What a day…trying to wrap my mind around all that I learned…several phases to Sunday Night Reflections tonight…
Phase #1 - Our Church
- I LOVE what God is doing in our church…the anticipation level is through the roof right now…I feel like He’s going to BLOW OUR MINDS this next month and in 2009!
- A church that refuses to take risks and is satisfied with the status quo will never become who God has called them to be…I am so glad our church isn’t satisfied…we want to see more of Jesus!
- Our next series, “A NewSpring Christmas Party,” is going to be freakin’ awesome!!!
- THIS FRIDAY NIGHT is our night of prayer and worship—be there, 7:00…and get there early or you won’t get a seat. We are going to beg God as a church to do great & awesome things among us during this upcoming season of ministry.
- Last week I blogged about Christmas tickets here...they’re going like crazy…here is the link to get your tickets to our Christmas services.
Phase #2 - Today
- Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church spoke today and flat brought the house down.
- I love Pastor Steven…he’s one of my best friends in the ministry…and we literally call each other every Sunday afternoon to encourage one another, challenge one another…and sometimes, talk one another off of a ledge! :-) (If you are a pastor…you understand!)
- Our worship time today was amazing! Singing, “Holy, Holy are you Lord God Almighty” over and over rocked my world! I once heard a speaker say that the church has made the word “holy” quite boring…while in heaven the angels are amazed by it!!!
- Steven challenged our church to not get so close to Jesus that we miss who He is and what He is doing.
- My favorite line of the day, “Jesus away on a manger and sleeping in the hay this Christmas…He’s the ruling, reigning, powerful King of the Universe!”
- My other favorite line, “Jesus didn’t die on a cross so you can sample churches like food from a party platter!”
- The way he encouraged our volunteers was PRICELESS!
- What happened at the end of the 6:00 service completely overwhelmed me. I wasn’t expecting it…and God used it to both encourage me and blow my mind. WOW!!!
Phase #3 - Last Week…
Last week I blogged about sex…it was quite fun…if you missed it I wrote about how a husband can have more frequent sex with his wife…
- I set it up with this post
- Here is part one for husbands
- Here is part two
- And then here is how wives can have more frequent sex with their husbands.
Phase #4 - Strange Happenings…
A lady whose blog I follow shot me an email the other day and asked me could she do a post entitled, “I can not stand Perry Noble.” She explained why…and I agreed.
It really is a pretty cool post in regards to how God did a work in her to change her perception of me and NewSpring Church…but it didn’t take long for the haters to come out…and it’s a little funny how people completely missed the point of her post.
You can read her post here and the comments if you would like. Did they bother me? A little…gotta be honest…but it’s just one of those deals where I can fight with those guys…but I would have to come down off the wall to do so. (Nehemiah 6:1-4)
I say all of this NOT for me personally, heck, I just don’t fight with people like that anymore. I say that to encourage a pastor out there somewhere. God has put it in your heart to do something great…you love Jesus and God is radically rocking your world…you want to see His church shine more than anything…
BUT…people are hating on you. They are attacking you. They are flat out lying about you. They’ve never been to your church and they attempt to judge your character by listening to selected portions of your sermons. (Which would make them superficial!)
Pastor…church leader…don’t come down off the wall!!! Spend some time reading Psalm 35 & how David dealt with the same stuff…and yet was called a man after God’s own heart. Don’t get caught up in fighting battles with the very people who decended from the party in power that led the murder of Jesus…just keep your eyes on Him, BEG Him for wisdom and be who God called you to be.
Trust me…if people aren’t hating on you…then you aren’t doing something right. You are ALWAYS going to piss people off…you can either piss those off far from God (the church has done an excellent job at that) or piss off those who are religious and immersed in self righteousness. You choose.
Whew! That was like therapy! AND…I seriously pray it encouraged someone.
AND…one more thing…Anne Jackson is an amazing lady…she wrote an incredible book that she graciously allowed me to be a part of…I can’t wait until it is released!!!