[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLucwoDnj-4]
Jamela gets married
My younger sister, Jamela, got hitched yesterday to her fiance’ Matt.
I’ll post pictures later!
They got married in Mountain Rest, SC in a unique, small church. It was a standard older church with pews, the KJV Bible and Baptist Hymnals in every row. However, the smaller sanctuary had a nice intimate feeling about it, so that was cool. I’ve also got some great pictures of the church as well!
Anyway, I am extremely tired today since it was an evening wedding and we had to drive back home for school and work. Later….
Nick
Gavin’s 1st Day of School
Today is was Gavin’s first day of Pre-school! Nicki said he was so excited that he didn’t even want to tell her bye. He wanted to get in and get going…we don’t raise the type that cling to mom and dad’s leg…we have been preparing for this day for about a year…we totally hyped the school deal with him so he was ready to go.
Pictures coming soon!
Nick
A Radical Difference
I get Pastor Greg Laurie’s Devotions in my inbox everyday, today’s devotion was great…check it out! Sign up to receive these devotions from their website:
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
A Radical Difference
| Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? |
| — 1 John 5:5 |
The Book of Acts tells the story of a handful of men and women who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, did not leave their world the same way they found it. They were ordinary people whom God enabled to do extraordinary things. It was the beginning of a movement that continues to this very day.
On the Day of Pentecost, about 120 believers were gathered together when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Everywhere they went, they were ridiculed and opposed and persecuted and physically assaulted for their beliefs. Some were even put to death. Yet within a period of about 30 years, this original group of 120 and their converts came to be known as those who turned their world upside down. When we see their fearless preaching and their expectant prayer and willingness to obey, these Christians almost seem radical.
But it isn’t that they were radical; it is just that we’re not radical enough. We are living a watered-down version of the Christian life. What we see in the Book of Acts is normal, New Testament Christianity.
Could what happened in Acts happen again? Could we see another great movement of the Holy Spirit? The answer is yes, we could. But it starts with you. It starts with me. Let me ask you this: What if everyone in the church behaved just as you do? How well would the church know the Bible? What kind of a prayer life would the church have? How many people would be hearing the gospel? What kind of church would it be?
The church is made up of people like us. And we can make a radical difference.
On the Day of Pentecost, about 120 believers were gathered together when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Everywhere they went, they were ridiculed and opposed and persecuted and physically assaulted for their beliefs. Some were even put to death. Yet within a period of about 30 years, this original group of 120 and their converts came to be known as those who turned their world upside down. When we see their fearless preaching and their expectant prayer and willingness to obey, these Christians almost seem radical.
But it isn’t that they were radical; it is just that we’re not radical enough. We are living a watered-down version of the Christian life. What we see in the Book of Acts is normal, New Testament Christianity.
Could what happened in Acts happen again? Could we see another great movement of the Holy Spirit? The answer is yes, we could. But it starts with you. It starts with me. Let me ask you this: What if everyone in the church behaved just as you do? How well would the church know the Bible? What kind of a prayer life would the church have? How many people would be hearing the gospel? What kind of church would it be?
The church is made up of people like us. And we can make a radical difference.
Backwards Thinking
If I looked back on my life I would realize that I had it better than I think I did. Well, at least until our family grew larger, my dad ended up having to take poorer paying jobs This was especially the case when he worked for some churches in full time ministry that didn’t know how to take care of their people.
For most of my junior high and high school years my dad pastored a church that had a Christian school, but this was more of a public type Christian school. The kids were not lifers in the church, so I wasn’t one of those pastor’s kids that had all of the friends and the cliques because of who my dad was and I wasn’t viewed as someone who could help others get out of trouble, only if they did the trouble with me…who’s going to punish the PK?
So I kind of grew up with a complex. I wanted to be popular. I had to reveal my “human” side at school if I wanted to make any friends so they could see that I wasn’t a tattle tale, I was not perfect, etc. I spent several years of my life wanting to belong and wanting to “be somebody!”
Because of the less fortunate up bringing I also desired to have nice things, to have a lot of money, and to live like I didn’t get to live growing up.
However, the more I study God’s Word, the more I see that I was better off as the rejected poor kid. Don’t get me wrong, God is not against people having money and living comfortably, but he is against people putting him aside in order to live a life of fortune and fame. Lately I have been bombarded by scripture that reveals how God uses the nobody’s of the world…check some of them out!
- Acts 4:13 – The men that God was using to do great things for him were unlearned and untrained.
- 2 Corinthians 2:1-5 – Paul came to the people with a simple message, with plain preaching. He said that the “Holy Spirit” was powerful, People came to believe through the power of God, not through human wisdom…or anything man did special.
- 1 Corinthians 1:25-31 – Paul reminds the people that few of them were considered wise, wealthy, or powerful before God called them. He goes on to explain that God uses things that are foolish, despised, and counted as nothing by the world to bring about his plan.
These are just a few passages of scripture that I have studied lately that helps me understand that it does not matter who I am, what my background is, my education level, or my popularity and wealth levels…if He has a plan for me, it is His power and wisdom that are going to make things happen, not mine. I have learned that I should spend my time submitting myself to God and seeking His anointing rather than trying to be recognized in the eyes of the world.
The fact is, God uses the powerless, the common, the uneducated, those that make the biggest WOW for him when people see what He is using them to do for Him!
Nick