Days 20 and 21 were grace days so I just finished reading the first part of the Gospel of John for day 22.  I know I sound like a broken record but I was blown away by reading John.  The passion of Jesus is clearly seen in the first 10 chapters.  Here’s a verse that jumped out at me early on…

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan—this rebirth comes from God.  John 1:12-13 (NLT)

I also loved this statement from John the Baptist…

He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.  John 3:30 (NLT)

I think John the Baptist represents a lot of what every minister of the Gospel is and should be.

What verses spoke to you?

While it’s certainly cold outside, there are currently no weather related problems that would stop us from having a service tomorrow.  The forecast calls for a 10% chance of some snow overnight but I doubt this is going to happen because the weather folks always lie about snow to us Georgians.  (You know that’s true.)  Right now, the plan is to have church tomorrow.  If that changes for some reason, I’ll post something here on my blog so check back here if you have any questions.

Well, it’s crunch time on the NT28 reading plan and I’m working hard to end on time this weekend.  I just finished reading the stuff for day 19 and, as usual, I loved it.  I especially loved reading 1 Timothy again.  That book always speaks to me.

When I first felt called into ministry, God really used 1 Timothy to encourage me to step out in faith and follow His plan for my life.  Later, as a young pastor, God continued to speak to me through the pages of that great book because I understood what it was like to be a “Timothy”.  Now, it still speaks to me because it reminds me of my responsibility to help raise up another generation of Timothys.

I can’t wait to read 2 Timothy now!

How about you?  What stood out to you?

I just finished reading Colossians and Hebrews and I don’t mind tell you that Hebrews seriously pumped me up.  I love reading all about faith in chapter 11.  That list of folks and what they did by faith always encourages and challenges me!

The three words that kept jumping out to me in Hebrews were careful, honor and faith.  He kept telling the folks to be careful about how they lived and what they believed.  He kept mention honor and how Jesus sat down in the seat of honor in heaven.  As I said earlier, he also talked a lot about faith.

I think God is challenging me to step out in faith in much bigger ways that I have in the past.  That’s always scary and fun at the same time.

What did you get out of it?

Those of you that follow me on twitter know that I’m currently in Vegas.  You might be wondering why I’m here.  Well, there’s a Star Trek convention in town and I’m hoping to becoming fluent in Klingon.  :)  Actually, I’m here meeting with a group of amazing pastors from all over the country.  We’ve decided to start meeting quarterly to talk shop and encourage one another.

You’re probably still wondering why we’re meeting in Vegas of all places.  Well, we’re going to be rotating where we meet each time and some of the guys are from the Vegas area so we just started here first.  Plus, we all like to gamble like mad.  :)  Actually, you can get some very cheap hotel rooms in Vegas during the winter so it worked out nicely.

I’ve got to tell you that I’m so excited about hanging out with these guys.  The truth is that pastors really need opportunities to experience genuine fellowship with each other and it doesn’t happen very often unless we’re intentional about it.  For me personally, the timing couldn’t be better.  We had some amazing discussions yesterday.  I’ve already learned so much and it was only our first day together.  It’s great to get to hang around such a sharp group of guys.  Confidentially. I’m still not sure how I get invited but I’m not going to bring it up.  :)

On a side note, I also brought my camera with me and I’m hoping to find some time to take some photos while I’m here.  If I get any good ones I’ll try to post them on picasa.

Later.

I just finished reading the day 17 selections and I think that more than anything else the amount of prayer that is mentioned just blows me away.  Again and again Paul talks about how he’s praying for folks.  He also tells them to pray at all times and to always give thanks.  I pray a good bit but I think God is challenging me to make prayer a constant activity in my life.  There have been seasons in my life where that was the case and it’s now my goal to be that way again.

What about you?  What is God saying to you through what we’ve been reading?

This is going to be a very brief Sunday Stuff. I’m currently tapping this out on my phone via inflight wifi from 34,000 feet.

We had an outstanding day at Fusion today. I love the spirit of worship we’ve had during the last two weeks. God has just been so tangibly present. That’s so cool.

It was great to have Chad back. He’s just an all around great guy.

I confessed to Ben Forehand that I’m got a man crush on him. I just love to watch that guy play.

Even though is was rainy and miserable outside, the parking worked as hard as ever. I’m so thankful for that team, especially my oldest son of whom I’m always so proud.

I think God set some people free today. I really do. I can’t wait for next Sunday!

Okay, enough from me. What did you think about today?

Low battery. Got to run.

I just finished my readings for day 16.  I’m hoping to get a lot closer to catching up today.

What can I say about the gospel of Luke?  I just love reading about Jesus.  Again, the crucifixion stuff is hard to read but I love watching all that despair turn into joy as the disciples learn of the resurrection!

What about you?  What did you get out of this section?

This Sunday at Fusion, we’ll be starting a series that I have been wanting to do for a couple of years.  I’m so excited about it.  I feel like the time is finally right and that this going to be one of those series where the Lord just forever changes people!

The series is all about how to deal with disappointment and this weekend I’m going to be talking about what to do when others disappoint you.  If you’ve been letdown by someone, anyone, I’m telling you, DO NOT miss this weekend or any weekend in this series.  I firmly believe that God is going to do some explosive things and that He’ll absolutely set you free if you’ll come ready to hear from Him!

Days 13 and 14 were grace days so I’m now on day 15.  I just finished Luke 1-9:62 and, once again, I’m blown away by the love, compassion, wisdom and awesome power of Jesus.  I just love reading these accounts of His life!

This verse stood out to me for some reason so I thought I’d share it.

We have been rescued from our enemies, so we can serve God without fear.  Luke 1:74 (NLT)

What did you think about the first part of Luke?