10.22.14 Rock Update

Sunday is still coming!

How do you follow up a big Sunday?  Easy, you focus on the fact that we are gathering to honor the same HUGE GOD. Jesus is still alive, death is still defeated, forgiveness is still available, help is still needed, guidance is still offered, honor is still due His glorious name.  This past week we celebrated together the goodness of God.  I know you know this but we still have reason to celebrate to goodness of God.  We could gather all day, every day and never come to the point where we've praised Him enough.  

Sunday is still coming and thankfully Jesus is alive and worthy of our praise.  So please come back, gather with us as we seek to learn, grow, honor and celebrate together the fact that Jesus is in fact still alive!

Bonfire

We're having a bonfire, November 1st, at the home of Tony & Karen Padgett.  We'll have more details next week as far as exact time and address but for now we'd love for you to get signed up as we need to purchase some food and get some things organized.  We do know it will be around 6:30 and last a couple of hours.   It's hard to have a bonfire at high noon and really not that fun.  So do us a favor and let us know if you are coming.  We do have many signed up but it helps for all the stragglers to make it official.  We don't want to show up with too much food or not enough food. 

Last Night

Last night we continued our look at the Apostle's Creed by focusing in on The Holy Spirit.  It was a great night as we learned that without the work of the Holy Spirit we are hopeless.  We often forget about Him even though it's because of Him we can see and hear all that God is, does and promises to do in this world.  Faith in Christ is revealed to us by Him.  Needless to say, it is crucial we need to have a good grasp of The Holy Spirit, His role and purpose, if we are to live a life that brings glory to God.

This was our hope last night as we focused in our Reaching deeper down & further in.

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"I Love You"

You may not make it down this far by if you do I challenge you to tell your kids, family that you love them.  Something we have said a lot at The Rock lately is the need to preach the Gospel to yourself and others.  By this we don't necessarily mean to go down the Romans Road every 5 minutes but rather exemplify the qualities that are found in the Gospel.  "Show mercy, love kindness, walk humbly with your God" as Micah 6:8 says.  Extend the same grace that has been extended to you through Jesus Christ.  Above all, love others as God has loved you.  People are more willing to listen to a person that has previously given them a reason to listen.  Do our kids have our heart or just our orders?  Do they see in us a desire for the things of God? Have you given them, or people in general, a reason to stop and listen?   

Do your kids see the love you have for them?  Do they hear the words "I love you" early and often?  The greatest thing we could do for our children, our family, is to love them with the love that God has given in Christ Jesus. Sometimes the only thing we can say is "I Love you."  Don't be afraid to let this be all you say...until the next morning.  I'm a talker, I'll say the same thing 20 different ways in an attempt to make sure they/someone understands. I need to learn to say more by saying less.  A challenge for me has been to be patient, let "I love you" be enough until another time.  

On top of this......be steady, have a high standard, pursue excellence, forgive and press on towards righteousness, lead them well by living before them the standard you expect them to live by, but in all of these things verbally tell them you love them.  

The fear is this....a child lives his/her whole life and never knows the love of a parent.  Please be careful lest you confuse "love" for giving them what they want.  Think back to what you wanted at 14 and then quickly remember what you got.  Aren't you thankful you didn't always received what you wanted?

Looking back we remember those times where dad came in and plopped down on the bed and made us laugh. "I don't want to pull your finger!" you may have said...but in the end you were smart enough to realize what he was doing.  He could have gone into a lengthy discourse that fully explained how we should respond to the latest drama, but he didn't.  He just made us pull his finger and if we didn't he give us the result either way.  We'd laugh, complain and then he'd leave by simply saying....I Love You.  That was all that needed to be said.