Michael Harrison's e-devotion

The volunteer of the week at The Community Fellowship is Brooks Jones!!!   Brooks Jones and his wife, Jessica were married May 12th of 2014.  They have been an active part of The Community Fellowship family for over a year.    Before coming to The Community Fellowship, Brooks served 4 years in the United States Marine Corps.    Brooks is the Mobility Manager for Martinsville & Henry County.  He writes grants and uses money to start and lead programs that help people in our community with barriers in transportation.    During the Uptown REACH event in September, Brooks was instrumental in helping with announcements and being on hand to assist the speakers, volunteers and those that participated in the events.   Brooks and Jessica are also valued members of the REACH Team and are much appreciated by those they serve with, as well as those they strive to serve.   In August, Brooks was the

Before I get in to today’s devotion I want to remind you that there are FREE community meals taking place on Thanksgiving.   Two of them I know about are at our church, The Community Fellowship in Collinsville, from 2 until 4pm, and the other is at Orchard Drive Baptist Church, which is in the Sanville community of Bassett, beginning about 11am.   Please pass this and other free meals in your community on to others. --- What are you thankful for?  I mean, really.  What do the people around you know that you are thankful for?  Does my life and yours show others that we are grateful for anything?  Far too often Christians are known for what they are against or for what they are mad about.  That is just flat out wrong.  It is time to let the world know what we are excited about and what we are thankful for! 1 Thessalonians 5:18  NASB in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Years ago I heard a story about a lady who was going thr

Here’s a special announcement… over the next several weeks as we head toward 2015 I will be sharing a series called MAN.   It is about men and women who know and seek God and some of the truths about us.   God has done so much to change our destiny, to give us purpose and fill us with His joy and His best.   Today begins this journey. “I see dead people.”   That is a phrase from a movie by the title of The Sixth Sense .   But I want to take us in a direction about how God brings death our way when He fills us with new life, His life by the gift and love that flowed through Jesus.   Someone who is dead has no movement, no rights and no future, yet when we talk about spiritual death, there are two directions that could be possible.   Spiritual death can be seen as eternity separated from God because there was no payment for that person’s sin.   Or this person never accepted and knew Jesus.   The other possibility is the person who accepted Jesus, and their old self died with

This week is THANSKGIVING.   I believe that an attitude of being grateful is a choice.   Far too many of us have fallen in to the pattern of trusting our situations to make us happy or thankful when it ought to be a steady or constant in our lives.   Like living by faith is a choice, being thankful is a choice.   Philippians 1:3   NLT Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. That verse takes on new meaning for me when I step back to see all God is doing and has done.   I am grateful for my family and the time we will be able to spend together this holiday.   I am grateful for my friends and church family. You are part of my thanks.   Many of you have a special place in my heart, and I am thankful for what I have seen in your experience of faith. God has a plan.   As we examine AND experience God Himself we will be thankful and fall ever more in love with Him.   I believe that being thankful is an outcome of being consumed by Him. There is another reas

I have had the privilege of visiting the LA Dream Center this week, and last night and heard a message that I would like to share with you, or at least the notes from the sermon.   Pastor Bob Beckett from The Dwelling Place Family Church in Hamet, CA shared a message titled “Identity Theft”, and this was a powerful word that all of us need to hear. When we understand our identity in God, we will experience the abundant life that God has for us.   As you read the notes from this sermon I pray that God will use these nuggets inspire us to claim and believe that our identity is found solely in Him. SERMON: Identity Theft (shared at Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, CA by Pastor Bob Beckett on 11-20-2014) John 10:10   (MSG) A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of . Identify the thief. See Revelation 1:18.  Understand who the thief is and that he has no right t

Hebrews 10:24   NLT Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. I am spending some time this week at the LA Dream Center.   Each time I visit I get to meet and learn from great people, and this day is one of those.   The two men that I spent time with today stretched my thinking and my faith. Both of these men are experts in the areas they work in.   They work in very different jobs.   What they have in common is the desire to help others be successful.   We talked about faith and how living by faith changes the outcome and even our desires.   We talked about how to apply the wisdom of God to various issues of life. The biggest take away was their slants on how God is working in their lives.   Both are impacting people.   Both are seeking God.   Both are seeing lives change and the kingdom of God grow in big ways. Sitting with them, listening and asking questions makes me much stronger. Colossians 1:28   NLT So we tell othe

This week The Community Fellowship’s “volunteer of the week is Phyllis Keaton!!!   Phyllis Keaton has been a valued part of The Community Fellowship family since Mother’s Day of this year.  She was baptized June 1st and regularly reads her Bible every night before bed as God is changing her life.   During preparation for our B2S (Back2School) outreach Phyllis was at the church every day sorting and arranging clothes for the children that would be blessed with new shoes, backpacks, socks, clothes and haircuts.   Phyllis is a volunteer in the Clothes Closet Ministry and works hard to ensure that those in our community that come to this event each month find articles of clothing for their families well organized and easy to find.   On Sunday mornings Phyllis is often a volunteer in our Children's Nursery ministering to our youngest and most precious attendees.   In her spare time Phyllis loves to s

Our current series at The Community Fellowship is called GIVE IT ALL AWAY.   IT can mean and does mean many things.   Sunday we talked about money, but the stuff we can and must give away runs the gamut from tangible to intangible.   Grace is intangible but can be seen.   It is not contained in a bank account. But there are things we can put in a bank account.   The fact is that when you look at your money, or when someone else looks at how you use your money and possessions, speaks volumes about your relationship with God. Malachi 3:8-12   NLT 8  “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9  You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10  Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour

One of the most incredible things we can do is gain perspective.   It is like hearing only one side of a story.   When you hear from the other person’s perspective, things might just change.   Another way to look at it is like looking into the sky or to the top of mountain, and in the next look you go up in the sky or on the mountain and look make.   Either way the views and story are very different from the other. But it is the same place or same story.   The same type of thing is true about Scripture. In today’s devotion I’d like to make my point in relation to studying the Bible.   It can be helpful and insightful to examine other translations of the Bible.   It is always helpful to go back to the original language like Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic, but that is not always possible. Different translations of the Bible will use words or phrases that highlight more of the meaning that God intends to share with us.   We always have to rely on God for understanding, and we