9 posts tagged “lift up”
I’m getting this blog out a couple of days early to remind each of you that Mother’s Day is this Sunday, May 13. I don’t want anyone to forget to honor their mama! (You can thank me Sunday) We will be honoring mothers in a special way this Sunday with a “Video Treat” straight from the heart of TNCers. You don’t want to miss it, your mamas don’t want to miss it, and mamas don’t forget to invite your family to “come and see” this Sunday morning!
We also finish up our series, Pursuit of Happyness, by considering how mothers often play a pivotal role in building healthy relationships at home. It’s going to be a great day!
Speaking of Great Days! CLEAR YOUR CALENDAR for next Sunday, May 20. Be sure you let all TNCers know that they need to be here, it’s not a day to miss!!! Sunday morning I will be sharing some big news concerning the direction that God is leading our church. He’s opened the door for us to advance His Kingdom in a manner that no church in the CSRA has before! (At least to our knowledge) I will be unveiling God’s continuing mission for TNC to “transform spiritual seekers into passionate followers of Christ”. You want to be here, I am pumped about the opportunity to share what he has put before us. God’s Vision is BIG!!!
Of course, the excitement will continue into the evening on Sunday, May 20, at 6:00 pm at FACEDOWN. This celebration and communion service has become an essential part of the fabric of TrueNorth Church. At FACEDOWN, we encounter God through focused worship, celebration, prayer, the arts, video and communion. If you’ve never experienced it YOU NEED TO, because it’s truly indescribable. Kevin and his team have another special experience planned. Come ready to meet with God face to face! You can begin your Journey to FACEDOWN by reading Kevin’s daily blog at www.247think.blogspot.com
May is a busy month as school comes to a close and summer plans are finalized, so don’t miss the opportunity to pause each Sunday and get “refueled” with God’s people experiencing His incredible love, hope and purpose for your life! You need it and so do the “fish” that God has placed in your path. Invite them to join you. They will be glad you did!
Can’t wait til Sunday, (Don’t forget your MAMA!)
What an awesome day at TrueNorth! Wow, did God ever show up today!!! The Spirit of worship was thick.
Steve brought a tremendous message today with the fifth habit of a healthy pursuit of happyness: Cultivating a Heart of Mercy. One of the strongest definitions of mercy I’ve heard is this one as compared to grace…grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve, and mercy is God NOT giving us what we DO deserve. That’s good stuff that should sink in all of our hearts.
There are four marks of mercy that Steve walked us through…
- We stop judging others and practice patience. (2 Thessalonians 3:5)
- Forgive others. (Colossians 3:13) (One important thing to note here is that forgiveness does not mean you restore trust in the person you’re forgiving.)
- Help the hurting. (1 John 3:17,18)
- Respond to evil with good. (Luke 6:35-36)
At the end, Steve answered the question, “Why should I be merciful?” Three reasons:
- Because God has shown me mercy.
- You will get what you give.
- Because you will have a pure and happy heart.
The greatest promise out of it all is this: Happy are the pure in heart; they will see God. (Matthew 5:8 Ph). What an incredible hope!
I’m writing from a Dallas hotel preparing to return to North Augusta in the morning. Some of you may know that I committed to being part of a Next Generation Leadership Community Group last August. It is a group of 10 young (I still think I’m kinda young) pastors from across the nation who are serving in large (over 1,000) growing Next Generation churches. During our time together last fall, and again this week, we gather along with 4-5 mentoring pastors (older Next Gen pastors) who have wisdom leaking out of their toes and fingers! (I’m not kidding!) During this time we share our joys, struggles and challenges, while feeding, soaking and soaking some more from the experiences of Godly men who’ve gone before us. I’ve never rubbed shoulders with men such as these!
