Top Ten Reasons Why People Don't Go To Church

10) The glare from the pastor's forehead is too blinding

9) Three letters - NFL

8) I don't have kids yet

7) I have kids

6) People that happy give me the creeps

5) I can worship God in the outdoors...at the football stadium

4) I'm a good person and I want to avoid being told otherwise

3) They don't serve a good cappuccino during the coffee hour

2) When I want to feel guilty I just call my parents

1) No one asked me to go 

A true friend is...

About 25 years ago I heard John Maxwell speak at one of his leadership seminars.  He is a dynamic speaker and prolific writer who once was a pastor but now helps people learn how to get more out of themselves and others.  In working through one of his books I came across this definition of a true friend by author Richard Exley:

A true friend is one who hears and understands when you share your deepest feelings.  He supports you when you are struggling; he corrects you gently and with love, when you err, and he forgives you when you fail.  A true friend prods you to personal growth, stretches you to your full potential.  And most amazing of all, he celebrates your successes as if they were his own.

What do you think?

From "Becoming a Person of Influence," page 155 

Why opposition to the Gospel is good

For the more violently the world rages against the Gospel, the better the position of the Gospel is.

This should be a very pleasant comfort for us.  For it is sure that the world hates and persecutes us for no other reason than that we present the truth of the Gospel.  It does not accuse us of being thieves, adulterers, murderers, etc.; but what it despises in us is solely this, that we teach Christ faithfully and purely, and that we do not forsake the heritage of the truth.

Therefore we should know for certain that our doctrine is holy and divine, because the world hates it so bitterly. Otherwise there is no doctrine too wicked, stupid, ridiculous or dangerous for the world to accept it, embrace  and defend it gladly, in fact, to treat it reverently, support it, fawn upon it, and convert everyone to it.

The teaching of godliness, life and salvation, together with its ministers, is the only one that it despises and treats in an utterly shameful way.  This is evident proof that the world is angry with us only because of its hatred of the Word.  Therefore when our opponents raise the objection against us that our doctrine produces nothing but war, sedition, stumbling blocks, sects, and endless other evil, let us reply: "Blessed be the day when it becomes possible to see all this! But the whole world is in an uproar.  All right.  If it were not in an uproar, and if the devil were not in such a rage and we not creating such havoc everywhere, we would not have the pure doctrine which such tumults and havoc inevitably follow.  Therefore what you see as evil we regard as the highest good."

From Luther's Words, notes on Galatians, page 47.

Interestingly, Luther wrote this in 1535.  Yet, his words describe almost perfectly the condition of our world today. Opposition to the Gospel never changes.  It seems that Luther would say, "Good! Get the Gospel out to the world now

Hopeless - flee to the God of Hope

All hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

That's how Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles', put it.  He was accompanying Paul on his trip to Rome for Paul's hearing with Caesar.  In chapter 27, he tells how the ship they were sailing on ran into a violent storm and not one action the crew took seemed to lead to safety.  As Luke recounts, they all had given up hope of being saved.

But Paul comes with good news.  An angel, a messenger from God, came to Paul and assured the apostle that he would stand before Caesar and plead his case.  Not only that, Paul learned that not only he would be saved but all on the ship would live to see many more days.

Does Paul put his faith in his safety because an angel appeared to him?  No, Paul's faith is rooted in something much greater than an angelic being. His faith is securely placed in God's Word.

So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.  (Acts 27:25)

Paul teaches us something very important.  We have times in our lives when events or circumstances can make life feel hopeless.  And it's impossible to live without hope.

Where does the Christian turn when a loved one is fighting for life...when financial disaster is impending...when a grandchild is making one bad choice after another...when the love of your life says, "I don't love you anymore."

Hopeless situations call on us to flee to the God of hope.

But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.  (Psalm 39:7)

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints...  (Ephesians 1:18)

Through (Christ) you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.  (1 Peter 1:21)

What to do when life seems hopeless? Stand on the promises of God's Word.  He will never leave us or forsake us.  He is our mighty fortress to whom we can turn.  He never slumbers nor sleeps but is always watching over us.  He cares for those who belong to Him.  (See Deut. 31:6 - Psalm 46:1 - Psalm 121:4,8 - Psalm 23)

Life is never hopeless when you are standing on God's Word and promises.  Trust in the Lord.  Your hope is in Him! 

Tim Tebow - a man to be respected

I have a ton of respect for Tim Tebow.  His immense football talent was so often overlooked by his unapologetic confession of Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior.  Tebow faced his critics head on by giving credit to God for the gifts that enabled him to be an athlete that accomplished so much.  He won the Heisman Trophy as the best college football player while playing at Miami and he led the Denver Broncos to an exciting playoff run in 2011.

I enjoyed reading his book, "Shaken," and copied down a couple of quotes that rang true:

"Bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die." Page 100

"The purpose of life is not to be happy.  It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well."  Page 120

God delights in us too

The delight and pleasure of God are in His beloved Son, and that is where we are too.  What is ours is His; what is His is ours.  So God delights in us too.  If our hearts would take this in, Martin Luther said, that would burst for joy into a hundred thousand pieces.  In a world that is given over to sin, death and the devil, there is one point where the delight of God dwells.  "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased."  That is where we are in solidarity with Jesus.  With Jesus there is God's delight.  God, Christ, you - all together like one thing.

From "Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel" page 44

What moves us to cry out "Lord, have mercy?"

Only when we hear the bad news that makes us cry out, "Lord, have mercy," are we able to hear the Good News of "It is Finished!"

RJ Grunewald, "Reading Romans with Luther," page 52