MONDAY MORNING THOUGHTS

Believers ought to be the most joyful people in the world.  They have everything to live for and nothing to complain about.   BUT…..more often than not, it’s believers who have no joy that make things absolutely miserable for everyone else.  

What robs us of our joy?  UNSATISFIED EXPECTATIONS,  UNRESOLVED CONFLICT – (that’s a big one for me!)  and UNREPENTED SIN (there’s alot of that out there)!    That’s just a few of literally a ton of things that could potentially rob us of our joy.  

Unfortunately, ”joylessness” is contagious……..if you’re not joyful, then you can count on it that you’re not going to bring joy into the lives of others.   You’re just not!   That’s why it’s important that we address the things that rob us of our joy! 

 We also talked about things that can build joy in our lives?  RECOGNIZING GOD AS A JOYFUL GOD, REAFFIRMING OUR COMMITMENT TO OTHER BELIEVERS (Hanging out with the people who REALLY care about ya!),  RE-IGNITING OUR PASSION TO SHARE THE GOSPEL WITH OTHERS (there’s no greater joy than seeing someone come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!!!),  RELEASING YOUR PROBLEMS TO GOD!

God wants us to be joyful, He wants us to enjoy Him and He wants to enjoy us!  Sometimes it’s an effort to have joy in your life, but it’s when we trade our sorrows, sickness, shame, pain for the joy of the Lord, that’s when we have victory, that’s when true JOY comes into our life!  
I TRULY WANT TO LIVE A JOY (FULL) LIFE……don’t you?    Let’s CHOOSE TO BE JOYFUL TODAY!

Some additional thoughts this Monday morning!

• In my opinion, yesterday’s service was the best we’ve had since I’ve been pastor at DBC.
• I want to encourage you that when you can’t sense the presence of God in your life, you can always trust his promises.
• God wants to take you from where you are in life, to where he wants you to be.
• The weather has been absolutely beautiful the last few days.   Can’t wait to see what today holds!
• I laughed outloud this morning as I read this portion of my devotions Psalm 109:1-13.   David went through what alot of us are going through and among other HORRIBLE things,  He asked God to JUST PLEASE KILL THEM!    (even I don’t have the heart to say that!)
• God is moving in an incredible way in our church and it excites me to see what He’s going to do as the weeks go by!
• Speaking of exictement, I’m excited about our new website! The address is www.daventonchurch.com   right now, just our logo is on there, but hopefullywe will be up and running full force by the end of the week!

Have a great week!

IN HIS GRIP,

jon

Monday Morning Thoughts!

What a great weekend!  I’m so thankful to be a part of a church that understands that church is more than just showing up on Sunday for “church time”.

• Saturday night we had “Trunk-n-Treat” on the property and saw 200+ people show up!  Where did they come from?   I’m still asking myself that question!
• Thanks to ALL the people who made Saturday night happen!  Can’t wait til next year when October 31st falls on Sunday.   We’re already planning for a HUGE event that will take the emphasis off of Satan and focus it on JESUS CHRIST!
• The worship yesterday morning was an experience that I will not soon forget!  I want to get to the point in my life where my worship to God is uninhibited.   After all, isn’t that what worship is all about?  It’s all about giving our ALL to Jesus and not worrying about anything or anyone else!  
• I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL NEXT SUNDAY!
• What FEARS do you have in your life?    Remember, that if we allow them to, our fears will debilitate us from doing what God wants us to do, deter us from God’s will in our life and Discourage us to do what God has called us to do!
• To conquer our fears we need to REMEMBER who owns us, RELY on God and REST in the arms of Jesus our Savior!
• Last night was the second week in our study of “The Little While Place”  and it just seems that each week it gets better and better! 
• Got alot of things going on in our church during November and December!  
• Buy your tickets for the Thanksgiving Dinner on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 7 PM.   The proceeds will go to our student ministry to help pay for some trips that they will be taking this winter and in the summer!  Every little bit helps.  Please make sure that you are there to support the good stuff that’s going on in our student minstry!
• December 13, we have the privilege of having Terry Samples (author of “The Little While Place”) come to speak in both of our services that Sunday. 
• Sunday, December 20, we will be having a guest worship leader come for our morning service (more about that later), then that Sunday night our choir will present a Christmas musical special!  It will be something you will not want to miss, also it will be an opportunity for you to invite some friends that normally wouldn’t come to church for a service, but would come for a special program.  Start thinking now about whom you might invite.
• Wednesday, December 23, we will be having a family Christmas celebration.   More details about that.
• Can’t believe that the new year is so close!   Looking forward to a great 2010 at DBC!

