What’s up CenterPointe? Here are four things I want to share
with you…
#1 Jesus Offers You A
Life Of Abundance—too many times I’ve struggled to SEE what God has ALREADY
given me. I want MORE. I want BIGGER. And then I want some MORE again! I have
more clothes than I know what to do with. I have more food than I can possibly
eat. I have more than I could possibly NEED and yet there’s this sick, selfish
part of me that wants MORE. Jesus isn’t merely talking about the THINGS we have
(or want). When Jesus talks about an ABUNDANT life he’s not talking about our
bank accounts. He’s talking about LIFE. He’s talking about our health, our relationships,
and our finances. Jesus offers us the things we NEED and they don’t often line
up with the things we WANT. We pray and ask for more STUFF while Jesus wants
our neighbor SAVED. Jesus offers us more grace, forgiveness, mercy, and love
than we can dream of or imagine… THAT’S an abundant life! It’s time to pray and
ask for a new set of eyes—eyes that will
SEE all that Jesus has done and is doing and can see ahead to the best that is
yet to come!
#2 Satan Offers You A
Life Of Slavery—oh dang. This dude wants to steal, kill, and destroy every
part of your life that has anything to do with following Jesus. I don’t believe
Satan wants you to experience pain or suffering or hardship—because it’s
usually in those moments we TURN TO God. I’d like to suggest Satan will do
whatever he can to keep you HAPPY because our HAPPINESS will distract us from
God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS. We’ll settle for the things we WANT (food, cars, clothes,
promotions, affairs, and everything else) in exchange for the things we NEED
(presence of God). Satan will steal, kill, and destroy your MINISTRY and get
you so off track that you’ll forget you were every following Jesus to begin
with. He’ll put shackles on your feet and you’ll THANK HIM FOR IT! Satan will
tempt you with a life that APPEARS to be abundant, but it’s just full of STUFF.
You have a choice. It’s up to you. Who will you follow?
#3 If You’re Not
Faithful With It, You Won’t See An Abundance Of It—God has already given
you EVERYTHING you need to do EVERYTHING He wants you to do. That statement
sounds nice… unless it doesn’t (how’s that for stating the obvious?). When you’re
struggling, when there are bills to be paid, when food is running low, when you’ve
gotta decide whether or not to pay the mortgage or the electric bill it can be
really REALLY hard to see that God has already given you everything you need.
The question isn’t whether or not God HAS given it (because we know that He
has), the question is HAVE I BEEN FAITHFUL WITH IT? Ouch. Who wants to answer
that question? Have you been faithful with your finances (tithe)? Have you been
faithful with your health (eat right + exercise)? Have you been faithful with
your relationships (offering forgiveness, serving others, showing grace)? Put
it this way: if you haven’t been faithful with it, why would you expect God to
entrust you with MORE of it?
#4 Team Time—the
fourth weekend of every month our creative teams get together for a time of
teaching, laughing, growing, and just having fun. The topic of yesterday’s team
time was “Connecting with the Congregation through Conversation.” We covered
the three E’s of speaking
- Engage
- Enthusiasm
- Prepare (work with it… it ends with an E)
Speaking to people is an AMAZING opportunity that shouldn’t
be taken lightly. I was VERY encouraged watching and listening to everyone take
to the stage and speak like a bunch of champs! If you’re interested in join the
creative team, email: serving@centerpointe.tv
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