This past week, as I perused the incoming social media, I came across this short clip by Michael Jr. when he spoke at Gateway Church last year. The more I think about that guy singing amazing grace and the two ways he sings the tune, the more my heart knows that Michael’s point about the “Why” is a deep truth. Check out the clip then read on.
Its 4:30 a.m. on Monday morning and my ears alert me to the clock going off like a tornado siren startling me awake. For a moment my brain is confused. My eyes say, “It’s still dark, we’re going to back to sleep.” My feet ache loudly agreeing with my eyes. My arm, still asleep, begins to tingle to life as it moves my hand with tenacity to hit the snooze to the internal thanks and praise of almost every other member. They all want to go back to sleep. However, a still small voice from deep within my heart says, “It’s time to prepare for the morning workout.” My lungs, together with my mouth and nostrils, sigh and with deep reluctance whisper out, “OK, we are getting up.” It’s early. It’s dark. It’s raining and cold. My body rolls out of bed and I am up. But then my body screams at my mind, “Hold on. Why are we doing this again?” My mind, coming into full leadership and authority reminds my body of its vision, its purpose with this torture it’s facing and the soreness and pain that will come. The mind says with all the calmness and confidence it can muster, “The ever looming holiday season is upon us and we need to be physically prepared for the beating we are about to take eating all those pies.” We move!
At Singing Oaks we are studying the Book of Luke, a Gospel about Jesus Christ. Luke sets out to make an orderly and thorough account of the life of Jesus the Christ and He did a marvelous job of capturing the stories and events of the greatest Man to ever exist.
As Christ followers we read the text of Luke in an attempt to discover the son of God whom we follow and the mission He calls His followers to pursue. We discover that He was and is a healer, teacher, comforter, leader, delegator, and a man of prayer and rest. Luke records Jesus’s life and upon careful examination a pattern emerges. Jesus worked and rested (Luke 5: 15-16, Luke 6: 12-19.) A man with so little time spent in ministry on earth and yet Luke takes the time to show that Jesus spent time resting from his work and business.
Most people like fruit. Well, most people like to eat fruit, but not necessarily cultivate fruit. Both literally and metaphorically people tend to responded with joy when good fruit is produced and with even more joy when they were the ones that produced the good fruit to the pleasure of others.
I grow figs. Figs are not a very popular fruit to grow in the U.S. as they are delicate, not easily stored, and the poison center says that the milky sap from fig trees can be noxious causing symptoms that include rashes, redness, blistering and swelling. However, figs can be used to sweeten just about any dish and are a truly awesome fruit/vegetable to eat possessing great nutritional qualities helping our bodies defend against weigh gain, cancer, muscular dystrophy. They are just difficult to cultivate.
When you stop to take a look back at the early church, you know the one mentioned in Acts 2:42 and following, you might notice that believers did things a little differently than believers do now here in the States. The text says believers devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching, to fellowship and sharing meals daily, and to prayer. They spent a lot of time together. Nowadays the average believer here in the U.S. reads the Bible and gathers together with other believers for 1-2 hours a week to sing, pray, share communion and hear a lesson. Believers, like the rest of the culture, find themselves pressed for time and looking for value, the best for the least cost. More and more believers are turning to the Internet and streaming services to listen to their favorite preacher or to study a biblical course for free. They are opting to skip the Sunday sermon and Bible class for many reasons but are finding their information and education online. How believers seek education and ultimately transformation has changed a lot. But why? Here are a few reasons and what they should communicate to church leaders.
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| Location | |||
| McKinney at Cardinal 101 Cardinal Drive Denton, TX 76209 940.387.4355 |
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| Sunday Worship Schedule | |||
| 9:30 - Worship (English Service) | |||
| 10:10 - Bible Class (Birth to 8th grade following the Kid's church time until the end of service) | |||
| 11:00 - Worship (Spanish Service) | |||
| Wednesday Evening Schedule | 6:30 - Celebrate Recovery | ||
| More Singing Oaks Websites | |||
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