Handling The Crunch Part 1 - Be Intentional

Ephesians 5:15-17 gives these instructions….
1. Be intentional about how you live,
2. Be wise,
3. Don’t mindlessly waste your time and opportunities,
4. Don’t be foolish,
5. Understand what the Lord’s will is.

Life is Busy!! Most days we go to bed and feel exhausted and wondering where the day went. With technology, work, school, sports, band, etc we never seem to have enough time to do it all, much less rest or “be still.” How are we ever going to be able to hear God’s voice, to be still and know who He is if we can’t even manage to make it to school or work on time! We can’t even remember what happened yesterday, last week, last month, even last year. It’s all a blur!

I don’t know about you, but when my life is over, I don’t want to look back and see a blur of iPhone apps, work schedules, and rushed conversations. I want to KNOW God. I want to recall tender moments with my wife and children. I want to relish close friendships that were of great value to me. I want my time to have made a lasting imprint. How do I plan to make this happen while handling the crazy crunch?? By following God’s Word in Ephesians.

Let’s pretend that at the beginning of each day, we’re all given 24 tickets – each ticket is one hour. We only get 24 hours to a day and there is only so much that we can jam into that time. We need to REALLY consider…Are we spending our time on those things that will leave a lasting imprint on life? Things that really matter to us and to God? Let’s break down how much time we really have….

Sleep – 7 tickets (at least)

Work/School – 9 tickets

Shower/Eat/Drive – 3 tickets

We’ve already blown through most of our tickets and we’ve done nothing but the bare essentials!! What we do with our few remaining tickets is how our life will be defined. This is the CRUNCH. This is where we need to be intentional. This is where we need to decide. These tickets are nonrefundable. They are precious. We need to choose wisely - choose relationships over tasks, choose to be together instead of separate, and choose to rest instead of push harder and do more. The way we spend those few remaining tickets will determine the course of our lives. This is important!! We need to PAY ATTENTION to how we spend our time, and make intentional choices that reflect our goals. Don’t let others tell you how to spend your time. Their goals are not yours. Be intentional!

So….24 tickets….1 life. I’m going to pay attention to how mine is spent! How about you?

Tear Down the Wall

We had a great service this past Wed night. The message I gave was called "Tear Down the Wall". It focused on how the Bible commands us to forgive those that sinned against us and when we do not we put up a wall. A wall between us and that person and a wall between us and God. Mark 11:25 says, "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins". Wow. Offenses will come (Luke 17:1), but we must learn to forgive.

Forgiveness is the willingness to give up your resentment toward someone who has wronged you, regardless of how serious or painful that wrong might have been. In other words, you renounce any desire to get even. We can identify three elements to forgiveness: to give up resentment about the wrong; to give up resentment toward the wrongdoer; and to give up plans for retaliation. Forgiveness is more than just saying some words; it must come from the heart.

You may be saying, but you do not know what I went through. You do not know what happened to me. You are right, I do not, but God does. He promises to work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28), and tells us that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us (Phil 4:13). So go ahead and Tear Down that Wall and Forgive. It will not be easy and you may never "forget" but you can "FORGIVE"! And when you forgive it will bring freedom.

I end with this: Eph 4:32 - "And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."

- Jason

Current Series

Our Current Message Series is called "United".


Sept 7 - Salvation Is Here
Sept 14 - The Stand
Sept 21 - Tear Down the Wall
Sept 28 - Who are you? by Special Guest Paul Luciano
Oct 5 - Solution

Come join us for this awesome series.

Look out Blogger Here I Come

Hello everybody. As you can see it has been a long time since we updated this site. Well, we are back. I am very excited to use this as a tool to communicate events, thoughts, post pictures, etc. We will primarily use our Facebook page to make regular updates, but I will be posting on this site as well. Just to let you know of a few upcoming events:

Christmas Child Shoebox Packing Party - Sat, Sept 24th @9am @Grace Church on Grubb Road.

See you at the Pole - Wed, Sept 28th @6:30 or 7:00am @ your school.

Paintball Saturday - Sat, Oct 22nd @ 12:00pm @ the Weaver's.

- Jason