The first week of January is halfway over. How are you doing on your resolutions? Yeah, me too. Although, I did go to the gym this morning. That’s good. Would you like to know the skinny on resolutions? Then check out the video by the Skit Guys letting us know about how different people handle Resolutions. Enjoy!

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Thank you, Veterans!

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted just some good clean fun. Check out one of the newest Rhett and Link videos. Link is trying to get a job and needs Rhett to give a him a good reference. But he makes the mistake of asking Rhett to be honest and just be himself. You’ll love it.

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There’s a lot of nonsense parading about as Christianity these days. But when you speak out against it, some folks play the tolerance card claiming it does no harm and we need to just let people be. However, the following video, while being completely hilarious to me, demonstrates exactly how dangerous it can be to let some people prance about as representatives of Christianity in general.

These two Australian late night comedians place their laser sights on some of the ridiculousness posing as Christianity today. What really gets my blood boiling is the video is posted by a guy whose screen name is “muslimsince2003.” What does that mean? It means someone who is following Islam saw this as a great lampoon of modern Christianity. Sad.

I don’t know who “muslimsince2003″ is, but I want to assure you that these guys are not representative of real Christianity. They are folks who sadly are trying to profit from Christianity. Peter talks about them in 2 Peter 2:1-3.

This kind of nonsense makes all Christians look bad and provides ammunition for those who would deny Jesus. These kind of teachers need to be exposed and rebuked.

I hope you laugh while watching this video, but I also hope you recognize the danger this kind of nonsense poses. Because while some people are laughing, they are also discounting true Christianity along with this clearly fake version.

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No doubt, most churches are doing their dead level best to make their guests feel at home. Perhaps sometimes we make mistakes while trying to do that. Tim Hawkins highlights a big mistake. Check it out and then let’s discuss the best way to make guests feel at home.

Alright. Now that you’ve had a good laugh, have you ever been a guest made to feel uncomfortable in a church? If so, what did it? Did you go back? Why or why not? What made you feel comfortable? Did you go back? Why or why not?

Want More Tim Hawkins?

If you laughed at what you saw above, you may want more. So, here’s an affiliate link. Please, click it. Buy something. Tim Hawkins will thanks you. I will thank you. My kids will thank you when they finally get to eat something this week.

Have you ever had an interruption in a well-laid plan? Have you ever been going along great with some discipline and then your world gets turned upside-down? All that discipline and planning goes right out the window. Then at some point you are supposed to get back in the saddle. How on earth are you going to do that? Here’s the #1 key to getting back in the saddle.

Just Do It!

Yep. That’s it. You just gotta do it. And that’s what this post is for me.

About two months ago, my blog was nearly destroyed. It couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time. It was right at the beginning of my most hectic two months of travel for the whole year. That means I simply didn’t have the time to get it back up to snuff and fixed.

But now it is and let’s face it. I’ve gotten out of the habit and discipline of blogging. So, today, I just needed to get back into it.

I’m look forward to all that we can learn and discuss together. I’ve missed you all and I can’t wait to get reconnected in this cyberworld.

Have a great day. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Hello again, blog world!

After a nearly fatal power loss at the data center for my hosting service, I nearly lost my blog. Even now, it is crippled and I’m starting the slow process of internet therapy.

Even though I had a back up of the blog, it has still loaded in with some dreadful errors that I’m simply not sure how to deal with yet. So, please be patient with me as I try to figure out how to get “God’s Way Works” back up to the image and standard it had before this debacle.

Thank you so much for your patience with me and let me encourage you to keep coming back. Hopefully within the next week, I’ll be back up and running at full-steam.

Thanks,

Edwin

This is more of a reminder for me than for you.

Hello, my name is Edwin and I’m a bibleaholic.

Crossway released their brand-spanking new lambskin edition of the Personal Size Reference ESV Bible in deep brown a couple of months ago. Please understand; I already have a Bible. In fact, I think I have two entire bookshelves of Bibles. I have study Bibles, wide-margin Bibles, pocket Bibles, three-ring binder Bibles, journaling Bibles, paraphrase Bibles, Catholic Bibles, Protestant Bibles, interlinear Bibles, just plain New Testaments, New Testaments with Psalms, New Testaments with Psalms and Proverbs, KJV Bibles, NKJV Bibles, NIV Bibles, NASB Bibles, NLT Bibles, chronological Bibles, topical Bibles, teen study Bibles. I have six Bible apps on my iPhone. I do not, however, have The Message, but I think you get the picture.

I even have some really nice, really expensive Bibles. I already have Crossway’s calfskin wide-margin reference ESV Bible in black. I also have a Thomas Nelson calfskin pocket size New King James Bible in black. I used to have the larger size calfskin New King James Bible in red, but I let my wife borrow it. She can’t find it. (Perhaps because she didn’t actually pay the $150 to purchase it.) Trust me, this will not happen again. I already have a personal size reference Bible from Crossway. It is TruTone blue with beige and white wrap around stripes. I’ve been preaching from it for two years now. It works just fine, though it is starting to show wear, the binding is breaking a bit, and it only has one bookmark.

