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Under Fire Excuses, Excuses      Where is your heart, your priorities?  We love to expound the priorities of  God, family, work.  But, is that really the case?  Is God really first?  One good way for us to validate our earnestness about our priorities is to compare our check book stubs.  How much money goes to God?  Another way to validate our earnestness is to check our calendar appointments.  How much time goes to God's work?  It is a fact that the church requires a lot of both, time and money, to do God's work.  It is not just an option for us, it is vital to our growth as a church, as well as Christians.  The problem is that many times the church is basically run by 10 to 20 percent of the people and the rest are just along for the ride.  (Any world organization does that well.)  What do you think it is at Victory?  Are you a participant, or are you just along for the ride?       We are blessed to have one of the finest pastors any church could desire.  Here is a man that truly seeks God's will for himself, his family and his church.  He loves God.  And, he loves us.  He doesn’t call on us for much, but when he does shouldn’t we respond?  Why didn’t more men show up to clean up our property for Easter ?  Why is that we don’t get more men at prayer on Tuesday evening?  Why is it we don’t have more men asking to do other ministries?  Why do only a few men show up at  men’s meetings? In the final analysis it all comes down to:  EXCUSES, EXCUSES!!      God has called us to be sanctified, to be set apart, to be different from the world, to be special, to be filled by His love in our hearts.  God has called us apart from the world to put Him first.  If we don't, who will?  And, our pastor has been called by God to lead us.  We should respect that calling.  When he calls us to follow, we need to be there for him.  We should also follow our other leaders.  And, we need to seek other ways to serve . . . eagerly.       We are right back at the beginning:  where is your heart, your priorities? This is Mark Erickson and you are Under Fire