Last night was the second time Nick Vujicic has come to The Grove (the church I attend) and speak. What makes Nick so special? He has no arms and no legs. Check out this video of him at another Church speaking on his life and his faith:
So each and every Sunday I do my best to give you my Searching Deeper column, basically discussing the Christian faith, and many times my own personal faith. Today I have a good assortment of stuff for you, so i hope you enjoy!
Verse of the Week: The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. John 6:33 NLT
Song of the Week: East to West by Casting Crowns
Devotion of the Week: There is a story of elderly lady who was watching as a pair of golfers sliced their drives deep into the rough. The golfers went in search of their errant golf balls. The grass was high, the trees were thick, and tempers flared as they looked in vain through the underbrush. The elderly lady observed all this from the front porch of her house. After the search had lasted nearly half an hour, she finally called out to them, “I don’t want to bother you men,” she said, “but will it be cheating if I tell you where the golf balls are?”
As we look around us, we see people searching for lost values, for real meaning in life, and for hope. We must not keep silent. Fulfilling the Great Commission means sharing Jesus Christ with those around. It means speaking up and guiding them to forgiveness and salvation.
There are too many churches with impeccable credentials for orthodox theology whose outreach is almost nil. They are sound, but they are sound asleep. It is far too easy for the Church to become a sort of religious clique where Christians retreat from the world.
The church on the Day of Pentecost understood that its primary mission was to reach out to the world. The unity that they experienced and the prayers that they offered were only to help them more ably fulfill the task that Christ had given them to make disciples of all persons. They existed not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of a lost world.
Hey everyone hope you all are enjoying your weekend and getting the rest that you all need to save up for the upcoming week. I said this was going to be a weekly entry here on the World of Joel blog and I haven’t delivered and for that I am sorry, it has been a challenging couple of weeks. But nevertheless I am back with the August 19th edition of Searching Deeper with some great things for your reading pleasure.
Verse of the Week: The LORD is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth. Psalm 145:18 NLT
Song of the Week: Here I Go Again by Casting Crowns
Here is another step that can move us from financial bondage to financial freedom. Recognize that you are only free when you are free to use either poverty or plenty. There are two ways in which men and women try to defend themselves against financial disaster. One is by saving as much as possible in an attempt to avert it. The other is by renouncing money or material things entirely in order to be free from their clutches. Both methods have disadvantages. The first, because it can cause miserliness and anxiety, and tends to make a person as metallic as the coins they seek to amass. The second, because it seeks to get rid of the difficulty by washing one’s hands of it entirely. In each case, there is a bondage - one is a bondage to material things, the other a bondage to poverty. The man who is free to use plenty only is bound by that, while the man who is free to use poverty only is also bound. They are both bound. But the person who, like Paul in the text before us today, has “learned the secret of being content … whether living in plenty or in want” is free, really free. While waiting for a train in India, a missionary got into a conversation with a high-caste Indian. “Are you traveling on the next train?” the missionary asked. “No,” he replied, “that train has only third-class carriages. It’s all right for you, because you are a Christian. Third class doesn’t degrade you and first class doesn’t exalt you. You are above these distinctions, but I have to observe them.” Lifted above all distinctions!
Every Sunday I plan on giving a little Christian update with a good verse from the bible, maybe a quick story, and a great Christian song to check out. The format will I am sure evolve a bit but here is my first induction into my new weekly update, Searching Deeper with Joel Szerlip.
Verse of the Week: “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Isaiah 26:3 NLT
Song of the Week: Let it Fade by Jeremy Camp
Devotional (By Greg Laurie): A man who fell over the side of a cliff was hanging on to a branch that was starting to give way. Recognizing it was only a matter of time before he would fall to his death, he shouted, “Is anybody up there? Somebody help me!”
Suddenly Jesus appeared, leaned over the edge, and said, “Young man, reach out and take my hand, and I will save you. But first, you must let go of that branch you are holding on to.”
The man didn’t want to let go of the branch.
Jesus told him, “You must take hold of My hand and let go of the branch, or I cannot pull you up.”
