Blueprint Part 4 Off Road Vehicle Podcast
Blueprint 1 Benefits of a Well Built House – Protection From the Elements Devo 3
Did you know there is no place on earth free from some form of natural disaster? Flee Florida hurricanes for sunny California: earthquakes. Run from the shaking ground to the peaceful mid west: tornadoes. Avalanches in the mountains, blizzards in the northeast. There’s no hiding from the storms of life. There is no stopping mother nature. Shelter is your only option. A well built house negates the storms in your life.
Luke 6:48 says, “When someone comes to me, listens to my teachings, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the flood waters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.”
Jesus doesn’t scold this family for building near the ocean, as if they should have avoided this storm. He created the oceans for their enjoyment. God doesn’t want you to hide from life. He wants for you to build according to His Word, so that you are sheltered from the storm.
Think about the storms of life each one of us will face: unexpected death of a loved one, financial crisis, rejection by a lover. Maybe even good things: surprise, you’re pregnant! Either way, there is adjusting to be done when the storms of life blow through. Without a well built house, we are helpless prey to the inevitable storms of life. But with a well built house, we can weather them, and even provide shelter for others caught out in the cold.
What storms are you probably going to face today? This week? This year? How can you build well, so that the power of that storm is negated? Or, is your house well built enough to provide shelter to somebody else who is weary?
Trusting in God – Kristen Moon
A great thought from Kristen Moon about trusting God taken from Proverbs 3:5-6.
Blueprint 1 A Collaborative Effort Devo 2
When I built my house, I really didn’t build my house. I hired people to do it for me. Any building project of significance involves a lot of people getting onto the same page to coordinate work over a long period of time. That page is the blueprint. It is the same with the building of our lives.
Think of those who have worked to make you the person you are today. Parents, teachers, doctors, chefs, relatives, mentors, coaches, physical trainers all contributing to your perspective, experience & honing your skills. The sum of their efforts making you the person you see in the mirror, and exerting unseen forces on the person you will be tomorrow and into your future.
Matthew 18: 20 teaches us that “where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I (Jesus) am with them.” Are you choosing to place your life into the hands of those who are working from God’s Blueprint, the Bible? Another way of saying that is, are you giving the most opportunities, your best time, your greatest attention to those who will build you up according to God’s design?
And whose life are you building? Are you taking that responsibility seriously? Are you regularly setting aside time and something to say to those who God is allowing you to build?
Today, find a Godly influence, and open your ears. Then, take their message and pass it along to those who you have the responsibility to build.
Blueprint 1 – Master Plan for a Well Built House Devo 1
Building is a complicated deal, so the key to getting what you want is the blueprint. Every building begins with a blueprint. The blueprint is the Bible for builders. A building is a large financial investment, and has to serve its owner reliably for years and years. Anybody who works on a new home or office building has to consult the blueprint before doing any work. When it comes to the blueprint, you have to get it right.
Would it surprise you that God has a blueprint for your life? You are the most important building project that God currently has going on. You are a very costly & involved building. God’s investment in you is substantial, so it is critical that your life be built according to a plan.
Luke 6 48 says, “When the flood waters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.” The blueprint is what guarantees all of the hard work on your life will actually work!
Are you working hard? Building a life? Building the lives of those around you? Are you certain your hard work will pay off? God’s blueprint for life is found in the Bible, and if we build according to His design our lives will be well built houses.
Blueprints Part 1 Master Plan Podcast
Every building has a blueprint. Did you know that your life is God’s best building project?
Happy Birthday Vivienne
Vivienne is 2 years old today. Her name means full of life, and she definitely is.
Touch Me
24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin),[a] was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
John 20:24-28 nlt
We like to pick on ‘doubting’ Thomas, but I personally can relate to Him. It is so easy to get out of touch with Jesus, even as a minister, as a Christian. To lose the sense of His reality. And when that happens, boy is it difficult to walk in the promises He gives us: peace, confidence, faith, hope, love, forgiveness, mercy, compassion, joy. That’s why it is so important to keep in touch with Him. I find when I am struggling with the fruits of God’s Spirit, or with confidence in His plan, it is usually because I need a fresh touch. It is so nice to know that our God is as close to us as a prayer, as reading a scripture, as reaching out to somebody in need. Invigorate your faith this morning, and respond to Christ’s offer, “Touch me.” Once you do, you will exclaim, “My Lord and my God!” once again, just like Thomas did.
GPS
GOD in the MOVIES – Part 4 – We eventually become more & more like those we consistently hang around.
Haley Sings at Carolina Chapel
Haley Moon (11) & Jackson Roy (8) lead the Carolina Chapel congregation in How Great is Our God.
I am so proud of my Haley Moon. She sang How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin in front of the entire church Sunday while Jackson Roy played acoustic guitar. I am a seriously proud daddy!
Haley Moon sings How Great is Our God at Carolina Chapel
GOD in the MOVIES – now showing at Carolina Chapel
Probably my favorite recreational hobby is watching movies. I can watch the same one dozens of times: just ask my wife. In fact, watching movies is one of the most lucrative past-times in America today. United States theaters received over $10 billion annually from movie-goers. That isn’t even counting rentals & on-demand viewing. Any way you slice it, the movies have captivated our culture.
