Michael Harrison's e-devotion

I am almost ready to take the plung.  Almost without a doubt.  Had one in my hand Monday evening, and I was amazed, excited and humbled at the same time.  WOW!  More info coming soon.

1 Thessalonians 3:2  (nlt) --- and we sent Timothy to visit you. He is our brother and God's co-worker in proclaiming the Good News of Christ. We sent him to strengthen you, to encourage you in your faith,   Case Study 1 "yesterday".   A phone call.  Riding down the road with a friend and having a conversation.  An e-mail checking on me.  Another e-mail with good news.   Those were not just sweet things but so needed.  God gives us what we need when we need it.  But I am perplexed.  I don't deserve it at all.  Not because I am bad or wretched or one of the dregs of the earth.  But I am nothing compared to Jesus.  Jesus took my place.  Died for my sins.  Loves me in spite of myself.  And so much more.   Case Study 2 "last week".   A card in the mail.  A visit from a friend.  A call from someone in need.   I like to feel needed, but that is not what it is about.  Life is about focusing on God, helping others to focus on God and

BACK 2 SCHOOL EVENT    AUG. 9 from 9am-12pm   Just wanted to let everyone know that this weekend, Friday August 1st-Sunday August 3rd is tax-free weekend for school supplies and school clothing. If you haven't purchased school supplies for the Back-to-School event on August 9th, this weekend would be a great time to do so. Also, Office Max has crayons for a penny per box. Each person can get 3 boxes at a time, but you can go each day.   The following are the items we are in most need of:   ziplock bags tissues hand sanitizer scissors   Also, we still need some glue sticks, wide-rule paper, crayons, pencils, pens, and pink erasers .   Below is the numbers of what we already have here at the church just to give everyone an idea of where we stand.   Pencils---33 packs Erasers---29 packs Glue Sticks---89 packs Crayons--- 72 packs Paper---91 packs Tissues---11 boxes Scissors--- 34 pairs Hand Sanitizer---- 3 bottles Zip Lock Bags--- 6 boxes Pens--- 13 p

 

 

Here is a blog that I assist a friend with.  Pray for Tim Kleinschmidt and my buddy John that is helping him get elected to the state house in Texas.  Tim loves Jesus and will have influence for the kingdom.

This past Sunday I shared a message with The Community Fellowship in our reVerb series titled "make some noise" and the key verses were these: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (nlt) --- If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing. Then I talked through these verses: Revelation 3:15-16 (nlt) --- I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! This is a tough message, yet God continues to b

The Community Fellowship is having our BACK 2 SCHOOL event where we give out school supplies and clothes and this we have added FREE HAIR CUTS on Saturday, August 9th from 9 to noon. Here are a couple ads from Office Max that really hit the spot! LeadingSmart taken from that BLOG about creative advertising. Watch even more of them here .

As you know, Proverbs has long been a great encourager of mine. This week is one of those chapters that really hits hard. It is Proverbs 27 . Take a look at some of those verses: 2 Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth—a stranger, not your own lips. 17 As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. 19 As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person. 21 Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised. 23-24 Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds, for riches don't last forever, and the crown might not be passed to the next generation. Pride, Integrity, Honesty, Hard work, Learning...those are just of a few of the things that God not only expects our growth, but He sets us up to be better and better. More like Jesus. These verses point us to ways that God is working and will continue to work in our lives. What do our lives reflect? Who are we allowing to in

I love mission trips. One of the tough things is being away from family and work when there are things to do, people who have needs and the like. Yet I love interacting with great people. The pastor of SonRise Church here in Spartanburg, South Carolina is a great fellow. An encourager. A great leader. A kind friend. We need to build more people like David Moore. Julie whispered to me last night that I am alot like this pastor. That is a compliment. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (nasb) --- Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. Got a note from one of Community family yesterday about a pastor that had a wreck on a dirt bike during their worship service. This lady was affraid I would try that. I appreciate the sentiment, and I will try to be careful with all I do. My momma would hurt me if I tried that. Another sweet point of the mission trip is the people we rub shoulders with. Our own people that we rarely spend time with. We have

Mission Trip SUMMER 08 - food pantry.  Area churches have a large food pantry that several of our ladies worked at today.  Recent donations have been good, and we sorted food all day!  More pictures to come...

