Not only is school starting back this week, but it’s also time for small groups to launch as well.  This year, we’re doing something a little different.  We have reserved five different locations throughout the city of Clinton for all of our groups (and those looking for a group) to gather.  Here are the five locations:

20’s singles – Indian Lanes Bowling Alley (bring $5 for bowling)
20’s couples – Pinelake Clinton campus
30’s couples – Traceway Park (bring your kids)
40’s and up, couples – Baptist Healthplex
Women – Followell Fotography Studio (304 Jefferson St., Clinton)

It should be a great night, and an easy way to meet others from the church in the same stage of life as you.  Just choose the gathering that you think is best for you and your family, and show up at 6 p.m.

If you weren’t part of a small group last semester and would like to join one this semester, it would really help us if you would fill out a Small Group Connect card at the Guest Services kiosk, or at least contact Craig at craig.curtis@pinelake.org and let him know you plan to attend.  That way we can be sure we have enough leaders (and enough food Sunday night!).

See you Sunday!

Luke 11:1
¹It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples."

I’ve been reminded this month as we’ve journeyed through the book of Luke in the L3 Journal just how central prayer was to the ministry of Jesus.  As life and ministry got more and more chaotic, Jesus "would often slip away to the wilderness and pray" (Luke 5:16).  When Jesus needed to choose 12 men to be His disciples – the 12 men on whom would eventually rest the responsibility of carrying the gospel to the world – Jesus "went off to the mountains to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12).  When He needed to perform a miracle, like feeding 5000+ people with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, Jesus "took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the people" (Luke 9:16).  When Jesus got ready to reveal His glory to Peter, James, and John, He first "took them up on the mountain to pray" (Luke 9:28).

It’s no wonder the disciples wanted Jesus to teach them how to pray!  By this point, they realized that it was central to everything Jesus did.

Today, I’ve been forced to ask myself, "How central is prayer to my life?"

What about you?  Have you devoted yourself to prayer (Colossians 4:2)?  Maybe, like me, you can re-devote yourself today.

Certainly it’s not the only time we pray, but I hope you’ll join us tonight during Renewal Prayer as we corporately seek God together.  Renewal Prayer starts every Wednesday night at 6 in the Worship Center.

This morning as I was reading Luke 10 in the L3 Journal and read in verse 1 where Jesus sent out 70 disciples ahead of Him "to every city and place where He Himself was going to come," I couldn’t help but think about when we first launched the Clinton campus.

We had a group of just over 70 people (89 were at our first service), and we prayed so hard that "Christ Himself" would come and do His work. Today, I believe we still walk in the prayers of that original core group (and all the prayers that have been added to it since then!).

So what did Jesus tell His original 70 disciples to say? Luke 10:9 says that Jesus told them "heal those who are sick and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’"

The kingdom of God has come near to you.

And with the kingdom of God comes power…healing…forgiveness…authority…freedom.

All those things were available to Jesus’ disciples, and they’re still available to us today. God’s kingdom is here. Luke 13 says it’s like leaven that’s working its way through our world and lives.

Leaven [verb] – permeate and modify or transform (something) for the better

The kingdom of God is here. Announce it. Let’s live in it. But also let’s pray that Christ would continue to reveal His kingdom, that "He Himself" would reveal Himself in the hearts and minds of His people.

May "His kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

Last week, I had a chance to get away on vacation with my family.  Thankfully, we just avoided the oil spill to spend some awesome time at the beach!  As much as I love vacation though, it’s always hard coming home and getting back into a routine.

Know what the hardest part has been?  It’s not responding to all the missed emails, making up for missed time at work, or catching up on everything I missed (including sleep!).  Those things are tough (my initial to do list was almost 20 items long….ouch!), but by far the hardest part has been kissing my wife and son goodbye in the morning to go to work.

There’s just something about uninterrupted family time that’s so good.  It was so nice and refreshing just to spend days with Megan and Myles.  We were able to have a lot of quality time and quality conversations that we’ve needed for some time now.

