Tim Boyd's Blog

I saw this video on the Foxnews website.  It talked about atheism so I was intrigued and I watched the 6 minute clip.  There are two ladies in the video.  The first one is the show's host and I never did catch her name.  She states that she is catholic.  The other lady is Annie Laurie Gaylor, who works with an atheist group that has purchased billboards that say "Reason's Greetings" and "Heathen's Greetings." The exchange is absolutely terrible.  The lady from fox news treats Annie terribly.  She talks over her and never really lets her answer.  She is condescending and mocks this lady.   If you know the truth and you are confident of the truth - you simply have no reason to treat people poorly . She knows the truth of the gospel and yet she treats this other woman as dirt. Of course, I believe that the atheist lady Annie is hurting people by spreading a message that there is no God.  She says some terrible claims in there like "young children s

I have never worked in the sheep industry.  I have seen sheep and I have owned a couple of wool sweaters.  I have eaten lamb and I read about sheep (in the Bible) quite a bit.  If I met a modern-day Shepherd I don’t think we would have too much in common.    However I do relate to the Shepherds in the Christmas story.  They were out in their fields watching there sheep when an Angel appeared to them.  The Angel told them to go find a baby lying in a manger and worship him as the Savior.  The most amazing part of the story is that these Shepherds did what the Angel asked them.   In the middle of life and work, God reached out to them and they listened.  How busy are you?  How set is your life?  Is there room for spontaneity?  Is there room for God to speak in your life?  The Shepherds listened and their lives suddenly took on more meaning.  They became part of the Christmas story. What story are you a part of?  Is there room for God to speak into your life?  Have you become so set in

This is the last in the Authentic Manhood list.  Robert Lewis' 4 pillars are: Reject Passivity Accept Responsibility Lead Courageously Expect the Greater Reward Moses was one who was looking to the greater reward.  Hebrews 11:24-26 states; "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter.  He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.  He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as a greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward." Moses traded the earthly reward for the heavenly reward.  He traded the immediate success for the long-term success. When I was in high school I drove a little 3 cylinder car called a Chevy Sprint.  It was tiny and would barely go 65 miles an hour.  One day someone pulled out in front of me and totaled my car.  It was sad.  I liked that little car because it was my first car.  My d

This is part 3 in a 4 part series on a look at authentic manhood from Robert Lewis' book: Raising a Modern Day Knight . The third pillar of Biblical manhood is to Lead Courageously.  I'd like to point out first of all that it doesn't say "lead confidently."  There is a large difference between confidence and courage.  Courage is the ability to face your fears and not be paralyzed by them.  Courage is not the absence of fear.  It simply not being controlled by your fears. I lead with a lot of faith.  I place a lot of faith in people and a lot of faith in my own abilities.  I generally believe that everything will work out as long as we do our best.  I am not a visionary leader that sees things before they happen.  I hold fast to the maxim that "if we just do the right things over time we will succeed."  People around me generally have one of two reactions. Some people see that as a source of strength.  I worked with a lady in Omaha who would always

Please pray for Christians in China.  They are dealing with persecution from the police.  Here is the news story: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,579979,00.html?test=latestnews

God walked up to Adam and asked him why He was hiding.  Adam told him that he was hiding because he was ashamed and naked.  God asked him why he was ashamed asked him if he had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Adam, in his amazing brilliance, tells God this; "The woman that you gave me told me to do eat the fruit." What a wuss.  Adam shirks responsibility and blames his wife.  If you really read into it Adam blames his wife and blames God, "you gave her to me."  No one made Adam eat that fruit.  Adam ate that fruit by his own account.  He is responsible for his actions. In Hebrew class yesterday we took a look at Genesis 3:4.  "The serpent said to the woman, you will not die."  What's interesting about this is that the "you" that is used her is used in the masculine plural sense.  That means that the serpent wasn't just responding to Eve, he was responding to Eve AND Adam.  While this whole exchange was going on

In his book Raising a Modern Day Knight Robert Lewis's first principal of authentic manhood is Rejecting Passivity. It is very easy for me to be passive.  Standing up for what I believe is right does not come naturally for me. When faced with a tough situation or a lot of work my first reaction is to just keep my mouth shut and quit before I start.  The best things in my life have happened because I reject passivity and made a move. When I finally decided to follow Christ with all of my heart I knew I had to move from where I was.  I needed to get away from the town, those friends, and that life.  I needed an escape.  The only place I knew to go was to a camp in northern Minnesota that I went to as a high schooler.  Instead of just hoping for it or thinking that they wouldn't want me in the first place, I went for it.  I wrote them a letter and told them that I would do whatever it took to be up there for the summer.  If they would feed me and provide me a place to sleep I

