Tag: wrestling

Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship

Phil and I visited Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, with pastor Dr. Tony Evans this morn.

It was a great experience I thought. Definitely a church with it’s finger on the pulse of the community.

This is a church that’s been reported on in several places for it’s outreach to the community. I’ve always thought that a church should be judged on the impact it makes on the local community. If the church were to suddenly close down, what type of effect/impact would it have on the local neigbhorhood. Is the church really reaching out to its neighbors, or just benefiting the saints?

A surprise to the visit was a visit by Fred Hammond. The church didn’t advertise him coming or being there, he just came out mid-service. Dr. Evans said, “Look what you would have missed if you had stayed home. And some people will say, ‘But you didn’t tell us Fred was coming.’ That’s right, we wanted you to come to church for God not Fred. There’s no telling who will show up next week.”

Good stuff.

Anyways, Dr Evans had a great message on Luke 4:1-13, about Jesus’ time in the wilderness. Thought I’d share some of my notes.

Luke 4:1 – “Jesus full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness.”

We should be constantly be under the influence of the Spirit

The Spirit was in full control of Jesus

The Spirit led him into the wilderness

So many times we get frustrated about being in the wilderness, but sometimes the Spirit will lead us into the wilderness

The Spirit led Jesus/leads us into a hot, barron, isolated wilderness

Luke 4:2 – For forty days, being tempted by the devil.

Satan came to tempt Jesus in the very place the Spirit had led Jesus

The Spirit gives you a test, but the devil will tempt you

Often tests and temptation can happen side by side

Luke 4:2,3 – And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn to bread.”

Jesus had given up what He craved to get what He really needed

This was great – God/The Spirit will lead you to the devil, not so the devil can defeat you, but so you can defeat the devil

Satan called on Jesus to meet His own needs, independent of God

Satan will tempt us to fix our own problems without God’s help

Jesus found a parallel situation in scripture to find the solution for His problem

In the wilderness God will show you He is God

When you don’t develop in the wilderness, God won’t lead you to your destiny or the promised land

Luke 4:6,7 – And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”

Satan told Jesus that he could bless Him

God didn’t give the world over to Satan – Adam did

God gave Adam the rule over the world, but Adam gave that over to Satan when Eve and Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden

Often our blessings come from Satan

We walk around saying “Blessed! Blessed!” when the blessings are not from God

The blessings of the Lord bring no sorrow

If the blessings bring sorrow – we may be enjoying blessings from the wrong blessor

Luke 4:12 – And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”

You don’t back God into a corner to make Him do a miracle

Then Evans went Kayfabe on us with a wrestling illustration, that got everyone up and fired up.

He asked if anyone watched professional wrestling. I think I may have been the only one who raised my hand.

“Let me let you in on a secret,” Evans said. “The winner is chosen before each match. But they have to entertain the crowd. They have to show you how the victor became the victor. They have to make a profit. So when the match starts the victor already knows he’s going to win. That’s why when he gets power slammed it doesn’t really phase him. When he gets body slammed it doesn’t really phase him. If he gets a litle bloody, that’s OK because he knows who’s going to win in the end.”

We already know who’s going to win in the end. We already know we’ll win in the end — as members of God’s kingdom. So when the devil attacks and slams us to the mat – we know it’s not that bad, because we win in the end.

Amatuer Christian Wrestling

Here’s a unique ministry for kids, Amatuer Christian Wrestling, or better known as Wrestling for Greater Gold.

From the Wichita Eagle:

The members of Greater Gold Wrestling Club will do a double-leg takedown on opponents, press them in a bear hug and muscle on a headlock — all in the name of Jesus Christ. Greater Gold is one of about 180 USA Wrestling-Kansas youth clubs that teach the sport to children ages 5 to 17. But it’s the only faith-based club not affiliated with a church or religious school, said Mike Juby, state chairman of the organization.

Monday Night

It’s 1:19 a.m. CST Tuesday Sept. 27.

My friends B and Sarah were expecting their baby Sydney to be born today, but the doctors said “It wasn’t time.”

I believe they’re planning to go back on Wednesday and they may induce labor, but I’m not sure on all that.

