"An Unexpected Christmas"--COMING NEXT WEEK

For most of us, Christmas is more than one special day of the year. It is a time of the year in which we like to celebrate peace on earth, bright lights, cool air, and special music. It is a time when shopping and cooking and eating and spending time with the family become priorities. Special dishes and special songs, streets outlined with colored lights, the fragrant whiff of an evergreen tree, and the sweet aroma of fresh-baked cookies are part of our Christmas experience.

From a spiritual perspective, Christmas is about the birth of our savior. It's the story of God using everyday people to accomplish His purpose. It is about God fulfilling ancient prophesy exactly as it was written!

Here we are in October. Is it too early to begin thinking and talking about Christmas? If one looks at the calendar, one will see that there are nine weekends until Christmas (not counting Thanksgiving). I am certainly looking forward to the Christmas season--even if it is early in the year! I am looking forward to all of those Christmas experiences described above! Yet, wouldn't it be great if this Christmas was special? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we and our families and our friends and those who came into contact with us were able to experience a special annointing from God this Christmas? Wouldn't it be a blessing if we were prepared spiritually to celebrate the birth and life and teaching of our Lord in a way that brings us closer to Him and causes us to celebrate Christmas in a more Godly way than ever before?

We are fortunate to have two special Christmas message series from Andy Stanley that will cover eight of the next nine Sunday School Lessons leading up to Christmas. We will begin this series next week with a five week study of the geneaology of Jesus. We will study the Christmas Story during the next eight weeks from angles and perspectives that you and I may have never considered before. Andy Stanley will challenge us to think about Christmas with some unique thoughts about the way God brought His son into the world. I hope you will pray for God to touch us all with a special Christmas celebration that honors HIM and enables each of us to share a special Christmas spirit with those around us. Join us next week for "An Unexpected Christmas."

Embrace Your Response Ability--Part 4 Take Responsibility for Your Life

Every child in every culture has, at some point, uttered the phrase, "That's not fair." Well, life is NOT fair. Yet, we all want life to be fair some of the time. Andy Stanley suggests that we are really only concerned about life being fair when our piece of the pie is smallest. If we got the big piece of pie, we usually don't feel that life has been unfair to us. Even so, life isn't even. One guy marries into wealth and gets to enjoy the benefits of a big deer ranch. That was always my dream. When I met Cindy, I found out that her dad owned a "farm" in Anderson. Wow, I thought, my dream is coming true. Then, I found out that she stood to inherit 7 acres of a treeless, open prairie with no utilities and no infrastructure. Yet, one of my friends married a girl whose dad owns almost 2,000 acres of an old Mississippi plantation that is today prime deer and quail hunting habitat. Life's not fair.

In today's lesson, Andy observes that the unfairness, the unevenness of life often become an opportunity for irresponsible behavior. In past lessons, we learned that irresponsibility eats a hole in your soul. You begin a negative spiral as a result of this terrible confict in life. Perhaps, Ben Franklin said it best, "He that is good at making excuses is seldom good at anything else."

Andy also notes that people with a large piece of the pie, people with "extra" are often irresponsible with their bounty. The more money you have, the more you waste. The more free time you have, the more time is wasted.

Andy Stanley suggests that we ask the question, "What am I going to do with the opportunity that God gave me, regardless of the opportunity that someone else has been given?" Jesus taught this 2,000 years ago in Matthew 25. God's perspective on unevenness or unfairness of life was illustrated in the parable in Matthew 25:14. Andy describes this passage as a story that teaches a lesson about the unevenness of God. Parables were used to make a point and parables did not actually happen. In this story, the master gave one servant 5 bags of gold, another 2 bags of gold, and another 1 bag of gold. Andy calculated that each of these bags of gold represented about 20 years worth labor. Obviously, this was NOT an even distribution of wealth. As you recall, two of the servants put the money to work and doubled the master's money. Yet one of the servants, the one who was given the least gold, began to blame the master and whine when called to account for his lack of effort on the master's behalf. Notice that the master chose to take the gold from the servant who had been irresponsible and give it to the servant who had been most responsible. Was it fair?

