Monday Morning Perspective

I am writing this headed down the road behind our bus, mini bus, 2 vans and 2 cars all packed with students and leaders for Alive Summer Camp! We are 100 strong! This is mine and Eddie's favorite thing to do with our students. It's always a life changing week and it's good for us to have time to relax with them and get to know them outside the realm of the normal church thing. Pray with us that God would be glorified and magnified this week and His Spirit undeniable to all! Now for yesterday...it was nothing short of amazing at both campuses. Everyone brought the A game! My husband's message was an all time winner and challenging doesn't even begin to describe it. I got a tad bit of a preview which is why I was able to encourage you not to miss it. I love it when he says "that's what I'm talking about Sunday"! Oh if our belief would match our behavior and we would all implement all of these messages from 1 John we would be so much better for it. 

The title was Grow Up. I guess that alone speaks volumes. Eddie talked about the levels of maturity. We are all at one time children but problems arise when we stay there. Children are characterized by emotions and feelings, selfishness, and making messes as well as easily misled and deceived. 

Young men are characterized by the Word  living in them and knowing how to overcome the evil one. They know how to do battle with the evil one and win. 

Fathers are those who are totally God centered. They want to serve God and others. What separates them from others is that fathers reproduce. They are leading others to Christ and disciplining them. 95% of Christians aren't fathers because they don't reproduce. True disciples of Jesus make disciples! 

Challenging? Yes! But if we aren't growing in our walk then we are backing up! Let's take the challenge. 

Monday Morning Perspective

This is really late but I've been in Atlanta from yesterday and just heading home. We went so that Jessica and I could participate in a video taping of a new bible study Andy and Sandra Stanley are doing and then we got to spend the afternoon with John and have dinner with him. It's been a pretty busy weekend. Actually it's been a super busy summer, but a good one. 

For those of you who made it to Living Proof Live Greenville and then church Sunday morning, we've had us some worship and the Word this weekend! I used to have a dread of a letdown after a weekend like that, but if you were at either Fairview campus that didn't happen, did it?! The worship was on fire and both messages so Spirit filled I could hardly stand it. So I'm going to break down both campuses this Monday morning. My son Stephen preached at East for his dad but from the same passage. They were different in approach which is the sweetest thing about how God gifts us, and different in content but both were chunk full of truth. We could have a whole series just on those verses because as you'll see there are just endless directions you can go and so many nuggets of gold and yet all still truth and dead on. That's why you can preach the same scripture over and over and never touch it all. 

Stephen's message from 1John 2 focused on the difference between a life lived in the light and a life lived in darkness. We are to live lives that put God's character on display. His character is not grumpy, condemning, critical in nature. His character shows forth love, mercy, grace, compassion. What does our character look like? If we have an intimate relationship with Him, we will obey Him. This is what leads us to reflect His character. Our root determines our fruit. What you are rooted in, determines your fruit. I love that. We are called to love in a God kind of way. If we love God, we will obey Him and we will love people. If we love people we will not do them harm. Love is an everlasting commandment in a temporal world. 

Now for Eddie's message from the same passage. He focused on taking the salvation test. He talked about the fruit test, the inner witness test, and the loyalty test. God gives us His desires if we belong to Him. He gives us new want tos. We are called to love even when we are shown hatred and what a shame when that hatred comes from other self professing believers. If you walk in darkness you stumble and cause others to stumble. Yep, seen that. We are either stepping stones or stumbling blocks. Which one are you?

Monday Morning Perspecrive

Sunday was a great day at both Fairview campuses. July 4th weekend got the best of the numbers but hoping everyone had a great vacation and will be back with us this Sunday. My husband brought an incredible message. We got to meet so many visitors after the service at the main campus and they spoke of how much the message meant to them. CrossTalk brought it with great worship songs and lots of energy. So thankful that God allows us to be on the front lines watching Him work! 

We continued our series Live in Light Walk in Love in the book of 1John. We looked at how to deal with sin. Some of my favorite points made were...

...we confess sin to keep our fellowship pure, not our salvation secure. 

...failing to confess sin robs us of joy,fellowship and our effectiveness. 

...confession should be like breathing. Confess as we go. 

...satan works in generalities making us feel worthless. God puts His finger where there is sin. 

...forgiveness isn't about our feelings. It's about His faithfulness and He is faithful to forgive us. 

...2:2 tells us He died for the sins of the world which shatters the belief by hyper Calvinists that say He only died for the elect. 

Catch this one online. You'll be glad you did. Have a blessed week!