New Feb Series @ SouthView…..WHY PRAY?

Matthew 6:9-13 demonstrates Jesus’ blueprint on prayer. If we study the Lord’s prayer we see that every aspect is covered in it. But God desires prayers from the heart not from repetition or ritual. Reciting a few lines to say we prayed isn’t what God is looking for. He desires that we communicate with Him in a very real way. He wants us to pray from our heart. Prayer is the lifeblood for our daily lives.

Don’t believe me….listen to some of these people:

“We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties.” ~ Oswald Chambers

“Those persons who know the deep peace of God, the unfathomable peace that passeth all understanding, are always men and women of much prayer.”~ R. A. Torrey

“I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God- it changes me.” ~ C. S. Lewis

“Where ever the church fails to pray, the enemy is happy to move in.” ~ Bill Johnson

“Prayer is simply a two-way conversation between you and God.” ~ Billy Graham

“If we never pray audacious, courageous prayers, how can He answer them?” ~ Francis Chan

“Prayer is faith in action.” ~ Reinhard Bonnke

“We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.”~ Oswald Chambers

When Jesus prayed things happened. When we pray it can be the same response. This month we will dive into different aspects of prayer. I believe that a church and a people that pray will experience some amazing things.

MR

Posted: February 1st, 2012 under Church info, Leadership.
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For Vision Sunday today, I shared a few points regarding the kind of church we will not be.

WE WILL NOT BE A CHURCH THAT….
…puts a building’s importance over God’s purpose.
…lifts up man over God.
…waters down the Word of God so not to offend.
…allows traditions to stop freedom, creativity and, most importantly, the Holy Spirit.
…treats our Children’s Church like a babysitting dept.
…focuses on one group of people (age, race, economic status, etc).
…is activity driven instead of Holy Spirit led.
…stops the move of God because of time, agendas, schedules, our past experiences or what man says.
…is so focused on our own vision that we neglect to partner with other churches or organizations doing God’s work as well.
…puts more weight on the natural than the supernatural.
…when we pray we “hope” our prayers get answered. (we BELIEVE they will)
…considers the Bible a nice bookend.
…puts God in a box.

MR

Posted: January 8th, 2012 under Church info.
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This past Saturday was our combined service with another local church in our city. We celebrated Christmas Eve with New Song church (their Spring Hill campus) with Pastor Jordan and Bethany Roe. What a great way to be “the church” by coming together with others to worship Jesus for what He did for us.

It was an amazing night. The worship team was made up of singers/musicians from both churches. The ushers, greeters and nursery workers where all from both churches. We even had both of us speak. And can you believe we ended up finishing 2 minutes early! Two pastors speaking could have easily went 2 hours!

I’m so proud of our churches. We packed New Song’s building out. There were people standing all around. I guess next year’s service will have to be in a bigger venue.

The presence of God was so sweet that night. To see people from two different churches, worshiping and praying together, was what I believe God desires to see. I know this is the start of more times like this in Spring Hill (with other churches involved). There is something very special when a pastor gives up his pulpit to another local pastor. I’m so glad to see that the pastors in this city are doing this freely.

I couldn’t have thought of a better way to celebrate the birth of Christ, than with other Christians, in unity together to glorify Him.

It truly was a Merry Christmas!

MR

Posted: December 26th, 2011 under Church info, Culture/Society.
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This year Christmas falls on a Sunday. My first thought was…”great we can spend Jesus’ birth together at church”. After that I realized, it might just be me at church, so that wouldn’t be as much fun as expected. Although people love Jesus, and they know His birthday is Christmas, they also like to spend Christmas at home next to the fire, in their pjs with family. I love going to church, but it’s not as much fun when it’s just me, so we rethought that idea. Now we are doing a Christmas Eve service and no Christmas day one.

To make it even more special, we decided to partner with another local church, New Song Church in Spring Hill. Pastor Jordan and Bethany Roe are great friends and their church is very similar in style and flavor to ours. This made for a great fit to combine services and worship together. We combined our worship teams and both Jordan and myself will share. This is the start of something that, we believe, will continue into the new year. Churches doing “church” together is very special. I know it’s something that makes God happy. To see pastors putting away their agendas and combining together to show unity is powerful. I long for the day churches will do this on a regular basis. Christmas Eve is a start.

So please join us on Dec 24th….at 4-515pm (see, we are doing it earlier so you can still enjoy your Christmas Eve feasts) at New Song church (220 Town Center Pkwy Ste 150, Spring Hill TN  – across from City Hall). We will end the service with a Candle light song (Silent Night). You know it’s going to be special and if you miss it, you could very well have a very sad Christmas. Infact, I believe not only will Santa not show up, but it won’t snow on Christmas, if you don’t attend. Plus we are giving away free Christmas cheer to everyone that attends (and no, that is not a drink).

I’m excited about what God is doing in this city, churches coming together to worship God in unity and loving each other. I hope you will join us Christmas Eve as we worship the REAL reason of this season. He’s much cooler than that over weight older dude that wears red.

Merry CHRISTmas.

MR

Posted: December 16th, 2011 under Check This Out, Church info.
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I’m so blessed and thankful today for the amazing church I get to help pastor. It’s filled with people that expect more in their walk with God. They aren’t satisfied with being “normal” but want to walk in ALL of God’s blessings, favor and His power. I’m excited to see what the future holds for all of them. They have blessed me in so many ways. I pray this over His church today:

Posted: November 24th, 2011 under Church info.
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