This past Sunday we finished our SERMON SERIES "Love 4th Power." We took another look at what Jesus said was the most important commandment. Jesus summed up the entire Bible in a few verses. For Part 4 We focused on the "Strength." If you missed this past Sunday or any other, you can listen on-line at http://www.wyandottefamily.com/listen.html or you can listen on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wyandotte-family-church/id478735158?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4.
What a powerful series this past month. From my personal perspective this has been one of our most challenging and life changing series we have done. I pray that you were changed and inspired to live differently and to become a passionate follower of Christ every day.
This music video below "Open Me" by Sean McDonald sums up this entire series.I hope you enjoy this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpVPGOVSKuM
This past Sunday we continued our SERMON SERIES "Love 4th Power." We took another look at what Jesus said was the most important commandment. Jesus summed up the entire Bible in a few verses. For Part 3 We focused on the "Soul." If you missed this past Sunday or any other, you can listen on-line at http://www.wyandottefamily.com/listen.html or you can listen on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wyandotte-family-church/id478735158?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4.
Every week at Wyandotte Family we have a slogan that everyone repeats through the message. The slogan from this past week was "God wants the real me, what others cannot see."
I think its really kind of ironic. The things we feel we need to hide from God are the things He wants us to give to Him. However, we try to hide the areas of our lives that aren't very pretty. As a result we find ourselves having private life and a public life.
God doesn't want us to be religious or pretend on Sunday's. He knows us inside and out anyway. We can't pull a fast one over on Him.
I pray that we all learn to be authentic with God. I pray that we will open up our souls to Him and allow Him in to every room and dark corner of our heart. The amazing thing we will find out is that where light enters, darkness can't be. Go ahead an turn off the lights for a second in your room. As soon as you turn on the light, darkness is no more. When we allow God into our souls and we lay everything before Him, then we are in position to experience true grace, love and transformation.
When we begin to be a people that love God with all of our soul, we will be starting a new kind of "soul train." A soul train to experiencing real life!
This past Sunday we continued our NEW SERMON SERIES "Love 4th Power." We took another look at what Jesus said was the most important commandment. Jesus summed up the entire Bible in a few verses. For Part 2 Pastor Evan focused on the "mind." If you missed this past Sunday or any other, you can listen on-line at http://www.wyandottefamily.com/listen.html or you can listen on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wyandotte-family-church/id478735158?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4.
The mind!! That is where the true battle is. You know what I'm talking about. Your spouse makes a smart comment to you, someone at school makes fun of you, or someone cuts you off on the road and acts like it was your fault; what happens. Thoughts quickly fill our minds of what we want to say or do in retaliation.
Or have you ever experienced this before. You are driving down the road, cleaning the house or doing something else and all of a sudden a thought comes into your mind out of nowhere. Not only does a thought come in but this thought is fully formed and not a good thought. For instance, you are driving down Fort Street when all of a sudden this fully formed thought comes into your mind. "I should just walk into work today and tell my boss off. He never appreciates me or cares to notice how hard I work." You could have been listening to the radio and your mind was no where near that but within a split second that thought enters in.
The mind is where the battle is lost or won. What we allow in our minds, we we meditate on and think upon eventually becomes our actions. We learned this past Sunday that God asks us to love Him with all of our mind. We are called to not just let our minds wander but to take captive thoughts that do no honor him or love others. Pastor Evan did a great job breaking that down this past Sunday on how to win the battle and to truly love God with all of our mind.
May we be people with self-control that learn to allow our minds to be renewed and restored the way God intends.
This past Sunday we launched our NEW SERMON SERIES "Love 4th." We took a look at what Jesus said was the most important commandment. Jesus summed up the entire BIble in a few verses. If you missed this past Sunday or any other, you can listen on-line at http://www.wyandottefamily.com/listen.html or you can listen on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wyandotte-family-church/id478735158?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4.
What does it mean to be a Christian? How do you know if you are going to make it to heaven? Is it possible to have peace on this earth knowing where you will go after you die?
Is it all about being good? Is it all about being religious? Is it all about going to church on Sunday's? Is it doing the best you can hoping you'll make it? Is it all about keeping a list of rules?
A religious leader asked Jesus around 32 AD a pretty significant question..."How do you inherit eternal life?" He was asked Jesus, "How do you know you'll make it to heaven?" This question has been burning in the hearts of people for centuries. Jesus being the master teacher, answered the question with another question and a story.
