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Living a Legacy

Friday, July 1st 2011 · 1 COMMENT

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of officiating a wedding ceremony. The best way I know to explain the whole experience is to say that this couple “got it right.” They dated for six years, and from the very start they entered the relationship assuming that dating was the pathway to their marriage. This spiritually mature young couple made sure they didn’t handle precious things casually. Every decision carried significant long term implications.

Through the course of their premarital counseling we took an inventory through their family tree and discovered they possessed something amazing. Looking back three generations, their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents had never been divorced. They were living a legacy of marital fidelity, and this certainly led to the serious way they had treated their own relationship.

Every day we have the opportunity to handle precious opportunities, treasured relationships, and eternal stewardships seriously or casually too. It is my prayer that everyone associated with this Ministry would look at each moment as a gift from God – one whose value should be weighed on eternal scales.

When we handle things wisely, we are able to multiply spiritual blessings. We are able to ignore the quick pay-off for the long term benefits. We hold fast to relationships, careful not to devalue people God has placed in our lives. We are better, and we treat things and people better.

At the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding something incredible happened. I had the blessed opportunity to hear the grandparents pray for this young couple. Each of their prayers shared a similar theme: “Keep God first in everything.” Prayers that knew how much that young couple needed

God and the experience to know that He has all they need to make it through their life together.

As the night continued, we counted over 250 years of faithful marriage around those tables that served as examples to us all. Rather than hold onto that night just for me, I want to encourage you by echoing their prayer to you. Dear friend, the stakes are higher than we imagine. There are no small decisions when we consider legacy. Thanks for the way you continue to make life change possible for the people we serve, and: “Keep God first in everything.”

Future Present

Sunday, May 1st 2011 · 0 COMMENTS

I recently had a chance to share in our Monday morning celebration service about the way God’s work in our lives changes our total perspective of who we are and where we are going. Do you look at your life and think that who you are today is merely a reflection and result of the sum total of your past experiences? As a believer in Jesus, you don’t have to think that way any more!

Ecclesiastes says, “God has set eternity in the human heart.” That statement means that our current position in Christ is based on who God has declared us to be. We don’t have to look at our lives from the past anymore. We should view our lives from a future-present position, claiming what God declared about us in eternity future - and we can claim it for today! We are changed.

Since God has placed eternity in our hearts now, we are not bound to live based on the mistakes, failures, and tragedies of the past! Today we can live in God’s promises. We don’t have to wait for heaven to enjoy His blessings, and we can celebrate His design and desires for us - right now!

True Love

Tuesday, March 1st 2011 · 0 COMMENTS

Real love is a supernatural gift given by God. Sometimes we have the idea that love is just a feeling or emotion, but that’s not love at all. It may be infatuation, but it is not true love. John said, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.“ (1 John 4:7-10)

The Five Sides of Stewardship

Monday, November 1st 2010 · 0 COMMENTS

Behind our actions lie governing attitudes and principles. What we do is a result of something much deeper. There are five key areas of stewardship and each one is tied to things that lie deeper beneath the surface.