Oh my God, thank You! The new PlayStation 3 is here!!!

Can you believe it? It’s finally come after all this time!!! I’ve been waiting and waiting! Do I sound excited or what? Wow!
Please, right where you are, say it out loud with me; “Oh my God, thank You! The new playStation is here!!!”

Feel kinda silly right about now? Imagine that hundreds of thousands of people said that out loud (mostly 20 & 30 something guys) can you here ‘em?

“We gotta get down to the Circuit City, we gotta beat the crowd, we need to go now even before it gets there, C’mon!!!”

I have to admit, I’m a bit of a gamer myself, although I haven’t touched my PS2 in several months, I guess cause, I HAVE A LIFE, HELLO! Just kidd’n. But check out the article below.

This is from our local paper this morning:
TOP STORY: Waiting game: PlayStation 3 fever plagues county residents
By Daniel Lopezsentinel staff writer

WATSONVILLE — It's payday for Chance Coleman and others across the country who were brave enough, or maybe crazy enough, to spend two nights camping in front of electronics stores.
Coleman, a 31-year-old Santa Cruz resident, was one of about a dozen people who lined up outside the Target on Main Street in anticipation of today's release of the PlayStation 3.
"It's just worth it," he said of showing up at 8 a.m., 38 hours before Sony's video game console went on sale.
Michael Williams, assistant manager at Target, said Thursday he was surprised by the line of eager buyers.
"They lined up faster than we thought they would," he said.
The store had eight PlayStation 3 consoles; six of which are the $599 model with a 60-gigabyte hard drive. The other two go for $499 and have a 20-gigabyte hard drive.

[So let me get this straight, there are like 50 people camping out in front of a store that only has “eight PlayStation 3 consoles”? WHY?]

Coleman, who was fourth in line, and his friend Billy Maguire of Capitola, who was right behind him, were after the more expensive model, but for different reasons.
Coleman, a "true gamer" as described by his friend, intended to keep the console. Maguire, though, said he planned to sell it online, cashing in on the limited supply and demand.
Some eBay auctions for the console were up to $2,300 Thursday.
Last week one sold on the site for $9,100.

"I'd be happy with $2,500" Maguire said. "That's like two months of rent."

[“$9,100” for something you purchased for $600? These things must be amazing, I mean this guy who’d pay $2500, is willing to give up his rent money for one. ]

The PlayStation 3, which features Bluetooth wireless controllers, online gaming capabilities and extra services including the ability to download high-definition videos, music and games, could be hard to come by even in the world of online shopping.

David Kaun, an economics professor at UC Santa Cruz, said offering a product in limited numbers can often be good business for companies.
"It's probable they are taking advantage of the human demand for this product," he said. "There is this desire to be first."

[Aw! There’s a psychology to this! Hmmm!]

The Associated Press contributed to this report. [And I shortened it a bit!]
Quite an article huh? Now let’s flash back 2000 years, and then do a comparison as to where the world was and where it is today.

“And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.” (Mark 2:1-2)

Can you hear ‘em?
“Oh my God, Thank You! The long awaited Messiah has come!!! We must go to Him Now!!!
In Mark 6:30 it says that the “multitudes saw them departing (the Apostles & Jesus), and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him.”

It says in Mark chapter 2, that the house and surrounding area was so crowded that a man who was to be healed by Jesus had to be lowered through the roof. These people were there to see and hear Jesus. They wanted Him to fill them with what He was teaching; they were the serious gamers you might say. And of course you had those who wanted to take what He said and did, and make a quick buck, they wanted to put what they had up for bid on Ebay.

Beware guys and gals! These guys are still out there, and if you have the Holy Spirit, it’s pretty obvious who they are. They are in it not for what the PlayStation3 can offer; “Bluetooth wireless controllers, online gaming capabilities and extra services including the ability to download high-definition videos, music and games”. They are not in it for what Jesus has to offer, the Free Gift of Salvation, Eternal Life, Peace, Hope, Love, but above these, a home with Him and The Father in Heaven. They offer you a great deal, “buy from me for $2500, what I only paid $500 for.” “I can guarantee you a ticket to Heaven, I can guarantee that I will pray for you, and you will be healed! Just write out that check!” Man! I can hear “Pastor Benny” saying those words, can’t you?

