Some quick thoughts about the weekend on Monday evening...
• Good to see so many back yesterday. Seems like every year there's a whole bunch of folks who think they don't need God in the month of June. (I've actually heard someone say, "We took the summer off from church." Really? How does that work?) At any rate, it was great to have so many back this weekend!
• Talked about drinking. And if you missed it, here's the short version: Is it a sin to drink? No. It is, however, a sin to get drunk. I know some will agree with that and some won't and that's OK. As Paul said in Romans 14, this is a "disputable matter."
• But I think there's an even bigger issue here that is tied to this - legalism. One thing I want every NHC'er to understand is that we're not right with God because of what we do or don't do. It's all about Jesus. For those of us (myself included) who grew up in more of a legalistic background there's the tendency to fall back on performance issues. We say we trust the grace of God, but then we start throwing in all kinds of rules that aren't in the Bible in order to make ourselves "right" with God.
• Bottom line - THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES ME RIGHT WITH GOD IS A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST!!!
• I really hesitated about telling my personal story today, as it was a little graphic, but I had a couple of guys tell me that it really helped to keep it real. I guess I'm willing to sacrifice my personal dignity to communicate authenticity.
• Alcohol, by Brad Paisley, was the perfect song to set up the message. And if you were in the second service you saw something that probably made you want to drink - some of our NHC staff ran onto the stage when the song said, "makin' white people dance," and started dancing! Too funny!!
• And the really good news - God showed up yesterday and a bunch of people in both services indicated they were praying to make Jesus Lord and savior of their lives! Hearts always respond to the message of grace.
• Having said all that I can't wait for next week - What's Up With Divorce? Again, we're going to answer this question from the Bible but let me be very clear - we will NOT be beating up divorced people! We'll talk about the reality of divorce, how God feels about it, what to do if you've been through it and we'll even throw in a few tidbits on how to prevent it. So, don't miss next weekend and bring somebody who needs to hear it.
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