It's hard to believe that September is already here and that Fall is just around the corner! This is mine and Beth's favorite season of the year! We love when the leaves start to turn colors and then slowly fall to the ground making the trees bare so we can see the lake behind our house!  We begin to spend more time outside on the deck enjoying the cool evening breezes!  We look forward to this time all year long!
Just like the four seasons we enjoy each year, our lives often experience a variety of seasons as well!  Sometimes we are in a season of Spring; when everything is new and fresh, things are bursting forth and we see growth in alot of areas.  Sometimes, we go through a season of Summer; when everything is just right, we're on fire and on the move!  Sometimes we go through seasons of Fall, when things begin to change, things seem to be dying and falling off of our lives leaving us feeling empty and wondering what's next.  And finally, sometimes we go through that frigid cold season of Winter which leaves us feeling alone, questioning everything and wondering if the sun will ever shine again!  All of us go through the seasons of life.  It's just what happens.  It's what you do while you are IN those seasons that matter!  There is a reason you are in it!  There is a purpose for it!  Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, 'To everything there is a season, a time for every matter or purpose under heaven.'  The word season means, 'a time characterized by a particular circumstance, a natural time or occasion.'  Don't try to get out of the season you are in too prematurely because there's a reason you are in it.  Allow God to do whatever He wants to do in and through you while you are in it!  Everything He allows you to experience, good or bad, is to make you better, stronger and more equipped in Him!  So hang on!  Your next season IS coming!
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GIVE BACK! 08/20/2011
 
We live in a fast paced society! People are running to and fro at all hours of the day and night to get things done!  All of us have busy lives, things to do, places to go and lists to accomplish, but we must not forget that as a believer in Jesus Christ, one of our purposes in this life is to be a blessing to someone else!  I was truly blessed today by the love and compassion of our NJC family at our 1st ever Back Pack Giveaway Outreach for our Community!  The atmosphere was charged with excitement as we arrived early to get everything ready; from people setting up tables, creating lines, blowing up the inflatable, cooking hot dogs and chili, organizing the sign in area and running here and there and everywhere to make sure it all went as planned!  Families from our Community; Moms, Dads, Grandparents, Teachers and Employees of the Elementary School around the corner and children of all ages began to fill up the line, register their kids and make their way to get a free hot dog, chips and a drink.  As we all worked our various posts waiting to go inside the Church to give the backpacks away, I stood watching my Church family as they talked with the folks, hugging the children, loving on them and sharing the love of Jesus!  It reminded me of the scripture 'Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children." Luke 18:16 (NLT)  The kids faces beamed as they got to play in the big Monster Truck inflatable and get a new back pack for school!  We fulfilled a purpose today by being a blessing to others!  Let's make it a daily thing; give someone a smile, lend a hand, pay for a stranger's meal...GIVE BACK & it will become addictive!

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One of Judge Judy's favorite quotes is "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves" and that quote often fits the church today.  We (the entire church) have been guilty of misusing the scripture found in I Peter 4:17 that says, "For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God's household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God's Good News?" We often say or believe that the church is the one here that has the right to judge, but that's not at all what this scripture is saying.  This scripture is really saying that God's judgment always begins with His family and in His church.  There are so many preachers and church members that are guilty of holding the gavel and executing judgment on the rest of the world while at the same time allowing all kinds of things into their personal lives without anyone knowing about it. "We ought to be ashamed of ourselves"  At what point did God make us His Prosecutor and ask us to go after all the "Bad People?"  If I sound a little frustrated, it's because I am!  I feel we work so hard to help, encourage and assist young believers so they can grow up in the Lord with a healthy "fear" of God and not one that has them looking over their shoulders every time they mess up and fall short, only to have some "self-righteous, spiritual ego-maniac, holier than thou" to try and tear down in 2 sentences what we have worked for days, weeks and months to build up!  I feel to some degree, the church has left it's first love and lost it's true message...FORGIVENESS!  It's begun to swing the gavel and act like it has the right to judge others when in all actuality, we should only be judging ourselves.  Jesus said in Matthew 23:25 "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy--full of greed and self-indulgence!"  When we become too "Religious" for our own good, we often cease judging ourselves and only look for "prey" to pounce upon - and the judging begins.  We the church, need to spend more time cleaning up our own lives and less time trying to fix the lives of everyone we deem "messed up."  Luke 6:37 says "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven:" This is truly where the church needs to be today...Forgiving!
Let's not be guilty of being "Judge Church" by judging others, but rather do everything we can to help them solve their spiritual "case."
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The Comfort Zone 04/01/2011
 
