Driverless Car

I used this video clip to illustrate a point in my message on Sunday. Just as it may not be a good idea to have a driverless car (at least not yet) it also a good idea to make sure we have the right "driver" steering our lives. Eph. 5:18 tells us that we are to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us - literally to control us. We need to allow Him to take the wheel. The great news is He is already available as He indwells all believers. He also is able as He has all the divine attributes of God, and He is willing to change us from the inside out. He is both the architect and the builder of the new you.

If you want to hear more you can listen to the complete message all of the others in the "Extreme Makeover: Soul Edition" series on WaggonerMedia.com. Comments always welcome.

Celebrity or Hero?

I won't share his name, not only because he would be embarrassed but because you wouldn't know it. I recently ran into an old friend. It was great to see a warm smile of friendship on his worn face. I wanted to tell you a little about him but was wondering if you would listen. If I name dropped a celebrity name you may have taken notice. But why would we? For some reason the star of some meaningless TV show, or the voice on a recording or long-gone victories on the athletic field grabs our attention. We take note, we stop and look and listen. We tend to overlook real character while being captivated by the emptiness of make believe fame. Instead, we see a well-known face that was once a person we all thought we "knew." We don't think much of the addictions, the failed relationships and the layers of self-centeredness, we only see the face that once beamed from so many autographed 8x10 glossies.

No, my friend is no celebrity, he has simply kept his marriage vows for 40 years, took his kids to Sunday School, went to work and paid his bills and above all loved his God. He is not a household name but he is a hero. Not for what he did that was noticed, but what he did wanting no notice.

I prefer heroes to celebrities.

Video used to introduce the fourth message in the Extreme Makeover: Soul Edition series. More to come - follow it on www.WaggonerMedia.com

Drive Time Video

I recently completed an update for the website of Drive Time Video (http://www.DriveTimeVideo.com).

These twice a week video messages began in July of 2008 and has now grown to a monthly audience of more than 1800. Thanks so much for your feedback, encouragement and sharing these. If you have missed previous ones we keep the last 15 episodes online. You can also subscribe by RSS or sign-up for an e-mail list that will alert you to when a new episode is released.

Also, beginning today you can keep up to date with Drive Time Video via Twitter, just go to http://www.Twitter.com/DriveTimeVideo

Twitter & Facebook

Always on the lookout for new ways to allow the Bible Center family to connect I am pleased to let you know of two social networking tools to allow you to do so. We are offering daily (at times more) daily updates (tweats) on Twitter and we have created a Bible Center Fan page on Facebook. If you use either of these services or would like to, use these links.

Bible Center on Twitter

Bible Center on Facebook


If you want to follow my personal activities, quotes and thoughts feel free to use these links for my personal tweats and FB page

Twitter.com/JesseWaggoner

Facebook.com/jwaggoner


Twitter is a microblogging service where users can post brief (140 characters) updates of their thoughts and activities. You can choose to follow others and others can follow yours as well.

Facebook is the largest Social Networking service in the world with more than 250 million users. You can must sign up for a free account for most activities on Facebook but you can view the content of our fanpage without becoming a member, to add content you must be a member. So give a try to these new ways to connect.

Voice of the Valley

I enjoyed being a guest on the Voice of the Valley program with Ric Cochran today, the show is heard on all seven radios stations of the West Virginia Radio Corp. Southern Division. It was great chance to talk about everything from my Drive Time Videos to Theology. I was on to promo Bible Center's Backpack project and the upcoming Fresh Grounded Faith Conference. To hear a segment of the program use the link below.

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

Shout-Out to Drs. Eastwood

Both Julie and I have been helped so much by the services of Dr. Jody and Heather Eastwood with Healthsource here in Charleston. I would recommend them to you! Their approach of Chiropractic & Progressive Therapy is truly the way to go with back and neck problems. As a bonus Megan and Grant are the best massage therapists in the valley! Thanks guys.

Trail Map, Sunday Nite Bible Study for Kids

Beginning Sunday night August 16th elementary aged children can participate in the evening Bible Study by using a Trail Map, this interactive Bible study sheet will bring them into the study of God's word. Many parents use Sunday nights as an opportunity to worship with their children and with this added resource it can be even more fun and valuable for your family.

Just have your children pick up a trail map near the front doors and use it during the service. After the service they can show it to one of the guides at the front door "Mailbox" and select a small prize as a reward for a job well done. We hope to see you and your children there. Nurseries for preschool children and youth programs will continue to meet on level one on Sunday nights.