I just returned from Waco with my boys. We had floor tickets to the WWE Raw taping. Not a bad way to watch wrestling at all. It was amusing because three of the men who wrestled tonight have wrestled my friend, Tim Storm, at some point in their career. One of them Russel Simpson, A.K.A. Psycho Simpson, wrestled four of the guys in our group. Not bad.

At dinner aftewards Rob mentioned that he’s been seriously considering going full-time with the CWF. I think it’s a dream everyone’s had since the ministry began in 2000, but everyone’s always hoped that someone with loads of money would come along and drop a load of cash in our hands to let us do it.

We half-joked about the idea this weekend, while in North Carolina, and I thought I was the only one thinking it could be a possibility, but apparently God was laying the idea on Rob’s heart as well.

We discussed the idea somewhat and everyone was in agreement that it is what we want to do, but now it comes down to if its in agreement with what God wants us to do.

So please pray for us as we seek God’s will at this crossroads in our lives and ministry.

We plan to pray about the idea and then schedule a brainstorming meeting sometime in the near future. So again, please support us in prayer and ask God for guidance.

Well, I have a weird headache, that is likly just from the loud music and pyros at the show tonight. I also have three loads of clothes laying on my bed, so rather than just pushing them off onto the floor, I think I’ll just crash right here on my couch.

Take care — and may the peace of God be with you all.

Weekend Update

Well, the weekends over and I need a vacation to recover.

It seems like the last few weekends have been whirlwind experiences that keep coming.

I spent last weekend I had plans to visit friends and family in Dallas as well as announcing for the first CWF Comeback show in Rockwall.

I ended up doing all that, as well as attending the visitation and funeral of a friend on Saturday.
This weekend, I began a fun Friday evening with a good friend, as we planned to eat and visit the Planetarium in Killeen.

And naturally, we ran into someone I knew at dinner.

A couple from our church saw us on their way out of the restaurant and I’m sure immediately began to hear wedding bells as they saw my friend and I sitting on the bench, waiting for our table.

I guess that’s what everyone assumes when you’re single and you’re hanging out with someone of the opposite sex.

What really stinks is when you or that other person starts hearing wedding bells, while the other is hearing, “Run Forrest, run!”

But none the less, we enjoyed our evening and I was waiting anxiously to see Laser U2 at the Planetarium.

We arrived a few minutes early and were pleased to see a very small crowd would be joining us. But as the show started, we soon realized, without any sound or music, the lasers lost their attraction.

So, the show was cancelled and we were given rain checks for another show.

I emailed the Planetarium Monday morning to ask if there would be another run of the show — and maybe its my wonderful persuasive writing skills, or their over abundance of generosity, but the center agreed to run a special show for me and friends.

So, I’ll get to wait anxiously for another show at another time.

Saturday I saw Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith with my good friends Aaron and Keri Lehmann.

I don’t know if Revenge of the Sith will replace The Empire Strikes Back as my favorite installment or not, but it is my favorite of the three pre-quils.

We finished the day off with dinner at Kobe’s Steakhouse in Addison with friends and family, celebrating Kathryn’s Crappy Birthday and her brother-in-law’s Happy Birthday.

The weekend wrapped up with a whirlwind trip to Mountain Home, Arkansas for a CWF show.

We were a bit bumed before the show began. The crowd was thin, with only 20 people in attendance up until the last 10 or 15 minutes before showtime. Luckily the crowd grew to 72 by showtime — but preparing for a show with an extra small crowd is never a good feeling – especially if you’ve just driven eight hours to do so.
As the show began, we had technical difficulties with the mics and music intros (which to me is ALWAYS frustrating) but surprise, surprise, God still chose to use a bunch of guys who love ministry and wrestling, to bring 10 people into His kingdom.

It still amazes me how God can use a wrestling show to bring people into His loving, outstretched arms, but He does.

And an eight hour ride, in a van, full of goofy guys, suddenly becomes worth it all.

Even if we don’t make it back to Dallas till 6:30 a.m. on Monday, and I have to be at work (2 hours away) at 10 a.m. — it’s all worth it if just one comes to know Him.

The thrill of doing Kingdom work is amazing.

I don’t quite feel at home anywhere else. The CWF proves that God works outside of our boxes all the time.

And the angels rejoice in the salvation of 10 people, who put their trust in the Lord. And we rejoice with them.