Mon.8.3.15...You Don't Have to Be an Einstein...Eccles.12:9-14

In elementary school, he was no Einstein. But things changed much in adulthood. What he had to say was deemed so important that when he was a guest speaker at Oxford University in 1931, they preserved the chalkboard upon which he wrote. His name was Albert Einstein. There he wrote out his theory of general relativity, explaining the apparent expansion of the universe that Edwin Hubble had earlier noted, but couldn't explain. 

Can  you imagine being there to listen to Einstein as a teacher, especially as he came to the conclusion of his presentation? The audience knew they had heard an eye-opening and transforming way to look at the universe. This is what we find in the conclusion of Solomon, the Teacher's presentation- an eye opening, transforming way to look at life- one rooted in God, not in meaninglessness. If he had a chalkboard, this is what he would have written down in conclusion, after reviewing all that he had earlier presented-

You don't have to be an Einstein to understand that explanation of life. Fear God. Pastor Adrian Rogers called the fear of the Lord, "love on it's knees." It's a worshipful devotion to the Lord. I've chalked out a simple acronym for the FEAR of the Lord that I've shared before-
Follow by faith God's holy word,
Eschew evil, O flee it's trap like a bird.
Act in obedience, for God always sees,
Reverence His rulership, O worship on your knees.

Solomon not only wrote down that we need to fear the Lord, he also pointed out that we need to obey Him as well. They go hand in hand. A man is fooling himself if he thinks he fears the Lord, but is not obeying His commands. Jesus put it this way, "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" Luke 6:46. We need to remember that God's commands are to free us, not to enslave us. Jesus said, "the truth will set you free." There are those who still think they would be better off keeping a secret sin, hidden. Chalk that up to foolishness, for God is not blind. Ecclesiastes ends with this reminder, "God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or bad" 12:14. Paul put it this way, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Since then we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men" 2 Cor.5:10-11. Notice that Paul also mentioned judgment and the fear of the Lord. This motivated him to seek to persuade others. He didn't want to be a good for nothing Christian. He wanted to persuade others to fear (devotedly love) and follow the Lord. Christ's love compelled him. I'm so glad you are motivated to love and serve the Lord. You are also seeking to lovingly persuade others to follow Him. Oh, to one day hear at the judgment seat of Christ, "Well done!"

I'm no Einstein. M3 has a very simple focus- it's to multiply MANLY men. We can now summarize our focus; E = M3 squared :)

Evangelize. You are doing that as you share your faith and Greatest Mini-movies. 
Enlist. You are telling Christian men about M3 and giving out M3 cards. 
Exemplify. You are examples for them of how to be GREAT in God's kingdom as they see on the GREAT scoreboard.
Encourage. You encourage others on the blog and especially those in your squad, fire team and new recruits.

I'm so glad you are with me on this GREAT commission we have been given.

1.- So send a text of encouragement right now to one or more of your fire team brothers. Strengthen these bonds. Pray often for each other.

2.- Read through Eccles.12:9-14 and pick out one verse and share some of your thoughts regarding it.

Announcements
Wow! Congratulations to Squad 5 with a weekly average score of 38.2. Fire Team 1 and 2 of Squad 5 also rocked with 38 and 38.5 with both teams also having all their men being Unstoppable. Don't envy, please emulate. Please do what we have all committed to- blog daily and put up your points daily. If you do, every team will excel. Thanks! 

Squad 1			#REF!	23.42		Squad 4			0	19.5
Eddie Morales	U	R5	52			George Rabiela	U	R1	53
Fire Team 1				30.5		Fire Team 1				16.3
William Dyckman	U	R1	34			Dave Heidekruger	U	R2	28
Phil Raymond	U		29			Michael Gonzalez			0
Ismael Andrade		R2	26			Chuy Cervantes	U		21
James Schmidt	U		33			Fire Team 2				22.6
Fire Team 2				14		Rich Guardiola	U	R1	33
Gary Remson		R1	0			Mark Estrada			0
Luis Ortiz			14			Horacio De La Torre	U		35
Alex Dyckman	U		28			Squad 5			0	38.2
Fire Team 2			0	27		Jack Rogers	U	R4	106
Sam Vargas	U	R3	24			Fire Team 1				38
Fire Team 1				40		Roger Vinlasaca	U	R1	45
Oscar Nunez			36			Hernandez	U		31
Lou Ojeda	U		44			Jose Billegas	U		38
Fire Team 2				18.3		Fire Team 2				38.5
Israel Fuentes	U	R1	28			George Doherty	U	R1	38
Flo Juarez			0			Andre Vargas	U		39
Dave DeBoer	U		27
Squad 3			0	20.1
Robert Roman		R1	47
Fire Team 1				21.2
Vince Diaz	U	R1	38
Antonio Palomar		R1	31
Nic Palhegyi	U	R1	16
Rich Petre			0
Fire Team 2				18
Osiris Alday	U		36
Ed Lake	U		0