Give Something Up

With apologies to you the reader and the original author, Craig Gates whom In my haste I inadvertently did not credit with my recent GIVE UP blog which I originally posted on March 1, 2014

During the season of Lent (the 40+ days leading up to Easter which begins this Wednesday March 1) people often give something up or take something new on that helps them to draw closer to God. Some give up eating meat, others curtail their devotion to chocolate or alcohol.

I would like to suggest that during these days as we approach Easter we:

GIVE UP grumbling! Instead, "In everything give thanks." Constructive criticism is OK, but "moaning, groaning, and complaining" are not Christian disciplines.

GIVE UP 10 to 15 minutes in bed! Instead, use that time in prayer, Bible study and personal devotion.

GIVE UP looking at other people's worst points. Instead concentrate on their best points. We all have faults. It is a lot easier to have people overlook our shortcomings when we overlook theirs first.

GIVE UP speaking unkindly. Instead, let your speech be generous and understanding. It costs so little to say something kind and uplifting. Why not check that sharp tongue at the door?

GIVE UP your hatred of anyone or anything! Instead, learn the discipline of love. "Love covers a multitude of sins."

GIVE UP your worries and anxieties! Instead, trust God with them. Anxiety is spending emotional energy on something we can do nothing about: like tomorrow! Live today and let God's grace be sufficient.

GIVE UP TV one evening a week! Instead, visit some lonely or sick person. There are those who are isolated by illness or age. Why isolate yourself in front of the "tube?" Give someone a precious gift: your time!

GIVE UP buying anything but essentials for yourself! Instead, give the money to God. The money you would spend on the luxuries could help someone meet basic needs. We are called to be stewards of God's riches, not consumers.

GIVE UP judging by appearances and by the standard of the world! Instead, learn to give up yourself to God. There is only one who has the right to judge, Jesus Christ.

GIVE UP envy, lust, profanity, jealousy, hatred, and dishonesty but there is ONE THING I want to encourage you NOT TO GIVE UP…

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching”. Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

Boom

There are over seventy six million of us born between 1946 and 1964. We are called Baby Boomers. No group in American history has ever been so studied and analyzed. Leith Anderson writes, “Boomers operate differently and expect to be treated differently. Those of us who are Baby Boomers instinctively understand this. As Boomers we don’t feel like were “getting old”

“Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever”. Deuteronomy 34:7 (NLT)

Wow! Moses sure enjoyed an abundant and vital life in his later years.

As baby boomers we too are focusing on aging with vitality! In our quest for the fountain of youth, we are changing the way we age. We have learned that exercise is the golden egg of aging. It slows down aging by positively affecting our cardiovascular system, our immune system, our musculoskeletal system, and our emotional well-being. Exercise rekindles and re-sparks our fire for living.

But good health isn’t all about the physical. As Amber Cunningham of Inspire, the fitness center we have operating out of the gym at Celebration Community Church says, “We need to nourish and exercise our “bodies, minds and Spirit.”

At C3 we are starting a new ministry focusing on meeting the needs of 50+ active adults. We are calling this ministry BOOM and are kicking things off with a pot luck supper this Sunday February 19th at 5pm. We will hear some of the greatest music ever recorded, play some fun ice breaking games, eat some delicious food and look ahead with clear vision for what God has in store for us in the years we have ahead.

If you know a Boomer (50+) who wants to grow in their faith in God, and fellowship with others, invite them to the inaugural gathering of BOOM this Sunday.

Boomers, as we hit mid-life running with a vengeance, remember, its when we look with “clear eyesight to God and his people that we discover the ultimate quality of abundant life and life everlasting.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

Come to C3 TONIGHT at 7:05 pm for 98.5 The Truth is showing 'Old Fashioned' for FREE.

Its rated PG 13 and would make a great night.

From Your Valentine

I wonder how many of you know the story behind the origins of Valentine’s Day. It is called Saint Valentine’s Day for a reason.

