The Armor of God (for the Church)

What a great day at North Side!  We concluded a 3 month tour through the Book of Ephesians today as we studied the armor of God.

While this world is full of trouble, God has not left us defenseless.  In the concluding words of Ephesians, Paul includes directions for the armor of God that is meant to defend Christians.  Covered in his protection, the Church can endure the trials of this world.

I couldn’t think of a better way to end the study than the message today.  Jeff’s words were so good and God used him immensely in my life to really think about the armor of God and how it wasn’t written to the individual but to the church as a whole.  We are to all put on that armor so we can stand firm together!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Your Job

Great day at North Side as we are nearing the end of Ephesians.  Today’s big idea: Your Job (Eph. 6:5-9) – For most people, a job is something you endure rather than enjoy.  When we choose to see our performance in our job as an act of worship to God, it not only changes our …

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10 Things I Would Have Done Differently as a Father

What a great day with North Side!  While I was hobbling from my foot and stuffy from my sinuses, our congregation carried the worship today as we gave it all we had.

Today, we worshiped to:

To setup the message on fatherhood today, I shared the story of my involvement in the curriculum associated with the upcoming movie, Courageous.  After that and watching the powerful video below, people were ready to sing out, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

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Your Marriage

Today, we started our 3rd section through Ephesians.  These final four Sundays, we will see that God still has the whole world in his hands, including your marriage, family, job, and spiritual protection.  This week:

Your Marriage (Eph. 5:22-33) – God has a plan for your marriage.  No matter how far out of control you believe it to be, God’s Word has direction to bring peace into a chaotic situation.  Biblical love and respect can set a broken marriage right again.

Today, we worshiped to:

Loved our time of worship as a family today.  So great to lift our voices and sing such biblical truth as presented in these songs!  Jeff’s message has massive implications.  Whenever you talk about submission, headship, and marriage, you always have everyone’s attention.  If you didn’t hear the message, you need to listen to it.  Many sermons on marriage talks about fixing problems, this sermon was about the purpose of marriage, and once you hear it, it fixes ALL problems.

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Imitation is the Sincerest of Flattery

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”  -Ephesians 5:1

Last night in our C-Group, we dug in deep into Ephesians 5 and sought to learn what it meant to imitate God.  One of the guys made a great point at how his son wanted to imitate him because he looked up to him.

I could relate.  It amazes me that these two wonderful boys, Obadiah and Eli, look up to their father.  Over the last few weeks, they have hopped around like they were on crutches  tryinb to be like Daddy.  Obie keeps telling me has a boo boo on his foot like me.  On Christmas morning, when they both got guitars, they stepped up to the microphone, stomped on foot pedals, and said, we are “playing and singing like Daddy.”

If imitation is the sincerest of flatteries, then I am a flattered man.

During group last night, I realized something with massive implications: they imitate me because they want to!  You may be thinking that is obvious, but do you get the spiritual implications?

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Walking in the Light

I wish I could have hobbled closer to the choir for this picture, but my cast kept me at this distance.  The picture is of 80-year-old Mama Barnes leading the Faith Home choir today at North Side.  Before the service, she told me she didn’t want to lead the choir because she didn’t want to be a distraction.

I said, “Mama Barnes, the choir sounds great, but your dancing is amazing.  Get up there.”

And boy, did she ever!  Her energy and the choir’s passion in worship changed the room for sure!  I can’t even begin to tell you how loud, not the band, but the congregation was this morning worshiping!

We were so honored to have our partner in ministry join us for this special day.  The Faith Home, 4 decades into ministry, has cared for over 20,000 men and women in the area of Christian recovery for alcoholics and addicts.  When they sang, “If he can make a change in me, he can make a change in you,” such hope and passion came out of their mouths and their souls.  Amazing!

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A Different Look

Week 2 of leading worship on crutches.  If that poor stool can make it through today, it can make it through anything!  This cast has made me realize I’m a bit more of a dancer than I realize I actually was 😉

Today, we continued on through Ephesians as we studied:

A Different Look (Eph. 4:17-32) – As a Christian, we are called to lay aside the old self and have a completely different look.  We are no longer to live in our former ignorance, but we are to shine differently than before.

Today’s message was great.  Amazing how God’s Word, written years ago, still has so much power for us today!  The point Jeff ended on was so powerful.  He taught how Paul taught in Ephesians that we are to get together before we try to get holy.  You would think you should get holy before coming to church, but this progression teaches us to get around each other in order to make us holy.

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Focused Lighting

Great Sunday of being the church at North Side!  Today, we worshiped to:

It was the first time I have ever led worship in a cast, but I was so thankful to have such a wonderful supporting team who helped me to a stool and get my guitar and such.  For those of you who know me, you know I don’t ask for help often, so this next few weeks are going to stretch me in all kinds of way!  I did think I was going to jump off the stool a couple of times!

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Behind the Curtain

The City has officially launched at North Side today! This is your way to stay in the know about all things North Side. This two-way communication street for North Side. You stay updated and you can also contribute your thoughts, prayers, needs, etc. Sign up today!

Thanks so much to all the help today signing people up.  Our volunteers were awesome getting people connected, and the host team does a fantastic job at connecting people to the life of the church.

I want to say an extra special word of thanks to Jamie Strutton and Jessica Wolfe who worked relentlessly to get the City up by today – you guys are amazing and this has already helped out so many people!

We had a fantastic service today!

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Out of the Darkness

North Side, 2011 has begun – get ready!  What a great day to start off the new year.  While we had a lot of our crew out of town or out of pocket, our team knocked it out of the park.  Woody even called in sick this morning (that’s why I attempted to play bass and keys – boy, I missed him), and we had to change stuff around, but we a great time this morning giving God praise!

Today, we worshiped to:

We started a new series called “This Little Light of Mine” as we continued through our study of Ephesians.

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