James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" 57 AND THEY TOOK OFFENSE AT HIM. But Jesus said to them, "ONLY IN HIS HOMETOWN AND IN HIS OWN HOUSE IS A PROPHET WITHOUT HONOR." 58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith." (Matthew 13:54-58)

Jesus Then Left And Went Where People Would Listen. I'm Sure That There Were Those Out There That Claimed He Was Being Unloving For Not Casting His Pearls For Them To Rip To Shreds, But He Was Love Incarnate And This Is What He Did.　

4)  Let The Master Be Your Only Master

Now Here's An Area I Need Work On. When That Good Smelling Turkey, Cranberry Sauce And All The Fixins Hit My Nose I Am Determined To Fully Enjoy It.

This Is My Thorn In The Flesh. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) I Sometimes Eat Christmas Dinner Like There Is No Tomorrow. Then I Need To Be Carted Off In A Wheel Barrow. However, This Year I Am Committed To Watch Myself While Still Enjoying The Meal And Thanking God, My Wife And The Turkey For It.

So Here's A Simple Thought During The Holy Day:

Eat When Your Hungry, Stop When Your Hunger Is Satisfied And Give Your Brain The Time To Register That Your Hunger Has Been Satisfied By Eating Slowly And Thinking About Christ.

When I Was In The Navy Over Thirty Years Ago, I Was Placed With A Group Of Fellow Sailors And We Were Forced To Hang Over The Side Of The Ship From Early Morning To Late Evening, Seven Days A Week.

When We Were Given Our Lunch And Dinner, We Were Only Given Fifteen Minutes To Eat It And Then We Were Ordered To Be Back Over The Side Painting The Ship.

This Meant That You Had To Shovel Your Food In Your Mouth And Not Wait To See How Much You Actually Needed.

Well, After Three Months We Staged A Mutiny And Refused To Do The Work Anymore, One Guy Went Straight To The Executive Officer And The Group Was Disbanded.

I Seem To Have Never Recovered From That Way Of Eating Though. I Need Divine Help On This One.

Now Let Me Add, You Skinny People Aren't Off The Hook On This One Either. Many Years Ago, I Had A Christian Brother That Rebuked Me For Being Overweight. He Was Skinny And Arrogant About All Things. But What He Forgot About Was That I Had Been With Him At Buffets And He Eats Three Times As Much As I Do.

So Did God Say, Don't Be Overweight Or Avoid Gluttony, Even On The Holidays?

The World Is Into Counting Calories Or Being Skinny And If It Was About That Then We Should Conclude That People In The World Are Our Example Because They Got This Down Better Than We Christians Do.

Bars You Gots To Drive To, But The Fridge Is Only A Hop, Skip And A Jump Away.

This Arrogant Brother Was Skinny And Obviously Had A Metabolism Or Activity Rate Much Higher Than Most, But Wrongly Concluded That God Said Being Skinny Is The Goal.

Paul Said: "Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I WILL NOT BE MASTERED BY ANYTHING. 13 "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"--but God will destroy them both." (1 Cor. 6:12,13)

I've Been To Christmas Celebrations Where You Would Think That There Were Only Two Choices, Either To Eat As Much As Possible Or Be Anorexic And Nauseating While Fearing Food. These Were Two Extremes That Are Equally Bad.

The Goal Is To Be Like Christ, Let Him Be Lord Of Every Area Of Our Life And Nothing Else. This Is A Lifelong Journey No Doubt. Serving God Is A Lifelong Pursuit, But Some Aren't Even Trying.

"NOT THAT I have already obtained all this, or HAVE ALREADY BEEN MADE PERFECT, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But ONE THING I DO: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15 All of US WHO ARE MATURE SHOULD TAKE SUCH A VIEW OF THINGS. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you." (Philippians 3:12-15)

Those That Don't Take This View Or Struggle To Serve God Are Not Christians.

Moderation Means That You Do Eat But Not Too Much. You're Not Afraid Of Food But You Don't Treat It Like Your Only Friend Either. God Doesn't Say Get A Skinny Operation To Be Skinny, He Said Don't Be Mastered By Anything But The Master. That Means Food Or Fear Of Food....

Gluttony Of Delicacy

My Wife And I Know A Woman That Went From Being Overweight, To Skinny Surgery To Being So Obsessed And Afraid Of Food That She Has Frightened At Least Three Other Younger Family Members Into Being Anorexic And Looking Like Holocaust Survivors As Well. They See The Rest Of The World Through A Food Strainer. 

Moderation: 'Avoidance Of Excesses Or Extremes' (New World College Dictionary)

This Means Not Only The Excess Of Food Consumption But Also The Excess In The Opposite Direction Of Being Afraid Of Food And Avoiding Food. This Woman Even Would Praise These Men Like Dead Trees Walking For Doing Such Things.

"Blessed is the man who DOES NOT WALK IN THE COUNSEL OF THE WICKED or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." (Psalm 1:1-3)

Where Biggest Loser Got It Wrong.

