Another great Sunday of worship and ministry at Northwood!  I am so thankful that God allows me the opportunity to be a part of such a special family.  God is so good and is up to some amazing things in and through our lives.  Can’t wait to see how He brings it all together for His glory!  Here’s some of the highlights from my day:

-Sweet prayer time with some of my brothers to start the morning off right!

-Love my “Doing Life Together” Small Group – I learn something from our interaction each and every week!

-Worship at both services was sweet and communicated the truth of God’s grace and love from beginning to end!

-God had a great message and reminded us all that sacrifice is not enough, our sacrifice must be followed with obedience to really have impact!

-We were also reminded that we are going to one day stand before Him and give an account and now is the time to get ready for that day!

-Love watching all the preparation that goes into making all that happens at NW happen.  The sweet spirit and willing attitudes of so many people of all ages make the impossible – possible for God’s glory!

-Life Classes were great tonight!  The marriage class was extra special, sorry that some had to miss it.  We learned a lot about forgiveness and the power that God brings into our lives and relationships because of forgiveness.  Remember to follow God’s example and you can’t go wrong!

-Fellowship and food is always special and we seem to always get an extra dose on Sundays.  Thankful for friends that enjoy being family and spending time together.

-The Extra special blessing of today came from one of our new guests to Grace Place.  My new friend Monk promised me Friday night that I would see him at worship today.  When I got to the second service, he was walking in the rain to keep his promise.  He had arranged a ride, but they did not show up and he decided to walk in the cold rain to do what he said he would do.

I wonder how many people stayed home today, because they were too lazy and selfish to get out of a warm bed.  This guy who experienced love and grace on Friday night at Grace Place, felt compelled to keep His promise and come and join his new grace family in worship today!  It made my week!

I really just have one thing left to say:  G3!

I’ve been thinking about our getting together for worship tomorrow and the Holy Spirit has been showing me a lot of different things.  I wanted to share a little of what He has been sharing with me, in the hopes that it will help all of us to get our heart, soul and mind ready for an experience with Him tomorrow!

Last week, I wrote an article about negativity (You can find it here – Five Negatives Of The Negative! http://wp.me/p64uI-BJ), and then today I was reminded of the book of James and what it has to say about the tongue!  I wrote an article about this on March 10th, it can be found here Small But Powerful!  http://wp.me/p64uI-AY
James 1:26  If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.

James 3:6  And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

James 3:8-11  But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.  9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;  10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.  11  Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?

I know that most people who engage in conversations that become negative don’t mean to be harmful, and maybe sometimes are trying to be helpful.  If you really want to be helpful, then make sure that if your tongue is wagging that it is wagging to the right people and with the right spirit.

I know from first hand experience and by being on both sides of the issue that this is no good!  In the past I have been very hurt by things that have been said.  I know my heart and if other people choose not to read it or to read it incorrectly, then there is not a lot that I can do about that!  I also know that I have been guilty of being involved in conversations that were hurtful to others and there is something that I can do about that!

In my life, I have seen some very innocent people hurt, because of tongue wagging and I really believe that the people who were doing the tongue wagging didn’t really mean to be hurtful or divisive, but that’s the way it often turns out!  I have watched it happen just this week and it not only hurts people, but the cause of Christ!

I am sorry for wagging my tongue and I am begging for God’s forgiveness and help in getting my tongue bridled.  His work, will,  glory and Kingdom are too important to be taken off track by my or anyone else’s tongue.

Tomorrow we meet together to use our lives, actions and tongues to glorify Him!  Take some time tonight before you go to bed to let the Holy Spirit of God to help you to be honest and real about your tongue.  If you need forgiveness, ask for it and God is faithful to grant it and with it restoration into the center of His will for our lives.

I love each of you and look forward to using all we’ve got to G3!

The most important thing that you can do with your life is get into a relationship with God.  The second most important thing that you can do with your life is help someone else get into a relationship with God.  I can honestly think of nothing more important than having a real and meaningful relationship with God.

Most people would agree with what I just said, but while we say this is the most important thing that we can do with our life, it is often not the thing that we do with our life.  Our relationship with God and helping others to get into that relationship does not even often make the top three in our daily living!  We sarcastically live the saying on the t-shirt!

When the opportunity to get into or grow in a relationship with God presents itself, we should drop everything and pursue the opportunity – if it really is the most important thing.

When the opportunity to share with someone else how they can get into the relationship presents itself, then we should drop everything and do everything we can to help them understand, so that they might pursue the relationship.

Our words say one thing, but our actions prove another!  What if today is the day of His return and we put off the relationship until tomorrow? If we believe what we say we believe, then we need to drop everything and chase after God and help others to do the same.

I sometimes get so caught up in ministry, that I miss the opportunities to do the most important ministry of all.  I am asking God to help me with that!  I want to be in step with Him.  I’ll know I’m there when I drop everything to pursue our relationship and when I am helping others to do the same!

God help me to take the time to be in a real and right relationship with You and let me see the evidence that my relationship is real and right by my dropping everything to help others get into and grow that relationship too!