Andrew did a wonderful job on the lesson yesterday. It was entitled "Frustrating the Father".
Have
you ever seen a "two-headed" driver in a car or truck coming toward
you? You know, the girlfriend is sitting right next to her boyfriend so
closely that it literally looks like a double-headed person is driving.
Later in the relationship, there's much more space between them in
the front seat. His question was this: "If you realize you don't sit as
close together as you once did, who do you think moved?".
God doesn't move; we do. It happened centuries ago with the Jewish people; it happens today.
The
people of Malachi's time made God weary by asking questions like "Why
does evil go unpunished?". Have you ever asked that question? I have.
I wasn't accusing God like the Jewish people were, but it does
sometimes feel like nice guys finish last.
God's answer then was the same as it is now. Just wait. Those
doing evil will get their punishment in the end. And there is nothing
they can do to stop it.
Through God's word (especially the New
Testament) we see that becoming a Christian is not a ticket to a life of
ease. It's pretty much guaranteed the opposite will happen. But
living a Christian life brings you more joy than you will ever
experience with anything else.
It makes me wonder why we don't smile more during the worship service. Something to think about.
Make it a great week!
Loyally yours,
Darren Bayne
“A lot of what we think of as neurosis on this country is
simply people who are unhappy because they are not using their creative
resources.”Julia Cameron
On Wednesday morning at 8:30 a.m., a tech from Standard Heating and
Cooling came to the house to inspect our air conditioning system as part
of our annual contract. He checked the unit outside, and he went in
the attic to check the unit up there. When he was done, he showed us
his list of what he did and gave us some tips on keeping the system
running smoothly. He was gone by 9:15 a.m.
At around 3 p.m., my wife and I went in the garage for some
reason. She noticed water puddling on a barstool we stored out there.
We looked up and saw water dripping from the exhaust pipe opening for
the hot water heater. Though I am no "Mr. Fix-it", I knew that wasn't
right. Then we saw two large wet spots on the drywall on the garage
ceiling.
I climbed up in the attic to investigate. Eighteen square feet of
plywood used for flooring were soaked. On the far side of that where
there was no plywood, I saw the cause of the wet drywall. Water pooled
between the joists on the drywall.
I traced the water back to the problem: an unscrewed joint in the
PVC pipe that led from the A/C unit's condenser to outside. Instead of
the water running through the pipe to drain harmlessly outside, it was
dripping in the attic. The tech had unscrewed the joint to make sure it
wasn't blocked. He failed to screw the joint back together. One small
mistake caused a mess.
The fix was simple. I screwed the fitting on the joint and the
problem was solved. But the mess wasn't. Do you know how hot an attic
is in June in Alabama?
My wife tossed two old towels and a
bucket up to me so I could sop up the water. I moved storage boxes
(plastic, fortunately) that were sitting on the wet plywood. I used the
towel to soak up water puddled on the drywall. It was wonderful
soaking up water mixed with blown insulation. Really clean stuff.
Not. I'd wring out the wet towels in the bucket and put the towel in
the water to do it again.
By the time I had all the standing water gone, I was as soaked as my
towels. Did I mention that the attic could honestly be listed as a
sauna on an MDS?
While I battled the water, my wife called
Standard, who got someone there within 25 minutes. He confirmed my fix
was right and took pictures. He promised Standard would fix things, and
we'll still use them in the future.
The whole ordeal was frustrating. But it was fixable.
Our lesson this week is "Frustrating the Father". Perfect lesson title
for Father's Day, right?
Through a look at our scripture passage of Malachi 2:17-3:12,
we will see things the Jewish people did to frustrate God. But like
our A/C leak problem, we'll also see how they can be fixed.
Join us at 9:50 a.m. on Sunday as we explore this fully. For those of you traveling this weekend, we pray for safe travels.
And as an appetizer for the Dads in the class, here's a video for you:
Finish Friday strong. Enjoy Saturday with your family. See you Sunday!
