Between the Alter and the Door?
Tonight our church took about 50 people to a Casting Crowns concert. It was great, I love their music not just because of the beat but because of the message in the lyrics. They are truthful and challenging. They hit me right where I am. I have spent many hours thinking and praying about discipleship and how to raise up a generation of Christ followers in Demopolis. I want to see the students and families in our ministry grow and walk closer to the Lord every day. But so many things crowd our view. We get distracted so easily with school, family problems, sports, friends, activities and we forget what it means to walk with God. We fill our lives with so many things that we cannot make it from the alter (our time of corporate worship with God) to the door (where our life meets the things we have experienced and learned spiritually). Sometimes we crowd out God because we don’t want to hear what He is saying and other times it is because we just want more things to do because we are supposed to be busy. But that is not true, we need to slow down and allow God to work in our lives.
So how does discipleship happen, I think it takes a desire and a willingness. It is my prayer that we will see students and parents begin to desire a closer walk with each other and with God and be willing to take the steps to make it happen. We need some small groups who can meet and pray together and look at God’s Word, and hold each other accountable. We need moms and dads who will be willing to read the Word with their families and pray with them. We need individuals who are willing to walk daily with God in prayer and reading the Word to lead these groups. We need revival.
How is God working in your life at this moment?
Are you walking with God?
Are you being discipled or discipling someone else?
How can you make keep what happened at the alter when you walk out the door?
Posted by Eric on 11/3/2007 at 1:06am – Link to this post
Ever made a mistake?
In my lifetime I have done a lot of not so smart things, some brilliant things ok maybe three and a bunch of things that went unnoticed by others. This past Wednesday night at the Light we talked about Moses and some of the things he did on his own. One of those things was murder.
When I was in middle school, I was riding my bike to a friend’s house to play basketball. I was flying down hill and my hat began to come off, so I ducked my head down and turned it around. Then just as I looked up, I went crashing down the side of a parked truck. I left my handlebar marks on the truck all the way down the side and flipped over the handle bars and crashed on to the ground. And to top it all off, I passed out at my friends house while they tried to patch me up. It was one of the dumbest things I have ever done. The only it would be more embarrassing would be if their had been a large group of people watching.
In life, we make a lot of mistakes. But God can use those mistakes to complete His plan. God holds all of our actions in his hand and can even use the bad for good. Check out Genesis 50:20; God used all of the bad that Joseph had to face to help a large number of people survive a great famine.
What is the dumbest thing you have ever done? Do you think God could use it for good?
Posted by Eric on 10/22/2007 at 11:22am – Link to this post
Dive Deep
Last weekend 21 people from Fairhaven Student Ministry gathered together to look at what it takes to Dive Deep. Our theme verse was Hebrews 6:1, which out of the Message, says,“So come on, let’s leave the preschool finger painting exercise on Christ and get on with the grand work of art.”
We learned that we need to move to deeper water in order to do greater things for God. A couple of Wednesday nights ago, I challenged us to move from the kiddie pool to the deep end, where we can jump off the high dive. There is freedom, fun, and excitement in the deep end. If we can learn to move past finger painting and move on to beautiful grand works of art we will be living in the freedom that Christ can bring to us.
How can we move to the grand work of art? How do we grow in walk with Christ?
Let’s Dive Deep!!!
Posted by Eric on 10/10/2007 at 4:30pm – Link to this post
So... What Do You Think!?
Tonight we are launching our new website. It is going to be incredible. We’ve been working on this site for quite a while now, and it’s so cool to finally be able to let you see it. We need lots of feedback from you to make it better. There are a few things yet to be finished, so keep your eyes peeled as we get everything completed.
You’ll want to check back frequently; Eric will be bloggin’ about lots of interesting subjects, posting photos from events, podcasting The Light every week, and keeping you up-to-date on all the FSM news and events.
So… STAY TUNED! And don’t be shy… leave your thoughts below. Now.