Andy points out that everybody gets an uneven amount of opportunity in life and everybody gets held accountable for what they do with the opportunity given to them. Our job is to figure out how to leverage the opportunity we are given--great or small--to its maximum. What are we going to do with what we have? We need to look at our own bag and refuse to waste it or refuse to excuse myself because I don't have as much as others. Andy makes reference to a book by Scott Rigsby called UNTHINKABLE in which we see a double amputee become the first double amputee to cross the finish line in the Ford Ironman World Challenge in 2007.

Will you accept what's in your hand as coming from your Father in heaven and leverage it for something bigger than yourself? Remember, life's not fair. Get over it!

This is NOT the Time to Pray--Taking Responsibility for Your Life--Part 3

Have you ever heard someone try to talk themselves out of a situation they behaved themself into? As a former principal and school teacher, I heard it many times. I suspect the police officers in our class have heard many examples as well. As parents, you may have even heard your children try to talk themselves out of situations they behaved themself into.

Does such behavior ever apply to Christians? Do we ever try to talk or pray ourself out of situations we behaved ourselves into? I suspect we are all guilty of such behavior at some time in our lives. Some very religious folks have a tendency to hide behind their prayers and to match irresponsibility with prayers. For example, how many times have we disobeyed the will of God only to face the consequences of our actions, and then fell before God earnestly seeking deliverance from the consequences of our failure to follow God's will?

In today's lesson, Andy Stanley uses the story of Achan's Sin in Joshua 7 to illustrate how God's people often try to pray themselves out of situations they behaved themselves into. In Joshua 7, we learn that Achan took some of the spoils from God's great victory at Jericho after being told specifically not to take any of the spoils of victory. Achan saw a beautiful robe and silver and gold as he went through the rubble of the Israelite victory over Jericho. He coveted these things and took them even though the Lord specifically forbid such behavior.

Days later, when the Israelites attacked the small city of Ai, a city that Joshua's scouts had recommended only sending 3,000 men to attack and subdue the city, the Israelites were routed and chased from the city gate. Indeed, about thirty-six of the Israelite soldiers were killed. This caused the men of Israel to become afraid because they realized that God had not delivered Ai into their hands as they had expected. Joshua and the elders tore their clothes and fell face down to pray. At the end of the evening, the Lord told Joshua to stand up. He wasn't interested in granting the prayers of a people who had been unfaithful to him. He instructed Joshua to sanctify the people and to identify the men of Israel who had violated God's command. Achan was found to have the forbidden items. Achan and his entire family were destroyed. Many men died because Achan failed to honor God's commands. Praying to God was not sufficient to justify the irresponsible behavior of Achan. You might ask, "Was it fair that innocent Israelite warriors died as a result of Achan's sin? Was it fair that Achan's entire family was destroyed because of his sin?" Maybe not, but irresponsible behavior is almost never "fair" in the end.

Andy Stanley suggests that we don't need to pray about something that God has already addressed in His Word. You don't have to pray about it. God said to be honest. Don't pray about it, just be honest. God said to pay your taxes. You don't have to pray about it....just pay your taxes. God said not to participate in sex before marriage. One doesn't have to pray about it....just don't have sex before marriage. However, if someone fails to honor God's directives and then thinks they can pray their way out of a situation caused by their irresponsible behavior, they are sadly mistaken. Andy says, "If you are substituting prayer for taking responsibility in your life, you're an irresponsible person that prays." But, don't think that God is going to bail you out of a sticky situation that you have created.

