Michael Harrison's e-devotion

I stood in awe yesterday, almost speechless as we closed out the ONE PRAYER series.   You see it was a great time of learning, listening and growing.  Prayers asking God to make us effective, dangerous, wake up and finally one .  Eye opening to say the least.   What I was in awe over were the prayers that our precious people were praying for their church.  I asked a question after I shared my one prayer and those we had heard.  I asked, "if you could pray only one prayer for the church, what would it be?"  The answers didn't shock me.  They humbled me.  I am still basking in the light that comes from listening to people who have been with Jesus.  This is a sweet time for our family, our church family, as God brought 2 churches together to make 1 unified and excited body of believers.  The future is awesome.   The message on Sunday began with a bang.  Seemed like we had most of kinks and problems worked out until... Craig Groeschel's Lord, Make

What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?  I ask that question often of myself, and I ask it from time to time of our church leaders, too.   "Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy."   --- quote from Frances Chan in  Crazy Love   I am not just sure what all is going on in my head these, but I am sure they are not my thoughts.  Sound crazy?  It is.  It really is.  In fact, if you think that you are having some of the big thoughts about God stuff and you think they come from you, you are wrong.  That stuff comes from God.  Some of it makes us stop and think.  Some if it makes us want to run away.  Some of it makes us want to cry.  But what God wants to do will make us often seem crazy to the world.   1 John 4:12  (nlt) --- No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.   Does that sound crazy?  I honestly think that most Christian thinking is flawed.

COMMUNITY WORSHIP (sunday at 10.10 am)   Don't miss our last piece of the ONE PRAYER series as we ask God to MAKE US ONE.  This sure to be the "icing on the cake" and the beginning of a beautiful marriage between our two churches.  I am excited about what we will hear and be part.  More so, I am excited about where we are headed.  Don't miss any of what is head.  There are a couple surprises on Sunday.  Are you Ready?   MISSION CENTER OUTREACH PROJECT (saturday at 9 am)   Your help is needed at the House of Prayer beginning at 9 am Saturday as we share items (personal hygiene and household cleaning) with those in need.  Please come volunteer.  Come ready to share, serve and be a blessing.  Have questions?  Call Carol at 340-2339.   SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT (begins Friday at 7 pm)   All players and others are needed as our team may be a little slim with some people on vacation and out of pocket.  We play Friday and will also play on Saturday (time depends on

As was said in our last Community Worship, we are all creative geniuses.  But this week we will experience the creative genius behind the ONE PRAYER series.  His name is Craig Groeschel .  He is the pastor of Lifechurch.tv .  Over 1,500 churches have sat at this proverbial table and seen God do some awesome things.  It is not over yet.  I am excited, off the hook excited about his message which is Lord, Make Us One .    The sweetest part of this for The Community family is that this is the last week that we will know the House of Prayer and The Community Fellowship being two different churches.  As of July 1, we become ONE.  We are already ONE in Jesus.  Now we are ONE local church body from Jesus.  Why?  God is positioning us so we can make a bigger impact for His kingdom.    These are great times because we serve our great God.  Be here Sunday for Community Worship at 10:10 am and be ready to be blessed!

What keeps a person from growing?  There are many kids and adults around this world who have health problems that keep their bodies from growing correctly.  Yet there seems to be a majority of Christians we know that have some spiritual problems that keep them, or better yet and most likely, KEEPS US from growing closer to and to be more like Jesus.   Ephesians 4:15  (nasb) --- ... we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,   2 Peter 3:18  (nlt) --- Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.   What keeps people from growing to be more like Jesus?  Several reasons: not knowing God, habit of a particular sin, not focusing on Jesus, selfishness, not going to church, and more.  Hey, I am not trying to beat on you for not doing what I think is right, but what I am doing is reminding you and me that there is so much more and so much life to be lived fr

We are so blessed.  Look around you.  Acknowledge God.  Let others see how you thank God for what you have.  Here is a thought: why has God blessed you and me so much?   Ephesians 1:3  (nlt) --- All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.   Proverbs 22:9  (nlt) --- Blessed are those who are generous,because they feed the poor.   Matthew 25:29  (nlt) --- To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.   We heard this weekend through our ONE PRAYER series that some people are asleep to sowing.  That is, they are sleep to how God wants them or us to use what we have been given for others.  I am convinced that God has blessed the church and each of us so that we can bless and influence others in big ways.   Ed Young

Here are some excellent thoughts from Jonathan Herron  on becoming better communicators Real or Fake... in Preaching I'm always seeking to learn about myself as a communicator on Sundays.  I don't want to settle; I want to grow and improve in teaching the Bible at Catalyst. Thinking through authenticity in preaching , some questions I'm asking myself this week: Do I match the emotion/passion of the original writer as he composed the Scripture? Does my lack of emotional intensity cause indifference for my hearers? Do I embrace silence at key points? Is my speaking rhythm easy to follow? Do I connect the text to Jesus?  If not, WHO am I pointing people to?  

Just started reading a new book that I am so excited about.  It is Crazy Love by Frances Chan .  Frances is most likely my favorite preacher found on my iPod.  Look for some clips from the book coming soon!

