Ephesians 3:20-21 – Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Series: On The Verge
Week: One
The size of your dream is determined by the size of your God.
God will often use the greatest challenges in my life to make room for the greatest opportunities of my life.
God will often use our darkest moments to set the stage for His light to shine and awaken us to Who He is.
4 Take-A-Ways from Ezekiel 37 that will set the stage for personal and spiritual awakening:
On March 5th, my mom will have been gone for two years. My spirit must know that the date is drawing near because I have had several “moments” lately where I miss her dearly. I always miss her, but if you’ve lost a loved one, you know what I mean. So what does that have to do with celebrating the baptism of our youngest child? Today marks the moment that all 7 of my parents grandchildren have officially been baptized. I count this a testimony to lives dedicated to faith, family and raising both up together. Well done Mom and Dad. Well done.
Princess 2.0 took the steps this morning to publicly declare her belief in Christ. Our Rock City Church family cheered from inside the theater as she emerged from the water. It was almost as emotional as the moment she was born. In many ways, she was being born all over again. I know there were cheers in Heaven and I’m pretty sure I know who led them.
Last night “the boy” and I had the opportunity to attend THE Ohio State Buckeyes basketball game (thanks “D-Rich”). As we were making our way in with the rest of the crowd, we came up to a street corner flooded with people awaiting the chance to cross. Someone handed the boy a “Jesus Track” just as we saw 3 to 4 guys standing on the corner with large signs. One said something about “Hell being Hot” and that was about all I saw.
The light seemed to take about 45 minutes to change. I know this because there was a man standing there barking out “the gospel” through a bullhorn. The truth is, while what he was saying wasn’t necessarily wrong, the delivery left something to be desired. He talked about “eternity being forever” and “Hell being hot”. Much of what he said sounded like some strange camp where people are brainwashed by a voice that goes on and on and on. That’s when I began to wonder…
Has anyone ever been saved at the other end of a bullhorn?
Let me be clear here, I love this guys passion. I love his fearlessness and that he is willing to stand on a corner and share his faith with everyone. It’s more than I did last night. But I heard the other people talking on the corner. I heard the objections. I heard sarcastic remarks and people openly laughing at his statements. It saddened me on so many levels. While I appreciate his passion, I hate that this is how he was sharing the gospel.
The gospel and our faith is meant to be shared in a conversation. It comes when my story meets your story. It comes through my understanding what has shaped you and sharing what has shaped me. It’s not through threats or empty promises of riches and prosperity (earthly anyway). It’s being realistic that this life is hard. Faith is hard. Eternity is forever and so worth the trouble. Now that I think about it, maybe I should have skipped the game and sat down the with bullhorn guy and had a conversation too.
No one ever converted to Christianity because they lost the argument.
That’s NOT the big announcement I keep referring to but it is going to put anything that might be announced in perspective. After Sunday, all three of our children will have been baptized. All three of our children will have made the public declaration of their faith. All three of our children have placed their hearts, their futures and their trust in Jesus Christ. How does it get any better than that?
I can tell you in advance that this cat will be incredibly emotional. I cried when “the boy” was baptized. I cried when “Princess 1.0″ was baptized. I figure I’ve got a pretty good streak going so I’ll just keep it rolling. In addition, some of the men from my Monday Night Men’s Life Group are also being baptized. I’m going to be right there to witness, cheer, cry and hug it out. So excited for these guys. So excited for Princess 2.0.
If you’re in town and want to join the celebration, they will be baptizing people in both services (9:00am and 10:45am). “Princess 2.0″ chose the 10:45. Come join us in what promises to be an amazing day!
UPDATE!! As of Friday, February 24th, the giveaway is now complete. Congratulations to Rachel. I chose her name in a random drawing this evening and will be sending her information in to receive the DVD. Thank you to all that commented and entered. I honestly wish I had more copies to give away. No matter what, please don’t miss the opportunity to see Three Hearts if you get the chance. It is a life changing film. Thank you all again.
Wow. Just, wow. I was recently given an opportunity to preview a new movie releasing soon called “Three Hearts” by Samaritans Purse. I had little idea what I was going to see, but am still incredibly moved by this entire project. Three Hearts is a documentary which follows an entire team of people that rush to save the lives of three Mongolian children with fatal heart defects. It was a project of Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of evangelist Billy Graham. It is a heart (no pun intended) wrenching look inside the work of so many people to rescue these three children.
I found this powerful on so many levels. From the deep poverty and living conditions in a place so far removed from the United States, to the impact of people that simply serve. I don’t want to give away all of the details so I will just say this is “Must See” stuff for your entire family. It will challenge you to step out of your comfort zone when you see the impact that serving can have. Simply remarkable.
I have also have the privilege to give away a copy of “Three Hearts” on DVD. I cannot wait to have this sent to someone and know that they too will have the experience of seeing it as well. Please leave a comment below and I will draw one lucky winner. Don’t miss this.
“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the
Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
On Sunday night my wife and I had the opportunity to preview a new movie releasing soon called “Deadline“. We watched it streaming from my iPhone through our TV and it wasn’t until it was over that I realized I had it set for 3G and not on our Wi-Fi network. In other words I burned about 2 hours of data plan. But hey, this review isn’t about me, it’s about the movie….
Deadline is a film inspired by a true story (sorta like this blog…). Based in Nashville, Tennessee (pause for respect and love of one of my favorite cities…..) and Alabama, Deadline is about an unsolved, uninvestigated and unpunished murder of an African American youth. The story is important on so many levels. To be honest, while I found it powerful when I watched it, it has resonated with me for a few days ever since. While many things have changed over the years with regard to race and equality, there are many places that are still well behind where our culture should be.
Deadline stars Academy Award Nominee Eric Roberts but I would be lying if I said that the acting was Academy Award worthy. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t great either. I also need to be honest and say that I was originally not going to write a review. I just felt that I wouldn’t give the film the kind of credit it might deserve. However I believe Deadline should be seen and the story should be heard. For that reason, I am going to recommend it to those that read this blog. You can see a preview for the movie below.
“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the
Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
I didn’t have my normal “Sermon Notes” to post this week because I missed church yesterday. We had this little issue of our furnace not working all weekend and the repairman was kind enough to come finish the job Sunday morning. By the way, if you need a good heating and cooling guy in Columbus, I know one. All that is secondary now to what is coming this Sunday to Rock City Church.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Rock City has another BIG announcement to make.
You’ll have to wait until Sunday night/Monday morning to read all about it. Or you could join us at 9:00am or 10:45am at the Lennox Theater to hear it for yourself. Either way, I can’t spill the beans but trust me when I say that this is HUGE. Blow your mind huge. Kite in a hurricane HUGE.
So often I have heard the lyrics that “Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city” and sang along. I think I just might know what all of that means. Greater things are coming to this city. I am amazed, even as I type this, that we are a part of this ministry. That’s all I can give you for now. Stay tuned. Buckle up. It’s going to be a wild ride!
In addition to the 
