5.13.2008
5.07.2008
WWME: Amazing Worship Gathering last Night!!!
Many of you were part of our awesome time of responding to what God has done in our community through this year, and particularly through our journey through the World Wide ME series... Last night.We are only one person. Even if we are inconsistent in how we live in our different worlds of life... God really wants us to love him with all of you heart... At the center of who He is he loves us... and wants us to love us back. He died so we would never have to be condemned... we will always be accepted.
What has God been saying to you?
>>Click here to tell us!<< (you can publish comments anonymously!)
Letter from God...
To My Child,
Words alone could never express how much I love you.
You may not know this, but I know everything about you.
I even know the number of hairs on your head.
You are not a mistake; every day of your life is written in my book
I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live
I know what it is like to be human, and to struggle.
I even know what it is like to be misunderstood and made fun of
I have even experienced life as a teenager
You are not alone, I too have experienced pain and loneliness.
Some people have gotten the wrong idea about me
I am not judgmental and angry, but am full of love and compassion
I love you so much, not because of anything you do,
But simply because you are my child and I am your Father
I desire to show my love for you each day,
I hope that my love will set you free from insecurity and doubt.
Whenever you face problems, I am there to comfort you
When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you
One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes
And I’ll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth
I am not counting up your sins, waiting to judge you
Nothing can separate you from my love
I am your Father, and I love you, like I love my son, Jesus
I showed how much I love you through Jesus
His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you
No one will ever love you as deeply as I do.
I hope that some day you will love me too.
Love,
Your Dad, Almighty God
5.01.2008
WWME: WORSHIP Night.
We are super Excited that my friend Brandon Grissom is coming to lead us in worship next week. He has two CD's out that are full of great songs and are available on iTunes. He came last year and was awesome!
The WWME series has been a great chance to learn about loving God with out whole hearts and taking off our masks. Next week at Nexus we are going to spend some time responding to what we learned. To get ready take a look at this worksheet that was designed to help you review what God is teaching you at Nexus.
You can copy it from this post, print it out and work on it if you have not already done so.
It is going to be a great night!
Trial Run: Check out the notes from tuesday.
These are my notes from tuesday ... let me know if this works and I will do it with all of my presentations....
or without announcements....
should I include the announcements or not?
4.30.2008
WWME #5: Culture... be careful how you program your mind!
Eventually we become what we imitate and admire.
You would be foolish to try to argue this point.
That which truly captures our imagination... the story which is the most compelling, that is the story and view of reality we write outselves into.
SO...
what we watch and experience online reflects a very likely tragectory for our hearts, and eventually our lives.
Here is the thing.
As much as parents, pastors, and other adults may try to shape our future, we are in many ways the primary programmers of our minds when we reach middle school.
We begin to choose who we will hang out with, what we will watch, what we will do with our time, what music we will listen to, and who will be our “american idol”
We choose all of these things, and then fill our brains with them to the point were it overflows and these things begin to come back out. Things as innocent as the word “like” but also dark things like negative behavior patterns and prejudice learned by watching the value system of the world played out on TV
If you are programming your future and your character, be really careful what you write into the code. It is a lot harder to erase than it is to just not put it in....
The Bible teaches many things about this, but I particularly love Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Based on this, I had these three poings come to mind...
1. You have an amazing mind. (Eph1, Romans 12)
It learns by imitation and repetition
What you see you imitate... what you imitate you repeat... what you repeat you become... what you become is who you are.
STOP watching, imitating, and repeating things that you do not want to be true of yourself...
2. You are the main programmer of your mind... . (Romans 12, Phil 4:8, Eph 5:15)
Myspace... facebook... movies... experiences... internet... images... are all like a giant training video teaching your mind how to work.
3. Program Wisely... you are shaping your future... Romans 12, Psalm 119, Mark 12).
Be careful how you program it
So how can you program it correctly? Psalm 119 gives us great insight into this!
Psalm 119:9 How can those who are young keep their way pure?
By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, LORD; teach me your decrees.
13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth.
14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.
15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.
16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.
WWME #4: Friends... choose them well!
Choose your friends wisely... IF you don’t, you may find yourself not as much like yourself as you remember...
While we cannot choose our family, we absolutely choose our friends. This may not seem that significant, but who we choose to allow to have unguarded access and influence in our lives is maybe the one of the most critcially important choice we will make.
Surround yourself with the people who you would most like to be like, and the will rub off on you. Likewise, if you surround yourself with people who have negative attitudes, behaviors and vocabulary... guess what... you are looking at who you will become if you stick around long enough.
Who we choose as friends is critically important. In choosing our friends, we are choosing our future. We need to be nice to everyone, and even be friendly to everyone... but we need to think real carefully about the influence of our closest friends...
I think this verse sums it up well....
Provebs 4
13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
guard it well, for it is your life.
14 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
or walk in the way of evildoers.
15 Avoid it, do not travel on it;
turn from it and go on your way.
Here were my main three points!
1. You will become like your friends... so make sure they are worth copying... (Eph 5:1-2, Prov, 4, 1 Cor 15, James 3:10)
2. Your friends will become like you... so make sure you are worth copying... (Eph 5:3-14, James 3:10)
3. Our Friends help shape us into who God wants us to be... (5:15-21)
PS... IF YOU WANT TO KEEP LOVING GOD, YOU BETTER FIND SOME FRIENDS TO ENCOURAGE YOU IN THIS...
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