I like this statement – we will ungrudgingly  render unto Caesar’s what is Caesar’s, however will not render unto Caesar’s what is God’s.

 ¹ “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

² “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. ³ He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the LORD. ⁴ Then once more the LORD will accept the offerings brought to him by the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as he did in the past.

Ron Owens,  Return to Worship: A God-Centered Approach

Perhaps I should have titled this post “Buffets are of the Devil.”  :)

This past weekend, we decided to celebrate the Chinese New Year.  We did that by eating Chinese food on Sunday.  There was a debate as to where we should eat.  Several places were suggested and finally we picked a place that we had been before.

Our family hasn’t eaten Chinese in a while.  One of those reasons is that we can’t find a good place to eat.  This past weekend we did receive several suggestions that we will try the next time.  But that isn’t the point of this post.  I knew that we were going to a Chinese Buffet and that is alright.  The problem becomes what to eat without eating too much.

Over the past 6 months, I have become more and more aware of how the quantities of food affect our weight.  I say this a someone who now exercises on a regular basis and am probably more fit than I ever have been in my life.  During this time I have become more and more concerned with those who are overweight, even though I am still there according to my BMI.  (By the way, I am still losing weight, despite Sunday’s buffet experience.) I get concerned when we go to buffets and I see people go up and get plate after plate of food (I say this as a person who was one of them.) With the amount of places that you can go to get a buffet at a reasonable price, (Golden Corral, KFC, any number of Chinese buffets in town, Cici’s Pizza and so on) it is easy to see why so many Americans are in the situation that I was in not that long ago.

I can feel and I can empathize with those who are in that situation.  The cycle is so hard to break..for one reason food, unlike other additions, is something that each one of us need to live.  Let me make this clear – I love eating, so I say this as one who has struggled with this for a long time and yet, I want to encourage those who read this post, to stop and consider what consuming large quantities of food on a regular basis is doing to you.

This post or losing the weight has not come easy.  It has been a struggle, but lately I have put several pictures up on Facebook and I have gotten some wonderful comments.  It feels good to be (somewhat) skinny and to be fit.  So again I encourage you — if you are in need of taking off some pounds — take the plunge.  If you need encouragement — I am here. Seize the Day!

This morning, we were watching Good Morning America while getting ready to come to church and bring James to the bus stop.  Along comes the story, that is incredible to hear.

Sunday night we watched as the Ravens blew their opportunity to win the AFC championship.  Fieldgoal Kicker Billy Cundiff missed a relatively short 32 yard field goal.  From what I understand the 49er/Giants game had a similar last minute blunder that cost the 49ers the game.

While watching the news this morning, I found out that so called “fans” have sent death threats via social media.  I realize that many people take sports much more seriously than I do.  For me sports are a past time – something I do when there’s nothing else to do.  But seriously, football — even NFL football, is just a game people.  As I was doing some research about this, I came across this great article.

Kyle Williams Death Threats Further Prove Sports Fans Yet to Evolve

The writer says it better than I can, but here are a few excerpts:

Kyle Williams has been receiving multiple death threats since Sunday night. His crime? He did not hurt anyone. He did not assault anyone. He did not lie, cheat or steal. He didn’t bilk anyone out of their life savings. He did not embezzle from investors. He did not commit and sins or crimes against humanity.

He fumbled.

Alright, he fumbled twice.

But death threats? Really?

This is a game, people.

—

Kyle Williams is a 23-year-old kid who was thrust into a situation that he may not have been ready for, following the injury that forced Ted Ginn Jr. to sit out the NFC Championship Game on Sunday. He has played two seasons in the NFL after coming out of the Arizona State Sun Devils collegiate team. He is still just a kid.

Yes, his two mistakes led to the Giants winning the game and advancing to the Super Bowl. The 49ers will have to wait until next year to get back to glory. As will the Ravens.

But folks, life goes on in San Francisco and Baltimore.

Life goes on for Williams and Cundiff.

Life needs to go on for certain fans as well.

It is just a game.

Just a game.

People can criticize Ray Lewis of the Ravens if they want. But they need to handle a loss as well as he does. Take a cue from Lewis and listen to his comments regarding Cundiff and the loss.

And this is a player who plays the game. Not just a fan of the game.

It is time to change people.