I can’t tell you how much God has encouraged, taught and challenged me as a leader, husband, father and as a Christ follower this week. It reminds me how valuable it would be, if each of us would seek a strategic relationship with a mentor who loves Jesus and has many life experiences to pour into our lives. What could that do for your life and mine? What kind of difference could it make in our walk with God? Our marriage? Our profession? Out of my experience I believe it could enrich our lives so much! Is there anyone you would consider? I encourage you to pray and ask God to lead you to a person who could mentor, encourage and stretch your life (spiritually, at home, and professionally). If you know of someone, I encourage you to humbly approach them and ask if they might periodically consider letting you buy them a cup of coffee, or their lunch and pour a little of themselves into you. “As iron sharpens iron, so does one man sharpen another.” God has sharpened my sword this week!
I can’t wait for Sunday! We have a huge day in store.
We continue our series, Pursuit of Happiness, as we listen to Jesus’ invitation to build Habits into our lives that instill joy that the world and cirumstances can’t touch.
Our Parent/Child dedication will be held following the services in the auditorium at 12:30 as we celebrate and challenge parents to love and train their kids in the ways of the Lord.
Sunday night at 6:00 pm, we will have another Class 101 for those who want to see TNC “up close and personal” and consider committing to being part of our family. It’s going to be an EXCITING DAY!
Please commit to pray for each of these gatherings as we continue together in accomplishing our mission of “transforming spiritual seekers into passionate followers of Christ.” These are exciting days to part of God’s mission at TNC!
Proverbs 30:27 says, “The locusts have no king, yet all of them go out in ranks.” I’ve never seen a swarm of locusts in person but I know the destruction that they can bring. Oddly, the Bible gives these creatures of destruction recognition because of the incredible influence they have when they work together. A swarm of locusts comes in a dark, threatening cloud and mows down every blade of grass and green leaf in its path. Even with modern technology, farmers cannot prevent locusts from devastating their crops. Even though they are the smallest of creatures, they become a mighty force when they move together with one purpose.
Think about this: What if every person at TNC were united with one purpose? What if TNC moved together with the same focus? What would happen in the CSRA and beyond if all of us focused solely on our 3 part purpose - Lift Up, Love In, and Live Out? Instead of being destructive like locusts, we would sweep through this region setting hearts on fire for Jesus!
What if we all lived each day lifting up Christ in everything we do and say? What if we all genuinely loved each other no matter our faults? What if we lived out our faith every day so that the gospel of Christ is not only heard but seen? I believe we are on our way. I believe TrueNorth’s dramatic growth is due to the fact that God has honored the humble spirit and determination set forth by Steve and the core members in August 2004. Let’s not forget that life is all about Lifting Up Christ, Loving Others, and Living it out!
That’s more than a church purpose statement. It is our life’s mission!
(The locust thought came from Wayne Cordeiro’s book, Doing Church as a Team.)
Stevie D hit another homerun last Sunday in The Pursuit of Happyness series. He reminded us that happiness is not found in pleasures, possessions, performance or people. Our happiness comes in a passionate pursuit of God. He used one of my personal favorites, Psalm 37:4, “Seek your happiness in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desire.” Think about that for a minute. When you seek your happiness in the Lord, he really gives you two things: When he is living in you he places desires in your heart and then he fulfills those desires.
If you want to be happy, seek the Lord. Get to know him and obey him. If you want to know God’s will for your life, apply Psalm 37:4 to your life: Delight yourself in him and he will give you the desires of your heart.
George Whitefield’s sermons served as an agent of change during the First Great Awakening. Here are his 7 guidelines for searching the Scriptures:
1. Remember that the purpose of the Bible is to show us the way of salvation in Jesus Christ. See John 5:39.
2. Search the Scriptures with a humble, childlike attitude. See Luke 10:21.
3. Search the Scriptures with a sincere intention to practice what you read. See James 1:22.
4. Apply everything you read to your own heart. See Colossians 3:23.
5. Strive to attain the same Spirit by which the Scriptures were written. See 1 Corinthians 2:14.
6. Before you read, pray for the Spirit’s guidance. See John 16:13.
7. Read the Bible constantly. See Psalm 1:2 and Psalm 19:9-10.
The Bible is like a hidden treasure. The more you dig, the more you discover about God and yourself.
Sunday AM update:
Good stuff = TNC Band (as usual) & Stevie D’s second installment in The Pursuit of Happyness series. We heard Betsy Keller’s awesome story of trusting God even in difficult circumstances. Thanks Betsy for sharing your heart with us.
