John

Abide

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“Abide” preached at North Greenville University Chapel.  Sermon based on John 15.

The Ram in the Thicket

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At 100 years old for Abraham and 90 years old for Sarah, they finally have a son, Issac.  God’s promise is fulfilled.  God has blessed their family so they can be a blessing to all the families in the world. Yet, God makes things interesting again.  When Issac is older, God calls Abraham to sacrifice his son (Gen. 22:2).  After …

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Is Jesus Really the Only Way?

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Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”     -John 14:6 (NASB) His name was Yohei.  It was the year 2000 in Tokyo, Japan.  He told our mission team that Jesus, Allah, or anybody else who claimed to be God was probably correct.  They all …

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Come, Lord Jesus, Come

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(In some browsers, you might need to refresh to see the video above if it doesn’t come up right away.) Tonight is the night!  After over a year of prayers and work, we are here. In gearing up for our “Knowing Jesus” weekend, we are sharing some of the exciting info concerning this special event.  Listen to the very talented …

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In the Beginning Was the Word

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  In gearing up for our “Knowing Jesus” weekend, we are pinning some quotes from some of the music on Pinterest and other social media sites.  You can see one of them above from a picture from the last time we did the event at North Side. We can’t wait to do this live again on March 29 & 30th.  Here are some links …

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The Gospel of John

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We took 11 sermons from our Knowing Jesus: The Gospel of John sermon series and made sermon remixes from them.  Our worship team reduced the time and put some music to some great sermons.

The Andrew Challenge

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As people celebrate Lent today, many people have decided to give something up.  My recommendation to you is to join me and pick something up instead.

Would you consider joining me for the next 40 days for The Andrew Challenge?

The Andrew Challenge is very simple – be intentional for the next 40 days to bring someone to Jesus.

Andrew was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus.  We don’t know much about him other than the fact that he was responsible for connecting his brother, Peter, to Jesus.

One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.  He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).  He brought him to Jesus.   -John 1:40-42

That’s the challenge.  Use the 40 days leading up to Easter to invest in someone pointing them to Jesus.  Invite them over for a meal.  Grab some coffee.  Pray for them.  Share your testimony.  Begin to share the gospel with them when the door is open.  Look at the next 40 days as a consecrated time to invest in someone intentionally.

Here’s what you need to do:

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“You Must Increase” – Storytellers

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This week’s edition of storytellers focuses on the song “You Must Increase” from our “Knowing Jesus”project.  This song was written focusing on the period of the consecration of the Christ.  This song was to highlight his relationship with John the Baptist and the entire religious scene at the time.

As Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist knew plenty concerning the Christ.  His entire life was purposed to point people away from himself and towards Jesus.

His famous words in John 3:30 served as the crux for this song: “He must increase, I must decrease.”

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“It Is Finished” – Storytellers

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“Twisted crown of thorns upon Your head.”

When we got together to begin the process of writing “Knowing Jesus” – a chronological worship project focusing on the life of Christ – the above lines were the first ones penned.  I had put a group of 4 in our living room to work on the crucifixion song, and 4 of them were in the playroom working on the resurrection song.  The task was to study all 4 gospel accounts on the event for a good while before writing anything down.

The groups studied the Word for a long while.  After I went back and forth between each room, I eventually allowed them to start writing the song.  It was so incredible to watch Woody, Evan, Peggy, and Michael work.  The line that served as a catalyst for this group was John 19:2 as it described a twisted crown of thorns placed upon the head of Jesus.  If you are familiar with the artwork, you also see how this line played a big part in the big picture.

This one took a long while for it to be finished (kinda ironic).

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It Is Finished

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What a wonderful day to be a part of North Side!  I got the privilege to lead worship and preach today.  It is always a humbling thing to be in the room when God saves people.  We got to be in His presence when He did just that for a good crew of people at the 9:30 and 11:00 services.  I got to speak with some wonderful people and received some great emails today of people who Jesus saved today.  Absolutely amazing to see how God is transforming lives!

I preached from John 19 on the crucifixion of Jesus and the 3 greatest words I ever heard: it is finished.  We do not need to keep fighting a battle that has already been won by Christ.  He has offered the final sacrifice and has sat down at the right hand of God – it is finished!

