Power to Change the Way I Think

It's a very interesting time we live in. Most of us are completely convinced that the way we think is absolutely correct. Which is no surprise, when we take a look at God's Word...

Proverbs 21:2 -"All a man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart."

But the Lord weighs the heart...sadly, most of us have a hard time stepping on his scale.

Sunday, in our 8:30am Contemporary Service, I will be continuing our journey through the Book of Acts, focusing on Chapter 10. Peter has quite an encounter with God, which challenged the way he thought about the Gentiles. The great part about this is that God did indeed, change the way Peter thought.

A good question for us to bring before God is, "When was the last time God changed the way I thought?"

I was thinking about Ananias, who was asked in Acts 9 by the Lord to go pray for Saul...Saul who had been persecuting the early Church and throwing men and women into jail. Saul who was doing great damage to the early Church and causing lots of fear...





What would I do?



What if God spoke to me and asked me to go pray for this guy...?

Would I do it?

What did Ananias do?

Well, I love the way the Bible clearly shows Ananias's hesitation...you can almost hear the quiver in his voice...
"Lord, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem..."

But Ananias went to Saul in obedience.

I just LOVE this story! This is what we'll be speaking about this Sunday morning in our 8:30am Contemporary Service. Join us! GO ahead and invite Osama if you'd like!

Quote of the Day...

So Gary and I were standing in line to see a movie yesterday. There were 2 adults and 1 child standing in front of us buying their tickets. I really wasn't paying much attention, until I heard this...

"Two adults and one child, for Sex and the City".

I looked at Gary, who instantly saw the horrified look on my face. He gave me one of those "please don't say anything" looks. So, I tried to calm myself down by saying, "Nice!"

I just kept wondering why it didn't stick in her throat to say, "and one child for Sex and the City".

God help us! After my initial outrage, I found myself praying for her.

Seriously...this completely blew my mind.

Home Sweet Home!

No, I'm not referring to my home. I'm referring to the apparent mindset of the early church in Acts. They seemed very happy in Jerusalem, which would have been great, had they not been given direct orders by Jesus, that they had other places to go...

Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

They hadn't branched out to Judea or Samaria, much less the ends of the earth...but they were about to...

What brought on this sudden move?

Courage?

An increase in their witnessing budget?

Nope...

What brought them to the place where they would scatter was...persecution. Saul was dragging believers out of their homes and throwing in jail. So, suddenly Jerusalem didn't seem so cozy to them anymore.

This sounds like bad news, but guess what...it was GREAT news for the Kingdom! Believers who fled Jerusalem went to places like...you guessed it...Samaria and Judea and brought the Word of God with them...

Acts 8:4, "Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went."

This will be our topic this Sunday in our 8:30am Contemporary Service. Join us!