Colts 31 Raiders 26

Sunday the Indianapolis Colts won the 3rd of 4 must win games (though because Jacksonville lost to Washington, the game wasn't really a must win) to win the AFC South crown and tie the Dallas Cowboy's record for most consecutive playoff births in a row at 9. If they can defeat the struggling Tennessee Titans this Sunday in Lucas Oil Stadium, the Colts may be considered a dangerous team in the playoffs.
Many are drawing comparisons to the 2006 team which won the Super Bowl. Though there are some similarities, there is no way I'm going there. Yes, in 2006, the Colts couldn't stop any team's running game, and then came on unbelievably in the playoffs with the return of Bob Sanders and his presence bolstered the run defense and even the top ground games in the league had difficulty getting yardage on the ground. The past 2 games the Colts have stymied two of the best running attacks in the league. The difference in 2006, the Colts were getting healthy.
This year the Colts can't get healthy if for no other reason many key players have been placed on injured reserve and won't be able to play until next year. Included in this group are Bob Sanders, Melvin Bullitt, Dallas Clark, Anthony Gonzales, Austin Collie, and Jerraud Powers. These are just top contributers and doesn't include players like Tom Santi and Jamie Silva who have made contributions to this team. Others like Kelvin Hayden and Clint Session are still waiting to be cleared to play.
On the encouraging side, the Colts have all of a sudden developed a running game of their own. The Colts racked up 191 yards on the ground against the Raiders with Dominic Rhodes doing the most damage. Donald Brown made some nice runs in limited action and Joseph Addai returned and ran strong. The Colts offensive line has begun to open up holes for the backs and are beginning to look like a better unit. The 191 rushing yards exceeded the Colts passing yardage (179), a rare occurance.
Maybe a more significant outcome of the game is that no Colt player was injured, though Antoine Bethea gave Colts's fans a scare when he went to the sidelines after a play that left him in pain on the field.
All of this bodes well but if the Colts lose Sunday against Tennessee and Jacksonville wins, the Colts will be watching the playoffs on TV.
Looking ahead to the game, the Colts should win. The Titans are in disarray, but Jeff Fisher is a good coach with his back against the wall and he has nothing to lose and could be unconventional . In the past, he has tried many unconventional tactics in his battles with Indianapolis. One year, he started the game with an onside kick and kept trying onside kicks after scores. I wouldn't be surprised if he went for it on every fourth down this year.
Gear up Colts. This one is another must win game.

Merry Christmas

Christmas means many things to many people throughout the world. For some it is a time for families to gather together; for some it is exchanging presents; for some it is decking the halls and Santa Claus. For children, the anticipation of waking up in the morning and finding gifts under the Christmas tree is one of the great joys of childhood.

I find it interesting we make a big deal about giving and receiving presents on Christmas, yet there are very few gifts I remember from Christmas' past. What I do remember is more personal.

I vividly remember sitting in a rocking chair in the living room of the house I grew up in (I was in my early teens) and the lights were out except for the color wheel projecting panels of color against the silver Christmas tree, the ceiling and the walls. Christmas music played on the stereo and I felt a wonderful peace listening to "Silent Night" while watching the alternating beams of color paint the room.

I remember one Christmas, I couldn't have been more than eight or nine, I woke up very early before my parents and I found my grandfather in our family room leaning over a train set that had been set up. He was watching the Lionel engine run in circles following the simple track layout.

I know the joy of spending Christmas with a loving wife and I know the joy of watching my boys filled with excitement early Christmas mornings eager to open the gifts under the tree.

For more than 25 years the tradition for my family was to spend Christmas day at my Aunt Barbara's home in Sheridan, Indiana. I could always expect a great meal , wonderful conversation, laughs, probably a card game and without a doubt a photo shoot. Barbara and Norman were perfect hosts, making everyone comfortable and providing an outstanding spread. At the end of the day it was difficult saying goodbye.

When Jason was younger, one Christmas, he asked me if I knew Xmas is often substituted for Christmas. I paused, recollecting a moment shared with my mother a long time ago. After we saw a Merry Xmas sign displayed on a neighbors lawn, she shared "The term Xmas, as far as I'm concerned is a terrible thing. It takes Christ out of Christmas. It is His birth we celebrate, afterall." I echoed my mother's comments to my son.

Yes, Christmas is all these things to me and everyone has their own special memories, but my thoughts now expand on the celebration of God's own Son coming into this sin stained world.

For everything that babe in a manger represents, when I think of Christmas, I not only see a babe dressed in swaddling clothes being worshiped by shepherds, but I consider what it must have been like for God-- the Creator of all things to humble Himself and take on human flesh.

