That’s the name of the new sermon series that I will be kicking off this Sunday. I’m pretty stoked about it! We’re going to be drilling down into some neglected truths of the Bible. It’s going to be a doctrinal study of some basic truths that are, unfortunately, anything but “basic” in a lot of Christian circles today. Some of them are avoided because they’re considered controversial. All of them may end up challenging what many may have always heard or been taught. It ought to be a lot of fun! I know one thing, I love it that you guys (at Christ’s Church) love the Word – all of it! Here are some of the truths that we’ll be examining:

• “God Doesn’t Grade on the Curve”
• “Trying to Live the Christian Life Will Kill You”
• “The Person You See in the Mirror is NOT the Real You”
• “God’s Got Satan Under Control”

There are a couple of others “percolating” as well. My goal for the series is to expose these neglected truths to the clear light of day so that they can take root in our lives. Jesus said, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32) I believe that every one of these truths can make us stronger, more fully committed followers of Jesus Christ! Would you do two things for me? Pray and Invite. Please lift me and the entire series up in prayer, and even more, prayerfully invite your friends, neighbors and co-workers to come with you.

I just finished listening to Tim’s message from yesterday. Wow! Good stuff... in fact, lots and lots of good stuff! Using I Cor. 10:1-14 as his text, he taught on finding our contentment in Christ. Especially convicting was his application of how we are continually tempted to walk away from that contentment through idolatry, which he also did a super job of both explaining and applying. It was an excellent message! If you’d like to listen to it, here’s the direct link.

We missed all of you yesterday, but Laurie and I had a great time worshiping with the wonderful folks at the Roanoke Valley Christian Church. Their pastor had invited me to come and preach for their Fellowship Day. They’re a small congregation with a HUGE heart for Jesus and their community! They had obviously been inviting their neighbors, friends, co-workers and family members, because there were quite a few guests present. Following the service we stayed and enjoyed a very delicious fellowship meal. Pastor Harold shared that they are praying (and waiting) on the city of Roanoke to okay their plan to build on and enlarge their current facility. Please take a minute and pray for them.

One other thing. . . please remember to come out and support our clothes closet ministry. We’ll be opening it to our community this coming Saturday from 9:00-1:00. We were able to serve more than a hundred people at our grand opening a couple of weeks ago, and we’re expecting the word to get out and even more to come this Saturday. What a terrific opportunity to share the love of Christ with our community!

Is a Mac Right for You?

It’s no secret that the Wardle’s are an all-Mac family. Here’s a picture of the girls and me enjoying a multi-video conference using iChat. Sarah was still at Taylor University out in Indiana and Emily was in her dorm room at Liberty University.

What a difference technology has made in our ability to communicate. When I was in college back before email and cell phones (when the dinosaurs were still roaming the earth), we had to rely on snail mail or a pay phone in the hallway of our dorm.

God's work of change has relationships both as the necessary means and a wonderful goal. Humble community is not the icing on the cake of Christianity. In a real way, it is the cake. These relationships of love are a means of personal growth, a mark of God's people being purified, and a clear argument to the world for the truth of the gospel.

- Timothy Lane & Paul Tripp, How People Change

I am very excited about the study Tim is doing with the teens on Sunday nights. It’s based on the book, Do Hard Things by two teenagers, Alex & Brett Harris. Christianity Today posted an interview they did with Alex and Brett, about the book and the message they are hoping to send to teens. Check it out.

Andrew Lee is a friend that a number of us have come to know through our partnership with World Impact. Andrew has been coordinating our summer mission trips to Chester, PA for the past five years. He and his fiance, Karen were married yesterday in West Chester, PA. Congratulations to both of them! Don and Terri were able to make it up for the wedding. She emailed me some pictures. Enjoy! Read More...

Baseball + = Good Evening*

* Weight Watcher points not withstanding

Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for it suddenly sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
Proverbs 23:4-5

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
Hebrews 13:5-6

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
I Timothy 6:6-8 Read More...

The new Christ’s Church website is up and running! I’ve wanted to update it for months. It definitely has a new look, hopefully for the better! Let me know what you think. It’s still very much a work-in-progress, but hopefully everything survived the transition and is working properly. If you run across any broken links or misspelled words, let me know.

Chris Williams invited me out to his hunt club property today to sight-in my rifle and muzzleloader. Dale Peters was also there, along with “Peanut” (Chris’ Dad). It was a lot of fun, and I am ready to rumble as far as deer season is concerned. I’ve always sighted-in my rifles at 100 yards because I hunt in the woods as opposed to long, open fields. I’ve been deer hunting since I was 12 years old and every deer I have ever gotten was within 100 yards of my stand.

