Monday, August 15, 2011

in threes

sorry, for the delay on today's blog, but I preached my third funeral sermon in seven days this morning at 10:00. My mom used to say that people died in threes, but of course they don't...they die in ones and someone dies just about every day. I'll have to say that funeral sermons take a lot out of me emotionally...but in a way I value being able to say a word of encouragement for the family as they go through this hard time. It is part of the job that you never are really ready for, but when you love the people, God gives you strength to do it.

Yesterday, the vision t-shirts went pretty quickly and so we are ordering more. Of course there are three choices: Fearless, Ridiculous and Dangerous. These come from our vision to be a "fearless church of Christ followers whose ridiculous love and dangerous witness are irresistible". It has been interesting for me to watch the staff and elders choose theirs. The overwhelming choice for staff and elders is "ridiculous"..but that may just be that they like the blue color. I went with "fearless" because I want to be a man who is marked by such faith in God that i face life in a fearless way. What are you?

Three more Sundays until "original sex". What is that? It is a return to the reason and design behind sexuality according to it's origins founding Genesis 2. We will use the Scriptures to guide us in addressing every sexual issue of our day. This much needed sermon is a great chance to bring friends to help understand God's view on sex and why our culture is totally messing it up. For obvious reasons, I won't be using the white board on that Sunday :-)

6 comments:

Kelly said...

can't wait for the Smalls to come in. would love to order some for my jr higher. can the shirts be ordered in youth sizes? considering bringing him to the 'sex' sermon to hear God's view- would you recommend for 6th grade? Thanks for sharing your passion for preaching God's word. We've been members for about 8 years.

Mike Baker said...

Yeah, Kelly I think an 6th grader can understand this all. Love ya

Anonymous said...

I'm holding out for the irresistable shirt...in pink please :)

Kathryn said...

Sure hope you are planning on ordering youth sizes too. The kids can be just as fearless, dangerous, and ridiculous as us adults (and sometimes more). I know mine are!

Anonymous said...

Will the Edge have a Jr. High version of the sermon on Sept. 4th?

I was surprised to read the school curriculum and see that it was a topic there in 7th grade.

Shanna Phillips said...

Thomas and I were discussing which shirt would represent us best. I replied, "well I am not sure which color the other shirts come in" to which he replied "that is exactly why I would pick ridiculous for you" :) ...such a gift that God has blessed me with such an amazing husband who I can study with, experience life with, and grow closer to God with!