jesus Christ. When you have that, your world isn’t going to fall apart when you don’t get that bonus or when a relationship doesn’t turn out the way you expected. You aren’t constantly comparing your meager pile of possessions with somebody else’s, wishing you could have more. You are happy because you know your life doesn’t depend on unreliable things like possessions and people.

You can’t really be grateful for something unless that gratitude is based on God. Take a new car, for example. From the moment you drive it off of the lot, you’re thinking about the car payments and the higher insurance. You’re worried about the first door ding or scratch. As it starts to age, you realize it’s going to need maintenance just like any other car. And a few years later, you will be back on the lot again, searching for another one.

We are not meant to put all our hopes in the many blessings around us. You can be grateful for just one blessing, and that is enough. God is the Supreme Blessing that makes it possible to be grateful for everything else.