How do you answer the following questions? 1. You become a man when ______________________. 2. What makes you a man is ______________________. There are a million different answers for those questions.  Last week I did a Message about Joseph (the earthly father of Jesus).  I said that he was an authentic man.  Here are my quick points: 1. Joseph was righteous 2. Joseph loved his wife 3. Joseph was a man of action. Robert Lewis, in his book Raising a Modern Day Knight , states that there are 4 characteristics of biblical manhood.  He states that a man: Rejects Passivity Accepts Responsibility Leads Courageously Expects the Greater Reward. I started praying for these four characteristics about 5 years ago.  I pray them (among other things) each morning.  In the next few weeks I will share with you what Lewis is talking about and how this has shaped me as well.

I had a disturbing day yesterday. On Tuesdays I go to seminary at Lincoln Christian Seminary .  It's about a 90 minute drive.  On those days I listen to podcasts from Mars Hill (Rob Bell's church), Southland (Jon Weece's church), Breakpoint (Chuck Colson), and my own podcast (I figure if I force 200 people a week to listen to me than I should at least do the same). I started down the road and put on this podcast  (be warned - this one is not for kids) from Dan Allender, who was teaching at Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  He is teaching on Matthew 5:21-30 about murder and adultery.  It is his contention that we really find God in the dark places.  If we venture to go into the dark places in our own lives and in our world we will find God there.  It isn't that we are looking for God, but we are looking at our own brokenness.  We realize God is there in our brokenness and in the brokenness of others.  Allender shares that one of his friends works in the in

  Grab a pen and paper.  Write down my prophetic words.  In the next ten years it will be customary for people to buy Thanksgiving presents.  Christmas is the shopping season.  Commercials and Christmas music saturate our TV's and stores way before Thanksgiving.  With the emergence of "Black Friday" many people celebrate Thanksgiving as part of the Christmas Season anyways.  Why not start marketing products as Thanksgiving gifts?  It's coming.... http://www.findgift.com/Holidays/Thanksgiving/

What has God blessed you with this year?  Take some time to come up with 10 things that you are thankful for this year.  Then reflect on God's goodness as he takes care of you. Were there things that started as trials that ended up as blessings? How has God's blessing shaped you this year? Would you like to share one of them on this blog?  (or the whole list)

      How do you understand the world?  Where do you get your world-view?  If you get it from watching the news - you understand that world is filled with murder, corruption, ponzi schemes, child predators, civil war, famine, and people behaving in all sorts of terrible ways.  Those are the stories that make it in the news.  We know that that is not necessarily the whole story though.  Every day there are millions of acts of unselfishness that take place.  There are junior high kids standing up for fellow classmates who are being picked on.  There are people giving of their time and money to help people who can’t help themselves.  There are good parents making sacrifices to train their kids to live good lives.  These things happen all the time. When you look at the world around you what do you see?  In Philippians chapter 4 Paul gives us an exercise to do.  He challenges us to change our perspective on life.  He doesn’t say that it will happen in three easy steps.  He tells us that

I got a lot of comments about the sermon today, so I wanted to just draw attention to the podcast that is on this blog.  You can make that a weekly thing that downloads for you.  There might be some value in that.  You can hear my jokes bomb if you are actually interested in that part.

I have been talking a lot about consumerism running through churches.  Churches use advertising practices that are shaped around a consumer worldview.  (The consumer worldview is the prevalent idea that you are a consumer and you are made complete when you are purchasing the right things to fulfill your needs.  In order to do that you must make a certain amount of money and that influences what you do for a living, etc). What about churches that are battling consumerism?  Do they exist?  How do they battle consumerism?  Here is one such example of a church: Southland Christian Church in one week did the following: 1. They got about 50% of their weekly attendance to come in on one weekend and prepare 1,056,024 meals to feed people who are starving. 2.  They had 500 people raising $70,000 to make a refuge for women who are escaping the exotic dance industry through their bruised reed program. 3. They open their building twice a week for homeless men. 4. They have warehouses sto

