“Because of Christ and our faith in him,[d] we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.” v. 12 (NLT)
I have to be honest, this is one of those verses that I have read but skipped over many times because the last part of this chapter is so powerful. However, today when I read, this verse jumped out at me and convicted me of how I treat prayer. Prayer is my direct access to God and to think that I am entering into the presence of God and sharing words with Him and He is listening to me is so huge. Sadly, many times we, I, will pray without thinking about what is taking place. I am thankful that I can come to God anytime and anywhere, and He hears me. But my attitude and gratitude sometimes isn’t in awe of what is actually taking place. Sometimes I am so casual in approaching God, that I lessen all that Christ did on the Cross which made the way for me to have direct access to God. Maybe this doesn’t make sense.
Today, I want to remember each time I pray that I am entering into the presence of the most Holy God. I so desperately want to be changed from the inside out to be more like Him and less like me and I want to talk to Him as I would a friend. What an awesome privilege we have through Christ to have direct access to God, let us never forget that!
What a day!!! It all started with the boys both getting ready for School today at the same time. Yes, Jackson started preschool today. I was so excited for him and he seemed to have had a great day. Here are some pictures,
After we dropped him off to school I had the pleasure of participating on a “Man’s Panel” in MOPS. I was the only guy on the panel that had his wife in the room. Talk about accountability! It was fun and the questions were good. There are somethings that I feel I am doing really well at as a Husband and Father but there are definitely somethings I can work on. I learned a lot just from listening to the other guys. I was blown away by some of the answers when it comes to date nights, conversations, evaluations and stuff like that. My prayer was and still is that it would be helpful and real for all that were involved.
Just met a guy at church in the hallway of all places. As we talked I learned a little about him. He introduced himself as Randy from rockstarpreacher.com That website has a pretty cool ring to it. Come to find out that Randy has a teenage son who doesn’t attend church for a number of reasons. Hearing his story opened the opportunity for me to share my story of how I came to know the Lord. It’s amazing how God can use stories to connect strangers but he does. After sharing I learned that Randy has a teenage son, so I gave him a quick tour of the student center, and made sure he had some info.
I am excited to get to know Randy and his son better. I am hoping to grab some Starbucks and chil with his 15 year son in the next couple of days! In the meantime check out rockstarpreacher.com! It’s something that is just hatching and Randy’s dream that God will use it to influence those turned off by church but possibly open to God!
“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.” v. 4-5 (NLT)
I don’t know if we realize how big these first two words are or how much they mean. But these two words ‘But God’ change everything about us. You see, we could put any situation in front of these two words, for example, ‘I felt hopeless, But God . . .’ The important thing to remember is God can step into any situation and change it.
Today, will you give your situation to God so you can experience the ‘But God’ today?
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.[b]7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.” v. 3-8 (NLT)
Can you believe that from the very beginning God had a plan for us to be in relationship with Him. Before He created anything, he knew about you and about me and His plan was for us to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Can you imagine what that would look like today? To be holy and with out fault has always been the goal. However, since sin has entered our world, the enemy does everything possible to keep us from experiencing this and become this type of person. It would be really depressing if it ended there, but the good news is that God has done everything possible to get our attention and remind us of His unfailing love by through the life, death, and Resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. In Christ, we can be restored to the relationship that sin separated. That’s the Good News of the Gospel, and leads to God’s ultimate plan found in Ephesians 1:10,
“And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.” v. 10 (NLT)
One day Jesus is coming back! He is coming back with power and authority to restore what sin has made a mess of. It will be a glorious and sad day for all. For those that have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior it will be a time of rejoicing in His return. For those that denied Christ, or chose not believe, or even waited for “the right time” it will be to late, and they will be judged according to the things they have done. Just think about that for a moment before you move on.
When it comes to your relationship with God, where are you at? As we read today, God desires to have a relationship with us, He has proven that by sending His Son to live, Die, and Come back to Life in the Resurrection. Today, may we think about this and ask God what is keeping us from being holy and without fault in His eyes. Then lets pray and ask God to forgive and restore us in Christ to be the person He created us to be before the creation of the world as we know it!
There is only One Place you will want to be on Wednesday March 11th from 7:00 – 8:30pm and that’s in the Student Center at Grace Community Church!
All Small Groups will come together for One Service, Honoring One God, Becoming One Voice, with One Challenge . . . To Bring One Friend that doesn’t know Christ! Don’t Miss it . . . it’s going to be RAD, Chill, Awesome, Chem, off the Chain, Legit, Sick and what ever catchy word you want to insert ( )!
