• Today wrapped up our “Sex, Drugs, Rock ‘n Roll” series with a look at what the Bible says about Rock ‘n Roll and, more specifically, culture.
• So fittingly the band opened with a rock ‘n roll medley including “I Love Rock ‘n Roll,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” and “You Give Love a Bad Name.”
• It was great! Can’t believe how good those guys are getting.
• It was even better during the worship set. OneLifers are getting more and more engaged at worshipping our God. The passion and energy during “Amazing Grace/My Chains are Gone” was especially amazing!
• I love it when the crowd is louder than the band. That happened several times.
• Speaking of crowd, it was another record. Why does that matter? Because most of these are NOT coming from other churches!
• OneLife Kidz continues to grow like crazy, too! For example…when we launched, our pre-school class had ZERO kids show up. Then it started to grow rapidly so we changed it from 3-5 to 4-5 years old to help. But it has just grown AGAIN. This week there were 16 kids in just that one class!
• The elementary group is growing like wildfire, too. They have more than doubled in size from 12 kiddos five weeks ago to 25 or more the past two weeks!
• The sermon focused on Acts 17 and how Paul didn’t ignore culture, didn’t fight culture, and didn’t become culture. Instead, he embraced and engaged culture to lead those far from God to a relationship with Christ.
• That is our goal! That’s what it’s all about as a Christian.
• Got lots of responses including several people who expressed that they want to be baptized!
• Also heard lots of stories of lives being changed and prayers being answered. God is good!
• I didn’t have a lot of energy during either the volunteer service or the “real” service at 11:00.
• Then I went to the doctor today and found out I have both strep throat AND the flu. It takes talent to get both of those at one time.
• AND…I now have ZERO sympathy for people who lay out of church every time they get a little sniffle or a headache
• Next week starts a 3-week series getting us ready for Easter.
• I can’t wait for Easter! OneLifers, don’t foget to bring in plastic eggs stuffed with candy for the Egg Drop!
• Also, next Sunday we are making a HUGE, ginormous, MONSTEROUS announcement!
• Spring your clocks forward, bring a friend, and DON’T MISS IT!!!

Preaching a sermon about what the Bible really says about alcohol was one of the hardest things I’ve done so far as a pastor of a new church. Why? Because what the Bible says is NOT what I’ve always thought or even taught to other people! I listened to several sermons on the topic and did a ton of research to arrive at this point and to make sure I wasn’t some kind of heretic. And apparently a lot of other people have the same questions. The video has already been watched more than 5o times and the podcast downloaded dozens more.

I promised all the OneLifers that I would post some of this research (most by conservative scholars, might I add) on the blog, so here it is. Enjoy! And after reading, leave me some comments below and tell me your thoughts…

History of Christianity and Alcohol – What led us to the place we are today in terms of this great debate in American Christianity (since it really is a non-issue everywhere else in the world).
Does Scripture Permit Us to Drink? - Detailed biblical research by Chancellor of Christ College.
The Bible and Alcohol – Another detailed, easy-to-understand study by a Dallas Theological Seminary professor.
Alcohol Blog – by Mark Driscoll, one of the greatest contemporary theologians of our day (in my opinion!) even if I don’t always agree with his presentation style. This is much of the same info from his chapter called “The Sin of Light Beer” from his book Radical Reformission.
Total Abstinence and Church Membership – Interesting sermon by one of my favorites, John Piper. He takes the stance that while drinking could be permitted biblically, Christians in our culture should abstain.
Not Addicted to Wine – An opposing viewpoint by John MacArthur, whom I admire. However, he unfortunately does not deal with the entire issue according to Scripture, never mentioning a single reference to Jesus’ first miracle or His reputation for being associated with alcohol (Luke 7:33-35).

God knew what he was doing when he planned this series for us at OneLife. It has been incredible to see the results over the past three weeks! This Sunday was no different. Well, except for how we opened the service…

• Our very emo OneLife Band stepped way out of their comfort zone and opened us up with “Whiskey For My Men, Beer for My Horses”
• So can you guess what we talked about? Yep, you guessed it. Horses.
• Not really…this was the long awaited for alcohol sermon.
• I had to rely on scripture rather than my legalistic background to preach this one.
• Where did we land on the subject? The Bible is clear that drinking and not getting drunk is not sin.
• Before you accuse me of being liberal and against the Bible, watch online for yourself or listen to the podcast. But listen to the whole thing!
• I have to admit…I did more research on this sermon than any other! Listened to lots of sermons and read lots of research from people smarter than me.
• That was because it made me uncomfortable! But I had to go with His Word instead of my word.
• I’ll be posting some of that research throughout the week for you to see for yourself…
• The great thing is where it all ended up: it might be permissible to drink alcohol but it – or nothing else – can master us.
• Jesus wants us to be mastered by HIM! Why? Because he wants us to have life to its fullest.
• This series has generated all kinds of web traffic. Our online videos have been viewed more than 200 times in just the past week. The podcast is getting more and more subscribers.
• How is that happening? We are letting God’s Word answer the questions people are asking instead of avoiding the questions. Inquiring minds want to know!
• Our volunteers stinkin’ rock. Tear down was less than 40 minutes – another record.
• Speaking of volunteers, I’m going to miss our college students who will be out on Spring Break this week.
• But speaking of college students, it was great to meet a lot of their parents who were there this Sunday because of “Parents Weekend” at UT. It’s cool that these kiddos love their new church enough to bring mom and dad!
• Next Sunday wraps up the series and let me just say this…DON’T BE LATE! You do NOT want to miss how the band is opening this one up!
• And with that in mind…this is the PERFECT week to bring someone who is skeptical of church-as-usual.
• See ya there!

Wow…in just a day the response from yesterday’s service has surpassed the response we’ve gotten from all of our services in our short 5 months combined!

• We started “Sex, Drugs, Rock ‘n Roll” last week learning that God gives us boundaries in these areas to protect us, not to hurt us.
• Yesterday we tackled the toughest topic of the three – sex!
• Lots of folks who like to judge and look down their noses have wondered why we’re doing this series.
• Let me tell you why…
• Number 1 – The Bible addresses these issues.
• Number 2 – People are struggling with – and in many cases losing battles to - these issues.
• Number 3 – Jesus died to save people out of and from these and many other sins.
• Number 4 – The Church has really screwed us up thanks to legalism in these areas and it’s time to follow God, not man.
• Number 5 – there’s not a blog post long enough to give all the reasons.
• Seriously, the stories since yesterday have blown my mind. It shows that people are really hurting sexually and need to hear that God cares.
• They also need to see that even through sex, God points us to the Gospel.
• My amazing wife shared her story and really helped people connect to the truth. Her bravery and transparency were unreal.
• Rather than looking at all the don’ts, we looked at what God says to DO.
• Song of Solomon 4 lays out the perfect plan.
• Check it out online: www.onelifeknox.com/watchonline
• Bottom line – Sex outside of marriage destroys.
• Practically speaking, husbands: pursue your wives in order to give, not take. Wives: invite your husband in, willing to give, not take.
• This was a topic many people were interested in hearing what God had to say. We had our highest “normal” attendance in our 5 months at 249.
• Worship was great – Dillan was at his best leading us and the band to God through song.
• Can’t wait for next week. We are going to answer the question “why does it matter?” in the area of drugs and alcohol.
• Some of the answers might be surprising!
• I also have a plan to finally get back to blogging more regularly. I realized late last week that a recap didn’t get written for the first time.
• That’s two weeks with no blog…lame!
• OneLifers – it’s only going to get better as we move forward this Sunday. BRING SOMEONE WITH YOU!!!