Second Saturday

A small team of KCC members are planning to launch the most creative, daring, innovative outreach ministry KCC has ever seen! We're calling it Second Saturday.

Plans to overhaul the face of our worship are in the making. I'm envisioning "new wineskins" that will reach those in our community who do not yet know Jesus.

The first second Saturday is Saturday, April 20th, 2007! You won't want to miss it! It's going to "Wow!" your socks off!!!

Interruptions

Matthew 9:18-26

Wow! Are there interruptions in life or what?! My wife tells me "interruptions are the ministry." I'm not always certain. What about the dozens of projects on my desk? When will I get to those? It appears Jesus dealt with the same issue. Today I read about the ruler asking Jesus to touch his dead daughter in order to bring her back to life. As he was going, he was interrupted with yet another need. How tempted he must have been to say, "I'm busy. I have priorities. And a dead girl is before a bleeding woman." He didn't. Jesus didn't seem inconvenienced at all. He simply allowed the power to flow out of him and healed to woman who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years.

"Lord, make me more patient. Help me to prioritize people over projects." Amen

Did Jesus have a chip on his shoulder?

Matthew 8:18-22

The Cost of Following Jesus

Jesus was tough with the Pharisees, Sadducee's, and Teachers of the Law. He spoke rigidly to them. Almost as if he had a chip on his shoulder. We see this again in this text. When the Teacher of the Law came to Jesus declaring he would follow Jesus, Jesus did not make it seem easy, but difficult. He talked about "no place to lay his head." Basically saying by following me you'll have no shelter, possibly little food, and long periods of wandering. Your body will become weary, your feet may swell, and you'll probably miss your family.

Contrast this type of response to when Jesus encounters a tax collector or "sinner." He lovingly invites them to follow Him.

What examples do you see in the Bible where Jesus dealt harshly with the "religious people" and more compassionately with the "sinners?"

Children's Christmas Program

Wow! Thankful it's over, but thankful we did it too. The church was full for our first Children's Christmas program in years. The S.W.A.T. team, our Jr. High puppet ministry, performed several numbers in between our Sunday school and JAM - Diggin' In Bell Choir.

My favorite part though was the Bob Snook Christmas parody of the Family Feud. It pitted "Traditional Christmas characters" vs. "Non-Traditional Christmas characters. " The question was "What do you think about when you think about Christmas?" The 4 answers on the board were Santa, Shopping, Stockings, and Toys. Needless to say the Non-Traditional Christmas characters guessed all the answers. But the final poignant question to the audience was "What do YOU think about when you think about Christmas?!"

Anita, my wife and Children's Director, put in countless hours making costumes, writing the script, coordinating the teachers, setting up props, and so much more. Kudos to her for a great job!

The program went well, but there were minor glitches. Most could have been avoided or dealt with if only two things had happened: 1) Attend the practice. I know we lead busy lives, but if something is important to you, you must make time to practice it. 2) Show up early. We asked teachers to arrive 30 minutes early to help dress the children in their costumes and get ready. How some people think they can show up 5 minutes before the program and expect everything to run smoothly and everyone to be happy, is beyond me.

Final thought: We should have served some coffee and donuts after the program. So many of the parents and grandparents who came tonight don't attend church regularly or at all. Providing a time for volunteers in our ministries to mingle with those guests would have been a wise move.

A Guide for Giving this Christmas

Did you know that the Bible speaks more about money than any other subject? It’s true! One of Jesus’ main teachings concerning money is that we are stewards of all God has entrusted to us. Ironically during the season celebrating Jesus we have the most difficult time keeping our wallet in check. Below are a few tips to help you out this year as you plan your giving.

1. Budget – Plan ahead and write down what your family will spend this year on Christmas. Break your list down into categories: gifts, food, cookies & desserts, travel, miscellaneous. Our family even broke down how much we planned to spend on each person on our gift list.


2. Only Pay Cash – Don’t use credit cards. It’s too easy to spend much more than you intended when you use credit cards. Use your budget and pay cash this Christmas. If you don’t have the money in hand, don’t buy it. It’s that simple. The Bible says, “the borrower is slave to the lender” and again, “You cannot serve both God and money.” Using cash protects against becoming a slave to MasterCard or Visa.


3. Give Creatively – Buying something for everyone is not your only gift giving option. Handmade crafts often mean much more to people and can save you money. Time has become a precious commodity in our culture. Give homemade coupons to loved ones that they can redeem for special times with you. Use your imagination to come up with unique gifts. Go to http://www.familyfun.com/ for more ideas!


4. Send Ecards – The cost of Christmas cards combined with postage adds up quickly. Using the Internet you can send out ecards to your friends and family and it won’t cost you a cent! Customize the ecard with your family photo, favorite Bible verse, and your own message to make it personal. Go to www.dayspring.com/ecards/ or http://www.crossdaily.com/cards to start.

Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing

Wow! What a Sunday! Our total attendance was 370! I'll have to check the records but we haven't seen that high a number for a long time! Traditionally the Thanksgiving weekend is one of churches (not just our church but all churches) lowest attended Sundays. God was in this because we bucked the trend big-time!!

Thanks so much to Catherine Belcher for singing "Jesus Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood and to Dylan Frashier for singing "Watching You" by Trace Atkins. You guys rock!

In both services I failed to mention the "Crazy thing" from the title of my message (and Keith Urban's album). The Craziest Thing I know of is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The fact that God would make himself a little, helpless infant and entrust himself to human hands blows my mind! Then as a man Jesus would teach a message that goes against everything the world pushes on us.

The world screams, "More!" Jesus whispers, "Less."
The world shouts, "Me!" Jesus says, "You."
The world cries, "First!" Jesus states, "Last."

It's all CRAZY!

The Gospel is a backwards, upside-down, inside-out message the world has a hard time understanding. It's not natural. It can only be understood as supernatural. It's a of God. Human nature bucks against it with every fiber in our being.

It's all CRAZY!

God reached out to a lost world. He made Himself like us in order to speak to us, tell us who He is, show us how to live. He was rejected, beaten, and killed. He came back to life and taught his disciples, "That's how it's going to be. You can expect the same." No apologies. No regrets.

Paul wrote, and I paraphrase, "We're living like Jesus and people are treating us just like they treated Him. If this isn't the way to life, we are really losers!" (1 Cor. 15:14-19)

It's all CRAZY! And my life is based on it.

There has been discussion of a Saturday night worship service with a praise band and a more formal atmosphere than what you experience on Sunday mornings. We're looking for committed, Christ following musicians right now. I know you are out there. I'm just waiting for God to prod you into serving Him with your musical talents!

Dumping our Debts

Our church is in the middle of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. Dave Ramsey is a Christian financial counselor who teaches common sense about money. Several of us recently cut up our credit cards making the commitment to get and stay out of financial debt. It took a lot of willpower and much faith. I was thrilled to see about a dozen families take this huge step in erasing their debt.
As sinners we have all incurred spiritual debt. That spiritual debt is known Biblically as sin. If we don’t somehow pay off that debt of sin, only death awaits us. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) However, God offers to pay that spiritual debt through the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus will take your debt of sin and zero out your account, if you only let Him!
To learn more about being debt-free in God’s kingdom, don’t hesitate to contact me at www.kalkaskachurchofchrist.com.