Looking back & Looking forward

To all my Ignite friends out there! I trust that all of you had a legendary time either watching the Super Bowl with us or with your families or doing something totally different. I know I had a great time just hanging out with you peeps. Let me just remind you that there is no formal Ignite this Wednesday because of SRBC's annual Bible Conference. If you are interested though come at 7 as we worship in song & study God's Word. Regular Ignite will be back on the 17th. Now for the good stuff...

Looking Back: Yesterday we looked at the 3rd test to know if you have a relationship with God. The 3rd test to know is if you love God's people. Remember, this is not touchy feely love. It is a genuine care and concern for each other and our growth in Jesus. This all stems from our love for God. The person whose life is characterized by loving God's people is someone who does not want to say or do anything that would cause their fellow Christian peeps to sin. The person whose lifestyle is characterized by not loving God's peeps i.e. anger, bitterness, judging, gossip, etc. is a person who does not know God!

Looking Forward: Lordwilling this Sunday we will look at 2 items: 1. The assurance of what we have in Jesus. 2. The allure of the world. This will be a great lesson for us to see where we are at in our lives. Are we followers of Christ who know God, His Word and are growing in Him or are we people who love the things this world has to offer? Please pray that God would open up our hearts and minds to hear what He has to say to us!

Have a good week friends. We are praying for you!

Looking back & Looking forward

Hey friends. It is that time again. The time where I remind you to sign up for the Super Bowl party this Sunday from 3-7:30pm. Check here or your calendar for where you party is at.

Looking Back: This past Sunday we studied 1 John 2:3-6 where we looked at the first two tests to know if you have a relationship with God. The first test was if you obey God & His Word. This obedience does not come from a heart of I have to, but a heart of love for who God is & what He has done. The second test to know if you have a relationship with God was if you and I live like Jesus did. Again, this does not mean that we dress and eat like Jesus. It means that by God's grace we try to act like He did. How did Jesus act? He was obedient and humble. He was intentional and compassionate. He was totally committed to the Father's purposes and He did not retaliate when He was treated badly. We can't act this way on our own, but by God's grace because of what Christ has done for us, we can live this way.

Looking forward: Next time we will look at verses 7-11 where we will see that the third test to know if you have a relationship with Jesus is if you love His people. This one will be really lavish to discuss. Make sure you read verses 7-11 and pray that God will be at work in all of us to be ready to hear His Word and change!

That is it my friends. We heart you and are here for you. I trust that your passion buckets will be full this week!

End Week Excitement : Kit Kat style

This is in honor of one of my 3 most favorite candy bars of all time!!!

Looking back & Looking forward

Hey friends,

Welcome to our 2nd installment of looking back and looking forward. Yesterday, God used Joe D declare to us that we as His followers at times think that we are pretty good. We think that our feet don't stink if you will. ! John 1:8 &10 tell us that if we think this way as our habit of mind, that we are liars and Jesus is not apart of us, meaning we don't have a relationship with Him.

We then looked at the truth that for the follower of Jesus, one of the greatest things about Jesus is that if we come to him confessing our sins that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. That means that God will daily cleanse us from our sin and continue to make us more like his Son.

We also learned the amazingness of what Jesus did on our behalf. Because we do sin and have dishonored God, we are deserving of judgment, but God in his grace sent Jesus to act on our behalf i.e. our Advocate and He (Jesus) became our satisfaction and payment for sin i.e. propitiation. That means that the only way to be freed from our guilt and shame is to trust in the life, death & resurrection of the one who took the judgement for our sin upon himself. Our response in all this should be praise to God, confession to Him and having our passion buckets be full of Jesus at all times.

The amazing thing is that it is about to get better. Next week we will be studying 1 John 2:3-11 where God gives us some ways or proofs that we are His followers. Make sure you read verses 3-11 of 1 John 2 and ask God to open up your heart and mind to understand his Word so we can be made more like him.

Have a good week my friends. Remember to sign up for the upcoming events and continue to check the website for more bounciness!!

Endweek Excitement: Matt Rap

Hey peeps. What you are about to see is so high voltage! Some of you might recognize this man because he is your teacher. Some might recognize him because he goes to our church. Some of you might not know him, but you will want to after this. All I can say is move over Lecrae & Shai Linne! Holler back at Matt!

Final Tallies

Here is the moment all you peeps have been waiting for. Where are we going to dessert you ask? The answer by an exorbitant amount (that means a lot by the way) is YOGURT TIME!!!

So our destination sensations are Taco Bell for appetizer, Panda Express for dinner, and Yogurt Time for dessert! Come hungry!

Looking back & Looking forward

Hey friends,

You peeps know the drill... Ignite/LIT is this Wednesday. The Trust is this Saturday morning for you HS students and your Fast Food Progressive Dinner is this Saturday from 5-9pm. Check this site for other goodness by the way!

I thought it would be good each week to just remind you what we covered this past Sunday at Ignition and what you can be looking forward to this coming Sunday. We are studying 1 John, a book all about assurance i.e. how do I know I have a relationship with God? The answer we found is that the person who has a relationship with God is the person whose life has been changed by Christ! We have covered the first seven verses and we have seen that this book is all about Jesus. Our lives should be the same. We have seen that it was written so we could have fellowship i.e. a relationship with God and His people. We have the greatest bond in the world and that bond is the precious Savior! In the Savior we have joy which is better than anything else in this world. Lastly we looked at the way we can have this fellowship and joy is to walk in the light i.e. live in a way that reflects the glory of Christ. This life is lived out of delight in knowing God, not in duty. A life that is lived this way is evidence that Jesus has cleansed us from our sin. Is this stuff not legit?

This coming Sunday we will be going over 1 John 1:8-2:2. Let me encourage you to read this portion of God's Word a few times during this week and ask God to help you understand what He is communicating to you. Be praying for Joe D as he brings to us the message that God has for us. I trust that this will encourage, challenge, convict your hearts as you Rep The KING this week! Have a good one my friends!