Michael Harrison's e-devotion

Today’s post is written by my friend Steve Stone who attends The Community with his wife, Tina.   They are leading mission teams to work in Nicaragua, and I will be part of a trip them lead in September.   As you read I pray God will prick our hearts for missions outside of our local community: Matthew 28:19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The words go, goest, going, goings, goeth, and gone appear in the King James Version of the bible 2004 times!   While the words stay, stays, stayeth, and stayed appear 69 times!   Any question of what God wants Christians to do? A recent survey of professed Christians reveals that sadly, 95% of all Christians have never led a non-believer to Christ; 80% of all Christians do not consistently witness for Christ; and only 2% are involved in a ministry of evangelism. Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy S...

Acts 1:8   NLT But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. That’s one of the most incredible verses in the Bible, in my opinion.  Something happens in the believer’s life.  Something happened in my life.  The Holy Spirit is real.  He comes with power, and He is power.  That makes God incredible. Last week I looked at John the Baptist and his commitment to point people to Jesus at all cost.  He was weird, and he was convinced.  We have to be convinced, and one of the best convincers is the Bible, the word of God.  Interacting with, listening closely, ingesting the truth will convince us not only of who Jesus is but of how great Jesus is. Revelation 1:5   NLT and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise fro...

Our lives are marked by the things we encounter as we live. This could be a scar from some accident, a memory from something big or one of many more things that happen. Fact is, this stuff shapes our lives, our thinking and our actions. It ought to be shaping us to share Jesus with others. How we look at life, how we respond to trials and triumphs speaks volumes about our loving God or not loving God. Think about it. We are marked for Jesus. Galatians 6:17 (niv) --- Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. Paul was literally beaten and stoned and more for Jesus. Isaiah 53:5 (nlt) --- But he was pierced for our rebellion,crushed for our sins.He was beaten so we could be whole.He was whipped so we could be healed. Jesus' death and pain has given us life. Our life was released when His life was given. 1 Timothy 2:2 (nlt) --- Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godlin...

Psalm 20:7 (esv) --- Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. You may not know it, but I played a little football in my high school years. I played baseball in elementary. I've tried my hand at a few others things ... big game fishing, golf, horse shoes, volleyball, professional wrestling, checkers ... in each case I found that my strength rarely would touch the strength of others who were well prepared. In fact, we are about to have our first game of our very first softball team at the new church. Again, I am not too strong when it comes to batting and running. Oh well, I am sure you are having some thoughts about me by now. Some of those sports, I have not tried. Time to get honest. This week I've spent much time thinking about weakness and strength. You can read the paper or watch the news and listen to all sorts of suggestions to how the shooting and 33 victims could have been avoided at Virginia Tech. It happened. It is horr...

“We consider Christmas as the encounter, the great encounter, the historical encounter, the decisive encounter, between God and mankind. He who has faith knows this truly; let him rejoice.” ~~ POPE PAUL VI Don’t you just love this holiday? We walk out our door last evening and notice our neighbors and their decorations. Some are vivid colors that blink and others are white and simple. Yet all of them are the same, a celebration of that encounter. How will we get others to have that encounter this Christmas Season? In what ways will I lead my family, co-workers and friends to experience Jesus in the next month? Does it even matter? The answer is YES. So, what are we going to do about it? Jesus came not to give us a sweet holiday filled with festivities and time off. It is a time to be with family but not just for gifts. This season and all it is about leads us to what life is all about (and I remind us to think and re-think this)…it is not about me but about Jesus. It is al...