First John   Chapter 5   CHRISTIANS & THE WORLD   Watch out for idols in our lives.   They take many different forms.   Idols distract us from seeing God.   Love is the true mark of God's child.   Knowing that God loves us and accepting that love will change everything about us.   The only way to keep the world's stuff out of our lives or what it loves away from what we love is to keep Christ first.   When we really belong to God His spirit bears witness of that truth.   The outcome is that we think with eternity in mind.   We can and must have confidence in our salvation.   Prayer is a huge part, or ought to be, of God's kids lives.   Believe Him.   Act like you believe it.   Prayer is a great way to deal with sin.   A new outlook on life keeps the Christian from staying in or close to sin.   All of this teaches us about the ease of having idols in our lives.     Second John   LIVING IN REAL TRUTH   Everyone gets charged up by seeing peop

Ephesians 5:14  (niv) --- ... "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."   Have you ever met anybody that has a tendency to sleep all the time?  I not talking about a teenager that sleeps halfway through the day or about the person with a sleep disorder.  I am talking about someone who is awake but oblivious to everything going on around them spiritually.  I know many people like that.   Ed Young in his ONE PRAYER message, Lord, Make Us Wake Up , reminded church people, you and me, that often we are asleep to knowing God, sowing in ministry and growing with God.  That is a fact.  Many of the people we attend church with or people we are around need to wake up to what God is doing.  Here are a couple things that he said about being asleep to knowing God:   "We will always fall short when we rely on our good works."   "We are comforted by Christ, but are we uncomfortable for Christ?"   Being awake i

During Perry Noble's One Prayer message he used an illustration that really stuck with our people at The Community Fellowship .   Perry talked about his mom telling him during a meal she prepared to "hang on to his fork because something sweeter is coming out of the kitchen soon."  He said that he knew this meant something good was coming, and the point was that God is at work, doing big things and sweeter stuff than we have ever seen.   The illustration was so good that a group of our older ladies got a bunch of forks and put ribbons on them.  Then, yesterday morning, passed them out to everyone at our Community Worship.  It was sweet.  It was awesome.  It is a fact that we are expecting God to do stuff that is bigger and better than we have ever seen before.   Ecclesiastes 3:11  (nlt) --- Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's wor

Another week of ONE PRAYER is on us, and I am excited, ecnouraged and ready to see what God is going to do.   Our speaker is Ed Young Jr , pastor of Fellowship Church , who is one of the most creative people of our time when it comes to leading the church and God's people.  His message, Lord, Make Us Wake Up , is sure to make us think even more about how the church is to become one and do what God has called us to do.   During Community Worship at 10:10 am, we will celebrate the fact that the House of Prayer and The Community Fellowship are becoming one church.  David Dunham will be sharing about his and Cathy's upcoming mission trip to Romania.   This is gonna be an awesome day.  Are you ready?  Pray for one another.  The days ahead are paved by God as He has positioning us to better be able to meet needs and share Jesus!!!

First John   Chapter 4     DISPLAYING REAL LOVE   Test what people say.   A real prophet will acknowledge Jesus totally being God and Savior.   False prophets deceive and deny God as well as demonstrate that they do not belong to God.   When we love, we show people God.   Absence of love shows that God is absent from that person's life.   Jesus is our example of love, given to us by God. Bt loving people we show others that God is alive and living through us.   By exemplifying God, trust is rightly placed and we are becoming more and more like Jesus.   Real love, God's love through us, pushes away fear and depression.   Understanding God's love makes us want to love other people.   Not loving people displays a lack of Christian maturity.   Those people who love God will love the people around them.

I love preaching (doing it and listening to it).  My wife would tell you that she loves worship more than preaching.  Our kids might tell you they love the kids Bible Studies and fun more.  No matter, it is all in the realm of what God is doing in the local church, and I love it.  Aren't you glad that God chose this vehicle to share His message?    Church is not always perfect.  Why?  There are flawed people in it.  And people like to be difficult (not me, though...HA HA).  What I do know is that God is working in His church, and God is drawing people to Himself which is what this all about.   During the ONE PRAYER series I have been so energized by the messages that I have listened to (some of them but no links: Groeschel, Noble, Furtick, Antonucci, Beeson, Harrison, Lamb, Davidson, and more...there are more than 65 on the website plus others on podcasts).  The word has come alive and been of great insight as I listen and seek God.  Fact is, there are more than 1,

Psalm 34:8  (nlt) --- Taste and see that the Lord is good.  Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!   Psalm 69:32  (nlt) --- The humble will see their God at work and be glad.  Let all who seek God's help be encouraged. This has been a big week as God has worked in the ministry we are part of.  Yet Satan is often trying to get God's people to look away or be distracted from what God is doing.  We have to remember that Satan's plan is to take from us, and we have to see and know and claim that God's plan is to give to us (see John 10:10 ).   Each summer my wife and kids leave for a week or two to spend time with my in laws in Georgia.  They have a great time and really enjoy that connection.  When my family is away, I try to do some special things ... more time with God, focus on a project or two, maybe some reading and the like.  I have noticed every day and most days several times a day that there are loads of distractions.  Some of them I can c

My brother and his precious wife have 6 kids (we always thought they were crazy...all 18 months apart...boy, girl, boy girl, boy, girl...they ought to write a book) but on with the story.  They are awesome kids with lots of gifts and energy and love.  Cooper is an excellent photographer.  Take a look at his pictures at this site: http://flickr.com/photos/cooperharrison/ .  Great job COOP!

