Random Items

The Hereafter
This Sunday I will be teaching on "The Hereafter". I am dealing with this subject for 2 reason. First because it is Holloween and people are thinking about death and second because I saw the movie that came out this week "The Hereafter" with Matt Damon and it is obvious that people have questions about it. I am going to use the Bible to explain what happens after we die.
Harvest Fest
We will have our anual Harvest Fest this Sunday starting at 6pm. The purpose of this festival is to be light on a day when people are thinking about dark things. It is an event to present the gospel to people period with no apologies. We will have food, candy, games, a drama presentation and live Christian Music.
The Kidz Zone
We need to upgrade our children's ministry and so we are going to create a kidz Zone that will be an area to reach children for Christ. Pray for us. We need more workers and more money to make it happen. Kids are important and we need to focus our attention on them.

Weekly Reflection

I began a new series entiltled "THE KINGDOM". The Kingdom of God is a powerful place for it is the realm of God. We as His children are honored to live in His light. We have made a choice to follow the King. Before salvation we were in the kingdom of satan and darkness and we were led by our fallen nature. Satan has no rules but his road leads to death and destruction. Jesus has principles to live by that lead to life. Here is some of sunday's message.

The kingdom is about living rightly. It’s about ethics. It’s the Sermon on the Mount.
1.Love your enemies. 2.Forgive those who sin against you. 3.Don’t be judgmental. 4.Give to the poor. 5.Don’t commit adultery. 6.Welcome the outcast. The kingdom of God does mean living a certain way and enjoying a peace and harmony and justice that only Christ can bring. But that’s not all that the kingdom brings.

The kindgom is about what's in your heart. To receive the kingdom of God you must be like a little child (Mark 10:15). 1.Be humble. 2.Rely on God.3. Have an inner experience. 4.Get in touch with your spiritual side. The kingdom of God is about changed hearts and humility and experiencing the love of Jesus.

I'll be preaching part 2 this next week.

We are getting ready for our Harvest Fest October 31st from 6-9pm. I am looking forward to a great harvest of people.

This week the churches of Fellowship 66 welcomed our new youth pastor Jessica Joy Rodriquez. I know God is going to use her in a great way.

Sunday reflections

Today we had a great service at living Springs. My message today was "It's all about Jesus" Here are some of the main points.

The Jesus we serve and live for cannot be a concept of Jesus but the true presence of the living Lord.
1. We Need to walk along side the Jesus Who transforms and brings life.
2. We need to be in love with Jesus not a concept
3. We need to be concerned with becoming a growing Christian

You cannot explain away how Jesus works in places and in people we would never expect He would. The reason for that is because Jesus shows up when people truly believe and love Him. AMEN

We are planning our Harvest Fest and we are expecting some great things to happen.

I am still amazed at how 4 different churches share the same space week after week. For example on Friday the Excahnge Church had a worship night at the facility. On Sunday the Exchange met at 10am and Living Springs and Southwest Community met at 11am. Dominon Christian Center met at 3pm.

We continue to move forward.

Sunday Reflection on Monday

I preached a message entiled "The Process of a Dream" and used the life of Joseph as the example. Sometimes the message is for the preacher and this one was for me. Joseph had a dream that sent him into a process of some really rough times. From being pampered at home to going into a pit was a real shock to Joseph. Little did Joseph realize he was in for more grief and heartache. It all started because not everybody was a fan of Joseph. God had His hand on Joseph but people were not on board with Gods dreamer.

From the pit to problems. From problems to prison. From prison to the palace and the realization of the dream. Not an easy road but a needed road.
The process of the dream is part of Gods plan and we must embrace all of it.

We had a good service yesterday. Still trying to fiqure out a few things and there needs to be some real improvements in alot of what we are doing.

Just a reminder for those who may be going through a little bit of criticisim.

*usually the bark is bigger than the bite.
*Tomorrow is a new day.
*always take the criticisim and exam it with an open mind.
*Remember it is God who is in control.

I am looking forward to next week as we continue to cast vision and create a cuture of growth for this church.

Until next time

Sunday relection on Monday

Yesterday I preached at the Exchange . This Church is getting ready for a great growth sprirt. They have some really passionate people and they have a great vision.

We had a great day at living Springs Church I preach on the words of Jesus to his disciples in Matt 28.
Here are some of the highlights:

.Jesus started with 12 disciples and after 3 years of powerful ministry He had 11. The first church had a decline before they saw some growth.
.Jesus told his disciples to go to the designated place and there they worshipped Him. Sound like Church. I believe that the local church is Gods designated place for every believer. If you love Jesus you will love the local church. If you serve Jesus you will serve through the local church.
.The mountain top is good but its only for a moment. The valley is where the ministry is.
.Some worshiped and some were doubtful.Not every one buys into the vision right away. Some will doubt. That's OK because power is on the way. Transformation makes doubters into believers.

We are having our Vision Banquet this Wednesday. I am super excited to remind people why we can continue where we are and why we need to get to there.

God has me into alot of different things right now. One of the exciting things is Fellowship66 (a network of church using the66 books of the Bible as our guide to healthy ministries. Here is the web site fellowship66

Sunday Night Reflection

.Very good service today at Living Springs
.We had some friends visit today that I have not seen in awhile. I could not beleive how big those kids got haha.
.I preached a sermon on "where our treasure is that's where are heart is".
Here is the outline:
He wants your Heart-
“for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matt 6:21

Talent- Discover- Use- Develop…. Many don't know there gift so they don't use it. People never develop their gift because they don’t understand that the way you develop is by using your gift.
Time- Realization- Purpose- Eternity…We have to ask ourselves is what I am using my time on impacting eternity.
Teasure-Give- Save- Live…Most people reverse the way God intends for us to use our money…we spend, maybe save, and then give. Jesus calls us a fool for doing it that way. We need to give first then save then spend.

.Going to do a Jericho March around our church campus and property this Wednesday at 7pm.
.The vision Banquet is September 1 at 6:30pm. We are going to talk more about why we can't stay here than where we are going.
.We need to get everyone in the right seat on our bus. It is our time and we will see God move.
.We prayed for every empty seat in our sanctuary. We prayed for every seat to be filled for not 1 service, but for 4 services. "Ask and shall be given."
.We are starting our after school program this week. I am thankful for this program for several reasons. It really does meet several important needs.
.Until next week. God Bless

What Jesus said about Prayer

When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray he said "pray like this" and then proceeded to give a model for prayer. I don't believe we should just have vain repitition of any prayer but I do believe we can use the model prayer as a springboard to pray more effectively. What do I mean. As we spend time in prayer we can quote the model prayer ,and as we do, we can allow the components of the prayer to make the prayer ours. So we start buy reciting the model prayer and then as we come back around to the begining wecan focus on the parts of the prayer that will act as a focal point. "Our Father who is Heaven" O how thankful I am that you my Father are so far above anything a man can even imagine. Your greatness surpasses all power and glory. How long can you park on that that statement and just give God the praise and honor due His name. One part of the prayer that has helped me is when Jesus says "and lead not into temptation but deliever us from evil". Here we can spend time asking God to head temptation off even as it will make its way to us during the day. We can thank God before hand that we will not allow temptation to creep up on us because we have asked for supernatural strength before hand to overcome. We can place a shield of protection around us when we ask to be delivered from evil.

The model prayer can help us pray strong everyday. We should use the words of Jesus to help us pray everyday. When you don't know what to prayer go to this prayer and use it as a jump off point to get you in the Spirit of prayer.