Jesus Loves Me, This I Know

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God"

(Paul, Ephesians 3:14-19, NIV)

This Scripture is not meant to tease us, laying before us a love that we will never know. Instead, it paints a beautiful picture of the love in which we are meant to live and dwell, daily.

This week, when you wake up, begin by reflecting on the knowledge of who you belong to and where you live.

It is often all too easy to get caught up in thinking about the coming day - the activities, the people, the worries, the joys, etc...

Instead, take those details and wrap them up in the greatest reality that Jesus rules in love over all. I and all those I encounter, along with everyone and everything, are held in the heart of God. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I don't just live at 12 Ashwood Place, I live in Christ at 12 Ashwood Place

And that makes all the difference.

Regenerated! - Part Four

9)NEW FREEDOM

This is one of my personal favorites in this whole list. When the Holy Spirit begins to regenerate us, we gain the new freedom to be able to say "no" to sin and "yes" to God. We will either have one of two things: Either our face will be toward sin with our backs to God, or our face will point towards our Creator while we turn our backs on sin. This new freedom allows us to do just that! Romans 7:6 illustrates this beautifully: "But now, we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code." This new freedom is one of the most encouraging things about seeing people come to Christ.

10) NEW LIFE

When the Holy Spirit finalizes this transformation inside of our hearts and we are fully regenerated, we live a life that is completely different from how life would be otherwise. We live for God, not for anything else because we have been made completely new, transformed from within by the amazing power of the Holy Spirit.

Contemplate this list. Find out where you need to allow the Holy Spirit to make changes inside of your heart. He desires to regenerate you, but you have to allow Him to do that first!

Regenerated! - Part Three

7) NEW COMMUNITY

Regenerated people have their sins forgiven and become Christians ("Christ-like"), members in God's church. We receive the desire to pursue fellowship which is nothing more than loving relationship in community with fellow regenerated Christians as the church. By living in this community with fellow Christians as the church, the regenerated person learns how to live a life that glorifies God and helps others do the same.

8) NEW POWER

Not only does the Holy Spirit regenerate our hearts, but He also indwells inside of our hearts. That is why Jesus called the Holy Spirit our "Helper" and our "Teacher." This indwelling prompts us to continually repent of sin so that we can constantly be filled with the Holy Spirit. Mark Driscoll put it this way, "the Holy Spirit is like a sail. Just as a sail is opened up fully so that it might be filled with the wind and powerfully driven toward a destination, Spirit-filled, regenerated Christians have their mind, heart, and will open to the things of God and welcome God's powerful direction of their life toward His purpose."

We'll finish up this list tomorrow.

Update on Jasmine Flora

Some of you have asked how Jasmine Flora is doing. I wrote about her in this post.

Jasmine has a long fight ahead of her as she will be starting radiation treatments at the end of this week and she will have chemo treatments at the first of next week, but the doctors have taken her off of the ventilator and God is working a miracle in her young life.

I said it before and I'll say it again, God does amazing things when His people pray. Keep praying Jasmine up!

Regenerated! - Part Two

4) NEW MIND

Another new ability that the Holy Spirit generates inside of us is the ability to focus on the thoughts of God because God gives us a new mind. Apart from this new mind, we really cannot understand the mind or the thoughts of God. 1st Corinthians 2:14-16 says this: "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned....But we have the mind of Christ." As our New Minds grow, they begin to crave to read the Scriptures more and more. Don't look at Bible study as something you have to do, look at it as something you get to do because in our regenerated hearts, it is something we want to do.

5) NEW EMOTIONS

Born-Again people are marked emotionally because they love as Jesus loved with God's love. 1st John 4:7 says: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." Because God is love, regenerated people are plugged in to the source of all true love. We also have the capacity to love God, our spouse, our children, our friends, our neighbors, and even our enemies.

6) NEW DESIRES

When we are regenerated, we also long for the things that God longs for. Galatians 5:16-17 says: "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do." We will always wrestle with the desires that tempt us to sin, but when we give in to those desires, we become miserable until we repent and live in obedience to God which is the desire that the Holy Spirit gives to us. This is what Psalm 37:4 means when it says: "delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Only a regenerated heart can be delighted with who God is and what He does.