Hebrews 10:11Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD

Today, we worshiped to:

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Peter’s Denial

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Great, impacting, insightful, honest worship today at North Side.  I took this picture on my phone during Cole’s soundcheck and it looked like the heavens were opening up!  Cole Strickland did a fantastic job on a Peter monologue to setup the message on Peter’s denial perfectly.

In addition, we heard a powerful testimony about mission work in West Africa this summer.  She did such a great job making the passage of the day go along with her testimony.  It was incredible to hear how someone who followed Christ across the world still struggled with denying Christ but saw him move anyway.  So wonderful that 2 of our main worship leaders today were our college students.  So great to see so many of these students not waiting until they graduate to serve, they get it now!

Today, we worshiped to:

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The Arrest of Jesus

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What a wonderful day to be the church!  In addition to our exciting things happening, we were so honored to have to roll out more tables for our college lunch with 100 students hanging out after services today.  It was so great connecting with these wonderful students from Erskine, Lander, Piedmont Tech, and Presbyterian College.  Just a reminder for you college students to join us on the City and get your free tunes!

Today was such a great worship service to be a part of.  Wonderful stories of those being baptized.  Worship centered on the cross.  New song from the “Knowing Jesus” project.  Incredible message on the arrest of Jesus – wow – Jesus is control.  He doesn’t need our help.  Jesus is the Great I AM.  I felt like shouting today!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Jesus & the Church (Make Them One)

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What a great day to be a part of North Side!  We celebrated a bunch of family dedications, communion, worship, wonderful teaching, and so much more!

It was great to have the local colleges back in session and to have so many rows filled with our college students again!  We missed you and can’t wait to disciple you again!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Jesus & the Disciples

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What a special day as we celebrated the fact that Jesus prays for his disciples!  In today’s service, we tried to connect the original disciples with current disciples.  The call of Jesus is the same.  The prayers of Jesus are the same.  The goal is the same!

We were blessed to have Cassandra Erickson give us our 2nd installment of “Ni Zan Je” today as we continue to hear about our partnership with the unreached in West Africa.  Her story was powerful.  It was great to follow up her story with a new worship song our team has written called “I Will Follow.”  The song was written for our upcoming “Knowing Jesus” worship album which highlights portions of the life of Christ.  This song deals with Jesus calling of the disciples.

I played this song for Cassandra and some of the others this summer while we were in Africa during a power outage.  It was such a unique time as we sang this feeling connected with Jesus calling us just as He called the first disciples.  It was great to be able to share this song with the church as a whole today!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Jesus & the Father

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Loved being back with North Side this morning as we dove into John 17 and the High Priestly Prayer.  We focused the entire service on Jesus and the Father.  The key thought was giving glory to Jesus for His life and work on this earth.

We were blessed to have our first installment of “Ni Zan Je” (“I Will Go”) as Lacy Little shared with us some of the work Jesus did around her and through her in West Africa this summer.  I appreciated her honesty so much as she shared the roughness of the road Jesus called them to this summer.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Joy Comes in the Morning

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“Your presence is heaven to me.”

What a wonderful day to be the church.  I loved our time together as we focused on John 16 and Jesus’ promise that joy will come from sorrow.  As we worshiped today, I was so moved worshiping with our church family and seeing the authenticity in the room.  As a church, we share life together.  And so when one hurts, we all hurt.

As our worship service (songs, message, video, prayers, etc.) all focused on finding our joy in Jesus even during hard times, watching those who were hurting worship from the depths is an impacting thing.  Even in hard times, Jesus is good.

Today, we worshiped to:

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The Spirit & Salvation

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What a passionate and eclectic day of worship today.  We went everywhere from gospel to a capella and about everything in between.  Last week, we had nothing but an acoustic set from the floor, this week, we had about everything else!

We were very blessed to have One Heart help lead us in worship this Sunday.  Peggy is a part of our normal worship team, but she also sings with an a cappella group called One Heart.  Becky and Beth were gracious enough to join us for our worship this Sunday.  As we focused on the Holy Spirit, I asked them to do a medley of Spirit songs.  I don’t think they had ever sang that arrangement until this morning, and it was so fantastic.  What a way to welcome the Spirit’s presence.

Got to see some sights from last week’s Shake-n-Shine camp and hear stories from Jeff.  Such an incredible mission-focused summer (Africa girls get back tomorrow).  Jeff’s message on the Spirit was so refreshing.  Baptists need to “remember” the Holy Spirit.  Unfortunately, he is the often neglected member of the Trinity.  This message was a powerful reminder of the Spirit’s work in salvation.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Greater is He

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In following Christ, you will encounter a certain type of opposition with people whose approval you might seek as you go forward. In addition to that conflict, you will also experience forces that are adamantly against you and your progress.