Most people today LIVE in the comfort zone...whatever is safe, whatever is the easiest and whatever is the quickest way is often where we love to stay!  We love things just the way they are and don't want to be told to do anything different.  We accept things the way that they are in our lives when there is so much more for us to attain if we would only step out of that comfort zone and walk into it.  This is true in every area of our lives and especially as Christians.  We're saved, on our way to Heaven and life is good.  But there are people right outside our door who need to know the Lord and experience what we have!  
I love the words to this song by Casting Crowns: 
'Does anybody hear her? Does anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she's going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me.'
For many Churches, it's their 4 and no more, their 44 and no more, etc. and they seem to be content with that. But that is NOT the picture of the Church that Jesus painted for us when He said "GO out and compel them to come in so that my house may be full." Luke 14:23.  Too many Churches have too many empty seats week after week.  What are we really doing to fulfill this commission that Jesus Christ gave us?  Are we going to sit by and watch as those lost and lonely people search for the hope that's tucked away in you and me?  John Maxwell says, "If we're growing, we're always going to be out of our comfort zone" and I couldn't agree more!  At NJC, I've set a challenge before my people; to get out of their comfort zone and to accomplish the great commission that Jesus gave us & I challenge every Pastor and Church Leader to do the same.  It's time to have a LOVE REVOLUTION in the body of Christ and regain our love and burden for the lost.  Let's bust out of our comfort zone and REACH them for Jesus!  We CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN!
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PLAN OR FAIL? 03/10/2011
 
So what's your plan?

It's been said that "people don't plan to fail, they fail to plan" and I happen to agree with that statement.  Most people don't wake up and say to themselves, "I plan on failing today" but the real truth is, without proper planning and preparation, we set ourselves up for failure.  I feel that for many church goers, that is the case.  We often say, "I'm going to be successful in my walk with God today" but we unfortunately do not put a plan in place that will assure us success.

Success today is the result of several  previous days of planning. Jesus said, "You have not because you ask not."  Asking is an important part of life.  We go out to eat and ask "May I have the 9 ounce ribeye with a baked potato, butter & sour cream and a diet pepsi please?" and we expect to get what we order.  Now, hopefully, you receive exactly what you ordered, and if so, you expect to pay the price required of you from the menu when you first placed your order.  Everything in life should have an agreed upon price.  At the end of the meal is where your time and effort are spent.  The time you put in working a job for an hourly/weekly or monthly amount is agreed upon between you and your employer.  The time you spend away from your family and friends while at work, ensures that you could eat that meal with them because you now have money to do so.  Work time seems to ALWAYS be planned, but too often "work time" for God is more of a chore than a planned privilege.  Our spiritual lives must have order as well.  We must plan time for prayer, Bible reading, outreach and of course, Church.

If the art of receiving is directly connected to our asking, then it stands to reason, our asking is directly connected to our planning and knowing what we want.  The real question is, "do we really know what we want?" And "are we going to plan in order to get it?" Failure is an option, just not the one we necessarily want.  Remember, you're going to get what you ask for, so make sure that what you ask for will bring you success and not distress. 

"Make it Happen"
PBJ
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Make It Happen! 03/08/2011
 
 Have you asked God for something & it seems like He's never going to allow it to happen?

Beth & I have been believing God for some very detailed and specific things to take place in our lives and our ministry and recently spent several days fasting and praying over these things.  At the beginning of each year, we do the Annual 21 Day Fast with our NJC fam, but this was different.  An urgency to see God move drove us to our knees and we began to cry out to Him!  As we sought His face for wisdom and direction, we asked Him to let it happen,  let it happen Lord!  He spoke ever so clearly to me and gave me a mandate for our ministry.  God said, 'Make It Happen!'  An overwhelming excitement flooded our hearts as He began to drop idea after idea in our Spirits!  As a new Church plant in the Greensboro area, we don't want to be just another church!  We want to reach our City for Jesus Christ by showing them His love in every single thing that we do!  There are numerous lost, hurting & lonely people right here in the Triad and we must share the good news of the Gospel with them!  Jesus told us in Luke 14:23, '‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled." God expects US to get busy for Him and work while there is still time!  He isn't going to just drop it in our laps. We must MAKE IT HAPPEN and that's exactly what we are going to do! 

What have you been asking God to do in your life?  Are there specific things you have asked Him for that haven't come to pass yet?  Well, hold on because He promises us in Galatians 6:9, "Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up!"  Sometimes it seems that it would just be easier to give up than to keep waiting and waiting.  Maybe God is waiting on YOU.  Maybe He is waiting for you to get so desperate for an answer that you push away from the table and fast and pray like you never have before!  Maybe He is just waiting to see if you will Make it Happen!


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