Mark Roach led us in worship this morning, along with his wife, Carolyn. I love his songs. We do lots of them all the time at Fellowship North. Up next was a time of reflection and communion while we were led in worship by Mike Lewis...
Mike Lewis - The Jesus Painter.
He started with a blank canvas, then he started smearing, splattering,
wiping, finger-painting, zigzagging with a large brush. When he stepped
away from the canvas, it was like time stood still for just a moment as
the complexity of the creative process was instantly distilled into an
incredible likeness of Christ. Christ's eyes. Christ crucified, bloody,
suffering on the cross. Christ with arms outreached to the world, hands
pierced and dripping with the blood of atonement. Amazing. This pic
can't even begin to capture what we saw and experienced. Check out his
website. Buy the DVD. You can also go to YouTube and WATCH him in action -
Ken Davis. Ken is a masterful communicator. A comedian. A teacher. I was sitting in the front row, directly in front of him. I didn't feel comfortable taking his picture. Too invasive in my opinion. To read the notes I took during his talk, click the link below.
3 windows of opportunity – Ken Davis
1. Be the best parent
you can be
Be focused on them. Do life with them.
Your children don’t care about your achievements. They
just want to know that you love them.
Spend time with them.
There isn’t a career worth selling your family for.
Don’t find cheap substitutes for intimacy.
2. See in front of you
the ministry and career that God has placed directly in front of you
Give yourself to what you have now. Don’t look at today
as a stepping stone to the next unknown level. Being famous doesn’t matter.
Don’t strive for fame. Be faithful to complete what it is that God wants you to
do today and everyday whether
it leads to fame and success or not.
“some of us are beating on a door, yelling at God, why
won’t you let me in here…turn around.”
3. Have the
relationship with God He wants with me
“What ifs” are debilitating and crippling. What ifs
threaten to expose who we are.
Satan is like a roaring lion seeking to devour.
We love God because He first loved us.
He had a black, spiral bound notebook with all his sins
listed.
One day he saw a picture of God – paging thru the
notebook, puzzled, saying “I see nothing here – I only see the blood of my son
Jesus.”
God wants to sit down at the drawing board with us –
not to rubber stamp our plans but to plan with us.
Prayer from 3 yr old granddaughter…
Oh dear God don’t let grandpa be afraid. Help him to
think of bunnies and rainbows and smiley faces. Help him to think of Jesus. But
don’t let him be afraid.
Life verse, the one that he reads, especially during
the dark times when he is dealing with fear because of perfection and
performance.
Isaiah 43 – The Message Bible
1-4
But now, God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, Israel:
the One who got you started,
I've called your name. You're mine.
When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you.
When you're in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you're between a rock and a hard place,
it won't be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God,
The Holy of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you:
all of Egypt,
with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That's how much you mean to me!
That's how much I love you!
I'd sell off the whole world to get you back,
trade the creation just for you.
