Young Preacher Boys

James Creath & Zack Dziadul joined me in delivering the Sermon today. Our young people handled nearly the entire service today. Zack lead the worship along with his sister & our regular worship team all of whom are under 18.
They did a great job in selecting the songs & leading the congregation in worship.
The sermon was on the 5th commandment. I asked Zack & James if they'd like to take the sermon time. As they began to study the text they came up with the following outline:

The Children’s Role
Honor DEFINED [The What]
Honor DIRECTED [The Who]
Honor DEMANDED [The Why]

The Parent’s Role
DISCIPLINE
Pr 13:24
DELIGHT
3 John 1:4
DEMONSTRATION
Gal. 6:7

God’s Role
The FIRST Inhabitants
Exodus 23:20-33
The FUTURE Inhabitants
Ezekiel 22:7 & 15
The ENRICHMENT of Life
Eph. 6:3
The EXTENSION of Life

These young men didn't feel comfortable speaking on the middle point & that fell to me. I gave the introduction, Zack spoke on the Children's role, I took the Parent's role, & James took God's role.

They did an excellent job!!! I counted at least 6 people that came just to hear the young preacher boys. I posted it on our community yahoo group & folks came. They were really impressed with their handling of God's Word.

Please go to WWW.CWWMacon.com & go under the sermons. Look for "Honor Your Parents" & then listen to this sermon. Way to go men!

The First Commantment Quandry

I preached a sermon entitled "No Other Gods: 21st Century Idolatry" out of Exodus 20:3 this pas Sunday. You can check it out for yourself at the above link. It was a straight forward exposition of the grammar of the verse & the history of the time. Two words were interesting to me in the grammar: 'have' - means to own or be in possession of. And the word 'before' - literally means 'in my face' or presence. As I explained in the teaching: "This is not about PRIORITY but PRESENCE" It's NOT OK to have gods as long as they are less loved & served than GOD. There was also an interesting polemic on the plurality of gods. I let you check that out for yourself.
As is our custom at CWW, we engage in a Q&A after we eat lunch together every week. This week's Q&A was probably the best we've ever had. It went well over an hour & nearly everyone had something to say. One young man in our fellowship, Art, asked the best question of the day. "How do you know when something has become an idol?" That question gave birth to 45 minutes of dialogue. I don't really know how many people read this blog but I'd be interested in your answer to Art's excellent question.
I find we tend to list things in a priority list but remember that this is not what God was commanding in the 1st commandment. It is about presence not priority. No other gods in my face! That is his clear command.
I believe the starting point to answer this question is understanding God's Lordship, His ownership of our lives - "Lock, Stock, & Barrel" as they used to say. If we can embrace a biblical paradigm of God's ownership of all that we ARE & HAVE...then from that starting point, it becomes a matter of management of blessings that are not mine but His.
I'm studying it further for myself this week. I believe we'll have a part 2 on Idolatry in the 21st century this next week. Then on the following Sunday, my brother Jim will address the congregation regarding 'carving on God'.
By the way...I love our Church! We have some of the saltiest believers that I've ever met.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Grace & Peace...