I think the past week just affirms something I’ve been learning over the past couple of months – just as you have normal rhythms and schedules in your personal and work life, you also need to make it a priority to develop rhythms in your family life.  We all ought to have daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly rhythms and rituals that provide opportunity for quality time and conversations.

There’s no right or wrong way to develop these, but just as an example, below are some things we’re working on in our family.

• Daily – greeting ritual.  Regardless of how chaotic our days have been, Megan and I try to take at least 5 minutes when I get home from work to put our "best faces" on and greet each other.
• Weekly – date night or family night
• Monthly – Family day
• Quarterly – Day trip (overnight if possible)
• Yearly – Vacation

Some days, after a hard day at work or a hard day with Myles, our "greeting ritual" may only last 30 seconds.  But instead of coming home and immediately checking out, I want to make sure Megan gets the best of me.  Some weeks, our "date" may be a picnic at a park or just a drive down the Trace.  The point is not just to go somewhere or spend money, which we don’t always have a lot of.  The point is making time together to work on our relationship.

What about you?  What daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly rhythms have you developed?

This is way last minute, but some of you have the flexibility to still make it work so I’m posting anyway.  Tomorrow morning (Wednesday, April 28), a group of workers are meeting at the Clinton campus at 7:30 a.m. to go help with the clean-up efforts in and around Yazoo City.  We’re looking for people who can operate a chainsaw and others who can help tote and move wood.  If you’re interested in helping, contact Chuck Wall at 601-506-3116.

I love Romans 8.  As in maybe my favorite chapter in all the Bible kind of love.  No condemnation.  Freedom.  Adoption.  Abba Father.  Glory.  Unconditional love.  Yes, thank you, I’ll take some of all that!

The whole chapter is maybe best summed up in the last two verses:

Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How great a promise is that – that absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God.  I could rest in that promise all day long.

But, you see, that’s the problem.  Too often I do rest in that promise.  Not Paul.  If you don’t stop in Romans 8 and keep reading a couple of verses, you see that Paul didn’t just receive the love of God.  It moved Him.  It overflowed in love for others.  So much so that he could write this in Romans 9:

Romans 9:1-3
I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

Now THAT’S love.  I wondered this morning how Paul could love anyone like that.  Then I remembered Romans 5.  Paul’s love is the same love Christ showed us.  Paul has learned the secret of receiving God’s love, and when he did he was moved to love like God.

I don’t know about you, but there’s a lot in that last sentence for me to apply.

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged out of my L3 Journal so here you go.  I hope you’re making it a pattern in your life to spend time with God daily in His Word.  If you need help, click here.

Psalm 34:9
O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want.

Examine

In this psalm, David praises God because God has answered his prayers and delivered him from his enemies.  He talks about how God hears the poor man (v. 6), the righteous (v. 15), the brokenhearted and those crushed in spirit (v. 18).  Verse 8 is probably the climactic verse of the psalm: “O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”  Clearly, David is overwhelmed with God’s goodness and with his own desire to be close to God.

Yet, even in the midst of such praise, David follows verse 8 with a warning in verse 9.  He says, “O fear the LORD, you His saints; for to those who fear Him there is no want.”  It’s interesting to me that David isn’t just telling the wicked to fear God, but specifically He is telling the righteous to fear God.

Application

It’s so easy to get caught up in God’s grace, love, and deliverance that we forget He is also holy, just, and jealous for His glory.  Yes, God delivers His people in time of need.  He hears their prayers and very often saves them from their troubles.  But that doesn’t mean we can live however we want and there will never be consequences – as if God is always obligated to be gracious to us.

Verse 16 is very clear on this matter – “The face of the LORD is against evildoers.” 

I need to develop a healthy fear of the LORD.  In my battle with temptation and sin, too often I make it all about me.  I may battle and struggle for a little while, but eventually I do what feels good to me.  Or what gets me what I want.  But when I give in to temptation, I’m not just giving in to a personal desire.  I’m offending the Creator of the universe, the very One who went to the Cross so that I wouldn’t be subject to such slavery.  I am putting myself in opposition to God.

