Grow Up

The Word of God causes us to be born again and can also cause us to grow again. Therefore, we should both desire it and consume it, especially since we know how good it is. Focusing on the need to “grow up” spiritually, the service was planned all around understanding the goodness of God and …

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The Enduring Word of God

This was my Sunday: Soundcheck. Worship. Worship. Surprise Lethcos. Banquet. Clean up. Set up. NSU. Community group. Hopewood Haven awareness night. Drive thru. Recliner. It was great.  I wouldn’t trade anything for it.  It was a full day but it was a great day. The entire time of worship was great.  Surprising Jeff and Sandy …

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Be Holy

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“Some people can’t be holy because they are seeking someone else’s approval.” -Jeff Lethco

What a strong word today on what it means to be holy.  Digging into 1 Peter 1:13-16 was incredible.  God’s call on us is clear.  We are to be holy because our Father is holy.  He is different.  He doesn’t fit into this culture and neither should we.

The time of worship today was so rich.  I love seeing all the new faces worshiping with us.  God has been working on lives among us and calling people into deeper levels of holiness.

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What They Didn’t Know We Do

Today is going to be a busy but fantastic day:

Soundcheck, 2 worship services, college lunch, teach NSU, lead discipleship group, Gathering practice tonight.  I can’t think of better ways to spend my time than that!

What They Didn’t Know We Do [Series: Stand Firm]

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:10-12

As believers, we can be encouraged by realizing we know things that neither the prophets knew or the angels know!  With this knowledge, we can patiently persevere and follow the example of Christ who experienced glory after his time of suffering.

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Trial by Fire

On a Labor Day weekend with a bunch of college football enthusiasts up late last night, I was concerned at the energy level of everyone this morning.  I should have never worried.  It was such a great day with some genuine, engaged worshipers.

We started our services with family dedications and it was such a special time as always.  We also watched a video on persecuted Christians from around the world.  This served to guide our prayer time and it also always helps to worship with the big “C” Church in mind.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Living Hope

We joined with 40+ churches in the area today to pray for spiritual awakening. Alan Quigley at South Main Street Baptist Church led the initiative and there were a lot of great things going on this weekend. The prayer was for spiritual awakening to happen in churches all over Greenwood. Love it when people focus on churches working together rather than competing with one another.

I’m not sure about other local churches, but God is continuing to do some amazing things at North Side. Loved our prayer time for spiritual awakening, and I love to hear stories of people who are being discipled at our church.

Today, we worshiped to:

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1 Peter Worship Album

I’m excited to share with you a new project for North Side Worship.  We are writing an album based upon 1 Peter.

Our church is going through a study of 1 Peter.  It is entitled “Stand Firm.”  We started it last Sunday, and if calculations are correct, we will be finishing the end of January 2014.  The book is all about standing firm as believers during difficult times.  It’s a pretty timely message these days.

Since we would be spending so much time in this book, we wanted to cement these biblical truths in the ears of our church.  Ever since we started focusing on discipling people through worship, we have been amazed at how people are growing through this ministry.

Our band got together and studied 1 Peter one day intensively.  We studied and we studied.  After really understanding it as a book, we then broke it down into about 12 songs that we wanted to write.  That day we started on some of them.  We have a goal of about 4 songs a month.  We have 4 complete, and we are in the process of the next 4 as we speak.  We hope to finish all the songs by the beginning of October.

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Elect Exiles

I was so excited to start our new series today, “Stand Firm.”  This study in 1 Peter will last a few months and focuses how believers are to endure through the trials of this life.  I can’t think of a more timely series.

We started our worship off today with a spoken word video from Amena Brown as the band built into the first song.  The service was built all around the passage of the day, 1 Peter 1:1-2.  I’m gonna be emphasizing that even more in the weeks to come hoping to help connect the dots for everyone.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Husbands, God Won’t Answer Your Prayers

Men are called to love and to lead their wives.  You might desire to do this but unsure of how to go about doing it. Maybe you’ve never seen what it looks like for a godly man to love his wife. Maybe you have tried but feel like you keep finding resistance from your wife. …

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Fighting for Your Family

When Nehemiah led a group of exiled Israelites to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, he probably never anticipated the level of resistance that he would face.  Opposition came at them from every side.  As enemies conspired against the progress (Neh 4:7-8), Nehemiah had to protect God’s people without an army.

Nehemiah was forced to rely on men with varying levels of military prowess.  In a stunning move, Nehemiah places every able man in the exposed places of the wall and tells them to fight.

In order to obtain the ferociousness needed to win the battle, Nehemiah placed every man near his clan as the last line of defense before the enemy could reach that man’s family (Neh 4:13).  Before the battle began, Nehemiah reminded the people, “Do not be afraid of them.  Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes” (Neh 4:14).

In this holy moment, God’s people obtained victory through the hands of some fathers who held the line and refused to let any threat past them and endanger their families.

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