Seriously….It’s Free

Every year various groups and organizations stand at the intersection of Johnsburg Rd, Chapel Hill Rd and St. Johns Road in downtown Johnsburg and ask the community to make donations to their organization or cause.

Instead of asking our community FOR SOMETHING, we would like to GIVE SOMETHING to the people in our community for FREE!

On Saturday, August 28th from Noon to 2:00 pm we will be handing out free water bottles!  Yep, it is that simple!

We believe that “Small Things Done with Great Love Can Change the World”. We are going to go out and bless our community by reaching out and giving away free stuff while planting seeds of hope, acceptance, and true freedom.

If you are available from Noon to 2:00 pm on Saturday, August 28th and would like to be a part of the team handing out water bottles, please contact the church office, or fill out this REGISTRATION FORM.

What we can learn from the iPhone 4 Cover Up

I am a HUGE fan of Apple, their technology and products.  I have an iPhone and love it, seriously the thing is awesome and is helpful to me both personally and professionally.

I have been wanting to get the new iPhone 4 for awhile now, but have been hesitant because there just seems to be too many problems and kinks that have not been worked out yet.

This year I had the opportunity to be apart of Perry Noble’s coaching network at NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC .  I loved my time there, and felt like I grew a lot by being part of the network.  Perry posted the following article HIS BLOG today and I had to share!  There is a lesson for all of us in the I Phone 4 Cover Up!!

What We Can Learn From The iPhone 4 “Situation”

I really need to put a disclaimer out before writing this post – I LOVE APPLE PRODUCTS!  I have an ipad AND a MAC (and would have an iphone…but I blogged about as to why I do not here and compared it to lessons we should learn in the church.)

Saying that…the recent problems with the iphone 4 have been interesting to watch.

Basically…there was/is a design flaw.  (I can see/hear the Apple evangelists screaming “you don’t understand” as I type this!)  The antenna was placed into the phone in such a way that it is concealed; however, the design of this phone also lends to the antenna being covered up and calls being lost/dropped.

SO…Apple called a HUGE conference last Friday and announced their solution – they are going to provide free cases to cover up the phone (that will force the user to hold the phone differently, thus “fixing” the problem.)

As I watched this scenario develop I sighed (NOT because of the phone deal, I have a Blackberry…it works really great.)  The reason I think this was a really bad idea is that it didn’t address the problem…it just covered it up!  At the end of the day the product is still flawed, no matter how “pretty” the cover that the iphone users get!

We do the same thing SO many times as followers of Christ…we try to cover up the problem instead of dealing with it.  (Isaiah 29:13" href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=31&passage=Isaiah+29%3A13" target="_new">Isaiah 29:13)

We cover up the fact that we are addicted to porn by refusing to repent…instead we go to church and sing as loud as we can, thinking we can “cover up our problem” rather than dealing with it.

We cover up the fact that we are dating someone that we know God doesn’t want us to be with…instead we justify what we are doing by at least getting them to come to church with us.  We won’t “deal” with our disobedience…rather we try to cover it up with our made up morality.

We cover up the fact that we are living in disobedience by surrounding ourselves with people who will affirm our dysfunction rather that lovingly call us out.  (See Hebrews 10:24-25" href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=31&passage=Hebrews+10%3A24-25" target="_new">Hebrews 10:24-25)

We tell Jesus that we will follow Him…that we will do “whatever” He asks–but then He hits on “THAT” issue, you know, the one we’ve always struggled with…and instead of dealing with it, repenting, asking for help–we begin to cover up our sin with religious phrases and copying and pasting Scripture.

I really could go on and on here…but the question is this (for all of us) – is there anything that you are trying to cover up that God is specifically trying to deal with?  Because…the thing I’ve learned about God is that HE is relentless, He is AFTER our hearts…and our rituals and religion is worthless in His sight if we are refusing to submit and obey to what HE is saying.  (See Ezekiel 14:1-6" href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=31&passage=Ezekiel+14%3A1-6" target="_new">Ezekiel 14:1-6)

I know its hard when God comes after our hearts…and PRIDE is a reason many people choose to cover up their sin rather than confess it.  People FEAR the consequences of confession; however, the consequences of concealing our sin are SO MUCH GREATER than the consequences of confession.

God didn’t send Jesus to die on a cross so we can cover things up but rather so that we could confess, repent and THEN live in freedom!  (Romans 8:1" href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=31&passage=Romans+8%3A1" target="_new">Romans 8:1)

BTW…Jon’s post on “Maggots” goes along tremendously with what I just wrote about…you should read it–CLICK HERE!