Tomorrow morning I am going to our Midtown campus where my friend Sam Miles is.  God is doing a great work in Midtown but the believers there need our help.  Tomorrow morning for a couple of hours, myself, along with those of you who will, are going to work together to help clean and prepare their facility for a community outreach event coming next month.  They will take whatever time we can provide them.  If it is for a half hour, hour, or a few hours, it will be much appreciated and used of the Lord to see that preparations are in place for what the Lord wants to do in October.  I pray that you will allow yourself to be inconvenienced for the Lord and His mission to see this take place.  Hope to see you there!

Last night at prayer Chris Ruzicka made a comment regarding the radical changes that were made starting last Sunday.  (Just as a reminder, Chris is the assistant building manager at the church, not to mention our new Jr. High Pastor, and so he is among the first to have to deal with complaints.)  He said that there was not even one negative comment from Sunday’s services.  This was a “Wow, God did that!” type of a comment.  When you consider the time changes, the changes in our music, the fellowship venues that have changed, etc., it is a testimony of how when God is in something, He takes care of all of the details.

Speaking of changes, not only has our college ministry, now called FOCUS, changed from strictly a college class to a college and young singles emphasis, the place and time has also changed.  We now meet in the Fellowship Hall at 9:45.  In addition, we now pray at the Point at 8:30 am on Sunday mornings, not 8:00 am.  And, by the way, what a blessing prayer was last Sunday morning.  We had the upper room nearly full.

I hope you are feeling encouraged with all that the Lord is doing in our midst.  Let’s continue to make the choice to believe His promises toward us and press forward in confident faith.  He has an agenda that He will fulfill.  It’s not our job to do the work but rather to trust in His work.  It’s not us working FOR Him but rather us working FROM Him.  That makes our job quite simple.  Just believe and obey!

     I was just thinking about an illustration about priorities my wife gave to her t-ball team many years ago… The jar represents your life and limited time for today.  The rocks are your priorities.  The sand is the “small stuff” in life that we often allow to dominate our lives.  (You only bring enough rocks and sand that will fill the jar.)  You start by putting the sand (the small stuff in our lives) in the jar and then try to fit the rocks.  It is impossible.  But then you start over by placing the rocks (the priorities of life) in the jar first.  What you find is that the sand will fit nicely and neatly around the rocks and the jar is complete.

     Each one of us needs to examine our own “jar” and determine if we are making our time count.  The Bible teaches us to “redeem the time.”  Are we allowing the smaller issues of life to prevent us from fulfilling the most important ones?  Make sure that the Rock is first and don’t allow the sand to shut God out.  As you place Him in the forefront of your day you will find the sand fitting nicely and neatly all around the Rock.  And if there is any sand that won’t fit in your jar I can assure you that you are better off without it.  And I can assure you as well that the Lord will flood your soul with joy as you declare Him worthy with your life choices. 

     God bless you as you examine what parts of your life are the rocks and what part is the sand.  Just don’t forget THE ROCK!  Love you guys and have a great day today.

I was challenged to write a journal entry about what I want my legacy to be.  When you get to the end of your life and people begin to talk about what your life was about, what do you want them to say?  What do you want the reality of your life to have been?  What do you want to be known for?  Here’s what I came up for myself…   When I get to the end I want the following 10 things to be true of my life:

1.  That I knew God and walked with God.  That I pursued God.

2.  Christ was magnified in my body…  That it wasn’t my life that was lived out but that of Christ’s.  His power and love and truth was apparent in my life.

3.  I had a genuine humility in seeking Christ’s exaltation and not my own.  I was desperate to see Christ look good.

4.  I lived a life of integrity consistent with God’s Word.  What was written of me in God’s Word was true in my life.

5.  Sincerity.

6.  I lived a passionate life.  I loved God with all that I was and my neighbor as much as myself.

7.  I was diligent.

8.  I was a student of God’s Word who “studied to show myself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

9.  I was a husband and father who loved and equipped my family.  My life provoked my sons to be men of God, Spirit-filled believers who were passionate God-chasers,  men of integrity who saw Christ magnified in and through their lives as they bore much fruit that remained.

10.  I was a saint who committed the Word of God to faithful men who were able and ready and committed and effective in discipling others to do the same.

     What would your top ten be?