In the Beginning Was the Word

 

Wow, what a stellar day to be a part of North Side!

We kicked off a new series today studying the Book of John entitled, “Knowing Jesus.”  To start things off, we celebrated some baptisms.  We sang “Come and Listen” as our candidates told why they were being baptized.  My favorite part of the day was watching fathers baptize their children!  Doesn’t get better than that for me.  Coming off the “Courageous” series, movie release this weekend, and our 1st family worship guide, it was incredible to watch!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Go See Courageous This Weekend

I’ve shared a lot about my involvement with the Courageous resource, Honor Begins at Home, which will be available next week.  I can’t urge you enough: go see this film this weekend.  It is a powerful movie that could change your home, church, and community if the principles are applied. I am posting a clip

Moving

Our family has been in the process of moving homes this week, thus the blogosphere will be missing me most likely. While we are excited about God’s timing and provision, we are reminded yet again: a house is only a house.  It’s temporary.  The people in it matter more than the decorated walls.  The true

The Family Altar

It was an emotionally charged Sunday at North Side.  In our 2nd week of Courageous, we discussed “The Family Altar.” I had a pregnant lady in our church say that she was emotionally exhausted from the service and she needed to lay down.  I felt the same way, and I had no baby weighing me

Zuckerberg, Lucas, and You

Something is wrong with the world as we know it.

Facebook has changed yet again, and the Facebook community is in a tizzy.  Disgust and outrage fill status feeds, news reports, and paper headlines.  How dare Mark Zuckerberg keep changing a good thing?

Within days of the Facebook mutiny, global Star Wars fans are distraught that George Lucas has changed scenes yet again in his recent Blu-Ray versions of the Star Wars saga.  Tinkering with some effects is one thing, but when he started changing details in the story lines reopened the scab for those still upset that Han Solo was “provoked” by Greedo.

So, let me get this straight.  Most of the world is hooked on Facebook.  Created by brilliant college student, Facebook is the way people attempt to share life these days and is the most visited website in the world.  It has literally changed how people function in our society.  And we are mad at the guy who made it because he changed it?

George Lucas, who single handedly changed the movie industry, wrote a script that millions of fans have memorized.  When he decides to enhance a story that he wrote, we get mad at him for changing what we like as if he has no rights to the story.

The outrage this week reminded me how we think we are the center of the universe.

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Help the Vias Get Their Daughter Home!

In college, I was blessed to find many friends that became family.  Two of those were Josh and Tasha Via.  The Vias have led worship at North Side before, so that’s where some of you might remember them from.  They are wonderful worship leaders on and off the stage.  They have 3 wonderful children, 1

Redeeming Your History

What a great day at North Side as we kicked off our 2 week Courageous series.  In addition to a great prayer time for our Africa team, we had a wonderful worship time together.  Taylor did a great time of focusing our prayers for that team and the unreached people group.  The worship team did great today!  So much energy, passion, and skill.  They led me to the throne – it was fantastic!

Today, we worshiped to:

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“You’re a REALLY Big Bear!”

Psalm 107:33 He turns rivers into desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
34 and fruitful land into salty wasteland,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into a pool of water,
dry land into springs of water.
36 He causes the hungry to settle there,
and they establish a city where they can live.
37 They sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield a fruitful harvest.

38 He blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
He does not let their livestock decrease.

43 Let whoever is wise pay attention to these things
and consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love.

After reading a book about a family of bears one day, my firstborn came up to me and said, “Daddy, I’m a little bear, Mommy is a big bear, and Daddy, you’re a really big bear!”

In addition to his comments causing me to diet the next week, I also realized the power that perception has in the eyes of a child.  I’m a tall dad.  My toddlers think I am ginormous.  When a balloon escapes their grasp and heads towards the ceiling, they came looking for me.  When they want to soar above the crowd, they come begging to sit upon my shoulders.  Contrastingly, when they are in trouble, I can tell that our height difference also causes them to sit up a little straighter when I walk in the room.

Don’t read anything more into that comment.  The fact is they are small, I am big, and that causes them sometimes to have a reality check.  I believe that’s one of the reasons God makes babies so small (in addition to wanting women to survive labor).  He wants children to have a healthy fear of their parents.  The problem only comes when they think they are my size.

Our problems come when we think God is our size. 

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Don’t Drop Your Kids Off at Church

Parents have often developed misplaced priorities when it comes to their children. Many children in America are so busy with numerous activities that their spiritual lives are unfortunately neglected. Our approach is to drop our children off at the best church in town which we qualify by which one has the hippest youth minister, most