Loyally yours,
Darren Bayne
“There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this
world than for bread.”Mother Teresa
We
explored how God hates us having a casual commitment to Him in our
lesson yesterday. God chastised the priests for being casual toward
their responsibility. He then chastised the people for being casual in
their commitments to their relationships and to their families.
Why was this important to Him? It's important because, as
believers, our actions (commitments) toward others are a reflection on
God. Always remember that the love we show (or don't show) to others is
being noticed.
During the worship service, Lyn H. gave a moving story that
happened during Vacation Bible School last week. A lady who doesn't
have a church home signed her two kids up for VBS. She's going through a
divorce. She wanted her kids to be away from the drama, and she wanted
some time to herself to handle things. One day, she needed to pick the
kids up early. Each of the kids' teachers bragged on the children and
what they had done through the week.
The lady called Lyn later telling her how much it meant to see love
in action at our church. Those VBS workers may not have thought they
were doing anything special. But they held up a light in one person's
dark world.
During Sunday School, we started by looking at the commitment needed in 1519 for Cortez to take the treasure...
I
mentioned one of my favorite 80's movies. If you've got one hour,
thirty-four minutes, and thirty-eight minutes to spare, here is "Some Kind of Wonderful"...
We finished with a challenge to all the men in the class in honor of Father's Day next week. Will you be Courageous?
Make it a great week!
Loyally yours,
Darren Bayne
“Don’t be afraid to take a big step if one is
indicated.You can’t cross a chasm in
two small steps.”David Lloyd George
Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD once wrote, “It is
astonishing that 90% of the world’s problems result from people failing to keep
their commitments. Heads of state, CEO’s, family members, and friends, every
missed goal or uncompleted task can be traced back to someone not keeping their
end of the bargain.”
What
do you think of that number--90 percent? I'm not sure how you can
quantify the cause of each problem, but that 90% number may be right.
Think about it--most of our problems come from disagreements or
miscommunications in our relationships. Then, instead of confronting
the issue, we allow it to fester. Finally, we decide that solving the
problem is too tough so we walk away from the commitment we had in the
relationship.
This happens in our
jobs, our families, our church, our friendships, our prayer life.
Things don't go the way we want them so we take our proverbial ball and
go home.
Our scripture for this week is Malachi 2:1-16.
In it, God chastises both the priests and the Jewish people for taking
their commitments to Him too lightly. And we'll see what the
consequences of those casual commitments were.
Along the way on
Sunday (9:50 a.m.), we'll look at the parallels of Old Testament time
and modern day. By the time we leave each others' company, I hope we'll
have all decided to strengthen our commitments to both God and others.
Finish Friday strong. Enjoy Saturday with your family. See you Sunday! Loyally yours,
Darren Bayne
"Each of us must be committed to maintaining the reputation
of all of us. And all of us must be committed to maintaining the reputation of
each of us."Jim Rohn
'Robotic Ritual' describes doing the right actions in worship without
having your heart in it. Sometimes coming to church can become a
‘robotic ritual’ for
us.Sundays and Wednesdays are always
penciled in on the calendar.Instead of
being a reason for joy, it can become a chore.
It reminds me of an old commercial…
We
began a new focus in the book of Malachi yesterday. Malachi is the
last book in the Old Testament. After him, no word from God came to the
Jewish people until Jesus.
The big focus of chapter one in Malachi was God's unhappiness with
the sacrifices the people were bringing to Him. Instead of the best of
the herd, the people were sacrificing their lame and sick animals. The
people were following God's law halfway.
We need to make sure we bring our best to God when we worship. Here's a video that shows worship that misses the mark...
I hope you are more committed
to worshiping God in “big church”.God showed He expects your best. Anything less just isn't good enough. And
in case you want to take your worship up a notch, I have a how-to video just
for you…
No matter what you do in life, do it with all your heart. Make it a great week!
Loyally yours,
Darren Bayne
"Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were
watching." -- Thomas Jefferson
Ever had a day where you feel like you just got kicked in the stomach by a horse?
