Mornings with Mike

Well, the fun has just begun! Today i started my training for the 5k run! I ended up jogging/walking 1.7 miles today! Not bad for just getting off the couch…literally! I am by far in the worst shape of my life!

At first, I didn’t think I was going to be able to do this…the warm-up walk went just fine, but when it came time for the first jog, I felt a very sharp “shocking” sensation going through all my toes on both feet. Then, it hit me…my feet have NEVER ran with this much weight bearing down on them! I trudged through, and after the first jog, never felt the pain again.

It was a very pleasant run, and really seemed to get me ready for the day. I enjoyed it, and am really looking forward to the end result – actually being in shape!

We will see you Monday when the next run takes place (unless I decide to do it tomorrow).

Will keep you posted as to my progress!

One of the most essential elements of doing anything as a team is to make sure that EVERYBODY is on the same page. A team can never reach their destination if everyone is not pulling on the same rope. I have found that growing a church is a group effort. It takes a team to grow a church, and the Captain of that team HAS to be Christ!

I thought about many ways we could get everyone at the church to go in the same direction. I came up with several ideas, one of which is to come up with a theme for the church for the year 2010. I talked with my Asst Pastor, Bro. Phil about this, and told him that I wanted to have some sort of a theme that was along the lines of taking our Christianity to the next level. Immediately, he thought of the Emeril Lagasse on Emeril Live and his famous saying, “Kick it up a notch”. So, I thought…BAM…why not!?!? What a great theme for River City for the year 2010. KICK IT UP A NOTCH!

There are some areas that we are going to have to kick it up a notch in if we are going to see River City grow in 2010.

The main area, I believe, is our personal walk with God. I am a firm believer that public ministry will NEVER precede private victory. If God is going to bless at River City, then I need to be sure that my personal life is one that He can bless. That means more of my Bible. More praying…more fasting…more giving…more, more, more! In fact, I believe that God doesn’t want “more” of me…HE WANTS ALL OF ME!!! We have got to kick it up a notch in our personal walk.

Another area in which we need to kick it up a notch in, of course, is in our ministry. We MUST, MUST, MUST be willing to do whatever God desires of us if He is going to bless. We must be faithful to His house. We must be faithful to serve. Faithfulness is the key word! God wants us to be faithful to River City…if we aren’t faithful, then He has absolutely no reason to bless!

I’m going to be preaching Sunday morning on this subject…Kickin’ it up a notch! And I want you to be praying, if you are going to be in the service, that God will speak to your heart, and show you how YOU can kick it up a notch to get things rolling for the new year!!!

Well, we had our 1st Christmas with Alaina, and I must say it was a rather enjoyable one.  She had no idea what was going on, but we wanted to get a few pictures, so we sat her up in her bumbo seat (a seat that helps her learn to sit up on her own) and we packed the presents all around her, and snapped away with the camera!  If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she actually enjoyed herself.  She received lots of gifts from the people from the church, as well as othe family members.  She is the first great-grand-daughter for Angie’s grandparents, and the first grandaughter for either one of our parents!  Not to mention the first grandchild for my mom!  Needless to say, Alaina was definitely spoiled her first Christmas.  I believe we are going to hve to move into a bigger house as the years pass, if this is a taste of what it is going to be like during the future Christmases!

Tomorrow, she will get to spend “Christmas” with her Mammaw as she is coming up from Monroe, LA.  I am very excited to watch Alaina grow, but not very excited to watch her grow more mischeivious as time goes on!  Ha ha.

Thank you all for the great gifts, and thank you for your prayers!  We could not survive without the prayers of people who care enough to intercede on our behalf…we really mean that!

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year…a New Year filled with fun, minus the trouble that tends to follow on New Year’s Eve!    Hope to see you all in Church Sunday morning!  Kick off the New Year right…and try not to miss a single Sunday service…resolve to be in a service somewhere on every Sunday in 2010, and watch how God miraculously works in your life!  God Bless You!

Here recently, I have had several people ask me if I thought BHO was the antichrist.

One very interesting video on the subject was presented to me by Mrs. Jane, a faithful attendee of River City.

The video presented the idea that possibly Jesus told us exactly who the antichrist was going to be from Luke 10:18, “(KJV) And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”  The reasoning behind the video for BHO being the antichrist is that in OT, the word for “lightening” is the Hebrew word <baraq> and the word for heaven (or heights in Isa 14:14) is the Hebrew word <bammah>.  The Hebrew conjunction ‘o’ is used to join words in the Hebrew language, and would join the two words <baraq> and <bammah>.  So, if  a Hebrew scholar were reading Luke 10:18 today, he would read it in this manner:  “And he said unto them, i beheld Satan as BARAQ O BAMMAH.”

I studied the uses of these words, consulting the Greek Septuagint.  What I found was this:  The word <baraq> used in the OT as “lightning” is translated as the same word in Luke 10:18 in the NT 8 out 22 times.  However, the word <bammah> used 92 times in the OT, is never translated as the same word used in Luke 10:18 for “heaven”, which is the word <oo-ran-os>.  AND, the conjunction ‘o’ in Hebrew is always translated as either “and” or as “or”, and NEVER as “from” as the author of the video suggested.

So, in conclusion, if a Hebrew scholar were to read the verse Luke 10:18 today, he would read it this way:

“And he said unto them, i beheld Satan as BARAQ OORANOS.”

So, based on this video, I DO NOT think we have conclusive evidence that BHO is the antichrist.

I do know this…based on 2 Thes 2:2-3, the antichrist will not be revealed until the Rapture has taken place.  Whether the antichrist will be Barack, whether he will be someone else, I do not know.

I do know that regardless of who he will be, I am to focus, not on the Antichrist…but on the Christ!  And I am to live each moment in view of His return because at any moment, that trumpet could sound, we will hear a shout, and in that moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we will be caught up together to meet Him in the air, and we shall FOREVER be with the Lord!

What a day that will be!!!

Well, Christmas is almost here…just 3 more days! We were at WalMart just last night, and as Angie and I were checking out, doing some last minute Christmas shopping, I got my bags, scooted Alaina over in the shopping cart, placed the bags in the cart, and exclaimed to the cashier “Have a Merry Christmas!” And almost instinctively, without a moment’s hesitation, she replied, “Happy Holidays”, closed out her drawer, and went on break. There was no smile on her face, there was no joy in her voice, and there was no sense of anticipation as the day of Christmas approached just around the corner.

I told Ang, “I just don’t see what the big deal is about saying ‘Merry Christmas’…we have been saying it for years!”

It’s evident that we are living in a day where “Taking Christ out of Christmas” is not just a fancy little phrase that sounds good in a sermon…IT IS REAL!!! For some reason, Christ has REALLY offended some people…and He has offended some people who are in power, because they have done something about it!

This Christmas…in a land where people from all walks of life are determined not to bring Christ into Christmas, I’m begging you…bring Christ into as many people’s Christmas as you possibly can! Merry Christmas to all…and to all, a Christ-filled night!