The sons of God

'Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the sons of God.'
These words from that old tune came back to me today as I was reading 1 John chapter 3. The NIV reads "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!"
In his book titled 'Be Real' Warren Wiersbe highlights the importance of this verse by linking it back to the passage in Ephesians that says that while we were still his enemies, God, through Christ Jesus, brought us near himself (Eph 2:12-13).

God is a surgeon

I was just listening to a seminar by Steve Gladen, and he made a comment that I thought I would pass along to you.  "God is a surgeon, not an assassin."
Let me explain.
Have you ever felt like God was taking a knife to you, trying to cut away the bad things in your life?  Well, here's the thing, we don't have to be afraid of him wielding the knife!  He's not out to kill us or condemn us.  He's trying to bring us closer to perfection.  So the next time you sense that you're on the operating table, don't freak out!  God's not going to mess up.  If you adhere to his guidance, you'll end up a lot healthier.

Prayer

Here's a prayer opportunity I heard about recently.  Even if you aren't a pastor or lay leader in your church, consider praying through your church's directory every week (or two weeks, etc. depending on the size of your church).  I think the time and commitment it takes to pray for the people in your church will draw you closer to God, as you ask him to work in their lives.  Moreover, I think this prayer 'task' will also bring you into further fellowship and communion with your church family.  Praying for people has a miraculous way of getting you to take a deeper interest in them!

Reading Plans

I hope you have all been able to find new reading plans or other methods for staying on top of your bible reading.  The YouVersion bible app for the iPhone and iPad has been very useful for me because it has a large selection of reading plans that you can choose from and it will track your progress on each plan you start.  If you haven't used this app yet, you should check it out.  It will certainly help you stay on top of your bible reading!

Further discussion on community

For those of you interested in following this discussion on community, check out my latest blog at experiencingcommunity.blogspot.com.

Learning more about community

In my search to find out more about what 'community' is and how to foster it, I found a sermon that Bill Clem from Mars Hill Church in Seattle preached about community.  It's all about Jesus.  Click here to be redirected to the sermon web page.

Experiencing community

I've started looking into more and more about what it means to be in community within the church (both local and worldwide).  Community and small groups seem to be real buzz words in church circles still today, even though this new phenomenon started back around the 1970s and 1980s. Why is that? Are community groups really important? What is it about today's culture that we're still intent on establishing community groups?