Approximately 250 years after Jesus was born there was a priest by the name of Valentinus. He lived in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius, who believed that only single men would make good soldiers so he issued a royal edict outlawing weddings in the Roman Empire, earning himself the nick-name Claudius the Cruel.

Valentine secretly continued performing Christian marriage ceremonies and was thrown in jail for performing them. Valentine stayed faithful and cheerful while in prison, communicating with the young couples he had married who came to visit him throwing flowers and notes up to his window to support him.

One day, he received a visit from the blind daughter of one of the prison guards. Her father allowed her to visit him in his cell and they often sat and talked and prayed for hours. Through a miraculous healing from God her sight was restored.

Valentine was sentenced to die undergoing a three part execution involving beating, then stoning, and then decapitation.

On the day Valentine was to die, February 14, 269 A.D he left behind for the prison guard’s daughter a note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. He signed it, “With love from your Valentine.”

That note started the custom of exchanging love notes on what was later to be called Saint Valentine’s Day. Now, every year on that day, people remember Valentinus, but hopefully we will remember the valentine of love that God has sent to us: His Son Jesus.

With love, from your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

P.S. If you are looking for a really good movie about love come to C3 next Friday February 17th at 7:05 pm for “Old Fashioned”. It’s a love story about two young people who together attempt the improbable; an "old-fashioned" and God-honoring courtship in contemporary America.

The Christian Life is like Football

According to Forrest Gump's mama, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get”. Lewis Grizzard a Southern humorist said "The game of life is a lot like football. You have to tackle your problems, block your fears, and score your points when you get the opportunity." My favorite analogy between life and football comes from the legendary coach Vince Lombardi whose team won the very first Super Bowl game. He expressed a similar sentiment by saying. "Football is like life, it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication, respect for authority and in order to win the game you have to play as a team.  Doesn’t that sound just like being a church going Christian?

This week I heard New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall, a committed Christian who will be featured on a video we will be showing at our weekend services, talking about what it takes to be a successful receiver in the NFL. He said, “The receiver hears the play in the huddle, runs a pattern with the sole purpose of creating separation so he can receive the football thrown from the quarterback. The receiver has many obstacles as he runs the pattern given to him by the quarterback. There are eleven defensive players that are there to get in his way and distract him from his task. There are specific defenders, defensive backs, whose sole purpose is to not let the receiver catch the ball. My job as a receiver is to successfully complete the play my quarterback calls.”

As I think about this I realize that my walk with God is a lot like a receiver. I get my instructions from God, by reading the Bible, His playbook, then go out into the world and try to follow God’s plan for my life. My challenge is to be aware that I live in a world that tries to block me from doing this. I live in a world that tries to misdirect and distract me.  My job is to create separation from the world, keep my eye on the ball so I can receive and follow His plan for my life.

This Super Bowl Weekend join us in all 4 services at C3 as we highlight testimonials from some NFL greats as well as current players from the Patriots and Falcons.  Wear your favorite team’s colors and be sure to invite a friend to one of these special services Saturday at 5pm Sunday at 8:30, 10, 11:30am.  

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

We're Better Together

This week I watched the Martin Scorsese movie “Silence” about two 17th-century Jesuit priests who travel from Portugal to Japan to locate their missing mentor who was suspected of abandoning his faith. It was difficult to watch the persecution and torture that these fictional Christians endured. They represented the millions of real life martyrs who stood for Christ throughout the ages.  Their courage and steadfastness in the face of horrific circumstances is a lesson for us all.

I remember reading about studies that were conducted among former American prisoners of war to determine what methods used by the enemy were most effective in breaking their spirit. The findings revealed that these men did not break down from physical deprivation and torture as quickly as they did from solitary confinement or from disrupted friendships. Attempts to get them divided in their attitudes toward one another proved to be the most successful method of discouraging them. It was further learned that these P.O.W.’s were not sustained primarily by faith in their country or by the rightness of the cause for which they fought. They drew their greatest strength from the close attachments they had formed with their fellow prisoners. I got to thinking the same thing can be said is for church. You and I were made to live and grow in our faith as a part of a community of faith. God created us to live our lives not only connected to Him but also connected to each other.  

