Summin' Up Sunday

I woke up late this morning. Well, honestly, I woke up on time, hit the snooze button, and rolled over and went back to sleep. I never moved again until an hour later. So, I didn’t have the time to get alone with God that I’m normally accustomed to.

That is why the scripture tell us things like “be ready,” "pray always,” and “study” so when you get a curve ball thrown to you, you will be ready with total fervency.

However, despite the fact that I didn’t have as much time for my religious Sunday morning activities, God went to church with me.

here's some highlights of Sunday:

1. We wrapped up the series “Sickness Within” on the topic Bitterness. I give the analogy of an old tree that was in my aunt’s back yard. The tree’s root system stopped up the drain field and was causing the septic tank to back up. On the other side of the tree, the tree was under the foundation of the house. Its massive root system was breaking up the foundation. The Apostle Paul warned us to live in peace with all and not to let a bitter root come up and defile many. Just like the root system stopped up the flow in the drain field, a root of bitterness stops the flow of God in a Christian’s life.
   And on the other side, it’s breaking the foundation. The foundation of Christianity is “love the Lord God with all your heart, and Love you neighbor as yourself. Well, a root of bitterness will break up that foundation. You can’t love people the way you used to; you can’t forgive them anymore. You may want to get the root out!
   Finally, what is the repercussion of the flow of God stopping in your life and the foundation breaking up? It’s simple; all the rotten, smelly stuff backs up into your house and causes it to smell awful!
2. Next week we start the series “Consumed.” I will concentrate on worship in this series. You don’t want to miss this. It’s going to be ALIVE!
3. The band done an awesome job again this morning. They didn’t get a chance to practice this week, but really rose up and made worship sound great.
4. The Marchese family is back from vacation. That accounts for half of our church!
5. After church, I had a chance to grab a bite to eat with some really awesome people. Brian and Stephanie have been a part of Life Pointe for several months, but I have not been able to sit down with them. They spoke highly of Life Pointe and we are certainly glad they’re with us.

Consumed

Worship isn’t just singing. It’s a lifestyle. As we consider who God is and what He has done our only reasonable response is worship. Pastor Lewis teaches us how to be “Consumed” in the presence of God. We look forward to seeing you this weekend for the new message series, Consumed.

Summin' Up Sunday

Well, I can tell that it’s summertime. Today, Life Pointe's people are all over the country enjoying life and their time off with their children. So, when I looked around the auditorium this morning, I could count four or five entire families that were out. Now, to larger churches, missing four of five families is not a big deal. But, to a small church like Life Pointe, we felt it to the core.

However, despite a skeletal congregation, God met with us this morning. Here are a couple things I observed:

• We were actually finished with our set-up by 9:15. This was a goal that was set last month at our leadership meeting.
• The serpent showed up a church, but didn’t make it inside. There actually was a small ground rattler hiding in the corner of the building, right off the sidewalk as you walk to the auditorium.
• Joe Marchese was out on vacation this morning, so Jeremy stepped up and played the bass for the praise team. You rock, jeremey!
• Mike went to be in church with his wife. Logan has taken over as drummer again. What an enhancement to the team. He’s the best! Not just because he’s my son either.
• Aaron, Melanie, Logan, and Jeremy led worship like they have been playing together for years. Good job, guys and ladies.
• We are making our descent into the final message of the series “Sickness Within.” This morning, we dealt with “Control.” I had a blast with this topic. Here’s a couple thoughts:
• Wikepedia defines a control freak as: A person who has an obsessive need to control other people or situations.
• As Christians, we must “lose control.”

Summin' Up Sunday

This past Sunday, I woke up feeling like an elephant was sitting on my chest and I had been beaten with a two-by-four. Needless to say, I knew that it would be impossible for me to make it to church. So, I called on the some leaders at Life Pointe and put them on the spot.

About a month ago we went through a transition of our music ministry. Sheri went to PA for the summer and Joel moved to Colorado. That left us without two key vocals.

Aaron and Melanie Imel joined the Life Pointe team about three months ago. They’ve been Pastors, Church planters, and worship leaders in the past, so they knew exactly where I was. they helped out anywhere possible, including our worship band.

Without hesitation, Aaron and Melanie volunteered to step-up and lead worship. They’ve been doing an incredible job. Worship has been on the cutting edge.

Now, it’s Sunday morning, I’m sick, and I need someone to fill in for me. I called on Aaron and asked him if he could take care of the service for me. He didn’t even think twice about it. In fact, they came in and set up our worship set, practiced the songs, led worship, took up the offering, and spoke the word. Any Pastor would know that this is truly a blessing!

I believe this is the best example of being “reading in season and out of season.” This is the true mark of a great leader. One who will make it happen no matter what the circumstances are.
Great job Aaron and Melanie, we love ya'll!