When I think of Christmas I consider the man Jesus growing up, living sinlessly, ministering to others, performing miracles and teaching the truths of God's Word.

When I think of Christmas, I think of Jesus, the God/Man obedient to the Father allowing himself to be nailed to a cross in order to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

When I think of Christmas, I think of Jesus' glorious resurrection. He is a living Savior, intereceding for me everyday, keeping me, never leaving or forsaking me.

When I think of Christmas, I think of Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords soon to return and establish His Kingdom on earth.

So let me rejoice as the angels did sing that first Christmas day. For unto us is born a savior-- He is Christ the Lord.

Sunday Message- "The Greatest", Colts Back in First

"The Greatest"
John 3:16
Pastor Paul Woodruff


John 3:16 is the heart of Christmas

It is the great salvation spoken of in Hebrews 2:3 "How will we escape if we neglect so GREAT a Salvation?"


God....The Greatest Lover
1 Corinthians 13
Nobody Loves Like God

God Is LOVE- !
John 4: 8-10 "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is Love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

God is the consumate lover of our Souls


So Loved...The Greatest Degree
God's love can't be measured- It is infinite


The World...The Greatest number
People Are what really matter
All persons who have ever lived & will ever live- God loves them all


That He Gave... The greatest Act
The one act that supercedes every act ever done- God gave His only Son @ the Cross
Deity took on Humanity that He would go to the cross


His Only Begotten Son... The Greatest Gift
No One like the eternal Son Of God- God's ONLY Son
No Gift can compare
John 4:10"Jesus answerd and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink" you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."


Whosoever...The Greatest Invitation
Anyone can come- Whereever your from, whatever your station or situation
Revelation 22:17 "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come..."


Believes...The greatest Simplicity
Belief is in the reach of anyone
It is so simple people stumble over it- They want to add to it.
The rich young ruler asked What shall I do"
Romans 10:19-10 "if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;"


In Him...The Greatest person
Jesus is the Greatest Person Ever.
Wisest, Kindest, Sinless
One day every knee shall bow to Him


Shall Not Perish...Greatest deliverance
Jesus delivers us from perishing
from the wrath of God
from hearing "depart from me accursed one"


But...Greatest difference
Believer--- Unbeliever
saved--- Unsaved
Heaven--- Hell
Glory--- Misery


Have... The Greatest certainty
All Those who accept Christ HAVE eternal life
1 John 5:13 "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life."
I have more certainty of having eternal life that what will happen tomorrow


Eternal Life...The Greatest possession
Greatest gift we can receive
If we have eternal life but nothing else we have everything
If we have all things but not eternal live we have nothing

"For What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?" Mark 8:36


The Greatest Need is Salvation

The Greatest Mistake is Refusing- the free gift of eternal life

The Greatest Tragedy is Perishing when one needs not

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Colts 34 Jags 24

The Colts put themselves in the driver's seat toward defending their AFC South Division title with a victory Sunday. With victories over Oakland and Tennessee they will be assured of a dvision title and a home game against one of the wild cards in the playoffs.

Credit needs to first go out to the defense for limiting Maurice Jones Drew and the Jags vaunted running attack to just 67 yards and then to the Colts ground game for totaling 155 yards of their own. Donald Brown led the running game with 129 yards and a touchdown. Two of his runs accounted for 49 yards and 43 yards, the second was for a touchdown.

Early in the game it was the Peyton Manning to Austin Collie show as Collie scored twice on Manning passes. Unfortunately, Collie was again knocked out of the game with a concussion. It is unclear whether Austin will return this season and I wouldn't blame him if he decided to move on away from football. Multiple concussions could have terrible consequences. It is quite a shame as the Colts are a much better team when he is on the field. It is clear Peyton trusts him and Austin has become an explosive part of the offense.

All in all it was a good performance by the Colts. Give the Jaguars credit; they didn't give up and they did make it interesting up until they failed an onside kick which bounced into Tyrone Hagler's hands and he took it in for a touchdown. A good time out by Coach Caldwell just before the kick was instrumental in exposing what the Jaguars were up to.

The Colts will need to keep up the intensity when they face a good Raiders team in Oakland.

