Michael Harrison's e-devotion

Matthew 5:16  (nlt) --- Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.   My morning began with a thought like this: am I limiting the way I serve?  This comes from the understanding that some Christians serve God at church and nowhere else.  Their job is just the place they make money or their school is just the place they learn.  Where their home is just happens to be in that location.  But in none of those does much go on for Jesus.   That is just wrong.  Do you agree?  We are limiting God by the way we limit the way we serve Him.  I believe God has called the church, that's us, to serve daily and hourly and even minute by minute in whatever situation we are in.  It is easy.  Do everything for God.  Use the way you work or the way you study or the way you greet your neighbor to bring light and joy and peace to the lives of the people you encounter.  That is the place we start NOT sto...

Don't you just love it when you thoughts for the day are doubled or even tripled by other stuff that comes your way?  Well, today is just one of those days.  The thoughts that I continue to have about our giving and helping those going through a very difficult time end with God renewing my vision and giving me conversations with people who have much passion to see God work in lives.   Then I read this:   "Lifechurch wasn't as generous as they needed to be, so Craig, as a leader, began to be generous." --- Craig Groeschel , shared at the catalyst oneday event in Atlanta   Did you get that?  When Craig wanted a change in his church, he made the change in himself.  That speaks volumes to me and convicts me that I have to keep on the path that I have chosen.  I am only as good of a leader as I choose to follow Jesus.  That means I can say 'do as I do' rather just 'do as I say'.    Our actions speak volumes.  Are we generous give...

Meet Casey Graham .  Just found him this week through twitter as he was talking about Joe Sangl .  Go take a look.  Be encouraged and wow!  Love the people who are helping the church and God's people do what they need to do with what God has blessed them with!  Way to go Casey!   check out:   http://www.rethinkmoney.org/ http://twitter.com/CaseyGraham  

I heard Henry Blackaby say something this years ago: watch to see who God brings into your church to see what he wants to do in your church .  I'm not quoting his book Experiencing God , but it came from that.  Aren't you amazed at what God does through the church?  I love these people.  Some of them are different or even strange (and you know that too).   Yet, those precious people are gifted and talented and have much to give.  Look around you.  What has God proved?   Maybe your church is like many I have known in the past.  It is like pulling teeth to get them to do anything.  I love to watch people begin to serve.  It is kind of catching too.  The more we share vision and passion, the more people begin to use what God has given them.   I mentioned Rick Warren yesterday.  He shares that when we know our S.H.A.P.E. (spiritual gifts. heart, abilities, personality and experience) we will know how we can best serve.  It is our job to help others find what t...

"Community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives." ~ Henri Nouwen  (thanks to @mknisley for the quote    I love our leadership team here at The Community Fellowship .  We met last night, and I taught them some things I learned from this article by Rick Warren .   One of the topics we covered was about community.  God intends for us to live in community, to do life together and to learn from one another.  Think about it.  Are we cutting ourselves off from others?  Or are we allowing people to interact and be part of our every day lives.   Here is part of what I taught our leaders:   Will you demonstrate your commitment to the family of God? There are over 50 "one anothers" in the Bible: Love one another, serve one another, share with one another, etc. Obviously, you cannot practice these "one another" commands by yourself. They must be done in...

The Warrior   series at The Community Fellowship has been very good and asked some questions that may help us accomplish more in life and to go further than we've gone before.  Our topic this weekend was "the hesitant warrior', and we talked about what keeps us from being who God has made us and called us to be.   One of the huge pieces that keeps us from taking risk and being people of faith is the amount of fear in our lives or how we deal with fear.   An excellent example of this is Peter as he walked on water with Jesus from Matthew 14 :   Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. 25 About three o'clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, "It's a ghost!"  27 But Jesus spoke to them at once...

Great blog post this morning from Brad Abare of Church Marketing Sucks .  Read this post that Jim Collins relates how great people deal with difficult times.

In a small Texas town, the owner of Drummond's Bar began construction on a new building to increase his business. The local Baptist church started a campaign to block the bar from opening with petitions and prayers. Work progressed right up till the week before opening when lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means. The church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building's demise in its reply to the court. As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork. At the hearing he commented, "I don't know how I'm going to decide this, but as it appears from the paperwork, we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that does...

It was the fall of 1991 when I first met Dr. Guido. I visited his office in Metter, Georgia and was touched by this man's compassion and love for God. We continued meeting from time to time which I consider some of the best mentoring I've ever had. From the mid to late 1990's I met with a group of pastors and Dr. Guido once a month at the chapel in the garden for prayer. The insight from those meetings has and will never leave me. When Michael Guido said he was praying for me, I knew how true that was and it brought me comfort and insight. My wife and I were invited to spend an evening with Michael and Aubrey about 10 years ago. Their agenda was to encourage us. And that they did well. His commitment to sharing the Gospel of Jesus is seen in few other people I have known. His passion and his faith have guided me in ministry and in life. I remember walking by the prayer board at Dr. Guido's office and seeing what they were praying for. Then weeks or days lat...

