Hope Fellowship Community Church

Reading is very dangerous for me. The last few books I have read have really challenged me in how I view life and our culture.
My family recently drove 1200 miles to Indiana and then back to Florida. Crazy, right?! One of the things I did to stay awake was to listen to the book, Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. Another was to have Bev read to me. We started reading The Hole In Our Gospel and you want to talk about eye opening.

I am discovering just how unimportant "things" are in my life and how really important people should be. Bev and I have really been challenged in the way we think, the way we talk, the way we act, and the way we spend our money. We have committed to making some major changes in our lives to be able to do what it is that we feel Jesus is calling us to do.

What did Jesus say about how we should live our lives? Love God, Love people, right? He constantly modeled his love for people by doing, helping, and getting involved in peoples' lives. He was all about the business of God. He was so consumed that he couldn't help but follow through with God's purposes.

What consumes you? TV, Facebook, Work, Alcohol, Sex, Money, Knowledge, Being Good, living a good life?

We need to be consumed by nothing but God. It is a daily thing. Saying everyday, every minute, God I am yours…and then allowing him to lead us. Always looking for someway to show his love, to help someone, to share what he has given to us with someone else.

Here is a story about a man named Jimmy who was sponsored as a child. Jimmy starts sharing at 3:45.
http://vimeo.com/7072300

How many lives can you change? How many lives could you save? How much are they worth to you? How much are they worth to God? I read recently that people wonder where God is in all the sickness and disease going on, but do you ever think that God wonders where we are?

We are supposed to be his hands and feet in spreading his love and his truth.

Our church is doing something called Advent Conspiracy again this year. Putting Christ back into Christmas and really going against the mindset of consumerism and the "iNeed" mentality. Find out more about it at www.adventconspiracy.org.

Seeking God is not only about knowledge. It is not only about what we believe. It’s what we do with it once we know it. It is about the saving love of Jesus Christ.

What are you doing with what you have heard once you hear it? Once you believe it?

Our church recently put in a new patio area for people to sit and eat and talk. It came as such a blessing because a crew of guys came down and did all the work for FREE! I just wanted to give a special thanks out to Ed, Homer, Gene, Phil, Ken, and Bryan for all the work that they put into planning and construction of this new patio. This is a great group of guys that are doing great things for people. They are doing things in the way the God has called us to help each other.

I have put in some before and after pictures of the patio area. Click on the images to see a bigger picture. While the area is still recognizable, it is definitely a new and improved look.

Just like when God starts working on us. I may still look a little like the old me. I may even sound a little like the old me. But things have changed, inside and out. God has challenged me and molded me in such a way that I am a new person. I no longer want to look and act like the old me but I want only to seek God and please Him as best I can. I may have to sweep off the stones everyday and make sure that I keep the area clean but if I do not have Him there, I am just like the Pharisees and teachers of the Law in Matthew 23:25-28; nice and clean on the outside but dead on the inside.

God has called us to a higher commitment level. He is not calling us to just get by and do the minimum.

This Christmas we are trying something different. If you are interested, check out adventconspiracy.org and see for yourself. The basics of it is that you don't spend as much on useless gifts at Christmas and you give the money you would have spent to a worthy cause like building wells so people can have fresh water. Our family has decided to make all of our gifts and to support an organization called horizon international.

Consumerism hits almost every part of our lives. If it isn't new, it isn't good. If it's not the latest thing, it is ancient history. I read an illustration about this idea and how even when we go on missions trips, we try to ingrain that into the "poor" culture to whom we are ministering. Check it out here.

I was talking to my daughters on Thanksgiving evening about how much food we had consumed that day. I told them that we probably ate more in that one day than some people in the world eat in a month. Did you ever hear, "You'd better eat that, there are children starving all over the world." Maybe instead of stuffing our faces and trying to get the biggest and best of everything, we should do something to help some of these starving children. It's time for change.