Wellington Church of Christ

In our day to day lives, as we look at the world we live in, it is impossible to tell how God is working on a large scale.  This wasn’t always the case.

In the Old Testament, God made his large scale plan clear many times:

I’m overjoyed that we’re going to be together again!  I can’t wait to preach to faces again and not stare into my own face in the selfie mode of an iPhone while preaching!

You’ve heard me say before that when I preach that I’m not just preaching to you but that I’m preaching to myself as well, but that has never been truer than it has been lately.  I have, quite literally, been preaching to myself.

Who Are Those Sacks For?

The sacks on the table at the front of the sanctuary are donations for Carpenter Place, formerly known as Maude Carpenter Children’s Home, a girls home in Wichita.

Unlike other girls homes, Carpenter Place provides a Christian home environment.  Their aim is help each girl realize her true potential in Christ, with an ultimate goal of reuniting that girl with her family.

A part of the Christian life is struggling with doubt.  Worse than having doubts, is the results of our doubts. 

For instance, there was a time that I was doing some rock climbing with a friend.  He was inexperienced and didn’t have much confidence out on the ledges.  We came to a place where you had to put your hands on a ledge about four feet high and then do a combination of a jump while pushing yourself up to get to the higher ledge.

The best part of climbing a mountain is the moment that you reach the very top and look back at where you came from.  This moment is what I like to refer to as the payoff. 

I like to refer to it as the payoff because in order to have made it, there was a price that had to be paid.  The price was advanced training and strenuous hiking.  Most often, the more difficult the hike, the greater the payoff.

This year Rex, Nathan and me are going to Honduras on a week-long mission trip.  This will be Nathan’s first year, Rex’s second and my eighth. 

What do we do there?  We work with a Honduran mission organization called Predisan.  There are a few areas of service.  One is called latrine projects.  Basically, we build outhouses for families that live in the remotest part of Honduras.

Sometimes I find myself in a situation that is so difficult I think to myself, “If I would’ve known how hard this was going to be, I don’t know if I would’ve done it.”

The most obvious example is hiking the Grand Canyon in a day.  It’s not until you are on your way out, physically and emotionally exhausted, that you begin to wonder what you’re truly made of.

What If…             

What would it look like if every person at our church set just one ministry goal for 2020?  When I say ministry goal, it could be a variety of different things.

Have you ever been told to do something that you didn’t think you could do? 

When I was little boy, age five or six, I was with my parents at a pool party.  I couldn’t yet swim, so when I jumped into the pool, I always jumped close to edge so I could reach out quickly, grab the side and pull myself back to safety.

My parents told me to jump into middle of the pool and they would catch me.  I didn’t believe them, so I didn’t listen.  I jumped again, only this time too close to the side.  My chin hit the concrete edge and busted wide open.  To add insult to

One of the worst effects of sin is its nature to desensitize us.  What does that mean exactly?  Simply stated, to be desensitized means to become less sensitive.

Nothing better illustrates desensitization than the disease of leprosy.  For years doctors believed that the disease produced decay.  It was later discovered that the disease does not produce decay itself, but rather, it damages the peripheral nervous system.