- Incredible!
- Incredible stories shared this weekend by those baptized last weekend!
- In each service we had one person join me during the welcome and share why they decided to participate in the spontaneous baptism the previous weekend.
- Some of the best stories ever shared were the stories shared this past weekend.
- I called an audible on what I was planning to preach and ended up preaching Acts 8:26-40.
- The premise of the message was that God speaks and when He does it is our responsibility to respond in obedience.
- We were spontaneous again this weekend and opened up the altar and invited people to come and respond to what God was saying to them.
- Great response in each service!
- Not sure what God is doing but I want to be sure we give Him freedom to work!
- Every year July 4th is our lowest attendance or next to lowest attendance.
- NOT THIS YEAR – GREAT weekend attendance.
- So excited about the future!
- Click here to watch or listen to this past weekends message
- I am speaking at a youth camp Mon-Thurs nights in Keystone Heights – had a great night last night! Had a girl saved that the youth group had been praying for for over 1 year!! Others trusted Christ and looking forward to the service tonight!
- Looking forward to our Pastoral staff meeting tomorrow. Our staff, elders and finance team have been spending time evaluating our current values and how to bring them in line with where we are today as a church. We have some phenomenal opportunities ahead of us and we just want to make sure we are ROCK SOLID on the values that drive us before we move ahead.
- God has blessed Parkview with some great leaders and I am so thankful for their hearts and the hard work they contribute into the Kingdom!
Weekend Rewind
Healthy
In order for Parkview to accomplish its mission it must be healthy.
Click here to read what healthy looks like – good article!
Thinking outside Sunday
In light of our time in Romans 5 & 6 and in light of our talk around justification and sanctification, I wanted to share a blog post with you. Click here to read a post by Ed Stetzer (this is the pastor that my brother Barry is working with in Hendersonville,TN)
Weekend Rewind
- Parkview is 13 years old and without question I would place this past weekends services in the top 5 services in the history of our church!
- It was awesome, incredible and phenomenal all at the same time!!!
- I feel so bad for those who were not able to be there! There is no way to adequately describe the weekend!
- We sang 2 songs and then I spoke from Romans 6:1-14
- 3 points – 1. When we experience life change in Christ it is demonstrated by not abusing grace. 2. When we experience life change in Christ we embrace the Christ life. 3. When we experience life change in Christ we express it through baptism.
- Because the message concluded with a call to follow Christ in baptism, we then gave people an opportunity to be baptized.
- It was spontaneous baptism.
- If anyone wanted to be baptized we had, shorts, t-shirts, towels, and flip-flops waiting.
- Absolutely unbelievable – 18 people were baptized in our services!!!!!!
- The next day, as I looked back on the event, what I realized was that 12 were men and almost all were under 40. Loved seeing young men go public with their faith!!!
- One mother followed Christ in baptism and as soon as the service was over her 17 year old daughter came up to me and said, “I need to be saved”. My wife took the 17 year old girl into my office and led her to Christ! Absolutely incredible!
- You just had to be there!
- God moved in all 3 of our services!!!
- To God be ALL the GLORY!
- I have received all kinds of feedback from the weekend experience!!
- Love that our people love seeing God move in a mighty way!!!
- We have changed our plans for this coming weekend in response to what God did last weekend!
- Can’t wait to see what happens this weekend at Parkview!!
- You can click here to listen to the message. The video link will be there shortly.
- Click here for my notes
- I cannot praise God enough for His move in our services! It was amazing!
External Focus
Our tendency as humans is to become inwardly focused. My pull is toward self and away from others. I can be narcissistic, self-centered, and oblivious to the needs of others. Because this is true of humans this can also be true of churches.
One of my desires has always been to help Parkview be externally focused. I want to see us fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) and the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:35-40). I want to see us follow the example of our Savior (John 13:1-17). Being externally focused is not the challenge – staying externally focused is!
I am so thankful for a faith family that embraces serving and caring for others. Last week we had a wonderful response to a last minute ask when it came to bringing water bottles for our firefighters. The week before that we stuffed a pickup truck load full of food for our food pantry – just yesterday a family from our church was served out of the pantry. Three weeks ago on a Saturday morning over 100 people from our church blitzed the city with Random Acts of Kindness. This past weekend we had another guest that was a result of the RAK event! The RAK event was a “beta run” for opportunities that we will be engaging in this Fall. Beginning in the Fall of 2011, one Saturday a month, we will engage in ImpACT Saturday. On each ImpACT Saturday we will have multiple opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus to our community in a way that leverages the person God created us to be.
For several months my desire has been to raise the Evangelism temperature of Parkview. I am so thankful for a staff, elder team, leaders and a church family that have a desire to share Christ in loving and meaningful ways. Our mentality is not if you want us come visit – we will take Christ to the streets.
Click here to read an article that resonates with the topic above.
Parkview, our greatest days lie ahead – not as we think about ourselves, but as we live to bring life to others!
Where do babies go?
This past weekend in 2 out of 3 of the services I talked about where do unborn children who die in the womb spend eternity. It was not a main part of my message. In fact, it was really a side not to the main message but it was in the passage so I touched on it briefly. Someone emailed me a question about what I said and so I thought I would post the portion of my sermon notes that death with the subject.
