2009 All-Star MVP, JD Drew

A quote from JD Drew in Sports Spectrum Magazine:

"I'm just a really simple guy. I come from a small town and a small family. Carrying myself in a Christ-like way is something that's very important in my life. The plan of salvation is so simple, but so many people miss it because they think they can work their way to heaven. That's what I did. I abided by the law and did the things it said. But the simplest thing to do is just to ask God to forgive you and accept His Son [Jesus Christ] as your Savior and believe it with your heart. That's something I didn't do until I was 16."

Be Kind

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Eph. 4:32

"And the Lord's servant* must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone," 2 Tim. 2:24

A reminder to be kind to others today.
...to your parents.
...to your teammates.
...to your coaches.
...to the other team.
...to the officials (umpires, ref, judges, etc.)
...to strangers

Some simple ideas: Smile, open doors for them, say thank you, compliment them, listen. Say hi to a stanger today with a smile on your face.

Even those that are mean, frustrated with you, rude, confrontational, impatient, and/or disrespectful?

Yes. especially those. Prov. 15:1 "a soft answer turns away wrath"

Clean it up!

"Clean it up!" My coach used to yell this at us when we were playing a little too relaxed. It was his way of reminding us that we were sloppy, and our little mishaps needed to be "cleaned up." Our focus would get off and therefore we would not be sharp. We would miss balls that we shouldn't, we would make mental errors, and we would just get sloppy. Every team experiences this.

Christian, God's Word calls you to clean up your life, to stay focused on Him, to stay sharp so you don't slip. Evaluate your life to see if your decisions and behaviors reflect a faith in God.

Be careful, though. Some, who don't understand the teachings of the Bible think that God requires us to clean up our lives before we can come to Him. You hear people say things like, "Oh I can't go to church, they'll kick me out of there" or "I've got some issues to take care of first."

1 Timothy 1:15 says, "Christ came to save sinners..."

Christ did not come to die for those who were clean. He came for those who were unclean, and those who recognized that no matter how hard they tried, they could not clean themselves up. In fact, if you read the Gospels (Mat., Mark, Luke, and John) you will find that the people Jesus had the most conflict with were those who thought themselves to be clean (The religious leaders). The truth is that we have all sinned. (Romans 3:23) and that we are all in need of Christ's cleansing.

The encouraging thing is God wants to clean us up. Our responsibility is to respond to Him by believing. With believing, or faith, comes salvation."Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life." John 6:47

Don't be mistaken, though "Christian." There is a false teaching out there which has been named "easy believism." Easy believism is where people say they believe, but there is no evidence in there life that they truly believe. If you truly believe that Jesus is God (who He said He was) there would be a dramatic change in your life. Your faith would be evident by the way you live your life.

God's Word does call us to "Clean it up!" The good news is, He gives us the power to turn away from unrighteousness (sin) once we believe and surrender our lives to Him.

Memorial Day

I just listened to Pres. Bush's speech at Arlington Cemetery. He said something that I think is good for us to reflect upon. This isn't an exact quote, but I believe it is close. He said something along the lines of...

The cost of freedom is being purchased with the lives of those that are living for a cause greater than themselves.

This is God's definition of love, laying down your life for another. Today we remember those Americans that have truly loved our country. I am thankful for those men and women that have put their lives on the line to serve our country.

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13
"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us," 1 John 3:16

We are commanded to love one another as Christ loved us. How did He love us? He laid down His life. We should daily lay down our lives for others. This doesn't always mean literally dying a physical death for others. Putting your interests aside, literally sacrificing your wants, your needs, your pride, and your will for the needs, wants, and interests of others.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12

Arguing your faith

Faithful men and women, I can remember many times in my life when my faith was the center of an argument with one of my unbelieving friends. I look back at some of those disputes and cringe.

If you are living out your faith, discussions with your friends will happen. These discussions are truly great, and are what we pray for, but also have the potential to be explosive and become argumentative. I encourage you to be gentle. Read 2 Timothy 2.

in 2 Tim 2:14 Paul encourages Timothy to remind Christians "not to fight about words; this is in no way profitable and leads to the ruin of the hearers."

Again in v. 16 he continues with... "shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness."

v. 23 "But reject the foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they breed quarrels. v24 The Lord's servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness." (ESV: "in humility correcting those who are in opposition")

I love that he says "instructing" "correcting" and "teaching" with "gentleness" and telling them not to "fight," use "idle babblings," or "foolish and ignorant disputes"

It is good that you have passion about defending your faith. But consider this, your friends will not "come to their senses" through a heated argument.

2 Tim 2:25 "if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, v. 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil,"

If they are convinced, it will be because God convinces their heart. You nee to trust Him. When those conversations come up about Jesus, instruct your friends out of humility and gentleness, don't get caught up in things that don't matter. Bring it back to the gospel. If they get upset, be patient.

Carry on Christian.

How do you know you are saved?

My high school football coach used to tell us before film session, "gentlemen, put on your thick skin." He was preparing us to hear the truth about how we performed. He didn't want us to be so offended and hurt by his feedback that we would miss out on the truth of how we needed to get better. Coach had a choice, protect our self-esteem and let us fail to learn from our mistakes, or tell us the truth, wounding our spirit, but enlightening us to the truth so that we would know how we could become better.

Christian, put on your thick skin. Hear the truth of this tough message. Take time to be silent and evaluate your life. There might not be a more important message that I could forward on to you than this.

Do not play this video if you have less than an hour to devote to this. The sermon is 48 min. and you are going to need some time to digest this after viewing it. Do not play this video without first praying that God would prepare your heart and reveal His truth. Do not play this video with "thin skin." Listen.