Take responsibility for your life. Act responsibly. Follow God's directives. In these matters, prayer is not necessary. As the Nike slogan says, "Just Do It." If we fail to do so, we or someone else or perhaps both will have to pay for the irresponsible behavior. We can't tolerate irresponsible behavior--in our own lives or in the lives of others. Eventually, everybody pays for irresponsible behavior

The Disproportionate Life--Part 2--Taking Responsibility for Your Life

Motivating some disengaged students is one of the most challenging tasks for educators. Given the benefits of a quality education and considering the consequences of a failed education, one might wonder why it is so difficult to motivate some young students to take advantage of the education opportunities provided to them. However, I believe that Andy Stanley provides an explanation for such behavior in this week's lesson. Unless the student has a parent holding him/her accountable for their performance, there is no immediate consequence for poor performance at school. The failed Algebra test, the poor discipline record, the undone report, and the neglected homework assignment may contribute to a poor grade or report card. However, if no one is holding the student accountable for such grade reports, there really is no immediate consequence. The student may be assigned to a tutoring session or may be placed in a slower group of students, but many students fail to even recognize such steps as negative consequences of their behavior. The same thing is true in our Christian walk. Failure to follow God's commands, a refusal to establish Him as our top priority, or an unwillingness to serve God often do not have immediate consequences. When the children of Israel questioned God and complained about His provision in the desert, there were not always immediate consequences. However, in the long run, all of the group with the exception of Joshua and Caleb died in the desert and never experienced the promised land. We learn another very important principle in this week's lesson: "Whatever a man soweth, that shall he reap." Even though many of the Children of Israel failed to experience immediate consequences, they all suffered the negative consequences of failing to serve and honor God appropriately.

This timeless law of nature applies to all areas of life; physical, intellectual, relational, and spiritual. In our spiritual life, failure to honor God and failure to submit to His direction ALWAYS generate negative consequences. There may even be some who question the validity of this law. They see others flagrantly violating the laws of God, living in sin, and still flourishing by the standards of today's society. Yet, as Andy points out in today's lesson, "Whatever a man soweth, that shall he reap" is a spiritual law that has no limits in time. It applies today just as it did for the children of Israel 2000 years ago. Therefore, irresponsible behavior WILL result in negative consequences sooner or later.

Andy shared a saying from his dad, Charles Stanley, in this week's discussion. According to his son, Charles said, "You always reap later and greater." "Later" is why we tend to give up too soon. "Later" is why we sometimes envy irresponsible people. However, when the consequences for irresponsible behavior finally do manifest themselves in our lives, they are not always commensurate with the irresponsible act. In many cases, the consequences are exponentially greater than the original failure. Andy says, "Don't expect fair! Don't expect just! And, don't blame God!" Think about it! Isn't this true?

However, this week's lesson also provides sound advice for us as we recognize our irresponsible behavior. The first piece of advice is to "own your slice of the pie--no matter how small." In other words, take responsibility for your part in the issue or conflict, no matter how small it might be. Secondly, begin to do the things you should have been doing all along. The "later-greater" principle is also true for responsible behavior. If it is true that the consequences for irresponsible behavior are often not commensurate with the original sin, it is also true that the rewards of responsible behavior over time are often magnified as well.

The unmotivated school child has not accepted this timeless law of nature and of the spiritual world. Because the child experiences no immediate consequences, he cannot see the consequences that will eventually overtake him. As Children of God, it is easy to fall into the same trap. Study the words and meaning of Galatians 6:6-9 this week. Take responsibility for your piece of the pie. Begin doing what you should have been doing all along. Our God is an awesome God. You may be surprised to see the blessings that come! See you in Sunday School!

