Last year at this time, I was praying and asking the Lord to give me a “word” for 2009. A word that I could focus on and study for the entire year. A word that God would use in my life to make me more like Him. As I prayed and read the Bible, I kept coming across the word LOVE. Even when I turned the radio or the television on, I was hearing and seeing this word or theme of Love. Over the last year, I have studied this word for my own life. Did you know that the word love is in the scriptures over 700 times? God has so much to say about this word. I believe that love is the central theme that runs all throughout Christianity. I don’t know all that God will continue to do with this word in my life in 2010, but I do believe He has already begun to show me and teach me some very specific things concerning the word love. Here is just a little of what I am learning.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says,

“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy; and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”

Listen to what this passage of scripture says. It says, all other gifts are called useless or worthless without love. It says that if we do a lot of good works for God but do not love, we are just making a bunch of noise. I pray that I do more than just make a bunch of noise for Jesus. I pray that our church does more than just make a bunch of noise for Jesus. I want to see people the way God sees people. I want to love people the way Jesus loves people. I want to love God the way that He created me to love him and I want to experience His love in a fresh new way each and every day.

1 John 4:19 says,

“We love, because He first loved us.”

This passage of scripture tells us that we love only because God first loved us. I don’t believe we can love others the way Christ intends for us to love others until we experience His love. On August 19, 1991 sitting in a gymnasium right here at First Baptist Church Springdale, Jesus Christ came into my life and changed me forever from the inside out. I experienced His love and I have never been the same.

1 John 4:7-12 says,

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”

Listen to what verse 7 says, love comes from God and verse 8 says God is love. Wow, what exciting and encouraging words from scripture. The only way we will ever be able to love the way God intended for us to love is when we are in an intimate and growing relationship with Jesus. Everything we need comes from Him. I can not love my wife, my son, my friends, my family, or anyone else the way that God intended if I do not first accept His love and then love Jesus the way that God intended for me to love Him.

I have had to ask myself the question, do I love people the way Jesus loves people? I have also had to ask if I am willing to do what it takes to love like Jesus loved. I have asked if I am experiencing God’s love in such a way that I can love people the way God loves people. I would encourage you to ask yourself the same questions. If love is meeting needs and I believe it is, then you have got to experience God’s love before you can give it away. My prayer for myself and for our church is that we would experience God’s love in a fresh new way and give it away without hesitation.

A world renowned leader has said for years, “I’ll see you at the top!” Should this be our mantra as believers? Should we strive to reach the top? How does one get there anyway? Hard work? Intellect? Connections? Money? Charisma? How does one ascend to the top? Jesus provided a glimpse of a path to greatness desired by few. His path involved: Pain, Ridicule, Lonliness, Poverty, Hatred and Death.

Paul in the second chapter of Philippians writes what is known as the earliest Christological hymn ever recorded. Paul’s verbiage is written in a style that could easily be sung and was often repeated by the early church. This scripture is known as the Kenotic Passage because of its use of the unique and rarely used word “Kenosis”. This Greek term means “self-emptying” and is used to describe the Incarnation of Jesus. This act of self-abnegation in which Jesus shed the glory He had enjoyed for all eternity was the single greatest act of humility the world has ever known. Jesus Descended Into Greatness! Wow! What a thought in our current culture where it is all about me. Jesus was not trying to find the right ladder for success. He was not trying to connect with the right individual to take Him to the top or bribe His way into a position of authority. He humbled Himself to the point of obedience and renounced His privileges of having heavenly glory, independent authority, Divine prerogatives and eternal riches for the purpose of Descending Into Greatness.

Consider the following steps that Christ undertook during the kenosis (self-emptying) and exaltation as seen in Philippians 2:

• Christ Jesus is God (2:5-6a)
• He descended to earth and because subservient to humanity (2:6b-7)
• He died a horrible death (2:8)
• He ascended to heaven and became a superior to humanity (2:9)
• Jesus Christ is acknowledged as God (2:10-11)

Questions remain as we stand at the precipice overlooking 2010:

• Are we willing to Descend into Greatness by humbly serving others?
• Are we willing to Descend into Greatness by humbly sharing Jesus with others.
• Are we willing to Descend into Greatness by humbly worshipping God in all  and for all of His glory?
• Are we willing to Descend into Greatness by humbly setting aside our privileges for the sake of the Great Commission?

