The Love of Christ

 

Powerful day of worship.  It was great to begin celebrating Passion Week as a church family.  Jeff’s message was so true.  1 John 4 paints a picture of the love of Christ that is simply breathtaking.  He wanted to save us.  He loves us.  Christ loves people like me!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Test the Spirits

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Sunday’s service consisted of focusing upon 1 John4 and the exhortation to test the spirits.

In our culture today, you can get your hands on more “Christian teaching” than ever before.  Books, sermons, services, shows, podcasts, etc.  You name it.  I’m living proof that ANYONE can write a book.  There has never been more spiritual resources available than there is now and never a more reason to discern every teaching you encounter.

In order to navigate through these times, John was advising the church to test the spirits.  Jeff did a fantastic job handling this text.  Solid sermon.

Sunday, we worshiped to:

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Love {in}Deed Recap

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Still hearing reports of all God did through his church on Sunday as North Side participated in a Love {in}Deed day as we served Greenwood.

We said, “Amen,” and then we went throughout the city to serve others.  As the worship service concluded, the real service began.

Here were some of the feedback we received from just a few of our sites:

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Love {in}Deed

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What a great day of worship all day long with North Side!  What started in a worship center ended all over the community.  When the service ended, the real service began!

Our church left worship and went to every corner of Greenwood and showed love in deeds rather than in just words.  As we studied 1 John 3:18, we decided to put it into practice.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Hate Sin

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What a special time of worship today!  I am so thankful that while we had some curve balls thrown our way today via technology bothers, we have a such a special group of volunteers that make things happen in such a great way week in and week out!

We were so blessed to have Cassie back with us today.  Such a special time just to see the church love on her.  Excited about the movement of the gospel among us.  OG also gave us directions for the way we are wrapping up our Love {in}Deed Sunday next week with a North Side staff vs. Burton Center clients basketball game Sunday 7PM.  Can’t wait!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Love Purity

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The pic above is Mama Barnes teaching us all how to dance at 80 years old!  She dances better than 18 year olds!

Mama Barnes and the Faith Home Choir helped lead us in worship today and it is always a privilege to have them.  We consider this group as part of our family, and seeing the change that this ministry makes in the lives of people is always such a thrill to watch.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Remain in Christ

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The above picture is the Love {in}Deed map that we unveiled today at North Side.  We are excited that on March 10th, we are leaving the worship service for the real service to begin as we serve in nearly every corner of Greenwood.  Signups were a great first day, but we still have some open spots!

I was so thankful to have some of our high school students help lead worship today.  These young men have a genuine passion for the Lord and are leading off stage and on stage at such a high level.  Not a high level for their age.  A high level.  It is an honor to have them help lead worship.  I am looking forward to letting the next generation in our church lead more often!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Don’t Love the World

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While I am a part of the crew that creates the worship services, I was shocked at how much I was personally impacted today.  I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride a couple of times, and I felt the story was told in such a heavy way today.

We started with an acoustic and just vocal song to encourage people to sing out into worship.  We then continued the theme and lifting Jesus up and getting out of the way.  After reading some Scripture about Jesus’ temptation, we then sang “It Is Written” as a call for us to obey God’s Word instead of our desires.  Some of our college students then did a fantastic job of doing the “Everything” drama set to music by Lifehouse.  As that ended dramatically, we began to sing, “Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you, there is no greater thing.”  And then the message that was full of truth!

I don’t know why – but it was heavy for me today.  I was blown away by some of the comments today after services and some of the stories that I was hearing of how individual elements spoke to different people.  There are people who were on the verge of throwing their lives away that are turning away from this world system and turning to Jesus.  Overwhelmed!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Stuck in the Orphanage

I was his father.  He was my son.  But at the time, we were just learning each other.

I was in Ethiopia getting ready to bring my son home from the orphanage.  We had many obstacles in his life to combat, but we really had faith that God was going to do some special things in his life.

When I called home to tell Amanda about our first encounters, I told her of how Eli was so handsome, funny, and energetic.  I told her that the nannies called him the “bus driver,” because all the bus drivers in Ethiopia were short, fat, and assertive.  Not sure if that was a good thing at the time or not.

She then asked if there was anything else that she needed to know.

Well, there was on thing for which she needed to prepare herself.

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Keep His Commandments

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The above picture is a shot of my sermon notes today.  1 John 2:3-6 is so plain, there isn’t a ton to unpack there.  It’s pretty simple.  If you really know Jesus, you will keep his commandments.

There really wasn’t a lot to add to that Scripture, so I didn’t try to add a bunch to it.  God’s Word is sufficient.  It doesn’t need frills, it just needs to be heard.

So that’s what we did.  We ended my message early and let God speak.

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