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James 1:27 says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.”

This fits in really well with Christ Fellowship’s call to minister specifically to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated. And it is part of the reason we have loved doing the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes for all these years.

This year, we have not made as big of a deal about it as usual because everything has been so up in the air about where we are going to be next month. But our annual packing party is this Sunday night at 6. It is much earlier this year so we don’t have to worry about moving all the stuff when we move the rest of the church stuff. So, bring a munchie or something to drink and join us this Sunday night as we pack up all the boxes to ship to kids all over the world.

Also, there will be a short “family meeting” this Sunday morning after worship to discuss the options we have for the move.

I can’t wait to see you all there! I love you all! — Todd

Everywhere Paul and Silas went in their missionary journeys, they planted churches. This was before churches met in designated buildings. Sometimes they met in houses, sometimes in the temple at off-times, sometimes down by a river or wherever they could. But, as is told in Acts 14, they always prayed and fasted for those churches when they planted them.

I have a proposition for you. I know you have been praying that God would show us where we are to meet as a church, so I’m going to ask you to add a time of fasting to that. Sometime this weekend if possible or next week, let’s all spend a little time telling God that nothing is more important than hearing from Him about this matter, not even food. Maybe you can fast all day or maybe you can just fast for one meal and use that time that you would be eating to just spend time with God in prayer.

Jesus said in Matthew 6, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

I’ll see you Sunday! I love you all! — Todd

What is faith? Do you have faith? How do you know? Unless your faith is proven by a test, how is it possible to know whether you have faith or not? Why is faith so important to God? Hebrews 11:16 says it’s impossible to please God without faith. So, it must be a big deal to Him.

We will get some of those questions answered this coming Sunday at Christ Fellowship as we continue our study of finding Jesus in the Old Testament. And Jesus shows up in a couple of ways in the powerful passage in Genesis 22. 

I sure hope you will make plans right now to be here with the rest of the family. You are missed when you are not here. I love you all! — Todd

In perhaps the most comforting passage in all of scripture, Jesus tells His disciples “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.” You know the passage in John 14 where Jesus continues to tell them how and why He says not to be troubled. He speaks over and over again about trusting and knowing Him. “Trust God.” “Trust me.” “Know God.” “Know me.” There is a direct correlation between knowing God and trusting God and when you add those two together…there is peace.

As most of you know by now, Christ Fellowship is going to have to move again. We got notice from our landlord that we need to be out no later than November 4th. He has lost money every month since we moved in and can’t continue to do that. We understand. And we will find another place. We have a few options right now already. We won’t be homeless. Don’t worry. Don’t let your hearts be troubled. 🙂

But as we search for and ask God to reveal His will for a new place, I would encourage you to spend more time searching inside yourself than on some real estate page online. Search yourself to see how God wants to reveal Himself to you and when He reveals Himself, we know we can trust Him because we are getting to know Him better and better.

God already knows the building we are going to move into. That’s no big deal for Him. What He wants is for us as a church to sanctify ourselves and He will do amazing things among us as it says in Joshua 3:5. Sanctify ourselves. Make ourselves holy, separate, different from the world. He knows where we will be physically as a church. That’s easy for Him. He wants us to be in the right place spiritually so He can reveal that place and so much more.

I can’t wait to see you this Sunday at Christ Fellowship! I love you all! — Todd

When I was a little boy I liked to watch wrestling on Saturday night TV. Am I the only one? I remember watching the Von Erichs do “The Claw” and thought that was so cool. Then I heard rumors that all of that was fake and I thought surely not! It looks so real. Remember, I was like seven years old at the time. Well, evidently “rasslin’” is still super popular although I admit to not watching it for many years. Surely something fake couldn’t be so popular for that many years, right?

Well, did you know that Jesus was a wrestler too? And we know He’s not fake! He was a real wrestler and I want to see what we can learn from His experience “in the ring” way back in the book of Genesis. Are you confused yet? I hope you can make it to church at Christ Fellowship this coming Sunday morning. I hope to explain all that and I have some important and exciting news for us that I’m anxious to share. Please don’t miss being here in person if at all possible!

