What a day yesterday as the Stoners gathered together. I love getting together with you to lift up the name of Jesus. Each week I am amazed at how God is working at Capstone as I talk to some of you.
We had a jam packed service from the standpoint of how much we had to cover. As I listened to our mission team that we sent to Haiti my heart continued to break for that country. Don’t forget Capstone, don’t forget the need there. I enjoyed getting to continue the conversation some with Marvin and Erick during small group last night.
We began a new series at Capstone yesterday. This one may be gentler on the toes than TRANSFORM or HAPPILY EVER AFTER. Walt took us through the Lord’s Supper yesterday in Matthew 26. He brought out teaching in Exodus 11-12 about the Passover and then finished as we talked about the body and the blood of Christ broken and poured out for us.
Don’t loose sight of what we remember by taking Communion. Don’t let that become just some “tradition” that the church does every few Sundays or months. Don’t let your heart and mind disconnect from what we do during that time.
This has been an awesome series. It has been a tough series. I have been so excited to hear how God has used the teaching of his word to cause people to rethink their lives and seek after him more. To hear the stories of families reading their Bible together and marriages that are getting closer together.
Walt preached on the subject of personal holiness. Living a life committed to Jesus Christ will bring about sacrifice.
If Christ is worth anything, he is worth EVERYTHING!
Think about that statement and the implications of the statement in our lives. We look to the cross and cling to the hope that Christ gives us there. HE IS WORTH IT. Jesus is worth your life. Jesus is worth your sacrifice. Jesus is worth your EVERYTHING.
The first week of Happily Ever After we looked at marriage and holiness. This week we moved to parenting. There is so much more that we could focus on these subjects, but for now we are taking just a small peek into God’s Word.
We need to ask ourselves, “How can parenting be viewed as a goal to be more holy? How am I trying to be more like Jesus in order to SHOW my children?”
Walt discussed two points as we looked through the lens parenting:
1. Findig holiness in parenting. We provide, love, care for our children. As we are doing that we take that heart and provide, love, and care for those in our community. We set our hearts on the Gospel. This means integrating the Gospel into every fabric of your life. “Having kids has nothing to do about us, but everything to do about HIM.” Go back and read 2 Corinthians 7:1 this week.
2. Discipline our children for holiness. As Christ-followers we should set up an environment of holiness in our homes. Holiness requires discipline. Too many times we do everything we can to make life “easy” or “comfortable” for our kids (that is the America Dream). The Bible does not follow the same path as easy and comfortable. We must teach our children to make decisions based on character and not comfort.
We used these songs to lead us in corporate worship:
Just in case you were not able to be at the Gathering yesterday I wanted to post the SOAP readings for this week.
Day 1: Genesis 1:26-31
·Looking at some verses dealing with the topic of marriage. For the Christian, a happy marriage is NOT the goal. The goal is to have a Christ-centered marriage. We can come to the end of our lives after having a happy marriage and realize that we did not please God. So today we are going to look at the beginning of marriage. From the very beginning God creates marriage. His idea. His plan. His creation. So let us look to him for guidance.
Day 2: Genesis 2:15-25
·We get a detailed description of God creating Adam and Eve. Chapter two just takes the last verses of chapter one and puts a magnifying glass on it. So God brings Adam a helper, a partner. I would encourage you today to give thanks for your partner. If you are single, pray for your future helper. I know things may not be Happily Ever After in your marriage, but lift each other up before the throne.
Day 3: Ephesians 5:25-33
·The next two days we will look at some roles of wives and husbands. Do NOT use this as a weapon on your spouse. Instead examine yourself with the Word (2 Cor 13:5). Husbands love your wives as Christ. What a command! This is huge. We are called to sanctify our wives and to present them to the King. We are RESPONSIBLE.
Day 4: Ephesians 5:22-24; 33
·It is the BIG “S” word. Paul has called the wife to SUBMIT. Please remember this is the same submission that is to be seen in the church submitting to Christ. That is the parallel. Marriage was designed by God to be an illustration of His love for the church. Be that illustration for your family, for your friends, and for the lost.
Day 5: 1 Corinthians 7:29-35
·I said at the beginning of the week that our goal is to have a Christ-centered marriage. Please read what Paul says here. This is not the passage that preachers go to when discussing marriage. Time is SHORT. We are to be about the mission of making Christ known. Please don’t take this as permission to ignore your spouse, but instead remember that our ultimate allegiance is to God and his mission.
Awesome morning at Capstone Church today. Started a new series. Plans were changed BIG time today, but the name of Jesus was lifted high and that is ALL that matters. I wrote a few random thoughts on my blog here.
Is your life like a fairy tale? Odds are that you would answer with a major NO! We read these tales and dream about those things in our own lives, but reality never works out the same way. The problem is that fairy tales only exist in our minds. Happily Ever Afters are not always a part of life. In fact more than our HAPPINESS, God’s main concern is our HOLINESS.
Think about that last line. The Creator God of the universe cares more about your holiness than your happiness. In our sinful mind we get that sentence turned around, but after spending time in the Word we see how true that statement is. “When we love God more we love our spouse greater.”
Read Ephesians 5:25-33 again. Don’t miss the correlation between the image of marriage and the relationship between Christ and the church.
The word that stuck out to me as Walt preached today was SACRIFICE. “Most men would quickly sacrifice their life for their wives. It wouldn’t get a second thought. But are you willing to sacrifice the ESPN or the football tickets or the golf outing?” Our role men is to lead our wives and family in a way to present them blameless before the Father.
Walt closed with this statement and I pray you sit on this for a while. “When we love our spouse as Christ loved the church our marriages will undergo transformation.”
Here are the songs we used to guide our worship today:
Below is the video we shot on the streets of Port da Paix. Continue to remember the Lashbrooks in your prayers as they still have a lot of work in front of them with their ministry in Haiti.
What an awesome day today. I think everyone who was there would agree. I threw up a few thoughts on my blog. You view those thoughts here. I am so excited about what God is doing through Capstone Church. May God use us to bring glory to his name in Fountain Inn, Haiti and beyond.
Here are the songs that we used to guide our worship today:
