I'm Addicted to Twitter

A phenomena has swept the Internet world called Twitter. I have been engaged in this silliness for about one month now. I have been accused by several people, even my lovely wife, that I am addicted to Twitter. Several people have asked me what is Twitter. So I thought I would blog about why I Twitter.

What is Twittering? According to Twitters home page:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

So why did I start Twittering? Four reasons I started Twittering

1. Convenience - I thought Facebook was a way to stay connected? So why do I need to Twitter? Plus it's another website I would have to check and frankly, I don't have the time. The main reason I started Twittering was because you can link your Facebook account to Twitter. The advantage that Twitter offers is that you can update your status via text messaging. So you don't have to be on the computer to change your status. People think that I'm addicted to Twitter because my Facebook status says changed "via Twitter." Really all I did was send a text message from my phone. You don't have to be around a computer to update your status.

2. Peer Pressure - Everybody else is doing it. I'll admit it. Over 1 million people are using it. I became involved because I saw college friends updating their profiles on Facebook via Twitter. I was curious and the rest is history. I don't know if I will continue to Twitter, only time will tell.

3. Connectivity - It allows family, friends and others to follow your activity throughout the day and keep up with your life. You can even get these updates via cell phone. I was able to see what a friend was doing while he was on vacation.

4. Contacts - It puts me into contact with people I would never rub shoulders with, so called "experts" in their fields. Some of the people that I follow I would never have known them otherwise. Some people that I follow are Matthew Barnett pastor of LA Dream Center, John Maxwell leadership guru, Michael Hyatt CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Brian Houston pastor Hillsong Church, Shaun Alexander former Seatle Seahawks running back and Des Woodruff founder of Free Trading Videos. These are potential relationships that may prove fruitful someday. I just find it interesting to see what's going on in their lives.

I don't know if this is something that I will continue to do, but I am having fun with it at least for now. If you want to follow me you can do so by joining www.twitter.com. Just sign in and follow the directions. Follow me here if you are already signed up. It's pretty simple.

I guess I'm addicted to Twitter.

Are you ready to give it a try?

Are You Susceptible to Pornography?

Look at six characteristics of someone vulnerable to pornography. Check it out to see! I thought I would share with you some thoughts from the series of messages I have been preaching called the Perils of Pornography.

Proverbs 7:6-9

"6 For at the window of my house I looked through my lattice, 7 And saw among the simple, I perceived among the youths, A young man devoid of understanding, 8 Passing along the street near her corner; And he took the path to her house 9 In the twilight, in the evening, In the black and dark night."

These verses describe to us a person that is being tempted by the adulterous woman. You may say this passage is not dealing with pornography and I agree with you, but Jesus said that if you look lustfully at another woman you have already committed adultery in your heart. So by the very act of looking and lusting adultery has already been committed. That's why pornography is bad.

In this portion of scripture Solomon describes to us six characteristics of someone vulnerable to pornography.

1. The Simple/Lack of Judgment are Susceptible to Pornography

Solomon uses the the word "simple" to describe the person. The word simple means to lack education, experience or intelligence. It means to not have an understanding. Simple describes a person who lacks skill, good sense and judgment. Prov. 5:8 "You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, gain understanding." Get educated on the Perils of Pornography. Don't ever think it can never happen to you.

2. The Young are Susceptible to Pornography

In this passage it was a young person that fell into the temptation. According to http://www.theporntalk.com/ the average age for kids accessing pornography is 11 years old. 90% of kids 8-16 years old viewed pornography on line. It's not to say that the older generation is not susceptible. We all are! But generally speaking the young is where it starts. 2Tim 2:22 "Flee youthful lusts..."

3. Men are Susceptible to Pornography

The adulterous woman pursued a young man. Men are more susceptible to pornography than women are. It's not to say that women aren't vulnerable. According to http://www.theporntalk.com/ 30 % of pornography purchased last year was by women. In general, men are by nature visual. We are stimulated sexually through the eyes. David said in Ps. 101:3 "I will set before my eyes no vile thing." This is a good place to stress to the women to dress modestly! because of your nature you will have to guard what you see. Always look away.

4. Those that Hang out with Others Who engage in Pornography are Susceptible to Pornography

This young man was not by himself when he started on his journey towards temptation. The scriptures says "...he saw among the simple... and among the youth." There was a group of people. Who you hang out with is who you become. I heard Jeanna Mayo say, "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future." It is important to hang around righteous people. David was very selective in who he hung out with. Read Psalms 101:4-7.

5. The Bored/Idle are Susceptible to Pornography

He passed along the street near her corner. He was sauntering. He had nothing to do. He passed through her street bored and as one who had nothing to do. People that have no purpose or are simply bored are prone to sin. We need to be carefull when we are bored, it can lead to sin especially when we are surfing the web.

6. Those that Put Themselves in the Way of Temptation are Susceptible to Pornography

This young man walked alone at night on the corner of a street where the adulteress woman was staying. He was exposing himself to danger. This was not a good place for him to be. If you play with fire long enough eventually you will get burnt. Don't put yourself in tempting places. The Bible says that we are to flee the very appearance of evil. Most pornography is hit at night. So set some standards. Don't get on the computor especially when everyone is asleep. Go to bed at night. Place your computor in a public area. My mom would never let me take my girlfriends in our room because it was putting us in a tempting situation.

