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Hi, some people hate football, and some people love football. I love it and I'm a loyal supporter of the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League. We are not performing that well this year, but I will still support them as much as I can, and one day we will again be the premier team.

When I meet people for the first time, I usually ask them whom they support in the AFL, as this goes a long way in determining their character ! Only joking, but really why would you want to support Collingwood ?

Many people do like AFL, and when we get talking about football I ask them when they last went to the footy, and I'm surprised by the huge number of people who say they support a team, but they don't actually go along to the game.

I find that many Christians are like football supporters... they claim to belong to a church, but they don't appear that often at church.

I was chatting to a friend a few months back and asked them which church they are attending, and they indicated that they attended my church !

Came as a bit of a surprise as I'm usually at church about 80% of the time and I could only remember 1 occassion in the last few months I had seen them there.

I was a little embarassed to have asked them the question in the first place. ( just a little bit ! )

Whether someone comes along to church is really up to them, and its probably not my place to judge, but I can see some parallels between football supporters and church attenders.

With football there are people who claim they support a club, but when you analyse their behaviour, they ...

• don't go to the games
• don't support the club financially
• don't know how the team is doing
• don't associate and relate to other supporters

I have problems believing them when they claim they support the club. The evidence just doesn't stack up.

In a similar manner, there are people who claim they are Christians, but they

• don't show up to church
• don't give to God via service, and via finances ( whether its given to 'their' church or directly to God's work through other avenues )
• don't know what is going on at church
• don't attempt to connect to other people at 'their' church
• don't contribute to the mission of their church

Given the evidence, I can't see how they can claim they belong to a particular church, or claim to be Christians.

At my church we have a number of people who are not Christians, and these people are showing by their giving of the time and resources and participation in the church, they are more committed to the church as compared to many of the 'Christians'.

Its the opposite of how it should be !

Thanks for listening

James 2:14
What good does it do, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but does not have any works? This kind of faith cannot save him, can it?