Last week on Thursday, Friday and Saturday I ate only rice.  Sunday I had a steak for dinner because I was having someone over to watch football.  (I'm not inviting someone over and just eating rice!)  So I took that day off.  Then yesterday I started eating just rice again.  That steak after church on Sunday was really great.  I am normally not a big steak fan.  There's not enough flavor for me.  I like a hamburger with ketchup, pickles, mayo, tomato, onion, etc.  I like all the flavors. A week ago I was listening to a podcast of John Weece's sermon (he is at Southland ).  He talked about just eating rice to see how 2/3 of the world lives.  It has been quite an experience.  Life is a lot different when you don't have options as to what you will eat.  The stomach is not made for food.  Food is made for the stomach.  I didn't waste as much time as I normally do picking out what I'm going to eat.  My mind even had more time to think about things other than fo

Consumerism is a life-shaping religion in America right now.  Don't believe me?  Why do you eat what you eat?  Why do you watch what you watch?  Why do you shop where and how you shop?  Tell me about your house, vehicles, and career decisions.  Back to the matter at hand. Consumerism affects every area of life in America (and a large part of the world).  A few weeks ago my professor made a big statement.  We were talking about world view and how you can't really escape the time and place that you live.  In America it is incredibly hard (if even possible) to not think like an American.  (I'm not saying that's bad or good right now).  He brought up slavery and said that there were many people who love Jesus every bit as much as we do that didn't help with getting rid of slavery. Here's the big statement.  He said that in the next generation or so he believes that abortion will be viewed then as slavery is viewed now.  Most of us understand slavery to be a terr

“...many churches are eager to adopt curricula or programming that has a certain seal of approval on it from a prominent megachurch or parachurch organization.  Christian publishers now see their marquee authors as brand entities; big-name authors are not just people or personalities - they’re brands, complete with brand managers who leverage the brands with ancillary products and extensions.” Hsu, Albert.  The Suburban Christian:  Finding Spiritual Vitality in a Land of Plenty.  Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 2006. This book is a great read and I recommend it to anyone who is part of any church.  Basically if you are American and go to church I think this book would be of value to you.  It's very readable.  Hsu is a wonderful writer. Church marketing is big business.  Does that make a church a big business?  Are most churches done with innovation?  Are we just taking teaching from other places and making it our own?  Why would churches need to hire pastors or

So this morning at church I'm standing around the main doors greeting people with some other guys.  Their are two elders, and a couple of guys on the board.  If you combine their years in service to this church it would be around 990 years (not really, but a looong time).  One sweet lady walks in the door shakes hands with all the guys and walks a little bit away.  She pauses and then turns around and says, "Oh I forgot the most important one" and she shakes my hand. Here I have been at this church for just over 3 months and I'm the "most important one."  These guys have been serving in this church for decades.  It's about image.  I am on the stage the most.  I am the one who is recognized as the "preacher."  I am the one who gets credit for what's going on in the church. Not fair? Not even close. How do we determine who is the most important one? Paul writes in Philippians 2 that we should have the same attitude as that of Christ

Jesus did exactly what Satan wanted to do. What did Satan want?  He wanted to be counted as the best and brightest and be exactly like God.  In Isaiah 14 it's found that Satan wanted to become like God and have people worship him.  He wanted all the power and all the glory. (Who do you want to have control?  The person who is burdened with love of people and therefore wants the best for them?  Or do you want the person who wants power and wealth and glory to rule over the people?) So in Philippians chapter 2 we read that Jesus came in all humility and humbled himself, even to death on the cross.  Jesus did the opposite of what Satan did and then he received exactly what Satan was searching for - "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow on heaven, earth, and under the earth."  All glory is Christ's glory.  It is because he humbled himself, which is the opposite of what Satan did. So let us set this in place with the idea that Jesus throws out in Matthew 7 of

I love the song "chicken fried" by the Zac Brown Band .  It's fun and simple with a poignant message.  Here's the best part. And its funny how it`s the simple things in life that mean the most Not where you live or what you drive or the price tag on your clothes There`s no dollar sign on a piece of mind this I`ve come to know Here is another glimpse of the Kingdom of Heaven in real life.  Jesus didn't come to get all the money and distribute it to his followers.  Jesus didn't come to get all the power.  Jesus didn't come to be world famous. Jesus came to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth and to rescue us from the teaching of the world. Life is not about what we get.  Life is not about always moving forward to a better life.  Life is not about retiring with a bunch of money.  Life is about living.  (Too simple right?) A person is not alive until he or she has realized that there is a God who has made everything.  There is free will.  We can choos