When Faith Becomes Just Plain Crazy

When Faith Becomes Just Plain Crazy

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Brian Welch's CNN Interview

Korn's Guitarist Converts to Christianity

An insecure kid who loved music and grew up to be an unhappy rock star and later a happy Christian, Brian “Head” Welch spent his teenage years in Bakersfield, playing guitar, watching horror movies, being mean to his girlfriend, and feeling bad about being mean to his girlfriend. He eventually followed some musician friends to L.A., bringing his family’s alcoholic dysfunction with him into his new life and his new relationship with a meth-addicted spitfire named Rebekah. He and Rebekah did drugs together, beat each other up, had a child they gave up for adoption, and another they kept but were in no shape to nurture. Amid all the drama, Welch formed a band, Korn, whose phenomenal success quickly became one for the rock record books.

Wherever he went, Welch was worshipped as a nu-metal god, but self-loathing and guilt over his personal life prevented him from enjoying his success. Searching for an escape from his “drug-soaked depression,” he opened his heart to “the unconditional love of God,” quit Korn and drugs, and rededicated himself to caring for his daughter and making music on his own terms, most immediately with It’s Time to See Religion Die, his upcoming solo album, whose title refers to Welch’s distrust of organized religion. He’s also written this memoir, Save Me from Myself, which he hopes will inspire others.

As Welch puts it, “I was a closet criminal and the guilt and shame was eating me alive, but I chose to share those things to prove to you that…Christ can and will clear anyone’s conscience from any evil act.” The likeable if not quite grammatical Welch clearly believes in his own rebirth, but he still seems more lost than he wants to admit, which makes his faith a harder sell than he wants it to be. Save Me from Myself will appeal to both Korn fans and born-again Christians, but it would have been a better general-interest book and/or evangelical tool if Welch had waited a few years before looking back.

A Church That Loves Starbucks

Life Pointe Church's people love Starbucks. In fact, we are borderline obsessed. For a while, when we were having Saturday night services, we would do our best to be out of service and make it to Starbucks before they closed.
Eventually, we we so acquainted with the staff there, we had their number programmed in our phones and we would call and have them make our drinks while we were on our way.
My favorite drink is the Cinnamon Dolce Latte'. It's awesome! however, if I'm overheated, I love the Caramel light Frapaccino with a shot of esspresso.
I've seen where Starbucks stock is soaring. I can see how. They charge a whopping $4.28 for one of them latte's. So, we have decided that we'll refer to Starbucks as Fivebucks!

2006 DC Deaf Conference-- The Presence of the Lord is here

The Safest Place in the World

1. Avoid riding in automobiles—they’re responsible for 20 %
   of all fatal accident
   
   
2. Don’t stay home—17% of all accident occur in the home
   
   
3. Avoid Walking on the streets—14% of all accidents occur
   to pedestrians
   
   
4. Avoid traveling by air, rail, or water—16% of all accidents
   involve these forms of transportation

Of the remaining 33%, 32% of all deaths occur in the hospitals.

You will be surprised to learn that only .001% of all deaths

occur in worship services and these are usually related

to previous physical disorders. Therefore, logic tells us that

the safest place for you to be at any given point is at church.

And, Bible study is safe too. The percentage of deaths is even

less. So, for SAFETY’S sake, ATTEND CHURCH, AND READ

YOUR BIBLE, IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE!

Why Go To Church?

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper

and complained that it made no sense to go to church

every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote,

"and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons.

But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them.

So, Ithink I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting

theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor"

column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for

weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife

has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me,

I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals.

But I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the

strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me

these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I

had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually

dead today!"

When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something!

Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives

the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual

nourishment!"

King James Verson: Original or Not?

Nothing annoys me more than to hear someone say "the King James Bible is the 'original' translation of the Bible." I’ve been in churches across the state and have seen a clinging to the KJV. People are almost afraid they’ve lost God if they deviate from the translation. Therefore, they are willing to kick, fight and bite to get the message across that it’s KJV or hell.
It's an argument that can carry on forever, especially for those fundamentally correct, KJV thumping, traditionalists. I've been in those debates. For the most part, they're not pretty. I can see nostrils flaring when I mention some other good translations of the Bible. Why would people be so bent on believing this fallacy? Well, I believe that there’s only one good explanation—people are not educated on the origin and perpetuation of the Scriptures.

People have sat in Sunday Schools for hours and listened to hours upon weeks of sermons, but do not understand some simple truths about the KJV. They have heard their mom’s Pastor, aunt’s pastor, and yes, their own Pastor share that you should try to stick with the ‘original’ translation—the KJV.

It took me some time to embrace change in the way I seek God in the Scriptures. I was one of those people that said KJV was the ‘original’ translation. However, upon studying throughout my walk with Christ and teaching others, I’ve found that I was in error about translations.