Sunday Message, 12/12/10, Colts win on Thursday

Guaranteed Glory
Romans 8:28-39
Pastor Paul Woodruf

Major Theme of Romans 8- The Absolute Security of the believer
- vs 1- No Condemnation for those in Christ
- vs 39- No seperation from God
-Every genuine believer is guaranteed Glory

During our lives- lots of tragedy, trials & groanings vs 23
but through it all things will end in Glory
God promised those who come to Him will not be cast out
Jn 3:16-- EVERLASTING Life

3 Fold Guarantee of Our Glory

1.) Perfection of God's Plan guarantees our Glory
"Those Whom"-- all those He foreknew & Predestined are Glorified
It is a done deal- all of God- All according to His perfect plan
If all of God- He won't lose any

1 Peter 1:20 -21 "For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."

vs 29-30-- Plan
Forknow
Predestined
Called
Justified
Glorified

These all go together- can't have 1 without the others
In light of this the whoms refer back to Romans 8:28
Everything works for good- the good- conforming to the image of Christ
God's purposes can't be thwarted - He secures the present & the future

When we are in Glory we will be able to see how things worked together for good.

2.) The Provision of God guarantees our Glory
5 questions
1.) What shall we say to these thing? vs 31- refers to the teachings in Romans 1-8
2.) If God is for us, who can be against us?
The All Powerful, All Knowing, Creator of all things, The Holy, eternal God trumps all
3.) How will He not freely give us all things
If God didn't spare His own Son- There is nothing He would not give
4.) Who will bring a charge against God's Elect? vs 33 Who is the one who condemns?

Satan is the accuser of the brethren to no avail Rev 12:10

5.) Who will seperate us from the love of Christ?

None of the following can seperate us from the love of Christ
tribulation
distress
persecution
famine
nakedness
peril
the sword
death
life
angels
principalities (demons)
things present
things to come
powers
height
depth
any created thing

Our guarantee rests on Jesus, Not us

3.) Provision of His love guarantees our glory
vs 39
One must come to Jesus to experience God's saving love & then you become His child & this love is unending & eternal & nothing can seperate us from the love of Christ


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Colts 30 Titans 28

Last Thursday the Colts took the first step in the final stretch to reach the playoffs. Peyton Manning returned to form to lead the Colts offense and the defense caused enough havoc early on to disrupt the Titans. A key to the game was the Colts running game getting enough touches to keep Tennesse off balance, helping to open up the passing game. The game wasn't really as close as the final score indicates and it sets up the big game on Sunday the 19th with the Jacksonville Jaguars for first place in the South Division and the likelihood of a playoff birth.

It appears the Colts are going to have a few of their key players back for the Jacksonville game but the Jaguars always play the Colts tough and the Colts will need every able bodied man.

The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera

1925

Dir: Rupert Julian

Lon Chaney

Mary Philbin

Universal, after the success of The Hunchback of Notre Dame found a second vehicle for a super jewell film starring Lon Chaney in Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera. The film became the one most asociated with Chaney probably because of the famous makeup he created for the title role.

An eyewitness early in the movie describes the Phantom's features. "His eyes are ghastly beads in which there is no light- like holes in a grinning skull! His face is like a leprous parchment, yellow skin strung tight over protruding bones! His nose- there is no nose!"

In Mark A Vieira's book, Hollywood Horror from Gothic to Cosmic, he describes Chaney's task creating the Phantoms appearance. "He made a chalky cranium by means of a skullcap that had a wig sewn onto it. He glued his ears back, used his cotton-and-collodian technique to raise false cheekbones and hollowed his eye sockets with dark makeup. He molded snaggle teeth with a hard dental rubber called gutta-percha. Creating a nose that was not there was his greatest challenge....Working with a combination of fish skin, spirit gum, and wires, Chaney pulled his nose so high that it looked as if it had rotted away. "It's an art not magic.' Chaney said later. 'I achieved the death's head of that role without wearing a mask. It was the use of paints in the right shades and the right places- not the obvious parts of the face- which gave the complete illusion of horror."

The well known story concerns an understudy, Christine Daae, played by Mary Philbin in a production of Faust at the Paris Opera House which is purported to be haunted by a Phantom.

The Phantom has fallen in Love with Christine and takes measures to propell her to stardom including terrorizing the Opera if his demands are not met.

After toppling the great chandelier on the audience during a performance, the Phantom whisks Christine away and take her to his lair in the subterranean catacombs beneath the Paris Opera House. The Phantom's lair includes a coffin in the bedroom and an adjoining torture chamber.

The Phantom, named Erik, warns her never to look upon his face but her curiosity gets the better of her and she pulls away his mask revealing his face. Christine falls down in terror as Erik proclaims "Feast your eyes- glut your soul, on my accursed ugliness!"

The Phantom frees her with the warning not to engage with her fiance. At the Masked Ball, she unites with her lover, Raoul De Chagney. Erik observes there interaction as he is disguised as the Red Death in a remarkable color sequence of the film taking place on the grand staircase of the Opera House. This leads to the Phantom again capturing Christine and the resultant conflict with Raoul and the investigating inspector.