Luke
10:25-28— 25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test
Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit
eternal life?” 26 Jesus replied, “What does
the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” 27 The
man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God
with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And,
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”[c] 28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
Jesus affirmed the religious leader that the way to truly live and have assurance of eternal life is to love God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself.
So what does it mean to love God with all of your heart? How do you know if you are loving God in this capacity? We spent 30 minutes discussing this this past Sunday. I would encourage you to listen to the podcast and comment and share your thoughts.
You can comment on this blog or you can also comment at @WyandotteFamily on Twitter.
I pray that we will not be a people that sprinkle God into our lives like we do bacon bits on a salad. I pray that we truly love God with all of our heart and everything we do in life flows out of that.
This past Sunday we finished our SERMON SERIES "Pitfall." We took a look at what the Bible says about conflict and how we can learn to navigate through it in a healthy way!!. We learned that God has a specific strategy when it comes to resolving conflict and we uncovered steps #2 & #3. If you missed this past Sunday or any other, you can listen on-line at http://www.wyandottefamily.com/listen.html or you can listen on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wyandotte-family-church/id478735158?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4.
Conflict...who likes it? Who looks for it? Who wakes up and gets excited to have friction? Yet, conflict is a part of every relationship. When one conflict gets resolved another seems to pop up. I know God's strategy isn't easy to follow yet know that His ways work. Taking the easy route doesn't produce the best fruit. Doing the hard things often produces the fruit we want.
As we move on from the Pitfall series and onto Love to the 4th power I encourage you to not run from conflict. We can stuff, withdraw, ignore or even run away but that will never solve the root issue. Wherever we go, there we are. I pray that we will be a people who learn to be mature and refuse to settle. I pray that we don't take the easy route but choose the hard one. I pray that we value relationships over being right or proving a point. I pray that we see relationships restored, strengthened and healed.
Lets continue to work on ourselves, our motives, our attitudes and our love. If we all made that commitment, we would see our community, families and job relationships strengthened.
This past Sunday we continued our NEW SERMON SERIES "Pitfall." We took a look at what the Bible says about conflict and how we can learn to navigate through it in a healthy way!!. We learned that God has a specific strategy when it comes to resolving conflict and we uncovered part 1. If you missed it you can listen on-line at http://www.wyandottefamily.com/listen.html or you can listen on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wyandotte-family-church/id478735158?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4.
So, where you surprised by what God's first step or part was? (Matthew 18:15). Most likely you were not surprised at all. That is the amazing reality about truth...we often know it but don't like to live by it. Going privately and talking to the other person to resolve the conflict can be very difficult. Yet, it's worth it!!
I really encourage you to listen to the full message if you haven't yet. God's word is full of so many wonderful truths that are powerful.
Here's the challenge from the message: The facebook challenge!! For the next 21 days do not say anything negative about anyone else on your posts. Don't complain, criticize or belittle any person, company, sports team etc. If you truly have a problem with a co-worker, boss or friend, set up a time to talk with them over coffee or dinner. Remember, before we do, let's take time to examine our own heart, motive and role in the matter.
It's a tough challenge but those who are willing to do hard things, enjoy the greatest rewards!!
This past Sunday we started our NEW SERMON SERIES "Pitfall." This entire month we are going to look at what the BIble says about conflict and how we can learn to navigate through it in a healthy way!!. For part 1 we set the stage for the rest of the series as we talked about developing the right goal when it comes to conflict. If you missed it you can listen on-line at http://www.wyandottefamily.com/listen.html or you can listen on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wyandotte-family-church/id478735158?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4.
As a full time pastor for 12 1/2 years I have been in a lot of conflict and I have seen a lot of conflict. I've witnessed the pitfall of divorce and breakdown of famiy units. I've witnessed the pitfall of church disunity and not being able to work through issues. I've witnessed the pitfalls of broken friendships and hurtful misunderstandings.
Conflict abounds in every relationship no matter how spiritual or mature we are. We will encounter conflict. The goal of every person shouldn't be simply to be heard, to be right or to prove others wrong. The goal isn't to live a conflict free life. When that is our goal, we have a tendancy to stuff, ignore or run from conflict. The highest goal is for our relationships to be whole. If that is our highest goal then we will not run from conflict but be willing to work things out.
I'm truly pumped for the next 3 weeks as we look at God's strategy for dealing with conflict. This truly has potential to transform our relationships and see God restore the fractured ones.
May we be willing to take an authentic look at how we handle conflict and humble enough to follow the designer of the universe and His strategy.