So when Paul went to set up the church in Philippi he first met some ladies at a place of prayer.  Lydia and her whole family were baptized that day and thus the church began. In Acts 16:16-40, we find the rest of the account of the church.  They kept meeting at the place of prayer.  There a young woman had an evil spirit on her that kept her shouting, “These men are servants of the most high God.”  Paul got annoyed and cast the spirit out of the girl.  The owner of the slave girl got mad because he charged people to hear her give them their fortunes.  So he took Paul and Silas to the middle of town to be judged by the leaders.  They cast the two of them in jail.  In jail Paul and Silas were singing hymns and there was a violent earthquake.  During the earthquake all the chains came loose.  Paul and Silas did not flee.  The guard came to check on them and not seeing anybody decided to kill himself.  That would be better than the fate ahead of him for losing prisoners.  Paul shouts out

The History of the City of Philippi Philippi was named for Philip the 2, the father of Alexander the Great.  This was a great city with a forum the size of a football field, a library, an open air theater, and two large temples. It was a greek city for about 300 years.  That means that they were a pagan city that worshipped greek mythological gods. Then, if you remember your world history, a very famous scene happened there.  In 42 BC Mark Antony and Octovian chased down Brutus who was the guy who killed Julius Ceasar.  They chased him and killed him at Philippi. Then in 31 BC the Roman Emperor sent some Italian exiles to the city and He made it a Roman City.  That is a big deal because being a Roman city had it’s advantages. Then in 49 AD (80 years later) Paul comes to plant a church.  So the church is set in a very pagan culture with Greek pagans and Roman pagans.  Needless to say the people of the city thought very highly of themselves.  They weren’t the great city of Rome, but

The blogs are going to be coming more frequently over the next week or so.  There will be three types coming; personal entries, Book of Philippian entries, and consumerism quotes - linked to the paper I am writing on Consumerism and the American Church. Here is my personal entry: My wife has struck up a good relationship with our neighbor.  She is a sweet lady with fibromyalgia.  She takes care of her grandkids a lot.  She is pretty sad, but finds joy through her grandkids.  To me, they are her source of life. This past week she was feeling good enough to come to church.  I started the series on the book of Philippians titled "finding life."  This past Sunday dealt with the idea that God has laid a burden on each one of us.  Paul felt God's burden with a dream to go to Macedonia and plant a church there.  God does the same for us.  When we actually respond to that call is when we find true life. So I finished by asking a question; What is God asking you to do?  Sh

The book of Philippians was a letter written to a group of people that formed a church.  It is in the Bible because it is written by the Apostle Paul.  Paul wrote to this church.  Here are some fun background facts about the book: A letter to a church in Philippi written by the Apostle Paul. Birth of the church ; Acts 16:9-10, God gave Paul a vision to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the people of Macedonia.  Paul faithfully responds.  Acts 16: 12-15, Paul goes to the city of Philippi.  The church starts because of a prayer meeting.  Paul responds to God’s call and travels to the area.  Paul then goes to a prayer meeting and shares the gospel of Christ.  The church has begun.

Philippians 1:21 - For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.  Those are Paul's words from a jail cell in Rome.  He is writing to a church he helped set up 11 years before that. Jesus' call to enter through the narrow gate and to walk the narrow road is not about "living a good christian life."  Jesus simply asks for everything.  The podcast is of the sermon (should be up by Monday AM at latest).  Here is a link to Jim Elliot's wiki-bio and the book written by his wife. The Biography on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Elliot The book http://www.amazon.com/Through-Gates-Splendor-Elisabeth-Elliot/dp/0842371524

This cartoon is great!  I heard about these from my friend Seth Bates who works at a church in Assumption, Il.  This cartoon speaks volumes to the sermon that I am preaching this week out of Philippians 1.  Juxtapose this with "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." Awesome. Here is the credit for these cartoons:   http://micahprays.org/doodles.htm

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo . We were made to live in harmony. God created us in the way he did for so many reasons. This might be another one of them. 1 Peter 3:8 "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble." Romans 12:16 "Live in harmony with one another."

Hey remember that time in Genesis when God sent judgement on the entire earth and everyone was killed except for one family?  To me it sounds like a terrible story.  I'm not saying that it was wrong or that God rushed to judgement,  I am saying that it's interesting that we would take that story and make it a cute kid's story. Here is my favorite so far.  I call it "Noah's Goard."