Have a great week and make sure to tell someone your story this week!

 

IN HIS GRIP,

jon

MONDAY THOUGHTS!

Today is a very significant day in mine and my immediate family’s!   God is good and has been good over the years and we will continue to be faithful to him and spread His love and joy to all those who we come in contact with, NO MATTER WHAT!!!!  Enough said! 
For your enjoyment this week, I stole this off an email that I received!   When I read it, it made me smile! 

By The way, I bolded and put a *** by the ones that I really liked! 
Spread the Stupidity

Only in America ……

• do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
• do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.
• do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.
• do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.
• do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.
• do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

EVER WONDER …

•  Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?
• Why can’t women put on mascara with their mouth closed?
• ***Why don’t you ever see the headline ‘Psychic Wins Lottery’?
• ***Why is ‘abbreviated’ such a long word?
• Why is it that doctors call what they do ‘practice’?
• Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dish-washing liquid made with real lemons?
• Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
• Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
• Why isn’t there mouse-flavored cat food?
• Why didn’t Noah swat those two mosquitoes?  
• Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
• You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes?  -Why don’t they make the whole plane out of that stuff?!
• ***Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains? : 0
•  Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
• ***If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
• If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

Have a wonderful week!

in his grip,
jon

Monday Morning Thoughts!

WOWSIE!  What a great weekend!  It flew by like a whirlwind, but still in all it was great!

•  Friday afternoon Shannon and I hopped on the church bus and headed to White Oak Conference center to be with some of the greatest people in our church, our deacons and their wives.   Even though the total time we spent together was only 24 hours, we had a great time getting to know them a little more and see their heart of love for Jesus and our church!  We are so honored to be a part of a church that truly loves God and loves people, and that’s not just a “cliche” theyREALLY DO love God and people!
• Yesterday morning’s service was awesome!  We continued our series on “God are you out there?” and talked a little about SELF WORTH!  So many of us struggle with serving Jesus because we fall into the world’s view of self worth.   It’s not our Performance ability, our Popularity or our Possessions that gives us value, it’s WHO we are in JESUS CHRIST!   It’s wonderful to know that I don’t need the approval of men to be successful, all I need to realize is that Jesus loves me, He has forgiven me completely, and that God has accepted me because of the work that Jesus did on the cross!
• Last night was awesome as well, we closed out our study on Jesus, our Next Door Savior!  We found out that Jesus is our “trash man” and part of his work is to clean up our lives and get rid of the trash that weighs us down from serving Him.  What a great “invitation” time we had where nearly everyone who was there came to the altar to give over their “trash” to God so that we could start over, clean and new!
• Tonight is going to be a special night for our church.  Some folks in our church have been able to come up with well over 100 blankets, as well as coats, hats and gloves that we are going to hand deliver to homeless people in Greenville!   I love to see our church be JESUS to those who need to experience his Love and Grace!
• Wishing that I could be there, but tonight, my daughter, Jessica is being inducted into the National Honor Society!  
• I’m so very blessed to have three wonderful children.   To put it simply, they have had a pretty tumultuous year.   Through it all, they have kept their faith in Jesus and have grown as believers through the bad and the good!  I’m so proud of them!
• It’s not easy being the child of a minister!  “PK’s” have to experience the pain and hurt their parents sometimes go through, and it’s really easy for them to get a bad taste in their mouths for church and Christianity in general…..that’s why so many PK’s seem to have a bad reputation.  But I can honestly say, that all three of my kiddos have endured the pain and the suffering, (sometimes without understanding) and have never faulted in their love for Jesus!    My prayer for them is that they continue to strive to live for Him despite the circumstances, knowing that it’s all for His honor and glory!
• Looking forward to another great week of ministry! 
  This coming Sunday, we will continue our series on “God are you out there?”  We’ll be talking about Anxiety and Depression and where God is when we go through those dark times in our lives!   Is it wrong for a believer to be depressed?  After all, isn’t it true that with Jesus, all things are possible, and that we can cast all our care on Him for he cares for us?   Well, yes…..it is true that with Jesus all things are possible and we CAN cast our cares on Him, but we’re also human aren’t we?   Come this Sunday morning and we’ll talk more about it!

