Sermon on a Stick

(My notes from Sunday, if you trust my note taking. From Dr Chris at FBC Ruston...)

WHO IS THE WORST PERSON ON YOUR TEAM?
Titus 3: 9-11 (NIV)

9But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. 10Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. 11You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

1. WHO is the divisive person
* 'divisive' means heritic, someone who holds to fake doctrines...one who separates himself for his own benefit. It's not necessarily a person who disagrees; it's a person who is disagreeable.
* The divider is the person who is the worst person for/on your team.

2. WHY are they this way?
* They major in the minors (v.9)
* They havea personal agenda
* It's often all about them, "serving our own appetites." (Romans 16:17-18)
* They have a heart problem (v. 11)

3. WHAT do we do with them? (v. 10)
* Warm them twice, suggest the behavior is not healthy, then allow them to have nothing to do with the team. Remove them from the roster.
* Avoid them, because
a. it might waste time
b. you might get pulled down too
c. avoiding them might be what it takes to wake them up; the shock of losing the familiar might be what it takes the lead them toward repentance

4. DON'T be this person
* Lovingly and gently deal with this kind of behavior in others
* Deal strongly and immediately with this behavior in yourself

Jesus ... Others ... You ... = JOY

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WHAT THE GREAT ONES DO!
I Samuel 12:16-23

We are all leading or teaching in some way; how do we assure our leadership is influencing others in a positive way?

1. You Need Power with God (v. 16-18)
* Samuel prays for rain, rare duing the harvest time of year, and God allows it ... There is no shortcut to power with God, so ...

2. You Need to be a Person of Prayer
A: In your own life ... (v. 18)
* The Gospel of Luke is often called the gospel of prayer
* The way to spiritual dependency is to become more dependent on God and less on ourselves; humble yourself, as God asks us to...
B: For your people (v. 19, 23)
* Samuel prayed for those in his circle/sphere of influence; not praying as I should is sin
* It's awfully hard to gossip about people who you're praying for.

3. You Need to Teach and Speak the Full Truth of God
* Major on encouraging them (vs. 20-21); remember, we have Good News
* Lay out the hard stuff too (v. 24-25 .. "persist in evil and you'll be swept away...")
*Sometimes you have to say, "I love you and God loves you but what you're doing is wrong and you are going to wreck yourself and your life and others."
* You haven't done much of anything at all if you haven't been used of God to help change the lives of other people..

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And the winner is ...

Casey Allen.

The RusTony awards were handed out Saturday at the Dixie Theatre in Ruston, a celebration of the recently completed 'show year' from the Ruston Community Theatre. Casey, pictured here when he began his career as a meat pie salesman in the fourth grade, was honored as the Best Actor in a Leading Role for his depiction of the haunted (by family dead and alive) Carl in "A Nice Family Gathering." Casey also won the RCT Players' first People's Choice Award.

I love Casey and am proud of him. And I'm happy he was recognized for something he and his friends worked so hard at and for something he loves so much and feels at home doing.

And I thank RCT for an entertaining season. It's not easy, though they 'act' like it is. Thank you.

Sermon-on-a-Stick

(Sunday's notes, if you trust my note taking. From Dr. Chris at FBC Ruston...)


GET HERE AND STAY HERE
Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

1. Get To The Fundamental Place, (the place of leaning completely on Jesus and trusting completely in Jesus)
* We all lean into SOMEthing: intellect, talent, money, education. Eventually, every one of those things will fail us.
* It is impossible to please God without trusting in him totally
* A lot of life won't make sense. (the death of an infant, large-scale disasters, etc.)
* We don't HAVE to figure EVERYthing out

2. Live Intimately With Jesus
* Acknowledge: to understand and know intimately

3. He Will Take Care of You
* "He will make your paths straight..." your LIFE straight
* God might not tell us how 'it will turn out,' but he has promised to take care of me.

* Rest in God's faithfullness and goodness
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*****************

POWERFUL THEOLOGY
Titus 3:3-8

"3At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 8This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone."

* (One of the greatest passages about saving grace and what God has done on humanity's behalf.)

* Read all you can about God's work on behalf of man; we can never fully understand or appreciate his saving grace.

1. It Changes People (v. 3-4)
* Patience with others: Don't forget what you were before Christ saved you.

2. It's A Miracle of God (v. 4-5)
* Saved by kindness, love, mercy.

3. It Implants God In Us (v. 6)
* 1 Cornithians 6:19 "your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit." God lives in me.

4. It Gives us Eternal Hope (v. 7)
* Hope in the Greek is a stronger word than 'hope' as we know it in English. In the Greek, it means 'assurance,' a certainty...

5. It Will Cause Us To Be Good 'Doers' (v. 8)
* The world needs encouragers, not critics
* Can I say, "Because of what God has done for me, I'm going to do what's beneficial, profitable and excellent for my family, church, community and world"?, OR, Is it still all about me?
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A Half Century of Mayberry

Go here to read about one of the great events in the history of television.

TVLand is counting down the days to the Oct. 3 golden anniversary of The Andy Griffith Show. Episodes during certain blocks each day and weekend. Trivia contests and old pictures and all kinds of whatnot. Just sayin...

Sign on and vote daily for your favorite episode if you wish. If not, just lay back and enjoy the music.

The 'accidental hero' going, going...

Bobby Thomson gone at 86. See video and read more about it here. Hurts me...

Ouch...One of the Darling Boys passes...

Mitch Jayne, 1928-2010

(Mr Jayne was one of The Darlin' Boys of The Andy Griffith Show fame -- but as The Dillards, they were bluegrass pickers and entertainers in their own right, well known and much loved, members of the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame. In this picture of the Darlings, Mr Jayne, player of the standup bass, is the one with the pipe, top left. He co-wrote "Dooley.")

Author, musician and humorist Mitch Jayne, 82, died Monday, Aug. 2, 2010, in Columbia. Jayne was the author of five books, a weekly newspaper column published in the rural Ozarks for 20 years, and more than a dozen bluegrass songs recorded by The Dillards. He hosted a radio show in Salem that attracted national attention for its satire, including the “Snake and Tick Market Report,” a regular feature that reported market prices for Hoo-Boy White Dot Crushproof Dry Valley Wonder Ticks and black, copperhead, coachwhip, garter and rattle snakes.


(From The Columbia Tribune)

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Rodriguez rounds third after 600...

LIVE! ... from our man on the scene...Who, by the way, rode the subway to today's game, without a ticket, and apparently got a pretty good seat. THAT's why he's our man on the scene...

No. 600

We have a man on the scene. My friend Lil' Tone is in Yankee Stadium today. The first picture is of The Stadium a few hours before today's game against Toronto started, and the second is of Alex Rodriguez about a half hour or so before he joined the (now somewhat trite) 600 HR Club.

Historical...Thank you Lil' Tone!

(Apologies for the Break in Blogging and will be back off the "Physically Unable To Perform" list soon!)