I Prayed to Win My Fantasy Football League...And I'm Ok With It

 

The past two weeks I've prayed to win my Fantasy Football league with co-workers. We started our playoffs last week and I barely made it in, like by the skin of my teeth barely. But I didn't pray to make the playoffs. I wanted to win but it was not on my prayer list. It wasn't until I was in the playoffs that I started praying to win. The commisioner of our league, a critic of Christianity, posted on our league that if I won the whole thing that he wouldd go to church. It was at that time that I started praying. I was the underdog facing an oppnent that should have beat me handedly.

As our matchup progressed it looked like I was going to lose until Tom Brady came out of nowhere and scored a ton of points. Something I was frankly hoping against because it would probably mean the 49ers losing, since they're are my favorite team I didn't want that to happen. But I continued to pray and I won my matchup. 

This week I am again facing an oppnent that should beat me handedly. But I am continuing to pray for victory. But why? 

I am praying because I believe that this could be an opportunity for my co-worker to hear the Gospel and respond. This could be a moment that God is using to draw this individual closer to himself. God works in mysterious ways, and he may even use Fantasy Football. 

We'll see if I win this weekend and if I do happen to win if my co-worker stands by his word. 

 

 

 

 

Photo from: http://myglimpsesofglory.com/2012/09/07/fantasy-football-christianity/ found via google search. 

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Doctrine of Heaven Sermon

I gave this sermon at Rock Bible Church, where I serve as the Youth Pastor, on Sunday 11/25/2012. The primary passage is Revelation 21:1-8.

https://vimeo.com/54377446

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Thoughts on the Election

Well the day is finally here, the day America votes on another president. This year unlike others it feels as if more is on the line. In previous elections the sense was both candidates had specifics to them but neither would take the country in a dramatic new direction. This has changed. This year there is a sense that the directions are completely different. There is no question that I have a preferred outcome in this election, as I imagine most do.

But that's not what is on my mind. The Christian perspective regardless of who wins is on my mind. Like many I can get caught up in the election cycle and find myself placing a small measure of hope for the direction of this country in the candidates that I am hoping are elected. While it is not wrong to have a desired outcome, it is wrong to misplace hope. 

If you are a Christian you must keep one simple fact in mind. Whoever wins will win because God desires that outcome. So if you are a Christian and your candidate wins, great. If you're a Christian and your candidate doesn't win, bummer but God still has this thing under control. That does not mean that you don't desire Obama or Romney to win, that's perfectly acceptable. But those of us who call ourselves Christian must remember that Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And nothing can change that.

Here are two verses for you to keep in mind today, and tomorrow. 

Daniel 2:21 Speaking of God Daniel states "He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding"

And

Romans 13:1 "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God."

May your hope be placed in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords regardless of who wins today. 

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Vision for the Church Blog Post

Apparently I signed up to receive Redeemer City to City month emails at some point in the last month because today I received an email from them with some highlights over the past month. One blog post got my attention De-Industrialising The Church by Felipe Assis. It is a two-part post that I found intriging. Here are the posts, part 1 and part 2. He says that this is just his speculation. If you have any thoughts feel free to share them. I'd be interested to see what people think.

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KNOWN TO BE SAVED and KNOWN TO BE LOST

Short article about an amazing man. If you're a Christian would you do this for someone? 

http://baptistpress.org/BPnews.asp?ID=37601

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Afraid?

What are you afraid of?

 

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Christ's Death

This semester I'm in a class on the book of Romans. We've been going through the entire book looking at what Paul was teaching in it by the Holy Spirit. A few weeks ago we reached Romans 5 and it has caused me to ponder something about is death. I've been pondering verse 12 and some implications of my own thought. Verse 12 reads "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned." (Romans 5:12 HCSB). 

What I've been thinking about heavily revolves around the Christian belief that Christ was indeed sinless, that he lived the perfect life free of sin (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). What I've been thinking about is that Christ shouldn't have died, not in a purpose sense but in a consiquence sense. As we see in Romans 5:12 death is a natural consiquence of sin. If sin had not entered the world, death would not have entered it either. This is a difficult idea for us to grasp because death is so real to us, more real than sin at times. By that I mean we consciously grasp death better than we do sin. Since Jesus never sinned he should never had died. I had never thought about this before. It never occured to me that Christ would never have died. Death is so normal to us that we expect all people to die, which is a quality I mistakenly put upon Jesus. If someone were to never sin they would live forever. Every man's death is proof of his sinfulness. 

But then we must ask "Why did Jesus die? If he never sinned then why did he receive the punishment for it?" That is because God put the punishment of the sin of men upon him. This is clearly seen in the 2 Corinthians verse I linked to above. If Christ had not taken our sin upon himself he would have lived forever in a human sense. But God in his infinite love for humanity made Christ sin so that we might be made righteouss. We still face death but we also face eternal life as well, depending on if we have faith in God it will be eternally with him and if we do not place our faith in him it will be eternally seperated. 

On this Good Friday, or any day you happen to read this, may you realize the depth of your sin that Christ himself took upon himself. May you turn to him and receive his free gift of salvation. May you glorify the Lord in his glorious death. 

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What are you rejoicing in today?

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This could be the best cereal on earth. Peanut Butter Puffins.

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