Have a great week, and we’ll see ya around!

 

In His Grip,

jon

MONDAY MORNING THOUGHTS!

VERY SOON we will see an extreme makeover in the appearance of our property.  It’s going to be exciting to see the work in progress.   By the time it’s all done, we will have a very, very clean and updated area where our kids will be able to play (and be safe while they’re playing).
Also, very soon, our website will receive an extreme makeover as well.   Hopefully by the end of the month, we’ll have a new identity, a fresh new look and a more simple way to communicate and advertise meetings and events in our church.  This blog will receive a new look and it will be much easier to download and listen to the messages that our given each Sunday morning.   There will be much, much more to the new website that will be advantageous to anyone who logs onto it.

I’m also excited to see our Sunday School growing.  Yesterday we had nearly 90 people in Sunday School classes……there are many, many more folks who are “regular attenders” in our church who need to get plugged in.   If you are reading this blog and attend our church but don’t attend Sunday School, let me encourage you to “jump in” NOW.   Now is the best time to get involved.  If you have the feeling like you’re being left out, or that no one cares if you exist or not, join a Sunday School class.  It’s there that you will find community and not only will you be ministered to, but you will have the opportunity to pour yourself into the lives of others.

 We had a great start with our new series “God are You out there” yesterday.  We talked about a subject that all of us struggle with nearly everyday and that’s the area of temptation.   Sometimes when we struggle with this issue, we wonder why in the world God isn’t around to help us, when in reality, what we discovered is that He is!  He’s always there, it’s just that during those times, if we’re not looking for Him we conclude that He’s not there.   Remember the four points we talked about in searching for God when we’re being tempted.  1.  Hide God’s word in your heart – Psalms 119:11, 2. Walk in the Spirit – Galatians 5:16, 3.  Resist the Devil – James 4:7 and 4.  Be aware of the consequences – James 1:15.  

Here are some extra thoughts from yesterday’s message:

• As you put the Word of God in your mind, heart and spirt, it becomes a covering over you.
• Staying in the word builds a relationship with the Spirit which becomes stronger as the days go by.
• Live in the spirit and you will NOT fulfill or gratify the desires of the flesh.
• “Where you live is WHO you will be.”
• “Who you RUN with is who you will BECOME.”
• If you have a weak resister; don’t put yourself in the place of temptation.
• “God isn’t just in the saving and forgiving business, He is in the keeping business.  He will keep you from falling, keep you from the devil and keep you from destruction!

Here’s one more thought:   if you have ever done any bass fishing there is one thing you learn right at the start: use different bait until you find what they are biting. One guy can be in the front of the boat catching fish, and the guy in the back of the boat might not get a bite using a different bait. Satan is very clever, he throws out different bait, he keeps trying until he gets a bite. You must realize that he is out to kill, steal and destroy your life, and YOU HAVE THE POWER  to say: Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.
You can overcome: you can walk in victory, you can win.