Anyone can get addicted to pornography. But if you are simple, young, a man, bored, hang out with others who view pornography and always place yourself in tempting situations you are vulnerable to pornography.

If you fit into one of these descriptions what are you doing to help protect and prevent pornography from filtrating your life?

Easter reflections

Do you want to see Kennedy with the Easter Bunny? I thought I would share some thoughts about our Easter weekend. Easter weekend is always busy, but very rewarding.

The Easter Egg hunt that was held at our church this week was successful. The weather cooperated with us this year. It was a bit chilly because of the wind but the sky was very sunny and blue. Everyone jumped in and helped us serve our community. Thanks to Heather Trietsch for stepping in while Janell was on vacation. Heather did a wonderful job organizing the event. I'm not exactly sure how many people came to the hunt, but our gym was full of people.

I have heard nothing but good things about the Easter Sunday morning service. The church was full of people - 128 to be exact. It was great to see so many new faces. Thanks to all of KAGer's for bringing people. It's amazing what a little money will do to motivate people. Thanks to those who helped in the human video. It touched so many people. As I looked over the crowd, there were several that were crying. And to top it off, there were two people that gave their heart to the Lord that morning. PTL!

Kudos to everyone at KAG for helping out and making it such a wonderful weekend.

After the service was over, our family went to Trader's Pointe to get a bite to eat and watch The Hanna Montana movie. What a great Easter Weekend!

An Hour in Prayer?

Thought I would share how I spent an hour in prayer with the Lord this morning. Jesus asked the disciples if they would spend one hour in prayer with him. This is the only time frame Jesus ever mentions about our length of prayer. I think we need to be careful in watching the clock while we pray. Kind of like putting my time stamp on my quota of prayer. Our prayer life needs to be on a continual basis. Not just from 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. How do I spend an hour in prayer?

1. Follow a guideline
There are many models to follow to serve as guidelines in praying. Jesus gave us a guideline in praying with the Lord's prayer. There is the A.C.T.S. prayer model. Dick Eastman wrote a book called "The Hour that Changed the World" which has been a good help. The old adage is true if you fail to plan you plan to fail.
My guideline this morning went as...

• Worship - 25 minutes I play the acoustic guitar and sing worship songs for about 20-30 minutes. David said, "I will awaken my spirit with the lute and harp."
• Confession - 5 minutes - One of the songs that I was singing was about God's grace. I asked the Lord to deal with the sins in my life and receive His grace.
• Meditation on the Word - 10 minutes - I read Psalms 116 the day before and it dealt with being thankful to God because He saved us from nearly dieing. I just prayed the outline I had established the day before.
• Praying in unknown language - 15 minutes - I'm Pentecostal and believe the Lord has given us a prayer language to help us pray effectively. Romans 8:26-27 26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. So I prayed in the language the Lord has given me. When I was baptized in the Holy Spirit a minister challenged me to pray in the Holy Spirit everyday.

2. Set a time
Set a time and be fairly consistent to it. I heard of a story of a pastor who prayed with an elderly missionary one morning during his daily prayer time. The only words the missionary said was, "Jesus" and the pastor friend said the presence of the Lord came into the room. The pastor attributed the presence of God being strong because the missionary had continually meet with Jesus in prayer at that time. I try to get up in the morning time to pray before the day starts. It doesn't always work that way. This morning I didn't want to get up, but thanks to my wife for getting up to exercise, she inspired me to get out of bed. The key to getting out of bed in the morning is going to bed early the night before. :) Jesus got up early before the day even started to spend time with the father. I don't believe this was a one time experience, but something He did on a continual basis.

3. Start small
If you can't spend an hour in prayer start with 15 minutes. I started doing my devotions when I was in High School with the devotional book called "Take Five." It lasted about five minutes. Now when I pray and read the Word I usually spend one to two hours of prayer and Bible reading. How? I've worked my way from "Taking Five." We need to start small and continually work on it.

The disciples fell asleep when Jesus asked them to pray. Jesus was disappointed that they were not praying with them. He wanted them to pray so that that they could be prepared for the temptations they would be facing. A lack of prayer in their life caused them to fall into temptation. We can't miss prayer in our life it will cause us to be spiritually weak. I hope your spending time with the Father in prayer. One hour is a good goal to set.

Enrich Your Faith

This Sunday, April 5th we are having Doug Carmel minister in our morning service at Kirklin A/G. He is a Jewish believer. He came to our church last year and demonstrated a Seder Supper, which is a supper the Jews celebrate during passover. Doug showed us how Christ is seen in the passover. The supper is similar to what Jesus shared with the discples on the "Last supper." If you ever get to go to Seder Supper check it out. This time Doug is going to teach on the tabernacle and it's significance to Christ.

At this time of year I love to learn about Jewish traditions to enrich my faith.

Check out their website if you are interested. http://www.rockofisrael.org/

NCAA and Spring Break

One of the things we got to experience while the kids were on spring break was going to the new Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and watching four teams practice for the NCAA tournament. I thought you might be interested in seeing a picture. The new stadium is pretty incredible to see, hopefully the Colts will have many wins there. The four teams

practicing were Louisville, Michigan State, Kansas, and Arizona. My favorite team to watch practice was Louisville. They gave us an incredible dunking show.