Life Matters

Preparing For Easter Church Guests

Here is a great article I read this morning about how churches can prepare to welcome all the guests who will attend on Easter.

Fresh Ideas, Preparing for Easter Church Guests
Written by Diana Davis
INDIANAPOLIS (BaptistPress) Feb 2, 2010

You've inundated your town with prayer and printed invitations to worship at your church on Easter. The nationwide GPS (God's Plan for Sharing) media blitz has reinforced those efforts. You have a sudden, terrifying thought ... "What if they all show up?!"
My husband often says, "You get what you get ready for." Need fresh ideas for getting ready?

The Savior's Summit (Mark 9:1-10)

The Savior's Summit 20100228am

 

FindItHere.com

Do you know someone who has spiritual questions? Who needs to know Jesus as Savior and Lord? Let them know about the website, www.findithere.com.

Building A Marriage That Really Works

I want to invite you to join me on Wednesday nights beginning this week as I lead a study of God's Word on the topic of marriage. We will use the book, "Building A Marriage That Really Works," by Kay Arthur and David & B.J. Lawson. We will discover God's plan for marriage. We will examine biblical wisdom for pursuing harmony, building communication skills, and fulfilling our roles in marriage. The book costs $8, but don't let that keep you away if you cannot afford it. Call the church office at 642-2288 and let me know that you will attend. This will help me plan for the first night. We will meet from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in room B-113 behind the worship center. I look forward to seeing you there!

A Sermon Outline For The Olympics

 How To Run The Race of Faith

 Hebrews 12:1-3 (Run your race with…)

1. A. Strong Encouragement (Hebrews 12:1). 

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses..." 

2. A Strategic Efficiency (Hebrews 12:1b).  

“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us...” 

3. A Steadfast Endurance (Hebrews 12:1c).

“and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” 

4. A Supreme Example (Hebrews 12:2-3). 

"...looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls." 

Jesus must be our ultimate example and encouragement! Keep your eyes on Him! 

Everyone's A Theologian

 I am studying systematic theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and enjoying every minute of it. OK, not every minute...our textbook is 1312 pages long, after all! But it is exciting to search the Scriptures to learn more about our God. I am also working on a series of messages that will help believers grasp the basic doctrines we hold dear (or should hold dear). When I mention this to some people they get this glazed over look on their faces. Some have actually told me that we should not discuss doctrine because doctrine divides. Other say it is too boring of a subject. (How could anything about God ever be boring???) Someone recently told me that he hated theology lessons because it is impossible to "put God in a box." Maybe some of what these folks say is true. I have endured, and even joined, too many arguments over the fine points of theology. I have also sat through boring theological sermons and lectures. I have even been guilty of delivering a few myself. (The problem was not with God or His Word, but with the preacher delivering it!) And I would never claim to have God all figured out, neatly organized in my systematic theology. To ignore theology, however, is not an option. We are all theologians, either for the good or bad. We either hold correct theology or incorrect theology. (Or a mixture of both.) As a friend once said, "Good theology helps people, but bad theology hurts people." The person who developed the video below is spot on when it comes to studying God through His Word. Check it out and pray for me as I prepare these messages. You can also visit the bookstore in the sidebar and find some recommended resources for digging deeper into God's Word.

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

Through Every Door

We had a great night last Sunday for our first, "Through Every Door" campaign! About 45 people went out that night to visit our first time guests and others who have been attending our church. Was your Life Group represented? Plan on joining us this week at 5:00 p.m. for "Through Every Door."

We Had A Great Night At Ellaville Baptist Church

I am preaching revival services at Ellaville Baptist Church in Ellaville, Georgia. Ben Foxworth, a former member of Fort Caroline Baptist Church, is the pastor of this wonderful congregation. He is doing a great job. The church was packed again tonight. They even brough in extra chairs. There is a sweet spirit in this church. I am enjoying good 'ole Southern hospitality, which means I am being fed well!!! Please be in prayer for us this week that God will move in our hearts in a mighty way.

How Do You Measure Up To God's Standard of Love?

 1 Corinthians 13 

    ¹If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.  3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud  5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

 8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!  9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!  10 But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

 11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.  12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

 13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. (New Living Translation)

The Missional Church