 

• I’m astounded how God can change our plans in order to show us something better. 
• Last night we were supposed to close out our study on “Jesus, Our Next Door Savior”, but God had different plans.  What a wonderful and sweet time we had sharing God’s blessings, testifying to one another of His work in our lives and sharing burdens with one another.  
• “HE IS ABLE TO MUCH MORE THAN WE COULD EVER DREAM!”  – Love that chorus!

Next week will be the second part of our series “God are You out there?”   We’ll be talking yet again about another subject that we all at one time or other struggle with.  

God is doing some great things in our church.   Praise God for the report we heard from the students on how God is changing lives and making Himself known in a terrific way.  Last Friday, we took 31 students and adults to “The Judgement House” sponsored by the wonderful folks at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Fountain Inn and 4 of our students recommitted their lives to Jesus!  HEY, 31….that’s right at 20% of our church body.   Ya think we ought to pay some special attention to those guys?    I do too!  
Thanks so much to Mike Conklin for stepping in and taking some leadership and initiative in our student ministry.  He’s doing a wonderful job with our students and it’s evident that God is using him in a very unique way!   Looking forward to a great report after next Sunday night when our students work together on a service project!

I’m also pumped that Jason Ethridge has come on board to help our music ministry out.  He’s very gifted in the area of music and I just know that the overall music ministry is going to get a much needed shot in the arm by his presence!   Jason, welcome to Daventon.  We’re anxious to see how God is going to use you and we’re also anxious to see how we at Daventon can best minister to you as well!

BIG GOD conference coming up at the end of the calendar year.  If you are planning on going, you need to sign up and make payment arrangements by October 20.  Sign up sheet is on the bulletin board in the back foyer.

Looking forward to yet another wonderful week.   Remember, always be looking for opporutnities to proclaim and glorify the name of Jesus this week!

Have a great week!

IN HIS GRIP,

jon

Tuesday Thoughts

All I have to say is that I feel like I’m at youth camp with a bunch of really old teenagers!  I usually like to post something on here each Monday, but due to a crazy schedule, I’ve just now been able to sit down and put some thoughts together!   Tell ya about that in a minute!

• Praise God for yet another family who believed it was in the will of God to join our church family this past Sunday!  Seeing people come to identify themselves with our church family never gets old and is always a blessing!
• Some phrases that stuck out in my mind this past Sunday as we closed out our series on stewardship.
• “giving has nothing to do with ASSETS, it has everything to do with ATTITUDE!”
• “When you come to the end of your life, will you be remembered as a “consumer” or a “contributor”?
• “Only one life twill soon be past, only what’s done for God will last!”
• “Socrates says “know thyself”, Sicero says “control thyself”, Jesus says, “Give thyself!”
• “Tithing is not a financial problem, it’s a spiritual problem, the moment you fall completely in love with Him, you’ll have no problems with tithing.”

I am having the EXTREME pleasure of hanging out this week with 12 of the most special folks in our church.   Yes, 12 of  the  most “mature”, elderly, wise, senior citizen folks in our church our letting their hair down and acting like teenagers here in Pigeon Forge, TN at the Celebrator’s conference!!   We really are having a blast up here, (and the conference is good too)!   Mrs. Betty and Mrs. Weldon found a neat surprise in their hotel room when we got here yesterday afternoon……you’ll have to ask them about it, because, well, I’m just not going to share anymore!

Dr. David Jeremiah is the speaker here.  He spoke last night, this morning and will be speaking tomorrow morning.   Charles Billingsley has been leading us in worship and he has done a FANTASTIC job!   Shonda Pierce came by this morning also and spoke to us!   She had an incredible testimony to give.   Sandi Patty will be giving a concert tonight and probably the thing that excites me the most is that we are going to hear from George Bush tomorrow night (IN PERSON!).   The Celebrator’s conference has been around for 11 or 12 years and this year, this week, is the largest conference they’ve ever had…….there’s a littl under 12,000 people here…..(most with no hair, or white hair!)……  It really is a special time for me and I’m loving getting to know our sweet sweet seniors at Daventon!

