Sunday Rewind 7.25.10

Here are a couple of thoughts from a GREAT day at Meadowland Church:

- Seriously, I have been having a blast answering the questions that were asked for our current series, “You  Asked For It”.

- In Genesis 1:3-26, when God SPOKE he created, gave life, and brought the world into existence.  God’s WORD is so POWERFUL!  When HE speaks into our lives and brings light and life into our world.  The questions that were asked today were answered thousands of  years ago by God!

-Personally, I am still encouraged and charged up by the hope of Heaven.  As many of you know our dear friend Jack passed away this week after being in the hospital for about a month.  We know that even though Jack is no longer with us, he is with Christ (2 Corinthians 5:6-10) in heaven and one day we will be reunited with Him in heaven!

- I know I say this every week, but the worship was OFF THE CHAIN this Sunday!  We tried something a little different this week in our service flow and I thought it was awesome. I am so BLESSED to work with a great TEAM who love Jesus, His BRIDE the Church, and PUMPED about Reaching Up, Reaching Out, and Reaching In!

- Yes, it is true that I said if someone ever comes knocking on your door and asks the question “If you were to die right now, would you go to heaven or hell?”, you should punch them in the throat.  If you come to my house and ask me that question, I am assuming you are about to attempt to kill me!

- Made a lot of new friends this Sunday.  I always love meeting people and hearing their stories!  Life is a Journey and no one should have to walk alone!

- I want to thank to 40 some volunteers who showed up on Sunday Morning to SERVE PEOPLE and make ministry at Meadowland Church possible!  You are all AMAZING and Jesus is using you in HUGE WAYS!!

- Don’t forget that we have the Picnic and Baptism Service coming up on August 22nd.  If you are ready to be baptized you can REGISTER HERE!!

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!

Sunday Rewind 7.19.10

- Today was an amazing day at Meadowland Church! As we answered the questions “Who is the Holy Spirit” this morning in our current series “You Asked For It”, we saw people surrender their lived to Jesus! AMAZING!!

- On Sunday I felt like we were cracking open a fire hydrant and trying to take a drink.  We talked about a lot of information and went through a lot of scriptures, but my intent was not to overwhelm us, rather it was to crack the hydrant and enjoy the outpouring and be refreshed by the waters as we discovered who the Holy Spirit is.

- I promised on Sunday that I would make my powerpoint available for all you note takes out there.  Here is the HOLY SPIRIT POWERPOINT in pdf format.

- The worship on Sunday was off the chain.  I seriously love worshiping our Great God with my friends and family at Meadowland Church!!

- On August 22nd, we will be having out Church Picnic and Baptism Service. If you have recently made a decision to follow Jesus or have never been baptized, I invite you to take the next step and get baptized on August 22nd. If you are interested in being baptized, you can SIGN UP HERE.

- One of the verses I keep going back to recently is Acts:1-8.   God has HUGE plans for us, and provides us with the POWER we need to accomplish it!!

- I am so thankful to be a part of Meadowland Church. I love you all and look forward to what God is going to continue to do in and through the people who are Meadowland Church!!

Sunday Rewind 7.11.10

- This Sunday we kicked off a new series called “You Asked For It” and 8 week series answering questions that have been submitted by people at Meadowland Church.

- We saw people surrender their lives to Jesus yesterday, it was AWESOME!! There is nothing like seeing someone put their trust in Jesus!!

- Yesterday we answered answered the first two questions of the You Asked For It Series, Seriously we got some great questions!!

- I am so thankful for Jesus, HE is the cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6) of our faith, it is HIS work that set us free (Isaiah 53:5), and HE is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).

- I am seriously blessed to work with a great group of people who love Jesus, His Church, and Reaching Up, Reaching Out, and Reaching In!!

- This week our Children’s Ministry kicked off their summer program called “Lava Lava Island”. It was awesome to see kids running around, having a blast learning about Jesus!!

- Hey, in case you missed the announcement Steve Mitchell’s band “Trees of the Field” will be opening for Audio Adrenaline’s Mark and Will and Family Faith night Saturday, July 31st at Peterson Park!!

- It was great to be back at Meadowland Church after some time off. I am energized and looking forward to all that Jesus has in store for us!!

Sunday Rewind- 7.4.10

-Happy 4th of July everyone! I am so thankful for the men and women who have faithfully served this country. Those who purchased for our freedom with their lives and those who continue to protect it with their lives today!!

- Today I got to go to Meadowland Church with my family. It was GREAT! I think it had been almost a year since we all got to go to church together. It was also Nolan’s first Sunday at Meadowland- he had a great first time experience!

- Ed Mathisen preached the message this morning and did a great job! Seriously, I think today was one of the best messages on idol worship in the 21st century I have heard!!

- One of my biggest “takeaways” from Ed’s Message was – “If we do not read our Bibles, we are in danger of redefining who God is.” Thought that statement was both true and powerful!!

- If we truly want to have a relationship with Jesus, we need to KNOW who He is and DO what he says to do. Too many people say they believe in Jesus, but do not really know who he is or care about his word.

- Many of us know a lot of information about Superman. We know his double identity (Clark Kent) , who his friends are (Louis Lane, Jimmy Olsen ect..) , who his enemies are (Lex Luther to name one) , what planet he is from (Krypton), and his one weakness (Kryptonite)…..however if my house started on fire right now, I should not count on Superman showing up to save me….because he is a made up character. Interesting how we know more about someone who is made up in comic books who do not have the ability to save us!!

- Personally, I walked away Sunday with a desire to know God more, and to read my bible more to hear from God more. When we hear what God says and Do what He says, we see God!!

-Last note: It has been two weeks since I last preached and I am PUMPED to be kicking off our new series this Sunday called “You asked for it!!”. Seriously, it is like a fire burning within me (Jeremiah 20:9)