Nikita Koloff "The Russian Nightmare"

(Sorry this is a bad picture of me, but the men in the picture make me look much better, not to mention that world title belt that I am holding!!)

This past Sunday at our church we had Nikita Koloff "The Russian Nightmare" at our church. For those of you that don't know who he is, he was a professional wrestler back in the day with Sting, Rick Flare, and the Hulk! Anyway you guys can google him if you want to know more or check out his website at www.nikitakoloff.com . He was at our church on Saturday to participate in some wrestling matches along with KoKo B. Ware and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Then on Sunday, he spoke during the service and he was AWESOME. I must admit that I am no wrestling fan, but I enjoyed his message so much.

I have decided to try to write blogs after each Sunday service so that I can keep track of the messages at our church. Every Sunday, I take notes in church, but I never do anything with them and usually end up losing them or throwing them away(which I am not proud of). I thought it might be good to have a place to go back and look over what I got from different messages. Anyway, if this bores you sorry, but this is more for me I guess.

The title of his message was "Are you a FAITHFUL FOLLOWER OF CHRIST or are you a CULTURAL CHRISTIAN?"

1. I must be DEVOTED to be a faithful follower of Christ. I must set myself apart from worldly things.

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world." 1 John 2:15-16

"You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." James 4:4

"Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." James 4:8

I must take the FIRST step towards God and after that HE will take a step towards me!
I am not going to talk, walk, or act like the world!
Through the good and bad I must ALWAYS trust in God.
I must stand firm and be faithful.
I cam through my mom and dad, but I came FROM God because he has a plan for me.

2. Be DEFIANT! The word defiant usually carries a negative meaning to most people, but in this case, this is what God wants.

"Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked." Psalms 97:10

We must LOVE what God loves, and HATE what God hates.(sin, evil, disobedience, etc.)

"Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or left, that you may be sucessful wherever you go." Joshua 1:7

It takes lots of courage to obey ALL the laws and to be DEVOTED and DEFIANT! It takes courage to say NO! However, my primary relationship is with God. As long as I am devoted to my relationship with God and obey his laws, all other relationships will fall into place.

God and silver must go through very intense heat in order to be purified just like I as a Christian must sometimes go through tough times.

I am not ashamed to be a CHILD OF GOD!

That pretty much sums up the message from Sunday. I am sure I did not do it justice at all, but it was really good I promise! After the service Antonio and I got to take Nikita Koloff out to lunch with another couple. Kind of an embarrassing thing, Antonio and I went ahead of the others to go ahead and get a table so we wouldn't have to wait so long. When we were on our way, I asked Antonio, "Do you think we should request a table in the back so that all of his fans don't bother him throughout the meal?" We decided not to ask for special seating, and everything was great. After we ordered our food from the waiter, Nikita Koloff asked the waiter to tell us something that we could pray for him about. We could tell that it caught the waiter a little off guard, but after a minute, he told us he would like prayer for his schooling because he was in his last year of college. It was a wonderful idea that I plan to steal and implement from him. Anyway, Nikita Koloff was such an interesting person and I think we asked him a million questions. Please visit his website and if you ever have the chance to see him speak, take advantage of it. Below are some pictures from Sunday.