Prayer

Lord, I confess that many times I give into temptation because I choose that sin over fellowship with you.  I say I don’t want that, but my actions speak differently.  This psalm is a reminder that if I developed a proper fear of you, I wouldn’t want such things.  Fear in its proper context is a strong motivator.  I pray that I would see you not only as Provider, Protector, and Deliverer, but also as Holy, Righteous, and Judge.  I want to win my battle with sin, and fearing you properly is one of the key steps in that battle.

Last night, the new Pinelake Starkville campus had its first core group meeting.  I haven’t heard an official report yet, but from the pictures and updates posted on Twitter, it seems like the campus got off to a great start!

This morning I went back and read some of the post from our first core group meeting in Clinton.  How crazy is it that it’s been less than two years since we met that first time!!!  If you get a chance, go back and read some of those post.  They’re actually all labeled still in the category, "Core Group Meeting."

A couple of thoughts after reading:

1) I remember how overwhelmed I was after that first meeting.  It makes me want to be so faithful in praying for Josh, Gilreath, Jason Stoker, and all the people involved in the launch of that campus.  God is going to do immeasurably more in them and through them, but make no mistake – it’s God who will do the work. If you get a chance, send Josh (josh.gilreath@pinelake.org) or Jason (jason.stoker@pinelake.org) an email encouraging them this week. 

2) God is so faithful!  I can remember just pleading with God that if He wasn’t going to come with us to Clinton, then I didn’t want to come either.  But man has He showed out!  What started as a core group of about 75 people has been over 400 strong for the last 3 weeks.  We’ve been able to baptize dozens of people.  And I think about all the incredible stories of lifechange we’ve seen God do in the lives of individuals and families.  Can’t wait for the people of Starkville to experience this!

3) God uses people.  None of what we’ve experienced over the past 16 months would have been possible if not for the endless dedication and heart for the glory of God of so many servant leaders.  Well, I take that back – God can do whatever He wants and nothing is impossible for Him.  But over and over again, we see God using people to accomplish His purpose.  Even in the L3 Journal reading today, Jesus had everything He needed on the shore already waiting for the disciples.  Yet, He still asked them to bring what they had caught (John 21:10).  It’s just a reminder that God wants to use us.

Thank you for allowing God to use you.  Pray for the people of Starkville that God would use them as well to do greater things for His kingdom in that community.  And thanks for allowing me the opportunity to be a part of the work of God in this community.  I’m truly blessed and so grateful to serve alongside all of you!

“What do you do when you realize you’re the most powerful person in the room?”

It’s Thursday night as I type this.  This is the night most people believe Jesus gathered with His disciples in the upper room to share one more meal with them before His crucifixion.  In just a few hours, He’ll be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, tried unfairly and unjustly through the night, and then hung on a cross.

But first, He has an important lesson to teach His disciples.  It’s one He wants them to remember.

I heard the question in quotes above from Andy Stanley.  He was teaching at Catalyst, if I remember correctly, to a bunch of men and women who wanted to make a difference in the world for God’s kingdom.  People much like the group of disciples gathered around the table that Thursday night. 

As John tells the story, listen to what he says about Jesus in John 13:3: “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God…”

At this point, Jesus knew.  He understood fully where He had come from and where He was going.  He knew His power, and that He could do whatever He wanted.  If you read the story further, you see that Jesus also knew that His betrayer was in the room with Him.  Jesus is the most powerful man in the room.  He can do whatever.

But listen to what Jesus does.  It’s just one verse later in verse 4: “[Jesus] got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.” He then began to perform one of the dirtiest jobs imaginable, a job typically reserved for the lowest slave.  Jesus knelt down, and He began to wash the disciples’ feet.

You may not be powerful like Jesus, but chances are there are people in your life you have influence with.  How are you going to use that power?  What can you do to serve them?

I think one of the best things you can do is invite them to come with you to one of our Easter services Sunday morning.  We’re adding another service so service times at the Clinton campus will now be at 8, 9:30, and 11.  Can’t wait to celebrate the life of a man who even though He knew all things were in His hands, still chose to willingly lay His life down for you and for me.  What an act of love and service!  Thankfully the cross wasn’t the end.  Tomorrow’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming!