I plead with young ladies to listen to the 1st half hour of this 3 part series on FamilyLife Today.  I plead with MOMS to listen with them – it’s 1/2 hour that may change the direction of your daughter’s life! (Although, I’m pretty sure you will want to listen to the other 2 parts as well). As parents let’s stand up for our daughters and not just turn them over to culture AND the Evil One!   Let’s live Deuteronomy 6 and keep our children from one day having to undo all the things culture is trying to teach them!   They may roll their eyes now but one day they will thank you!

FamilyLife.com – http://shar.es/10F9b

INTENTIONAL PARENTING!

Dads – you need to be listening to this! It’s time to step up in our families. It’s time to lead! It’s time to fight for your family! The culture is pulling your family in all directions away from God! It’s time to stand up and say “No More!”

Moms – if you have to listen to this first to encourage your husband, please invest the time! SINGLE MOMS – after you listen to this, let’s talk about options for you.

Sons – this explains the kind of Godly young man you need to be becoming!

Daughters – Don’t settle for less than what God wants to bless you with!

At the following link there is a 4-part series that every parent and child needs to listen to! Parents, you will be blessed! The author of the book “What He Must Be If He Wants To Marry My Daughter” is being interviewed

Go to http://tinyurl.com/mgqol6 to begin or continue Intentional Parenting

OK I get it now Lord.

Not sure why this resonates with me but perhaps it’s because I so often feel inadequate and a bit overwhelmed. God “needs me”? Well, not really but He does accomplish his purposes through His people. Here I am Lord..”But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.” – Phil 2:17-18

Why Mormons Do Better Youth Ministry Than We Do

Let’s face it. Most of us look at the clean cut Mormon missionaries that peddle the streets of our city and knock on the doors of our houses as somewhat out of date.

On the way to dropping my kids off at school this morning, I stopped to get gas!  I paid $3.37 a gallon – quite a bargain I hear compared to some parts of the country!  I didn’t really need gas but I’ve adopted a new view of filling my tank.  It hurts less if you only have to fill up a ½ tank. 

You see, I’ve always figured that since I pay for my gas with a debit card, I might as well run it out and fill it up once a week or when it’s close to empty.  That’s in contrast to my college days when I would only put in about $3 or $4 dollars whenever I absolutely had to (of course gas was just a little over $1 a gallon then).  Recently, I filled my tank up from nearly empty and it cost me nearly 70 dollars!  We leased our gas-guzzling SUV blazer a few weeks before Katrina hit and I’ve been sorry ever since.  Thank goodness our lease is up in a few months – I might be able to resume eating three meals a day! 

With my new philosophy though, it is only costing me about $25 to $30 each trip to the pump!  That is much easier to swallow!  I feel so much better when I leave the gas station…it’s almost the same feeling I had back in the early ‘90s when gas dipped to less than 70 cents a gallon!  The problem is when I go to reconcile my checking account, I’m still spending nearly $100 a week for gas!  So I’ve just delayed my pain from the pump to the computer desk and Quicken^®. 

It’s kind of like sin…oh just a little gossip, just a little backbiting.  It really doesn’t hurt to flirt with someone who’s not my spouse.  It’s just one TV show that I shouldn’t really watch, just one website I shouldn’t open.  The problem with that philosophy is no matter how small, it all adds up to a life that is not being lived for Christ – it’s being lived to indulge myself.  If I’m not careful, I can really fool myself into thinking that just because it’s people who “know me” I can say those things about someone else or just because no one else is around, I’m not really hurting anyone.  Sin is sin is sin and just because I put it in small doses doesn’t make the long-term effect any less harmful.

I always sign my letters “Because of the Cross”.   It’s a simple little thought that I started signing early in my ministry, perhaps during college and have done so ever since.

In class yesterday morning we talked about the sacrifice of the Father and watched a powerful mini-movie – “Most” that depicted a father’s sacrifice of his son to save many.  Looking at John 3:16-17 and Ephesians 2 we talked about the sacrifice of God’s Son on the Cross and how that sacrifice gives us new life, full life – a life that is no longer ours but belongs to God.

Last night seventeen of us gathered at the Hirth’s house (thanks Hirths!) to watch – at the beginning of Passion week – The Passion of the Christ.  It’s only the 2^nd time I have seen the movie, and for some there it was their first.  After the movie we shared in a moving time of worship and communion with one another.  We talked about Romans 5.  In verses 8-9 Paul writes “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from the wrath of God.”  Each blow, each whip or scourge, each nail and insult that was taken by Jesus, was taken because of me.  He took my sin and because of that I can now rejoice that he has become my substitute – that was supposed to be me there.  God’s wrath was supposed to be upon me…but Jesus took it.  What a reason to rejoice!  What an awesome time we had sharing, praying, rejoicing and communing together!!!

Our Western Cultural view has tamed the meaning and the picture of the cross.   We paint pictures of it and we wear it as jewelry but the cross was not pretty, the cross was not “in style”.  The cross was a shameful, horrible way to die – it was costly – it cost Jesus everything.  Because of it though, God looks at me (and you) through the blood of Jesus and says “It was worth it.”  I am reminded that the little saying “Because of the Cross” isn’t just a saying…it is my life.  My life is now because of the Cross.  My marriage, my family, my house, my car, my job, my strength, my money, my hope, my joy, my peace…everything I am, everything I ever hope to be is because of what Jesus did for me on that Cross.

It is my prayer that our youth group will continue to come to an understanding that living for Christ will cost them everything, but it’s worth it!

Because of the Cross,

Mike

Mike Brown

Youth & Family Minister

Lafayette Church of Christ

115 New Ballwin Rd.

Ballwin, MO  63021

636.391.6697 – office

636.394.2338 – fax

mike.brown@lafayettechurch.org

What’s funny is I don’t care about the money. I’ve saved more than that in not eating out! I feel better and best of all I’m not really starving myself. It’s gratifying – 2, 3, 4lbs each week. Total of 18+ so far. We still have 10 weeks to go. I’m back down to almost 190…how about 180, that was my goal weight…is 170 too far to reach?

This whole weight thing reminds me of sin. As Casting Crowns puts it, it’s a Slow Fade. Daily it’s hardly noticable, even weekly not much of a change. All of a sudden, I am deep in sin. How did I get here? It’s a Slow Fade. Never intended to end up THERE! Just a little at a time…Satan’s ploy pulls me in further until it’s noticeable, then for some, it’s too late because it seems too far to get back. Getting back is easier than you think because Jesus has already done it. What an awesome weight(sin)-loss “program”!