It's Who Ben Is (Sing Ben Sing)!

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15

Every morning as my son Ben waits for the school bus, God gives me the opportunity to watch him in his world. Ben will either be repeating lines from his favorite movie, or singing his favorite songs. "Yes", Ben is in his own world in which he understands and in which he is comfortable.

This morning I was awoken to the sound of Ben repeating lines from a Power Ranger movie while he was outside waiting for the bus. Part of me was tempted to go outside and tell Ben to quiet down, but then I asked myself why? Was I concerned what people would think? Was I embarrassed with Ben's actions?

I then realized that Ben was in his world and was being who God has made him to be, "Yes", Ben was happy. As we raise and nurture our son Ben and know that he is a wonderful and beautiful creation and gift from God, my job is to help him to flourish as Ben.

Our beautiful son who is Autistic was given God's love and gift in the fact that he is provided a world that he can go into that is safe and comfortable. One in which it is OK to sing your favorite songs out loud and to repeat movie lines in which super heroes save the world.

Brothers and Sisters their are millions of Ben's out there that have also been given the ability to sink inside a world that brings them comfort and peace, let us not be embarrassed by them, let us embrace them and also help them to flourish as God's loved and beautiful creations.

As we go thorough our daily lives, let us take the many Ben's in our lives with us and understand that we need not be embarrassed for who we are and how God made us. Each one of us is an inexpressible gift that God has made and given to the world, so if you feel like singing loud: "Go ahead and sing"!

As we journey through Lent  may we understand that God gave us his Son Jesus Christ as his most inexpressible gift in which flourished and died for our gift of eternal life. Let us not be embarrassed to speak of Jesus as God's gift for our lives, let us praise and let us sing loud in the understanding that Jesus is our world of safety that we can also retreat to at any time.

"Sing Ben Sing"!
Pastor Tim (Ben's Proud Dad)

Getting Your Lenten Bearings!

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Benton KY

14 minutes ago

Feb 26, 2013 2:05pm

Join us at First Christian Church in Benton this Lent and Easter as we all learn how to make our paths straight as followers to the cross. God has a plan for all of our lives, let us learn how Christ has made our paths straight and well illuminated.
Easter 2013 will be on March 31st of this year. I want this Easter to be one in which we raise the roof in praise to our resurrected Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is my personal invitation for you to bring a friend, a family member, a neighbor, or that person that passed you on the street. My prayer is that the sanctuary is full of God's people singing and praising the name of Jesus. God calls us to gather every Lord's Day in worship, but we should surely be together as church family as we praise the one who was arrested, beaten, killed, and resurrected for our sins that we may have eternal life. Today I have planted the seed in good soil and pray that the soil is nurtured to a full bloom on Easter morning.

Our Daily Workout With Jesus!

Recently I have started working on my weight (going down not up) and I have figured out that the weight is much harder to take off than it was to put on. Seeing a nutritionist , eating right, and working out with a trainer at the gym.

As I sit in my office and long for the food that I can no longer eat, while anticipating my next workout/torture with my trainer, I'm beginning to think that this is going to be a journey of work. Yes, I'm prepared to do the work to lose the weight, even if it kills me (just kidding, I really hope not).

How many of us remember our parents telling us that hard work is the only way to achieve and accomplish things in our lives. Well the same thing goes for our relationship with Jesus Christ as well as it does for our losing weight. 

2 Timothy 3:14-17 

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

In our Lenten journey we often think about what we are going to give up for Lent, but my encouragement  for us all today is in asking: "What are you going to take up"? "What workout needs done in your Christ relationship"? "How will you strengthen your Christ knowledge, as to shed the weight that your lack of a workout has put on"? 

2 Timothy 3:14-17 tells us that our acquaintance with the Word of God will equip us for all the work in our lives. Yes our spiritual life and growth constantly need fed as to deepen and strengthen what Christ has planned for your lives.

Some of us may think that this workout simply involves sitting in a pew each Sunday for worship, well that is only part of it. The workout that you have with your study and relationship of Jesus Christ is one that must be tended to every day, as to make you strong spiritually and emotionally.

The church offers many opportunities for a Jesus workout, through the different study opportunities made available. Likewise, we have some very interesting studies coming up that you won't want to miss as you workout with Jesus. 

Workouts occur every day in reading bible devotions and finding a daily time to pray to the Master. God desires and wants relationship with you, this is one of the main reasons that Christ came to us in the first place. The only thing required of you is that you do our part of the work by using your God given "freewill" to go to him for a workout that occurs more than on Sunday's

Until next time, I'm Pastor Tim. 

Off to the gym!

Eternity it's No Surprise! Do You Believe This?

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die,yet shall he live,  and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" John 11: 25-26

Last night I was watching a documentary that dealt about what occurs after we die? In this documentary they conducted several street interviews and inquired about what happens after one dies. As you can imagine the responses differed with each respondent, with the answers ranging from heaven bound to death is death and life ends with one's last breath.