I love y’all and can’t wait to see you! — Todd

In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus asked His disciples a couple of questions. Being God, He knew the answers already but He asked the questions for their sake. They had traveled all the way to the northernmost part of Israel to a land overflowing with idol worship. It was there that Jesus asked Peter, the leader of the twelve, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Peter gave some responses that he had evidently heard.

Then Jesus asked Peter, “Who do YOU say I am?” And Peter’s response, “You are the Christ” is what Jesus said He would build His church on. Jesus will continue to build His church but it is our response to that question that He uses to do it. So, Jesus is asking you this question today. Yes, He knows the answer but is asking it for your benefit. Who do you say Jesus is and who have you said it to lately? Who needs you to say it?

I so hope you will be at Christ Fellowship this Sunday as we continue this study morning and evening. If you aren’t there, you will be missed! I love you all! — Todd

In grade school, if you were taking a math quiz and the first problem was 1 plus 1 = x, what would you put? If you answered “about 2 or 3” the teacher wouldn’t accept that, would she? There is only one right answer and to not get that right would cause problems for you later in life, wouldn’t it? When NASA was working to send a man to the moon, they didn’t say, “Oh, it’s about 200,000 to 300,000 miles.” No, they measured it precisely. They wanted absolute truth.

It’s the same for us when we talk about how to get to Heaven. We want absolute truth. We don’t say that Jesus is a real good way to Heaven. We know that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. Join us this Sunday morning and evening to see what Jesus would do about religion. We’ve already talked about money and politics. We might as well make a few more people mad. The week after that maybe we will see what Jesus would do about driving a Ford versus Chevrolet. Who knows?

I love you all and can’t wait to see you! — Todd

The Apostle Paul knew what it meant to be a servant of Christ. He knew what it meant to not be concerned about what other men thought about him. He knew what it meant to live his life with one goal in mind and it was only to please the Lord. Have you ever really tried that for any length of time? Have you ever decided that this week or this month or this year that you are just going to live for the Lord and let everything else fall where it may?

Paul knew it was worth it in this life. There is peace and joy to be had in a world of unrest and unhappiness. But he knew it was going to be worth it in the next life as well. Jesus called it storing up treasure in Heaven for eternity (Matt. 6). And Paul knew what was required of him to store up that treasure.

In Galatians 1:10, Paul said, “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

This obviously does not give you a license to be a jerk by thinking you don’t care about other people or how they feel. That’s not Jesus-like at all. It means that you are mindful of what God wants you to do and be and where He wants you to go and what He wants you to say. And with that servanthood there is great freedom! How does that sound to you today? Freedom…peace…joy? You can have it. Ask God what He wants from you today, this week, this month and this year.

I’ll see you Sunday morning at Christ Fellowship my dear ones! I love you all! — Todd

I just want to say “thank you” to those of you that donated to the food pantry this week! We have lots of good stuff to give away now. We have enough meat to last a while and some frozen veggies as well. Plus, we have all kinds of snacks that everybody loves. So, thank you! We could still use some half gallons of milk and some dry goods like pb&j or spaghetti; stuff that’s easy to fix.

So, none of us have to worry about the food pantry for a while. And that’s good because we will study what Jesus would do about worry this Sunday. I would encourage you to read Matthew 6, verses 25-34 sometime before Sunday morning. It explains to us why worry is sinful and also gives some practical steps to avoid it.

I can’t wait to see you there! I love you all! –Todd

Tomorrow, Saturday the 13th, at Christ Fellowship, there will be a celebration of life for Trina Perry’s dad, Warren Blount, from 11-3. Lunch will be provided and if you would like to bring a side dish or dessert, that would be great but you don’t have to. Everybody is invited and your presence will help to comfort the family. I hope you can be there.

This Sunday we will start a new sermon series entitled, What Would Jesus Do? WWJD was a popular saying some years ago but it only helps if you see in scripture what Jesus actually did. Just using your imagination about what you think He would do doesn’t always lead to truth. So, this Sunday, we will look specifically at what Jesus did when He was tempted. Maybe you can relate to that problem.

I love you all and can’t wait to see you! — Todd