What is my point? Why aren’t we as followers of Christ camping out in front of houses of worship? Why aren’t we as excited about the coming of Jesus as we are about the latest game console, or movie coming out? Jesus is coming folks!!! “Perhaps today!” There’s a local church that advertises an event every year called “Alpha”, now I don’t know a whole lot about Alpha, only what I’ve read on the web, and you know how reliable that can be, but anyway, they put out these signs in front of the church that say “Alpha is Coming!!” Ya’ know, that’s always bugged me! I’ve written to the pastor and asked him why isn’t there a sign that says “Jesus is Coming!!!”? I Haven’t gotten a response yet.

The people were excited shouting “Jesus! The Messiah is here!!! He’s over in that house, we must go!!! He’s over on the shore, we must go, and we must get there as soon as we can so that we can hear every word out of His mouth!!!”

Lord! I pray for this kind of desire! I pray that there would be revival like the world has never seen, and I pray that it comes soon. Abba, give us a heart to worship You, to love You as You deserve. You gave us life when we deserved death, You have given us the opportunity to say “Yes” to Your Son Jesus, to follow Him, and to ask Him to come into our lives and hearts with a promise that He will never leave us, and in fact we will be with Him and You Father one day in paradise. Lord! Give me a heart to see people for who they are, Your created loved one. Help me to put my prejudices aside and to see them as ones that You love just like You love me, that You want them to be with You one day too. Help me to see those divine appointments, and that I would allow You Holy Spirit which lives in me, to handle that appointment because I know I am nothing without You. I pray that this email would be used by You to touch a life. As a special request Jesus, give my brother Jim a hug from me!
Amen!

Ted Haggard? How could he do this to his family, to his church, and to God?

Hey All,
I’m sure by now you’ve all heard the story of what that Pastor Ted Haggard did! I’m embarrassed and ashamed of him! How could he do this to his family, to his church? How could he do this to God? Why I never!!! I mean, here’s a guy who has been pastor for over 20 years, he’s head a church with over 14,000 members, and is (or was) the head of the National Association of Evangelicals, he has a great wife and kids, how could he do something so vile and so awful to them. How could he do this to God whom he supposedly has served for most of his life? You know what? He deserves what he gets!!!!

Doesn’t he know what the bible says in Romans 1?
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:21-31) (NIV)

Now that I’ve got your attention!

Wow! That is quite a list! Let me ask you honestly, how could Pastor Ted do these terrible things? How could a man of God be tempted in this inexcusable way? The answer? The same way we are! We ALL “fall short”, we are ALL only a few wrong choices away from ruining our lives, and those lives around us.

As I opened my bible this morning looking for what God might want to share with me, I was surprised at where He took me, the first words I read were from Romans 2:
“Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”(NASB)
Amazingly, these words are the very next words that follow that list from above. Notice that the first word is therefore, as my pastor would say, “You have to ask yourself; ‘What is it therefore?’” What this “therefore” is saying, is that “in light of what you’ve just read, you have no excuse” or “you are inexcusable” as my NKJV reads.

Let’s look at my opening statements again, which by the way were meant to appear as an overreaction and to get your attention, my heart and prayers are with Pastor Haggard and his family. I said that I was “embarrassed and ashamed of him! How could he do this to his family, to his church? How could he do this to God?” I guess the real question is, what does God think of us when we fall? When we have a tendency at times to look at another’s sin, do we forget how the rest of the verses go in Romans 2:2-4? That because we “know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.” That when we who are “mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things,” do we really think we can “escape God’s judgment?” Why do we “show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience?” and we don’t realize “that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?”


I also said something about him deserving “what he gets!!!!” If we were given what we deserved, well the planet would be a lonely place; in fact it would be an empty place, for “the wages of sin is death”. BUT! Because of God’s Son Jesus, God’s great love, His mercy, and because of His grace, not to mention (which I already did above) His “riches of kindness” His amazing “tolerance and patience”, we are all still here, but the fact is, we are not alone! Not only do we have a Heavenly Father who loves us, who has left His Holy Spirit with us, we also have an enemy who hates us. We need to remember that! He’s a “prowling lion, looking for someone to devour!” I think that we like Pastor Ted, forget that at times, and sadly Pastor Ted and everything he stands for and has built, has been devoured. Does God still love him? Has He forgiven him? Will He restore him and his family? Can God use him in the future? Can God use this to glorify His name? All YES!!!!