Saturday morning, we began a new six-week Bible study for our men. 200 men showed up. Praise God!

Worship was great today. The music team did an exceptional job.

I really enjoyed teaching my Bible Study Fellowship group today. I finished my lesson, “A Defense against False Teachers,” from 1 Timothy 1:12-20. God willing, I will teach next week about the prayer ministry of the church from 1 Timothy 2:1-7.

As always, I am grateful for the guests we had in worship today, including two local high school football teams.

I preached from n interesting little passage in Mathew 17:24-27. I called it, “What Jesus Thinks about Religion.”

I love this little passage in which Jesus declares, “The sons are free,” and then performs a miracle by providing Peter’s tax money in the mouth of a fish.

I pressed three major points in the message:

I.     Followers of Christ live with kingdom rights (v. 26).

II.     Followers of Christ live with spiritual responsibilities (v. 27a).

III.     Followers of Christ live with divine resources (v. 27b).

Christians rightly desire to do great things in service to God and in service to the world. But too often Christians think such service must insure the desired outcome. We simply do not believe that we can risk fishing for a fish with a coin in its mouth. Yet no account of the Christian desire to live at peace with our neighbor, who may be also be our enemy, is intelligible if Christians no longer trust that God can and will help us catch fish with coins in their mouths. – Stanley Hauerwas

Praise God for those added to the church today.

I plan to resume my study of 1 John next week.

The USC Trojans let me down this weekend, losing to the Arizona Wildcats, 36-39.

The Dallas Cowboys put a good fight against the New York Giants, at least in the second half. But down goes the Cowboys again. I give up on our chances this season.

The Jaguars put a good fight against the Packers. But down goes the Jags again. Did we ever have a chance this season?

Does anyone – outside of people in San Francisco and Detroit – care about the World Series?

Are you ready to watch the Miami Heat to start the repeat at NBA World Champions?

I am pretty shocked that the OKC Thunder traded James Harden to the Houston Rockets this weekend. This only helps ensure that the Miami will repeat!

I haven’t really been paying attention. Can anyone tell me how the old (literally) Los Angeles Lakers did this preseason?

How was your Lord’s Day? How did your teams do this weekend? Join the conversation n the comments section.