Weird stuff = A dog helped with the announcements this week. (Walt’s dog, Bowden, escorted him on stage.)
Fixed stuff = The dog’s tail (a lifesize photo of Bowden) wagged this week after Kevin almost amputated the tail last Sunday.
Steve did another great job exposing us to the first part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount called The Beatitudes. They can be found in Matthew 5. He reminded us that we have to trust God even in difficult and disappointing times. God is near to those who are brokenhearted. He also reminded us that we, as hard as it may be, have to let go of the past. If you suppress your feelings about past experiences, continue to review or replay them over and over in your mind, or if you harbor resentment about previous disappointments, you will have a hard time moving on with your life. Release the past and trust God with your future!
Steve wrapped up the message with Matthew 5:5 - “Happy are those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised!” God honors humility. It is one of the key character traits of the Christian life. When we humble ourselves before God, he will bless us more than we can ever ask or even imagine! Ephesians 3:20 says he ”is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us!”
Have a blessed, i.e., happy, week!
Last Sunday we started a new series called “The Pursuit of Happyness.” The TNC Band kicked it off with “Beverly Hills” by Weezer. As usual, they did a great job leading us in praise and worship. Steve showed us Ecclesiastes 2 where Solomon (the richest man in the whole wide world at the time) tried everything to find happiness. Solomon tried the “Beverly Hills” method of pursuing happiness. He had incredible wealth, power, success, achievement, education, and over 1000 women and he still could not find happiness. Have you ever said, “If I had all the money in the world, I would ________?” Well, Solomon had all of the money in the world and he did everything he could think of to find happiness. Guess what? He found out that happiness isn’t determined by what happens to us but by what happens in us.
The pursuit of happiness begins by getting to know God. It’s all about humbling ourselves and becoming “poor in spirit” as Jesus said in The Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3. That’s where we’re going to camp out for the rest of this series…The Beatitudes. Jesus gives us eight character qualities that lead us to happiness. Steve will be discussing the rest of those in the next few weeks. To get ready, why don’t you make Matthew 5:1-12 a part of your daily Bible reading for the next few weeks?
We had 27 people in Starting Point at 10:45. It’s not too late to attend. Join us this Sunday!
Have a blessed week!
Wow! What an amazing day we had at TrueNorth yesterday! God poured His Spirit out upon us as we proclaimed that He is ALIVE!!! Here’s the recap…
The Music: The band kicked off the service yesterday with If Everyone Cared by Nickelback. Other songs done yesterday were Come Awake by David Crowder*Band, Marvelous Light by Charlie Hall, All Because of Jesus by Steve Fee, My Savior My God by Aaron Shust, and Happy Day by Tim Hughes.
The Message: The service flowed a little differently yesterday, with the message being toward the beginning of the service and the music at the end. The message was kicked off with an intense video of a car crash and then the victim being rushed to the emergency room. The video closed with the sound of a flatline heartbeat, drawing everyone to the edge of their seats. Steve then came out and began his message talking about the physical death each of us will experience one day, but that there is another death that the Bible speaks of which is spiritual death.
From there, Steve showed us that Jesus offers the invitation to each of us to come alive. John 14:19 and 2 Corinthians 5:15 tell us that, because of Jesus’ death, we have a better life available to us. Steve talked about what it means to come alive:
- Jesus offers us a new life filled with meaning. (1 Peter 1:3-4; Colossians 3:4)
- Jesus sets us free. (Romans 7:6; 1 Timothy 2:6)
- Jesus gives us a life full of energy and power. (Jeremiah 31:25; Zechariah 4:6)
To close out, Steve asked everyone to fill out a spiritual survey. There were four options: A) I’m already living the life; B) I’m believing today; C) Please pray for me while I consider what God wants to do in my life; D) I don’t ever intend to make this decision. In response, 128 made the decision to declare Jesus as their Lord and Savior!!! How awesome is that? Praise God!
The People: 1450 people came to celebrate the Risen King, Jesus Christ! The environment was contagious and filled with the Presence of God.