I am about to watch a video Q&A about an opporunity for the church to serve.  It is comprised of churches partnering April 3-9, 2009.  The live video is today at 1 PM EST at http://servolution.org/live/ .  This may be something that The Community Fellowship needs to be part of (watch for details and go to http://servolution.org/7days/  for more info!

If you are anything like me, you are having a tough time watching people hurt right now.  The economy, job lose, personal trauma and so much more.  Seems to be in epidemic proportions.  Yet I think there is something else in even far greater epidemic proportions: selfishness.   Hear me out.  Don't turn me off ... at least yet.  The only way you turn your selfishness around is by doing something for someone else.  Stop talking about who hurt you, what happened to you or how bad things are for you.  Those things may be true.  But God is still God and He has still blessed you.  Turn things around.  Give it a try.   Leviticus 19:18  (HCSB) --- Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself.     That verse hit me hard this morning.  What part of myself do I put in front of helping other people or doing things for other people?...

I think one of the most creative leaders, pastors and wirters of this day may very well be Mark Batterson of National Community Church in Washington, DC.  If you don't know him, get to know Him.  His books are excellent (in my opinion best leadership book ever is his In A Pit With A Lion on a Snowy Day ).   Mark wrote a blog post this morning that got my attention as I plan to preach a series of messages soon about creating margin in our lives so we can give away more of ourselves and more of what we have been blessed with.  Read Mark's blog post by clicking here .  It is really just a question that got me to thinking.   Here is a quotes:   He told me about a ninety-three year friend, Stanley Tam, who felt led to give His business to the Lord in the 1950s . At the time, sales were $250K . Sales are now $50M. Basically, Stanley made a Spirit-led decision to live off less so he could give more . He's given away more than $120 millio...

One of the biggest things we do at our church is create community as we interact with people every day, not just during worship.  I walk out of the building we use, and I continue to ask God to fill me with big vision and His dreams.  And it happens again.  More pieces.  More stuff to honor God with.   I hate saying no.  I love saying yes.  This is in regards to helping me.  These are tough, tough times.  Job lose is a daily issue.  Needs on top of needs is a daily issue.  Know what else is a daily issue?  God is still God and still offering His best and real hope to any who will accept it.   "The person who loves the people around them creates community everywhere they go." D Bonhoeffer   By creating community around the marching orders of demonstrating the love of God to our community we are a living and breathing testimony of Jesus.  That's my calling.  That's ...

"whoever shows up the most in peoples lives is going to win the battle of influence" -- Matthew Barnett   I have spent some of today listening, praying and thinking about future ministry.  Maybe I am a dreamer, and yes I am a man of vision and deep conviction.  What I believe is that what God called me to do that He is also equiped me to do and to lead in.   So I give you that statement above, a quote from Sunday's sermon below and some scripture.  I am asking God to fill me with His vision and dreams because far too much my dreams are smaller than His.  I want big, big dreams.   My cause is people, connecting people with the hope that God gives.   Not the hype of good church or being a good Christian.   But the hope that the love of God alone gives.   That consumes me.   I dream about it.   It gets my motor going.   My heart aches for this and my heart breaks for those who have no hop...

This was a huge weekend for most of us.  Valentine's Day is one of those times when you just hope that you do enough (and I think I did ok...you will have to ask my lovely wife).  But it was also a busy time at church.  So let me give you a run down and just unload or unpack some of my thoughts for ya. began the Warrior series and had some tremendous conversations with people who are seeing God do great work in their lives. Sunday evening was our 2nd time feeding the homeless with Metro Ministries in Roanoke. We took 29 of our people, and our folks are flat excited about this ministry (bringing it back here before long).  See this post from one of our people. met several new friends at The Community and had a great experience with them this weekend. for sometime our leaders have been watching the trends and noticed that when we have big crowds that we have low offerings and vice verse.  Not yesterday. Excellent crowd and a good offering. Saturd...

I began teaching a new series at The Community Fellowship yesterday.  The series is titled WARRIOR and talks about the family.  In the message we began by talking about our perception of Jesus.  How do you picture Jesus?   Some people think of Jesus as the shepherd holding a sheep and around him are characteristics of love, mercy, kindness, gentleness and the like.  They have a hard time thinking of Jesus as being tough.  Sorry, but my Jesus went to the cross and went through everything including death for me.  That is the heart of a warrior.   So I asked the question: what is the cause you are fighting for?   Nehemiah is a great example of a man with a cause to fight for.  When he heard that Jerusalem was wrecked, his heart was broken, and he did something about it.  In the middle of the re-build there were enemies coming against him and God's people.  Here is what Nehemiah said to those who under...

