I can remember as a kid when I decided to dress up like Pac Man for Halloween. I dressed up in a yellow leotard/uni-tard, put yellow makeup all over my face and hands and wore a custom 4ft by 4ft cardboard Pac Man that my dad created for me. I wish I had a pic as it was a CLASSIC moment in my life history. It was the most uncomfortable outfit I had ever worn but it won me first prize at our church Harvestfestival which earned me some sweet swag including giant candy bars!

I have so many great memories of Halloween with my family and getting dressed up, going to our church’s Harvestfest and then door to door in my neighborhood to show off my costume for the year and to get massive hauls of candy. My memory of Halloween was a time to be creative with a costume, get a supply of candy to last into the new year and have fun with friends.
 
So what is an appropriate level of Christians celebrating this time of year? I have a few general thoughts for you to consider. For me, it is not so much about the dressing up or going to parties and having fun with family and friends. Marketing people say that Halloween has outgrown all other holidays in the US for the amount of money spent during this time of year. The key is to think about what you let slide into your life in the name of entertainment or partying.

For example, why are you going to a movie that has paranormal elements and is trying to scare you? There are great apps like Movieguide and PluggedIn that give content reviews so you know what is in movies to help you make an educated decision about what you decide to put in your mind/heart. I remember not checking Dr. Strange for example and seeing that they were talking about “demons” and even used the word “occult” in the process of the movie. It was VERY disappointing as I LOVE Marvel movies. This was not even an overt “demonic” movie but had elements that were not healthy to put in my mind/heart. The kind of movies that come out around Halloween can be even greater gentle doorways for allowing demonic activity to sneak into your life in the name of entertainment. It is not our place to tell you what movies to go to or stay away from but just to think about how a movie may help or harm your relationship with Jesus. I am not trying to sound religious, just to help you understand that EVERYTHING you put in your mind will either help or harm your relationship with God.
 
The other thing is going to haunted houses. It is important to ask yourself not if you CAN go but if you SHOULD go. Haunted houses, as their definition, are roleplaying spiritual/paranormal actions that are purely focused on scaring you. Maybe the bigger issue is why do you like to be scared? This is only something that you can answer for yourself and to maybe pray about why you need that adrenaline rush in your life.
 
There is really nothing wrong with finding a reason to celebrate with friends and family while dressing up as your favorite make-believe character. But it is VERY important to never forget the verse in 1 Peter 5:8 when considering Halloween activities – “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Being “alert and sober” is simply making sure you are intentional with everything in your life, including entertainment and times of year like Halloween. 

I love it when God shows me something AFTER I am obedient and listen to his promptings in my life. It is like the dessert capping off an amazing meal. They are moments that make me want to not just ASK God to give me an opportunity to step out in faith but to actually follow through with promptings from the Holy Spirit. Sadly, this doesn’t happen as often as it should. Something happened to me last week with an outcome that meant more than what I expected. Let me explain.
I was at a shoe store and by the time I got done looking around, didn’t even realize why I was in there. I knew I was in there looking for shoes, but not sure why I had picked that day to go to that particular store. I had found a pair of shoes that I liked, but decided to put them back. This is SUPER unusual for me, as I love to shop and especially if I find a pair of shoes for the right price.
As I was finishing looking around, I walked by a lady and her son who was probably in his early 20’s. They were walking through the aisles and I had walked by them a few times in the course of walking through the store. As I was passing them I overheard the lady mention to another shopper that it was her son’s birthday the following day. I thought that was nice and continued to walk towards the front door to leave. As I was walking out, I felt the Holy Spirit say to me that I needed to get that kid a gift card and give it to him.
At first I thought it was just me and not something that God was putting on my heart. As I continued to walk out of the store, I got almost sick to my stomach that I knew I needed to be obedient and do as the Holy Spirit directed me. As I was standing in line, the thought came to me that I wanted to do this and not share anything about it (like the blog I am typing right now) or say anything to my wife, which THAT thought turned out being just me and not God.
I purchased the gift card and as I was walking up to the mom and her son, I was thinking of all the amazing things that this interaction could do. Maybe they would start crying or maybe they would say that this was a confirmation of something else that they felt was happening in their lives. The possibilities were endless. I walked up to them and said, “I overheard that it was your birthday tomorrow and wanted to bless you with a gift card and say happy birthday.” While the mom grinned ear-to-ear and said thanks, the young man gave me a handshake and said, “Thank you very much!” I told him to enjoy his birthday and to have a great night. The interaction was simple, quick and straight to the point.
Now, as I tell that story some in the “church” community would wonder why I didn’t take advantage of the situation because I was giving him something as a stranger and try and share the plan of salvation that God offered as a free gift as this gift card was being given to him. Nope. None of those things came out of my mouth and I think there was a great reason.
I am going to say something, not as a blanket statement about all followers of Christ, but as many who do not have a fundamental truth operating in their life that needs to be addressed. Godliness starts with KINDNESS. Kindness and being a loving and giving member of this earth is not automatically given to people who have maybe the best intentions for introducing people to Jesus without seeing how they can meet a basic need and just be kind.
I had a conversation with an older lady who is a viewer of our programming on CTN here in Denver and she said that someone came up to her and said something derogatory about her love of animals and it offended her so bad that she never went back to church. This statement broke my heart for her because she based the ENTIRE church congregation on the idiotic statement from a member of her church. Also, this church member forgot the first principle of Godliness: KINDNESS.
I think the reason why God impressed on me to be kind to that mom and her son was so that I WOULD be able to share my experience and have each of us take inventory on how we treat our fellow man. If every person who called Jesus the Lord of their lives, would put kindness first and focus on being a part of people’s journey to find God then I think we could actually make a difference in this world we live in. Never forget that even though heaven is the ultimate goal that we have a RESPONSIBILITY to represent God in everything we do and say and that starts with nothing religious.

