Monday Morning Perspective

I love it when worship seems to rise to a new level and yesterday was one of those times. Our band was energized and powerful! Ashley Blevins killed Forever by Kari Jobe. I was exhausted, a good exhausted! 

Then my husband brought an amazing word from James as we continued our Live It series! Some of my favorite and most challenging points...

...if you're where you need to be spiritually, you can handle where you are materially. 

...we must quit caring what "they" say and think and believe what God says!

...we exist to glorify God and make disciples who make disciples. 

...people bringing people who in turn bring people to church, is what makes a Sunday successful!

...disciples who are developing and devoted followers of Jesus will reproduce. 

I love being part of a church where people are excited and encouraging one another in the journey of faith! I love that we love coming together as church to grow and serve and then going out to be the church wherever God has placed us. Being the church in our homes and communities throughout the week is what it's about. 

I'm praying for my grands...

This is a post I've been piecing together. Yesterday I actually put the pieces together but was just sitting on it. So strange that last night at our lifegroup our sharing was wrapped around these very things.  Changes that make us uncomfortable, that bring out the best and worst in us. Hearing from others that feel much like the things I had written, makes me go ahead and post this this morning. You may agree. You may disagree. But it's worth the conversation I believe. Therefore here goes...Times change. Sometimes more quickly than we want or like. Some are good. Some are bad. Sometimes, it just is what it is. Churches change. Church is different now than when I was a kid and it's very different from when my parents were kids. Again some good... I actually love today's church. I loved it when I was a kid. I believe I'll love it in the future from what little I can grasp of the direction it's headed. I can tell you the change I love a lot. It seems like the younger generation now is much less interested n sitting around talking and more interested in doing. They seem to really "get it" when it comes to church.  Now I'm a HUGE believer in bible study and classes that teach us. I lead women's ministry and bible studies are a huge part of that. But I've told my bible study classes and discipleship classes that I've led through the years that if all we do is fill our heads with information and what we know doesn't filter down into what we do, it's all pointless. The point of knowing scripture is to live it and share it. Some of us have sat in enough classes and under enough teaching to have earned a dozen PHDs but it's not being lived out. We have sat through countless sermons and discipleship classes on how to share our faith but we've never done it. We've suffered anxiety and perhaps cried over lost friends, family members or associates, but we've never opened our mouth to talk to them about Jesus. At some point our being discipled needs to turn into discipling others. We know what to do we just don't do it. My generation seems much more content with sitting and soaking, loving on programs and traditions, being entertained, than the one I see coming up. I've worked with high school and college age students for years now teaching and discipling them and I see a fresh passion to turn what they know into action. Most of us need to stay out of their way and let em at it.  I heard someone say that when Bobby Bowden was asked if kids had changed a lot since he first started coaching and he said no, the parents have. We want the school to teach them but we don't support the teacher when our angel messes up. We want the government to protect them until society needs to be protected from them. And we want the church to entertain them and program them to death and disciple them because we don't want to do that ourselves. That change in parenting has come quickly unfortunately!

So all that to say this...this is what I pray for my sweet grand girl Brooklynn and all my grands to come...

I pray that they receive Jesus while they're young and live every day for Him.

I pray that they would desire godly wisdom over intellect and knowledge. 

I pray that the things of God would be their passion and desire and they would pursue Christ rather than worldly affections. 

I pray that they would study God's Word more than their school work. 

I pray that as they participate in sports,the arts or whatever that it would only be a platform to share JESUS and not to glorify themselves.

I pray that they would be discipled by parents willing to spend time with them and teach them right rather than relying on church workers and ministers to disciple them. 

I pray they have parents who want to be with them and hang with them instead of wanting to find a place for them to go and hang with others. 

I pray that they will learn about missions because they experience mom and dad telling the waitress and the barista and the dry cleaning man about their need for Jesus as they go to those places rather than a class at church. 

I want them to have on the field training next to a mom and dad and witness first hand how to be the church, again, rather than sitting in a room hearing about it. I don't want sitting and soaking to be their idea of what church is. Therefore I hope they spend less time at church and more time being the church. 

I'm so encouraged as I see the young ones rising up to take their place in the church to lead. I'm extremely encouraged as I sit and listen to them talk about how buildings and property don't matter to them in terms of church. People matter. The church is people not programs and buildings. They don't want to sit in an office with nice furniture. They'd rather be in the local coffee shop interacting with people. They are all about relationships. Like one said last night, "you can meet a stranger and share salvation with them and get a convert but you won't get a disciple that way. You make disciples through building relationships with people and walking alongside them, investing in them". 

Change may be painful. It may push us out of our comfort zone a bit. But Jesus won't stay in the comfort zone and He hasn't called us to stay there. The Christian life isn't about being comfortable. It's about being uncomfortable. It's about allowing our plans to be interrupted for the sake of others. Most of us have been comfortable way too long. It's time to change. 

Monday Morning Perspective

Wisdom! That was the focus of yesterday's message from James as we looked at 1:5-8. We saw that wisdom is not intelligence. We know that some with high IQs don't always make smart decisions. We saw that wisdom is not knowledge as very well informed people don't always make good decisions. And we know that wisdom is not common sense. God's wisdom is uncommon sense many times. 

We need to want something higher than intelligence, knowledge, or common sense. We need godly wisdom. We seem to get places fast but they're the wrong places. Godly wisdom gets us to the right places. We don't need to look to Oprah and Dr. Phil for advice. We need to go to the source of wisdom who is God alone. 

