Top Ten Excuses People Use for NOT Coming to Church

1. It’s the only day I get to sleep in.
2. We had family visiting from out of town.
3. I don’t believe in God, and if I did, it wouldn’t change the way I live. (Would it change the way you die?)
4. I just got out of the habit.
5. I don’t know why I don’t come, but I just don’t.
6. (Silence)
7. We never sing any of the old hymns. (or: ALL we sing are the old hymns!).
8. I might run into (fill in the blank).
9. I really have to get back to church, Pastor.
10. All they do is ask for money.

Top Ten Theological Concepts

1. Christ has taken all sin onto himself – putting death to death forever.
2. Hell is literally “separation from God” in the Bible – people put themselves in Hell all the time by choosing anything over God.
3. The only death you need to fear is the one behind you in Baptism.
4. Stewardship – is everything you do after you say: I believe.
5. At every funeral I can always proclaim: Jesus died for this one!
6. God’s forgiveness is greater than your sin.
7. In Christ, all of your “have to’s” are transformed into “get to’s” – and all of your “shoulds” are changed into “coulds.”
8. One of the most selfish, most unfaithful things you could do – is worry about your own salvation. Faith is not “believing in Jesus because you’re afraid of going to hell.”
9. If your faith is motivated by fear, then it’s not faith you possess… faith is only faith when it possesses you. (You did not choose Jesus, Jesus choose you. – Gospel of John)
10. You are not saved when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior – you’re saved when Christ accepts you (which he ALREADY did through his death and resurrection). Salvation begins when we live in the “Already.”