We are in the middle of our summer mission trip and are working at SonRise Baptist Church in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  Pray for our team as well as pastor David and the SonRise Church family.   This past Sunday I continued sharing our reVerb with The Community family, and we talked about what we really treasure.  Here are some of those notes:   What creates REVERB in your home?   Out in our community?   Or right here?   It is time to find a way to get the attention of our community and while we have their attention, tell them about Jesus.   Yet here is the fact.   It is hard for me and for many of us to really understand where lost people, what unchurched people think, how lost people respond.   That means we have to find some common ground.   Who do you think is gonna move?   It has to be us.   No question.     We are trying to be cutting edge and sharp.   We want to be touching lives of people out there and away from God.   Far too often we trying to releva

We are in Spartanburg, South Carolina at SonRise Baptist Church helping with their brand new building and assisting with the local food bank and clothes closet. Our team is well and getting much, much done. Keep on praying and wait for a few picutres hitting this blog real soon. Pray for us!!!

This is an outstanding testimony from Tony Snow, President Bush's former Press Secretary, and his fight with cancer. Commentator and broadcaster Tony Snow announced that he had colon cancer in 2005. Following surgery and chemotherapy, Snow joined the Bush Administration in April 2006 as press  secretary. Unfortunately, on March 23, 2007, Snow, 51, a husband and father of three, announced the cancer had recurred, with tumors found in his abdomen,- leading to surgery in April, followed by more chemotherapy. Snow went back to work in the White House Briefing Room on May 30, but has resigned since, 'for economic reasons,' and to pursue ' other interests.' It needs little intro... it speaks for itself.   -------- 'Blessings arrive in unexpected packages, - in my case, cancer. Those of us with potentially fatal diseases - and there are millions in America today - find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God's wil

Psalm 73:3,13,16-17  (nlt) --- For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness...Did I keep my heart pure for nothing?  Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?...So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper.  But what a difficult task it is!  Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.   We look at things in the wrong way most of the time unless we are so tightly connected to God.  Writing this Psalm is David.  He was the epitome of a God-seeker.  Yet this dude also committed adultery, had the ladies husband killed, had troubled kids, dancing almost naked in public and was pretty much a child prodigy that his father and brothers forgot about.  That is David.   I like that scripture and simply today I ask you to ask yourself the question that I am dealing with this morning: am I allowing God to transform my my mind?  That leads me further to think and question.  Is the way I love peo

Don't forget that this Sunday we are having a POT LUCK MEAL at The Community Fellowship. Please bring food and drink for your family plus more. The worship time will be shorter as our mission team will be leaving town before noon. If you have any questions email info@thecommunityfellowship.org or call 276-647-TCF1 (8231) . See you Sunday at Communtiy Worship at 10:10 am ... bring friends, bring family and even bring enemies...everyone needs Jesus. It is gonna be a great day at The Community! HELP US GET THE WORD OUT BY CALLING YOUR COMMUNITY FAMILY THAT DOES NOT HAVE E-MAIL. website --- http://www.thecommunityfellowship.org/ church news --- http://blog.thecommunityfellowship.org/

Revelation 3:16  (nlt) --- But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!   During this reVerb series at The Community, my mind and heart have been hit hard. God has spoken in sweet and huge ways.  I am excited, but it is also uncomfortable.  Read on:   Lukewarm people love others but do not seek to love others as much as they love themselves.  their loves of others typically focused on those who love them in return, like family, friends, and other people they know and connect with.  There is little left over for those who cannot love them back, much less for those who intentionally slight them, whose kids are better athlete's than theirs, or with whom conversations are awkward or uncomfortable.  Their love is highly conditional and very selective, and generally comes with strings attached.  --- Frances Chan , Crazy Love , page 71   That is way to close to home, folks.  What do you think?  I am convicted

