by Cathy Baker | Faith |
Jason Malone brought this message on Sunday. I believe it to be one of the best he’s ever preached—and that’s saying something!
As
mentioned in the past, I try to jot everything down verbatim, but it’s not
always possible. To listen to the sermon in its entirety, I invite you
to visit Summit’s site.
- Our heavenly Father doesn’t desire a casual, courteous, respectful-based-on-a-holiday or sitting-in-the-building-nicely-dressed type of relationship with His people.
- God desires an intimate relationship.
Revelation 3: 20
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
- In speaking to believers here, we’re introduced to the concept that our God, with all His power and ability, says He will not force us to have an intimate relationship with Him.
- Many times we opt for religion instead of a relationship because we can treat God with respect (keeping Him at arms length) without true intimacy (knowing Him).
4 Ways to Pursue Him
- We have to give Him some time. Unrushed, unstructured, sitting and talking, listening kind of time. If the full extent of our relationship with Jesus Christ is showing up on Sunday mornings we don’t have a relationship—we have a religion.
- We have to be transparent. Stop working with formulas (Bible reading+church attendance+memorized prayers = successful walk with Christ.) Just talk. We won’t catch our heavenly Father off guard. He already knows when we’re angry, bitter, and ticked off so be honest. We can share all these things without being disrespectful. He desires honest communication.
- We have to obey what He says. Sometimes we avoid #1 because we don’t want to hear what we think He’ll say to us — but when we have a relationship with God, we can trust His best for us and pursue Him because of it.
- We have to be willing to grow and learn. Showing up once a week isn’t growing.
- Jesus says I want you to love Me, not just respect Me.
- He won’t force the door open – but He will come in and fellowship. It’s not because He can’t get in. It’s that He wants to be invited in.
(I encourage you to set aside 30 minutes this week to take a listen. My notes doesn’t do his sermon justice. Powerful and packed with tweetable truths.)
by Cathy Baker | Faith |
Four years ago, we purchased a burgundy phone that matched the size and thickness of a deck of cards.
Last year, for my birthday, I chose an ipad2 over a smart phone.
This week, however, I made the smart decision to roll into the 21st century with Siri by my side. To think! I can spout out commands and the only response I hear is, “I can do that for you, Cathy.” If only Siri did housework.
If you have a favorite iPhone app, I’d love to hear about it!
by Cathy Baker | Faith |
As you know, our oldest son, Brandon, and his wife, Megan, are adopting a little boy from Uganda. Thank you for the many prayers you’ve offered up on their behalf. Many of you have asked about an update, so here’s Megan latest. Click
here to join in the praise!
It’s no secret that our youngest son, Zach, and his wife, Sarah, are
BIG USCS fans (my dad, a Clemson grad, can’t help but wonder where he went wrong. LOL!) — and now, it seems that Piper is also pretty in pink…
and garnet (check out the shoes!)
And one last adorable picture of daddy and daughter:
by Cathy Baker | Faith |
Music stirs my soul into a divine frenzy.
Rarely do I drive without it—especially on the Sunday mornings. But this wasn’t the case yesterday.
Music was playing when I cranked ‘ol faithful (’99 CRV) but I quickly punched the knob to turn it off when I felt impressed to pray for Brian (who played at our Cherrydale campus), for Brandon (leading worship in Ohio), and for specific members of our family.
Within a couple blocks, I began praying for a friend’s daughter, uncertain of her needs, but certain of the One who did.
A mile down the road, a man in our life group who just had heart surgery came to mind as I passed his daughter’s sub-division.
A few minutes later, I passed our former church — praying God’s blessings, discernment, and glory to fall upon that place.
Drawing closer to Summit Church, I prayed for the ladies study on Tuesday night, asking God to keep us focused on Him…and not our space, or lack thereof. More ladies have decided to join us in the past week. Praising God, and trusting Him too.
As I pulled into a parking space, the silence caught me off guard. I’d not turned the radio on! No music had played—or had it?
“What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my
mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my
mind also.” 1 Corinthians 14:15 ESV
Oh, the sweet melody of prayer!
by Cathy Baker | Faith |
It wasn’t the “to” that caught my attention. After all, it was in my mailbox. The “from”, however, took me by surprise: Bimbo Bakeries USA
I’ll spare you the images that ran through my head but let’s just say I debated whether or not to even open it. The debate lasted oh, about three seconds, when it was suddenly hijacked by my curiosity.
After carefully
ripping peeling off the top of the envelope, I felt like Charlie in Willy Wonka. I’d found the golden tickets (okay, so they’re blue) — four $4.00 coupons for my favorite bread (Sunbeam 40 calorie, wheat – 1 Weight Watchers point!)
When I called the 1-800 number last week, Sunbeam told me to expect coupons, but they did not, however, prepare me to receive an envelope from Bimbo’s.
Can we judge the contents by its envelope? Apparently, yes — but in doing so, Brian almost lost out on enough free bread to make many, many sandwiches for dinner. 🙂
