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Sunday Reflex 11-8-09…

Yesterday we continued our “Favor” msg. series, as God REALLY showed up in our services. I can’t even explain it, but I felt His presence so strongly!  Here are a few reflections from my perspective:

• We talked about faith yesterday, and after praying and working through this msg, I believe it’s the most impt. msg I’ve given in a while.
• “And without faith it is impossible to please God…” Hebrews 11:6
• HOW did Noah walk in step with God so completely?
• “It was by faith that Noah built an ark to save his family from the flood.” Hebrews 11:7
• Faith is trusting that God is who He says He is, and He can do what he says He can do.
• Faith is required to walk with God.
• “Most of us say we trust in God, but do we really? How can we know?”
• Our faith is primarily revealed through two things: our emotions and our decisions.
• If we’re freaking out all the time; driven by fear, anxiety, worry, and despair, we might SAY we trust God, but we don’t!
• Our faith is also reveled through our relational decisions, professional decisions, and our financial decisions.
• Probably NOTHING reveals whether we trust God or not,more than THIS:

• If we trust God completely, we’ll operate with complete financial integrity; and give to Him EXACTLY as He commands!
• “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Malachi 3:10 (NIV)
• “Favor requires getting in eth boat BEFORE it rains. That’s what Noah had to do.”(See Gen 7). 
• Fruit from yesterday: Two kids from one of the families in my Growth Group got baptized yesterday! Congrats David & Christy!
• A lady in my Growth Group by stopped by to let me know she “checked THE box” yesterday on her communication card. WOW!
• Two different people came to me expressing their desire to begin to tithe. (even though they’re struggling), because of yesterday’s msg. WOW!
• We showed the next “Sonic knock-off” FAVOR commercial. I posted it below.
• Closed the service with “I will walk by faith” song
• Great parent/student lunch yesterday in the LOFT after the services. Helped parents in the transition from authority to influence as kids get older.
• GREAT DAY. God was here. He’s changing a lot of lives right now!

Favor Promo 1…

What have you done to try to get God’s favor?

 

Favor comes through relationship not by behavior!

Stay tuned this Sunday for part 2 of this video series…

Sunday Reflex 11-1-09…

• Yesterday we kicked off our new series called “Favor” based on the life of Noah.
• If you missed the message , or want to share it, you can watch  it here. 
• I’m willing to bet no one in the room had ever heard this story told through these lenses, but I really believe it’s the POINT of the story!
• The word FAVOR is actually the first occurrence of the Hebrew word for GRACE!  Ever heard that God is a God of wrath in the OT and grace in the NT? Not!
• Noah proves to us once again, that: “Favor comes through relationship, not by behavior.”
• Noah found grace because He pursued a personal relationship with God!
• Noah walked with God. This is significant, because in may of our relationships with God we want God, but we want Him to walk with us! Be in step with us! Bless our plans! Whoa.
• Everything about our lives: The quality of our lives and relationships, or joy and peace; everything about knowing God’s will for our lives…flows out of our relationship with God!
• If you relationship with God is not right, nothing else will be!
• “How would you characterize your relationship with God?  By where and how often you go to church? Where and how you volunteer? What small group you’re in? Or by the amount of time you’ve spent with God lately?
• God always takes the initiative in our relationship with Him. He invites us to walk with Him!
• The band did another awesome job leading us in worship!
• We continue to baptize people every week in our services at Mountain Lake!
• One of my favorite songs right now is “Let Me Sing.” It allows me to respond to the favor God has shown on MY life. Here are some of the lyrics:

“Let me sing louder than creation to you, for the pain your bore in your body, to bring me back to you, Let me sing.”

• Newcomer’s Lunch yesterday. John Shepherd has done a GREAT job in helping us step up that environment! Tons of new people joined our church today. The mission is happening!
• Yesterday we announced that we have connected 435 new people into Growth Groups this Fall! WOW!!!!
• Still astounded at God’s favor on my life in allowing me to preach His word. Thank You, LORD….

Favor…pt. 2…

Starting this Sunday, we’re going to be talking about one of the most well known, 1st learned, hard to believe, controversial stories in the Bible, about a huge boat filled w/ 1 family, & 2 of every animal on the earth; a devastating flood; and the world’s first rainbow!

All of these things make Noah and the ark a remarkable story! However,  to me, the most remarkable part of the story is one that’s never talked about! Here’s God getting ready to mark the end of the world as we know it; basically wipe humanity from the earth…but ONE man on the entire earth finds “favor” in God’s eyes;

Enough favor to spare him, his family, and ultimately all of humanity from extinction!

So the real question is…WHAT was it about Noah that enabled HIM to find FAVOR in God’s eyes? HOW did HE get FAVOR?

But the bigger question is: “Can WE find favor from favor from God?

If so, HOW do WE get it? 

That’s what we’re talking about over the next 3 wks!

Get here!!!

Don’t forget to set your clocks BACK an hour!!!

Favor…

 

Many have tried everything to obtain it.

Everyone would like to think they could get it.

Noah did. We can.

We’ll talk about HOW beginning this Sunday! Get here!