We will be here until Thursday afternoon!   Can’t wait until Sunday when we start our new series  “God Are You Out There!?”    We’ll be talking each week for the next 5 or so weeks about where God is when we experience different emotions and events in our lives.   This Sunday we’ll be dealing with the topic of Temptation and where God is when we go through temptation…….BTW  we all experience temptation, I don’t care how close you are to Jesus or how “holy” people may think you are, bottom line is we are ALL tempted daily to do things that we know are displeasing to God.    How can we lean on God when we experience temptations??  Come Sunday and find out!

 

Have a great week!

In His Grip,

jon

Tuesday morning thoughts!

Forgive me for not blogging on my usual Monday…..I have been under the weather and am still feeling pretty low, but feel like I’m on the “other” side of this.

• Our church is going through a stewardship emphasis this month, (this coming Sunday is the last week), and it’s been absolutely wonderful.  
• What really pumps up a pastor is to see how God is moving in his congregation.
• It’s great to see members in our church “blooming” in their relationship with God.  Hold onto your hats Daventon, God is ready to pour down his blessings on us like we’ve never seen before.
• I was excited to see four “heads of households” state that they were ready to give God control of their finances and commit to giving to the church the amount that God wants them to give.
• By the way, our offerings have increased each week that we have gone through this.  Prasie the Lord, we are going to be able financially, to minister more in our community and beyond as our people continue to believe in the vision and direction of our church.
• Another by the way……..Stewardship is not at ALL about money……it’s all about “who is the LORD of your life!”    If God is truly the Lord of your life, then everything else will fall right into place as you seek to obey Him in everything, (including your finances).   I’m more and more convinced that the problem is not that we don’t want to give God control, I believe we truly do.  The problem is, some of us have become so self-centered in our possessions and finances that it’s going to take awhile to get back to where God wants us to be.   You gotta start somewhere, sometime…..why not here?, why not now? 
• A statement that spoke to me last Sunday was this:  ”Wealth can be either a blessing to God’s kingdom or it can be a detriment. There is nothing wrong with wealth.There is nothing wrong with possessions. The issue  is not whether you have or do not have possessions. We all have possessions; some small, some great. The issue is not: Do you have possessions? The issue is: Do your possessions have you?”    HMMMmmmmmmm….
• I’m flat out pumped about our next series of messages beginning October 11……”God Are You Out There!”.    Sometimes when we go through different feelings, emotions or life events, we wonder where God is in all of it.   On the 11th, we’ll be talking about “TEMPTATION”.   Looking at I Corinthians 10:6-13  and discovering that God is faithful in his watch care over us.   It’s going to be a great message and over all a great series of messages.
• Thinking and praying about two of our families who lost loved ones this week.   Thanks church, for ministering to them in prayer and providing meals and encouragement to the family members!  Ya’ll are AWESOME!
• Praise the Lord for another addition to our church family.   I talked with two other families, and it looks like they will be joining our church this coming Sunday!  
• I continue to be amazed how God uses such pitiful excuses of human beings like us to perform His works through us!  Keep it up church, we’re doing the RIGHT thing!
• Please continue to pray for me, that my energy will increase daily and that I’ll get over this sickness. Our family seems to have been passing this around and I’m the last one to get it.   Pray that I won’t pass it on to others!!!!

Have a great, great day!  Enjoy the weather!

 

In His Grip,

 

jon

Monday Morning Thoughts!