Every person who ever tried to fight a noble cause experienced great opposition.

Jesus stated that the enemy comes to “steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). He wants to destroy every aspect of you and your fight.

If you are trying to unite your family, he will try to steal your joy by resistance in family members. If you are trying to mobilize the men in your church to lead, he will attempt to kill your drive to go forward. If you are trying to seek justice for people in unfortunate situations, he will set his efforts towards destroying any progress that you made. He will come with all the fury of Hell, make no mistake about it.

But he doesn’t have to win.

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Friends of God

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We planned today’s worship service all around the idea of being a friend of God and all that entails.  In addition to some great worship songs that share that truth, we were thrilled to have Jeff’s son-in-law, Scott Hill, in town to preach for us.  They are in the prep stage of serving as IMB missionaries.

Today’s worship list:

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The Vine

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As we planned for today’s worship, we studied the passage of John 15 concerning our need to stay connected to Christ to accomplish anything.  So what we planned to highlight is to see the fruit of those who are accomplishing great things here in our church.

We highlighted some children’s and student ministry leaders.  We wanted to hear them talk about their commitment and the reward of service.

We then wanted to be led in some of the “fruit” of their work.  We had our student band lead worship for part of the service, and we also had some of our children lead us in worship.  They sang one of the songs from this year’s VBS.  When I heard them do it at VBS, I knew we had to use them.  Such a beautiful expression of worship.

Today’s worship list:

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Foot Washing

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The only problem with today’s services is I could have done that a few more times.  Incredible time with Jesus today.  Absolutely incredible.

The above picture was taken during soundcheck today by one of our vocalists from her phone.  The boys normally go to soundcheck with me.  Today, amazingly enough, both of them had to go poo-poo during it and yelled it out really loud after we had finished a song during soundcheck.  I love being a dad.

After everyone was out of the bathroom, it was a very special day indeed.  Jeff’s message was powerful.  He explained that Jesus’ example of washing the disciples’ feet was an expression of unity, acceptance, and service.  What if every church, every home was full of people who applied this example?  Still processing.

We had a great ensemble do a dramatic reading of the foot washing to setup the message.  It was incredible.  Every time that Laurie started saying, “You can’t wash my feet, I should be kissing your feet,” I couldn’t help but get weepy.  Strutton did a great job of making a Last Supper table that will stay with us during these weeks of Jesus’ teaching through John 13-17.  Amazing what he can do with stuff he got from Big Lots and the Dollar Tree.  Love creativity on a budget!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Grain of Wheat

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Special day at North Side!  We had some info on promotion Sunday (June 3rd), family dedication with 9 families, great time of worship, great interview video on “who was Jesus,” and a wonderful message!  Jeff’s teaching on John 12 was so good.  So much to take in considering how we are to lay our lives down just as Christ was anticipating his sacrifice for us.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Substitutionary Atonement

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John 11:49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

What a wonderful text that led our worship time today!  We focused on Jesus’ selfless sacrifice today and that is always time well-spent!  Jeff’s message was plain ridiculous.  The thought that we could possess a faith not to “offend Rome” really challenged some introspective time in my own life.  Powerful!

Today, we worshiped to:

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The Resurrection of Lazarus

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Powerful.  I’ve been looking forward to this Sunday for a while now.  For one, I haven’t led worship at North Side in 2 weeks, and I’ve missed it!  Two, we had some really powerful moments in today’s services.

In addition to an incredible message from Jeff concerning the resurrection of Lazarus, we were also blessed to have a good buddy of mine, Cole, a Lander student, do a monologue sketch from Lazarus’ perspective.  As he was concluding this unbelievable scene (with grand awesomeness), we went into “I will rise when He calls my name, no more sorrow, no more pain.”  Pretty neat.

Today, we worshiped to:

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I Am the Door

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Well, I planned today’s service with the good possibility of me not being there due to the baby’s arrival.  While our band never needs me there, they really didn’t need me there today, so it was good just to come in and sing and play along with them.

They are so good, I’m honored they let me play and sing with them!  And that is the truth.

