“How did we get to the place where church is something primarily for “me” and a place I go to “get” something from it?”

A thought by Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson (2011-07-19) from their book, Rumors of God: Experience the Kind of Faith You´ve Only Heard About (Kindle Locations 1449-1450). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

It is so interesting how self-focused we as professed Christ-followers can be. We profess to be other centered and Jesus centered but it doesn’t show by our attitudes, our actions and our love.

There are so many who have a mistaken idea that the Worship Gathering is for them and they are so quick to say what they want, what they expect.

Margaret and I will be moving next month to Seminole, Florida. We have a church here in New York City we will miss that we drive 30 miles to be a part of because of its mission to reach out to the hurting, harassed and helpless. We sit and worship with homeless people who come in out of the cold to get warm and to eat something. That is what drew us to Forefront Church.

Our church is a church filled with young people who have come to the city to make it in their chosen field. New York City is where the talented young of the world come to make their mark but it is also a city where the hurting of the world sit and walk all around us. Our church has a passion to reach not only the successful but also the hurting. Forefront has gotten it. We have great Worship and challenging messages but we also have a driving burden to fulfill the mission to reach the hurting, the harassed and the helpless of the world.

What about your church? What about you?

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"Lie 2: The more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book, Winning the War on Worry (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is another lie that the Enemy uses with us. And Louie says, "This is a tricky lie. Yes, we often have cause for concern and preparation. But the Enemy wants you to believe that if you worry or fret over a certain outcome long enough, you can keep something bad from happening." But this is so important to realize. He says, "The reality is worrying has never once prevented something negative from happening. Planning might. Prayer has. But worry never will." He continues, "The Enemy tells you that by worrying about a situation (or every situation) you can make your tomorrow better. Really, worry just robs you of today. Jesus implored us: 'I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body mor...

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“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle? Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...

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