My Wife And I Watch Biggest Loser And Enjoy It, While Letting It Inspire Us In Our Eating Habits And Exercise.

However, The Way These Trainers Train These Big Losers Are Setting Them Up For A Fall.

No One Is Going To Train Like That On Their Own Or Be Changing Up The Exercise Routines Like These Trainers Do.

One Must Do What They Can Maintain For The Rest Of Their Lives.

The Way They Workout On The Biggest Loser Cannot Contribute To Long Term Weight Loss.

Integrating Exercise Into Ones Daily Activities Is The Ideal. Those With Carpentry Jobs Are Blessed And Have The Edge Over Us With More Sedentary Lifestyles.

The World Has Vascillated Between Thinking Marilyn Monroe Was Attractive To Thinking Audrey Hepburn Or Ally McBeal Was. From Voluptuous To Bulemic. Models Modelling Clothes That Only They And Women On Speed Can Wear.

I Knew Two Women During My Inner City Ministry Days That Were Slightly Overweight. They Gave Into The Pressure Of The World i.e. Tely, Daughters...To Be Skinny And They Resorted To Drugs To Accomplish It. They Got Skinny All Right, But Also Got Screwed Up In Many Other Ways In The Process. They Often Haven't Even Got To The First Step In The Healing And Deliverance Process Of Admitting They Have A Problem Because They Often Don't Think They Do. They Don't Suffer From Their Problem, They Enjoy It, Basque In It, And Make It Their Whole Identity.

They Think They've Gotten The Victory Over Food When Hopefully They Someday Find Out That Now They Fear Food. Anorexics And Bulemics Often Think Everything Is Progressing Nicely But Want More Weight Loss. They Don't Even See That They Have A Problem. Ask My Wife About Her Experiences Years Ago, Who Agreed To This Mention.5) 'This Little Light Of Mine, I'm Gonna Let It Shine'

Lit Cross: We Have A Lit Red Cross In Our Window, Year Round But Especially During The Holy Days.

I've Been Shunned Just For Shining My Light During The Holy Days. Despite What I Say It Always Come Back To: He That Is Without Sin Preach The First Word....

"If We Say That We Have No Sin, We Deceive Ourselves And the Truth Is Not In Us." (1 John 1:8)

The Bible Says We Are Not To Hide Our Light Under A Bushel But That's Exactly How Some People Treat You.

It Is More Blessed To Give And Receive

6) Do the Do's And You Will Be Less Likely To Do The Don'tsMike Warnke, 'Christian' Comedian Said, 'Do The Do's And You Won't Have Time To Do The Don'ts.'

But I Say Unto You, 'Do The Do's And You Will Have Less Time And Energy To Do The Don'ts, Not That The Don'ts Will Be Impossible. Mike Warnke Finally Figured This Out.

Many Unbelievers Or Carnal Christians Wrongly Conclude That Christianity Is A System Of Don'ts Rather Than Do's. Then They Conclude That Being A Christian Is Being A Moral Goody Two Shoes. Then They Expect You As A Christian To Be Perfect Before You Can Say Anything To Them.

So It Then Follows That They Don't Do Any Of The Do's, Which Is What God Really Wants.

"We Are Dead To Sin Only To The Degree That We Are Alive Unto God."

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, SET YOUR HEARTS ON THINGS ABOVE, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." (Colossians 3)

A Christian Is Primarily One Who Tastes Of God Things And Bears Fruit, Not A Monk Who Takes A Vow Of Seeing No Evil, Hearing No Evil, Tasting No Evil.

"That which was from the beginning, which WE HAVE HEARD, WHICH WE HAVE SEEN WITH OUR EYES, WHICH WE HAVE LOOKED AT AND OUR HANDS HAVE TOUCHED. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete." (1 John 1:1-4)

These Were Jesus' Disciples Who Experienced The Word/Logos Which Is The Beginning Of True Logic.

"Come now, LET US REASON TOGETHER," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." (Isaiah 1:18)

But We Can Experience Him Too. He's Not About Thou Shalt Not, He's About What Thou Shalt.

Those That Don't Do The Do's Are Those That Don't Know Him At All. (Philippians 4)

"Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." (Psalm 34:8)

Love And Truth Is A Do And A Fruit And Fruit Grows But Doesn't Instantly Appear: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5)

7) Teach The Children The Meaning Of The Holy DaySometimes The Children Are Disobedient To Their Parents, Ungrateful, Unholy Because Their Parents Are And Don't Respect Each Other. They Don't Even Know The Basics Because Their Parents Didn't Or Didn't Communicate It To Them.

Going Into A Situation Where You Get The Displeasure Of Hanging Out With Families During A Holiday Where The Children Are Looking For Someone To Devour, Kind Of Like A Cat Looking For A Scratching Post.

"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be LOVERS OF THEMSELVES, lovers of money,