Category: Christian

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Christian God

Baptism Melee

Tomorrow – April 13TH – marks the 10TH Anniversary of the “Baptism Melee” that I experienced on a Sunday afternoon after service with my original church family. It was one of the first such defining events on my fantastic journey in which I realized that walking this walk with God and my brothers and sisters would not be easy at times. There would be trials and tribulations along the way. This fantastic journey is not a straight line. It is a winding and curving road, and frequently you can’t see what’s up ahead. You have to believe, follow, and trust in God to continue to lead you towards His light.

In my own words from my original blog entry of Sunday April 13TH 2008 – here’s what went down:

This afternoon about three dozen of us gathered over at Homestead Bayfront Park for a fun time of food, fellowship, and a few baptisms. What happened at the beach with us, a trio of lifeguards, several Miami-Dade County Park Officers, and a bunch of innocent bystanders that aren’t even part of our church family but defended us and our God-given rights – was totally amazing. Words can’t do justice to what occurred at the beach this afternoon, but an hour-long video of the entire scenario certainly can. Alex had the video camera in motion, and a lot of it was captured on tape. What you will soon see on that tape could indeed shock you, but it was some of the stuff that wasn’t captured on tape that was even more shocking. Self-admitted Christians who were lifeguards were taking their orders from County Park Management to call the whole thing off. And they did. What was supposed to be the quickest water baptism in Life Pointe Church history turned out to become the longest such event in our history. In the meantime we were verbally assaulted at the beach with a war of words – many of them cuss words – by these apparent Christians that ruled over the beach. You can call yourself a Christian in public all you want, but if you act like the darkness of the world and chastise our First Amendment right to announce our faith in God in a public setting then you are the enemy. You have a lot to learn about being a Christian, and truly acting like a Christian – in public …

So that was me – exactly 10 years ago – blogging on the unexpected events of that day at the beach. That was less than 20 months after salvation began. I was still an adolescent Christian at the time – even though I was approaching the age of 41. Looking back – I’m glad I’ve continued growing and maturing in Christ over the past 10 years. Gotta keep moving forward on that winding and curving road.

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Bible Christian God Movies Music Radio

The Major’s Top 10 Hits – Week 60

  1. “Freedom Hymn” – Austin French [# 2 last week / 3RD week on chart]
  2. “I Just Need U.” – TobyMac [4 / 3RD]
  3. “No One Like Our God” – Lincoln Brewster [1 / 13TH]
  4. “Grace Got You” – MercyMe [- / 1ST]
  5. “What A Friend” – Matt Maher [9 / 3RD]
  6. “Gracefully Broken” – Matt Redman Ft. Tasha Cobbs Leonard [3 / 17TH]
  7. “No Matter What” – Ryan Stevenson Ft. Bart Millard [- / 1ST]
  8. “Come To The Table” – Sidewalk Prophets [6 / 10TH]
  9. “Resurrection Power” – Chris Tomlin [7 / 9TH]
  10. “Reckless Love” – Cory Asbury [8 / 3RD]

Austin French scores the 19TH # 1 smash of the rebirth of this personal weekly music chart. His “Freedom Hymn” debuted high on the chart (# 3) just 2 weeks ago. I like the story behind the song (which you can see on his web site).

It’s a great week for Bart Millard as he secures two new spots on the chart – with his own band (one of my favorites) – and with a dude he and his band have been on tour with recently (Ryan Stevenson). Both of those tunes sound very retro from decades gone by. Bart’s life story shown in “I Can Only Imagine” is on the verge of surpassing $70 million at the domestic box office. That’s 10 times its budget. It’s one of the highest-grossing faith-based movies of all-time !

Yesterday in Miami I attended the Greater Miami Youth For Christ annual fundraising dinner. It was my 4TH in a row since 2015. They always put on a great inspirational program that definitely glorifies God. It’s frustrating seeing teens today on the wrong side of the law – with no guidance and direction. It’s awesome to see the teens that have been adopted by the Youth For Christ family. They have bright futures on their journeys forward, and Christ will lead them every step of the way if they continue to believe in Him and follow His lead.

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow Me – you won’t have to walk in darkness – because you will have the light that leads to life.” (John 8:12 NLT)

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Bible Christian God Scripture

Sunday Scripture

This morning I preached a sermon titled “Light & Dark”. Here are my highlights:

  • I’m not a big fan of obeying rules on this fantastic journey.
  • When I think of rules I think of religion.
  • Jesus didn’t walk this Earth 2,000 years ago to start a new religion.
  • I am not a religious man.
  • I am a born-again Evangelical Christian.
  • I am a child of the most high God.
  • I’m not on this journey to follow a set of rules.
  • I’m on this journey to have a relationship with Jesus Christ – my Lord and Savior.
  • Religion kills. Jesus saves.
  • From the day of His resurrection – until the day of His Ascension into Heaven – a total of 40 days – Jesus was busy.
  • He was seen in His restored body by thousands.
  • He walked. He talked. He healed. He preached. He loved.
  • Once James saw Him – he became a believer. He was finally convinced that Jesus was surely the Messiah and Son of God.
  • James gave his entire life to God.
  • He was a Disciple. He was a leader in the New Testament Church. He preached. He became a Pastor. He was an Apostle.
  • God is light. There is no darkness in God at all.
  • We walk together with God. We have the light. We are of the light. We walk in the light.
  • I don’t wish to live in spiritual darkness ever again.
  • Be killing sin, or sin be killing you.
  • How do you kill sin ?  By shining light on it. By exposing it.
  • God’s light replaces Satan’s darkness.

Read Matthew 7:21-23, 22:37-40; Galatians 5:13-14; James 1:12-18; 1 John 1:5-2:2, 2:7-11

Categories
Bible Christian God Scripture

Give & Love

As you probably already figured out I currently blog 3 times per week – on Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays. I never blog on Saturday nights – even though the name of this blog is “Saturday Night Retro”. (Saturday is my Sabbath day.)

If I were to add a 4TH night of blogging per week then it would be Thursday. I haven’t decided yet, but let’s try one tonight.

The following is an excerpt from a partially-written early sermon that I wrote in 2017. This hasn’t been preached yet. The sermon around it kinda fell apart on me.

Give freely, and become more wealthy. Be stingy, and lose everything. The generous will prosper. Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. (Proverbs 11:24-25 NLT)

The more you give – the more you get back in return. You’ll become wealthy. You’ll prosper. You’ll be refreshed. And I’m not talking about money here. I’m talking about everything that you can possibly give with each new day – with each new opportunity – that comes your way. Give your time. Give your gifts that God gave you. Give your love that God gave you. You’ve got family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, acquaintances, waiters, cashiers, movie theatre employees, people you come in contact with on a regular basis. Give to them – not because someone is watching – but because they need you. Listen to them. Maybe they need your time. They can surely use your gifts. They can definitely use your love.

You can’t outlove God. A lot of those people out there don’t know God, so they don’t know that God loves them immensely, unconditionally, and eternally. You can be that someone that gives that message to them. You’re a Disciple. Go and tell. Go and give. Give and love !