Michael Harrison's e-devotion

It is good to be back as this is my first time sharing with you all in 3 weeks.   Our family took an extended vacation spending a great deal of time together.   How awesome it was to spend that time together letting our kids know, and my wife, how important they are to me. I do want to thank you for your kindness, and I say a special thank you to my team at church that took care of things while we were away.   Not it is time to plug back in, but before the week starts I’d like to give you some thoughts about all that this time away did for us. To be able to unplug gave our family and me freedom to experience things that are hard to get to when we are connected to the fast paced life most of us have chosen.   Here are a few of the things that come to mind as blessings from the overflow.   I was able to find… Freedom to focus on my family Our time away started with a cruise that made us unplug in every way.   It was awesome to spend having fun together and letting eac

Hello my friends!   Well, our family is off on an adventure.   Yesterday after worship at The Community Fellowship we loaded the van and headed south.   It is time for an extended vacation.   We are so excited about the trip, and we are so blessed to be able to get away. Let me say a big thank you to our church family.   We serve a great church family that continues to touch our lives as we partner to minister to those in and around Martinsville and Henry County as well as much further around the world.   Julie and I headed start this church 7 years and 9 months ago.   We stay extra busy, and it is time that we take a little extra time to refresh, rebuild and to love on each others. With that being said, our goal in the next 19 days is to focus on each other … Julie, Rebecca, Ruth, Ryan and me … that's the focus.   We will get to spend some time with family in Oklahoma and a few friends that live a long way off. I ask that you pray for us.   As you read this we are

Change.   Literally the amazing things that God has done to our lives keeps me digging deeper in to understanding faith and how amazing it is.   The series we are in at The Community is called CHANGE and illustrates what God has done. Here is a passage of the Bible about the change God has brought in to our lives: Colossians 3:1-4   NLT Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3  For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4  And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. Understanding the truth of what God has done for us makes us live life differently.   Applying truth is not an option.   Letting our minds think through our faith and letting it sink in to our hearts is a big deal. It is a fact that God g

There are signs all around us of what is blessed by God.   Since early in my walk with God I have used Psalms 1 as sort of a measuring rod to what is and what isn’t blessed by God. Psalms 1   NASB How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2  But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night. 3  He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers. 4  The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. 5  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6  For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish. I’d say that is a pretty clear word on being blessed.   My desire is to be blessed and a blessing.   No, being blessed is not

This week we honor Shannon Hatcher at The Community Fellowship’s Volunteer of the Week! Shannon Hatcher has been a part of The Community Fellowship family for five years. During that time she has blessed many people by planning, shopping for and preparing countless delicious meals. Shannon is a part of the leadership team in our church. She is also the leader over all of our Food Ministries. During our 2nd Saturday Clothes Closet, Shannon and her team arrive very early to begin cooking for 100's of guests. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, Shannon is one of the first to volunteer to provide her time, experience and genuine love of serving others. Shannon is also instrumental in our back2school event where she works tirelessly to minister to the children she encounters through washing their feet and showing them the love of Jesus.  We met Shannon through our work with Raceway Ministries.  She is at all the NASCAR races at our local speedway helping rac

One of my favorite writers is Henri Nouwen .   He was a Catholic priest that taught on many subjects and wrote much.   One of the recent daily meditations was about being like Jesus, and I would like to share it with you… Very often we distance ourselves from Jesus.  We say, "What Jesus knew we cannot know, and what Jesus did we cannot do."  But Jesus never puts any distance between himself and us.   He says:  "I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father" (John 15:15) and "In all truth I tell you, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works"  (John 14:12). Indeed, we are called to know what Jesus knew and do what Jesus did.  Do we really want that, or do we prefer to keep Jesus at arms' length? I am intrigued by the question and even the accusation that Nouwen shared.   To answer the question is something not easy to do, but it mi

Romans 7:6   NASB But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. There is nothing like applying the things that God says are true about us.   Being saved means that God has changed our lives.   We have gone from being under the law to under grace.   We went from living for what the old self wants to having the possibilities of a new person, the one God made possible through Jesus. The person who has been saved has been released from sin and given new life in Christ.   Being saved is more than simply a change in our eternal destination.   It is further a change in our standing before God.   Before salvation our sin is uncovered and under the penalty of God’s law, yet after salvation we are under grace with our God covering our sin with His son’s death on the cross and finally his resurrection.   That is a new view of our sin.   The habits found in our li

Hey Community Family and Friends - Our Nicaragua mission team needs your help tonight.  Every person who eats at Checkered Pig in Martinsville (formerly Pigs R Us) and tells the cashier to help The Community's Mission team we get part of the profits.  This is a great way to help our team raise the money we need.   Will you help us?  Pass the word.  Let others know.  I love BBQ.  But they have other food like chicken and burgers.   Tonight between  5 and 8pm  go to Checkered Pig in Martinsville and eat dinner (or you can order out), and finish by telling the cashier to give The Community Mission team money!!! Thanks for your help.  I am off to get some BBQ... With GOD as my guide, Pastor Michael Harrison -- James 1:5   ***  for more information about The Community Fellowship or Dream Center call  276-647-8231  or email cmartin@thecommunityfellowship.org .  to give online click on t his link https://tcf.ccbchurch.com/trx_submit.php?type=public_gift  ***

Hey Community Family and Friends - Our Nicaragua mission team needs your help tonight.  Every person who eats at Checkered Pig in Martinsville (formerly Pigs R Us) and tells the cashier to help The Community's Mission team we get part of the profits.  This is a great way to help our team raise the money we need.   Will you help us?  Pass the word.  Let others know.  I love BBQ.  But they have other food like chicken and burgers.   Tonight between  5 and 8pm  go to Checkered Pig in Martinsville and eat dinner (or you can order out), and finish by telling the cashier to give The Community Mission team money!!! Thanks for your help.  I am off to get some BBQ... With GOD as my guide, Pastor Michael Harrison -- James 1:5   ***  for more information about The Community Fellowship or Dream Center call  276-647-8231  or email cmartin@thecommunityfellowship.org .  to give online click on t his link https://tcf.ccbchurch.com/trx_submit.php?type=public_gift  **

The following is something I wrote after the mission team working on our new campus left.   I shared it with our church family yesterday morning.   It is personal in nature and applies to me, my family and our church family, but I believe this may encourage you. 2 Corinthians 5:17   NLT This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!   I walk in to this big 40-year-old building and see things that I have never seen before.   It really is incredible the ways it looks and the changes to this point.   Nothing less than a miracle or a touch of God’s hand. There are pieces that don’t seem to come together very easy when reality sets in.   It is when I think about the connection God gave me to Himself and further to the church I get to serve that leaves me in awe.   It is not about me.   It is not about talent or ability.   It is about our gracious God of second chances. How could a sovereign God choos