Sunday night reflections

photos by Gary Welling sonshinephotography.com

We took time today to address our thinking. We must guard our minds and take captive every thought, so that our minds do not get muddied,polluted or poisoned with wrong thoughts. Every day we have choices to make regarding our thinking. We can choose to be pessimistic or optimistic.

We must be intentional about protecting and guarding what gets put into our cage of thoughts.

As I said today, we are directly impacted by many outside influences. If we are not careful we can be groomed by Satan and move from the mooring point of truth. We can easily become desensitized to evil. And all it takes is one little piece of poison to damage the whole mind. I actually demonstrated this by placing one little piece of rat poisoning in a pumpkin pie.

If you were there this morning, Basketballs were flying all over the auditorium. As I was stressing the need to take captive every single thought and making it obedient to Jesus. If the thought was not obedient then throw it out. Boy did that wake up the place as balls were tossed.

Way too many followers of Jesus, spend their lives pointing out faults, finding the negative in every situation, and sucking the life out of people. It's time we remove the negative influences in our lives that damage our minds.

I honestly think if we gain control of our thoughts we could live to the potential Jesus wants us to live!

Sunday Night reflections

I had this feeling, as I was preparing for this message this week that God was up to something really special. It hard to describe how you know it before hand, but after 15 years of prepping for messages, you begin to see God at work way before the weekend.

We are in a series called "5 more lies of Satan" and I knew that the lie we were going to debunk today was more prevalent then most realized. You see, just last weekend as I stood in a valley on a mountaintop with men, God made it clear to me what needed to be spoken today. The lie "I'm the only one with this sin."

So as we prepared for the weekend as a staff, we felt like God wanted us to do more then come and kneel and confess our sins. We knew he wanted us to do something symbolic. So, I spoke clearly on repentance, and confession, and invited people to come and write their secret sins on a piece of paper, and toss it into a metal tub. I then would take them outside and burn them.

So, as we were singing I walked outside and dumped them into a hot fire. I found myself blown away, by what God did. People flooded to the altars in both auditoriums and were set free. The video was placed behind the last song as people sang and they watched the ashes drift away. I had no idea that this photo was being snapped, as I knelt and prayed. This was a Sunday that people will look back on the rest of their lives! Praise God that Satan was defeated and truth surfaced today!

sunday night reflections

This service today might have been one of my all-time favorites at Grace. And here is why?

If we truly applied the lessons that Jesus gave us in his Word today our marriages could be changed forever. It was one of those times where I knew in my heart that Satan's lies were defeated.

I was moved deeply as husbands wrote on the windows and took their wives by the hands and walked them to their cars. You see, I long for Grace Community to rise above the ashes and to be known for Christ Centered marriages.

The video that our Tech director and worship guys did was deeply moving and the Spirit of God was strongly present in the room. And I just finished small groups with some quality families who discussed how God moved in their hearts today

Some truths today that were spoken.

If you are unhappy in your marriage it is probably your fault and not your spouse..

You will never be able to change your spouse only God can do that.

Your spouse will rise in confidence and beauty to the level that you place value of them.

If you marry during the infatuation stage of love and are not aware of the other 3 stages you may wonder " what in the world did I do"

You are to love your spouse even if you never get anything in return.

Please God, may we take the steps today that were shared and truly serve one another.

Sunday NIght Reflections

As I close out my evening, I am overwhelmed with God's goodness to us. He showered his love all over the campus of Grace Community today. He gave us blue skies and a chance to reach people with the Gospel.

There were breathtaking moments of worship...

Musicians in the beds of trucks...

Lives changed forever...

Sidewalks full of people walking to the service...

Over 200 motorcycles in a early morning ride that was breathtaking...

Fun, Dad Fest games...

And a campus loaded with people from everywhere. Never in my lifetime have we seen anything like this at Grace Community.

My head is spinning with moments, people, and snapshots of God at work. Thanks Jesus for pouring your blessing all over this day. My hope is that you were pleased by our efforts, to get the Word out, to a community that desperately needs it.

Humbled, Wiped-out, and Changed by God's blessing on the day.

Oh yeah, the winning ticket holder was a Deputy Sheriff on duty! Now that is just too cool! I trust you were as blessed as I was today!

sunday night reflections

Today we began a new series in the Book of James. In my mind it was one of those benchmark moments for Grace Community Church. I gave an honest hard look at suffering and trials.

God moved in people's hearts, and it was great family time together. God confirmed in my heart what I knew to be true...that he is able to carry us in our waiting times. I felt like I walked into the front room of someone's home, and we just revealed our hearts candidly.

I will say what I said this morning. Grace is a good family to be part of. We ended our services with this song that washes over me like a warm shower. Listen to it and let it do for you, what it did for us this morning as our worship pastors sang it.

Sunday Night Reflections

We wrapped up our Uncharted Series with uncharted kindness. I truly believe that if we were kind to one another, it would stand out. We are so prone to give back what we receive, instead of responding in love.

So today we planted Gracies all over our building as people filtered out of our services, with signs that said free hugs. It was so much fun watching people hug one another.
We also placed people outside our doors, as people entered and left, and they shouted free compliments to them, as they passed by. Shouldn't the church be the kindest place on earth?

One of the many goals that Grace has this year is to be the Kindest Church in Elkhart County. I trust today was just the beginning.

Sunday night reflections

Few words will be able to describe what God did this morning at Grace, during our Christmas Worship Services. We talked about the Advantages of knowing Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

We are no longer condemned.

We are not guilty!

We don't have to carry the baggage of our past any longer.

Jesus took everything to the cross and we are no longer filthy...

We have an anchor of hope!

The anchor is firm and secure in Jesus!

It is rooted in the bedrock of the cross

It is available to anyone!

He never let go!

Help them see it Jesus, please! They are one step away from security in Jesus!

They came and grabbed the rope anchored to the cross!

The Spirit kept bringing them!

The aisle was full of new followers of Jesus!

We left singing He never let go! I am still overwhelmed by what Jesus did this morning! Thanks Jesus for the cross, it is the core of our belief system!

We came and rejoiced with the new followers! Pass on the message!

Romans 10:14-15 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?