Download a sample Trail Map Sheet

Follow me on Twitter

I have enjoyed connecting with friends old and new on Twitter, if you would like to follow me or would like a follow from me, go to www.Twitter.com/JesseWaggoner

Drive Time Video Sample

I thought it may be time again to give you a sample Drive Time Video on my blog, in case you have missed this, new videos "from the road" are online each Tuesday and Friday, you can find them at:

www.DriveTimeVideo.com,
www.WaggonerMedia.com,
www.facebook.com/jwaggoner,
www.waggonermedia.podomatic.com,

you can also subscribe to my e-mail list to inform you of new episodes or subscribe via RSS to receive the podcast via iTunes or your favorite podcatcher. Updates usually appear on Twitter as well

http://twitter.com/JesseWaggoner

So watch via your desktop, laptob, Blackberry or iPhone but however you watch, I trust you are blessed and encouraged.

Jesse Waggoner

Extreme Makeover: Soul Edition

I thought I would give a heads-up to a new teaching series I am working on. If you can participate in person you can listen or watch online via the podacast or video podcast available at www.BibleCenterChurch.com, here is the description of the series:


Extreme Makeover: Soul Edition
Sunday Evening Teaching Series
Pastor Jesse Waggoner

It is no secret that mankind needs a radical makeover; that we need to be remade from the inside out. The good news is that through Christ just such a makeover is in progress in the life of a follower of Jesus. Come and learn about who you are destined to be in Him and learn how you can cooperate with the process of change that He wants to accomplish in you.

So join us Sunday evenings at 6:00 p.m. beginning
August 9, 2009.

Online Bible

My friend Jon Browning has created and introduction/tutorial video for the Online Bible. This is great program that I use often and best of all it is free! Watch the video and see what I mean.

Thoughts from Dad

Children do seem to grow up fast, this year my youngest crossed the line into being a twenty-something. This has happened in a blur of time. In fact, I now find myself telling young parents to enjoy every moment with their little ones because they will blink and the kids will be heading out the door.

As I have watched my children grow and change I have to wonder if my Heavenly Father can see growth and change in me. I want to be a father and person who stays on the growing edge of life. I want my life to display constant growth in the Lord.

On this special day, may each of us be reminded – especially those of us who are fathers – to continue growing and changing so that our Heavenly Father will be pleased with how quickly we’ve grown, and our children will follow in our footsteps.

Flag Day

June 14 is Flag Day, while not an official Federal Holiday it does commemorate the day in 1777 that congress adopted the United States Flag. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day and in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress. The week of June 14 is designated as "National Flag Week." During National Flag Week, the president typically issues a proclamation urging U.S. citizens to fly the American flag for the duration of that week. I never tire of seeing the Stars and Stripes flying and so appreciate all that our Flag represents of our great nation.

Psalm 60:4 tells us that God has given us a Banner (flag) of truth. It is our allegiance to the truth that should be on public display before an often skeptical world. In addition to our study of the Word to understand and know the truth, we must also live out God’s truth every day.

So get your flags flying.

Feeling Small

When we express size we often use comparisons to do so. Expressions such as "big as a whale", "small as an ant", or "the size of a breadbox" all communicate size. But if we can make it a little more personal, what comparisons do we use to determine our size? If you have stared at an amoeba through a microscope you no doubt felt quite huge; while peering into the Grand Canyon or viewing the ocean will make you feel quite small. Such experiences tend to put us back into our place.

The Psalmist David describes such an experience in Psalm 8. The thing that made him feel small was considering the extent of God's creation. He wrote: "When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained: What is man, that Thou are mindful of him?"

When was the last time you felt small in the presence of God? Perhaps this summer would be a great time to seek out some place to experience the awesomeness of God's creation. So pack your lunch and your Bible and head out to be impressed with who God is and what He has done. Seek to reach that point of feeling small, and while you are in that reduced condition, offer words of praise for His immeasurable grace.

Webster says that a reward is something given in return for good or for service or merit. In our lives we are motivated by rewards. The most obvious is the paycheck we receive for work. There are three major kinds of employee payment. The first is a salary. This is a fixed payment at regular intervals for work performed. The second is hourly, whereby a person is paid a fixed rate per hour worked. A third is piece work where payment is made strictly on the basis of production.

