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February 23, 2023
in Church, DTOTD
by Brendon
0 Comments

Hump Day Encouragement Posted on February 27, 2019 by Brendon

Normally by Wednesday, the week has already taken a toll on all of us. It could be the fact that we are busy and we have been running all week long to appointments, doctors offices, schools, practices, games etc. It could be that we are down in the dumps on how long winter has been, then we get a glimpse of warmth only to have it taken away again. Maybe that is only here in St Louis. Whatever it might be, we typically look at Wednesday as the downslide of the rest of the week, looking forward to the weekend.

Whats funny about this conundrum we seem to walk into every week, is that we tell get hyped for the weekend only to start the week drained from whatever it was that we did over the weekend! Granted, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Really its not a bad thing at all.

Encouragement is one thing that always lifts me up. Not sure about you, but I love hearing an encouraging word. It brightens the day a little and makes whatever the next task is a little easier to dive into.

So I hope what this scripture is for you on this Hump Day – an encouraging word that can push you to the end of the week and into the weekend!

John 15:9-17:

9“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.16You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.

 

 

This is a reminder that we all need –

Jesus loves you.

Jesus died for you.

Jesus wants us to love people just like he loves us.

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a
February 23, 2023
in Church, DTOTD
by Brendon
0 Comments

un-learning

” for even the twelve had to unlearn many things before they could effectively serve him.” – Warren Wiersbe – Be(series) Compassionate – Luke 1-13 pg. 79

  It would be hard pressed to say that there are things in our lives that have been engrained in our beings throughout life. If we can state clearly and without doubt, that we have nothing to unlearn……then I would state that you might be joking or that you don’t need to read this. A friend of mine once said in a sermon, ” if you think your relationship with Jesus is good and you don’t need anything right now, then you’re probably lying.” I would agree with this statement 100%! All of us have things in our lives that hold us back from the fullness that is God’s grace that can lead us to a peaceful and loving life. The interesting thing about this situation that we all find ourselves in life is that there is most likely things that we have to unlearn to be able to move us forward in the relationship that we want or desire with Jesus. Jesus in the book of Luke when he is giving his Beatitudes sermon, challenges not just the mass amount of people that is following and listening to him, but he is challenging the Disciples that he had just appointed to be the new nation or to bring in the era of the Church. Everything from how we act around others, to how we learn or what we learn, to what we watch, what we listen to, who we listen to and how we make decisions every day. Jesus is challenging all of them in the way that they look at their every day situations and circumstances and to think differently and react differently than what they have done the rest of their lives, up to that point. There was something that came out of reading the chapter from Warren Wiersbe’s Be series book that rings true in reflection on what my journey has been like.
  1. Humility – this is something that is hard to do because I believe that at the heart of what Humility is, is misinterpreted or misunderstood by those who hear the word. The word Humility is not something that entails putting yourself ‘down’ when coming around others. In my estimation and my understanding, Humility is the process in which you ‘ elevate those around you’ more than you elevate yourself. Case in point, I have a feeling that all of us have the ‘one upper’ in our circle of influence. I know for a fact that I have run through seasons of life where I have been that person. It’s not the best place to find yourself. However, as we journey and work hard at this idea of Humility, it allows us to see how Jesus cares so much about you and I, that he was raised on a cross to save us from the life and ending that we deserve. W. Wiersbe has a great quote – ” The Humble person is the only kind of person that God can Save.” If we take a snapshot of our lives, have we been saved because we have accepted and humbled ourselves before God stating that we need him?
  2. Character – This one I believe can be grasped a little easier than other big words in the Christian Journey. However I loved the way that Wiersbe broke this down – [Character is Determined by the Choices that we make. However, choices are made by the VALUES that we have learned. The Values that we base our life on, are based on the values accepted by faith.] I wonder and I am going to be doing this myself, what are the VALUES in life that we have to unlearn that has been engrained in our beings?
  3. Obedience – Obedience requires an action. It requires a next step for each and every one of us. Obedience is the process in which we hear something and do what we hear. It could be as simple as – chew your food before you swallow. Obviously we know what would happen if we tried to swallow a full 12oz medium rare steak, probably not the best outcome. It could be as hard as – love those that hate you. I don’t think I have to go on that point too much. Obedience is something that Jesus calls anyone who listens to him too. Obedient to the life that Jesus lived and the practices that he teaches for our lives. Obedience I believe is not the mindless….ok i will do it…. but it is out of the humility and character that we have learned, to be obedient to the way that Jesus calls us to live our lives.
That was a mouthful and an overflow of what is in my heart after reading and studying Luke 6. I wonder though, how many of us need to unlearn certain things that we have been doing our entire lives. Things that may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But if you add up all of those things, it may become this large boulder that is standing in front of us and we don’t know how to get around. As a consolation, I believe that there is a silver lining in all of this as I sit and ponder on the things that I need to unlearn. The silver lining: In the midst of our faults and failures that we all have. The witness that we have and the stories that each and every one of us have on this journey with Jesus, can and should point to the Grace and Love that Jesus has for you and I.
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February 23, 2023
in Church
by Brendon
0 Comments