Regenerated! - Part One

When we become believers in Jesus, our innermost being, what the Bible calls "our heart", is made new. The Holy Spirit begins to change us from the inside out and this week, we're going to explore the ten things that He "generates" in our new heart:

1) NEW LORD

When we give our lives over to Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin. We have a New Lord, Jesus, who has defeated sin and death and who frees us to live in joy. We long to live for Jesus and we desire to do the things that He wants us to do because He loves us and we love Him. The greatest thing about having Jesus as our New Lord is that all of the other "gods" in our life are dethroned. Everything else will not and cannot liberate us the way that Jesus does, which is completely.

2) NEW CREATION

We also become New Creations, changed from the deepest part of who we are to become who Christ wants us to be. You cannot change your behaviors, attitudes, personas, without first being changed from the inside. It begins at your heart. 2nd Corinthians 5:17 says it best: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away, behold, the new has come." God desires us to be born again in Him and live a new life as a new person in relationship with Him, rather than by changing our outward appearances.

3) NEW IDENTITY

With a New Lord and as a New Creation, we receive a New Identity that we put on through faith. Ephesians 4:22-24 says this: "put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self,created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." The sinful nature (our flesh) does not submit to God, because it is our "old selves", but our regenerated nature (our spirit), by God's grace, can take off the old self and put our new self on to live a life that reflects our God. This is how we can all live our lives as acts of worship to God - we have New Identities.

Best Commercial...Ever

Okay, I'm not into product endorsements here, but I know many of you have been watching TV and seen the new Old Spice Body Blocker campaign. Here is their newest ad. Get ready to fall off your chairs.

Building Kick.....Explosion!

Album Review: Starfield "The Saving One"

I had the pleasure of attending the National Youth Worker's Convention back in 2006 when it came to Cincinnati and I was privileged to be led in worship by the Canadian Worship band Starfield. I instantly became a fan. Their lyrics cut to the heart and their music is outstanding. ACC, you might even recognize a couple of their songs as they have found their way into our regular worship rotation.

Their latest offering, "The Saving One" follows right along with everything they've ever put out.

Several of their new tracks grabbed me and wouldn't let go. Most notably, the foot stompin' "Declaration of Dependence" which speaks of how we need to live for God and no one or nothing else. You can listen to that song on my blog by clicking on this link

A couple of other ones that also got my attention were: "No Other Savior", "Rediscover You", The title track "The Saving One", and my other personal favorite "The Top of Our Lungs."

If you are looking for some new worship music to get on board with, check out this band. You won't be disappointed.

Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆

9 out of 10 stars.

Worry Not!

Hey ACC, there's a hot message cookin' for you this Sunday. You need to get here to find out what else Jesus said about the End of the World and How You can survive it!

Don't miss out this Sunday at 11am!

See you there.

Single Ladies? Not for You!

I am a regular reader of Worship Leader, Carlos Whittaker's blog, Ragamuffin Soul.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I turned on the television last Thursday morning and saw Carlos and his family on the CBS Early Show!

I naturally began to wonder what could cause him to do an interview with CBS with his entire family. I figured it was probably due to his blog which has garnered national attention, or it could be because of his album which is due to come out later this spring.

But I never imagined that the interview would be due to a You Tube video. Watch this video, I promise, you'll understand why Carlos ended up on the news.

Small Groups Beta Groups

It's had coverage on almost every ACC blog this week, but here it is one more time for all of you who may have missed it -

Small groups Sign-ups begin officially this Sunday! Be the first to get your spot reserved in our brand new ministry!

Amelia Small Groups Promo from Amelia Church of Christ on Vimeo.

How to Survive The End of the World

ACC, this Sunday is Easter Sunday, and we're coming at you with a brand new series entitled, "How to Survive the End of the World."

In the four week series, we'll be exploring the things Jesus said to us that we can use to watch for his coming and what to expect.

This is going to be an unbelievable series, church, and you do not want to miss a moment of it. There could be surprises around every corner. You'll just have to come and check it out for yourselves. This series would also be a great opportunity for you to reach your friends for Jesus. Everyone has questions about the end times, so this is something you could definitely connect with your friends and neighbors on.

Also, the ACC band is putting together one of the hottest worship sets I think I've ever seen for Easter Sunday and I cannot wait to unveil what we've got for you.

Easter Sunday 2010: Identical Services at 9 am and 11 am.

We'll see you there.