Go to Church?

     Yesterday I was speaking with a believer and during the conversation I asked what the person did on Sunday. They answered nothing really. I then asked if they went to church and they said No instead they stayed home and watched Joel Osteen and then proceeded to say that all the churches in their area was too liberal. Of course I chuckled because Joel Osteen's middle name is Liberal.
Can a person believe in Christ and not go to church? The church of Christ is called the body. The body is identified as a group of believers lead by Pastors and deacons. To me that sounds like a local fellowship or congregation. So I guess the answer is how can you say that Christ is the head if you are not part of His body? You can not be a true obedient believer in Christ if you are not part of a local body of believers called the church. There may be a lot of good teachers on TV and the radio but they can never replace the actual physical supplements found in a local body. Watching TV to get your spirtual food is like watching the food network and saying you are full.
Let TV and radio create an appettite for the real thing and then act on it by being part of what God wants you to be in.


Pastor Michael Salman

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Camping & New Audio

     Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.  This weekend after worship my family and I went camping.  It was very nice.  The weather was in the 80's and the low was about 50.  It was very nice.  Much better than last time we went.  Less Bugs and More Help!!  Pastor Toby and Sandy went along with us.  One of the funniest encounters occurred at 2 am in the morning.  I had to use the restroom which was about 100 feet away.  I tried to find the flashlight which was hidden somewhere but to no avail.  Since it was a full moon I thought I would make it without the flashlight.  I could not find my knife or pepper spray just in case something were to attack so I decide to take with me a Mashmallow Roaster, a clorox wipe to clean the seat and a lot of prayer.  When I got to the restroom I realized that once the door was shut it became pitch dark.  So I prayed even harder there was nothing there, in the toilet.  When concluding my trip I reached for the toilet paper.  Now, what I forgot was that I had the Mashmallow Roaster in my hand which is about 2 feet long.  While I reached for the toilet paper it snagged a plastic garbage bag that rustled and moved and let me just say I jumped so fast I would have made Michael Jordan look like an ameature.  To say the lest I then realized that I was the person responsible, finished quickly, washed my hands and with a slight bit faster walk made it back to the tent.  Now that was probably one of the closest encounters I had with wildlife.  When I think about this it makes me realize that many of the fears we have are self driven.  Fear that we have caused ourselves because we decide to take with us doubt.  Let go of doubt and hang on the promises of God and you will find that the fear you have will all go away.  If God be for us who can be against us!!!  More to come......There is a new audio sermon - Matthew 17.  Check it out!  You will be blessed.  The Grace of our Lord Be With You!