Resolutions for 2016! I am resolved...

Well, we will be walking away from 2015 and welcoming 2016 in just a few hours.  Have you thought your resolutions for the coming year?  I certainly have, especially recently.  Let’s see. 

1.    Follow God’s word in James 1:19.  Boy do I need to improve on this.  I will.

2.    Pray.  Every day.  Morning, noon, and night.  Without ceasing.  God asks me to.  When I pray He promises to hear, consider, and answer according to His will.   Just do it.  I will.

3.    Think.  Meditate.  Focus.  On His word day and night (Psalm 1).  There are so many distractions.  So many “other things” to think about that are less important.  I will have a more intense focus on the “main thing.”

4.    Listen.  I don’t listen very well.  I will become a better listener.

5.    Wait.  I am too quick to judge, to just to conclusions, to misunderstand.  I must wait.  I’m not talking about procrastination.  I am talking about being patient.

6.    Humility.  Jesus taught by word and example that humility pleases the Father.  I want to be like Jesus; quiet, strong, wise, patient, kind, right.

7.    Follow when I should.  Lead when I should.  Understand.

8.    Forget what was.  Accept what is.  Imagine and create what can be.

I am resolved no longer to linger, charmed by the world’s delight;

Things that are higher, things that are nobler, these have allured my sight.

I am resolved to go to the Savior, leaving my sin and strife;

He is this True One, He is the Just One, He is has the words of life.

I am resolved to follow the Savior, faithful and true each day,

Heed what is says, do what He wills, He is the living Way.

I am resolved to enter the kingdom, leaving the paths of sin,

Friends may oppose me, foes may beset me, still will I enter in.

I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free,

Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.

Palmer Hartsough (1896)

James H. Fillmore (1896)

Wise as serpents - Harmless as doves - Matthew 10:16

Welcome!  We are praying to the One and Only true and living God in the name of His Son Jesus Christ for our friends in France and those around the world and those of our own who are suffering from ignorance, hate, and violence.  Oh that the world would come to believe and know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God!  What a difference this knowledge would make in the world. 

It seems that the world in general has always chosen ignorance over knowledge, hate and revenge over love and violence over peace, repentance, and forgiveness.  We are often tempted to do the same.  We must not yield to the enemy’s devises.  We must find a way to follow Jesus’ instructions in Matthew 10:16 to “be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”  We must always provide for our family just as the Holy Spirit commands in 1 Timothy 5:8; “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  At the same time we must love our enemies, bless them, do them good, and pray for them (Matthew 6:44-45).  We must be wise and protect ourselves and our families from evil and at the same time never wish to harm anyone but rather to help them.

God has established a way for evil to be judged, disciplined, punished, and eliminated.  In Romans 13 we read about the responsibilities of the nation’s governing authorities.  God has placed people in positions of authority and given them the right to praise those who do good.  He has also given the governing authorities (not me and you) the power to “execute wrath” on those who practice evil.  The passage tells us that the local, state, and federal government is positioned by God as an “avenger” who “does not bear the sword in vain.” 

You and I have the responsibility and the authority to provide for our individual families and at the same time we must yield to God’s governing authorities to provide for the protection of our national security.  Not too long ago a Christian brother who is in state law enforcement talked with me about the dilemma he faces every day in his position.  The day before we met, he had to take someone’s life in the line of duty as an agent of the state.  I explained to him that in his position, he was God’s minister on that day executing wrath on one who was practicing evil, that he did not “bear the sword (In this case the sword was his firearm) in vain.”  I thanked him for his service to me and to our society.  His service keeps us safe.  Jesus said it best in the verse we saw above, “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” 

Everything okay? There is a better way to go. Jesus is the Way.

Hello on this beautiful day (September 24^th) in Louisville, Kentucky.  I hope you are having a great week.  We are.  The church of Christ at Watterson Trail has a lot going on right now.  We are hosting a very special one of a kind “Fall Vacation Bible School” on Friday evening and Saturday from 10 to 2, October 1 and 2.  Something different!  Come by 9607 Watterson Trail and look for the “village of Nazareth” as you pull into the parking lot.  I’ll be dressed as a carpenter in the carpenter shop.  There will be several other shops to visit as we travel back in time to Jesus’ hometown.  We are so excited about our VBS.  Come and see. 

Last weekend we had a booth at the Jeffersontown Gaslight Festival and enjoyed having so many people visit with us.  We talked to everyone and handed out almost 500 invitations to our fall VBS.  All the children who stopped by our booth enjoyed playing the knock-the-cans-off-the-ledge game while the parents and adults watched and laughed.  You don’t have to spend a load of money to have fun.  Line up a few soup cans on a board and try to knock them down with a beanbag or ball.  You’d be surprised just how much fun it is.  The Christian life is the best life to live.

We are just about ready to appoint an additional elder and two additional deacons at Watterson Trail.  God has blessed the church with so many wonderful servants.  It is truly a blessing for me to work alongside Christian brothers and sisters who love God and one another.  Come out on any Sunday (9:30/10:30/1:30) and on any Wednesday evening (7:00) to see for yourself just how good and pleasant it is when people dwell together in unity.  We plan on appointing Dan Isenberg to the eldership and Bryan Montgomery and Eric Ritter as additional deacons on Sunday, October 3^rd.  We are so thankful to God for His rich blessings to us.