We looked at the mystery of wisdom. So often we think God won't answer us.  Maybe it's not that He won't answer. Maybe it's that we don't believe. We doubt. We look at the circumstances of our life. We lose focus. We get busy doing everything except that one thing God has called us to. We are a double-minded people torn between desiring the world and desiring God alone. 

When it comes to big decisions, we shouldn't be asking whether it's what we want or if it's a good career move or if it's where we want to go or live or do. The only question that matters is, how can God get the most glory and His kingdom benefit the most? That's all that matters. So...when you're the Zoad in the road and don't know which way to go, remember it's not about common sense or the best business decision. It's about His glory. For when it's all said and done, all that matters is what is done for His kingdom!!

Worship was amazing!! The message was too good that I couldn't write fast enough!! And the best is always having families join with our church family who want to serve and be a part of all God is doing at Fairview!! There's more exciting things to come. Share with others so they can come be a part as well!!

Monday Morning Perspective

Yesterday the energy level was high in worship! I love those times and thankfully we have many of them at Fairview! Our band was ON and loved the music choices! My man was in the zone as we kicked off our study through the book of James, LIVE IT. This is gonna be sooooo good!! 

Eddie dissected the first 4 verses as we looked at how we are Transformed by Trials.

A few of my favorite quotes...

...James is known as old camel knees because of callouses on his knees from praying but his book tells us what to do when we get off of our knees. 

...God seldom uses someone greatly until they've been tested greatly, maybe even broken. 

...many times what we consider gain, Jesus considers loss and what Jesus considers gain, we count as a loss. 

I'm so excited about this series. It's so practical! It's definitely going to challenge us and convict us so get ready! Check it out online if you missed it. 

A Different Monday Morning Perspective

Normally MMP is a recap of my husband's message on Sunday. However,  he has been in Cuba all week so he had our student pastor, also our sweet son-n-law preach. I know I'm biased but he's wonderful and filled in perfectly! What an amazing message on God's love! It was extremely challenging as he made us think about what truly motivates us. The reminder that the Enemy is fine with our gathering together as a church, but true impact comes when our faith steps outside the church. When we begin to see people as Jesus does and love and serve, then we will make a difference. His mission wasn't to make us good, it was to make us alive. 

I left that early service and headed to a nearby church where my son Stephen had been invited to preach. I'm so thankful for pastors who are willing to give young ones opportunities! What an incredible blessing! Stephen preached a great message on living explicitly Christian lives and being intentional in our walk with Jesus! People should know who we are and who's we are. When we truly experience Jesus, we will tell others. Jesus positioned Himself for ministry opportunities and had honest conversations with people. We need to be about the same thing! 

I also got to go with Stephen later that day as he shared with some of our children at Fairview about his summer in Atlanta. I was amazed at two things. One, how well our kids listened and grasped all he told them as they responded back when prompted. Two, what an amazing job Stephen did at taking what he learned at presenting it on a level they could understand. He shared with them about what living intentionally for Jesus means and how they can invest in people even at their young age at school or on their teams or wherever. He also shared with them how important it is to invite their friends to church and their church activities and then they can see an increase not only in numbers but how Jesus is growing them in their faith. We could all use the four Is...intentional, invest, invite, increase, in our everyday journey. 

It was an incredibly full Sunday in every way. Actually, this Monday morning, I'm still full!! 

30 years

September 1st 2014! My man and I have been married 30 years. What a bunch we are 30 years later.  As my sweet daughter Chrissie said, "that's a long time!"  She is right!! It's a very long time. At times it seems like we just got married. Then I look at my kids and a granddaughter and reality hits that we've done a lot of life! We've been at this a long time!  It's somewhat overwhelming. I wonder how it happened so fast! I wonder why God has blessed so much! 

Marriage isn't easy, but it's more than worth the effort. It's been the greatest, most rewarding, thrilling, joy-giving, heart wrenching, worth every tear, worth every laugh kind of adventure I ever hoped it would be. We are so different now than we were at 19 and 25 when we made all those promises that I'm sure we thought we understood but really probably didn't have a clue. We've grown. We've changed. But no matter what, we kept loving. We kept believing. We kept trusting. Mostly in God, but also in each other. I tell young ones all the time who are dating, you need to date at least 2 years. Why? Because the 1st year is about concealing. We put our best out there. We are always on guard trying to impress and sometimes not really being honest about who we are and what we want. The 2nd year is about revealing. We let our guard down. We are more ourselves. We relax. That's the one you're going to marry. Be sure. He's not always kind and she's not always sweet. He has bad days and she can be moody. He gets stressed and it comes out in all sorts of ways. She gets aggravated and jealous and maybe even nags. Just be sure. There are worse things than waiting or being alone and that's being with the wrong one. Be very sure. 

I love my husband. Probably more importantly at times, I like him. We are different in some of our likes and we don't always agree. We react differently to things and our personalities differ in ways. But we have lots of things in common and we love hanging together. I love talking to him and I love being quiet with him. Mostly I love that he's led our kids to love Jesus and he's shown them what serving Jesus through serving His church looks like. And they all desire to do that. It's been said that if you raise your kids to just love the church then one day they'll want to run it and control it. If you raise them to love Jesus they'll love His church and want to serve it. 

30 years! Sounds like a long time! It is! And it's been good! Not perfect. But good!