Yesterday we began our new series, Strapped...and I have to say (and I know there are some people who hate it when pastor's blog this way, but...) it was GREAT DAY!
• It was great to be back from 2 weeks off. Susan and I got away for some time alone and that was great! Married couples, YOU NEED TIME AWAY ALONE...NO KIDS ALLOWED!! As much as we all love our kids, they can be a serious hindrance to marital connection. Every marriage needs time away from the kids.
• Love the sense of worship that is developing in our church. I wept through Inside Out. Love that song! And love the other new song Jon and the band did yesterday, Forever Reign. I think that's going to be an NHC fave!
• This was week 1 of our new series on m-o-n-e-y.
• Usually when we talk about money you can feel the tension in the room. Money is a HUGE discipleship issue...HUGE!! And it's usually one of the last discipleship issues that we surrender to Jesus' Lordship in our lives.
• And that is directly related to what we talked about yesterday - how to live with joy even when you're Strapped.
• We kicked off the series in 1 Corinthians 8 where Paul writes about the Macedonian church. If you ever want an example of a great church, just look at the Macedonians. Paul says they were going through "severe trials." It was so bad that they were in "extreme poverty." BUT...(yes, that is a big but...) they had joy that overflowed to generosity.
• They were living strapped, but living with joy.
• So how do we do that when we're living strapped? First, you've got to fight for your joy. Joy doesn't just happen. It's a choice.
• First, you have to choose to maintain your perspective on the blessing of God. No matter how bad things get, there's always someone in the world that is worse off than you are! Keep it in perspective.
• And then you must look for God in your circumstances. He's there! And when you look for him you'll find 2 things: 1) A God who will give you the strength to keep going (Phil 4:13), and 2) A God who can be trusted (2 Cor 1:8,9)
• But the biggest key to joy when strapped - Give your heart to God! You've got to choose who you're going to serve - the God of the universe, or the god of money. Which one is it going to be?
• Matthew 6:24 = Jesus says you've got to choose!
• So what are you going to choose? Surrender to God and experience real joy, or continue to freak out over the economy and your money?
• Overall, it was a powerful day. If you missed it, check it out online here.
• I said yesterday that this will not be a practical, money management series like we've done in the past. Why? Because we have a great place for you to learn those things called Finding Financial Freedom. FFF is a FREE 2-hour seminar where you'll learn to save more money, get out of debt, and live in the financial freedom that God designed us to live in. Did I mention it's free? Free seminar...free food...free childcare...FREE! All you have to do is sign up and show up. So...sign up here...NOW!!
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