Merry Christmas!

I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. Remember to keep Christ in Christmas and of course, enjoy the eggnog (without the alcohol obviously)!

Church Discipline

Well, without giving any details, etc., we (Ebenezer Baptist Church) exercised church discipline to the point of exclusion about one week ago. There was a situation where we took approximately 6 months to pray, teach, and approach the subject. In my opinion all these actions are to be considered church discipline. However, the person involved would not repent, and we excluded them from membership. After the official vote, we gathered together and prayed for this person hoping that they might repent of the particular sin. Of course, we know God can do great things, and we hope He will move in a mighty way in this individual's life. The question I have is how many of you have ever exercised church discipline to the point of exclusion? How did it affect your church? Did you use it as a teaching opportunity? I have more to say about how God has already used this event, but I'll stop for now.

Prayer Request

Please pray for my family. I lost my grandmother this morning (Wednesday) at 11:50 am. Pray that my grandfather will have the strength he needs as it was a sudden, severe stroke that killed her. Also, pray for me as I try to reach some of my family through this event. However, praise God that she was saved and is now in the arms of a loving Savior. What amazing grace!

Matt

The Nativity Story

Saturday night, my family and some other families from church went to see The Nativity Story. I have been wanting to see this movie for quite some time and since I had a bulletin insert promoting the movie (along with an exclusive behind-the-scenes dvd with trailer to show during morning worship), I thought I might need to see the film. And boy am I glad I did! The film was very, very good. The main thing that I had to bite my tongue on was about the wise men being at the manger scene. However, I overlooked this common tradition and looked at it from the bigger theme of the birth of Christ. This movie is different from the Passion of the Christ in that it is not as intense to begin with. In fact my wife looked at me and said, "It's not as majestic as I thought it would be." However, later in the movie, the majesty of Christ's birth came through in a glorious way. But she does have a point. The whole story of Christ's birth is not majestic. I mean the King of Kings, the Savior of the world, being born in a manger! Of course, at the same time, it is majestic in what it means. Now, back to the movie. It portrays Joseph and Mary, in my humble opinion, as normal, everyday people. I think the producer did a great job not creating a Mary of worship but a Mary of Israel.

Okay, for the rating. I give it 5 stars out of 5 stars. Yes, in fact, I told the congregation that they ALL needed to see it, and I encourage you to see it too. In fact, I am going to buy the movie when it comes out.

P.S. I wish I could watch this movie on Christmas Eve...whew, what an emotional ride that would be!

I am preaching a sermon from Genesis 3:15 and would like to know if any of you have preached a sermon from this text before. If so, give me some thoughts or email me your sermon! I want this to be a tight sermon because we are having so many lost people and new Christians attending that need to know what is taught in this passage. Thanks for your help!

Whoop!

I love it! A&M beat t.u.!!! What more could a guy want? Not only that, but after the game I put up the Christmas decorations (lights, outside Christmas card, etc.). Wow, what a day. I love this time of year!

Texas A&M - 28
t.u. - 24

Yes, that's right. Texas A&M will defeat texas university on Friday. What a glorious day that will be! If you are around Henderson, come on over and join the guys from church as we watch the big game. Gig'em Aggies!

Happy Thanks Living!

Yes, I know it's cheesy, but that is the current series I am preaching on Sunday morning. This coming Sunday will be the last Thanksgiving sermon (hey, there were only 4!). I pray that all of you have a great Thanksgiving and please, please, please, remember to thank God for His many blessings. And maybe you ought to take time and read Psalm 105 just to refresh on how to do this. Once again, happy thanks living!

Well, we took the kids to see Happy Feet. It was okay, but not an out of this world film to me (watch Hoodwinked for that!). I do have one question though. Have any of you noticed how the kids' movies are including more and more sexual references, etc. I understand that most of the small children do not understand it and that mainly adults "get it." But why must it be included in the first place. Happy Feet had way too many sexual innuendos. I now know why it was rated PG. I guess that should have been my first clue. What happened to the good, rated G movies? (not the rated G movies that should be rated PG either!) I don't want to sound old-fashioned, etc., but it just concerns me as a parent. Besides it's my blog and I can type if I want to! (sorry for the bad Cindi Lauper joke.)

Well, that was one interesting state meeting. There was a great time of fellowship and discussion. However, sometimes, the tension was felt when certain issues arose. But, I'll say this, at least there was no yelling and shouting (kind of boring huh). Sometimes I wish we could have a meeting like the British House of Commons. Really, all I want to do is yell "Aye! Aye! Aye!" Well, let me know what you think about the meeting.

Whew. I finally made the transition to Beta Blogger! I thought I'd never be able to get everything straight. I love computers and I love to be on the Beta end of things, but sometimes it does make you sweat. But at least I'm up-to-date! Now I've got to go Beta on my email! Yikes!

What are the odds?

