From Within Our Hearts
Thinking back to my life group last week I keep thinking about his statement, “We associate guilt with church.” Wow how true that is but it’s all representative of our heart. In the New Testament Jesus did not leverage guilt to get others to do what he wanted. I’m sure he would have been great at that but Jesus consistently modeled kindness that led to repentance. Below are a couple key points about guilt.
- Guilt says I owe you an apology.
- Guilt is like a weight or a burden.
- The weight that I pick up from my past I carry into my future.
- It’s almost impossible to please someone who is carrying guilt.
- Guilt eats at the heart and it grows in the darkness but is destroyed in the light.
- Confession breaks the power of guilt.
- Confession eliminates years of guilt.
You will never be able to forgive yourself until you ask for forgiveness from the one who you offended. Take the first step towards spiritual maturity and health and forgive. You’ll be glad you did it.
A Ninja
I have to introduce you to one of our students Sean Rotter. Sean is a part of our praise band which is called, “Donny and The Praise Ninjas” and he
plays both bass and guitar. Sean plays on Sunday mornings with Jeff and this kid is super talented. His band at high school is called Squid and they have played a show at the LOFT and will be doing so again with Nick’s Mc Gowan’s Band, Last Hour Battle on November 13th.
What you may not know about Sean is that he is a Ninja. Not just in the praise band but in real life. On Friday night Sean earned his 3rd Degree Black Belt. This is a HUGE deal. In my studying of this culture I have learned that now that Sean is a 3rd Degree Black Belt he has earned the right to be a teacher and I beleive he has now earned the right to be called a Sensei.
I remember watching the Karate Kid movies as I grew up thinking how much dedication and discipline it must take to get to that point. I am so proud of Sean and when you see him congratulate him on this huge accomplishment, just don’t make him angry, you won’t like him when he’s angry.
Those Moments
I talked today in our wrap up of “So, Your Dead…Now What?” about those moments in life that you’ll remember but also those moment that pale in comparison to a moment with God in Heaven. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, no ear has heard, no eye has seen what God has in store for those who love Him. The fact is we can’t even imagine what Heaven will be like but we know that it will be better to be in God’s presence for one moment than to spend a thousand years here on earth.
What we know is that God will do away with death, mourning and pain and God will dwell with us. The lie the devil wants us to believe is that Heaven can wait…the reality is Heaven can’t wait and we need to live today with a sense of urgency and share with others the realness of a relationship with Christ and engage them with Heaven verses scaring them out of Hell. A relationship will win over religion every time.
So as great as it was with my boys today, Heaven will be indescribably better than anything I could share with you. Study and beg God to reveal to you His nature and our eternal destiny.
So, Your Dead…Now What? Week 2
Sunday, November 1st – So You’re Dead…Now What” – Heaven from Fellowship Today on Vimeo.
So, Your Dead…Now What? Week 1
So You’re Dead…Now What? – Hell from Fellowship Today on Vimeo.
Reveal Weekend