I have finished the 12 week process of teaching through Jesus' first public teaching. God came down to earth and broke apart everything that we understood to be right. Jesus fulfills the Old Testament and ties it to the new teaching that He just gave us. He finishes by saying that anyone who just heard him and does what he says will be able to stand the storms of life with dignity, grace, and peace. Those who just heard him and did not put that into practice will remain slaves to the world and be incredible fools who are boxed in their own life of prison. So here's the quick re-cap: Matthew 5:1-12 - Jesus announces that he came for everyone. Feel like you don't have what it takes? Feel like you can't keep up? Feel like you don't fit in? Blessed are you because God has come to earth for you. Matt 5:13-16 - Be salt and light. Stop things from going bad. Share the light of the good news of Jesus Christ come to earth to redeem and save. Matt 5:17-48 - Jesus cam

This is part 2 of putting this quote into a real life example. "As well as goods and services, people and relationships are reduced to a monetary value in an increasingly capitalist world." This quote is taken from "Consumerism as a way of life" written by Steven Miles. Time and money. Will this give me more time? Will get this me more money? How much time is this going to take? How much money does that cost? Is that really worth my time? How much did they pay for that? This even goes into churches. "We need to give to God. You can give through your money or your time." What about love? Do couples with one kid love that kid twice as much as someone who has to split there love between two kids? When I started to love my wife, does that mean that I started to love my parents less? How much love will this cost me? Will this get me more love? How much love will it take to do that? Love doesn't work like time or money. You can't spend it a

"As well as goods and services, people and relationships are reduced to a monetary value in an increasingly capitalist world." This quote is taken from "Consumerism as a way of life" written by Steven Miles. How much money is a friend worth? In an age when we increasingly tend to rank things in order of monetary value this phrase may start to become more relevant to every day life than we would want it to be. How does this actually play out in our everyday lives? What do you think? I will attempt to come up with some every day examples here and then in the next week or so. If you are one of the reader's of this blog it is your turn to get involved and come up with a real life example of this quote. My example --------------- When Mindy and I were starting to want to have a baby we tried to figure out the cost of having a baby. We wanted to make sure that we had enough money to do it. Go figure. We didn't. How could we ever afford to have a child?

Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Ants follow other ants. Going to hell may not be a decision that we make. It may just be that we are following the wrong people and ideas. The dominant themes of our world may not be right. Jesus isn't telling us to give up hope. He is telling us to wake up and look for the small gate. Then we enter through it and follow the narrow road. Proverbs 14:12 states that "there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to destruction." One gate leads to life and one leads to death. There are no others gates.

Not long ago I wrote about Tim McGraw's song and how it is the song of my life right now. There is a line that talks about watching cars and it compares them to ants moving to the left and the right. My favorite band is the Dave Matthews Band and they have a song "Ants Marching." I have been struck with ants. He wakes up in the morning. Does his teeth, bite to eat and he's rolling Never changes a thing. The week ends, the week begins. She thinks, we look at each other Wondering what the other is thinking, But we never say a thing. And these crimes between us grow deeper. Take these chances Place them in a box until a quieter time. Lights down, you up and die. Goes to visit his mommy She feeds him well, his concerns He forgets them. And remembers being small Playing under the table and dreaming... Take these chances Place them in a box until a quieter time Lights down, you up and die. Driving along this highway All these cars and up on the sidewalk People in every d

God created perfectly. We rebelled. God redeemed us. John 5:22 says that the Father judges no one but has given that job to the Son (Jesus). So Jesus has been given the ominous job of presiding over the final judgement. The judgement is the separation of the good from the evil. The good enters into the Kingdom of Heaven and the bad enters into Hell. When Jesus came to this earth He spent his time redeeming. He didn't judge. There is a time coming when he will judge. We are in the space between the redemption and the final judgement. Are you helping with the judgement (of which you were never asked to help)? Or are you helping with the redemption (which is exactly what we have been asked to help with)?

Everyone has a worldview. A worldview is simply how someone sees the world. This may not be a well thought out idea that someone has and generally it isn’t. Someone’s worldview may just be what they have had handed down from their parents or respected teachers and adults in their lives through their formative years. Worldview may be constructed through a person’s experiences. Someone who has fought in a war would have a different outlook on life than someone who has grown up with a trust fund. It remains that each person has a way to interpret the happenings of life. This would be their worldview. This paper is to discuss what a Biblical worldview is and how that applies to consumerism within the American evangelical church. A Biblical worldview would be a way to interpret life using what a person would find in the Bible. This process requires much Bible reading and study as well as time for personal reflection and trial. A person must be able to line up his or her actions

