Is your family crazy? Probably!!

I’m not talking about your crazy uncle or cousin that everyone is ashamed of at the family reunion. {if you don’t know of a crazy uncle or cousin you’re probably it }I’m talking about how crazy our family and home situations can be at times.

The days of the perfect family seem to be over. Where did ‘Father Knows Best’ and ‘Leave it to Beaver’ families go? Fact is, our family lives don’t resemble that well ordered life anymore.

So what does that mean? Can God still do something with your family? Can God still use your family? Can some “sense” come out of your crazy family?

Believe it or not – He can do great things with your Crazy Family! There are a lot of crazy families in the bible and there is help and hope for yours!

Join us beginning on Mother’s Day and find out how. Invite someone to be with you. Almost all of us know a family that is hurting and needs help. You can really make a difference in their lives by just inviting them to church.

PS. If you click on the picture you can watch a video where I talk about the upcoming series even more.

Immediately, two Bible passages came to mind….

Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

I can’t tell you for sure if we are having revival in our midst – but I can tell you that it sure feels like revival and that 2 of the obvious signs of revival are happening….

1) Souls are being saved. The last night of February we baptized 18 people [the largest 1 time baptismal service in our history]. During revival, we had 4 more saved. This past Sunday, we had 15 saved [including my daughter] and 1 join for baptism. If all of those are baptized in March, we will have baptized nearly 40 people in 2 months! To put that in perspective, the most Liberty has every baptized in a YEAR is 52!! Keep inviting the lost and sharing your faith!

2) Giving is at record amounts. The last 2 weeks total offering [Tithes, Missions, KTFB, Revival] may be the largest 2 week offering in our history. If it isn’t, it is real close. I just finished reading in the OT [I'll let you look it up in your quiet time] where giving was a sign of revival. They had to stop the offering because the people were giving  faster than it could be used! Now, we aren’t going to stop the offering - I am a Baptist preacher and we are in a building program – but it is just another sign that revival is happening in our midst. Keep giving and lets see how fast we can get relocated so we can see more saved! Keep giving so we can see how many ways we can touch our community with the love of Christ.

The last sign of revival is confession of sin and forsaking of sin. Maybe today you want to start praying and asking God if there is something between you and Him that is keeping you from being in a close, vibrant, growing relationship with Him? If /when He shows you something – get rid of it and let’s watch as revival continues in our midst!!

Cause if this Ain’t revival….I don’t know what is!

• 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….

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.

As a matter of fact, this time of year many people make resolutions that revolve around molding them into the person they want to BECOME. Sadly, most people drop their resolutions within weeks.

According to A Marist University Poll,

Keeping Their Word?

33% of Americans recall making a New Year’s resolution last year, but how successful were they?  Of those residents, 65% said they kept their promise for at least part of the year while 35% did not.  Men were more steadfast than were women.  70% of men kept their resolution for at least part of 2009.  This compares with 59% of women.

Dedication has grown among Americans who have previously made a resolution.  While 65% of residents kept their resolution for 2009, 60% did so in 2008.

Why do we fail in our New Years Resolutions? Because we don’t know how to change. The Bible gives us clear instructions on how to BECOME the person we would like to be.

Starting this Sunday, I will share with you how you can BECOME all God intended for you to be. I will examine change in general, and then over the next few weeks we will look at some of the New Years Resolutions everyone makes and what the Bible says about them.

If you want to improve your family, finances, organizational skills, and many other things – don’t miss a service.

Check us out at www.libertybaptistchurch.ws

See you Sunday – prepare to leave changed!!

I have spent the day preparing for Sunday’s sermons and I wanted to give you a heads up. I am planning on preaching on “B the 1….to go to Heaven”. I think it is really going to be a powerful Sunday.  In order for that to be true, I need you to do a couple of things:

1. Pray. PRay. PRAy! PRAY!!!

2. Invite people to be here. It is going to be a great Sunday to invite unsaved friends and family. They WILL hear the gospel!