Got Fruit?????????

Good morning guys and gals! I hope everyone had a great weekend. All of our kids are off from school today in Roane County, TN. We had a good night at youth last night. My message was "Got Fruit?" How do you usually know when fruit has gone bad? You can see it on the outside. Let's dig into some of the good stuff today and see what it says on the subject........

Bible Verse: Galatians 5:22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passion and desires.

Listen guys! Paul was writing this message to the Christians to remind them that WHEN they are in a relationship with God people WILL see the evidence. Paule actually wrote two opposite lists of bad behavior and good behavior. The bad behavior or sinful nature list is in Galatians 5:19-21. So, check this out. There is a battle going on in you if you are a born again believer. A battle between sinful nature (flesh) and the Holy Spirit. Well, which one is stronger? The right answer is the Holy Spirit but, yes there is a but. The Holy Spirit is stronger but, we are weaker on our own. Folks, the acts of sinful nature are very attractive and pleasing usually. We desire to satisfy our flesh. And when that is when we are operating from our sinful nature.

I do have good news! Paul said that when we follow the Holy Spirit those acts of sinful nature are not nearly as attractive because of the strength we find through God. So, who wins this battle? Because trust me most of us probably had battles last week and some are in the right now!!! Who wins? Let me start off by telling you that we make choices every hour of everyday. Those choices we make reflect whether we are trying to please God.....Ourselves......or The World. When we commit our lives to Christ. The Holy Spirit takes up residence in us. He moves in and begins helping us fight the cravings of our sinful nature. Now, comes the hard part. We have to yield to God and the Holy Spirit by saying "YES" to godly actions and "NO" to sinful temptations.

So, how do we tell which one is winning this battle? It is determined by what we show on the outside. The kind of fruit that grows on a tree shows us what kind of tree it is. The OUTSIDE is a reflection of the INSIDE!!! Listen guy's! The fruit of the spirit is a collection of nine visible traits of a Christian. How we should WALK-TALK-and ACT. The ultimate goal is to be more like Christ. To be transformed.

Let's talk about the delivery service. FedEx, UPS, USPS???? Nope. God doesn't just give us patience, joy, self-control, or any other fruit wrapped up in a pretty little box. You have to ask Him for them and then commit to practicing them whenever opportunities arise. I promise God will give you opportunities to develop and practice them. We must be patient and listen to the Holy Spirit. If you pay attention and let the Holy Spirit guide you. The fruit will grow and multiply!!! Love....Joy....Peace....Patience....Kindness....Goodness....Faithfulness....Gentleness....Self-Control!!!!!!! Let's pray that God can use us in a mighty way and there is plain to see evidence in our lives. Have a great day, I love you, and God bless!!!!

Don't ride the coattails...........

Good morning everyone! Today is going to be a good day. We went down to the park for a while last night. It was really nice and enjoyable until that cold wind started blowing in off the lake and we were not prepared for it. That brings me to todays topic. I hope you brought your shovel so we can dig into some of His good stuff.............

Bible Verse: 1 Timothy 6:12 - "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses."

What happens after you go to a great conference, having an amazing revival, or a powerful Sunday morning service. You come out with wind under your wings and your batteries recharged. We come out or back saying "that was amazing, I am so pumped." But, guess what happens? Here comes Satan and some of the greatest spiritual defeats you will ever have will follow some of your highest spiritual victories. Take a look at Jonah, Moses, and Elijah all these men had to learned this. What is up with that? Why?

It might just be that we feel that we are at the top of the mountain. What could happen to us? Or maybe we're tired and feel we can just chill for awhile. In our minds we're thinking, God blessed us and gave us a great victory? But then we forget one thing. The devil is clever, sneaky, and very evil. He has his timing down to an art and he knows just when to pull the rug out from under us. Here is some advice. I know we get blessed from these mountain top experiences. There is no doubt about that. But, we can't ride on yesterday's coattails. See, God made us so that we can't live by yesterday's experiences. We must live by Christ day by day. Let's look at it this way and see if it works. Every time you experience victory, be on your guard. 1 Peter 5:8 say's "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." So, be ready!! Stay focused of Jesus and Satan will fall to the wayside. Have a great day, I love you, and God bless.

A Revolution???????

Good morning everyone. I hope everyone is having a good week. Well, I know that is not true because I have talk to many of you this week and you are going through some pretty hard things. Well, I would like to share just a portion of my sermon from Sunday night with you and let's see if we can't do something about gloom and doom. Let's dig into the good stuff.........

Bible Verse: Matthew 10:34 "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."

First, I want to ask you if you know what a revolutionist is? Websters says: A person who actively participates or advocates a revolution. Well, what is a revolution? Websters says: GREAT CHANGE! Is this a good description of Jesus? How do you see Jesus? You have probably seen numerous pictures of Him throughout your life. What does the image in your mind look like? In the bible verse today. Does this Jesus sound gentle? He was. Does this Jesus sound meek? He was. Does this Jesus sound mild? He was. He was all these things and so much more. He was a revolutionist who really challenged the religious, political, and economical places of His time! So, let's look at how He revolutionized the world.