I started out today antsy and upset. I tried really hard not to be, but I just couldn't shake it. I have had a very busy week. Yesterday I thought I was getting caught up at work and just started to realize how much I have going on there. Then I got to take a nice break. I went fishing for this first time on Lake Shelbyville. It was a very nice afternoon. The rain had stopped but it was still very overcast. There was no wind and the water was very calm. The trees on the side of the lake were starting to turn into the beautiful red, orange, and yellow. They were still dominated by the rich green though. We didn't catch too many fish, but it really didn't matter. Then I got home and had to get flash cards at Walmart. By the time I got home it was time to tuck the kids into bed. Then I did homework for Hebrew for about 2 hours (on a Friday night). That leads me to today. So I woke up and tried to have a good day but I couldn't quit thinking about all that I ha

The Fall. Why did it happen? The simple(ish) answer is that it happened because of free will. God loves us and made us to be in His image. He gave us the ability to choose. We can do as we please. We can use that freedom to honor God and thank him for creating us and giving us freedom, and then get to work doing what he's asked of us. Or we can use that freedom to fulfill the desires that we have. That would then make us a slave to our desires. This is how addiction works. We crave the freedom to do whatever we want. We use that freedom to care only for ourselves and live only for the present moment. How well does that work? Ever seen someone truly happy because they are addicted to meth? Is there a lot of happiness found in the life of an alcoholic? Is there freedom in covering up a porn addiction? God gave us free will and we were tricked by a cunning little snake. So we traded that free will for a lifetime of slavery to sin. Oops. How does that fall shape our worl

The Fall. How do you like that? Today is the first day of Autumn (fall)? That's funny. (I listened to my sermon on the podcast today on my way up to school. I still laugh at my jokes. No one else does and that is fine. I make a lot of jokes here at the Seminary and most of them do not get a laugh. I think my humor is too smart and subtle for them to pick up on.) Let's start again... The fall. Everything that we know starts in Genesis. God speaks the world and all life into creation. I am sure that all of us have come to terms with what that means since I have posted that a few days ago (another stupid joke). Genesis 1 and 2 tell the account of the creation. Then the fall happens. God then spends most of the rest of the Bible working for the redemption of man. He makes clothes for Adam and Eve. He gives the nation a ruler, and then a king when they ask. He sends the prophets to ask us to repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. John the baptist does the same

It all begins with creation. That statement is loaded. God created. God created the cosmos. God created the Earth. God created everything in the Earth. God created man. God created life. He created life in the plants and the animals. He created humans who create as well. He created creative creatures. Life continues to create. Plants will always grow. Grass may lay dormant. Grass may die without water. That grass will come back. Creation is the beginning of the story. The Kingdom of Heaven makes no sense without the creation. In the first 2 chapters of Genesis. God creates the world in 7 days. God is there. God speaks words into reality. God creates the world in which we live. God creates a world of life. The garden the He creates is not perfect. Perfect implies a stopping of movement. Perfect is something that is attained. The Garden of Eden isn't as perfect as it is alive. God creates animals, cells, hills, oxygen, carbon, and stars. Man is made and is g

Creation - Fall - Redemption What process do we have to look at the world? What basis or grounds or education do we have to understand the world around us? Why do people work? Why do we have to eat? Why do people need to get married? Why do humans start off as babies? Why do people die? Why do we have emotions? Why are some things beautiful and some things ugly? Why can music make us cry? Creation - Fall - Redemption When we understand these three items (in order) the world around and how it works will start to come clear. Over the next few days or weeks I am going to do my best to figure out how these three items shape our world.

http://thesuburbanchristian.blogspot.com/2009/09/kids-dont-walk-because-parents-drive.html

9/13 Sermon Recap: (Matthew 6:19-24) A life without Jesus’ clear guidance and forgiveness is a life without freedom. Real freedom comes when we are slaves to Jesus Christ. Jesus taught that you can not serve two masters. It’s God or the world. The world is about success and selfishness. The world teaches us we need to stick up for ourselves and try to squeeze out as much happiness as we can. Jesus teaches that we need to quit running around trying to eek out happiness when true Joy comes only from our Heavenly Father. True joy and freedom come when we are with God. When we recognize God as the Creator and sustainer of life we then have the basis to live life fully. When we leave God out of any area of our life, we leave out the healing and guidance that we need. 9/20 Sermon: (Matthew 6:25-34) The title for the sermon this week is “What should I wear?” When I got the call to preach a try-out sermon here that was one of the first questions that I asked people. So I called