Wednesday, September 29, 2010

His Love

This past Sunday we talked about "When you Believe in God but aren't sure He loves you." We shared how guilt and insignificance can be roadblocks to His love. We also talked about the key to knowing God's love is to truly know who God really is.


Take a few moments today and read these verses by putting your name in them.

John 3:16--"For God so loved (insert your name)that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life

Romans 5:8--But God demonstrates his own love for (insert your name) in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us

Romans 8:37-39--No, in all these things (insert your name) are more than conquerors through him who loved (insert your name). 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate (insert your name) from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 2:4-But because of his great love for (insert your name), God, who is rich in mercy, 5made (insert your name) alive with Christ even when (insert your name) were dead in transgressions—it is by grace (insert your name) have been saved.

1 John 4:10--10This is love: not that (insert your name) loved God, but that he loved (insert your name) and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for (insert your name) sins.

God's love is present right now for us to receive. Let's draw near to Him today and accept His love, live in His love and allow His love to change our hearts.

Monday, September 27, 2010

We talked about guilt & insignificance being 2 roadblocks to God's love. Which 1 is the greatest challenge 4 you? Tomorrow we will discuss Gods answer, His love

Friday, September 24, 2010

It's Not Fair


It's Not Fair!! How many times have we heard our children, grandchildren or nieces & nephews pout that phrase. It was just a few weeks ago when my youngest wanted to do something and I said no. She pouted and kicked her feet in her car seat and said, "it's not fair."


Now I have to ask...does my 3 year old know what is fair? Of course not. Her little mind and life experience is so shortsighted.


This past Sunday we talked about "When You Believe in God but don't Think He's Fair." We talked about how God is present in our pain, He comforts us in our pain & He can redeem our pain.


We all will go through situations and circumstances that we don't think are fair. We face situations that are not easy or sometimes explainable. We also serve a God that is greater, bigger, and more loving that we are. I wonder if He sometimes looks down at us with a smile, as if he was patting us on the head, as we scream "It's not fair." He sees so much more than we do.


Does that truth make what we face better, of course not. It just means when we face unfair situations and circumstances, we should run toward God's love and grace not away from it.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

At Your Feet

This past Sunday for our Grand Opening we talked about "When you believe in God but you don't really know Him." We are committed to building passionate followers of Jesus Christ who actively live out faith, family & fun.

Check out this powerful song by Casting Crowns called "at Your feet." This communicates well how to passionately follow Christ! Enjoy!


Sunday, September 12, 2010

Grand Opening


Today will go down in history...the grand opening of weekly gatherings at Wyandotte Family Church.
We had an exciting day with 77 adults and 30 children for a total of 107 in attendance. The worship team did a great job and the presence of God was evident as we sang!

I preached a message titled, "When you believe in God but don't really know Him." One statement that I made often was, "Jesus didn't die on the cross so we can know about Him but He died on the cross so we could KNOW HIM!. At the end we had 5 people make re-commitments to follow Christ.

As I look back at this last year and the journey we have been on, two truths stick out to me.
#1--God is always faithful--we have come across many bumps and challenges along the way but God has provided, guided or given favor every time.
#2--You are the sum total of the people around you. David was a great king because he had his mighty men around him. (just read 1 & 2 Samuel). Julie and I have been blessed to have so many amazing people around us on this journey. Those around us on the team our the true heroes in our book


Thanks for your continual prayers as we move forward!!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

What is Church?


A few weeks back I was praying and had a thought come to my mind. When we find a building to lease I want to put up a sign over all the outside doors. "This is not a church...just a building where the church meets.

At Wyandotte Family Church we are passionate about "being" the church and not just simply going to church. It's who we are with Christ not what we do once a week! There is a huge difference. Then I stumbled across this article by Steve Pike, the National Church Planting Director of the Assemblies of God. Check it out.
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The church is not a building and it is not just a worship service…it is a called out people. Our Assemblies of God (AG) founding leaders got it right when they labeled our local congregations ‘assemblies’. In my humble opinion, that is the best English translation of the Greek word ‘ekklesia,’ which roughly means a group of citizens of a local community called out together for a purpose. Our purpose is to be with God on His Mission. His Mission involves way more than enjoying the 9:00 am contemporary service at the Hilltop Theater once a week. Being with God on His Mission means we are called to make disciples and walk together with other disciples, tangibly allowing the Gospel (The Bible) to transform us and our communities 24/7

Being on a Mission with God certainly involves worship, but the robust discipleship journey will include acts of service, ongoing personal spiritual formation, transformational connections with others and a continual posture of being sent by God to manifest His love and power. Local churches and leaders who put all of their energy and funding into one weekly service will likely end up cultivating anemic disciples who think the church only exists to make sure they are happy and well fed. That is hard to reconcile with Christ’s characterization of discipleship - “take up your cross daily and follow me.”

Today is a great day to run your ministry plan through the grid of discipleship as defined by Jesus. How will the church you lead develop a community where disciples pick up their cross daily and follow Christ? How are you helping people serve followers of Christ and those who haven't crossed the line into a relationship with Jesus yet? How are you cultivating spiritual maturity? How are you facilitating redemptive connections? How are disciples being sent? I’m pretty sure the answer will involve more than an outstanding worship service once a week.