JON ALLEN

We have been racking our brains trying to figure out what to do for our next sermon series at church. I had been praying and thinking about what the church really needs to hear right now. God keep bringing me back to issues dealing with spiritual warfare. Marriages being attacked, people experiencing pain (both physical and emotional), job layoffs and the financial stress that comes along with it. So many things that Satan is trying to break us down with. I knew that was where God was leading us, but I just wasn’t sure how to bring it all together.

Then Tuesday night I was laying in bed after Jess had gone to sleep flipping through the channels on the TV. I came across a channel called Versus. Since Jess and I got rid of cable several years ago Versus is the only sports related channel that we get. Because of that I watch a lot of bullriding, fishing, hunting, and MMA. As I lay there watching a WEC event featuring a Japanese Judo specialist and a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu artist engaging in a highly technical contest, I thought… “That’s It!” I was a little bit skeptical at first, and thought, “Can we do this or is that just a bit too edgy.” I wrote to Ray and asked him what he thought and this is what he said. “Nothing is too edgy if the purpose is scriptural.” He’s right. So next week we will start a series called “The Ultimate Fighter: The Art of Spiritual Warfare”.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts. It is a sport that combines wrestling, judo, karate, boxing, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, and any other martial art you can think of. Basically the premise comes down to this… put two highly skilled guys in the ring together, let them use whatever techniques they know, and see who gives up first, is KO’d or wins on points. It is an all-inclusive exhibition of fighting skills, not dissimilar from boxing except that there are more techniques used. Contrary to some people’s perception, there are rules and fighters are very respectful of the rules and the sport.

Believe it or not, I do enjoy watching these events (not the backyard stuff where people have no idea what they are doing and just want to beat each other up), but the professional events where guys train for years, respect the other fighters and the rules and are very skillful at their art. MMA gets a bad rap as a brutal, savage, evil sport where two guys are just trying to kill each other. That just simply is not true, at least for the majority of the pros. As in any sport, there are a few bad eggs that leave a bad taste in people’s mouths, but most fighters take it very seriously because it is how they make their living. The real problem is that there is a pretty dark sub-culture associated with the sport. Many people equate the actual events to the parties and language that accompany it. But if we used that as a reason that the sport is evil, then we certainly couldn’t play rock-style music in our worship services.

The question we need to ask ourselves as Christians is, “Is it sinful for me to watch it?” That is a great question, I’m glad you asked. The answer is… I can’t tell you. You may be surprised to know that some of the greatest fighters of all time are Christians. Ken Shamrock for example was once labeled “The Most Dangerous Man On Earth”… he is a dedicated Christian. He travels around to churches speaking and has a gym called “The Lion’s Den”. Other great fighters who are professing Christians include Rich Franklin, Randy Couture and Matt Hughes. There are many more, but they are certainly the most popular, all of them multiple championship holders. The Bible makes no reference to contact sports of this nature, for or against. It clearly speaks out against hating another person or an angry fight, but not necessarily against a sanctioned, regulated physical contest. It is a fine line. Would Jesus sit down and watch a WEC or UFC event? Probably not, he would have better things to do than to watch two guys slug it out in the ring. Would He call it sinful? Don’t know. So like many other things that are not specifically mentioned in the Bible, we have to honestly examine our motivations and listen to the Holy Spirit. What is your intention when you watch? Are you watching because you like the violence and you like to see someone get knocked out? Better not watch it then, for you it is probably sinful because you glorify the carnage. Do you watch it to try and sneak a ½ second glimpse at a ring girl between rounds? Better not watch it, because it is causing you to think lustfully. Do you watch it because you think it will make you look tough? Better not watch it, because you are feeding your ego. Do you watch because you appreciate the skill and would rather see a technical match than a violent one? Maybe it’s okay then, if the Holy Spirit doesn’t convict you otherwise. Frankly, it takes a mature Christian to be able to watch something like this without sinning.