Chaney is again spectacular in the lead role and the success of The Phantom of the Opera would certainly influence Universal's later leap into the horror film genre in the early 1930s.

Watch the unmasking scene below.

Sunday Message, Colts Recap, The Phantom of the Opera

Sunday Message 12/5/10
"Willing Spirit, Weak Flesh"
Romans 7:14-8:4
Pastor Paul Woodruff




We often want to do what is right but are too often weak doing it
Most people including Christians feel this way
The apostles when they wanted to be up praying and watching while Jesus was in the Garden fell asleep- Their flesh was weak and overruled what their spirit wanted

This passage in Romans 7 has differing opinions
one side believes in this passage Paul is writing of his experience before he was a Christian
the other side believes he is writing of his experience as a Christian
of these some believe this is a normal experience of all Christians & it is inevitable & we can look forward to deliverance

others believe this is the carnal Paul still trying to keep the law without the Holy Spirit &
teaches we shouldn't be like this

others believe this is Paul the Godly Mature Man who any sin causes him to feel wretched

The older traditional view is that this is Paul the Jew- the Pharisee under the conviction of the Holy Spirit but not yet saved.


more modern view is this is Paul the Christian they point to Paul using the present tense

1.) Paul's Proclamation vs 14
The Law defined what sin is and it caused man to rebell- an instrument of death
but the Law was spiritual- reflecting God's Holiness
Man is of the Flesh- having been sold under sin & into slavery Rom 3:9
vs 14 is present tense but could have been used as a flash back


bottom Line-GOD IS HOLY & SPIRITUAL & MAN IS OF THE FLESH--ATTACHED TO SIN




2.) Paul's Exasperation vs 18
"For know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not."

Paul just finished writing how we are free- so why would he now try to keep the law unaided by the Spirit?-- this argues for flashback>>Human weakness for the Mosaic Law to rescue man from the power of sin & death-- It plunges man into deeper despair & then God uses the Law to cause man to look for a redeemer.

As Paul looked at the Law he became more frustrated & exasperated causing him to look for the redeemer

Galatian 5:17-18 written before Romans "For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law."

Whether Paul is writing about himself as he was before coming to Christ or after- either way

There is a battle between the old nature and the New Nature
The old nature is present trying to bring up sinful desires, thoughts etc.
The old nature keeps sucking us down & dwells in us vs 20
Given a chance it will take over everything & enslave us

But now we have a new Master & Lord- so we don't have to yield to sin

Sincerity isn't enough TRYING just brings about Exasperation-- we can't win in the flesh

3.) The Exclamation
"WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM"-- "WHO WILL SET ME FREE"

- word free- total deliverance

Body of this death-- we use our bodies to sin resulting in sin
through salvation or through the resurrection (could be either) Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ & through Him there is no condemnation & free from death

only grace can save- and through Jesus can we walk according to the Spirit- 8:4-5

Outline
Romans 7:5- EXPLAINS PAULS' OWN EXPERIENCE IN ROM 7
ROMANS 7:6- EXPLAINS THE EXPERIENCE IN ROMAN 8

The battle with the flesh intensifies after you become a Christian
It is not enoughto put a mask of Spiritual victory on
Though we may have peace, we still are in the midst of battle and there will be defeats

The battle will not be all victories or all defeats

Listen to the Message http://www.eaglecreekgbc.org/Home/SermonAudio/tabid/66/Default.aspx




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Cowboys 38 Colts 35

The game was exciting but alas the Colts again come away with a loss. Let's face it this years team just isn't as good as we've come to expect. Yeah there have been alot of injuries and much adversity- more than their share -but this year the Colts are making mistakes that are just killing them. The biggest one in my opinion was when the defense stopped Dallas from scoring a touchdown late in the fourth quarter giving up just a field goal which put Dallas up by two with plenty of time on the clock but a stupid unsportsmanlike conduct call on the field goal attempt gave Dallas a first down instead and another chance at the touchdown which they scored and produced a two point conversion putting them up by 7.

Had the Colts been down by just the 2 points, as it should have been, they would have won in regulation when they marched down the field for their final touchdown.

I'm not going to complain about Reggie Wayne's dropped first down that would have kept a drive alive after the Colts got the ball first in OT- otherwise he had a great game.

Manning continues to press. No running game continues to lead to him throwing when he probably shouldn't and again it led to bad interceptions including 2 more pick 6s.

What a disappointment. These little recaps are getting more difficult to write after losses.

We have certainly been spoiled over the past 10 years.


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