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From The Pastor

From the Pastor
The California pastor, Pastor Erwin McManus, in a sermon titled, Seizing Your Divine Moment, shares the following story about his son Aaron. One summer Aaron went to a youth camp. He was just a little guy and I was kind of glad because it was a church camp. I figured he wasn't going to hear all those ghost stories, because ghost stories can really cause a kid to have nightmares. But unfortunately, since it was a Christian camp and they don't tell ghost stories . . . they told demon and Satan stories instead. And so when Aaron got home he was terrified. 
“Dad, don't turn off the light!”  he said before going to bed. “No, Daddy, could you stay here with me? Daddy, I'm afraid. They told all these stories about demons.” 
 
And I wanted to say, “They're not real.” 
 
He goes, “Daddy, Daddy, would you pray for me that I would be safe?” I could feel it. I could feel warm-blanket Christianity beginning to wrap around him, a life of safety, safety, safety.
 
I said, “Aaron, I will not pray for you to be safe. I will pray that God will make you dangerous, so dangerous that demons will flee when you enter the room.”  
 
And he goes, “All right. But pray I would be really, really dangerous, Daddy.” 
This Sunday, we are looking at the phrase in the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not to temptation . . . deliver us from evil.” When Jesus taught us to pray this, he was not giving us a safe prayer or a prayer for mere safety. Instead, Jesus was giving us a battle cry. This is the request of one engaged in a fight, caught up in the throes of spiritual warfare, crying out for God to grant victory over the enemy and not merely provide a place to hide. The prayer Jesus gave us takes this seriously and it makes us bold for the fight. You see, Jesus didn't give us a prayer for safety. What he gave us was a battle cry. He taught us to pray so that we would be dangerous - really, really dangerous. I am not sure you will ever hear me say this in any other context, but live dangerously as you follow Jesus every day!  
Pastor John
Quote of the Week
“Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole. Yielding is opening the door and inviting him in.” Billy Sunday
William Ashley Sunday was an American athlete who, after being a popular outfielder in baseball's National League during the 1880s, became the most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century.