It Didn't End At The Cross...

It's 10:14 on Easter Sunday night and I've literally got nothing left to offer.

The weekend was a blur, but man, what a great ride! We were able to connect with over 500 people at our Egg Smash community event on Saturday. Then had a great crowd of over 120+ come together this morning to celebrate the empty tomb.

As a part of our worship gathering this morning I did a reading from The Voice that I would just like to share with you as I put this day to rest. I hope you enjoy and if you are reading this in the Royse City area come back next week as we continue to dive into this thought that, "It Didn't End At The Cross".

The Voice

We were a band of fishermen who were lost and lonely. But just when we thought things couldn’t become stranger, Jesus showed up. He told us to fish on the other side of the boat. We did, and we were suddenly overwhelmed with fish. The nets were bulging. What He showed us here, is that not only would our old ways of living leave us as empty as our nets, but our old habits were not going to work for us anymore. He had impacted our lives in a way that changed us forever. We couldn’t go back. And He knew we didn’t know how to go forward.

After spending time with Jesus, I realize there are no coincidences. He revealed to me a world where God is intimately involved, the main actor in the drama of history. It was no accident that we caught the fish. It was no accident the nets didn’t break. These fish, all 153, were a sign from God representing the community of believers, men and women transformed by faith. Some of us sat down and didn’t say a word as we pondered all of this. Others busied themselves in work, their hands moving quickly to stack the catch in baskets and untangle the nets. Each in his own way thought, wondered, and prayed. I have to admit, the prospect of it all still makes me smile. That’s how I always begin and end my stories of Jesus. I remind my little children that through faith He gives us the authority to become the sons of God. Brother Paul said it’s all grace. He’s right. We are what we are because of His wonderful work in us. The challenge we face every day is to become what we are—His loving, devoted children. To do that, we have to strip away every vestige of our old lives. Like worn out clothes, we find our former lives aren’t able to contain the beauty of this new creation. Before we can put on the new life and take up our new calling, we have to set aside every ugly and broken aspect of our lives. Repentance, Jesus told us, is not just about what you put off. It’s about what you put on. In the human spirit, there is no vacuum. Something will always occupy you and fill your life. It is either life from above or death from below. If the resurrection of Jesus taught us anything, it’s that He is the resurrection and the life. I’m not talking about life after death. What I mean is that through Jesus we can have abundant life, a full and meaningful life, here and now.

ZS

Prayer ::: Asking God...

I think we are heading into a couple of weeks that could be huge for our church. We are going to spend the next couple of Sunday's talking about prayer and more specifically why it's important for us to Ask God to do great things.
I've become more and more convinced that we as people (and more specifically as pastor's trying to lead a church body) that we can do all of the right programming and have dynamic authentic worship and really do life well together, but if we do not petition God to transform hearts and lives...we labor in vain...plain and simple.
So, this is how it's going to go down. Sunday I will be sharing with our people some specific things that I've been praying for myself as well as our people. We will also take a few minutes to talk about Biblical fasting. Then, we will be opening up the church each night during the following week to give people the opportunity to come and pray. We are going to set up a couple of different "prayer stations" for people to participate in and we will also be making available the elements for the Lord's Supper so our people can participate in that also. We will close out the week on Saturday night with what we just call Saturday Night Worship (clever, I know). I think this will be such a sweet time of worship after people have spent time truly asking God to do great things. Then Sunday morning we will close this time out with the challenge to really become people of prayer.
Do we understand, really truly understand, the power that we have available to us because of the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us?
My God is a big God. He is able to do the things that we need Him to do. The awesome news is that I know that He will do these things because the things that I need are all for His renown...that He would become more famous and that I would simply die.
Asking God...to do great things!
Praise Him!
ZS

God's Mission...God's Method

We will be finishing up this sermon series this weekend with a talk on leadership as we try to challenge our people to embrace the role in which God has placed them. To be voices in their homes, work place and when they are out in the community.

I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to reflect on this series because I feel like in a lot of ways it's been foundational for our church. It seems a little strange to say something we are doing 2+ years into the life of our church is foundational because it seems like the foudational stuff should have already been done. This is a perfect reminder to me that God's timing is always perfect. It's so amazing to be able to sit and watch God's people respond...sometimes you can almost see the light coming on. This is how I know that the timing of this has been perfect and ordained by God.

Here's a quick recap of the series, if for nothing else than for me to remember where we've been:

1. An Adventure Begins - Acts 1:1-11
2. The Central Message - Acts 2: 14-41
3. A Devoted People - Acts 2: 42-47
4. Committed To Worship - Acts 2:42-47 and Psalm 95
5. Committed To Mission - Acts 8:1-8, 11:19-26, and Romans 1:14-17
6. Committed To Service - Acts 4:32-35, and Isaiah 58:6-9
7. Committed To Community - Acts 2:42-47 and Ephesians 2: 11-22
8. Committed To Maturity - 1 Thess. 1:4 - 2:12 and Psalm 119: 9-16
9. It takes Courage - Acts 4:23-31 and Acts 3:1 - 4:22
10. It Takes Leaders - Acts 6:1-7:13

Church planting continues to be hard, but I continue to be encouraged with the people that God is giving us to walk this road with. And I know that if we will simply remain faithful to what He is asking of us then He will be faithful to do the rest...seems to be a Scriptural stance, so I'll take it...

ZS