I have been saying for years, as Christians, we’re better together!

This weekend at the Celebration we will be continuing on in our series called GROW and I will be focusing on how the earliest church grew in faith and love with God and with each other even in and especially during difficult times.

I hope you will take full advantage of the liberty we have in this country to make a point of freely worshipping with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
 
We ARE better together,

Your pastor and partner in ministry,
Kyle

P.S.
Baby dedications at all services this weekend. Please RSVP on C3Hays app. Want to be baptized? RSVP to kyle@celebratejesus.org

C3’s Congregational Meeting and my (brief) State of the Church Address will take place at 12:30pm on Sunday.

We're Better Together

Have you ever seen the movie “Witness“? In it, an Amish community build a barn in one day as the whole community turns out together to accomplish a unified goal.  That is exactly what being a part of a church family is all about. 

The Bible says that God put you on earth to accomplish five purposes. We are purposed to love him, grow in our relationship with him, serve him, share him and honor him with our lives. God wired all of us in such a way that we can only fulfill his purposes in the context of a community. 

As a Christian you cannot fulfill any of those purposes on your own, we need other people to help us accomplish those things. The Bible often calls your spiritual life, “your walk”, but one of the important things to know is that God never intended for you to walk through life alone. We need others to walk with us to help us grow spiritually. This is why I like to say “We’re better together.”

Romans 12:5 says,“ Since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other and each of us needs all the others.”  We as Christians do need each other and that’s why I am inviting you to connect with C3.   

This weekend following each service, I will be hosting our NEXT STEPS class. In this class you will discover what it means to be a part of a church family and specifically you’ll learn the mutual expectations between you and your church. 

If you have not yet taken what we have previously called Class 101 or Connections Class, I invite you to take the NEXT STEP this weekend after services.  

We’re better together, 

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

P.S. 

Be sure to choose your scripture verse of the year and begin to mediate on it, memorize it and mark it on the wall at C3.

What Is Your Next Step?

In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life, life to the fullest.” He didn’t say he came to bring us an institution, an organization or a social club. Christ’s church is not a building even though God has given us a blueprint similar to a building of what the church should be.

“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known…according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." Ephesians 3:10-11

The Christian life is not just about believing, it’s about belonging, belonging to a family, belonging to Christ’s church.

I encourage and challenge EVERYONE who calls Celebration Community Church your church home to take the NEXT STEP, whatever that may be in your commitment to Christ and His church.

If you have not yet made the commitment to be a member of C3, I invite you to come to our “NEXT STEPS” class after each service next weekend January 21 & 22. During this 1 hour long class you will learn who C3 is, what we believe and more importantly, how you can find your place and purpose in it.

If you have not been baptized as an adult believer, or have not dedicated your infant to the Lord, I want to encourage you to take the next step and RSVP on our C3 app. to do that on the weekend of January 28 & 29.

If you are already a baptized member of C3, what is your next step in growing in your relationship with the Lord?

Is it having a Daily Quiet Time with God? Then take that next step by clicking on ‘Resource’ tile of the C3 app and start a You Version Reading Plan.

Is your next step connecting with a small group or serving in a ministry? Then take that next step by clicking on the ‘Ministries’ tile of the C3 app and finding a group that is right for you.

Is your next step making a greater commitment to Christ through tithing? Then step out in faith and give the first 10% of your income to your church by setting up an ongoing gift on the C3 app tile “Give”.

As we begin this New Year ask God what is the next step He wants you to take to grow closer to Him and to His church. Then DO IT!

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

P.S.
Before the end of this month be sure to choose your scripture verse of the year and begin to mediate on it, memorize it and mark it on the wall at C3 as a reminder of Christ’s mighty promise to “bring you life to the fullest” in this year of our Lord 2017.

P.S.2
Watch your e-mail tomorrow (Saturday) for icy condition weather updates and/or cancellations of services at C3 on Saturday and Sunday.