Saturday, afternoon was a letter day for many. Our church was concluding our 4th annual all church camp out. One of the traditions we have is a baptism service. Six people made public commitments through the act of water baptism to be a follower of Christ and made it known to some 75 people who were watching on. I have always said that one of the best indicators to identify a person that has truly become a follower of Christ is through water baptism. Asking people to raise their hand or go do a area of the church to be prayed with are all great, but to me, water baptism is a clear demonstrations shared and seen by others.

Here is a short devotion on baptism, enjoy it as you read

WATER BAPTISM IS A SIGN

Mark 16:16 "He that believed and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believed not shall be damned." MARK 16:16

Water baptism is a command of Jesus and is the initial action taken upon believing. Mark's statement could be rendered, "He who believes with saving faith (i.e. faith that produces actions) will be saved." In this sense, water baptism is very important. It is an opportunity to act on your new profession of faith. Anyone who refuses to follow Jesus' command to receive water baptism, may be suspected of not really believing, there are scriptural examples of people being born again before they were baptized in water. Cornelius and his friends were filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues before they were baptized in water (Acts 10:44-48). John 14:17 records Jesus saying that an unbelievers cannot receive the Holy Ghost, so Cornelius and his friends must have been born again before their water baptism baptism is the sign of the new covenant in the same way that circumcision was the sign of the old covenant. The apostle Paul made it clear in Romans 4, that although Abraham was circumcised, his circumcision was only a sign. Abraham was justified in the sight of God before his circumcision. Paul goes on to state in Galatians 5:1-6, that anyone who trusts in circumcision has fallen from grace; Christ will profit him nothing is faith in the redemptive work of Christ that produces salvation - not our actions. However, James writes that faith without works is dead (Jas. 2:20).

Faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone; it must be acted upon is what
Mark is referring to when he speaks of baptism.

Saturday, I started a roofing job that is taking a lot of my time. I'm sorry that I will not be able to do a long blog today. So think of us as we are putting on a new roof this week.

Yesterday I spoke of a challenge from a leadership conference I attended this past week. The speaker challenged me to identify my "Holy Discontent." The speaker said that leader's should have a Holy discontent on anything that is destructive or an expression of injustice. We should be discontented with this attitude of just letting it go because "that's the way it is. "That's not how it has to be. And while not every heartfelt need should turn into a calling there is one area of"Holy Discontent" that will be your particular leading. It will cause you anxiety, it will cause you pain, it will take an investment of your life. Most of us medicate that by going to see a movie, or shopping, or a game. We are overly entertaunderachievershallenged.
Hybels said that whatever it is that causes this "holy discontent", don't run from it but feed it, make a difference.

Another speaker spoke about laying down your identity, material possessions and influence and related a story about Moses laying down his staff. We to also are challenged to lay down these things as well.

The Second Day was filled with very challeging messages as well.

Bill Hybels interviewed best-selling author Ken Blanchard today. What's cool is that Hybels was instrumental in Blanchard coming to faith in Christ. Blanchard said that one instinctuals instumental in his thinking process. Bill Hybels explained, "Religion is spelled 'do' and Christianity is spelled 'done." Religion is about what you can do for God. Christianity is about what God has done for you. That takes the pressure off.

A couple of other quotes on leadership that stood out to me:

"People will not go along with you if they cannot get along with you."
"Leaders should always be out of their comfort zone; but never out of their gift zone."
"Leadership is influence. Nothing more. Nothing less."

Leaders, at the Chapel, we will be taking a bigger group then one tconferencers conferance.

DEATH has dominated the news for the past few weeks, making this Devotional today most appropriate. Also, let me relate a personal experience.

Death is part of our human experience. That is why it is an issue that we can't run and hide from but needs to addressed. The fact is, by addressing death, it helps us to be much more focused and productive in our day to day lives. It helps us to better know the peace, joy, and abundance of these few years, while making us better servants of the Lord.

The one reality everyone who lives must face is that one day they will die. This is a fact everyone comes to understand at some point in their life regardless of their beliefs. Understanding death, accepting it as a part of this human experience, gives a person an incredible freedom and peace. The fear of death comes from the unknown. That is why God deals with death throughout the Bible. He does His best to help people understand what death is all about, not just to prepare them for that event in their life, but so they can have the most abundant and fruitful life possible.

