Wow, I am wiped. It’s been a long day. As soon as we were done at church a group of us guys drove down to Denver to go to ESPN Zone for some amazing food and football. We were celebrating a close friend of mines birthday. I think it should be the beginning of reuglar “MAN DAY” outings. It definitely made for a long day though as I thin we were ALL very tired when we got back. It was another awesome day today at Element. Here are my Ruminations.
— I spoke specifically on the issue of sin today. In our series, we’re talking about the pursuit of the perfect day, and I don’t know how you can talk about that WITHOUT bringing up the issue of sin. It was less about specific “sins” (because there are so many) and more about the tactics/gameplan our enemy uses to get us to be ensnared by sin. Proverbs 7 was the text and it is such a PERFECT picture of the lure and trap of sin.
— 8 people came forward today during an altar call, releasing to God some sin issues in their life. One couple came forward 2nd service but around 20 people raised their hand for prayer saying they were dealing with and needed to release some specific sin issues. MAN, I love seeing people open up and seek God’s redemptive hand.
— I shared an email of one young man from our church today. It was a year ago he came to my office for some counseling. He was dealing with some pretty deep sexual sin. He shared how now, for the past year he has been SET FREE from those addictions. How he can stand in victory through Jesus. Then his closing words get me everytime. “Jesus truly does save to the uttermost” WOW! I told him today, “I hope you realize how encouraging it is for a pastor to see it WORK in someone.” God’s grace truly does save to the uttermost.
— 634 today. 1st service was down but 2nd was full.
— MAN, the worship band nailed it today. The set was PERFECT! While Adam knew the subject I’d be preaching on, he didn’t know any specifics of my message. Yet somehow, some of the lyrics in the songs were spot on, almost word for word what was said in my sermon…Somehow right? I LOVE when in the midst of different planning and preparing God just orchestrates it all together. LOVE IT!
— The band was tight today. God’s Spirit was evident through the worship and TOTALLY set up the message.
— Amazing Grace gets me EVERY time. ESPECIALLY with the added chorus from Chris Tomlin “My chains are gone I’ve been set free”. Just SO THANKFUL for the freedom in Christ.
— Adam’s song “The One Who Loves Me” is so KILLER. I’ve loved it since he introduced it. I love the fact that we can incorporate original music. There is something special about singing music that was written as part of your church. Specific to who we are, where we are at and what we need to hear.
— Met some new people today. Always enjoy that.
— The message really seemed to hit home with some people.
— GO CARDINALS! Love the story of Kurt Warner and will cheer for him all the time. He also said some GREAT words following the game. Even if people don’t like it.
— I’m not a huge NFL fan so was glad to see a couple of good games today.
— Man, my mind is shot. Got some very cool stuff we’re doing at Lead Team tomorrow. Excited for that. I’m gonna shut er’ down.
Following Christ,
Jeff
Jeff… Your message was fantastic and your illustrations were awesome. Our family did a lot of talking about what God said through you and felt it was something we all needed to hear. Thank you for your heart to preach the Truth and your passion for God’s people. Have a great week!