We need to stop living selfish lives, forgetful of our God.  Our lives here are short, often unexpectedly so, and we can all stand to be reminded of it from time to time.  That's why I wrote this chapter, to help us remember that in the movie of life, nothing matters except our king and our God.   (page 49)   It may sound "un-Christian" to say that some mornings I don't feel like loving God, or I just forget to.  But I do.  In our world, where hundreds of things distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him.  (page 27)   More tomorrow on our series reVerb: reflecting and amplifying the love of God , and I pray we will come to see more and more of how we fall way short of seeing God's real love for us

Community Family!  Just wanted to make sure you know the arrangements for Jabo Brimm, Yvonne Elgin's father.  The visitation is at Bassett Funeral Home Thursday from 6 to 8 pm, and the funeral will be at Pleasant View Baptist Church in Patrick County Friday at 2 pm.  Please continue to pray for Lula, Yvonne's mom, and the rest of the family.   Bruce, Yvonne, Amanda and Chris Elgin began attending The Community several months ago, and they have continued to be a sweet part of our family.  It is important that we minister to those around us and share the hope and encouragement that God has given each of us.  You can write the Elgin's at bruce.elgin@comcast.net  or at 499 Mrs. Turner Road, Bassett, VA 24055.   What an honor it is to demonstrate the love of God to our community and beyond!

Sounds like a church or Sunday School kind of answer, God is love.  We have heard it for years.  But do we believe it?  I honestly think that when we come face to face with God's love that our lives with be wrecked, or at least changed, in big ways.   What is God's love like?  One of the best places to view the characteristics of God's love is 1 Corthinians 13 where we hear things like His love is patient and not demanding.  It is enduring, faithful and never gives up on us.  His love is the greatest of all we call faith.  But do we really believe that?   Jesus lived this out for us in the four Gospels.  He healed people.  He lifted people.  He gave people meaning all the time rocking the world of the status quo and religious leaders.  Jesus lived out God's love.   God did the same in the Old Testament where we see Him being just and the judge but also the God of mercy and seconds chances.  He doesn't give up on people.   It is time w

The order is in the works.  Brand new COMMUNITY t-shirts that rock.  You have to place your order now!  Have you done that yet?  They are $10 each and come in all sizes.  Email the church today at info@thecommunityfellowship.org or call us at 276-647-8231.  Tuesday is the deadline...thanks!

We are continuing our series called reVerb: amplifying and reflecting the love of God at The Community Fellowship .  I am convinced that if people really felt loved and saw some good pictures of God's love (through our lives) that more and more lives would be changed.  Yesterday we talked about "love" and how God loves us with everything that He is.   It is so awesome to see and come to understand that GOD LOVES US.  If we really believed that, it would change our lives and those people around us in huge, HUGE ways.  Think about it.  Here is how we need to view God's love:   John 15:13  (nlt) --- There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.   Romans 5:8  (nlt) --- But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.   He sent His son to die for us.  The best gift God gave or could give was a gigantic death.  Jesus' death.  Best part, we did not and do not

Here is one of the last pictures from our week at the beach.  The kids make our travels and our time sweet...I love all three of them so, so much!  

Another extra vacation picture ... Ruth on that European bungee thing. If I were on the thing, I would have been doing lots of flips and such. But I didn't try it. Yep, I am sacred...Ruth did an awesome job and had fun!

Vacation extra picture ... Ruth and Ryan tried the European bungee thing. Here is Ryan, and it looked fun (from dad's 'on the ground' perspective).

Another extra picture from vacation ... Ryan at the beach

Day 1 vacation (a bit delay, although).  You can see where we started our trip.  By the way...only one trip to Krispy Kreme all week.  HONEST.

Day 6 vacation. On our way home. Been a great week!

Day 5 vacation. Out on Apache Pier & not ready to go home! A great week.

Day 4 vacation. Sweet family time!

Day 3 vacation. Perfect weather!

I love BBQ. My family loves this BBQ place . On vacation...

Day 2 vacation. Our boy is being bad.

Guess what begins in 18 hours?    First comment to name place we are headed wins a copy of my first book.