Sunday Reflex 10-25-09

Yesterday, once again, God showed up BIG TIME at Mountain Lake!  Here are a few reflex:

• I LOVE making our church better by NOT Teaching every week! I gain such a fresh perspective of God’s work in and though my church, when I;m NOT teaching but still IN attendance! MORE pastors need to release their “pulpits” more often and attend their own churches! Novel thought…
• I swear October is busier than December around here because of all the kids’ activities going on! Attendance always dips! But crowds were UP yesterday! 
• We continue to be up in attendance by 20-25% every week this Fall! God is growing His church!
• Baptized 3 more people yesterday! One lady who had attended our church for over 8 yrs! 
• Do you realize we are baptizing  people every week in our worship services?!
• Todd, the Worship Team, and the band did a GREAT job yesterday moving people to worship yesterday. The last song: “Let me Sing” moved me to tears in light of the message.
• Speaking of the message, I thought Rodney Anderson gave one of the best messages I’ve EVER HEARD yesterday! God really used it in my life, and I know yours, as well!  We’ll have it uploaded by noon today on our website.
• When I truly realize the  extent God went to, to create me the just the way I am, I’ll stop trying to be someone else!
• Traffic continues to be an issue getting off campus. We’re doing EVERYTHING we can! It was compounded yesterday by all of the Fall leaf lookers from ATL!
• I got to to personally talk with two members of our BAND yesterday about going public with their faith thru baptism! They’d better not chicken out on me!  
• I’m so glad to lead a church where the Creative Arts ministry can be a pathway to belonging and becoming!
• I also stopped in my neighborhood to talk w/ my neighbor  wh0’s been attending our church since our Grand Opening, and he said to me: “Shawn, we need to get together and talk about how I can become a Christian. I have no idea how to do it.” 
• Would you say it was a good Sunday for me?  Hope it was for you.

Sunday Reflex 10-18-09

Monday was a CRAZY day so I didn’t get to post my Sunday Reflex yesterday! Sorry! Here are a few reflex:

• Week two of our current series: “In My Own Skin”. God spoke.
• “Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.”              (Gen 16:7)
• The btm. line of the msg was simple: “God judges by the heart, nit by the skin.”
• What qualified David to be King was the fact that HIS heart was about capturing God’s heart, not everyone else’s heart!
• I was honest about my own temptation in my preaching to capture  the heart of man,  vs.  the heart of God.
• I felt like I had an “off day” in my communication, but so many people let me know that God used the msg. in their life!  In the words of “Jesus love me”: “We are weak but He is strong.” I sure am glad!
• The band did a GREAT job w/ the Worship set! “It is Well”: My favorite!
• Todd Nichols did a great job of opening his life and sharing transparently during worship.
• Everyone from 10-100 yrs of age needs to hear this msg! 
• Rodney Anderson knocked it out of the park in Amp’d and Fuze this weekend, and God showed up BIG TIME! We had 17 students indicate they wanted to either give their lives to Christ or go public with their faith! WOW!
• Our attendance was down a little this week, but our giving was up! The core finances our  mission! It’s always been this way. I guess it always WILL BE!  THANKS GUYS! GOD IS USING YOU! THANKS FOR STEPPING UP FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!
• I love our church. 

Sunday Reflex 10-11-09…

• Yesterday we increased the transition between services by 15 min. by moving service times to 9:30 & 11:15.  It was so much less congested between services in every way!
• Yesterday was a great reminder once again that it doesn’t matter HOW many seats we have in our auditoriums, if getting to, or home from those seats is a miserable experience for people.
• We MUST make sure these systems run like clockwork and are staffed by COMPETENT, SMILING volunteers: Parking, Greeting, Children’s Ministry Check-in; Greeters who give direction to people who walk in w/ that “deer in the headlights” look; Helping people find their seats; 
• Professional Christians will wait in lines and put up with a lot of hassle to come to church.  Disconnected and marginalized people won’t.
• We kicked off our new series: “In my own skin.”  I’ve never done a whole series based on the life of on David! It really IS going to be awesome!
• I thought the little INTRO video was one of the coolest we’ve ever done! Thanks, James Rodder!
• I KNEW God was going to really use this series, but the feedback affirmed it: WE all struggle with self worth issues: The feeling that we’re ugly; a or a failure; or not good enough.
• “If I’m uncomfortable in my own skin, it’s not because of a circumstance, another person, or my position in life. Our comfort level in our own skin is a spiritual issue and has everything to do with our relationship with God.”
• “Being comfortable in my own skin is about getting comfortable with who and how God made me.”
• Trying to wear someone else’s armor can be: Someone else’s look; someone else’s abilities; someone else’s stuff; or someone else’s expectations.
• “We don’t need more self-confidence. We need more God-confidence.”
• God-Truths from David’s experience w/ Goliath:

“Being comfortable with who and how God made me brings my greatest confidence.”

“Being comfortable with who and how God made me brings my greatest chance of winning.”

• We baptized another entire family yesterday that’s been coming to mtn. lake for over 3 yrs! Love it when a plan comes together. 
• Our Children’s Ministry held “Big Splash” yesterday, our explanation of baptism for our children and their parents. We had over 70 people there!
• I went out with the guys in my Growth Group last night: had wings and watched football. Love these guys. Love the safe, fun  place called Growth Groups in our church!
• Almost forgot: We had a great Good $ense Weekend Friday & Saturday. God did miracles! We cut up credit cards with over over $100,000 worth of credit lines!  God did miracles in people’s lives & hearts and gave them hope! I hope you’ll sign up for the next one.
• Don’t forget Tailgate Merge this Wednesday!
• God continues to be at work. What do you think?

Mtn. Lakers in their own skin…

Check out real Mountain Lakers getting

comfortable in their own skin!

Don’t miss this Sunday!

New Service Times 9:30 and 11:15!

Send THIS LINK to someone now!

In My Own Skin Video Bumper from Mountain Lake Church on Vimeo.