Michael Harrison's e-devotion

South Dakota, here we come. A team of 26 people are traveling from The Community Fellowship in Collinsville, Virginia going to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to work with Journey Church to serve their community. This mission effort came about because of a partnership between www.SBCV.org and www.dakotabaptist.com . Several churches from Virginia are taking part helping several churches in the Sioux Falls area. Our team is led by Jennifer Terry our gifted youth leader from The Community. She recently remarried and continues to help our students encounter Jesus in many ways. Jim Hamilton is the pastor of Journey Church in Sioux Falls and is also executive director of the Dakota Baptist Convention. I met Jim in Roanoke last year as he was leading a conference. He is a burley biker kind of dude. Can't wait to serve with Jim and to hear stories of what God is doing in the Dakotas. One of their projects is outreach at the Sturgis Motorcyle rally where thousands gathering annually to party bu...

If you are my age or older, you most likely remember the sports commercial that talked about the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat".  (check it out here .)  When I think about victory and defeat, I have a lifetime, almost 40 years, of experience with both of them.  maybe more of defeat.  Yet what is bigger in my mind is the fact that God has changed my definitions of victory and success.  You don't always have to win to be successful.  Another real thought is this: you cannot win unless you compete.  God tells us that success and victory are tied to us following and trusting God.  When God blesses us, we will know the truth of what victory looks like, feels like and how it makes a difference inside of us. God is building us to be people who are thrilled with victory.  Read these God thoughts: Psalm 92:4  (NLT)  You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me!  I sing for joy because of what you have done. Proverbs 8:14  (NLT) Com...

Psalm 23:6  (NLT) Surely your goodness and  unfailing  love will  pursue  me all the days of my life,and I will live in the house of the Lord forever. This verse his my heart this morning, and I want to just say a couple things to you about it.  Psalms 23 is not something new to most of us.  We have heard it, maybe even memorized it, but most likely we take it for granted.  Do ya think? Remember?  It reminds us that God walks with us through the deep valleys of death and darkness.  It reminds us that God is our shepherd and provides all we need.  Think about those things. But the biggest thought for me today was that God's "goodness and unfailing love pursue" me.  They pursue and come after us.  As we seek God, He comes after us.  Even when we don't seek God, god comes after us. To think that God loves us enough to come after us is incredible.  Romans 8:38-39 says nothing will or can separate us from God's love.  His love is toward us...

Jesus made a huge commitment to people by living and dieing for us and others.  Think about it.  He gave up comfort to take on our sin.  Jesus gave up peace to be beaten and nailed to a cross.  He stepped outside of the place people are safe to suffer in a harsh place for us.  That was a commitment no one can compete with. Hebrews 13:12 (NLT) So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood.   What are we willing to do, how are we willing to suffer for the cause of Christ?  What will we do so other people can see and know Jesus?  Those are difficult questions.  Yet we learn from God how good He is and how much He loves us.  Here was a great thought God gave me this weekend: Hebrews 13:8 (NLT) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Go with me down this road for a minute.   Yesterday speaks about what God has already done.  He has forgiven our sins as well as taken our guilt and our shame...

Last Monday I shared with you the monumental task that our back2school  project is this year.  Helping 1,500 kids and their families.  The cost is roughly $12 per child.  Do the math.  It is huge, but it is a God thing. Several days I have sat and thought through this project and simply put the pieces together.  If we look at this and plan this from the point of view of man and without faith, it is not doable unless we know some rich people.  Therefore this is a God thing and is God sized.  Our church doesn't have endless money.  What comes in is used to serve others.  It has been a blessing to watch people give and even to receive a grant that will pay for about 24% of the project. Yesterday I asked our people to make a strong commitment.  I began with my wife and I making a commitment to adopt 10 of these kids.  Then I asked others to do the same.  That is to adopt 1 or more.  You should have seen the people stand yesterday at The Community Fellowship.  I was and am p...

Thanks for your patience this week.  I had the opportunity (thanks to my in-laws) to spend time with my wife, children and some other family members in Georgia.  That meant that I was away from the computer but enjoying some much needed and appreciated family time.  What I want to share with you today is something that I am learning and is very transparent.  In other words, I am learning.  God is speaking, and I trust you will hear from God too. Romans 13:12  (NASB) The night is almost gone, and the day is near Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Have you ever noticed yourself getting short or irritated with people when things don't go your way?  This week there were at least three times I remember getting upset and wanting to respond to people in the wrong one.  Once it was toward a family member and the others where in public setting. Each time God spoke to my spirit.  Even when I responded wrong, which happened a cou...

