Worship Is Wonderful!

I look forward to Sunday each week.  This is why I rarely take off on Sunday.  Why would I not want to be with people I love and in a church that loves the Lord?  But worship is amazing each time.  I am always nervous before we go out.  It is a good nervous and it keeps me focused.  When I walk out I always anticipate those who are waiting for us to lead them in worship.  It is always a surprise to see who is there.  Sometimes it is filled…sometimes we have lighter crowds due to weather, holiday or travel.  I am never disappointed!  Then Bill comes out and gets us going with the gathering songs and we are off on an incredible journey together.

What you will not find at Stockbridge First is the entertainment/lights factor.  We are not actors, entertainers or magicians.  What we are is a group of people from all walks of life that have one thing in common…JESUS CHRIST!  When you get that kind of group together, with the Holy Spirit moving, then incredible things happen.  A light show occurs.  The miraculous gets involved.  We laugh, we cry, we sing, we rejoice, we open our hearts and most of all we glorify God.

Now if you are looking for worship that will challenge your heart, make you think about your life, open your mind to God’s Word, and help you find courage and strength you never had then Stockbridge First is going to be the place for you!  So I invite you.  The invitation has been extended.  There is no excuse to wait any longer.  We are here.  Come and be a part of it.  Come experience it for yourself and when you do, like so many others, I know you will stay and maybe even call it home one day soon!

Look forward to seeing you Sunday!

Love you all,

Rev. Jim

A New Word!

I was preaching at the 8:30 service when something strange happened.  I COULDN’T FORM WORDS.  I don’t preach from a manuscript.  I walk around a lot.  I get animated and into it.  The main thing is the sermon is not rehearsed.  I know my points, but what happens in-between is led by the Holy Spirit.  So I am making my point and all of the sudden I realized I could not form the word that would describe my point.  I knew what I wanted to say, but could not think of how to put it into a sentence.  I was so excited about my point too, but it just didn’t come out right.  Let me tell you the word.  REJOICEMENT!  It was actually funny and I paused to say…”That is not a word!”

Funny how we can make up words.  When we get into stressful situations or when there is pressure our tongue gets twisted.  I am ashamed to say we can do that with the message of Jesus as well.  When someone hurts us or harms us our tongue gets twisted and out comes anger and hate.  Or when we are faced with decisions that force us to stretch our hearts our tongues get twisted and out comes “Maybe tomorrow” or “Not yet.”

I might have gotten my words twisted, but I would rather get tongue tied than forget their meaning.  I think that is important.  Do you know how to rejoice, how to love, how to give, how to serve, how to forgive?  Do you know what our Lord says about them?  Do you know how to show them and share them?  Do we know what they mean?

I will try not to get my words twisted next time, but my church will always know the meaning of them.  They will always see the passion and the enthusiasm for Jesus and serving Him. I might make mistakes, but they will be mistakes made trying to grow the Kingdom of God.  I might trip and fall, but it will be because I was helping someone else up.  So don’t be afraid to create new words.  New ways of doing ministry.  New ideas and the rest.  Let’s just not lose their meaning.  Let’s just not lose the spirit that lives within them all.

We will be sharing a lot of them this Sunday.  Hope to see you there.

Love you all,

Rev. Jim

A Heart Is Precious

Dogs are amazing things. We have our new dog and his name is FENDER. He is a 90lb. two year old, black lab. He is huge! Anyway, Lisa, to say the least, is so happy…Fender is happy too! They are like peas and carrots. Where Lisa goes, Fender goes. Where Lisa sits, Fender sits. He likes me too, but only when Lisa is gone. In fact, when I come home he wags his tail at me for a bit and then starts looking for Lisa. Did I mention his bark? He has this huge bellowing bark that will scare the hair off your head. It is great!

I was sitting on the couch and I had my feet up on the table and Fender wanted to get on that couch to play. He couldn’t get around me so he decided to just jump over the table, my legs and me and onto the couch. This became a big game, but one time he landed on my stomach. IT HURT and I let out a scream/grunt/moan of sorts. Immediately, Fender put his tail between his legs, his ears went down, and he crawled right up next to me and started licking and pawing my stomach. It was adorable. Even my dog knew when I was hurt and he knew that he was the one that caused it. AMAZING.

It made me think that if my black lab could figure this out, why can’t we. Today is a day that we will either edify someone with what we say or hurt someone with those same words. Jesus tells us to love everyone and they will know you are my disciple. How will you love someone today? What will you do to repair the hurt in someone’s life? Will you be sensitive enough to the heart and feelings of those you meet?

A heart is a precious and tender thing. Remember to treat it with the greatest medicine God has ever given…LOVE.

Love you all!

Rev. Jim

God’s Word!

Greetings to you all!

First, I want to apologize for not posting in a while.  I was on vacation in Kentucky and on my return it was very busy with many people sick and having surgery.  But I am back and I am in the swing of it all again.

We had a great service Sunday as we enjoyed camp meeting month.  The church was filled and Lynn and the choir rocked as well as Bill Turpin.   I love the old time hymns that remind us of years gone by.  The contemporary service was treated to a performance by Trevor as he signed the words to the song and performed them from the heart.  But the really big deal was  giving out new Bibles to our rising third graders.  This is very special, because they receive a Bible from me with a special note in it.  This is there first Bible and it is a big deal…trust me!  I, also, during the children’s sermon gave out pads and pencils that were decorated with JESUS LOVES YOU.  They are to be used to write down what God is speaking to them.  In other words, GOD’S WORDS ARE IMPORTANT!

Do you know God’s Words?  First, we read them in the Bible.  God’s Word is found in the written Word and this should be in your car, by your bed, in your desk, etc.  You should be reading it daily, studying it and talking about it with friends.  How quick we are to gossip about someone’s marriage or problems, but how much more awesome would it be to discuss something that brings life…God’s Word.  By the way, we have tons of Bible studies to enjoy so come and pick one out and meet a group of people.

So get into the WORD OF GOD today.  Ask questions about it.  Struggle with it.  He wants you to and when you do I promise your life will change.

See you Sunday!

Love you all,

Rev. Jim