Of course the first question in talking about death is when will it happen. God gave us this life and only God knows when it will end. The length of our life is solely left up to God. Of course He has given us free will. We can exercise that free will and take our life, but that is NOT God's plan and we are in rebellion to Him when we commit suicide. Again, it was God who gave us our life, and it is only God who has the right to take it. The Bible clearly teaches us in James chapter 4 that tomorrow is promised to none of us. Each day is a gift from God. While it is prudent and good sense to plan for the future, we must never lose sight that today is the only day we can be sure of. So in talking about when will we die, we must have the faith and assurance that only God knows for certain when that time is and today is the only day we can be sure of.

The next questions of course are where will I go and what will death be like. The Bible is clear on our eternal destination. Those who know Christ as their Savior will be forever "with God" in Heaven and those who reject Christ, will be forever "separated from God" in Hell. While the Bible gives us glimpses into Heaven and Hell, it is impossible with our finite minds to even begin to comprehend what they will be like. One thing we do know, these will not be "places" as we know them since we will be in a spiritual state, no longer bound by space/time. Since in that state the reference points we used during this brief journey will no longer exist, God has done His best to give us images we can reference so we understand that Heaven, or being eternally with God, will be more magnificent than anything we could imagine, and Hell, or being eternally separated from God, will be more horrible than anything we could begin to comprehend.

Knowing that everyone will die one day and knowing the fate of those who die without accepting Christ, should be all the motivation a child of God needs to do everything they can to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those people God puts in our path each day who are lost and without hope. Don't let satan distract you from this mission. The enemy gets us so bound up in our man made divisions, squabbles over doctrinal and theological issues, that we forget the Gospel and that there are people dying and spending eternity separated from God EVERY DAY! Let us stay focused and never forget our most important job each day is to share the hope and love of Christ with the lost in this world.

I love you and care about you so much. I know the issue of death is not one that many people enjoy hearing about. But it is important for us to deal with death since it is an event we will all have to face one day. Death is not something we should fear, but realize it is part of this human experience. For the child of God, it is actually an event we should be looking forward to. Paul said to be "absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." For the child of God death means our work in this life is over and we are onto our eternal home and rewards. The Bible tells us that there will be "no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

I pray today that you will treat each day as the gift from God that it is
and make the most of it. I pray that you will realize God has a plan and purpose for your life, and that is to serve and glorify Him with each day that He blesses you with. Let me share this word with you today. If you are in your teens, God has something for you to do for HIM today. If you are a young adult in your 20's and 30's, God has something for you to do for HIM today. If you are middles aged, in your 40's and 50's, God has something for you to do for HIM today. If you in your 60's or older, God has something for you to do for HIM today. No matter how old you are, what state you are in, GOD HAS SOMETHING FOR YOU TO DO FOR HIM TODAY!!!

Let me leave you with these words of victory today. The prophet Hosea said, "Where O death, is your victory? Where O death, is your sting?" Paul in His first letter to the church at Corinth gives the child of God the ultimate answer to death in chapter 15 verse 57 which is my personal life verse, "BUT THANKS BE TO GOD WHO GIVES US THE VICTORY THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST."

So this last Sunday I shared with the flock of the Chapel about the wonderful world of blogging and yes, I told them that I blog myself. So if any of the sheep are out there, and you tried to visit the Monday Morning Blog to view some new tid bits SORRY! I don't know were Monday went . . .no . . I do know it were it when . . .it went up the gorge.

Yesterday, I spend the whole day (13 hours) driving in a car with another classmate of Donna's on a one-day adventure. For my wife degree, she took a class that will give her credit for following a predetermine rout up the Columbia River Gorge looking at the geology of the region. What we quickly found out is that the descriptions in the book, didn’t always line up with reality. Maybe because the book was written some 30 years ago and vegetation and trees grow.


For example, the book would tell us to drive 4.3 miles from our last stop, pull off to the left, look across the road to see a small section of rocks. Well, we get there, turn off the road and look to the left only to see a grove of trees. Wow, go figure, trees grew and now you can't see the rocks. I think it's time for a new direction book.

When you think about God's communication to us (The Bible) there is one thing you do not have to worry about . . . tree's growing in front of it, in other words, the Bible will always lead you to the right spot at the right time to see the whole message with nothing obscuring its view.

Thank the Lord.
Have a great Week and see you hopefully, next Monday