Tag Archives: train

May 6 2009

From Fast Food to F.I.T.: Purpose

mcjesusToo often Christians get caught up into the fast food lifestyle that it rolls over into our Christian walk. With the Sonic Drive thru Church, Pizza Prayer Hut, Kum & Go Communion, and McJesus we quickly become overweight and spiritually obese. For the month of May I want to challenge each of you to avoid fast food religion, and start consuming nutritious Christ centered meals that will lead to a healthy, fit, and well rounded faith. Apostle Paul will be our trainer, and Philippians will be our health chart.

In this book Paul is writing to the Philippians concerning their spiritual growth and progress in the faith. While there were no doubt areas of worldly fat that needed to be trimmed away, overall they were much healthier than that of the Corinthians and Galatians. Because of this Paul’s epistle will be a great encouragement in our spiritual health.

We see in verses 6 – 11 and 25 of chapter 1 that God has begun a good work in each of us, but it will not be complete until the day of Jesus Christ. We see that becoming F.I.T. is a progression.
From the book of Philippians we see the purpose and requirement to being spiritually F.I.T.

Philippians

Purpose: 1:9-11

So that…
• love may abound
• knowledge and discernment will be gained
• lifestyles will be pure and blameless
• We will be filled with the fruits of righteousness

Requirements…
1. F – Fervent Prayer 1:4, 9-11; 4:5-7
2. I – Intentional Proclaiming/Study – 1:14b & 18
3. T – Trained Living – 1:20 & 27

Over the next 3 weeks we will go deeper into each of the 3 requirements to being spiritually F.I.T.

Oct 7 2008

Corn Maize Mania

We just recently got back from Verona, MO. where we attended a corn maze.  We had an amazing time.  The bus ride up there was a little crazy though.  One of our students found a dead bird on the bus, and it just so happened to be Zach.  You had to have been there to understand.  Anyways, we arrived safely, and we were pumped up.  We played in corn, rode on a silly cow train, shot some corn out of a cannon, sling shot some pumpkins in the air, played with some animals, got inside huge robots and beat each other up, went on a hay ride, and even went into a haunted corn maze.  It was an awesome time.  We also sat by the camp fire, and had a devotional.  This was an excellent bonding time.  The best part was pulling into the driveway with a bunch of exhausted teens.  It just reminded me that they had a good time, and God was blessing our group.

Aug 26 2008

Karate for Christ

Today is the first day that we start karate lessons for the Fall 08 season.  I am very excited, but at the same time dreading it.  I love teaching and training in the martial arts, however just like any exercise program as soon as your schedule gets busy it is the first thing to go.  Since we have been out of session for the summer my personal training has come to a stop.  Because of this I am going to be extremely out of shape and sore for the first couple months of class.  That is the good thing about starting back up.  It forces me to train, and exercise.  I have to say that is one area in my life that I fall short.  I give my all to God by studying, teaching, proclaiming, and almost all areas of my life except my health.  I am ashamed of it, however it is true.  I am out of shape, and because of that it will hinder me in the ministry in some areas.  You may be thinking is this guy crazy; is he saying being out of shape is like a *sin*.  No, that is not the case.  Being out of shape is the result of a sin, and that sin is laziness & gluttony. 

Anyways, I am really looking forward to meeting new faces, and training new students.  Martial Arts is actually a very neat hobby.  It consist of allot of different aspects.  It is a sport, it is an art, it is exercises, and it is educational.  It teaches patience, perseverance, integrity, courtesy, self control, discipline, and in our area of study; faith and Biblical practices.  I think my favorite part of it all is getting to see a student’s face when they have accomplished something they think they couldn’t do.  Anyways I would encourage you to check out our website even if you are not personally interested it karate.

www.refugemartialarts.tripod.com