Monday Morning Persoective

Yesterday at Fairview we celebrated the Lord's Supper together. It was probably the best Lord's Supper service I remember. The music was so worshipful and appropriately upbeat. The message was great!! We looked at the supper in relation to the past, future and present. And we were reminded that if it wasn't important Jesus wouldn't have taken time to do it! Jesus knew we needed to be reminded from time to time of all that He's done for us! 

Monday Morning Perspective

Well I can hardly believe we are through with our journey through Nehemiah. I love this book! Every week I was amazed at how timely and relevant it was, but that's just God! His Word is alive and active and every word speaks to us and our situation.

Yesterday we saw a surprise ending to the book in chapter 13. We saw Nehemiah return from Susa and he wasn't a happy camper. By the way, I loved the details on the travel time and mileage. Chalk that up to my love for details. Anyway, Eddie asked us some questions that went along with the message that were challenging and certainly worthy of sitting down and thinking through, being totally honest with ourselves. 

1.  Are you as close to God as you used to be? Has there been a drift or a circumstance that just sent you quickly away from God?

2.  Is there a Tobiah in your temple you need to get rid of? Has he crawled up on the throne of your life and taken over?  

This one is worth watching online if you missed yesterday. 

We start a 4 week series on the end times in 2 weeks and what better or easier time to bring someone. People are always curious when you talk about that especially with our world the way it is now. John shared with our students Wednesday night the statistic of how many people have never even invited someone to church, not share their faith, but never even invited someone. That's amazing. Just invite them or bring them with you. Eddie will do the gospel sharing for you. He does an amazing job presenting the gospel the end of every message. All we need to do is get our lost friends there. And statistics tell us that an overwhelming number of people say they would go to church if someone just invited them. Let's get busy! It starts with caring enough about someone to not want them to spend eternity in hell separated from God. Another question to end with this morning...do we care enough?

Monday Morning Perspective

I say it I say it every week I know, but my man brings it EVERY SINGLE WEEK!! We are blessed! I am blessed! No taking it for granted!! 

We looked at what true celebration is based on Nehemiah 12. Taken straight from the scripture we saw that celebration involves worship. Love how Eddie pointed out three key words: glory, offer and sacrifice. Remember worship isn't just when we gather. It's also when we scatter. 

Celebration involves cleansing and thanksgiving. It involves rejoicing and giving. The world says to celebrate when we get something. We celebrate a bonus, a promotion, a new job. God wants us to discover whether we see ourselves as sovreign, which says "I will decide what I do with my money because it's mine".  Or do we see ourselves as stewards which says we believe God owns it all and we are managers. 

The reminder was that we can't outgive God. We may make what we consider sacrifices but the greatest sacrifice of all was Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. We are called to be living sacrifices. 

We will wrap Nehemiah next week. Don't miss it or you'll miss the surprise ending ☺️. 

Have a blessed week. Be intentional as you seek opportunities to share Jesus. If we are not intentional, it will never happen!! Eyes and hearts wide open, be blessed!!

Living beyond the status quo

One of my favorite sections of the bible is 1 Chronicles 15-17. I so hope God has a video in heaven that we can watch this scene. I can feel the emotion and passion even on the printed page. We see that David learned a lesson about following God's instructions precisely. We see that David didn't care what people thought when it came to His praise and worship of God while his wife Michal was all wrapped up in what people thought and looking "dignified". She wouldn't even take part in the celebration opting to watch from her window. We see how David responded to her in the account in 2 Samuel 6. It's worth the read 😊. We see David's praise before the people and then his prayer as he sat before The Lord. 

I want to live like this. I want to live where I don't care what anyone thinks when it comes to living for God. I want a heart totally sold out to Him! I want to be a David, not a Michal. 

I was talking to my son Stephen back at the first of the year. We were talking about dating and relationships, the future, his generation, just a hodge podge of stuff. He made a comment that took me back a little. He said, "I don't want a nice church girl". He thankfully explained because isn't that what every mom wants for her son, a "nice church girl"?  I think the "nice church girl" (or boy for that matter) just wants to get married, be comfortable financially and go to church on Sunday as if to mark that off the "to do" list. They want someone they look good with, who grew up in church but for heavens sake is not fanatical. It's someone who's kind of in a bubble. The bubble is clean and filled with people just like themselves. They don't really know what life is like outside of what they know.  So many of us have grown up with that thinking. It's the status quo, American dream, living in the comfort zone but never really living. Boring. And we wonder why others don't want to live the Christian life. Living out God's purpose is much more exciting and it makes an impact on this world. I get what Stephen meant. He wants someone who wants more than the status quo. Someone with a passion to make a mark on this planet for Jesus sake. Someone more concerned with His glory and His name than making a name for himself or herself. Not concerned with writing their own ticket. Someone willing to do whatever it takes to win others to Jesus even if it's messy and your hands get dirty. The last thing this mom wants is for either of her boys to end up with a Michal. Or to be a Michal! Michals after all are a dime a dozen.  Thankful my girls married a David! 

Had we rather not live with the passion of David and be married to a David who falls before God exclaiming "there is no one like you O Lord and there is no God but you! Who am I that You have brought me this far?" Thankfully there's more David's out there than we hear about, guys and girls, living for God and taking Jesus to the darker places of this country and world. They're living a life of purpose walking it out in faith. And they're experiencing all kinds of Jesus moments. I'm not just talking about the young ones. As long as we are breathing, God has purpose for us. He wants to show us things and take us places that we've never imagined. Don't settle for the status quo. Don't settle for boredom. 

Don't be afraid to dance before Him. Don't worry about what others think. Don't be a Michal. Be a David! 

Monday Morning Perspective

All I can say about our continuation of this series in Nehemiah is that you need to go online and watch yesterday's message!! It was challenging and encouraging!! It will be worth your time. Way too much that I loved about it to write and far too many fave quotes!! Enjoy!!! By far my fave preacher on the planet, always has been, always will be...