Archive for August, 2009

Jay’s Blog 08.31.09

August 31st, 2009 | Category: Blog

Phillippians 4:6-9

Don’t you hate worrying? I know people that are just the biggest worry warts. When we worry about stuff it starts to control us in a way. I think the best definition of worry that I’ve ever heard is this:

“Worrying is accepting responsibility that God never intended you to have.”

There’s nothing wrong with being concerned, but worrying will consume you. These couple of verses help with that. There are times in our lives when it feels like everything is going wrong. We start to worry, but we shouldn’t. Easier said then done, right? Paul tells us in these verses that we should turn our worried thoughts into concerned prayers. You wanna worry less? Stop and pray more.

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Jay’s Blog 08.26.09

August 26th, 2009 | Category: Blog
John 1:35-51
Jesus gets the first of His disciples in this passage. The first thing that stands out to me is actually what is NOT said. Jesus doesn’t ask them, Where are you from? What family are you from? Do you have money? etc. Granted, He knows all of that already but none of that mattered to Him. All of these guys were so pumped up and so excited because John the Baptist pointed them to Him as The Messiah, and without question they found Him and followed Him. And they weren’t worried about if they were cool enough or if they were hanging with the right crowd or even if hanging with Jesus made them outcasts. They jumped in with both feet and trusted. Jesus didn’t care about all of that stuff that doesn’t really matter. Jesus looked for 2 things — willingness and obedience. God can mold you into anything if you have those 2 things to start off with. Are you willing to be obedient?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY VAL!!
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Jay’s Blog 08.24.09

August 24th, 2009 | Category: Blog
John 1:15-34
We start to get into the story of John the Baptist here. Again, he makes it perfectly clear that he is NOT the messiah, or even a prophet. He is only there to help pave the way for Jesus, and that is exactly what he does. The interesting thing to me, though, is how he was able to let go (as we talked about yesterday). John was a pretty well-known speaker and a lot of times he spoke to large crowds, but he wasn’t all about himself. As soon as Jesus showed up, he was perfectly fine with turning the show over to Him. Thats why he was there in the first place! He was fine with letting God/Jesus take the higher place. He was humble, and God did some amazing things through and with him because of his humility and willingness to do whatever God wanted him to do. When we let go of our arrogance and we let Jesus be honored in everything we do, God will do amazing things through you.
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Jay’s Blog 08.20.09

August 20th, 2009 | Category: Blog
pray, read, think, write, do — this is the plan; this is the commitment. As we talked about, this is something that I think we should try and do everyday. Spending time connecting with God, everyday. Find a time and a place everyday that pray and ask God to show you something as you open His Word. Then read a passage of scripture (if your not sure where to start, the book of John is a great place…that’s where I’ll be starting here), then think about what you read and how it can apply to you, then do it.
I’m going to use this space on our website to write down my thoughts during my daily connection time with God. Feel free to follow along with me:
John 1:1-14
These first few verses in John really set the stage for what is to come. These verses make it crystal clear that Jesus is God. If this fact isn’t established here, then the rest of this book is pointless. John the Baptist comes on the scene to let the people know that the creator of all is coming into the world, but unfortunately most of the world wouldn’t recognize Him and would reject HIm. That continues to this day. But the awesome thing about God is that He loves us anyway. Even when we reject Him or we turn from Him when we know we shouldn’t, He’s still there. And is says in verse 14, His love is unfailing and He is faithful. If we can keep that simple fact at the forefront of our minds and hearts; that He is God, He is in control and He will never leave us; the easier life in general will be. Let the creator of the universe handle it.
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We’re back and ready to go!

August 13th, 2009 | Category: Blog

Hey guys! Val and I are back from vaca and we’re ready to go! Hopefully you’ve all kept up with “pray, read think write  & do” in your journals. If not, don’t sweat it! Today is a great day to start! We’re looking forward to seeing everyone this Sunday and I’ll be starting a new series called ” ? “. That is actually what its called :)

Next Wednesday we dive back into The Book of Revelation and talking about the end times for a few weeks. And before you know it, Gladiator Games will be back in full force!

Can’t wait to see everyone on Sunday!

-Jay

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