The man paused for a minute and said, “Is anybody else up there?”
A lot of us don’t want to let go. We still want to hold on to a part of our old lives. But there has to be a moment in each of our lives in which we have recognized we are sinners and have asked for God’s forgiveness. Then Jesus Christ comes in. But we have to let go. Then some changes must take place.
The Bible says there is a spiritual blindness in all those who have not yet turned their lives over to Jesus Christ. So we must have our spiritual eyes opened. We must turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God (see Acts 26:18). As we yield to God and His will for our lives, then we will receive the forgiveness of sins. Then we will see the incredible benefits of making those changes.
But we have to let go of our branch and take hold of His hand.
Hope you enjoyed this weeks edition of Searching Deeper. Hopefully I can continue this weekly edition of the new feature each Sunday. Thanks for reading and as always God Bless!
I am coming up on finals this week and with the pressure of life and future, and even finals this week I wanted to put my new favorite verse(s) that I read this evening. It is funny how the holy spirit just guides you to the scripture your mind needs and this was another example of a night just like that.
‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
As many of you know I am a born again believer. I started out going to church with Jenn at Harvest Christian Fellowship but did feel a calling for change and our first try at a new church landed us where we are today, The Grove. As many of you may or may not have heard, The Grove has expanded tremendously over the years and with the new location has really brought a new calling for many in the area and you could see that today. Today we had a guest speaker Mr. Nick Vujicic a man who was born without arms or legs. The service was one of the most well spoken and thought provoking services about really learning to trust and follow God. To get a feel of Mr. Vujicic you can go to his cleverly named website LifeWithoutLimbs.org He is really quite a speaker and makes for one inspiring message. Live with the faith that God will provide in the right way which may not always be your way.
As many of you know I work for Bank of America and have been for almost a year now. I am now a senior teller and have helped my fair share of customers. I have my regulars and those who know me and that is all well and good, but nothing has touched me and changed me in the way that one older woman did today. So today started like every other Friday, busy. So we as tellers try to keep the line moving as quickly as possible. Well during this long line of customers I see an elderly woman who looks like she might have something wrong with her, or maybe it was just a nervous tick. Luck may have it that I would have this customer. However what I didn’t know was what to expect from this transaction.
She came up to the window like every other person would however I noticed that this was not just a nervous twitch and later I found out she has Parkinson’s disease. This women came up to the window looking quite broken and distraught. She asked if I would write out a check for her, for her Credit Card payment and of course I accepted and did the payment for her. We got to talking while this was going on and discussed her birthday which was yesterday which I mentioned was my sister Ally’s birthday as well. This really got us talking about how her day was and what she got to do on her birthday. She asked me if I could do her another favor which I accepted and it was to help her with her check register to fill out some of the recent purchases which I did.
And then she stopped when everything was done, and said “sometimes I just want to cry”. She went on to say that she was really struggling with her Parkinsan’s that day and that I had made her day, that I was an angel, and that I had been very blessed. She left with a few tears of happiness and myself extremely choked up.
I tell you this story not to brag about my actions as I believe anyone would have done this had she asked them. However I write this because I want to remind not only myself but everyone that simple acts of kindness that can take ten seconds may seem meaningless to some however to others it could mean the world. This women who was one of hundreds of customers today deeply moved me and I just praise the Lord for that life lesson and I pray I always remember to treat everyone the way I would want to be treated.
Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life. Proverbs 19:20 NLT
Many times I just come across movies I want to see and today was a day where I saw a movie trailer that just struck me as original. Sure we have seen a lot of football movies, but one that also preaches the word of God? Now that seems like the ultimate combo!
This is one of those things that I am not sure what to feel. In one way I am happy that we are preaching the good news of Jesus Christ to our youth, but is this movie to extreme? I don’t know, but you can judge by watching the trailer below! Seems like a different movie, I look forward to watching it. It has been added to my Netflix Queue.
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Tonight I was reading my bible and I came across this verse in which spoke to my heart:
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. “ 2 Corinthians 4: 17-18
My prayers go out to all those affected by the September 11th attacks five years ago. God Bless You All!