Baptism at a Creek

I had a “first” last night. I’ve done baptisms in churches, in lakes and in swimming pools. Yesterday I had the opportunity to baptize one of the ladies from our church family in the creek behind her family’s home. Seven of us made the hike a few hundreds yards through their backyard to the creek, waded across ankle-deep water until we got to the spot where the creek was deep enough and then had the baptism. It was quiet and beautiful.

When I called the woman regarding her decision, she shared that she had been attending church with her family and reading her Bible on her own and was lead to this next step in her walk with Jesus. Her husband had been baptized in the creek and she wanted to do the same thing. While I know that a lot of creek baptisms have taken place, this was unique for me.

Her husband did share that someone from his family was a preacher and told the story of the time they had the break through the ice to perform a baptism. Glad it wasn’t that cold for us!

Her decision, along with the baptisms we experienced at camp the week before, have reminded me again that God is the one that moves people to decisions and He is the one that changes hearts. Whether through the example of a friend, spending time alone reading God’s Word or being taught His truth by someone else, God is the One who brings about change. We simply make ourselves available to be a part of the process where He decides to use us.

#CrashTheChatterBox

Crash the Chatterbox is the first Steven Furtick book I’ve read. The title piqued my interest although I wasn’t sure what the chatterbox was. In the book he not only explained the chatterbox, but described how to deal with it.

He describes the chatterbox as the lies we believe that keep us from accurately and actively hearing God’s voice. He referenced a stat that said the average person has more than 60 thousand thoughts per day and over 80% of those thoughts are negative. Whether that stat is true or not, we’ve all had the experience where we have had a silent discussion with ourselves – that chatter that goes on in our head about whether we should attempt something new or even chiding ourselves for a mistake we just made. In Crash the Chatterbox Furtick gives some tools for silencing that chatter.

One of the things I appreciated about the book is that Furtick kept pointing back to God’s Word as the main way to silence the chatter. In one chapter he used Jesus as the example of how to silence the lies of the enemy. He said this in chapter 4: “That’s why Satan’s temptation of Jesus had no more chance of succeeding than a Guns N’ Roses original lineup reunion tour. Because Jesus was fully loaded with the Word of God. He was literally preloaded with the truth of scripture in a way that only He could be: He was the Word of God.” As Jesus used God’s Word to silence the chatter of the enemy, we need to do the same.

Furtick’s book is filled with both personal stories and other people’s accounts of how the chatterbox has tried to defeat and derail. He balances the personal experiences of people and the truth of God’s Word to provide insight on crashing the chatterbox. At the appropriate time he inserted some humorous story or comment to keep the reader engaged.

I earmarked several pages in the book for future reference. It was a good read and provided insights to help followers of Jesus hear Him above the chatter.

Help YouVersion Hit 100 Million Installs

I started using the YouVersion app well over a year ago. I use it for looking up passages while in large group gatherings and also utilize the reading plans that are available. A couple of weeks ago I received an email asking for help in reaching 100 million installs.

The email shared this info about the app: We launched the YouVersion Bible App on July 10, 2008 with one simple mission: to help people make the Bible a daily part of their life. God has brought about some pretty amazing growth in those five years, and now a very exciting milestone is on the horizon. That’s where we’d love to get your help.

It looks like the Bible App could hit its 100-million install milestone on or near the 5-year anniversary of the App Store on July 10. It’s going to be a stretch, and it will take extraordinary measures from the capital “C” Church to make it happen.

If you don’t use YouVersion, go check it out. If you do, share this info with friends. It’s a great tool to spend time in the Bible.

90 Day Challenge- Habit Formed?

The 90 Day Challenge is now complete! That certainly doesn’t mean that you can’t continue in your reading or even start it again (or for the first time). Back in January we put out the challenge to read through the New Testament in 90 days to be a kick off to 2013. If you stayed on track, you finished a few days ago.

The big question is did you form a habit? The purpose of the challenge was to help each of us develop the habit of spending time on a regular basis in God’s Word. To grow on our own in our relationship with God, we need to carve out time in our day to spend with Him. Corporate worship, small groups, youth events are great, but they don’t replace our time with God throughout the week.

We are putting together some other (free) resources to help you continue in the habit. If you don’t have another plan after the 90 Day Challenge, make sure to pick one up.

This is a good reminder to us as we apply it to our spiritual growth: “We are made up of the commitments that we make over our life and the habits that we develop.”

90 Day Challenge – Week 11

Last week took us through the book of Hebrews and into the book of James. The writer of Hebrews speaks to the fact that Jesus is our Great High Priest, that He is far superior to the sacrifices that were offered in the past. By His one sacrifice, He took care of all of our sin. One of the verses that stuck out to me was 10:14 – “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Jesus came to rescue us and overcome sin and death for us. Sometimes the letter of Hebrews is hard to understand, but contains such great truth.

The letter of James is so practical, making sure to tell us that we need to live out what we believe. It’s not enough to say we know God; we need to show it in what we do.