So am I telling you that you should watch it? Am I telling you that you shouldn’t watch it?... No.

I will tell you this… there are remarkable similarities between the techniques used in the ring and the techniques Satan uses to attack us. That’s what we will discuss in the series. He will try to pysch us out, choke us out, stretch us out, grind us out, and knock us out. As believers we must learn to resist his attacks and persist to the end so we can stand strong, lift our hand high, and raise the belt of truth that secures our salvation.

Every week when I go to church basketball practice I realize that I am the youngest old fart in history. Pray for me tomorrow.

I’m not one for strong political speeches, in fact, although I try to stay up to date on political issues I still consider myself something of a political novice. What I do understand however, is what the Bible says about moral issues. When political decision-making crosses path with moral issues that are clearly defined in the Bible, I take notice. Particularly when those decisions contradict God’s Word.

On Friday, our new President overturned a ban on federal funding going to organizations that promote or perform abortions. What that means is that as a Christian, our tax money will now go to organizations that perform abortions. I don’t like to make political statements, but I don’t mind making moral ones, and the thought of that makes me sick to my stomach. As believers in Christ we must be willing to stand up and respond when our government crosses the moral line. There must be what I consider a righteous outcry against such actions. God has really laid this on my heart and I am going to begin researching how to be a part of making our voice heard on this subject.

Thanks everyone for making G.R.O.W. an unbelievable success! We had 120 people come to help and we wrote 135 letters, gave away 150 coats, passed out 23 overflowing gift baskets to the nurses stations at RRMC, and prayed intensely for everything we could think of. God was present in an amazing way tonight. Not only was that happening at the Salisbury Campus, but G.R.O.W. was happening at the Denton Campus and 6 people were baptized at the Kannapolis Campus. Keep up the good work and let the Whatever It Takes attitude be a part of your life every day.

Something crazy happened to Jess today when she went to Starbucks and I just had to share it. I will probably incorporate it into the message this weekend, so consider this a sneak-peek.

A couple of years ago I got an idea from a pastor named Steve Sjogren from Cincinatti. He said every time he goes through the drive through he pays for the person behind him too. I thought that was pretty cool so I started doing it. Particularly at Taco Bell because they have a little digital sign that says what the total is for the next car. That way you don’t get someone ordering $40 worth of tacos, of course I don’t know how that is possible because that would be like 1,000 tacos, but I digress, or is that digest, I don’t know, anyway… It’s something that Jess and I have started doing regularly to help people.

Well today Jess was in the Starbucks drive-through (somewhere we visit often) and decided to pay for the woman behind her. She drove off as usual but this time the woman followed her, started flashing her lights, and honking! Jess didn’t exactly know what to do, so she pulled over. The woman came up to her and the conversation proceeded something like this…

  Woman: “Did you just pay for my coffee?”

  Jess: “Yes.”

  Woman: “Why?”

  Jess: “I just wanted to help out and do something nice for you.”

  Woman: “Are you a part of a church or something?”

  Jess: “Yes.”

And she proceeded to tell her about how our church wants to help people. In fact she was wearing her “Whatever It Takes” shirt. The woman was blown away. You know what I love most about this story? When Jess said that she wanted to do something nice, the first thing the lady asked was if she was a part of a church. That is awesome! It means that we have a reputation of helping. Far too often Christians get a bad rep for not caring, but this person assumed that Christ was the reason. Excellent. We will definitely gain some ground when people in our community really look at Christians as loving, caring, purposeful people who have something genuine to offer.

Thank you to everyone who was a part of the High Rock worship services this weekend. I was blown away that our church family continues to grow and this weekend we had 736 people participate in a High Rock service church-wide. God is good all the time. Make sure you come check it out again next week because we will be talking about our church focus on community outreach. It will be sort of a continuation of our “Whatever It Takes” series so you don’t want to miss it. And also don’t forget to bring your winter coats so we can take them to the homeless shelter!