Our Sunday morning sermon series is entitled “God’s Questions – Man’s Answers.”  We are studying from Genesis 3 where Adam and Eve disobeyed God.  God asked them four questions:  Where are you?  Who told you that?  Have you sinned?  What have you done?  We are on question #2 this week (27^th).  Who told you that?  We must ask this question when we are faced with doubt about an issue we are facing as a Christian.  Who told you that?  Who told you that baptism is not essential for salvation?  Jesus didn’t.  He said the exact opposite.  The apostles didn’t.  The Bible doesn’t.  Who told you that it doesn’t matter when and how we worship?  Who told you that marriage is defined as anything other than one man and one woman for life? The SCOTUS may have handed down a 5 to 4 decision on an attempt at redefining marriage, but God set the order of marriage in the very beginning and will hold every human being accountable for how we live life.  Who told you that the government’s job is to provide a living for humanity?  Oh, how strong America would be if every citizen decision to work for a living.  Who told you that the church you are a member of didn’t matter?  Christ only built one church, His.  Who told you that there is plenty of time to make things right with God?  We may have many years to live and love on this earth.  And yet, today may be our last day to live.

May God bless you and yours and ours is my prayer.  How are you doing?  Is he life you’re living working out for you?  Are you happy with your life?  There is another way to go.  There is a better way to live.  The Christian life is the best life on earth.  Come and see.

We are the light of the world. Are you shining?

We’re doing just fine in our old Kentucky home, ours for the past 10 months.  My, how time and life keeps moving ever forward.  Only 10 months?  So short, yet it seems that I have been in our great commonwealth of Kentucky serving as minister and friend at Watterson Trail for much longer.  May God give us many more years of service together for the furtherance of the gospel in the J’Town/Louisville Metro community.

It has been my pleasure to support our local Jeffersontown High School Charger football team the past two Friday nights.  One loss and one win so far.  The team has a lot of potential this year.  We have a new coach and he and his staff are doing a fine job teaching a new system.  The team seems to be picking up on the new system well.  I am enjoying the Charger band (It seems only yesterday that I was on the field with my trumpet or directing the band as drum major).  Their half-time show is getting better and better.  It is good to see so many from the J’Town community supporting the school and the team.  I am also enjoying meeting new friends, taking every opportunity to show and share the love of Christ.  To every Christian and especially to our fellow Christian brethren at Watterson Trail:  Get out and see what God can do through you.  Opportunities are all around us; next door, across the street, at school, in the stands, at the store, up, down, all around.  Live.  Laugh.   Listen.  Learn.  Love. 

I can almost hear Jesus saying it.  

“You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” 

He did say it and Matthew wrote these instructions down in Matthew 5:14-16 in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  How about it?

This Sunday morning at Watterson Trail we will conclude our series “More Than Conquerors” with a lesson that asks, “Where am I going?”  Do you know where you are going in your life?  If you continue on the path you are currently on, where will you end up?  Will you be okay there?  Is it where you thought you’d be?  Will those following you be happy about you led them?  I have found that if I don’t know where I’m going, people, circumstances, and things cause me to be tossed here and there.  Isn’t if foolish to live your life without a direction?  What was it that someone said?  “If you don’t know where you’re going, then any road will do.”  Remember the old adage, “If you aim at nothing, you’re sure to hit it.”  Where do you want to go?  Find out.  Take aim.  And get going!  Sunday afternoon at Watterson Trail is special this Sunday (6^th) because we will be singing together psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with melody in our hearts to the Lord.  Come join in.  Have a great rest of the week.  Show some TLC today and every day to those you love and to those who love you.

Don't Worry. God is able. Trust HIm. You can.

Okay.  How are you doing with the new old back to school routine?  Hopefully everyone is adjusting well, getting up a little earlier, being better organized, and looking forward to the weekend.  With all the “busyness” in our lives, may we always put God first in our thinking, speech, and in our decisions.  Jesus spoke about such things in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:33:  “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things (food, clothing, shelter, and our daily needs) shall be added to you.”

It was a great joy this past Sunday (16^th) to meet a new member at Watterson Trail, Brother Harold Long of J’Town.  Brother Long came before God and the church to rededicate his life to Christ and begin again to work and worship with His church.  We are so very happy to have him with us at Watterson Trail.

Our Sunday morning lesson series “More Than Conquerors” continues this week (23^rd).  We are asking ourselves three very important questions: Who am I?  Who am I trying to please? and Where am I going?  Jesus knew who He was.  When I know who I am; a Christian and a child of God, people, circumstances, and things cannot change me into someone else.  This week we will focus on the second question: Who am I trying to please?  Jesus knew who to please; His Father, always His Father, God.  When I don’t know who to please, I fall prey to three negatives:  criticism, competition, and conflict.  When I aim to please God, people may like me or not, circumstances may be positive or negative, and life may get tough, but these things cannot move me from pleasing the heavenly Father.  On Sunday afternoon we are looking at God’s ability to help us every day.  He is strong.  He is Master of everything.  He is our Father.  He is able.

Our Summer Series “The Christian’s Confidence” has been a great success this year and comes to a close this Tuesday evening (25^th) at 7:00 p.m. with our final preacher, Brother Dean Beard preaching on the subject “Christ is.”  Christ is revealed, verified, declared, believed, known, followed, loved, obeyed, honored, imitated, and exalted.  He is eternal.  He IS.  It is my hope and prayer that we have all increased in our faith and confidence in Christ Jesus through this series of lessons.

We are currently in the process of appointing additional elders and additional deacons to serve Christ and His church at Watterson Trail.  Our elders are carefully and prayerfully considering our recommendations and will soon announce a list of those men of the congregation who are qualified and ready to serve.  Please be in prayer for our elders, for those who will be announced, and for the church as a whole that we will continue in faith and unity as we endeavor to further the gospel of Christ in Jeffersontown and in the surrounding community.  May God bless us.