I cannot help put sit and cry because of the grace, the huge amount of grace that I have experienced and watched the people around us come to know. God is so good! All the time...

"A church that is dangerous believes that the best is yet to come." --- Perry Noble from his One Prayer sermon, Lord, Make Us Dangerous That is The Community Fellowship. We live with a sense of aniticipation of what God is going to do. We believe that God is able to do so much more than we have seen or experienced. What is most exciting for me is that there are many people who stand like I do ready and expecting God....it is an awesome place to be. Kind of strange because lots of the places I have served before and lots of Christians I know didn't and don't have this sense that God is at work. I would almost loathe my work or the happenings. I am excited, and I believe God. Do you? Galatians 3:6 (nlt) --- In the same way, "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith." Jonah 3:5 (nlt) --- The people of Nineveh believed God's message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show the

FIRST JOHN Chapter 1 FELLOWSHIP --- connecting with God and people By declaring truth we are complete, and we help people connect with God We have to experience connecting with God before we can talk about it. God is light. Fellowship comes in the light. Living in the untruth cuts off connection with God, lives and thrives off of lies and spreads darkness. The blood of Jesus is the key to being able to connect with God. When we connect (fellowship) with people and with God you find an atmosphere of forgiveness, freedom and real fellowship. Chapter 2 LIVING THE LIFE Jesus is our advocate and the substitute, by taking our place. God gave the commandments to draw us to Him and to connect us to Him. Truth and love cannot be separated and they breed more understanding of what God has done for us and to us. Loving the world keeps us for seeing God and keeps us from having real spiritual perspective. Living for God, loving others and knowing or being confident of our future are results or

A couple sweet things are happening at The Community Fellowship . First, we are now PODCASTING. Yep. Go to www.thecommunityfellowship.org and click on the "LISTEN ONLINE" button and choose to subscribe through iTunes or to download sermons on your own. This will be a great tool for those who miss church or those who go to another church and want to catch our sermons. Enjoy. Second, we are becoming a more powerful force for Jesus. Last evening the House of Prayer Church chose to become a part of The Community Fellowship. We have grown in our worship attendance and have had around 180 the last two weeks. Our growth will continue, and God is now positioning us to be able to minister in better ways and to more people than ever before. This is so good. Be blessed....more later!

James 1:22 (nlt) --- But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. John 8:47 (nlt) --- Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. John 10:4 (nlt) --- After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. This is not a choice. People who want to follow God have to listen to His voice. In fact, as we listen we will see that God is always speaking to us. They are words of love and direction. They are truth to guide and to give us confidence. Perry Noble in his message Lord, Make Us Dangerous from the ONE PRAYER series he says that Jesus will point out the obvious. Jesus literally lets us see from His point of view, and listening is critical to being able to see. By hearing God's voice we have to stop focusing on problems and look at His vision and our opportunities. We become like the one we listen to. Plain and simple truth. Have you

We continued our ONE PRAYER series this weekend with Perry Noble of NewSpring Church sharing his message, Lord, Make Us Dangerous . It was awesome. Let me give you some of his message: What are you passionate about? Too many church people have become more passionate about the color of the walls, the stance of the convention or hundreds of other things rather than being passionate about Jesus. We must make Jesus our passion and our priority before anything else. Perry's first point was the fact that to be dangerous, we must choose to walk with Jesus. One reason we are not dangerous is because we are getting to church late. That means we are not expecting God to do anything. We must have a sense of expectation when it comes to church and God. But do we have a sense of anticipation or frustration about our faith? A church is only as dangerous as the people who walk through its doors. We have to choose to live by faith, to live dangerously for God. Luke 7:11,16-17 (nlt) --- Soon af

The Community Fellowship is a great place to spend your Father's Day, but we want you to mark your calendar for Sunday, August 24th as we are planning a huge day just for guys like you...get ready for some free stuff, great encouragement and guy stuff, too.  Happy Father's Day!!!

Dear Church family -   Our ONE PRAYER message for this weekend is "Lord, Make Us Dangerous".  This is also the day where we make the final choice for The Community Fellowship and the House of Prayer to become one.  This is a time that we must seek the Lord, trust His leading and be one.  It is not easy to be one.  The reason it is not easy is because we have declared war on our enemy, Satan, and said YES to God.   I am excited, in a big way, about the message for Sunday morning.   You will be hearing one of the best communicators in the world.  We will be challenged to dig deeper, work harder and trust God more.  It takes all of us to be the church and have the impact that God has called us to be and to have.   As we have said earlier, God is preparing us to be more effective to reach more people for Him.  Sunday evening at 6 pm there will be two meetings for the people of both churches.  At the House of Prayer, their members are asked to come for a business meeting w