Skip to main content

being stretched & getting ready // Wednesday E-Devotion

Isaiah 54:2-3 (New Living Translation) --- Enlarge your house; build an addition. Spread out your home, and spare no expense! For you will soon be bursting at the seams. Your descendants will occupy other nations and resettle the ruined cities.

They are coming over. It is kind of like getting ready for a family reunion or a party at the house. Get ready. Spend some money. Decorate in big ways and more.

That is the way I have felt about The Community Fellowship when we started and how I feel now. There is nothing like this church here in our area. And The Community Fellowship is needed. Lots of people don't always get who we are or what we are doing, yet I am always confronted with the fact that Jesus sent us here, set us up here and continues to sustain us.

I love these people and this work. And I love Jesus. That's what this is all about!

As we dreamed about this church and began to plan, lots of people got in on it and lots of stuff began to happen. God provided and God built the vision that we now see at the church and experience each week as we touch lives for Jesus!

In today's devotion I want to remind myself and you of our core values (and then I will head back to the verse I started with):

1. create a COMMUNITY where people exalt God, influence others & encourage one another. Acts 2:43ff

2. share a message that is RELEVANT to where people are living and that changes lives. John 14:6, 1 John 1:10

3. create an environment of ACCEPTANCE where people will hear the truth feel safe & at home learning God's love. Romans 14:3 and 15:7

4. use CREATIVITY because God's church should be the most creative institution on earth as we have the greatest message to share.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23

5. be real through AUTHENTICITY of being who God made us to be laying aside anything that keeps people from seeing Jesus. Hebrews 1:3

6. experience UNITY as a result of knowing God and sharing in the vision and growing in Christ. Philippians 2:1-5

7. share and raise EXPECTATIONS by lifting levels of commitment, holding each other accountable and experiencing God's best. 2 Corinthians 8:5

So where does that verse come in? Get ready to grow. God started this work, and He is in it to grow it. We ain't seen nothing yet! We are not different for the sake of being different. We are different so that can reach as many people as we can for Jesus. That is why we have to be stretch and get ready to grow.

I hope you see the vision, and if you can tell or not, I AM EXCITED! Hope to see you at our anniversary Tailgate party this Sunday...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Have you heard of EDITH BURNS?

Edith Burns was a wonderful Christian who lived in San Antonio, Texas . She was the patient of a doctor by the name of Will Phillips. Dr. Phillips was a gentle doctor who saw patients as people. His favorite patient was Edith Burns.  One morning he went to his office with a heavy heart and it was because of Edith Burns.  When he walked into that waiting room, there sat Edith with her big black Bible in her lap earnestly talking to a young mother sitting beside her.  Edith Burns had a habit of introducing herself in this way: "Hello, my name is Edith Burns.  Do you believe in Easter?" Then she would explain the meaning of Easter, and many times people would be saved.  Dr. Phillips walked into that office and there he saw the head nurse, Beverly. Beverly had first met Edith when she was taking her blood pressure. Edith began by saying,"My name is Edith Burns. Do you believe in Easter?"  Beverly said, "Why yes I do."  Edith said, "Well, what do you

why is it Good Friday?

  Holy Week is the time we focus on God and His gift of salvation.  We come to Friday.  The day we remember the cross, Jesus’ death and all God has done for you and me   Why do they call this day “Good Friday” because it doesn’t seems good?   Jesus was treated as a criminal.  He was beaten so much that He could not recognize Him.  His pain would have been too much for you or me to endure.  That is especially from Scripture I’ve read or as in the movie the  Passion of the Christ .   Yet it is a good day.  It is Good Friday because God had our good in His heart.  What Jesus did that day changed our forever direction. Here are some thoughts that come to me:   He is Redemption and Redeemer   He too our Pain and Punishment   He is our Righteousness and Reality   He is the Savior and Life   All of those happened from the cross.  It was meant for the worst lawbreakers.  It was not meant for a Savior who never broke a law.  It was lifted high so that onlookers could see the price Jesus.   Look

Day 8 in Cuba

We have just come off and incredible weekend, and it is day 8 of the mission trip in Cuba.  Thank you to all who have been praying for this trip, the mission team and the impact it will have on those we serve.   Please don’t stop praying. Last week Alex and I served with a mission team in the mountains of southern Cuba.  There were several challenges, but God gave us safety, provision and opportunity to serve some of the sweetest people I have ever met.  No running water… sporadic electricity generated by a small, logo dammed up river, no transportation other than animals, limited food sources and more.  These people love the Lord and sharing their faith with others. Over the weekend we made our way back to Havana.  On Friday our vehicle broke down leaving us on the side of the road for several hours.  We then boarded a bus and rode 14 hours.  We arrived safely and even got some rest. Sunday was so, so good.  We visited two partner churches.  In the morning we were with one church that