Family Time

We are enjoying some family time in Greenville, SC this week. I always look forward to some intentional family time. I use the word intentional because if we do not make the commitment to spend quality time with our families, we can easily burnout our closest relationships.

I love serving as a pastor to students. I love preparing messages. I love teaching students. I love helping adult volunteers become great youth leaders. I love seeing people come to Christ and be baptized. I love so much of what I get to do in the ministry. I'm at times blown away that God  allows me to be a part of His mission to seek and save the lost.

I want to be completely honest. It is easy for me to become so lazer focused upon everything I listed above and be less engaged when I come home. God has revealed to me over the past few years that my first ministry is Cassidy and Micah.  You might be thinking, "Duh!" I understand it but it is easy for those in ministry to sacrifice our families on the altar of the church. I'm learning slowly that my greatest impact is in my home.

Intentional family time looks like this for us: Praying. Listening. Laughing. Encouraging. Forgiving. Asking for forgiveness. Eating food together.

I'm learning that intentional, planned time with my family is vital for us to grow closer to God and each other. I hope that as the years go on that our love for God and serving God grow hand in hand.

This week I'm spending quality time with those closest to me, my family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What ways do you spend intentional time with your family?

3 Minute Devotional | 1 John 3:14-15

If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them. 1 John 3:14-15

(3:14). In this first verse John lays out the first test of spiritual growth. This test is if we love others.  John uses a statement that reveals a total contrast for being a Christ follower. The phrase is, “passing from death to life”. This is a total and absolute change from separation from God to eternal life. The perfect tense is used here to signify that we remain in life once we have passed from death. In other words, there is not a constant movement from one to the other.  John goes on further to say that he who does not love his brother still abides in death.

(3:15). John further elaborates on what the neglect of the command in verse one actually is. He equates hate with murder. Why is this? The scriptures tell us that God desires truth in the inward parts. At the time of the writing of this letter, there were those who taught that one could live in sin and still be a believer. Others taught that one only had to keep the letter of the law and not the spirit. In other words, it was wrong for you to kill someone but hating that person within your own heart and mind was permissible. This is why John says that one who hates and one who kills are equally guilty in the eyes of God.

Action steps: 

 - Find a way today to encourage other friends in their faith. - Ask God to reveal any hate that is in your heart. Ask Him to help you release the hate and replace it with love.

Volunteer Tip: The "Why" of Small Groups

Small groups are vital for student to become fully devoted followers of Christ. The need for small groups is vital to people learning how to grow in their walk with God and each other. The Bible gives us the foundation of spiritual growth within the Christian community.

In the Old Testament we see the importance of the unity between God and man in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 1:27). God set up an important relationship between Adam and Eve. The sin that separated them from God was relational. The need for community was in place after the fall of Adam and Eve.

In the New Testament, Jesus set the example of pouring His life into the disciples. He spent a majority of his time explaining and living out the truth of God’s Word. Jesus did not spend his time mainly with the multitudes, but with a small group of world changers (Matt. 13:36).

In Acts 2:46-47 it says, ^“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”  

In James 5:16 it says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

Here are a few observations from Acts 2 and James 5:16 on community: Healthy community...

1. Eat together (Yes!) 2. Meet in homes (better environment and openness) 3. Authentically live for God (glad and sincere hearts) 4. Relational (enjoying the favor of all the people) 5. Grows numerically (true disciples make disciples) 6. Maintains healthy accountability (grace meets pursuit of God's glory)

The early church is a great example of people that loved each other and spent their time and efforts on building relationships. (Acts 2:46, 12:12, 20:8, 20:20; Rom. 16:4-5; I Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:5; Philemon 2).

Small group is the best way for people to learn and grow in their faith. The essence of small groups is creating an environment where people can open up to one another and grow spiritually. Healthy small groups are essential to lead people to become like Christ.

 What would you add to the conversation on small groups?