Welcome Back, Andy Stanley--Taking Responsibility for Your Life

Diabetes is rampant among men and women in our society, obesity has been recognized as a national crisis, heart disease is the number one killer among men and is not far behind in women, the divorce rate soars, and the percentage of unwed mothers in America is appalling. Prison construction is at an all-time high and the prison population continues to grow. All of these maladies are related to lifestyle decisions and our failure as individuals and as a society to take responsibility for our actions and to be responsible for our lives.
In today's lesson, Andy Stanley begins a series entitled, "Taking Responsibility for Your Life." Part I has the subtitle, "Let the Blames Begin." During the lesson, Andy asks the question, "Am I taking responsibility for my life...REALLY?"
Andy suggests that it is almost impossible to see in the mirror. However, our whole culture is becoming less and less responsible. For many of us, we have adopted the creed, "I have the right to be irresponsible, but you don't have the right to hold me accountable...and, oh, by the way, you are also responsible to foot the bill or clean up the mess for my irresponsibility." Wow! Isn't that attitude so common today?
Andy Stanley also reinforces another principle in today's discussion: "What gets rewarded, gets repeated." Therefore, if, as a culture, we tend to reward certain behaviors, those behaviors will tend to be repeated. If we reward those who refuse to work with free food, free education, free housing, free transportation, etc., more and more people are likely to refuse to work. Andy also brings out the fact that irresponsibility can be contagious. However, anytime an individual, a group, or a family acts irresponsibly, somebody else ALWAYS has to come along to shoulder the responsibility and carry the burden. In the case of runaway rates of health problems such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease, we have seen our health care system overloaded and we have experienced unsustainable rates of increase in healthcare costs and insurance rates designed to meet the requirements of such costs. The government has felt a need to intervene in this area and we have seen the consequences. Healthcare providers are having their hands tied and are being limited in their practice by the dictates of Medicare and other government interventions. Unwed mothers are often driven to poverty and the government is compelled to provide basic food provisions, medical attention, housing assistance, and other basic necessities. Yes, someone or some group always has to step in to shoulder the burden when we act irresponsibly.
In today's discussion, Andy makes the point that each of us is responsible ultimately to our Heavenly Father. As Christians, we were created to e responsible. In Genesis 1:27-28 we see the first example of God's expectation that His children have respopnsibilities. We are happiest when we have responsibility and we are in compliance with that responsibility. Irresponsible behavior always creates conflict according to Andy Stanley in today's lesson. Blame is another form of irresponsibility according to Andy. Therefore, we should take responsibility for our own actions, refuse to get involved in the blame game, and seek diligently to meet our responsibility to our Heavenly Father. In doing so, we will be meeting all other responsibilities in our life. Are you being responsible for your life....really?


PLANS FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL CURRICULUM:
We will be using Andy Stanley material at least for the next five or six months. This series, "Taking responsibility for your Life" will last approximately four weeks.
Then, we will begin two Andy Stanley series that will last eight weeks and will take us to Christmas. They are both designed to lead our thinking and our worship up to and through the Christmas season. The first Christmas series is entitled, "An Unexpected Christmas" in which Andy goes through the unlikely family tree of Jesus. Finally, during the last three weeks leading to Christmas, we will engage in a series called "The Thrill of Hope," in which Andy takes us through the story of Zechariah, personalizes our own Christmas Story, and then reiterates Luke's story of Christmas. I think we will find these weeks ahead to be exciting, enjoyable, and thought-provoking. Most of all, I hope that this time that we will be spending together with one of the truly great Bible Teachers of our time will bring us to a season of worship, to a time of Honoring God, and to a time of deep personal introspection. I look foward to joining you on this journey! See you in Sunday School!

New Testament Prophecy--Jesus Our Victorious King

Several years ago, my family and I visited Yellowstone National Park. I remember pulling off the road at one point and walking down a short path to view a mighty waterfall. Even though we were a good distance from the actual flowing water, the roar of moving water was so intense that one could not hear anything else. The roar of the water literally drowned out all other noise. In today's lesson, the voice of God is compared to the sound of "many waters." In other words, the almighty, all-powerful God of the universe is described as the ultimate victor in the confrontation of good against evil, the struggle of the righteous against the unrighteous, and the battle of light versus darkness.
We were made for peace. In Philippians 2:9-10, we are told that God highly exalted His own son and bestowed upon Him the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. The Scripture makes it abundantly clear that we are all made to honor and worship Him. Yet, throughout the ages, we have experienced divisions, disagreements, and wars. In Genesis 14, we are introduced to the word "War" for the first time and since that time, millions have died and suffered in wars around the world.