1. He revolutionized our understanding of love:

He was born into a violent time.

The Jewish were under the rule of Rome

The Jewish people expectation of the Messiah was to lead the people in victory

Guess what? Jesus had a different message! In the middle of all the bad happening to the Jewish people Jesus came with a new message, a Message of LOVE. Let's look at Matthew 5:38-45 "ye have heard that it has been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite you on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man shall sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor , and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.."

This message that Jesus preached was revolutionary! For such a long time hate and unforgiveness and now it was being replaced with Love and Grace! The only way to reach deep inside people is to show them some revolutionary love.

2. He revolutionized our understanding of God:

What king of people were around Jesus most of the time? The unsavory.

We are to be more understanding and accepting of people.

The church shouldn't be know for being so judging and condemning.

He came deepen our understanding of the people He wants us to have relationships with.

There is a new rule: IN GOD'S KINGDOM.....THERE ARE NO- UNDISIRABLES!!!!!!!

3. He revolutionized our understanding of sacrifice:

The most revolutionary thing Christ did was become our sin

So we could have a relationship with God

His death on the cross allows us to see His depth of love for us.....His sacrifice.

Now! JESUS ALSO EXPECTS US TO LIVE A LIFE OF SACRIFICE!!!!!!!!!

I guess today I have a couple questions for you. Could you be a revolutionist? How? Could you be: Someone who shares the love of God. Someone who spreads the message of compassion. Or maybe someone who is willing to model revolutionary sacrifice like Christ. Could you do something like that? Would you want a revolution? Why is the word sacrifice so foreign to the way we live today? Do you attract people to Jesus or repel them? What is stopping you from becoming a revolutionist for Jesus? Pray and ask God to take that something away and let's get to work. Let's start a revolution one house at a time. One school at a time. One work place at a time. One county at a time. One state at a time. What can stop us.........but us?????? Have a great day, I love you, and God bless.

You're not a slave anymore................

Good morning everyone. I pray you are having a great week so far. We had a little bit of snow on the ground this morning. I know the kids were praying to have school cancelled but, we only have a few snow days left and if we miss to much it cuts into spring break. And that is when we are going on our mission trip. So, I pray for no snow!!!! I have to ask you a question. Well, first I must tell you over the the last week I have met with numerous teenagers about the devil really attacking them. They want to know why? They are getting beat down and need some relief. Well, here is some of the good stuff that we dug into so that we have an answer................

Bible Verse: Romans 6:13 "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."


Hey, check this out if you let the devil get the upper hand in your life today, it is going to be because you are doing the letting or giving up? Before you accepted Christ and got saved, you didn't have a say so. You were a slave to sin. You were chained to sin. But now, you don't have to let sin have the upper hand in your life. The chains are gone. They've been broken. There is for sure no power that says you have to sin. When you entered into marriage with Christ, you no longer have to let sin have control of you. You have knocked sin of of its thrown and Jesus Christ is sitting on the thrown as Lord of your life. I read this from the good Dr. Rodgers. We need to be like the man who prayed, "Lord, help me cooperate with You, so You won't have to operate on me." Who is reigning in your life today? Are you still a slave? It is time you realize that the chains have been broken. It is time that you allow Jesus to have the upper hand in your life!! Don't ever forget the chains are gone, you've been set free. Have a great day, I love you, and God bless.

What does He see?????????

Good morning guys and gals! I hope you are having a great week so far. Have you ever wondered how God sees us? Really. Have you ever thought how does God see me? I had a friend tell me about her 15 year old son and what he said to her one day. This young man was raised in church by godly parents. He had been watching all the men and women around him and had grown to respect a lot of them. He then saw some really bad things that some of these people we doing and instead of asking his mom why this man or this woman was acting that way. Or even, I can't believe they are saying or doing that. This 15 year old young man said, "I wonder how God sees us?" Let's dig into the good stuff and see what God's Word says about it................

Bible Verse: Isaiah 63:7 - "I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord."

I read a story, yes I read. This story was about a man named bob that came into a village. Bob came into the village and asked an old man living there, "Any great men born here?" The old man said, "No, just babies." Great men are not born; great men are made, investing in the lives of others, sharing God's love, and showing His mercies. There is not a magic formula that instantly makes us morally right. This is a process. We are supposed to be lighthouses. Trust me when I tell you that the little ones are watching. We should ask ourselves "How do they see us?" Then, "How does God see us?" I promise you that He see you in the good and bad. Do you know what it says about causing a child of God to stumble? It involves a millstone. Look it up sometime. Listen, our calling is to be poured out into the lives of others for His glory. How can you show His mercies to a lost friend, family member, co-worker, or even a neighbor today? Pray about it and then watch for how God provides a way for you! Have a great day, I love you, and God bless!!!!