As this documentary went on the researcher finally comes to the conclusion that God's Word in the bible had it correct all the time. The researcher tells us what the bible has told us for thousands of years, in the fact that there is life after death. We are told in this documentary that this life that we lead is just part of a journey that we are traveling!

As I continued to watch this documentary I was shocked at the narrator's surprise revelation that what God's people know to be true is actually true. As a follower of Christ I am constantly astounded when researchers tell us that the bible is historically true, and can be proven through documents and archaeological finds.

Beloved as followers of Christ and the Word of God we have been promised eternal life when this earthly physical life is over. While others journey to remote locations and interviews to prove that Christ actually existed, you and I only need journey to Gods Holy Promised and Fulfilled Word to know that Christ lived, died and was resurrected for us.

Our mission as God's people is to spread the word about God's Word to those that have never heard it, knowing that they will find the same surprise and awe as the documentary host experienced. My prayer for you this week is that you use these forty days of Lent to experience your own journey into God's promise of eternity through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Eternity it's No Surprise! It's a Promise Made and Promise Fulfilled! Do You Believe This?

Pastor Tim

For God So Loved the World

16 "For God so loved the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

The Non-Glamorized Valentines Day Message

Last night as I was trying to sleep with the sounds of my C-Pap machine, and Lynne snoring. While the dog was curled up next to my legs and the cat was resting on Lynne, I began to think about the true sense of Valentines day. Often while restlessly trying to sleep, ideas will come into my head that I wished I would have written down, because they tend to disappear when I fully awaken. Well to my amazement my thoughts from the night were still with me this morning, and I wanted to share them with you while they were still fresh in my mind.

               Song of Solomon 8:7

                   Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Love cannot be drowned

    by oceans or floods;

it cannot be bought,

    no matter what is offered.

As you and I exist in this commercialized, glamorous and glitzy world of Valentines day, what does it truly mean in reality? When we watch commercials we see that love is about the kisses and the happiness and joy in relationship! We see the stories that tell us: "With this gorgeous piece of jewelry she will love you forever"!  Well my sleep deprived take on Valentines Day is not to bash the romantic part of Valentines Day, but to rather lift up the real world Valentines Day message of love endurance.

The newness of one's marriage or relationship is often filled with newness in the hugs, kisses and discovery of one another. The newness of relationship and discovery can be counted as infatuation, but is it truly love? What defines love in relationship and marriage?

The true love of Valentines Day is the feeling of love that you feel for that person with the bad breath that you wake up next to every morning. The true love of Valentines Day is defined by not liking the other person at times, but the fact that you never stop loving them. The true love of Valentines Day is through sharing life changing experiences in which the relationship survives. The true Valentines Day is when that other person is holding your hand as you bury a loved one, or with you when the world comes tumbling down around you. The true Valentines Day is when the other person knows that you must love God more than them, if you are going to truly love them correctly.

Yes, Valentines Day is meant to be romantic and emotional  in regards to ones relationship with another. But as Valentines Day fades, the relationship must endure, and true love can only be found in its strength in crisis and true emotional distress. Love can endure happiness and pleasure, but it is in times of babies crying, job losses, and financial issues is it truly tested for strength and endurance.

So as I journey in this day of sermon writing with little sleep, may you all have a fantastic Valentines Day. Give cards, kisses, hugs a plenty, but understand that tomorrow is another day and only a true love and relationship that is nurtured will survive until the next Valentines Day. True love takes work and commitment to one another, so remember to hug, kiss and hold while knowing that true love endures in both happiness and sadness, anger and glee. I pray that you lift your Valentine up to God today, and that you allow God to strengthen and guide you to a love that is stronger than Valentines Day.

For Lynne: "We have been through good and bad, glee and sorrow, but I wouldn't trade a minute". Thanks for my two best Valentines presents (Sean and Ben).

Also don't forget her chocolate today!
Pastor Tim

Followers of the Cross

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27 (ESV)

Beginning this Wednesday with Ash Wednesday the Christian season of Lent begins, in which we will all  begin a journey. For the next forty days of Lent I will be discussing what it means to be a cross follower, and how this journey speaks to the inward journey of our souls.

Cross - bearing and following speaks to discipleship and our everyday walk of following the cross in identification of what Christ's actions mean for humanity. By our following the cross we must consider our own lives and daily actions in relationship and acknowledgement of Christ's life giving gift for saving of the lives of humanity. 

Brothers and Sisters, each day of Lent will draw us closer and closer to the cross and thus closer and closer to Christ. As we follow the cross of Christ we will truly begin to understand what it means to be a Christ follower.

As we draw closer to the cross each and everyone of us will truly be able to see what Jesus Christ has done for us. Being a follower of the cross is to understand that Jesus Christ has liberated us and given us the choice to freely follow him.

May our journey this Lent be a discerning one in which we contemplate what it means to be a follower of the cross of Christ.

A Follower on the Journey With You!
Pastor Tim

We extend an invitation to you to worship with us this Wednesday night at our Ash Wednesday service at 6:30 PM at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Benton Kentucky. 2515 South Main Street Benton, Ky

Pastor Tim's Benton Blog: Letting The Truth Set Us Free!

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