What if we could harness the responses producers spend millions to craft, and connect lessons from God’s Word to the illustrations found in the movies? We would have an almost infinite supply of segues to Jesus Christ anytime somebody brings up a movie. After all initiating the conversation is half the battle. My prayer is that after listening to GOD in the MOVIES, you are ready to see the movies in a new light, and then shine that light to those who may never go to a church.
Pastor Ryan speaking about the Paparazzi in the God in the Movies message series at Carolina Chapel.
Paparazzi
GOD in the MOVIES – Part 1 - Keys to captivating any audience, and using the attention for good.
Look What I’ve Found
HAPPY – Part 4 – Increase your personal happiness by celebrating the return of somebody else’s lost valuables.
Don’t Worry. Be HAPPY!
HAPPY – Part 5 – It’s what you seek first that sorts out the worry in your life.
Markers
Tradition – Part 2 – Look forward to looking back by marking the moments that matter most.
Stones of Remembrance
Tradition – Part 1 – Look forward to looking back by establishing heirlooms of the great moments in life.
It’s No Fluke
Blessed – Part 1 – There’s more where that came from when your life is blessed.
Count It All
Blessed – Part 4 – All Things Work Together For Good means everything can count for blessing.
Reverse
Blessed – Part 2 – Sometimes you have to go backward to go forward if you want to be Blessed.
Go-To Friends
Relationships U – Part 3 – Make & maintain meaningful relationships that you can count on.
It Doesn’t Matter
FRESH. – Part 2 – One good thing can overcome every bad thing if it is the right thing.
Great Communication
Relationships U – Part 2 – Great communication tips for building unstoppable relationships.
Unstoppable Relationships
Relationships U – Part 1 – Keys to building unstoppable relationships.
Start Fresh (Grand Opening Service)
FRESH. – Part 1 – Learn to start ‘fresh’ instead of just starting over. (Grand Opening Service Carolina Chapel September 12, 2010)
Tradition – look forward to looking back
December is one of America’s most traditional holiday seasons. For some it is a time for sentimental remembering. To others a reminder of past disappointment. God’s Word teaches us that Tradition is really more about the future than the past.
“In the future your children will ask you,
“What do these stones mean?” Then you can tell them …”
Joshua 4:21
Tradition isn’t just a holiday season, but any routine we maintain and pass down. It can be as big as Easter, or the act of taking communion, or as simple as night time prayer with the kids. By establishing traditions with our family & friends, we create teachable moments where, in years to come, those who mean the most to us, can look back with joy, and understand the values that shape our lives.
As you celebrate Christmas with those you love, create a tradition to repeat each year, and look forward looking back!
Saturday Morning Breakfast at the Moon’s
I love our family tradition of sitting around the breakfast table talking, drinking coffee, and opening the Word.
Read Colossians 3:2 together this morning. A fantastic guide to successful prayer time. 2 key components: Thanksgiving & Praying for others. Giving thanks helps us to keep one foot in the future and the other grounded in today. Thanksgiving keeps you mindful of the future in a positive way – dreaming of good things to come, while addressing our present reality in a practical way. Then the clincher is moving from thanksgiving about our needs to praying for others, so that we focus less on ourselves and more on others, forgetting about our own troubles.
Then Kristen gave me some tips for my message tomorrow. What a great speaking coach! I really have some awesome people surrounding me, helping me to focus and improve.
“None of us is as smart as all of us”
Dr. Ken Blanchard
Smart People Get it Wrong
Come on. Admit it. You love it when smart people get it wrong. I’m not talking about out loud gloating necessarily, but definitely a smile on the inside when it happens. We’re all human, and we like to be reminded everybody else is, too.
In 2 Samuel 7 David decides to build God a house. Nathan the prophet thinks that is a great idea, too, but then God weighs in, saying,
“Have I ever said a word to anyone
… why have you not built me a house of cedar?”
2 Samuel 7:7
God then proceeds to lay out his love and care for David, and the people of Israel, for David’s son after him, and for those in subsequent generations who will believe. How He longs for them to enjoy the world of His creation. God’s house isn’t built of cedar, it’s made of people, and even David got it wrong.
So after explaining thoroughly what His house is and isn’t, God says that David’s son will build it. Solomon is recorded as one of the smartest people who ever lived, but he proceeds to begin a temple construction project that Muslims and Jews are still fighting over to this day. You see it’s much easier to build things than people. People can be messy, frustrating, unpredictable. But God is interested in building a giant house of people, and that includes you and me.
I guess the moral of the story is, not to get too smart for our own good. By staying close to God’s Word, we can learn from the mistakes of others who have gone before us, and catch glimpses of God’s heart. When I think back on ministry I’ve done, it is the people who’s lives I’ve been a part of helping that I remember most. Today let God build you up, and then follow His example by finding somebody you can encourage.
Myrtle Beach
Loading up the fam and heading to Myrtle Beach for a little r&r. It’s going to be a piled in car. Excited to get some face to face time with the family and make lasting memories.