I think the biggest wake up call for me was when Rob Taylor (M.I.P Pastor) had me write a paper on translations. Of course I’m not a scholar, but God got my attention. Believe me, when God speaks truths, you listen. When I was writing the paper, I noticed that the King James was written in 1611. Then, I noticed that John Wycliffe, an Oxford University theologian, actually translated the Scriptures to English in 1384. God begin to speak to me about my translation. He said, “you’ve had the KJV for less that 400 years and your ancestors did without it for over 1600 years.” How can I argue that it’s the original translation? I mean, if we really wanted to have the original, we might need to learn Aramaic or Greek.

So, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are much better translations out there for people to study God’s word. As long as the message is the same, the translations wording can totally be at the discretion of those reading. Some people who have been raised with the KJV have been taught to understand it, or someone has interpreted the 1700^th Century jargon. But, others who have not had any exposure to this type of writing, it becomes complicated and confusing to them.

Sickness WIthin

Is it really what’s inside that counts? If so, what’s going on inside you? Worry? Doubt? Loneliness? Lust? Sometimes the internal struggles that no one else sees are the ones that blind us the most. In this series, Pastor Lewis will give you the inside story on how God offers hope and strength for overcoming these battles in this series, The Sickness Within.

King Herod's Tomb Found?

Researchers from a University in Israel are claiming to have found the tomb of King Herod the great.
Althought there is no body in the tomb, they believe the sarcophagus with ornate displays is that of King Herod; however, researchers say they must have some sort of "name inscription" to confirm this.
Herod the great came into power under the Romans in about AD 40. The walls that can be seen around Jerusalem today were built under the leadership of King Herod, during the time of the rebuilding of the second temple. He also was involved in the massive construction projects in Caesaria, Jericho, the hilltop fortress of Massada and other locations.
Interestingly enough, he was also blamed in the Gospel of Mathew for ordering innocent male infants to be executed in Bethelehem, because he feared losing power to the "new king" which was prophesied to be born there.
One researcher has been on this site since 1970. He claims that there is a long road ahead of them to confirm the identity of King Herod. But, he states that he is on the right track.

A Praise for the Praise Band

Our praise band rocks. God has allowed Life Pointe to be tapped into the most amazing musicians and vocals in Charlotte County.
I remember a few months ago, we were struggling with just pretty much a "one man band." now, that was great for that season we were in and the people involved done an excellent job, but we are moving up into a full scale worship band...and I'm stoked.
We recently brought on Joel Burritt to lead our worship with an acoustic guitar. I was overwhelmed with his ability to belt the praises of the most hight and play that guitar like it's nobody's business; but, I think his greater gift is the ability to organize a full worship band and lead an entire congregation into the presence of God. I believe our worship is epic in proportion!
Joel is an awesome leader, but it takes more to be great than just one person. It takes a team! Joel is surrounded with a great team of vocals and musicians.
Joe, Nancy, Sheri, Aaron, Melanie, and Mike you guys are one of a kind. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. you've been patient and faithful. and, it takes every one of you to make this a TEAM.

Funny Church Moments

Free From Religion

MVP in the Making

Last night we scurried down to the baseball park to watch my son play his first game of the season. Not only was this Luke's first seasonal game, but it was also his first game ever playing. Was I nervous? Of course! but, I sat there calmly while my wife cheeredc every player on like they were her children(even the other team).
the first two times Luke went to bat, he struck out. now, that was discouraging to such a proud dad. but, when I saw many of the veteran players fall prey to the rifling arm of the Astros' pitcher, I felt like he was fitting right in where he needed to be.
By the end of the sixth inning, we (the Cubs) were up 10-0. The morale of the team was soaring. then, Luke came up to bat again. this time, he cracked one for a single. My wife was bouncing up and down shaking every inch of the bleachers . She give out a screeching yell, "that my baby." admittedly, I was pretty proud myself. finally, I calmed her down enough that I could focus on the game again.
So, by the end of the 7th inning(the last inning in jr. baseball), the Astros finally scored one point, which give us a 10-1 victory. I am looking forward to another game this week. I'll have my Cubs hat on and cheering my "baby boy" on. Who knows, one day he might be the MVP!

Doubters Anonymous

There's no doubt about it. We all doubt at some point in our lives. Whether we doubt our faith, God's goodness, or just His willingness to work miracles in our lives, we could all subscribe to "Doubters Anonymous."Think it's doubtful that God can use you? In this series, Pastor Lewis will show you beyond the shadow of a doubt that He can!

Here's an insider's peak:

1/28--Bout with Doubt

2/ 04--Doubting God's Goodness

2/ 11--I doubt God Will Do It For Me

2/18--I Doubt God Can Use Me

Mike Hirst Concert