New Year's Revolutions

The last night of FUEL for 2009 was a great night. We had a great time of worship and I spoke on spiritual disciplines as a means of change for 2010. These New Year's revolutions are vital to a believer and what better time to recommit your life to them than at the beginning of a new year. The revolutions consisted of 1. Read the Bible, 2. Pray to God, 3. Give to God, 4. Go to Church, and 5. Serve Others. These 5 spiritual disciplines are things we do but may not actually commit ourselves to. My challenge to our students was to make a commitment to doing these things more, more effectively, or even just to start doing them in general. The reasons behind these disciplines is because God commands us and expects us to do these things. God has done His part by revealing Himself through Scipture and we can follow that with praying returning favor to Him, meeting with a body of believers, and serving those in need. I pray I can make the same transformation for this coming year to improve my walk with Christ by doing these things better.

Kentucky Wildcats Basketball Wins #2000 And I Was There!

Monday night, December 21st at 7 pm the Kentucky Wildcats started a game against Drexel University at Rupp Arena. I was in attendance with my wife, Lori, and sitting in section 230 row FF seats 5 and 6. The game was a blowout with UK winning 88-44. Demarcuse Cousins and Patrick Patterson led the team in scoring with 18 points a piece and John Wall had 16 points along with 7 assists. Cousins also led the way with 13 rebounds in the rout. #3 ranked Kentucky improved to 12-0 on the season with historical win #2000. Immediately after the game, confetti and streamers filled the air of Rupp Arena and the crowd stayed standing in their places. No one was leaving early from this celebration. After the game Coach John Calipari and his team came to center court with a microphone. He addressed the crowd about how this team has only had a small part in the wins at Kentucky but that the fans have been here the entire time. Calipari said, "People have a pride in their Commonwealth's team and it means something to them." He also handed the microphone to Coach Adolph Rupp's son who told of how proud his father would have been. Former coach, Joe B. Hall, and former players (Jamal Mashburn, Kenny "Sky" Walker, etc.) were all in attendance for the momentous occasion. The evening was great and I look forward to #3000 but first a National Championship is in order - maybe the 2010 one? :)

Went to NYC to Watch the CATS Play UConn

I was in New York City last week from Wednesday 12/9 to Saturday 12/12. Lori and I went to Madison Square Garden to watch the Kentucky Wildcats beat the UConn Huskies 64-61! The game was great as it came down to the wire with the CATS pulling it out. I made a sign and took it with me... it read "The Great Wall of Kentucky Stretches from Lexington to NYC". It was so good that it got me on ESPN several times. I got texts throughout the game from friends and family saying they saw me on TV. It made the game that much more fun! We also toured Yankee Stadium and saw the restaurant used in Seinfeld. We went to a Broadway show called "Memphis" which was also very good. We had a great time in NYC with Lori's friend Tashena who lives there. It made for a great trip and some wonderful memories!

Days Divide Performs at FUEL

Last night at FUEL we replaced our typical Wednesday night with an acoustic concert by the Christian rock band DAYS DIVIDE. It was a great night where we had 50 people in attendance to hear some great music. Days Divide played their acoustic versions of their rock songs. The students absolutely loved it. They got so caught up in the atmosphere with jumping around, clapping to the beat, singing along, and dancing... no, make that interpretive movement! :) It was a great night put on by some great Christian men who have brought their love for music and God to a whole new level. I am thankful for their ministry and I pray that God will continue to bless these guys! Check out their website http://www.myspace.com/daysdividemusic

Will Media and Technology Save the Church?

I recently read an article by Scott McClellan on Collide Magazine's Blog entitled "Will Media and Technology Save the Church?." I agree with Mr. McClellan that media and technology will not save the church because the church does not need saving. The church of Jesus Christ is made to outlast all things and at no point will it need to be saved. Media and technology are great compliments to the work of the church but nothing will ever overtake the Gospel as the priority of the local church. We are called to make disciples of all nations, not to entertain them with flashing lights, smoke machines, and great animated powerpoint presentations. Those are things are not bad in themselves, but if they becaome the priority of the church then we have taken a serious misstep and we must go back and correct that. I believe these things truly enhance worship of our Lord and Savior but, like Mr. McClellan, they will never fill the enormous shoes of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Listen, Receive, and Do God's Word

In FUEL last night we studied James 1:19-25 which is about listening, receiving, and doing God's Word. We have to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger when it comes to listening to God's Word. We often hear God's Word but don't often "hear" it. We have too much other junk in our lives that interferes with our listening to His Holy Word. We are commanded to receive God's Word upon listening to it. But often we are consumed with moral filth and evil that take up our heart and mind. But we must remove all that filth from our lives so that we can grow spiritually and take in more of God's Word. The process of spiritual growth begins at the salvation experience and then the sanctification process of removing the bad and filling it with the goodness of God. Once we listen and receive God's Word, we then must do God's Word. The doing is the part we all struggle with because we often "forget" what we have just heard or learned just like "a man who forgets what he looks like just after looking in the mirror"(v. 22-23). We need to remove the nastiness in our lives and replace it with the joy and greatness of Jesus Christ. Don't be angry and grumpy, but be joyful because of your Savior!

The Source of Temptation

This week's FUEL study was on "The Source of Temptation". We continued in our study on James by looking at 1:13-18. In this passage we read the God does not tempt anyone and He is not capable of tempting anyone. So, where does all the evil in the world come from? This passage explains that temptation/sin come from our own evil desires and the work of Satan in our lives. We are fallen, sinful people and Satan uses our inner evil desires to help us sin. He caters to our evil desires by dropping hints and making suggestions for us to give into. So, if you have an evil desire to be rich then Satan will provide opportunities where it seems you may become rich by doing something evil. He may provide an opportunity for you to hurt someone in order to gain money. It may look appealing because of the financial gain but sin will occur because of giving into the temptation. What we need to do is grow spiritually in life where we can flee from our evil desires and pursue after the One and only righteous God of the universe. We must rely on Him and His desire for our lives because this life is not our own but it belongs to Him, as we are His followers and have been redeemed by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.