So, when I learned that Crossway came out with this new Bible and that one of my friends already had one, what did I do? Well, I sat back and rejoiced with my friend as he rejoiced. I congratulated him and pointed out that such a Bible is a wonderful luxury if you can afford one. I’m so glad the church he works with is paying him well enough to buy this Cadillac of Bibles. I, however, am strapped, need to fix the brakes on my car, put braces on my kids’ teeth, and eat this week. I’m going to enjoy the blessings God has already given me, use my perfectly adequate TruTone Bible, and put it in God’s hands. If He wants me to have this new Bible, I’ll let Him get it for me.

Yeah, right.

No, I got off the phone with my gloating friend and, just to prove that I’m just as good a Christian and preacher as he is, I called my local Christian bookstore and ordered my very own copy. Obviously, I didn’t get the very first one printed. My friend probably did that. I’m guessing, however, it was one of the first ten. But I did the smart thing. Instead of just ordering it off the internet, I made the bookstore take the plunge. I politely explained while talking to them on the phone that I wanted to see it, touch it, hold it before I made such a financial investment. I really needed to prove that this would be a wise and beneficial purchase before I shelled out my money. Just to make sure they understood how circumspect I was about this whole process I specifically made sure that just having them order it would not obligate me to buy it. Perhaps if I waited the week it would take to get it in, I would back off and let reason hold sway.

And that’s exactly what happened. I received the call that the Bible was in. A few days later, I sauntered into the bookstore just to check out what all the hubbub around this classy Bible was about. I opened the Bible and noticed it was the same as my old Bible. It had all the same words on all the same pages. Sure, it has a nice soft cover. Sure, it looks good. Sure, it comes with a life-time guarantee. Sure it has two bookmarks. But I already have a Bible and I’m not so spiritually materialistic as to buy a super-expensive Bible just because it is SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET! I politely thanked the store for getting the Bible, but let them put it on the shelf for some other Bible greedy pig. The Bibles I already have work just fine. Why would I need another one?

Yeah, right. Whatever.

Actually, I received the call that the Bible was in. In 10 minutes, I had made the 15 minute drive to the bookstore. I tried to hide my shaking hands and the tremor in my voice as I said, “I th-think you have a B-Bible for me. Um, c-can I check it out before I b-buy it?” With her voice she said, “Sure, let me open that for you.” With her eyes she said, “Yeah, whatever buddy. Will this be cash, check, or charge?”

I think I made a good show of it. I held the Bible. I touched it and rubbed it with my hands. I tested it’s weight in my preaching hand (after all, it does have to balance out with my data projector remote in the other hand). I smelled the lambskin. I let the checkout lady smell the lambskin. I rubbed it on my face. I opened the pages and flipped through them to make sure they were all there. I tugged the bookmarks to make sure they were well connected. I pulled out my lexicon to make sure the translation was trustworthy. I even asked a question or two about the warranty. I hmmmmed and I ahhhed. I made sure my preacher discount would actually apply. I asked the checker what she thought of it. “Oh, yes, that’s very nice,” she said. “Notice the golden gilded pages. And it even comes with this nifty box and a piece of paper that explains the warranty.”

“Yeah, I noticed those,” I replied while wiping drool from my chin, “I guess since I can get this at a discount, I’m actually saving money if I buy it. I’ll take it.”

A few moments later I walked into my house and announced my conquest. I showed the Bible to my wife whose eyes immediately rolled back in her head. She’s the only person I know who really can look out the back side of her head, especially when I’m buying Bible #31. I just told her, “Hey, I got a preacher discount. I was saving money. Look, I have a crummy car. I wear worn out clothes and old suits. The least I can do is have a nice Bible. Do you expect people to take me seriously while preaching from a TruTone blue Bible with stripes on it? I need the genuine article, the real deal. An animal had to be sacrificed for me to preach the Word. Is it even possible to make Kingdom impact using a Bible with a fake cover? Besides, this replaces the one you lost.” I said that last line a little under my breath and looking out the window.

After a few moments of silence she walked out of the room saying, “Yeah, whatever. Go order some pizza with all the money you saved buying that Bible.”

So, I did.

This article does indeed contain affiliate links, as if that shocks you at all. But you might enjoy the fact that now that I’m finally posting this story, you can by the same Bible at this affiliate link for about $30 less than I paid for it two months ago. And get free shipping. Don’t pass up such a sweet deal just because you don’t like affiliate links.
 

Got this video in my inbox yesterday. I thought it was neat and wanted to share. Enjoy!

I thought they missed a good opportunity by skipping the 5000 that left Him the day after He fed them, but enjoyed the concept.

What did you think? Click the following link to add your input: Post a comment.

Okay, we’ve had a couple of heavy days. Now that it is Friday, let’s just have some good clean fun, and see if we can get a moral out of it too. Enjoy this video from Worship House Media about having a servant’s heart.

Bless her little servant’s heart, I just don’t think she gets it. See a modern day pharisee blowing her trumpet on her volunteer corner.

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