True greatness always begins with humility, always involves sacrifice and always ends with Jesus. While the saying, “I will see you at the top” resonates with our fleshly desires, the typical pathway fails to follow that of Christ. I pray that 2010 will see Christ followers pursue Jesus’ example and Descend into Greatness!

You have my prayers and my thoughts as we press toward Christlikeness in 2010. May we descend together!

Happy New Year!

If you are like me I have lost my car keys a million times. I used to think that there were small aliens in my home who would hide my keys and then enjoy watching me search for them. It seems like as we get older we forget a whole lot more. Like for instance, we forget where we place things, peoples names, how something works, and then we get frustrated with ourselves. However, the Bible tells us it is a good thing to forget. Thats right, sometimes the Bible encourages us to forget what is behind us. Many times we get stuck in life because we just can’t let go of something. Sometimes it’s an episodic memory or an expectation we have. The book of Philippians chapter 3:12-14 says,

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

It’s true that we can’t live our lives always looking backward. In order to focus we must look forward and embrace what lies ahead. One of the greatest examples of this in the Bible was Joseph. After all he endured from his own family members and being in prison the Lord gave him a son and he named him Manasseh saying

“It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” Genesis 41:51.

What a real blessing it is to forget! As you think about this past year, don’t get too hung up on all you have endured or achieved, instead “press toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called you heavenward.” Remember it’s God who holds tomorrow, not us. By the way, if you can’t find your car keys try looking in your front pocket. Been there, done that!

I preached yesterday from Galatians 6:7-10 about “Reaping and Sowing in 2010.” I fear that we often get frustrated or blame God for where we are or end up in life, when really we are simply reaping what we have sown in our lives. I guess I could say, I think we’re too spiritual at times. We ponder our situation and think, why would God do this to me? In reality, we did it to ourselves.

Galatians 6 lays out a very simple yet powerful principle: You reap what you sow. As we face a new year and think towards New Year’s resolutions, we need to think Biblically. We need to examine every area of our lives and determine what we are sowing. In verse 8 Paul basically says: “If you sow to the flesh, you will reap corruption.” In other words, if you sow sin in 2010, your life is going to be messed up. At that point there is no reason to look towards heaven and shake your fist at God, but rather to look in the mirror and reflect how our sowing sin has brought corruption.

Paul continues by explaining, “If you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life.” (Floyd paraphrase) If we sow repentance and faith towards Jesus to save us, He will give us eternal life. We will reap a changed life that begins to bear fruit for the name and glory of Jesus. We will reap eternal blessings that are the result of a life focused on Heaven rather than the temporal things of this world.

In conclusion, what will you sow this year? If you sow to the Spirit, practicing obedience to God’s Word and holy living, chances are you are going to reap an eternally blessed year. On the other hand, if you sow sin this year, you will likely look back on 2010 as a year of regret and heartache after seeing the brutal effects of sin upon your life. It’s your choice. What will you sow in 2010?

Please make plans to join us for Christmas Eve Services on December 24. There will be a 4:00 p.m. service at our Springdale Campus and a 5:00 p.m. service at our Pinnacle Campus. We will be having a special time of baptism at both services. Please come dressed casual, formal, or however you normally dress for Christmas Eve. The services will last approximately forty minutes in length. Please bring your family and friends who might be in town visiting for the Christmas Holiday. Make plans to be a part of this wonderful night as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

I feel overwhelmed with joy as I write this post. My heart is grateful for the Lord’s provision. I certainly don’t deserve the blessed life He has given me.

On this day, sixteen years ago, I became spiritually alive. The Father made me a new creation. Through Jesus I won total victory.

This Christmas I have a new son. My life is different. My perspective has been transformed by a new love, unique to this little boy.