Our lesson today focuses on the New Testament Prophecy found in the book of Revelation. Revelation is a book of incredible hope for those who love Jesus. It describes the outcome of the final war. It provides a vision of Jesus as the Mighty King, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings. In the book of Revelation, John, the apostle of Jesus, shares a vision of Jesus with the seven churches. Perhaps, one of the most relevant exhortations made in this sacred scripture is found in Revelation 3:15-16. In this selection, Jesus warns the church that they have become neither hot nor cold and that he is about to spew them from His mouth.

The last book of the Bible further predicts the events that will occur at the end of time when God decides to end the war of good against evil, to terminate the competition between purity and sin. During our lesson today, our host points to four signs that the end may be near:
1. The very existence of the nation of Israel is a precursor to the coming of Christ for the second time.
2. A period of intense spiritual deception as described in 1 Timothy 4:1 seems to also provide evidece that the time of deliverance may be near.
3. A time of intense and progressive moral decline is also an indicator that Jesus may be on His way soon. The description provided in 2 Timothy 3: 1-5 seems to reinforce this possibility.
4. Finally, an increased intolerance of the Truth as described in 2 Timothy 4:1-4 is another good indicator to suggest the time of Jesus return and God's ultimate Victory is on the horizon and could occur soon.

However, whether Jesus returns and the events of Revelation occur today or tomorrow or a thousand years from now, we can be sure, "Our God Reigns!" Think about the power of the voice of God the next time you get near a powerful waterfall! Our God Reigns. The next time you see evil, remember, "Our God reigns." Regardless of how dark it gets, our deliverace is near!

Jesus Our Teacher--Lesson 5

"We behave as we behave because we believe as we believe." Think about this quote. Isn't it the truth? If we truly believe that it is important to spend time in the Word, we will make time to read the Bible. If we believe that God honors prayer, we will ensure time for daily prayer. Today's lesson reinforces this truth.
The New Testament writings cover Romans through Jude. These books are letters to the early church and their relevance for us has not diminished in two thousand years. There are 21 letters of which Paul wrote 13. Nine of these were directed to churches that were dealing with various issues of immorality and persecution. The letters were written to the churches and to us as lessons of instruction, correction, and encouragement.
This section of the Bible is divided into three areas by the presenters of today's lesson. They are identified as the 3 D's: Doctrine, Discipline, and Deceit. Biblical Doctrine teaches us what to believe about God and us. We learn that God is a loving God (see 1 John 4:8 and 1 Cor. 13). The proof of our love of God is seen in our obedience to His Word.
Spritual discipline includes those actions that we take as believers to mature in our faith. A book titled Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster was referenced in today's lesson. In his book, Foster describes three different kinds of discipline. The first is "Inward Discipline" which focuses on personal examination and change. These disciplines include meditation, prayer, fasting,and studying. The second is "External Discipline" which focuses on making the world a better place to live. This discipline requires service and evangelism. "Corporate Discipline" is the third component of today's lesson outline. Corporate discipline is designed to bring us closer to each other and most importantly, closer to God.
Our lesson facilitator today shared several of her personal strategies for prayer. She mentioned that she finds time for prayer before the day gets busy, she prays aloud, and prays on her knees. She also mentioned that she prays the scripture. These are some great strategies for regular prayer.
The final "D" in today's lesson addresses the issue of deceit. The last 8 letters of this section address this issue of false teaching that appeared to be problematic in the early church just as it is today. The letters were warnings against adding to the Woird of God or taking away from God's teaching. Also, the lesson facilitator makes the point that it is important to know the truth so that we can recognize false teaching when it occurs around us. Here is a list of verses referenced in today's lesson: John 14:6, Ephesians 6:2, Romans 12:2, Titus 2:3-5, Hebrews 12:5-11, Ephesians 6: 11-17, and Col. 3:12. Let's all keep the doctrine of the Bible in our hearts and minds and practice the disciplines of the Bible in order to accomplish this task and let's be prepared for the false teaching of Satan and the world. have a great week....and, GIG'EM, Aggies!