Staff "Fun Day"

Today all of the staff here at Southbrook went as a group to tour The Billy Graham Library (click here) It is out by the Charlotte airport. AMAZING


















But here is the most incredible part of the tour for me. Have you ever felt that you were trying real hard to do God's will... but didn't know if you even planted a seed in someone that was working?

Well just read "The progression of a strong witness for Christ" below and see for yourself how it's all in God's timing and not your's.

Seven Things God Hates

Here are six things God hates,

and... one more that He loathes with a passion:

*eyes that are arrogant,
*a tongue that lies,
*hands that murder the innocent,
*a heart that hatches evil plots,
*feet that race down a wicked track,
*a mouth that lies under oath,

*a troublemaker in the family.

How do I know?... He told me so. Also Pastor Rob spoke about it.

Read it in Proverbs 6:16-19

God Is... A teaching on The Trinity

Once in a while I get a question about The Trinity. How do you describe The Trinity? What or who is The Trinity, What or who is The Holy Spirit?


Now... these are the exact same question I asked not too far back. It seems that the answers that come back are directly relational and (sadly enough) varied according to the depth of the understanding of the answer giver.

I've just completed a semester on Trinitarianism (click here to see more), a study on The Trinity and my eyes and my heart for God have been opened in a way that really has planted a great foundational understanding and clarity of The Trinity.

Click here to watch a great video, that takes a whole semester and boils it down to only 1 hour. Pastor Mark Driscoll is in the Seattle area.

So make some popcorn, get a soda, and learn away. It's part of Mark 12:30 and Loving Completely

Loving Completely

As we all gather this week in our home groups, we are talking about “Loving Completely.”

Early this morning (Monday at 6:15am) our “Man up” men’s group gathered for breakfast at Trails End in Matthews. It was awesome, bacon, eggs any way you wanted them cooked, grits, pancakes, toast, coffee, OJ. We were like 10 little kids in “Man heaven.”

Pastor Paul asked us what we thought Mark 12:30 meant about loving completely as men. We’ve all heard the verse before, Jesus was in the Temple in Jerusalem and as it says in v:29 of The Message, “One of the religion scholars came up. Hearing the lively exchanges of question and answer and seeing how sharp Jesus was in his answers, he put in his question: "Which is most important of all the commandments?" Jesus answers with v:30 NIV “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."

I think that as men, leaders of the family, we are called to love completely by loving God with all our mind. That is we need to make sure that our mind is thinking about God’s Word at all times. We are challenged all day every day to make decisions about our families, our health, our finances, our jobs, etc, etc, etc. Which means we have to think, decide the correct responses for the many situations we face constantly. I can be satisfied with what would Jay do, (the bracelets would not sell) or I can ask, “What would Jesus do. How has God already given us direction?”

Loving completely means we need to love God with all our minds and know His Word. What is your guide? You? Your friends? Your boss? Your favorite TV talk show host?

Or perhaps is it your Father in heaven?

For more insight and valuable lessons read this.

Ready, Set, Klunk

These past 2 days have hit me hard, right upside the head.

Impact!

The One Month To Live series is just awesome. And week #2 this past Sunday was a Smack-Down event for me. Pastor Rob’s message “Live Passionately” (available for FREE here as soon as it gets uploaded by our techno-genius’s… who have been doing an awesome job by the way…) was one of those Slammin’ bounce ya off the floor messages for me. Get this…. In Mark 12:30 (Msg) it says, “so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.” Rob said that your heart and soul - as it says in other translations - Equals your passion. Wow. That’s like gave me total soupped up energy to go in the ring and get ready to rumble.

But wait … my opponent is also all revved up and had 5 XS Energy drinks. Luke 5:18-20 gives you a preview of what they are up to…”because of the crowd, they went up on the roof…” Did ya catch it? The crowd… THAT’S my (your's too) opponent. A crowded life keeps me and you from getting closer to God, from getting closer to Christ. That’s a huge opponent.

Klunk!

When Rob said that, I realized that I have been sooooo busy going and going and going; Monday meetings, Tuesday fly all day, Tuesday night Theology class at 10pm, Wednesday flying all day, studying all Wednesday night, Thursday flying all day, Thursday night Theology class again at 10pm, Friday meetings, OMTL class prep, Saturday writing papers to finish my Trinitarianism semester, Sunday at church from early am till 6pm… get the picture? A crowded life.

My life was soooo busy, even though I was “doing” Godly work… I wasn’t spending hardly any time in His Word.

Slam! Bam! Doink! Ouch!

Sure I was reading plenty of Bible verses in my studies for class (doesn’t that qualify?) But I was feeling empty, crowded, jammed.

Rob said we need to “create God’s space.” Be more like Jesus and get up early in the morning, find a solitary place and read His Word and pray. You can read about it here in Mark 1:35-38.

Man, I needed that pounding. What a great weekend. Thanks Rob. Thank you Jesus for giving Rob that message to give to us, and for loving me soooo much that YOU gave it all up for me on the cross.