gettin strong // Wednesday E-Devotion

Psalm 73:26 (nlt) --- My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

Just returned from a denominational meeting here in our state, and to be honest with you, it was not like any other denominational meeting that I have attended in the past.

No fighting. Lots of encouragement. No downfalls in budgets. Lots and lots of music and preaching. Little business. Refreshing, to say the least.

This was an encouraging couple of days. Had the blessing of taking our missions team leader from The Community with me, and we had a great time. We will just call him Bubba for now. As we drove, we dreamed and talked. As we listened and began to understand, we dug in to see where God has us and where He wants us. It was good as it really brought us stuff for gettin' strong and stronger.

So, here are some note from various speakers we heard:

Doyle Chauncey (executive director of the SBCV) --- Challenges ahead of us (and all organizations) in the coming days include the erosion of inherent loyalty, conflict between priorities and practice, and increase of competition verses cooperation.

O.S. Hawkins (CEO of Guidestone) --- leadership is characterized by punctuation marks left through our history and there are 2 kinds of leaders: the one who leads by public consensus (what the people want) and the one who leads by personal conviction (what the people need).

Ergun Caner (President of Liberty Seminary) --- It is a question of authority. No other world system has a god who is a Savior!

Bob Jones (pastor of Euclid Ave Baptist in Bristol, VA) --- a little act of obedience (to God) will be filled with the glory of God and be used to touch lives for Him.

Tyler Scarlett (pastor of Forest VA Baptist ... quoting Ravi Zacharias) --- God didn't come to make bad people good but to make dead people live.

Mac Brunson (pastor of FBC Jacksonville, FL) --- The land of the vanishing church...is the place where 2 things happen: lack of evangelism and accommodation (an attempt to make people comfortable).

There is more, much more. God uses all kinds of things to make sure we are gettin' strong and stronger...

Comments

Francis Chan's "Forgotten God" (brand new book)

One of the most powerful preachers, writers and leaders of our time, in my opinion, is Francis Chan. His first book, Crazy Love , revolutionized my thoughts about God's love as well as my interacting with God. Now it is time for a brand new book from Chan being released tomorrow, September 1st. The book is Forgotten God . This is a phenomenal book about the power that Christians and the church can and must tap into. All of it is within the Holy Spirit. Francis talks about the power that was seen in the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit began to move among people. It is true that many have avoided or maybe forgotten what the Holy Spirit is all about. And like the Savior who poured out His life and blood so we have reason to rejoice, we were made to lay down our lives and give until it hurts. We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we were made to do these things. It is when we live like this that the Spirit of God moves and ac...

inspiration from C.S. Lewis

There are many people, past and present, who get our attention by what they write or say or share. For me C.S. Lewis is one of those. He was a prolific writer who continues to grab the attention of thinkers from many different points of view. Lewis first grabbed my attention when I was in 5 th grader, and our teacher, Mrs. Foy, shared The Chronicles of Narnia with our class. It was a powerful time that this dreamer opened doors to thinking like I had never lived before. He wrote of faith, of far off places and of strong figures who found their character rooted deep in God. C.S. Lewis was born in 1898 and died in 1963, 7 years before I was born. It wasn’t until his 30’s that under the influence of his friend Tolkien that he came to be a Christian. He was raised in a traditional church going home, turned away from God as an Atheist in his teen years and through trying to stay away from God and faith returned to God with...

Catalyst ticket arrived

My ticket to the Catalyst Conference, in Atlanta Oct 8-10, just arrived. I'm excited!

Michael Harrison's e-devotion

Search This Blog