As I sit and think about the time we spent at Metro Ministries yesterday one question keeps coming to my mind.                                 WHAT DOES GOD LOOK LIKE?   I really have no way of knowing.  Does He look like the gentleman, Arthur, that I spent time talking with yesterday? Or Troy? Or any of the 38 homeless we interacted with?   My thougt is that since we all are God's children shouldn't we treat others as we would if we could physically see Jesus standing with us.   Not one of God's children is any less important than the other. Shouldn't those of us who, through His grace, have a warm place to lay our heads every night do all that we can to help our brothers and sisters who don't?   This is a passion for me. My heart overflows for men, women and children who have to ...

I have my valentine.  Been married to her for over 15 years.  Nop, neither of us is perfect.  Yet we growing closer in that direction as we learn and grow and share ... you know what I mean.   What is a valentine?  Has something to do with LOVE.  Real love.  Unconditonal, I would hope.  Here are some thoughts:   1 Corinthians 13:4  (nlt) --- Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud   Kind is what I want to be.  Jealous is what I do not want to be.  Humble is totally against pride and boasting.    I think far too often that the world misses the truth of love and what it is to really love someone.  We call someone our valentine because we have a crush on them or they meet a specific need or just maybe seeing or being with that special person makes you have butterflies in your stomach.  All that can be good.  But lots of that kind of stuff goes away after...

His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college. He is brilliant, kind of profound and very, very bright. He became a Christian while attending college. Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students but are not sure how to go about it. One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started and so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat.  The church is completely packed and he can't find a seat. By now, people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit, and when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet.  By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick.   ...

What an awesome way to celebrate the holiday of love ... Valentine's Day ... guys and girls, don't forget to spend a little extra time loving on your special and significant other.  It was a great opportunity to be part of the "Love Is In the Air" blog tour.  In the coming paragraphs my wife and I share what we have learned from three books.  Go find the books OR click on the book titles to go buy it at Amazon.  Read on and be encouraged as we have been...   I Do Again In this unique book, the Scruggs share their story of marriage, divorce and remarriage.   After having an affair their lives and their marriage was ruined.  The wonderful truth of their story is that is doesn't end there.  They found the grace of God and a second chance to say "I DO".  The book describes things under the surface that hurt their relationship and slowly destroyed their marriage.  People need to see and know tha...

Law of the Garbage Truck              One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.  We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!    The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.   So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'    This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'     He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it...

Today is a busy day, but I want to give you a piece of my quiet time from this morning and from Proverbs 11 .  Read and may God guide each of us!!!   10 When good people succeed, the city is happy.  When evil people die, there are shouts of joy.   11 Good people bless and build up their city, but the wicked can destroy it with their words.   12 People without good sense find fault with their neighbors, but those with understanding keep quiet.   13 Gossips can't keep secrets, but a trustworthy person can.   14 Without leadership a nation falls, but lots of good advice will save it.    17 Kind people do themselves a favor,  but cruel people bring trouble on themselves.   18 An evil person really earns nothing, but a good person will surely be rewarded.   19 Those who are truly good will live, but those who chase after evil will die.   20 The Lord hates those with...

"Love is the greatest source of transformation" -- Matthew Barnett   I am amazed as I go through our annual survey given to people at The Community (if you have not filled one out, send me an email and I will send you one or it can be picked up at church).  Some great responses.  But one of the overlying things that can easily be seen is that God is calling us to reach people who not being reached in our area...the homeless and those living in poverty and the like.   This is a true calling that the Lord has given us.  We are seeing more of our people respond to this call, and more and more people are asking to be part of the ministry.  In fact, from the desk I sit at and the place where I pray, I see that God has set us up for such a time as this for such a ministry as this.   Please pray with me that we would dig in deep and follow with complete obedience what it is to really reach people that are in need.   Here...

We had an awesome Sunday with special guests Isaac Edens and his parents.  Check out his website by clicking here .  This little guy is a miracle.  He has a stroke before he was born, many seizures after he was born and 2 major brain surgeries.  He has no speech area of the brain but can speak so well.  Isaac is 6 and a living testimony for Jesus!   Mike, Isaac's dad, shared with us a passage of scripture that made me stop and think.  Take a look from John 9 :   1 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.   7 He told him, "Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam" (Siloam means "sent"). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!   I know it is real late in the day.  But you have to get this one thought: what was it like for this dude seeing Jesus for the first time ?   Our lives are be pointing people to Jesus.  Our stories are livi...