It always amazes me to think that out of all the things God could use to glorify himself, the main vehicle he chooses to use is His people.  There has been an underlying theme God has been teaching us over the past couple of weeks and that is God is always around and wants to rule our lives.  He wants to give us the desires of our heart, He chooses to bless us beyond measure, His will is that our every need is met.  The problem in our lives when we face trouble and difficulty is NOT God.   It’s us!!! 
We tend to have a “me first” attitude.  Looking out for #1.  What’s in it for “me”.  What advantages do I get.   Sometimes I even get the feeling that the reason why we choose to be obedient or follow Christ is soley for the purpose of “getting” from God.   I loved the phrase that was quoted in our study last night…..”Our faith is not about getting what we want from God, but about God getting what he was from us.”  WOW!  Just imagine what our world would be like if we lived our lives not for the purpose of gratifying our own desires and wants, but to live out our lives for the purpose of honoring God.  That’s a tough one for all of us to swallow. 
Let’s admit it, there are some of us that are so wrapped up with “self” that we spend so much time worrying about getting back, getting even, hurting those who hurt us, wishing revenge, consipiring evil in our actions and thoughts, etc…that we totally miss out on the joy of serving God and allowing Him to move in our lives so that we can be a blessing to others. 
If there’s one thing that is hindering the Church (“THE” church) from performing the call of God to which it was created for, it’s having that kind of attitude!  We’re spending so much time trying to “get back” or “get even” with those who have wronged us that we’re missing out on the blessings of God that he so freely wants to give us.  We have this “it’s all about ME” attitude!

I’ve been convicted and burdened over the last couple of weeks about this very thing.   There are so many other things to be concerned about, people who are lost in this world, totally without Jesus, people who are struggling financially, emotionally, spiritually.  People who are having marital issues, job issues, family issues, issues with relationships outside of their family.  Yuck, yuck, yuck…..and perhaps, just perhaps the reason why we don’t help those people  who struggle with those things on a daily basis is because we have so much resentment, bitterness, jealousy in our own lives that it CONSUMES us to the point where we can’t see God the way He wants us to look at Him. 
This is a gross illustration, but it fits well with what I’m trying to say.   We have two full bath rooms in our house, one that Shannon and I use and the one that the kdis primarily use.  Each bathroom has a shower in it.   The other day, Jordyn came to me and said, “dad, the tub in our bathroom is clogged up, the water isn’t going down and I’m tired of standing in that yucky water while I’m trying to take my shower.”   Well, I’m not much of a handy man, but I thought I could fix this problem…..I got a screw driver, unscrewed the drain and took out the stopper.   The drain was stopped up with matted hair, soap scum,(which by the way, didn’t not smell too good!!!)…. all of that “stuff” in there was compacted so badly that it was preventing the water from going down the drain properly.  After a few minutes of prying and scraping, (I think I gagged a little too), I was able to clean that drain out so that water could easily flow through the pipes like it was originally intended to do.  PROBLEM SOLVED!!!! 
Isn’t that the way our life with Christ is?   We let all this “junk” to get compacted in our system…..bitterness, anger, revenge, jealousy, etc… it piles up to the point where our lives our completely useless……it even smells bad too!   All we need to do is talk with our heavenly Father, ask him to come clean us out so that we can function the way that He designed us to function.   Oh, church, how self-centered have we become where we get to the point where we don’t give up flip about what God designed us to do, rather we’re more concerned about having OUR way.   God forgive us!

I want to encourage all who read this to take a self-examination of your heart.   The Bible encourages us to allow God to check us out…., “Search me O God, and know my heart, test me and know my thoughts and see if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”   

It’s NOT all about ME, what’s in it for ME, Me, Me, Me…..it’s all about JESUS!

Monday Morning Thoughts

I don’t know if many guys who deliver messages on Sunday mornings do this, but it seems to work for me.   In my planning and preparing, I first ask God to speak to me and that the words that come out of my mouth on Sunday morning are not just beneficial, helpful to those that hear it, but that my heart is prepared for the message as well.   Does any of that make sense?   I think that it’s important for us to realize that we are simply messengers in need of divine intervention when it comes to speaking the truth.  God help me if I ever come to the pulpit on Sunday morning, confident in my own abilities and completely trusting in myself to speak the truth.

