3 for Easter

 Church at the Grove, Jesus, Missional  1 Response »
Apr 072009
 

This week is the most celebrated week in Christendom.  It’s Holy Week and this Sunday is Easter Sunday.  More Americans are willing to attend church on this particular Sunday. 

As followers of Jesus, we are called to join the Father in His rescue mission led by His son Jesus.  One way we can be a part of this mission is by leveraging this Easter Sunday and inviting some of our friends and family to join us at Church at the Grove.  Here are a few things to think about:

  • Pray for your 3 for Easter daily by name.
  • Talk to them early on and remind them a few days before Easter. 
  • Make specific plans to either pick them up or meet them in the parking lot or at the entrance to the building.  Walk them around and sit with them.  Introduce them to some of your friends.
  • Make plans ahead of time to have lunch with them after the service. (After you help break down of course.)
  • Ask them a couple of simple questions about the service.  Ask them if they enjoyed it.  Ask them if they understood everything in the service.  Ask them if they have any questions. 
  • If you feel like it is the right time, ask them to come back and join you.  If not, call them later and invite them back to join you again. 
  • Continue to pray that the seed of the gospel of Jesus will take root in their heart.
 Posted by at 8:27 pm

Sunday Reflections and Discipleship Notes

 Church at the Grove, Random Thoughts  No Responses »
Apr 052009
 

Big Idea:
Everyone can serve a little on the inside in order to reach more on the outside.

Memory Verse:
Ephesians 4:16 (NIV)
16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Action Step:
Choose a place to serve a little on the inside and balance it with some intentional time with people in your circle of influence.

Random Thoughts:

  • Wow! Another great crowd today!  What a great Sunday morning! 
  • I can’t get over how many guests we are having on Sundays.  I think God is up to something!
  • Jill and I (actually more like just Jill) had a garage sale this weekend.  It didn’t go as well as we expected.  Oh well.  We got a lot of stuff cleaned up.
  • A lot of our people had another great day with Resurrecting Hope and working on our Home Makeover in Walnut Grove.  I am so excited and proud of what is happening with that.
  • I can’t wait to see what God continues to do with adding people to serve in different areas.
  • I am see an incredible response to our “Resurgence” series!  Lots of people talking about what God is leading them to do.
  • I want our church to raise the bar and raise the tide in our community!
  • This is Holy Week as we look to Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  I love Easter!  I love it for what it stands for in Jesus’ Resurrection and in the value to reaching new people.
  • It was nice not to have to set up this morning.
  • I had a blast today with my friend Dave, his son Mikey and Josiah.  We went to shoot guns at a firing range.  We shot some big guns.   I am afraid to say what kind.  I think they are all legal!  Better safe than sorry.  Big Guns…Big Power. 
  • Tomorrow night……North Carolina and Michigan St.  Go Tarheels!  Braves lead the Phillies as I am typing.  Masters Week this week…need I say more?  I am not going but I still love keeping up with it.
  • Did I say that I will not be going to Augusta for the first time in a few years.  That’s okay…there are more important things in life.  Did I just say that?
  • Anyone need a highchair?
  • I love you guys.  Have a great Holy Week.  Remember 3 for Easter!  Simply invite!

 

 

 Posted by at 10:19 pm

Spring Cleaning and the Passover Seder

 Culture, Faith, Family  1 Response »
Apr 012009
 

Yesterday was a great day for a number of reasons.

I actually took the day off and spent some great time with the kids.  In the morning, I was able to work on cleaning out the basement with Jill and I took a huge load to the land-fill.  By the end of the day Jill had totally cleaned out and organized a major portion of the basement.  It was so refreshing to have cleaned out so much in just a day.  It felt good at the end of the day. 

Jill and I took the kids to a “Seder” meal on Thursday and we were led through the “Seder” experience by a Messianic Rabbi named Derek Leman.  The “Seder” always takes place during the celebration of “Passover”which takes place during the yearly festival called “The Feast of Unlevened Bread”.  Passover initiates a seven day period where Jews would not eat any bread with yeast and would only eat unlevened bread.  The Unlevened bread initially was a reminder of the original Passover experience where the Jews would not have had time to put leven in their bread because of their hasty departure from Egypt following the night of the Passover.  Leven has also become a symbol of sin in the lives of Jewish people and is representative of the fact that it only takes a little leven (yeast) to impact the whole and similarly it only takes a little sin in our lives to impact our entire life and relationship with God. 

Jews have been known to sweep up every crumb of levened bread during this festival and take it out of their house and burn it as a symbol of getting rid of sin from their household.  The apostle Paul referred to the impact of a “little” sin in our lives in his letter to the Corinthian Church.

1 Corinthians 5:6 (NIV)
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?

As we approach Easter, it may be good to remember the Jewish feast that is almost simultaneously taking place.  It may be a good time to do some “Spring Cleaning” in our lives and make ourselves available to God in a new and fresh manner. 

It may be refreshing!  What are your thoughts?

 

 Posted by at 5:06 pm
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