PLANET WISDOM – MIDDLE SCHOOL RETREAT
REGISTRATION ENDS THIS WEEKEND!!!
Don’t miss this awesome retreat. We will stay the night in a hotel and attend the conference starting Friday, Feb. 27th and ending on Saturday, Feb. 28th. Register on-line cost $120!
ONE NIGHT
Wednesday March 11th from 7:00 – 8:30 in the Student Center
All Small Groups will come together for One Service, Honoring One God, Becoming One Voice, with One Challenge . . . To Bring One Friend that doesn’t know Christ! Don’t Miss it . . . it’s going to be RAD!
MAKING THE BAND
If you play an instrument or sing and want to get involved in playing in one of our worship bands now is the time… We are having a meeting on March 1st @ 12:30 in the student center to see who wants to be involved. This is not an audition just a meeting of interest. Hope to see you there. If you have any question feel free to contact: Tyler Ellison or Josh Tollison
MEXICO MISSION TRIP
Happens June 13th – 20th register online or at Seeds Book Store
Pre – $400 before April 5th with completed registration and $100 deposit.
Reg – $415 after April 5th with completed registration and $100 deposit.
Late – $425 after May 10th can only happen if space is available.
WILD WEEK
Happens July 7th – 11th register online or at Seeds Book Store
Pre – $315 before March 15th with completed registration and $100 deposit.
Reg – $335 after March 15th with completed registration and $100 deposit.
Late – $365 after April 19th can only happen if space is available.
SMALL GROUPS
Wednesdays 7-8:30pm for 6th- 10th grades
Sundays 7-8:30 for 11th – 12th grades
PS – If you are in Middle School or have a Middle School Student, don’t miss Planet Wisdom!!!! It’s happening February 27 and 28. Here is a taste of what to expect!
Mexico Mission Trip Update
The Mexico Mission Trip is right around the corner. We are expecting a lot of students participating and want to make sure everyone has all the info they need. Therefore we will hold an important Mexico Mission Trip meeting on May 10th. Here are the details:
Mexico Mission Trip Meeting (Please Note the Change)
Sunday, May 10th at 12:30 in the Student Center (for anyone interested in going)
Who Should Attend?
Students wanting to go
Parents wanting to go
Volunteers wanting to go
Parents of teenagers that want to go
At the meeting we will give info on what we will be doing the week we are there and answer questions that you may have!
This was an awesome trip last year and God did an amazing work in us and through us. We are so excited to go back this year and hope that you will join us!
Communication
THE PULSE – Help us keep Parents and Students in the know. Make sure you encourage others to sign up to receive THE PULSE via e-mail. It might be the life-line to the information they are missing! Click here to get it!!
What a blast last night was!! It was my first time, won’t be my last time to go to Main Event. We ate pizza and bowled two games and played some video games all in the normal Small Group time slot. Everyone had a good time – even David had a good time and he had a broken foot!!!! Josh Harris did a great job as a Coach putting it together and the small group leaders and interns (Colleen, Chris, Jason and Rachel) did a great job of leading and being relational with the students! Thanks for inviting me and letting me be a part of a fantastic night!
“So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.” v. 1
Freedom is expensive and many times taken for granted. Christ died to set us free from sin and from a long list of laws and regulations. Christ came to set us free – not free to do whatever we want because that would lead us back into slavery to our selfish desires. Rather, thanks to Christ, we are now free and able to what was impossible before – to live unselfishly. Those who appeal to their freedom so that they can have their own way or indulge their own desires are falling back into sin. But it is also wrong to put a burden of law-keeping on Christians. We must stand against those who would enslave us with rules, methods, or special conditions for being saved or growing in Christ.
Today think about how you live, are you led more by the Spirit and His desires, or are you led more by your own desires. There is a battle going on over the way you live and the choices you make will either set you free, or lead you to slavery, or keep you in the slavery of sin.
Last night the family made a trip to Dallas to hang out with Tyler and Jenn. Tyler serves as our Student Worship Coordinator and Jenn is a first year teacher. It has been fun getting to know them. Tyler is doing such a good job at Fusion.
After the long drive, (I respect what Tyler does even more knowing how far he drives to invest in our students) we had dinner at Royal Thai. I must say, that the food was amazing! Probably the best Chicken Fried Rice I have ever eaten. The place reminded us of our favorite restaurant in Warrensburg called Siam. I ordered the Pad Thai Chicken and Stephanie had the Mongolian Beef. The food was great, the company was awesome, the boys behaved, and it was fun just to get away and have dinner with family and friends!
Now we just have to find a Thai food place this good closer to us, any suggestions?
