WholeHeartedLife

Thoughts on Being Pursued...

My message this weekend is titled, "The Ultimate Gift". It's based on the story found in Matthew 2:1-12. In my study for this message over the last couple of weeks I had a couple of thoughts that won't make it into Sunday's message but I wanted to share them with you anyway.

The Magi (better known as the Wise Men) were pursuing God. The journey these guys took to Bethlehem was one of pursuing - they were pursuing the newborn King of the Jews. You know, I have spent the majority of my life running from God rather than pursuing Him. I am thankful that before I was open to Him that He continued to pursue me.

As much as I would like to think of myself (TODAY) as the "pursuer", in my honesty I can tell you that I am still the "pursued" for I have not arrived, not even a little. He has revealed His salvation to me, which I have received, but He is daily teaching me (when I'm teachable ) how to surrender in such a way that He lives through me and manifest Himself through me.

In my daily life God is pursuing me - teaching me and living through me. Some of the ways that He is teaching is...

• He pursues us through our relationships. I wonder, is He a part of your relationships?
• He pursues us through our kidz. How are you demonstrating Him to them?
• He pursues us through our trials. He is always there teaching - am i listening?

Why would our great, perfect God go to such great lengths to connect with someone like me? I don't know that I will ever understand the answer to that question.

82

What kind of a year was '82 for you? I remember a lot about '82...

• remember "Ebony and Ivory"
• ...and speaking of Michael Jackson, he released "Thriller" is '82.
• Epcot Center opens at Disney.
• Best Picture of '82, Chariots of Fire.
• Randy Rhodes, guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, was killed in a freak plane crash.
• Remember the Tylenol scare?
• Ronnie James Dio leaves Sabbath for a solo career.
• The Commodore 64 Home Computer was released.

It's Christmas time and there are people in your world who are waiting - what are they waiting for? YOU! I don't know where this group got these stats, but they are intriguing!

Let me know if you are interested in a invite file that you can send by email - I'll send it right to ya!

Deal?

"Nite of Worship - Christmas Edition" this past Sunday Nite got me pretty excited about Christmas. It's fun to celebrate the true reason for the season with a big crowd of people. To look out over the crowd and see the smiles as people sang and worshiped their Lord - like I said yesterday, "Good Stuff".

I am really excited about our Christmas Services coming up on Sunday, December 21st. 3 Great Services - 8.21 - 9.51 & 11.11am. We have some great music planned - we have a great overall service in the works but there is one thing that we are working extra special on: communicating the true message of Christmas. We are always pretty evangelistic here at hyde park (one of our core goals is to make the gospel as understandable as possible) but on days like this we go all out to make the Story of God as understandable as possible because we expect people to be in the house who normally wouldn't be with us. I remember what it was like visiting a church as an "outsider" and feeling out of place and not really "getting" what was going on.

I don't know who you've been praying for this year, who you've been talking to about God, who you've been inviting to church. You know, those one or two people who seem to be on your "impossible" list (remember, with God "Nothing is Impossible" ).

What about that lady that graciously waits on you at your favorite restaurant? Invite her. Or the dude that you talk to at the convenience store? Invite him. The new couple who moved in down the street - or the young school teacher that you've been avoiding inviting to church (isn't it funny that we assume others don't want what we have found?). We haven't said it in a while but here it goes:

DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO GET THEM TO ONE OF OUR 3 CHRISTMAS SERVICES ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21ST.

If you will do whatever is necessary to get them here (bribe them with lunch, tell 'em you'll pick them up or you'll wash their dog, rake their yards... whatever it takes right?) we will present the Gospel in a very explanatory and creative way in the power of God's Spirit ("Lord, be with us...") and pray with you that God will come into their lives in a revolutionary way.

Deal? If they NEED Jesus get them here! This is one day that very well may change their life!

Christmas is Bustin' Out This Sunday!!!

Really looking forward to this weekend as we kick Christmas into full-gear...

1st way - Our new message series, "A Gift Worth Sharing" begins this Sunday Morning. Christmas music will be in "full-effect" - Pastor Harrell is ready to talk on "the Gift" and we have a very special emphasis on the way that our "Gift" can affect people all around the world! Don't miss it! Oh yeah, almost forgot... we have baptism during the 11.11 worship experience!!! Is Sunday gonna SLAM or what?

 2nd way - Sunday nite at 6pm is our very special, "NITE OF WORSHIP - CHRISTMAS EDITION". Our last N.O.W. was in September and we had a very special evening - don't expect this one to be any less. We're gonna bring out the Christmas Jams (And quite a few oldies as well  ). This is definitely a Nite you don't want to miss.

Tell a friend - let's experience Christmas together.

Some "Better this Christmas" Stories

I have really enjoyed the stories of people who took Sunday's Message to heart. Such as the person who...