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom.  What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.  The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.   When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation.  You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."     ~~ The late Dr. Adrian Roges

It was such a good weekend in many ways.  God is working and I am seeing life change happen daily. Got an email from a great friend.  His teenage son accepted Jesus yesterday...something we have been praying for. Excellent day at The Community yesterday with Mike and Marsha Edens sharing about their son, Isaac, who had a stroke before he was born, numerous strokes after and then brain surgery.  This little guy is a miracle.  They live in Sparatanburg, SC and would be a great testimony for you (let me know if you want to contact them). Our small group watched FireProof last night, and it was excellent again. My kids continue to bless me big time.  Some of them have had some sickness.  But they are growing way too fast. Love the outreach we have into the community around the church.  Our folks are really excited about upcoming events (this weekend Valentine special of health fair and clothes closet along with feeding the homeless on Sunday). I l...

I talked to a friend yesterday from a CrossPoint church here in our area.  He told me about a lady and her kids who came to their church after someone assisted them.  While there the kids had a rough time, but someone volunteered to help, stepped in to care for her child.  A few minutes later the lady accepted Jesus.   Not many weeks ago we had something similar happen as one of our ladies connected with a family due to our Angel Tree outreach.  This precious lady cares for 3 of her grandchildren.  She asked Jesus into her life a couple weeks ago after being with us several Sundays.   That is just two stories about how God is changing lives.  What is most exciting to me about these and other stories like them is that God is using relationships people build to win others to himself.  Are we connecting with people so God can use us to lead others to himself?   Matthew 5:16  (nasb) --- Let your light shine befo...

Dr. Michael Guido is a great man of God who has led many people to Jesus. Please pray his health. Here is an update.  Health Update for Dr. Guido At noon today, Thursday the 5th, Dr. Guido was admitted to the hospital again, for treatment of the lingering pnuemonia which he has not been able to completely recover from since his last hospital stay. He is also in the early stages of renal failure, and is very weak and disoriented.While in the hospital he will undergo a CAT scan to determine if he has had any type of stroke. Please pray that the Lord will be with Dr. Guido and grant him better health and sufficient grace during this period, and that Mrs. Guido will be conforted in his absence. We all depend on your prayers each and every day, and we appreciate your concern. We will keep you posted via these emails when there is more to report, and also on the website at www.GuidoGardens.com . God bless! -Guido staff  

Matthew 25:40  (nlt) --- "And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'   I cannot tell you the impact that a change in direction has done to my heart and even to the way I prepare messages.  It is exciting, an adventure and even a bit scary.  At least it is an area that we are not used to.   But what I want to encourage you to do is to THINK, ACT and LIVE outside of the box for JESUS.  That is not easy.  But what an awesome place to be and to see God work.   Here are some quotes:   Dallas Willard: "We should not have any regard for the survival of the local church." It's God's church, not ours.   Dave Gibbons: "Maybe Jesus was right: focus on the marginalized"   Mother Theresa: "Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness."   Th...

This past Sunday I shared a message about The Economy & My Faith .  One of the things that I am overwhelmed with (escpecially after 2 conversations this week) is that we have to let the Scripture and God speak to our lives and speak through our lives.  When we don't know the Scriptures, we miss what God has for us.   So I want to share with you some of the verses that hit me as I prepared this message (and a conclusion I have reached at the end).  Read on...     Psalm 46:2 ---  Therefore we will not fear , though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;   What is it that we fear?  God has called us to trust Him no matter the situation.   Jeremiah 17:7 ---  Blessed is the man who trust s in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD .   We miss blessings when we don't trust God.  Plus when we fear things that are out of line with what God says we en...

Join us this Sunday as we welcome special guest Isaac Edens and his dad, Mike.  Mike serves as associate pastor at SunRise Baptist Church in South Carolina (where we did a mission trip last year and who served us at Christmas).   Isaac had a stoke before he was born and several after along with seizures and more.  His testimony and like guys faith, he is 5 years old, will touch your heart.   Don't miss this Sunday at The Community Fellowship.  It all begins at 10:10 am.  Invite friends!!!

My life verse is this:   James 1:5  (nlt) --- If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.   God continues to throw huge blessings and thoughts my way.  What I am really praying for is that my time with God will be sweeter and sweeter as I focus more on Him.  And that is being answered as I focus on Him.   I needed to hear about wisdom this morning.  That is where my daily reading in Proverbs hit home.  Walk some of that path with me from Proverbs 2 (nasb):   2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding;  3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding;  4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures;  5 Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God.  6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge ...