Even if I could but should I?

That was the sermon from 2 weeks ago that I promised to write about. It was a good one and one that clears up a ton of questions for me personally and it will also help me in answering questions from friends. Again the pastor brought out all of the questions we sometimes ask about our walk with Christ (in no particular order). Can you play playing cards, go to movies, smoke or go to bars with a few friends and still make it to heaven? What if you can? Should you? Maybe there is a gray area on the do's and don'ts of life but when we are faced with the indecision we need to ask ourselves, even if I can, should I? Will this particular act really help glorify God the way that he deserves. The time to make the decisions about which way we want to go has to happen now. No more wavering and no more procrastinating. He used

Luke 9:62 (MSG)
Jesus said, "No procrastination. No backward looks. You can't put God's kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day."

and he used

Joshua 24:15 (NLT) But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
or even better...
Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.

He spoke about being santified, set apart, not like everyone else. It is not our job to "blend" in. As it says in 1 Thes. 4:3(a)

It is God's will that you should be sanctified

These last verses sum it all up, it is found in 1 Corinthians 6:12 (MSG)

Just because something is technically legal doesn't mean that it's spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I'd be a slave to my whims

Galatians 2:19-21

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

That is my summary. Have a great day!

NO MORE AFRICA...

I know...I know...It has been awhile since I blogged and I realized how long when I thought about all that has happened since my last blog. So here it goes...It might take a couple of blogs to catch everyone up.
One of the first things that happened is Samuel had his school play. Now I might not normally blog about it but he had some interesting things to say. First I asked him for over a week leading up to the program if he had any part and he assured me he was just part of the choir. So my surprise came when he stepped up to the mic in the first song and sang "Rudolf the Red nose reindeer" not by himself but still, I was stunned and I was sitting on the wrong side of the room to get a good picture. Unlike last year, he actually sang. When I asked him why he sang this year and not last, he informed me that last year we embarrassed him because we were sitting too close. So I guess sitting on the opposite side of the auditorium worked better for him. So in my slide show you will see some of that night. Then not much else happened until Christmas and if you read my mom's blog you will know that we all spent Christmas day at her house but what she didn't mention was that she gave our family a great weekend at Fort Rapids Indoor water park as our gift for the 22nd-24th. We all decided...my kids don't need another toy and they enjoyed the water park better than I thought they would. It was nice to see Josh go off on his own and go down a water slide. He found one in particular that he claimed as his own and a few kids that were also enjoying it would get a strange look from him when they used "his" slide. Sam, the always serious child, enjoyed his time but it was hard to capture a smile. He told me he really doesn't like to smile so he tries his best NOT to smile. After the water park we were off to my mom's for the night and to wait for Santa. We made cookies for Santa. Santa showed up as soon as the kids were in bed and it was nice to set everything up. Josh is a huge fan of Patrick from Spongebob and Sam likes Spongebob, sometimes Sam and Josh playing as if they are the characters in their room...too funny. Anyway. "Santa" bought them a large pillow of each and beside Patrick we put all of the toys from Santa that were for Josh and then beside Spongebob we put all of Samuel's gifts and there was no question as to which side of the Santa gifts were theirs. Josh would have been fine with just his Santa toys but we had bought several toys for each which meant several packages to open. Josh did not do well with this. He would have rather played hungry hippo (one of his first packages) all day than to open another package. But we all had a great time. Samuel got everything he wanted and a few he didn't know he wanted until he saw it. He asked for Star Wars figures and his uncle Tom came through with not only several figures but also the fighter (I am sure there is a more technical name). He has played with it the most and he is very protective of it. He has conceded to let Josh play with CP3O. So that is my blog for tonight. I might write more about this past weekend including the pastor's sermon...it was a good one.