That was my day on Thursday.
You think you've gotten something great set up, then it collapses.
A different plan you have now seems like it will take months to happen instead of weeks.
You feel like you are taking the path God has shown you, but that
right turn leads to a dead end. It starts you asking, "God, what do you
really want me to do?".
That's where I stood yesterday. It's one place I hope you won't have to go. It's frustrating; it's crappy; it's scary.
But you know what? Wonder of wonders--the sun did come up this
morning. And now I'm adjusting my plans. Like my mentor, Jim Rohn,
once said, "You can't change your destination overnight, but you can
change your direction". That's where I stand now.
I may question God's timing, but I haven't questioned His plan. My
faith is there; I'm just trying to keep fear from coming through the
cracks.
Throughout the Old Testament, the Jews got close to God and then turned away from Him.
On Sunday, we're going to see God's people openly defy Him with their actions. Our lesson comes from Malachi 1:1-14. Malachi is not a book we go to often, but it covers things we'll all experience.
Join us at 9:50 a.m. Oh, and plan to eat BBQ at church after the
11:00 service. The youth group is selling BBQ plates to raise money for
their summer excursions.
Make sure your kids are registered for Vacation Bible School next week.
Finish Friday strong. Enjoy Saturday with your family. See you Sunday!
Loyally yours,
Darren Bayne
“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around
his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important.’ Not only will you succeed
in sales, you will succeed in life.”Mary Kay Ash
Yesterday was one of those fun times where our discussion kept us from going through all our verses.
The question that triggered it was "How would your love for your
family, friends, and even strangers look different if it were compelled
by the love of Christ?"
We talked about how it's easier to go on a
mission trip and share the gospel with someone we'll probably never see
again than it is to share Christ with a friend who's lost. If we are
rejected by someone we don't know, that's one thing. But we risk a
friendship if our overtures about Jesus are rejected by someone we know.
Many times we take the easy road of not sharing the gospel so we
don't "rock the boat" and make anyone feel uncomfortable. We know
that's not what the Bible tells us to do; it says to tell everyone about
Jesus.
I shared a story that Scott told me that happened during Trail Days
in Damascus, Virginia a couple weeks ago. Trail Days takes place at the
half-way point of the Appalachian Trail. Hikers have spent about three
months already on the trail. The group from our church provided basic
medical help and tests.
One hiker had developed a stomach sickness because he drank some
contaminated water somewhere on the journey. He needed to go to the
hospital to get the right medicine to cure the sickness. Scott drove
him to the hospital. While spending a few hours waiting with him, Scott
asked the hiker about his relationship with Christ.
The hiker said he was a Christian, but then quickly said he thought
that his beliefs should be a very private thing--not to be discussed
with others.
Scott asked him a couple questions. The first was
"If you had a tent that worked great for anyone hiking the Trail, would
you tell everyone about it?" The hiker said he would.
Then Scott asked, "If your relationship with Jesus brings you great
joy that you would want your family and friends to experience, would you
tell them about it?" The hiker said, "Hmmm".
That's as far as
it went. But that hiker has another three months to ponder Scott's
question. It's also a question you and I need to think about.
I hope you are enjoying your Memorial Day.
Memorial Day is
the one day during the year that we remember the 656,223 men and women
who have sacrificed their lives in the wars since the founding of our
nation. The freedoms we enjoy were purchased at a high price.
On Memorial Day, the U.S. flag is raised to the top of the staff and
then slowly lowered to half-staff position. It remains at half-staff
only until noon. At noon, the flag is raised to full-staff for the
remainder of the day.
Wikipedia has a great explanation for why this is: "The half-staff
position remembers the men and women who gave their lives in service to
their country. At noon their memory is raised by the living, who
resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their
stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all."
I'll close with a video tribute to those who gave all they had for you and me.
Make it a great week!
Loyally yours,
Darren Bayne
"It’s easy to carry the past as a burden instead of a school.
It’s easy to let it overwhelm you instead of educate you."Jim Rohn