In I Corinthians 3:8-9 God tells us that -"every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God:" It seems as if God's rewards are most like piece work. I This labor is not to get us to heaven but is the product of a life transformed by God's grace as one labors because he is on his way to heaven ( see Ephesians 2:8-10).

It is worth thinking about what rewards may await us at God's throne. All of us who are part of God's family are to be involved in the service of our Lord. Remember His Word to us --"And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12

The Valley of Vision

I have recently been reading The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan Prayers, edited by Arthur Bennett. Whatever you think of the puritans you cannot fault their sincerity and personal devotion. I have been challenged in my own prayer life as I have read these. To see what I mean here is a sample from a prayer entitled Kept by God.

"Jehovah God,
Thou creator, upholder, proprietor of all things,
I cannot escape from thy presence or control,
nor do I desire to do so.
My privilege is to be under the agency of omnipotence,
righteousness, wisdom, patience, mercy, grace.
thou art love with more than parental affection;
I admire thy heart, adore thy wisdom,
stand in awe of thy power, abase myself before thy purity.
It is the discovery of thy goodness alone that can
banish my fear,
allure me into they presence,
help me to bewail and confess my sins."

Praying for our Leaders

We are commanded in 1 Tim. 2:2 to pray for those in authority. We usually apply this to include praying for our elected leaders. I would assume that most of us likely spend more time complaining about our leaders than we spend actually praying for them.

I have been reminded in the last few weeks of this need. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet and share my best wishes with Governor Manchin and today I had the privilege of praying for the opening of the State Senate session. I had the opportunity to visit with several of our legislators and support staff and was reminded that these are not just folks whose names and pictures appear in the newspaper or on TV; these are real people with real needs and real problems and are in need of real prayer. It is our job to come through with the real prayer!

So let’s devote some time to pray for our leaders- national, state and local. God will be pleased.

Prayer for the WV Senate
March 25, 2009

Dear Heavenly Father:

You have told us in Your Word that every good gift comes from above, from You, the Father of Lights. So we give You thanks for the gift of this day,we give You thanks for the gift of a great land that we call West Virginia, we give You thanks for the gift of a great people, and we give You thanksthat we have the high privilege of calling ourselves West Virginians.

Dear God, we ask Your blessing on all of those who make this state great, those who today are in the factory, in the school, at the desk, in the home, in the mines,or on the farm; those who are in the firehouse, the court house, or in this House. We ask that You might give us all a knowledge of Your presence and the wisdom and the strength to carry out our duty in a way that helps our fellow man and brings glory to You.

We ask that Your particular blessing may rest on these Senators who have gathered to do ourstate’s business and to be about Your business.

We humbly seek these favors from the hand of our loving God and in the name of our Savior. AMEN

The Washington Generals

If I were to ask you, what is your favorite basketball team, I am sure of one team you would not pick. That would be the Washington Generals. They were in town playing at the Charleston Civic Center last Tuesday to add to their impressive string of losses to the Harlem Globetrotters. Since their founding in 1952, the Washington Generals have lost to the Globetrotters in excess of 13,000 times! I don’t want to spoil anyone’s fun, but just perhaps the odds of winning are stacked against the Generals. After all, does anyone pay to see the clown princes of basketball lose? No, the losing falls to the Washington Generals.

Let me let you in on a secret: the game of life is stacked in our favor. How do I know? Romans 8:31 states: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” With God in the picture we will win- game over. How can we lose or be defeated if God is on our side?

Let that truth encourage you even in your darkest hour. It may be late in the game, the clock is ticking and we appear to be behind, but remember the game is stacked in our favor- God is on your side.

Gone Fishing

Growing up in the hills of West Virginia, fishing was just part of life. As boys we fished in creeks, rivers, lakes, and ponds. We would dig up worms in the backyard garden, net minnows or catch assorted other critters for bait. Fishing was big stuff. I must admit fishing is an infrequent activity of my adult life; perhaps this is due to the pace of my life or my lack of patience, but I am safe in the knowledge that there are enough fishermen in the Bible Center family to keep the fish population of West Virginia streams in check.

Several of those closest to Jesus were professional fishermen before He changed them into "fishers of men," and by means of their example we are all to do some fishing among the people we know. Sometimes I feel I am not much better at fishing for men than I am fishing for fish. When it comes to fishing, I need help. The fishermen's encounter with Jesus in Luke 5 will provide us all with that help. I invite you to learn God's plan for fishing and together, to go fishing with me. In so doing we will be blessed, God will be glorified and we don't even have to mess with any squirmy worms.