Sunday Night Reflections July 12, 2009

A few thoughts as I conclude today…

• It was SO awesome to be back at NewSpring Church today…the five week break from speaking was a blessing…God used it to set me on fire!!!
• Today our Florence campus announced that we will be moving our location from Francis Marion to the Florence Civic Center in August…thus allowing us to be closer to the city…and opening the door for us to reach more people!
• Big announcement about our Columbia campus coming next Sunday!
• I have what pastors commonly refer to as a “preaching headache!”  Hopefully a great night of rest will cure it!
• Today’s message was fun, yet convicting, to teach!
• The swing dancers were incredible…really wish I could do that!
• This series is entitled, “In Rhythm!”  We are called to get in step with God as He leads us and we respond to His leadership…and one of the first steps that we need to take is getting things right “in the house” instead of yelling at people outside of the house!
• Our sin does impact other people…and yes, the story about Charisse shutting down the pool is true!
• It really is hard to look down on others when we realized how absolutely screwed we would be without Jesus!
• The ONLY difference between a non-Christian and a Christian is JESUS…that’s IT!!!  If we lose sight of that–we lose sight of what He REALLY did for us on the cross!
• We should confront people because we love them…not to feel better about ourselves (that would be self righteousness!)
• AND…from what I’ve experienced…those who seem to be obsessed with the “sins” of others are often that way to keep from dealing with their own sins!
• Jesus did say we are not to judge one another…but He didn’t say we were not to confront one another!
• Today’s message had some hard words in it…I love what Pastor Mark Driscoll says about that, “Hard words produce soft people and soft words produce hard people.”  I believe the reason many churched people are so hard is because pansy pastors refuse to teach hard truth in love!
• The “family chat” at the end of the message was fun…we are not called to defend this church…if what we are doing is of God it cannot be stopped!  (See Acts 5:38-39)
• I am pumped about the future of our church…really feeling like we are about to see another wave of changed lives like we’ve never seen before!  God is at work…and to allow ourselves to be distracted would be tragic!
• God didn’t call us to fight with church people about what is “right,” He called us to preach the Gospel and change the world one life at a time…that pumps me up!
• Lucretia and I are thinking about purchasing a wii for the house…we are both VERY competitive so I am not sure how that will go!
• Yes, we do want a dog one day.  NO…we do not want one now…but thanks for offering!  (And yes, I really want to name the dog “dumb dumb!”)
• Next Monday I leave for a week with our teenagers for summer camp…can’t wait to hang out with these guys!
• PLEASE LET FOOTBALL SEASON BEGIN SOON…AHHHHHHHH!

That’s about it…really feeling tired…need to go to bed and get my beauty rest!!!  :-)  (That would be a LOT of rest!!!)