Family Vacation

If any of you have ever seen National Lampoon's Vacation, you know the crazy and ridiculous events that occur on a family outing. And when you add the fact that it is a Sandlin Family Vacation; well you can just imagine. I would love to say that the most ridiculous things don't happen on our vacations but that would be a lie. They do, it does, and I'm sure they will again. But it is a blast and I would not trade them for the world.

We will be leaving Friday at midnight and driving the straight twelve hours to Orange Beach, Alabama. Please pray for for our safety and protection. But I would ask that you would pray for something far more important. Pray that God would place people in our path this week that we can magnify Christ to. Pray that our eyes would be open to see them and pray that we would walk in the Spirit during our time away.

We will miss our church tremendously and as much fun as we will have, there is no place like home. Lord willing we will see you when we get back!!!

No, Mr. President

I have many favorite writers and preachers, but you do not have to hang around me long to hear me talk about John Piper. His faithful to the Word of God as well as his extreme desire to teach people about God's sovereignty is encouraging to say the least. I subscribe to his podcast, read all his books, and am trying to make it possible to attend his national conference this year to celebrate the 500 anniversary of John Calvin.

His Desiring God ministry has an awesome media department. And when you combine the preaching of John Piper and a terrific media team there are times when they strike gold. I want everyone to see this video that Desiring God made following the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Enjoy!!!

Click Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOtT3Cho4a8

Live At The Hill

When Bro. James came to me about eight months ago and asked if I would be interested in taking over on Sunday nights with everyone, I will be honest, at first I did not jump at the chance. My hesitancy was related to the fact that our young adult Bible study was producing great results. Sure we had grown some, but the most exciting part was the spiritual growth that I saw taking place in each one of us (I include myself, because at least for the next few years I am technically a young adult). It was exciting to see the in-depth discipleship that was going on. We were really getting it. It was deep. It was challenging. It was Christ glorifying.

I began to pray and try to listen to what God had to say regarding this matter. As I began to pray, I slowly heard something from the Lord. The reason why I was hesitant to change Sunday nights was the very reason why I now beleive that it is important that we do change. The kinds of studies that we were doing with the young adults is needed in our entire church body.

I am praying, and would love for you to pray with me about a few things regarding this change. First, I pray for wisdom. Wisdom to read and understand God's Word and wisdom to present it with clarity and precision. Relevant is something that all ministers must be for their people, and I pray for wisdom to be able to make this service experience relevant to everyone, whether 12 or 112.

Secondly, I pray for openness from all ages. I know that this service will be different that what we are use to on Sunday nights, but being open to change is important spiritually throughout our entire lives.

Thirdly, pray for growth, both in spiritual maturity and in number. Sunday nights are our lowest attended service. I hope and pray that those who do not come back on Sunday nights would begin to, and those who do come would bring their freinds whether lost or saved. And our church, while as great as it may be, is in desperate need of a move of God in our spiritual maturity. I hope that this service will accomplish both these things.

The most important thing that I pray for, is for the weight of God's glory to fall on us like never before. I pray that we are so consumned by who Christ is that we want to be used up for His name. I want Sunday nights to be a tool in our church for Christ to glorify Himself.

Hopefully you have heard, but in case you have not; the name of our new Sunday night service is "Live at the Hill". We have a fantastic website that has been designed in order to help with outreach and the giving of info. The name of the site is: http://www.liveatthehill.org/ . "Live" will be meeting from 6:00pm to 7:30pm Sunday nights beginning May 3rd. Again please pray for everyone and everything that is going to be involved with "Live at the Hill".

Why I Love Playing The Keyes!

During the Republican Primaries last year, I voted for Mike Huckabee. Mike Huckabee is a born again Christian, who believes the Bible is literally true and in fact is a former Southern Baptist pastor. Despite a surprising: Huckaboom!!! Mike Huckabee lost the primary to John McCain.

I then began to hope that Huckabee would run as an independent against McCain and Obama; he chose not to do so. Instead he took a job hosting his own show on weekends on the Fox News Channel, which I recommend to anyone. I then began to pray and think about who I would vote for.

I was not going to vote for Obama under any cirsumstances, and was conflicted about voting for McCain due to the fact that he was so weak in the debates standing up to Obama. I thought "my goodness, Senator McCain, how are you going to stand up against foreign leaders if you can't stand up against Senator Obama." I eventually got so fed up with the "we need to reach across the aisle" nonsense, that I gave up on Senator McCain. So I was back to my problem, "who would I vote for?".

Then I heard that Alan Keyes was running as an independant. Dr. Keyes is a brilliant Christian man, who has boldy spoken the truth for years. I want to let you hear Alan Keyes destroying Obama in 2004 when they were running for Ill. State Senate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md2bf9DNVB4

As you can see from this short clip, this dude pull no punches and does not mix words. If you have spiritual eyes and ears, you can clearly see why in 2008 I took "piano" lessons. (cheesy I know but I had to).

Is God In Control of How Well We Can Ski?

In His hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are His also. Psalm 95:4

Last week Jessica (my wife) and our two kids went to Colorado on vacation; we were joined by members of Jess' family. There were about eight of us who would be going skiing a few days at Copper Mountain Resort located five miles from where we were staying.

Now I don't want to toot my own horn, but I could ski in the X Games if I really wanted to (toot, toot!!!). However the people that would be skiing with me were mostly beginners. Now if you have ever skied before and had to wait on others... well let's just say it is the Lord teaching you patience. Unfortunately, I could only take it for so long. Now doubt get me wrong I love my family and spending time with them, but I'm in Colorado, and I'm on skis. I'VE GOT TO SKI!!!

