A few thoughts on a good day at Liberty…..

• We had 399 in Sunday School – what’s up with that? Scott’s sole mission is to find the 1 person who did not get counted yesterday and make sure we had 400 in Bible Study. If you came in late and think you didn’t get counted, send him an email to let him know….

• We had 2 teenage boys walk the aisle and present themselves for baptism at the 11:00 service. That is awesome! We had youth everywhere yesterday. Last night’s service the youth were out in full force! Way to go guys!!

• I baptized a 77 yr old man yesterday morning. How cool is that? My wife led him to the Lord a few weeks back and the Living Water SS class had been visiting him and sharing the gospel with him for months! We have almost 20 people that are scheduled to be baptized this Sunday night, but we wanted to baptize him early because of his age and health. Isn’t the grace of God awesome?!

• We held our last SS teachers meeting before Super Sunday. It was a great meeting that we started off with a time of small group prayer. Each leader had to find someone NOT in their class and pray with them in groups of 3 or so. It was a sweet time of fellowship.

• The sermon on Samson yesterday [according to your comments to me & altar call] seemed to have shaken folks up a little – yay!! How easy is it to go through the motions without having a touch of God on your life and no intimate relationship with Christ? Don’t do it!!!

• I hope your prayer this morning was that God would give you a NEW HEART!

• This weekend is going to be awesome. Pray for Bill Stafford and This Hope. Invite someone to come to Revival and Super Sunday. Invite school teachers, fireman, and law enforcement to our special event just for them at 10:00 in the Sanctuary.

• And finally, at the beginning of the 11:00 service we had technical difficulties so I had to DANCE to cover! Yes, I threw down on the stage to start the service! If this preaching gig doesn’t work out then………

I think that’s all….It is study day….

Recently I was sent a copy of the book Cupidity to review by Tyndale. For those in love, looking to fall in love, or wondering if they are in love, it is an excellent read. Since so many people seem to make so many mistakes while they are “in love”, this book might help thwart some of those errors. Lets be honest, when someone is “falling in love” they have a tendency to experience “brain freeze”!

There may be 50 stupid things people do for love, but according to Hayley and Michael DiMarco, those stupid things are derived from five basic acts: emotional, mental, physical, social and spiritual. These acts of cupidity are motivated by an erroneous belief system: the assumption that the world’s views on love supersede the logic and direction of God on the matter. Embracing this false assumption—and the lies that spring from it—inevitably leads to “cupidity” [a play on the words “stupidity and cupid] and its snares and pitfalls.

But lest you lose hope and think your “cupidity” is incurable; it isn’t. And this book on the subject goes a long way to enlighten you on how to cure your “cupidity” with a good dose of biblical wisdom. The Spiritual truths they present will detail how the lies you have been buying from the world have been keeping you from experiencing real love: God’s way.

Grab a copy of the book for you or for someone you know who is in a relationship and needs some advise before they make a mistake.

According to new stats released by Barna, having your youth in Sunday School makes a huge difference later on in life. If you consistently go to Sunday School when you are young it has a direct bearing on church attendance when you grow up.

According to Barna, “More than 8 in 10 adults in the U.S. claim they had weekly religious education before age 12. Of those, 69 percent now attend religious programs weekly.”

What does that mean?

Parents that means you cannot overestimate the importance of having your child in church when they are young. Being part of a good children’s program and youth program has  a great impact on their spiritual lives later on.

So, to all of the parents reading – here are some admonitions:

1. Model a consistent Christian life for your child / teen. It is even better if they see Jesus in you!

2. Make Sunday School and Wednesday night youth worship/AWANA’s part of your regular routine without fail. I know your child has homework on Wednesdays but if they need to stay up a few minutes late it won’t harm them for life. Being detached from the youth group might. Make sure they are in Sunday School every Sunday. Don’t be a “hit or miss” family when it comes to Sunday School – your children will pay the price later on!

3. Make Christ the center of your home. Talk about Jesus / church all the time in a positive way. Don’t ever let them hear you complain about something going on at church.

We all want our children to grow up to be good citizens and good Christians. It doesn’t happen by accident!

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.