To be the most welcoming church anyone can experience

” A new command I give to you; as I have loved you, you must love one another. BY THIS all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – Jesus, John 13:34-35

  Guest services is the art of loving people no matter who they are and what there present is and what they might be carrying with them. It is a fine line and gentle line that Guest Services teams balance. On one end, you have the overbearing and the spam like experience. Or you have the opposite end which is essentially no guest service experience at all. Making the above phrase a reality takes time, culture, buy in and execution. Sure it is never easy and it is never going to be perfect.

To Be The Most Welcoming Church Anyone Can Experience, is something worth striving for.

As we see story after story in the Gospels, the over and over Jesus has crowds surrounding him, He experiences people wanting to be close to him. And every time Jesus is surrounded with people, He demonstrates what it means to be welcoming and loving, by showing compassion on them. As a church, we should have the same approach. As we are surrounded by the mixtures of people the we will encounter we should be welcoming and loving just as Jesus was to the crowds around Him. There is a high probability that we as humans are always craving for and desiring to have great experiences also. We could go to a concert and walk away saying that it was an amazing experience. We could go on an adventure and come back with lots of great experiences.

When we are able to combine the two, the experience and being welcoming together, then you have something life changing.

Christmas time around churches are crazy. It is busy. Not only do we have decorations to put out, to-do lists to get done, presents to buy, friends to see, family to have over and maybe even pack to go out of town. But churches are also gearing up for one of the busiest group of services that come all year. Christmas can be seen as the Super Bowl season for churches. In the midst of that busyness, it is hard to balance work and life. It is hard to balance emotions. As we see in scripture, when Jesus was born, it was busy. People were going back to their homes that they may not have been too in a very long time. Inn’s and places to stay were filled to the brim. There was an anxious excitement about seeing family and friends that haven’t been seen in a long time. But what we see is that not only was Jesus born when it was busy, people surrounding the birth of Jesus, had no idea what was going on. As a Guest Services team, this Christmas we have the chance to make a difference in the lives and hearts of guests that come into the churches doors. We have the chance to turn what might be a Christmas and Easter tradition into something that changes the way they look at what a church is. To walk the line of being loving, welcoming, grateful for their presence and to really live out the ‘come as you are’ thoughts. This Christmas, in the midst of the busyness….we have the chance:

To be the most Welcoming Church anyone can experience.

Let’s not miss it.

     
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From the HCC Outreach Team:

Thanks so much for stopping by the Harvester Christian Church Outreach Team’s blog! We hope you find this resource helpful, insightful and encouraging as we strive to Unleash the Hope of Jesus back into our world!

This resource belongs to Harvester Christian Church in St. Charles, Mo.