I hope the time you are spending in God’s Word through the 90 Day Challenge is helping you grow in your relationship with God. We are getting near the end of the challenge and I hope it’s helping to create a habit that will continue past the 90 days.

We plan to have some resources available after the challenge is over so you can continue to grow through time in His Word.

Keep up the good work!

90 Day Challenge – Week 10

I missed posting about our 90 Day Challenge last week as I was out-of-town, but hopefully you have kept pace with the readings each week. Today is Day #72! We are in the home stretch of the challenge. Whether you are right on pace or still a bit behind, don’t give up! Keep spending time each day in God’s Word and continue that habit.

We had a handful of responses to our one question survey just to see how things were going. Out of the 11 responses I received, 7 are behind, but working on it and the other 4 are on track. Again, the key is that we are finding time each day to spend with God. Our focus is the word habit.

If you didn’t respond to the survey, we’d still love to hear from you. Click here to go the one question response form.

This week we looked at some of the letters Paul wrote, including 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus.  In those words, we see Paul’s heart for these men who were serving God in difficult circumstances.  He encouraged them to continue in their work and to be faithful to the life God called them to live.  Pretty good advice for us as well.

90 Day Challenge – Week 8

Today is Day 57 and the start of week #9 in our 90 Day Challenge! I hope you are encouraged by the time you are spending with God in His Word.

Yesterday we finished the book of Galatians and were reminded that Jesus is all we need!  There were some people around the Galatian church who were trying to add to what Jesus did for us through His death on the cross.  They were saying you had to accept Jesus and follow the Old Testament Law.  Paul said Jesus was enough.  His death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave satisfied our need for a Savior. In Galatians 2:20-21 he writes,

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

What Jesus did is enough to save us.  We don’t need to keep the Old Testament Law to be made right with God.  Everything we do should in gratitude for what Jesus did, not our effort to try to gain His approval.

Keep up the good work of the 90 Day Challenge. Remember that our goal is to develop the habit of spending time with God.  If you are right on track, behind or even ahead of schedule, keep opening His Word and listen to what He has to say.

90 Day Challenge – Week 7

We are over half-way through our 90 Day Challenge and today will take us into Day 50. Today’s reading also brings us into 2 Corinthians. There are some tough issues that Paul has to deal with in the church of Corinth, but as you read the letter, you see how deeply cares for the church. The letters to the Corinthian church help us understand how to deal with delicate issues in the church family.

We need your help! Since we are over half-way through this challenge, it would be great to get a sense of how things are going. There is a very short, anonymous form you can respond to that will help us see how things are going. If you took the challenge, please take 30 seconds to give your response.

Whether you are on track, behind or using a different plan, our goal is develop a habit of spending time with God.  Small investments over time will lead to a growing relationship.  Keep it up!

Guardrails

We are in the middle of a series in our High School class about making wise decisions. It is based on Andy Stanley’s book The Best Question Ever that I read recently.

Usually in the month of February, we talk about guy/girl relationships, dating, etc. This book provides some insight and principles that helps adults and students in making decisions about various areas of life, including dating relationships.

Talking specifically about moral purity, Stanley talks about the importance of “pre-deciding.”  Before getting into a situation where we may compromise in the realm of purity, we need to pre-decide what we are going to do and not do.

We are going to talk about the guard rails we need to put in place regarding moral purity. Knowing that guard rails are set-up to keep a driver from ending up in a dangerous place, we need to establish guard rails that will help us see the danger coming.

It is so true that times of failure in our moral purity bring the deepest regrets.  In The Best Question ever Stanley writes this: “In time you may find you are able to laugh about wasted money and poor time management.  But when it comes to moral failure, time doesn’t help.  Nobody ever laughs about an affair, divorce, addiction or abuse.”  How true it is that no matter what stage in life we find ourselves, guard rails are helpful.

90 Day Challenge – Week Two

Yesterday concluded the second week in our 90 Day Challenge. If you started on January 7 and stayed current, you finished the Gospel of Mark and are jumping into the Luke’s account.

Reading Mark’s Gospel right after finishing Matthew’s showed how both men approached their accounts differently.  Mark’s is shorter and focuses more on Jesus’ ministry, while Matthew gives more details regarding Jesus’ birth and childhood. Just like listening to two different people who were witnesses to the same event, both writers give us a unique perspective on the life of Christ.

If you are a part of the 90 Day Challenge, keep up the good work!  Now that we are a couple of weeks into it, hopefully you are hitting your stride and are finding a good time in your schedule to carve out time to spend time with God.  We’ve used this phrase throughout the month of January as we have talked about the habits that help us to grow spiritually:  We are made up of the commitments that we make over our life and the habits that we develop.  The 90 Day Challenge is designed to help us develop the habit of spending time with God.  Keep it up!

This weekend, we also handed out two more books. Not sure how many are completing the challenge, but we have handed out nearly 70 books.  If you are taking the challenge, we’d love to hear from you.  Go to out 90 Day Challenge Facebook page and let us know how it is going.