The night I experienced salvation, my father was reading the story of The Prodigal Son from the Gospel of Luke. Though I had heard it several times before, the Spirit illumined new truths. I saw the Father’s forgiveness in contrast to the outright rebellion of the son.

I look at Will, my 6 day old son, and a wonderful, new love flows from the wellspring of my heart, the Source being Christ Jesus.

Christmas is a celebration of new life. The celebration of a Savior who emptying himself, laid aside a throne, a crown, and robe. Amazingly, He traded heaven for a manger, rags, and a tiny human body. What a sacrifice of love!

The love the Father had for His Son is beyond our understanding. That He was willing to send Jesus to rescue us exceeds all human comprehension.

Christmas means different things to different people. But to me it means new life. It’s all around me.

It is seen in the birth of my son. It is remembered in the celebration of my salvation. It is proclaimed through the heavens and the earth, Jesus is everything.

He has come to bring new life.

As a child, one of my favorite things to do around this time of year was coming up with my Christmas list. I can remember spending hours going through catalogues and ads in the newspaper trying to create the perfect list with the hope that when Christmas day came, there might be a few of my choices under the tree. For most of my life, I never realized that God had included a list in His Christmas story as well. Although we often miss it, the book of Matthew begins not with the birth of Jesus but with a list.

This list is clearly different than most of ours. While we list numerous “things” that we want, God used his list to describe the type of people He had used to usher in the birth of Jesus. A few of these people wouldn’t have been a surprise as he included some of the great men of the Old Testament such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and King David.

Then, out of nowhere, God did something very interesting with his list. He began to include some unexpected names of people that nobody would have guessed to be the genealogy of Jesus. He included Tamar, a woman known for her deception in the book of Genesis. Next came Rahab, a known prostitute that God chose to use in the book of Joshua. Later came an outsider named Ruth, who had not even known there was a God most of her life but was welcomed nonetheless by a man named Boaz. Finally, He included a woman named Bathsheba, a woman known more for her adultery than any of her other actions in Scripture.

The question then becomes, “Why??” Why would God add these imperfect people to his perfect list? Why would He use the lives of these people to usher in the greatest event in human history- Jesus’ birth? The answer to this question is simple. He did this to show you that no matter who you are and no matter what you have done, Jesus was sent into the world as His gift of love to you. He did not come for the elite, the wealthy, and the religious alone, but for everyone.

From the beginning of time to Christmas 2009, God has chosen imperfect people to accomplish great things for Him. May God’s Christmas list remind you how valuable you are to Him and encourage you to show that same type of love to those around you.

The past few years I feel like I have not really taken full advantage of the Christmas season. Maybe I’m just getting older and the responsibilities of work and family don’t allow me hours upon hours to sit and watch Christmas movies on TBS all during this season. I told my wife a few weeks ago something like this, “I don’t want to miss it. I want to go all out.”

For me this means getting in the Christmas spirit. I want to listen to Christmas music and watch Christmas movies. There’s just nothing like Christmas! The whole world revolves around the Christmas season as people put up lights, get a little nicer, play Christmas music in their stores, and just enjoy the benefits of the Christmas season. I love Christmas if you can’t tell.

However, if I’m giving an honest assessment of how I’m doing this year, I think I’m falling into the same trap as the other years. My wife and I have watched, “Miracle on 34th Street” and I did catch the end of “Home Alone 2” the other day, but I still don’t feel I’ve taken full advantage of this season so far. I’ve not listened to a lot of Christmas music and not once, I tell you, not once have I taken a trip to the old school and listened to Amy Grant’s classic, “A Tender Tennessee Christmas.” Yes, the Christmas season is passing away and I may be missing it again.

How much worse would it be for us to go through Christmas and miss Jesus. Yes, we’ve listened to all the songs, watched all the movies, drank all the cider, but have left out Jesus. I want to encourage you to not miss Christ in the midst of CHRISTmas. It seems funny to say, but how many of us are doing that very thing? Is it all about the presents and feelings and not about the Savior who we celebrate? I encourage you to not miss Jesus this Christmas. Take some time and figure out how you and your family will celebrate Jesus this year above all. Don’t miss Him this Christmas!