Brian Morris
General Manager @ Rocky Mountain CTN
​Enjoy Life.  Consider Eternity.

I was listening to Psalms this am and the verse in Psalms 37:11 came on about “the meek inheriting the earth” and I began to think/wonder what meek really meant in the context of the Bible. It is a word I have heard all of my life growing up in the church and a term that, in my mind, was always related to just plain weakness.
 
Then I read some commentaries about the context of that verse and felt like the Holy Spirit illuminate something to me that is actually a foundational principle of a healthy and vibrant relationship with Jesus.
 
There is no greater principle in a healthy walk with God than reliance on Him. It is a simple principle that we forget the longer we serve God. The potential pitfall of a lengthy relationship with Jesus is that we can begin to pick and choose what we rely on the Holy Spirit for and things we think that our knowledge can accomplish. We can assume that because we are not baby Christians any longer, that we can make good decisions based on the Bible that we read for academic sake and not for Spiritual illumination. We can confuse reliance on Christ for neediness that only immature believers need for the start of their walks with Christ. This is a dangerous place to exist.

The dictionary definition of meek is “quiet, gentle, and easily imposed on; submissive” which are all terms related to (in the physical mind) being rolled over or told what to do with a complete loss of personal will. These things can be seen as negative until the perspective of trust/focus being put on the Holy Spirit and His direction in our lives. In the context of the Bible, it is submitting our will to God and his purposes to us knowing and trusting that what He has is best.
 
One example of an area that we venture into and move away from meekness and Christlikeness is worry. Worry is essentially trying to match up a mental man made solution to a life crisis with the worst of a situation already being decided. This is 100% true...without trust in the Holy Spirit and reliance on His power, which is meekness in the Biblical sense. When we are meek, we have a FULL realization that our physical ability is nothing compared to the challenges we will face as a human on this earth. That all we have is reliance on an all powerful and completely caring God who wants what is best for us in all situations. This kind of thinking does not make sense to people who don’t have a relationship with Jesus and can sometimes be the GREATEST witness we have when walking through the fires of life.
 
Today, don’t consider meekness to be weakness but an exchange of your ability to navigate life with your limited mental capacity and begin to rely on the knowledge of God, the creator of the universe. 

Don't miss Dr. Michael Brown's teaching on what the Word of God shows us about how we should live out our sexuality.  
Ways to Watch:
Comcast 51 (SD) & 643 (HD)
Dish Network 55
HD Antenna 33.1 (Cheyenne and Northern Colorado)/39.1 (Denver)
If you are not in the Denver/Cheyenne area, you can stream at Rockymountainctn.com

​Comparison in life can do damage on so many levels. Check out this verse.
 
Proverbs 14:30
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
 
How many things do we compare when it comes to others;
Money/wealth and the things they own
Physical looks
Athletic ability (for some, this have never changed since high school)
Public speaking ability
 
How about the CHRISTIAN comparisons?
Bible reading and how much of the Bible they know
Prayer and how much time they spend in prayer
Ability to pray in public
 
Comparison is an evil weed that can spring up in the life of anyone who gets their eyes off of themselves and the plan God has for them and on the life of another individual. The reason why Jesus talked about us keeping our eyes on him was as much about not looking at others peaks and valleys as it was to help give us strength on this earth and the challenges he knew we would face.
 
Think of it this way, our lives already have struggles without us making things worse by comparing what we do with others. I just got back from a Moab hiking trip last week. If I only kept my eyes on the guys I was with and not on the path I was walked, I would have tripped and never made it out of some of the canyons we hiked. We can't complain that our walk with God is too tough if we don’t keep our eyes on Jesus for guidance and the path for the journey.
 
God’s plan for you is not wrapped in the life of another person and the quicker we figure that out, the more at peace we will be in ourselves, and the healthier our bones will be!

Join Maurice tonight at 5pm (MT) as he discusses having Renewed Expectations in your business.
Ways to Watch:
Comcast 51 (SD) & 643 (HD)
Dish Network 55
HD Antenna 33.1 (Cheyenne and Northern Colorado)/39.1 (Denver)
If you are not in the Denver/Cheyenne area, you can stream at Rockymountainctn.com