Wonderful day with North Side today!  Continuing on through John, we arrived at John 10 today focusing upon Jesus’ statement: “I am the door.”  I have really loved this “Knowing Jesus” study.

Speaking of doors, Ms. Rosalie Cromer is normally seen opening doors on Sunday mornings for our worshipers, but today she was opening another kind of door.  I asked her to read one of her poems that she has written during our worship today.  Her poem, “The Greatest Desire of My Heart,” went perfectly into John’s song, “May Your Life Be.”  It was almost as if the 2 of them wrote those pieces together!

She read from her book of poems entitled “If.”  We have copies in the bookstore or you can get them online here.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Now I Can See

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Crazy good day with North Side.  We finished up John 9 in “Knowing Jesus” with the man who once was blind but now can see.  For a bluegrass section at the end of the service, I was even able to talk Jeff into playing banjo with us at the end.  So, so good.  In addition to preaching a fantastic sermon today, he also played some mean banjo.

Today, we worshiped to:

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The Truth Shall Set You Free

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The above picture is of the boys joining the choir for warmup this morning.  As people were coming in for practice and we got things rolling for run-through, the boys joined the choir.  Obadiah especially liked pointing in the air like McFadden and making his “Mommy” singing face with the open mouth and dropped jaw.  Fun times!

It was a wonderful day of worship!  Even in the giving, we were reminded of how everything we do is an act of worship.  In addition to some baptisms this morning, we also had Jeff share a way that people could financially support our missions effort in Africa.  After sharing how to do this, it seemed so fitting to sing: “Let the glory of Your name be the passion of the church.”

Today, we worshiped to:

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The Light of the World

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Jam up day with the church family!  Jeff, now a grandpa of 4 grandchildren, gave an incredible message out of John 8 on the Light of the World.  We were also blessed to hear from our own Carl Burrell concerning the Gideon’s ministry with which he is involved.

We had a great group of worshipers in the house today as we got rowdy in Jesus name.  While we always have a great crew, it was great to have Gary Funderburk back among us to blow that saxophone for us.  During practice, I had to remind the band to keep playing and singing and stop listening to him because he was doing such a great job!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Go and Sin No More

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What a wonderful day to be a part of North Side!  Services full of some excited worshipers is always a great way to start a Sunday morning!  Jeff’s message on John 8:2-11 (The Woman Caught in Adultery) was absolutely incredible.  I learned a ton, but I was just reminded yet again concerning God’s amazing grace.  So, so good.  Make sure to check it out online.

We want to remind everyone about the Marriage Getaway.  We need to know today if you are going with us or not.  Sign up here on the City.

Today, we worshiped to:

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The Anticipation of the Christ

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At North Side, we’re all about discipleship.  In addition to discipling our worship team on Wednesday nights, I am also discipling a great group of college students right now.  These guys come over to our house on Wednesday nights and we get into the Word.  This semester, I am teaching this group, and our worship team, through the gospels.

We are doing a Christology of sorts.  A study of the life of Christ is normally organized around speculations or disagreements instead of simply going to the text.  In this study, I am using 14 main events or categories of Jesus’ life to get a clearer picture of the historical figure and the world-changing Savior.

Last night, we discussed the Anticipation of the Christ.  We actually started in our previous session by teaching through the entire Old Testament in one night.  I told the big picture of God’s plan from the beginning.  The blank page in between the testaments reveal a 400-year period of silence where God said nothing to his people.  While Israel waited to see if God would speak again, God brought a word in the Word himself!

In John 1, the apostle teaches that Jesus was that Word in the beginning at creation, and not only was he with God, he was God.  Just like the light that God created with a simple word in Genesis, at the fullness of time, the Word appeared and was the light of man.  The darkness could not overcome the light, the Word, the God in flesh who dwelt among us.

During this study, we also looked at the reasoning and information concerning the difference of the 4 gospels.  Four gospels were written because 4 authors had 4 specific audiences that they were educating concerning Jesus:

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The Words of Eternal Life

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I had a great reason to miss North Side this morning (my niece was being dedicated at her church), but I still missed being with North Side this morning.  It is wonderful to know all the talented, godly people that our church was led by today.  In addition to some wonderful worship leaders, we had a promo for many new groups that have recently formed, and a fantabulous message from John 6:41-71 which I can’t wait to listen to.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Bread of Heaven

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Pretty fantastic morning with North Side.  John 6, celebrating communion, spontaneous worship, planned worship, and so much goodness.