So everyday I would say goodbye to my family and take off for the lifts, up the slopes by myself. I didn't mind going alone, it was actually kind of nice. I thought I would just relax and mind my own business and just enjoy God's beautiful creation. Well, God had other plans! As I climbed aboard the first lift, I was joined by a mom and her 15 year old son. God immediately told me to share Christ with them. So I began to think about how to bring Jesus into the conversation. It went a little something like this: "I'm no scientist or anything, " I exploded. "But I have a hard time just believing that these beautiful mountains just popped out of the ground by accident. It's almost as if someone must have created them."

And on and on it went; from lift to lift, from person to person. Every time I sat on a lift, Jesus would sit there with us. No, I rarely said the perfect words; and no, Jesus did not save anyone on the lifts. But I know His name does not return void when it is sent out to the lost.

Since that time, I have been thinking about how perfect God's sovereignty is. What if the people I was with could have skied better, what if I couldn't ski as well as i can. I would have never gone alone. I would have never been on those lifts. I would have never shared Christ with those specific people.

I am so thankful that God knows what He is doing, and is in complete control. I am so grateful that He is the God over the mountains, and God over the ones who ski those mountains as well.

The Thinking of An Acadamy Award Winner

The red carpet was rolled out on Sunday, February 22 as all of Hollywood joined together to celebrate the Oscars. Now I am not a Hollywood hater, and I love movies as much as the next guy; but let’s see the Academy Awards for they are. It is a bunch of dressed up men and women cheering wildly about how great their team is. It really boils down to a glorified pep rally to their own greatness.
But I can manage through all the movies I have never heard of, in order to see the real reason I watch. Now some people watch to see who actually wins, others to see the apparel that is worn, as for myself, I watch to see who will make the stupidest statement of the night.

And this year’s winner is…………Sean Penn.

You can watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dnM8v9aaR0

I just have a few comments in response to this Godless man and his Godless statement.
1. Everyone in our country is free to marry. They, however, must marry someone of the opposite sex.
We hear often that everyone deserves equal rights. The truth is everyone has the same right to marry as anyone else; you must however get married (which has a very specific definition).
2. Based on his worldly logic of relativism (what is right for you is right for you and right for me is right for me), who is he to say anyone should be ashamed. Why should I be ashamed of doing what I thought was right, isn’t that the practical outpouring of his very belief system.
3. He praised Obama. However, when Obama was in the town hall meeting at Saddleback Church, he said he believed that marriage was between one man and one woman. Now where is Penn’s outrage at the man that he publically campaigned for during the election? Should he not be just as outraged that the President would have voted for Prop. 8 in California, as well? It sure seems that he has selective outrage.
4. The Oscars have long been a platform to push individual agendas. Whether it Global Warming, War, or Homosexuality; they have all been addressed, everyone seems to think that it is perfectly fine. But what would be the reaction if a born again Christian were to win and get up on stage and tell the audience and the millions watching at home, that they should be ashamed of themselves for rejecting Jesus Christ and doing what is right in their own eyes. Do you think they would get applauded?
5. Sean Penn needs Christ and while I hate everything he stands for and almost everything he has ever said, I pray for him and hope that Christ opens the eyes of his heart.

I would first like to thank the Academy for once again showing me that the fleshly mind is depraved and debased. And secondly, I would like to thank Jesus for saving me from that fleshly mind.

Sarah Palin vs. T-Rex

In this last election the vice-presidential candidate for the Republican Party, Sarah Palin, made a statement that she was mercilessly ridiculed for. What was it that she said that made people believe that she was an idiot? No it wasn’t that she was pro-life, it wasn’t that she was a Christian even though these were both stances that she was criticized for. No, the dumbest comment she made according to the media was that she believed dinosaurs existed in the last 6,000 years. I mean how anybody can believe this ridiculous idea, who in the world would agree with her, this just proved she was an idiot. Or did it?

A close look at the issue shows that actually every Bible believing Christian who believes that the Bible is literally the Word of God should agree with Sarah Palin. Evolutionists claim that dinosaurs lived millions and millions of years ago, but it important to realize that when they dig up dinosaur bones there is not a label attached to it telling us how old it is. These evolutionists scientist find their dates from indirect and very inaccurate dating methods that many other scientists question, and therefore question the aspect that dinosaurs existed millions of years ago as well.

Does God tell us in His Word when He made the T-Rex? Many would say He doesn’t, but a close reading of Scripture may show otherwise. The Bible says God made the earth and everything in it in six 24 hour days and if you work your dates backwards God did all this 6,000 years ago. According to Scripture, God created land animals on the sixth day before Adam and Eve. That means that God made the T-Rex on the sixth day (he is a land animal last time I checked).

I once had someone tell me that dinosaurs were before Adam and Eve and died off before Adam and Eve were created. However, this is a huge theological problem. The Bible tells us that before Adam and Eve sinned there was no death, bloodshed, disease, or suffering. If one views Scripture consistently, then death and bloodshed of man and animals came into the world only after Adam sinned. The first death of an animal occurred when God killed an animal and clothed Adam and Eve (this is a picture of the atonement). This means there could not have been bones of dead animals before sin-this would undermine the gospel.

This means that dinosaurs must have died after sin entered the world, not before. Dinosaur bones could not be millions of years old because Adam lived only thousands of years ago. This means that dinosaur lived in the last 6,000 years. So you see Sarah Palin was not an idiot just Biblical, but of course to the world being Biblical is being an Idiot. So, talk to you later idiots!!!