But today we placed the targets out at 100, 200, and 300 yards. It was a hoot taking a crack at the 300 yard target! Because my rifle scope is zeroed-in at 100 yards, I had to aim above the bulls-eye (which was about as big as golf ball). Imagine trying to shoot a golf ball three football fields away! My .30-06 surprised me! I ended up getting within about 3 inches of the bulls-eye at that distance. Good enough! That would be considered within the lethal zone during hunting season.

The rifle I am using is the one the church gave me for pastor appreciation two years ago. I’m still blown away (pardon the pun)! What an incredible gift! I absolutely love it! But I was telling the guys today that if Jeff Foxworthy were to ever get wind of the story, he would certainly have some fodder for his stand up routine. . . “You know you’re a redneck (church). . . if you get your pastor a GUN for pastor appreciation day.”

Well. . . redneck or not, you guys are AWESOME! As I’ve said before, not only do I love what I get to do (for a living), I cannot imagine doing anything else with my life than what I am doing right now, nor can I imagine wanting to do with anyone other than all of you. I love you guys!

I wanted to highlight the most recent blog that I’ve added to my blogroll. It’s blog that’s been launched by James MacDonald and a couple of his fellow pastors at Harvest Bible Church. They’re calling it, Straight Up – First Vertical, then Missional. While they advertise it as a blog for pastors, by pastors, it’s going to be a great resource for anyone committed to serving Christ.

This short video clip on persevering in ministry especially resonated with me, especially his emphasis on establishing and maintaining relationships. He says that relationships are the great treasure of ministry. Amen! There’s no doubt about it. While Martinsville and Henry County has it’s strengths and weaknesses, the primary draw that has kept Laurie and I here for the past 19 years, is our deepening affection for the relationships we’ve made in ministry. I hope you’ll re-read that last sentence one more time. . . the feelings it evokes in me run deep. I am so thankful for the precious friendships (both new and old) that the Lord has brought into my life.

Here’s one more gem from another post that’s worth considering:

“Bottom line: at Harvest Bible Chapel we now have almost 20 years invested in the notion that church should not, better, must not be an audience-centered effort. NO MORE AUDIENCE-CENTERED CHURCH, unless of course we return to the biblical priority of God Himself being the audience. My thesis is that God simply does not attend most churches in America.”

“He won’t work or manifest His presence in places where His Word is apologized for, His Son is polished and marketed, and His power is not sought in prayer or even anticipated. God does not attend churches where the gospel is watered down to a self-help pep talk about felt needs. God does not attend churches where Jesus’ crucified life is not proclaimed as the only hope for a fallen humanity. God does not attend churches where Bibles are not brought, and the gospel is reduced to a formula that a person can recite in 60 seconds. God does not attend churches where words, biblical words, like holiness, repentance, and Lordship are scrubbed from the vocabulary in an effort to . . . ? You may be able to get people to attend churches like that but God doesn’t show up much at all...” More here.

The following is a clip from the Q&A portion of Mark Driscoll’s sermon series on the Song of Songs, called the Peasant Princess.

Just a quick post to say that the weekend is off to an AMAZING start! I heard that more than 100 people from the community showed up this morning for the Grand Opening of our new Clothes Closet ministry - wow! That is awesome! And I also heard that we had a terrific turnout from our church family to help! How great is that! I am so proud of all of you! This was another GIANT step toward loving our community toward Jesus!

Last night and this morning I had the privilege of speaking at a Family Retreat for some dear folks from the Patrick Springs Christian Church. The retreat was held at the Park Springs Christian Center, which is a campground just south of Danville, about 5 miles into NC. It’s a beautiful campground, very scenic, with the main building sitting right on the edge of the lake. I had an absolute blast. Jim Headen (Mark’s father) is ministering with this congregation. They were a wonderful group of folks – warm, gracious, and excited about being in the Word together.

I’m really looking forward to being with all of you at Christ’s Church in the morning! It’s going to be a great day! I’m going to be preaching on wholehearted giving out of Malachi 3. It’s going to be fun, challenging, and encouraging, I promise! You’re not going to want to miss the opening video - it’s hilarious and packs a punch! See you in the morning.

Dave Ramsey has weighed in on the current Wall Street crisis. He acknowledges, “We are at a crucial time in our country’s financial history. Congress defeated the $700 billion bailout plan on Monday. However, they are revising it and trying to push it through again. Dave is supporting an alternative plan that will keep our nation from going even deeper in debt.” Read more here:

3 STEPS TO CHANGE THE NATION’S FUTURE