• So, Preston came into our bedroom about 5:00 Sunday morning burning up with fever and complaining of a stuffed up nose.  He stayed home all day yesterday and laid around…….not typical
• I stayed home with him today and we just got back from the Dr.  He has a sinus infection, Dr. gave him some meds and hopefully he’ll be back to a normal routine of things by tomorrow.
• When it comes to stewardship, it’s simply not the money that we should be concerned about, it’s our attitude about the things that God has given us. 
• I’m hoping that our attitude is “What’s mine is yours and you can have it!”
• You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.
• Sometimes it would be better for us to close up our Bibles and get out of our chair and actually DO SOMETHING for God.  
• I’m really pumped up that our church is pumped up about P.L.A.C.E. this coming Wednesday night.   Hoping, no, knowing that it will be a real eye opener to everyone who attends.
• Had a great start to our Sunday School…..we had a total of 88 people attending Sunday School, that’s at least 20% higher than what our attendance has been in the past.   I really believe that we can accomplish many of  the purposes of our church through the Sunday School ministry.   If you haven’t come yet, there’s no time like now to get started.
• Last week in our sunday school class we had 14, this week we had 18.  Really looking forward to getting to know all those folks in my class!
• Next Door Savior on Sunday nights is simply awesome!   I love to hear the stories of our people!   Makes me feel like I’m normal!  Know what I mean?
• Looking forward to feeding some folks who are needy tonight!  If you want to come, meet us at Davis Street Baptist in Greenville at 6 PM.
• Next Sunday, we’ll have our “official” Janie Chapman offering.   This is an annual offering that we take to help support our state mission emphasis.  It’s actually a great, great opportunity for us to use our resources so that we can help people!  Our church’s goal is to raise $750.00 this year to give to the Janie Chapman offering.    I think we can go well beyond that and hope that we do!
• I had a pastor one time that used to say, “when it comes to missions, you’re either going, or giving”……some of us just physically cannot take part in mission work, but we can help others who have the ability to go.  

Guess that’s about it for now….

Get ready, Daventon for next Sunday, it’s going to be really special.     God is truly wanting to BLESS each of us through our obedience to Him.  Are you willing to do what it takes?

Have a great rest of the week!

IN HIS GRIP,

jon

Monday Morning Thoughts!

I hope that everyone has had a great Labor Day weekend.   My entire family went up to Marion, IN this weekend, they left early Friday morning and will not get back until late in the afternoon.   I’ve got to admit, I’m beginning to really dislike being separated from my family this long.  I can handle a half day or maybe an entire day, but anytime past that makes me really miss em alot.

The life of a minister is difficult, but it can be even more difficult on his family.    I thank God everyday for my sweet, sweet family and the zest that they have for life and for love!   I so appreciate the time they allow me to do what I believe God has called me to do, and even though sometimes they have to “share” time with me, they always have an extremely good attitude about it!  I know they had a good time this weekend, but I’m still anxious for them to get home!

• Seemed like the morning service just flew by and the day was over! 
• We cancelled our service on Sunday night so that we could spend some quality time with our families!  I hope our church took good advantage of that.
• Yesterday’s service was quite unusual for me.   There were alot of things going on….alot of different elements!   I honestly felt “lost” yesterday in the scheme of things. 
• Can’t believe that when it came time for me to preach, I had totally misplaced my Bible!!!  (I left it in the bathroom while I was switching out clothes after the baptisms) 
•  I thought that the message would completely bomb, but after the service was over, and even afterwards with phone calls and e-messages, more people responded to that message than to just about any message I had given at Daventon.   Just goes to show ya that when God wants to move in people’s lives, it doesn’t matter how “well” the message was given or even how “organized” the entire service was, He will always get His way! 
• Baptism yesterday was awesome, what a privilege to baptise Cameryn, and what an incredible to see a father baptise his own son!   Now, that’s what it’s all about!
• Hmmm…..I just thought about something….God doesn’t really care about your ability, just your “AVAILability”!!!! 
• Maybe a good challenge for all of us today!  “God, I want to available for your service and your work through me!” What would happen if we had that attitude!   KATIE, BAR THE DOORS!

 

The time is getting close for my fam, to cruise on into Woodington subdivision……gotta get the hamburgers on the grill!

Have a great week, 

In His Grip,

jon