It was through Adam that sin and death gripped our race. We don’t die for our own sins. Normally, we would die for our own sins; but, as Paul goes on to argue, there are even some — babies, for instance — who haven’t sinned at all, and yet they still die. Vs.14 …even over those who had not sinned…
If babies have not sinned and yet have a sin nature, does that mean that they go to hell? Not necessarily. First, we know that the children of believers are sanctified by the presence of a believing parent (1 Corinthians 7:14). Secondly, David had the assurance that his baby would meet him in heaven (2 Samuel 12:23). Finally, we know that at the end of it all, God, the judge of the entire world, will do right.
If there are the children of unbelieving parents in heaven, it is important to understand that it is not because they are innocent, but because the rich mercy of God has been extended to them as well.
If you would like my entire sermon notes just click here.
Weekend Rewind
- Father’s Day worshiping the Father – what a way to begin the celebration!
- Loved all the dad’s modeling spiritual leadership!
- The father’s day video was strong
- Dan and Juhlya brought a powerful song for dads – great lyrics
- I am really enjoying going through Romans 5-7 verse by verse.
- This weekend (Romans 5:12-21) was straight on. There was no way to gloss over the result of Adam’s sin – Thank God for the second Adam!
- The best part about the whole weekend was those who trusted Christ as there Savior!!! Love seeing people cross the line of faith.
- We had a very good response to bringing water and sports drinks for the firefighters battling the wildfires. Filled up the pickup truck. Thanks to all those who participated!
- I love what God is doing at Parkview! The best is yet to come!
Parkview helps Firefighters
I walked out my door Wednesday morning and was immediately pummeled by the heat and smoke! Now just imagine putting on your fire gear, grabbing your equipment and fighting wild fires all day. One of the firemen of our church texted me a photo and message yesterday – the photo was a scorched and barren area and in the text he told me 350 acres had just burnt in 3 hours, he was working in 95 degree heat and the gnats were eating his face off. I KNOW YOU JOIN ME IN GIVING A STANDING OVATION to all of our firefighters!
Last week, as a part of our random acts of kindness event our church delivered over 25 pies, 7 pans of lasagna, and more than 300 bottles of water to the different fire stations and wild fires staging area. I want to personally thank all those who participated in a any way to make that a reality!! At the same time I would like to make you aware of another opportunity. We have been contacted and asked if we could help again. There is still a great need for bottled water and sports drinks! This weekend we will be collecting these supplies and delivering them at the close of our weekend services. We already had somebody donate $100 and I am certain that the rest of our Parkview family will once again step up with extreme generosity. At all 3 of our weekend services we will have a pickup truck parked right in front of the entrance to our building. If you would like to donate bottled water or sports drinks just place them in the bed of the truck. If you need assistance someone will be there to lend you a hand.
Most importantly, let’s be faithful in our prayers for the firefighters and in our prayers for rain!
I will see you this weekend and look forward to an incredible time of worship at we celebrate our great God and King!
with of or both
Three weeks ago as we began our series, ROMANtic Love, we spoke about being at peace with God. During the message I alluded to the fact that there is a difference between peace with God and the peace of God. Below is a portion of my sermon notes that I did not preach due to time:
Caution: there is one thing you can’t mistake here because it will cause problems in your theology. You cannot join together the peace with God and the peace of God.
Some people are confused there. The peace of God is what we enjoy when we continue to walk by faith with Him day by day. It is subjective. It is relative to each individual. We are told in Philippians that we are not to be anxious over anything.We are not to worry but to trust God and to pray. Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
I may have peace with God. It can never be interrupted. It is through JesusChrist. He keeps it and maintains it. However, I may be very distraught in my spirit because I have made a choice that wasn’t very smart. I chose not to believe His Word and I chose to look at my circumstances and try to go the route of my flesh.
Weekend Rewind
- The weekend started with our Random Acts of Kindness event Saturday morning. We had a phenomenal turnout with over 100 people participating.
- It was great to see families serving together. It was great to see a Life Group serving together.
- I met 2 ladies in church this weekend because someone had gifted them with a Random Act of Kindness. They both said they would be back next week and the one lady said she would bring her husband.
- We continued in week 2 in our series, ROMANtic Love.
- I am really looking forward to teaching verse by verse through Romans 5-7!
- I am so privileged to pastor where people eat up God’s Word. I love preaching at Parkview!
- I am also thankful that our church is not only about information but also application.
- Mades Meas, a national missionary from Cambodia ,was with us in all of our weekend services. Thanks to everyone who invested in supplies for his new dormitory. We raised over $1,100! Thanks for your generosity!
- This weekend our church generously invested their time in local missions and their treasure in foreign missions!
- That has got to cause God to grin!
- Also, stuff the truck was stuffed!! Thanks for giving to the food pantry.
- Denise and I kicked off another Get Connected and enjoyed our time with the new group. One of the people in attendance had just trusted Christ in the 11:00 service!
- To all of our volunteers who served this weekend, I want you to know we had a number of people come to Christ – thanks for making that possible!!!!!
What I Am Reading