Matthew 19:14  (NLT) ---  But Jesus said, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children." This will be our 3rd year to serve our community the back2school  outreach.  The first year we helped over 100 kids, the second year (last year) we served more than 500, and this year we are set to reach 1,500 kids.  Yep.  That number is right.  Those kids will receive a new backpack and school supplies as well as haircuts and clothes.  One of the sweet and biggest pieces are brand new shoes and volunteers will wash each child's feet and talk to them about their hopes and dreams. That happening makes my heart jump and even makes my heart stop.  This is a big deal.  And you are needed to make this happen.  Your hands are needed to serve.  Your dollars are needed to help fund this as the total needed is well over $20,000.  That is God sized, both the number of kids and the amount of money needed. ...

God has blessed me.  I am sure you have some of the same.  I got to do some things in the last week or so that I love to do.  Everything from time at the pool, to taking the kids for a special dinner and even an evening that included some shopping.  What I don't really care for is what happened on Wednesday morning.  It is necessary but not much fun. Late Tuesday I slid into my wife's tan Mercury Sable and drove to the gas station making sure the gas tank was full.  I checked the tires and fluid levels.  Everything was set.  Early the next morning I loaded the truck with four bags, a few pillows, some toys and much needed items from the bathroom like hair straighteners and makeup.  But then came the hard part. We gathered behind the car.  It was all 6 of us.  My wife, our three children and our precious dachshund Bella.  It was time to pray.  That's what we did.  We prayed their trip would be safe and fun.  We prayed all would be protected.  We hugged and kissed and said ...

This week has not been an one of the easiest weeks.  It began when I learned that John Adams had passed away.  His son and daughter in law, Kasim and Cindy Adams, are leaders at The Community Fellowship .  I have been pastor of the entire family in the past at The Orchard in Bassett and served with them for years in various ways.  Sandra, John's wife, and Tressi, their daughter, mean the world to me as well.  I respect them big time. As I said at the funeral yesterday, John Adams was a giant.  He lived his faith out loud.  One person said this, "he not only read the Word, he lived it!"  Just to read on Facebook what people have said about John has been incredible.  He was a man that knew the power of influence. John and Sandra bought a store in the Sanville community of Henry County, Virginia in the early 1960's, and for almost 50 years John has influenced people every day through living a life of character, love and generosity.  Remember, the way we live ...

We kicked off our One Prayer series yesterday at The Community as I shared a message titled "UNSTOPPABLE HOPE".  Before I share anything else with you ... if you know me, you know that our church is seeking to offer hope to people who have little or none.  We are literally 'hope-brokers' by sharing the love of God and the life changing truth of Jesus. The one thing that keeps us from having hope and being able to believe God .... (are you ready for this?) ... is ourselves.  Yep.  We often limit God or put limits on what God can or cannot do.  If we take it a little deeper and get honest, we will admit that we keep hearing and doing the same things over and over again spiritually.  There is a reason for that.  It is time to grow up.  It is time we who say we trust Jesus really trust Him and spend the time with Him that we know will change our lives.  Do you agree? Hebrews 6:1 
 (NLT) --- So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and a...

I heard a wise man say recently that every relationship worth something to us much have some forgiveness in it.  Surely you have learned as I have that relationships take work.  Relationships that we don't work at just don't work.  Unless the 2 people in the relationship want to make it work it won't work still. In the last week or so I have had to have some tough conversations.  Some in my personal relationships.  Others were in counseling.  Yet everyone was something that needed to be prayed over and given to God.  Some still have a long way to God, and even then, we are praying that God shows up. Thinking about relationships 2 things come to mind: Proverbs 3:5  (NLT)  Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. On our own, we fail.  One friend I have been talking with knows what failure is all about.  Yet as we have talked and prayed, we are believing God for a miracle.  That means we have to trust God and not trust...

John 2:22 
(NASB) --- So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.   Jesus left marks and made memories in the lives of many people as he met them face to face in his short life of 33 years.  Throughout our lives people have left marks on us.  Family members, friends, neighbors, teachers, ministers and so many others have helped to make memories in our lives.   What awesome understanding I get to see the marks that god has made on my life.  The verse above reminds us that Jesus has not only lived and died for us, but the things He did and said had huge meaning.  He lived and died with purpose.   We must live and die with purpose.  Those men and women who gave their lives for our freedom here in America are a treasure to each of us.  How are we living now to be a treasure for others?   Last week I met some new friends, and as I have been praying for some of them I pra...