Entertainment #2

Pastor preached a message about reining in our obsession with entertainment. Here are the questions he laid out that we should use to determine if our entertainment glorifies God.

#1Does it celebrate or glorify sin? Romans 1:32 Not only do we need to abstain from sin we dont need to approve of or celebrate those who are sinning.
#2 Does it Help or hurt in your walk with God? 1 Cor 10:23 1 Cor 6:12
#3 Does it build up: edify or tear down? Not just myself but others, those I am watching and those in my life that are affected by my use of time, and those I influence by my entertainment choices? 1Cor 10:2
#4 Does it control you? Do you control it? Are you brought *under its power*?
#5 Does it redeem the time or waste it? Ephesians 5:16 Col 4:5

Entertainment

Hope John Piper doesnt mind if I use some of his wisdom here.....

#1 Recognize if you are consumed/obsessed with entertainment. This could be videos, sport, internet, Facebook, card games....anything that is frivolous and doesnt redeem the time.

#2 Seek the Lord about your obsession. Confess, repent and pray earnestly for deliverance. We have no real self control without the Spirit of God. Self control is a fruit of HIS Spirit not something we can muster up.

#3 Immerse yourself in the Word, ask the Lord to make His word come alive and thrill us in a more genuine way than any worldly entertainment. Read it when you would rather be entertained.

#4 Hang out with Godly people who love God and His ways and Word. Avoid carnal people who just want to be entertained by the sludge of this world.

#5 Think about your death. How do you want to spend you few precious days here. Redeem your fleeting days on earth for HIS GLORY!

God awakened in me a fear and a passion not to waste my life. The thought of coming to my old age and saying through tears,"I've wasted it! I've wasted it!" was a fearful and horrible thought to me.~J Piper

Parenting Myths

#1 You can immerse a foolish child in a room full of foolish children and expect something wise to come out of it.

#2 There are 2 Bibles one for adults and one for children.

#3 Children need to be segregated with other same aged children in church, and school.

#4 Children are too dumb, carnal, hyper (insert any excuse) to understand Biblical principals, the things of God need to be presented in an entertaining way as to compete with the world.

#5 Children are best taught about Jesus by the church and arithmetic by the government schools. All training should be outsourced by experts and professionals.

#6 If my child is not responding to Godly training then I should let that dictate how I train. I should cater my methods to how my child responds, and not the Bible.

#7 If I home school, spank, shelter and listen to Voddie Bauchman my children will turn out well and live for God. Wrong. I am starting to think smiling at them is more important than all the above combined.

#8 If children aren't socialized with worldly peers they wont know how to relate to them when they leave home.

#9 My children are called to be soul winners and they cant be light and salt unless they are immersed in public school and other age segregated cattle programs.

#10 All children go through stages of tantrum throwing , rebellion, hyper activity, (insert any sinful behavior) so I'm justified to ignore it and chalk it up as *just a stage*.

Word Search

The Bible talks about people who strain at gnats and swallow camels, they obsess and fuss over small issues while neglecting the weightier issues like faith, justice and mercy.

I did a quick word search to try to find out what God thinks important enough to mention over and over again in His word. I pray these ongoing themes would be the ongoing themes of my heart. God let my actions words and deeds scream where your Words screams and let my life whisper where your Word whispers.

These are the most common nouns in the Bible.

Lord 7970 times

God 4094 times

Man 3323 times

King 2504 times

Sin 1016 times

New Testament

Jesus-1310
Say-442

Glory-338
Faith-287
Brother-275
Law-275
Love-261
Good-238
Kingdom-155
Grace-114
Sin-104
One Another-100
Pharisee-99
Poor-41
Trinity-0

Single Purpose

This passage seems like a bit of a contradiction.

The Bible tells us to look at this example, this perfect example, Jesus, who was able to find joy, in the midst of the shame He endured on the cross. Naked, isolated, tortured, yet He was able to find joy because to give God glory is why Christ was created. His single purpose was being fulfilled. Joy. Something about obedience, obeying His commands, giving Him glory brings JOY, and isn't it true that so much of our joy is indeed found in the midst of suffering he has orchestrated for His glory?

Hebrews 12:2

2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Lacking ANY value in restraining sensual indulgence

Colossians 2:18-23
18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.