Each year I take a little “blog time” to talk about the really important things of life – college football bowl games. Now, I am an avid college football fan and a major supporter of a football playoff system that leads to an “on the field champion.” However, this has not happened yet, so let me focus on some of the bowl games. I will not address all of them because there are way too many bowl games anyway.

Here are the games I will highlight and my football bowl predictions:

Meineke Bowl: Pittsburgh over North Carolina
Pittsburgh had Cincinnati defeated, but lost it at the end. Now they will prove their value in this bowl game.

Emerald Bowl: USC over Boston College
Even though USC does not want to be in this level of a bowl game, they will not let themselves be embarrassed any longer.

Music City Bowl: Clemson over Kentucky
C.J. Spiller, need I say more?

Independence Bowl: Georgia over Texas A&M
It is hard to believe Georgia has not earned a more prestigious bowl game with its level of talent, but this is where they are and they will defeat Texas A&M.

Holiday Bowl: Nebraska over Arizona
While this will seem like a home game for Arizona, I just believe Nebraska’s defense is too strong for Arizona.

Armed Forces Bowl: Houston over Air Force
Air ball will defeat ground ball this time. Houston is a dangerous team!

Sun Bowl: Stanford over Oklahoma
Oklahoma will not perform well in this bowl game tier. They are used to playing for much more. However, this year, Stanford may also be a better team than Oklahoma.

Chick-fil-A Bowl: Tennessee over Virginia Tech
Tennessee played really well at times this year. Their defense will win this game.

Outback Bowl: Auburn over Northwestern
Why Auburn? One word: Malzahn!

Capital One Bowl: LSU over Penn State
I just cannot see the SEC lose to the Big 10.

Gator Bowl: Florida State over West Virginia
The Seminoles will show up strong in the last game of Bobby Bowden. What a sad day at Florida State.

Rose Bowl: Oregon over Ohio State
Are you kidding me? The Ducks are quacking this year and the Buck-eyes, well they are the Buck-eyes.

PapaJohns.com Bowl: South Carolina over Connecticut
I believe in Steve Spurrier.

Liberty Bowl: Arkansas over East Carolina
The Hogs are way too strong offensively for East Carolina.

Alamo Bowl: Texas Tech over Michigan State
Texas Tech will roll!

Fiesta Bowl: TCU over Boise State
Defense will win this ballgame. The bigger issue is why in the world did they not give these two teams the opportunity to prove their value against bigger schools? I think we know. None of them wanted to lose to them. These are two great programs with two great coaches.

Orange Bowl: Iowa over Georgia Tech
My soul, I would not call this an exciting match up at all except for these two schools.

BCS Championship Game: Texas over Alabama
I love watching these two teams. These schools have two of the greatest coaches of all time. The defense of Alabama is outstanding. There is no way that Alabama’s offense can play to the level they did in the SEC Championship game. There is no way the Texas offensive line will be embarrassed again nationally as they were against Nebraska. Colt McCoy should have won the Heisman and he will play the lights out! Yes, Texas will upset Alabama and the Tower in Austin, Texas will be lit on the late night of January 7th.

We will evaluate my predictions in January and see how I did. See you Sunday!

The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force of the Southern Baptist Convention is very committed to communicating our report in the February 22-23 Executive Committee Meeting. It is our goal to communicate as much of our report as possible. We want each Southern Baptist to have time to understand, pray about, and hopefully embrace our recommendations. This is why we are delivering as much of our report as possible by this February meeting.

Our GCR Team has worked very hard. Our meetings have been tedious and long. Our emails and correspondence have been ever consuming. We have listened and listened to Southern Baptists. We have learned so much.  Due diligence has been practiced in every way. While all of this is true, it has been an incredible joy to serve in this capacity.

There is an ever-increasing excitement about what we are going to share with our convention. We are very committed to seeing and experiencing this Great Commission Resurgence. Therefore, join us in prayer daily. Register your commitment to pray with us at www.pray4gcr.com.

The urgency is upon us. Lostness in the world abounds. The gospel is the answer. The time is now.

Pray for us as we prepare for this February