It's really about self control!

This past Sunday Perry Noble, pastor of Newspring Church preached a sermon titled "Is it OK for a Christian to drink alcohol?" It was a great talk about the use of alcohol as a Christian. You can listen to it here. I'll go ahead and spoil it for you a bit, NO it's not wrong for a Christian or anybody else for that matter, to drink alcohol.
Perry talks about it a bit in the sermon, but I need to echo it because it's something that I have felt strongly about for years. What he mentions is the fact that so many preachers hammer on alcohol as if it were a sin, when they themselves are so out of shape, they are out of breath just from walking up to the pulpit!
While drinking alcohol and eating are not sins, getting drunk and being a glutton is sin. This really is a heart problem. One of the fruits of the spirit is self control but when someone allows alcohol or food to take control of there lives they have given up that self control and have given in to sin.
As Christians our bodies are temples of God, we need to keep them in the best shape as we can. Perry also had a few health related blogs last week too, check them out here. We can't make a lasting impact for Christ if we are dead from alcohol poisoning or clogged veins. By the way the bodybuilder pictured above is Lee Priest, one of the best in the world.

What are you into?

I ask the question "What are you into?" for my first post because it's something I've been thinking a lot about lately. For most, if not all, my Christian life I've been into a lot of different things. From bodybuilding to music, to making out with my girlfriend (now my wife), to keeping up on all the latest styles and trends. My point is is that most of my interests were purely things that would benefit me physically.
However, over the last two years my interests have changed from being self centered and self serving, to being Christ centered and Christ and people serving and there is one key factor that I can put my finger on to account for this change. I fell in love with the Bible!
Sure, I was raised in a Christian home, my dad has been a deacon for as long as I can remember, and the Bible was always present in my life. But in the last two years my faith has really become my own. It wasn't until I was introduced to the Inductive Bible Study Method, that I started to really read the Bible for what it actually says and not just taking someones word for it as to what it says and what it means. It wasn't the method, but seeing the scriptures in a different way than I ever had before that caused me to fall in love with the Bible.
The more I studied the scriptures the more I noticed my interests, thought life, and relationships started changing. The scriptures were changing me simply by reading it and allowing it to speak to me.
I still enjoy doing the things I was once interested in, especially making out with my girlfriend(still my wife), but they are in the priority they should be. I challenge you to daily read the scriptures, let them speak to you, and then act on what it calls you to do as a follower of Jesus.
For more information on the inductive Bible study method go to Thirsty Tree