• Ran into a man after church who was homeless and was in need of something to eat. He bought the man lunch and received a much a greater blessing than the one who ate. I thought out loud with him, "I wonder how many church people it took to pass him before one fed him?". (Matthew 25:35-40).
• Or my sweet friend, Christine, who has decided on cutting down on family and friends and giving the extra to missions. As she said, "Missions has always been very close to my heart and although I can't go to a foreign field maybe I can help someone else (thru a monetary gift) carry the message and be a part of winning someone for Christ". Amen.
• Melissa said (via Facebook - you really need to get on there - whatcha waiting on?), "Mike we decided not to do the gifts this year just be wth family and hang out it makes the holiday so much less stressful".
• Another friend from out of town, Rhonda, said, "Katelyn (my oldest daughter) asked for 4 small gifts this year and she wants to give food and presents to a family in need. So, that is what we decided to to do, kids only Christmas but with an emphasis on giving. I am very proud of Katelyn leading the way!". Awesome!!
• My main man, Herman, says, "with every present our kids get, we go through the toys/books/clothes and say "ok, kids... we're going to give this away to some child who is not as fortunate as you"... we're trying to cultivate that in them... we really try to stress to the children that this is the time to remember that our Lord miraculously became a newborn baby and walked the earth long ago. if they walk away w/ anything at this time, i want it to be that".
• I loved this one from Elizabeth: "The shoeboxes were a good start for us this year. My eyes were really opened when my oldest couldn't understand why we couldn't send iPods and DVDs. She totally didn't get the fact that some people in the world don't have electricity. It was really great to be able to teach them about the importance of giving. My Christmas list this year has also gone from 35 to 12. I'm so excited about the time and money that's going to free up for giving to those who are less fortunate".

I myself have had multiple opportunities to share the message of Christmas and get a little more excited about this by the day. The one that affected me the most affected my son Matthew also. We had the priviledge of helping out a man and as I shared what I had worked out his voice broke and he was visibly tearing up. Matthew very quietly observed the whole thing taking it all in. When the man left us Matt said, "Dad, he was about to cry - I could hear it in his voice. It's like when you're happy, dad, and your voice shakes - that's what he sounded like.". He then related it to some great Sunday teaching he gets here at hyde park (THANKS KIDZ INC. WORKERS!!! Our kidz are "getting it" thanks to many of you ). Just to share that with my child was worth it all.

You know, blessing others from your heart, in the love of Jesus, is fun. What's your story?

Why We Give at Christmas

Christmas is a yearly reminder that God is here, NOW, that God cares for us, NOW, that God wants us to follow His plan for our life, NOW and that He wants us to turn from all that distracts us from Him NOW so He can show us what life is really all about! We need to leverage Christmas for His glory.

If you and I are going leverage Christmas in such a way that we have a deeper spiritual impact, the first thing we need to do is to change the focus of our Christmas. For most people, the focus of Christmas is the giving of (fill in the blank?) Gifts. You know Christmas was never about gifts, Christmas is ALL about the birth of JESUS. People say, "well, we know that Christmas isn't about giving gifts, but, you know, when Jesus was born the Magi brought him gifts". Yeah, that's true, they did, but if you read the Christmas story you will quickly see that nowhere in those scriptures would the giving of gifts be the focus. Christmas is all about the announcement that God is Here. Somehow we've lost that message.

I know in the past I've said this at some point over Christmas: At Christmas, we give because Christ GAVE (go ahead, fill in the blank on your outline ). So I'm thinking about this statement last week and was having a problem reconciling it with much of what I was thinking until I had the following thought:

For me, I don't think that Christmas is about giving "because Christ gave". I think that we give at Christmas to REMIND OTHERS that Christ gave - HUGE DIFFERENCE. Anybody can give. If we give without letting them know that Christ gave, we're just giving and there is nothing inheritantly spiritual about that.

This Christmas, as you give to others in the Spirit of Christ, I challenge you to remind others that Christ gave...

• in a short note - I just wanted you to know that Jesus has changed my life. I love and appreciate you - if you ever need me to pray for you, PLEASE, call me. Merry Christmas
• through simple acts of kindness - when going through the drive-in at the fast food place, buy the person behind you desert telling the cashier, "just tell them I said Jesus changed my life - Merry Christmas".
• By living visibly patient, blessing everyone with the "Spirit of the Season" (by the way, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, IS the Spirit of the season - noticably share His love and you will bless others).

May this Christmas season be the most spiritually productive time that you have ever experienced. And don't forget to share your stories with me!!

Better this Christmas

So maybe this Christmas will be different...

At least that's my thought coming out of Sunday's message.

It's funny... for the past couple of years I start in the latter part of the year saying to Keyna, "we're gonna do Christmas different this year..." only for the past few years not really get there. I tell her,  "this Christmas, we're gonna be like Jesus and make His birthday about others..." only to come to the end of it all and feel as if I dropped the ball somewhere down the line.

I KNOW that Christmas isn't about trees... I KNOW that Christmas is about presents... I KNOW that Christmas isn't about Santa... but you know, lifelong habits aren't easy to break, are they?  

And don't even get me started on people complaining about the commercialism at Christmas. It seems that the Christian Mantra at Christmas is complaining about the "holiday" stuff (stores saying "happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" and complaining that the world is trying to take the Christ out of Christmas). From what I can tell, most Christians don't live out their Christmas much different than those who don't know Jesus. In other words, they whine about commercialism and about taking Christ out of Christmas while standing in line with a full cart of Christmas items @ 4.30 am on Black Friday @ the WalMart wearing a I kissed Santa Claus this morning sweatshirt, eating a rudolph the red-nosed reindeer cookie, ya know?

I don't know about you, but I want my Christmas to be more - I don't want it to be words - I want to be all about action. I have a desire to give more to others at Christmas - to love others more - and to share the true message of Jesus more.

Does this resonate with you? How will you change your actions this Christmas to make this a reality?