Jeff’s message concerning God drawing us to Jesus was very powerful.  My salvation is as secure as the hands that hold it.  Loved our time together focusing on the cross.  Felt led early this morning to be doing some worship from the piano as people walked in today.  I gathered Leah and Woody and said, “I’ll start in the key of F, just follow me.”  And they did.  Special time as we entered into his gates with thanksgiving.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Do You Want to Be Made Well?

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Whoa.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

This morning at North Side was ridiculous.  Jeff’s message from John 5 was one of the most powerful messages I have heard.  The thought that there are many people complaining about their situations but really don’t want to get well resonated so much today.  Still processing all of that goodness.  If you didn’t get to hear it, check it out here on Monday morning.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Worship in Spirit and in Truth

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Our worship team is the best.  You can see from the picture above the sacrifices that each of them (and their families) make week after week.  This was taken during soundcheck early this morning where Cory’s son, Nate, asked if he could bring his pillow and keep sleeping.  The ability to sleep beside Cory’s amp is a very impressive feat.  So appreciative of all our volunteers on this Thanksgiving week that work tirelessly to lead in worship!

We focused on Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well.  Jeff’s message was incredibly powerful!  Never heard so much insight into this passage.  We also watched our Worship Preferences video this morning that we made with some talented folks (more on this later this week).

Today, we worshiped to:

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The Wrath of God

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Continuing in our study through the Book of John, “Knowing Jesus,” we talked today about the wrath of God and reality of hell.

Throughout the whole service, we dealt with the topic head on.  Jeff’s sermon was right on.  True and compassionate.

Rick also shared some details concerning our Project Love Christmas bash.  Here’s how you can get involved.

Today, we worshiped to:

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You Must Be Born Again

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Powerful day of worship today!  Jeff’s message was spot on.  John 3 – you must be born again.  Incredible to watch people give their lives to Jesus!  Wonderful time of baptism and more children being baptized by their fathers – love it! Today, we worshiped to: Jesus Loves Me – North Side Worship All My Fountains – Chris Tomlin I …

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Cleaning Out the Temple

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What a great day at North Side!  The big idea focused on Jesus’ cleaning the temple.  Whether you realized it or not, we attempted for every element to focus on this passage.  From song selections focusing on the sanctuaries of God, to praying for God’s work with other churches, to the message, we all tried to get this point across.

So appreciative for David Little, Director of Missions of the Lakelands Baptist Association, joining us today to remind of God’s work among our other churches.  It was wonderful to pray for other churches in our city.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Fighting for Your Family

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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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Water You Turned Into Wine

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What a great to day to be a part of North Side!  Grateful for all the wonderful things going on!  Remember: 1. The Fall Festival this Saturday from 3-5.  Thanks Georges for reminding us!  2. Africa interest meeting tonight at 6 pm in the chapel.  3. Families are growing stronger since this move to united worship.  It was awesome hearing those stories today!

Jeff’s message was the BEST message I ever heard on John 2 when Jesus turned water into wine.  It was the ONLY sermon I’ve ever heard on that passage, but even if I had heard tons, that dog would hunt (that’s country slang meaning it was great!).  I never knew all the implications of what happened.  Huge message!  Check out this Baptist preacher talk about alcohol in a completely different light!

We had a great family worship last night where we talked about this passage.  Getting ready for services this morning, I asked the boys, “What did Jesus turn water into?”  Since wine isn’t a word we use around the house often, they were trying their hardest to come up with it.  I helped them out by starting with the “w” sound.

Obadiah said, “Waffles?  Jesus turned water into waffles.”

Almost.  Well, he could have if he wanted to!

Today, we worshiped to:

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The Call

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What a great day at North Side!  As we focused on Jesus’s saving nature and the fact that he still calls out disciples for his work, we got a chance to Skype in with one of our own serving on the mission field, Kim Tomlinson.  Serving in the American Samoa, Kim is reaching many families for Christ.  By her saying yes, she was not only obedient to Jesus’ call, but she served as such an inspiration to our church.  Kim’s Facebook status: definitely worth it to stay up from 130am-430am here in Samoa to be able to skype with my church family in Greenwood 🙂 🙂 So thankful to have an amazing church family that supports me 🙂  

This is a picture of the baptism service she talked about yesterday – I hope her description impacted your worship yesterday like it did mine!

Today, we worshiped to:

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