I never think of sermons as being for either the 10:00 or 11:30 service.  I always think of them as being for both, and 90 percent of the content is the same in each service.  However, this past Sunday it appears God had a different idea. 

             A few months ago when I felt led to preach the four sermons for Christmas, I was bothered because I wasn’t going to read the Christmas story and the sermons were coming from the Gospel of John, which doesn’t recount any of the birth narratives.  Yet I felt strongly led to do it.  The sermon I felt the most strongly led to preach was the one from this past week titled, “The Gift of Eternal Life.”  However, I felt it was a little out of place at Christmas.  Every time I thought about changing it, the Spirit of God said, “Don’t do it.”

             At the 10:00 service, I felt good about the message and how it went, but at the 11:30 service when the invitation was given and a lot of young people who were here for the Chick-Fil-A Classic Basketball Tournament came forward, I thought, “That was God’s purpose in putting this on my heart.”

             The experience this past Sunday was very different from many of the other times we’ve hosted these young people from around the country.  We had about 20 or 25 people come forward at the end of the worship service making different kinds of decisions but all moved by the Spirit of God.

             I’m grateful to the Lord that He led me to do that and gave our church the opportunity to see that kind of response to His message and the work of the Holy Spirit.  Keep praying that the Lord would work in my heart, in the hearts of each staff member, and in the hearts of the lay leadership in our church.  God is good.  He is at work in this world of ours to will and to do for His good pleasure and for His glory.  It is a joy to be a part of that.  I hope it is for you too.

I was very impressed and blessed by the outpouring of sympathy and kind concern shown me at the time of the death of my roommate.  His funeral was very moving and meant a great deal to me, and I enjoyed being with his family at that difficult time. 

             While I was in his home the week before, I recorded a 15-minute interview with Bob in which I talked with him about his worldview and about the faith that enabled him to live for four years with someone whose values were completely different from his.  On November 29^th I’m going to preach a very unusual sermon.  I will be sharing my personal testimony and interspersing the testimony with Bob’s testimony now preserved on DVD.  Many of you have expressed the feeling that you knew him and yet don’t know what he looked like.  That will be handled on Sunday morning at both services on November 29^th. 

If you have a college or high school student in your home, I would strongly urge you to bring them and let them hear from this man who had the maturity of faith at 18 to be a major influence in my life.

             God’s grace is astounding to me, and the further along I move in live, the more astounding it becomes.  His arrangement of our being roommates was one of the many acts of grace He did in my life prior to my becoming a Christian.  I am grateful to God for all He did for so many years and look forward to expressing it on Sunday morning, November 29^th.

First of all, thank you for the feedback you gave on the last post.  I would ask that you do the same for this one.

At the beginning of September I’ll be planning all the sermons for our church for 2010.  What would you like to hear me preach about during 2010?  I prefer three to four sermon series on subjects that require Biblical truth to be helpful and pretty readily lean toward the how to (instead of merely an idea or a concept).  In other words, I like to try to answer the question:  How will this sermon help someone live life better?  You don’t have to sign your suggestion, but it is a huge help to me to be able to contact you, if need be, on stuff like this.  For me, conversation beats e-mail where I need to try to understand your idea more clearly.  So if you could give me the easiest phone number at which I can reach you, it might help me help the church.  Thanx.

It’s fun to change, and to change you usually need to find out that you need to (not as much fun).  The sermons I preach on Sunday morning are a big part of what I do, and a lot of people grant me a lot of ear time for which I am grateful, so – got any ideas on how I could do it better?  I know that you may be thinking, “he doesn’t really want my opinion.” Oh yes, I do!  Please take a minute and respond.

When you respond, please tell me which service you attend.  You don’t have to sign your suggestion.  Thanx.