Sunday Nite

Were you there?

We had a great day at hyde park - so much to celebrate. Short Sunday afternoon nap out of the way - another one probably on the way, a little football - good times. Here's what's on my mind tonite:

• All glory to our God for His provision of the Word this morning. This has been a pretty crazy week for me - 3 days out of town (Mon-Weds), a Saturday morning conference among other things. With all that in mind, GOD has been good to me, speaking so much in preparation in a way that made preparation easier than some other messages. I am blown-away by the way that God provides for His own!
• Pastor Dennis was in FAITHTrac 101 this morning whom I joined (along with my family) for lunch. Pastor asked me, "so how did it go?". My answer: we had a SMASHING good time. 
• If you don't get that it's because you weren't there. If you missed the message you can listen to it here - listen real carefully because YOU may get "smashed" 
• Action + Attitude = Worship   Decide to put action to your thankfulness for God's glory.
• Extra prayer thrown up this morning as I prayed that God would remove the spiritual barriers that keep people from grasping the depths of God's word. I felt as if the Lord gave me grace to deliver the message by the power of His Spirit. 
• So many people responded to today's message in brokenness. Many, many more, however, walked out the door like the 9 lepers from this morning's scripture - receiving the blessing but not responding in an adequate way. 
• The breaking of "my box": I had no plans to act that out today, had not even thought of it but when I awoke this morning breaking "the flask" was on my mind. Always remember that A visual is worth a thousand words - driving home the message in a powerful way.
•  you should have seen me looking through the cabinets this morning looking for a "flask" that I could destroy (without getting in trouble with Keyna).
• So thankful for hyde park worship. Rhonda did an amazing job leading us to the throne of grace through music this morning.
• Music today: Blessed Be Your Name (Matt Redman), Glory (Hillsong), Worthy is the Lamb (Hillsong), The Power of Your Love.
• We had the privilege of baptizing 10 new believers this morning! What a privilege it is to share in the baptism of friends whose lives are being changed by the Lord Jesus.
• For those of you who were judging my friend Richard as I told you the story about his "rough edges", I just want to point out that he is one of the most brilliant people I have EVER MET, his personal knowledge of the scriptures is amazing. He is probably also much deeper theologically than you . He totally makes my head hurt talking to him!
• Really enjoyed meeting all the new people today (as always). If they were friends of yours, please mention that to them.
• Had a huge UNCP crowd this morning! Love it when the college students are in our midst. God is doing a great work through these young people there. 
• We were sorry to hear of the UNCP Football loss yesterday in the NCAA playoffs. Great, great season though fellas - so proud of our coaches and team.
• When I got home today I thought to myself, it's amazing that I get to do this! Just doesn't get old to see Jesus at work, challenging people and changing lives.

I close by saying that God is STILL doing amazing things at hyde park. Yes, we are in a time of transition - we are less than 4 months away from the retirement of our Pastor of 25 years. Yes, there are people who have chosen to jump to conclusions about the direction of our church - it's a weird time for those of us who are "in the know". I purposely choose not to mention it much because it is my desire to stay out of all of it for obvious reasons. God is STILL doing amazing things in our midst, maybe you just gotta know where to look.

I challenge you all to keep your eyes open this week for the opportunity to be a person who "gives thanks". Much love to all of you.