And that time is now.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship and Invocation

Ephesians 6:13-17

Songs of Worship

Come People of the Risen King

Made Me Glad

Video

Worship Through Prayer

Missions Moment – Dave and Donna Tolan

Songs of Worship

Standing on the Promises

Thy Word

Children’s Sermon

Worship Through Giving

Song of Worship

Ancient Words

Worship Through God’s Word

The Sword of the Lord

Closing Song

Onward Christian Soldiers

Benediction

]]> http://daleargot.com/2012/01/22/sunday-set-list-126/feed/ 0 Dale Argot http://daleargot.com/2012/01/19/there-is-healing/ http://daleargot.com/2012/01/19/there-is-healing/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:55:51 +0000 Pam Argot http://daleargot.com/?p=7456 Continue reading »

One of my favorite books when I am going through a hard time in my life is Under His Wings and Other Places of Refuge by Patsy Clairmont. It is a book to help people when circumstances cloud our perspective and rain on our lives. There are great poems in this book which I am thinking of posting in the next couple of weeks. This week I have picked a poem that was written by a woman who was working through healing from having an abortion. This coming Sunday we are remembering Sanctity of Human Life.  I know this is a very emotional subject. We talk about this subject in many ways — teaching children and teen to keep themselves pure, helping women who are pregnant to get care for them and their babies, and loving those who had abortion and helping them heal. All of these are important. I do not see abortion going away any time soon, so we need to do all we can to help those in need.

This poem comes from Jeanie who was 18 years old and her boyfriend Ted who was 19 year old and were expecting a baby. They decided to get a back room abortion.  Later they got married but the memories of the decision continued to haunt their marriage.  One day they heard “Focus on Family” on the radio and the subject was abortion.  There had been years of guilt, pain and loss of their secret baby. They decide to have a memorial service for their baby. Jeanie wrote this poem for a tribute to the baby:

Our little innocent one,

We want to say good-bye.

We’ve missed the opportunity

To hear your laugh and cry.

 

Because we were so immature,

We wounded you one day.

But God knows we are sorry;

For forgiveness we did pray.

 

Thou’ many years have passed,

Still you linger in our heart.

Our little, innocent one,

We will not remain apart.

 

For when life’s battles won,

Our God, He knows ‘tis true

As David did his son,

That we will come to you.

We need to let those who had abortions know that there can be healing found in God. We need to love them as God loves them.

]]>

Click on the link above for a short video in honor of today.

As we were walking out of the armory, Dale and I observed that that the military is a sub-culture.  If you are immersed in the middle of a sub-culture, you know exactly what the protocol is and what the language is supposed to mean.  Those on the outside are clueless, as we were that day.  They were not trying to make us feel out place, they were just doing their job.  As our conversation continued, we started to wonder how that applies to us as Christians.  Are there times when we are with a group of Christians that we make outsiders feel out of place?  In the church we have our own protocol – our own way of doing things.  This can even apply to different types of churches.  For example, when we attended Rebecca and Michael’s church last summer, it was completely foreign to the way we are used to worshiping – it had its own protocol and language (even though it was in English.) There are people who come to our church from other churches and the way we do things would make them feel out of place – our protocol and language are different — not necessarily a bad thing – but different.)

Let’s take this a step further – what about those who come into our churches from the outside – those who are not familiar with church at all.  How do they respond to our protocol and language?  Each church – unless they have been very intentional about it – will have its unique way of doing things.  Those on the inside know what’s going on, but those who are coming in will feel out of place.  Those who are coming into church for the first time (and the number of people doing that is more and more) will be unfamiliar with the way we do things and the way we talk.  How many times do we make people feel out of place because the way we talk or the things we do? The church should not be a place where people feel they are out place. Are there things we can do as Christian to make the church more welcoming?

Let me end with this short example.  We have words in our Christian vocabulary that mean what they mean and they are the best word for that situation.  Many of these words are what Dale calls “five-dollar words.”  They are big words – they are confusing words – at least to outsiders and maybe even to some inside the church.   Dale makes a conscious effort to define theological and big words to the congregation when he preaches.  He will try to break the word down so that the congregation knows and understands.

Because we live in our sub-culture though, it can be difficult to see those blind spots – those places when we are using a foreign protocol and language to those who are around us.

Many years ago, Phil Keaggy wrote a song titled, “Who Will Speak Up for the Little Ones.” It was a song asking who would stand up for the ones who couldn’t say anything — the unborn and little babies. Throughout the world today, including the United States, slavery still exists. Check out theses facts.

Tomorrow is Human Trafficking Awareness Day – January 11. I encourage you to find out more and spend time in prayer tomorrow remembering those who can’t speak up for themselves.