I can't believe it. For the second week in a row, Texas A&M was outscored by 1 point. And both games were on ABC! We gave the game away...how sad. But I can't complain too much because my wife and kids gave me a great birthday present. They took me to the A&M-Nebraska at Kyle Field. Whoop! It was so much fun to go back to my old school and see all the new stuff going on and show the kids where daddy went to school. We toured the campus, went to the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library, ate great food, and visited with one of my old roommates (and yes Greg, you are old!). Overall, the best part of the entire 3 days was watching my children's eyes light up when the jet planes (warthogs) flew over, the corps marched in, the football team took the field, the band marched, and 87,000 crazy fans yell like you've never heard. They were so excited about the game, etc. that they started crying when we had to leave. I know this is "mushy" and all, but it really made me a proud daddy. It may mean nothing to you, but when my children love their dad and his old school like they do, it brings tears to my eyes. I'm sure you can make a good correlation to how we should act towards God, but I won't do it because I'll start preaching if I do. Anyway, I'd like to say thanks to Jen and the kids for such a great weekend and Gig'em Aggies!

What Time Is It?

Okay, wait a second. It just turned November 1, but I'm already through Thanksgiving on my school calendar. What is going on? Well, with the state association meeting and then the week of Thanksgiving, half of November has "disappeared." (Not that it's all bad, mind you!) But what is even worse is that on Halloween I turned 32. When did I get to be 32? Wasn't I just 22 yesterday? You mean I've almost been married 10 years? Savannah is 7? Levi will be 5 in a week? Jason Sheffstall's son is 3? Well, why don't you just call me Rip Van Winkle! My how time flies.

But you know, that should make us realize that time is short and before we know it *poof* - we're gone. We should make most of our time and make full use of the tools God has given us to reach others around us for Christ. Time is short. The Bible teaches that very principle...so maybe we should start acting as if we believe it.

Besides, by the time I get around to writing another post, I'll probably be 42. Oh well...

Starting November 5, I will preach a series of sermons with the theme "Happy Thanks Living." I pray that these sermons will challenge us to truly be aware of how much we have spiritually and physically and to be thankful for them. And of course, a thankful child of God will be a child of God who has a happy (joyful) life. Besides, shouldn't we be the ones who are happy? We have eternal life! Let's put on a smile and share it with all!

Great things are happening! I finally cleaned out the closet and found stuff I had been looking for. My wife is extremely pleased with the cleanliness too. Overall, I must say that I did quite a job on the closet. You can actually see the floor. But please don't call me to clean your closet...unless, I get to throw away everything! Well, enough chit-chat for now. I have homework to do.

Texas A&M - 34
Oklahoma St. - 33

Whoop! Gig'em Aggies!

Faith Promise Results

Well, Bro. Lynn Raburn did an excellent job this past week. At the close of our Missions Revival, Sunday morning, we had everyone sit down and fill out a commitment card with their covenant between them and God circled or written down. That evening, the Missions Committee met and tabulated the totals. Now, are you sitting down? For our FIRST Faith Promise Missions Revival, the members of Ebenezer Baptist Church covenanted with God to give $24,432 for missions over the next year! Praise God! What an awesome God we serve. Who says God can't do big things still!?!

Faith Promise Missions Revival

Please pray for us as we have our first annual Missions Revival. Bro. Lynn Raburn is the guest speaker, and, as usual, is challenging us to be more faithful to God. Pray for us as we try to be obedient in this area of "church life."

"Do You Have Change For A..."

I bet you never hear that in a Baptist Church. Why is it so difficult for a church to make changes? Does change equate to new doctrine or unscriptural teaching? Wasn't it a change to have microphones, air conditioners, padded pews, etc. in the church building? Wasn't it a change, at one time, to have a church building? Did Jesus reach every person with the same method, or did He change the method to fit the person?

While many changes are not for the best, how about an honest evaluation of something before it's condemned because "it's never been done this way before."

I believe it's time for a change. We need...no, we must get back to the basics of preaching and teaching the Bible. We must quit promoting the church welfare system now known as "missions." We need to teach local church and practice local church! We must be more concerned about people than we are about land and buildings. We must be willing to take the heat and quit backing down when people don't like what the Bible has to say. We must change!

Oh, by the way, do you have change for a...?

What a week!

Where do I start? Ah, yes. It all began during Sunday night's business meeting, while Bro. George was giving his youth report, when one of the men came in and told me that our yellow lab Aggie II had been hit and killed. Well, I knew instantly that there was going to be a long night ahead of me. Well, thankfully, three of our men took care of the mess and took him off before my children could see him. And yes, Savannah and Levi were distraught to say the least. There was crying, crying, and more crying. This was their first "real pet." I felt so bad for them and wish I could take all the hurt away. All I could do was hold them and tell them that things would be okay. Even Jennifer, who is not a big animal person, was tore up. She had grown so attached to Aggie that he actually minded her better than he minded me! Well, we're all doing better now, but it has caused quite a stir to say the least. The saddest part though, to me at least, is watching my little boy Levi walk around (or mope) as if he's lost. I guess you could say he is lost in a sense. His best buddy is no longer running around his feet, etc. Now we all know that we'll get another dog, etc. He won't be Aggie II (maybe we'll call him Aggie III), but we'll love him too.
But think about this. While I couldn't do anything about the pain Savannah and Levi were experiencing, God can help us with our pain and suffering. He will do more than just hold us; He will provide for us. If He doesn't remove the pain or problem, then He'll see us through it. Oh how great is the Father's love. Being a father helps me understand that more and more.