I have been looking forward for quite some time sharing with you about the Holy Spirit.   My relationship with the Holy Spirit has been one of the most important parts of my spiritual development.   I want you to know the Holy Spirit personally, and as we walk with Him, you will see His refreshing activity in your life.   This Sunday’s message is called The Person of the Holy Spirit.

 

The Southern Baptist, the largest Protestant denomination with headquarters in Nashville, will retain it’s name – kind of.   “After months of speculation, a task force recommended that the Southern Baptist Convention retain its historic name.  But the task force also recommended that local churches that don’t like the name Southern Baptist use the name Great Commission Baptists .”  You can read the full article from the Tennessean by clicking here.

Like every other person outside of their group, I think the Southern Baptist should change their name for the obvious reasons.  First, the “Southern” designation links the movement back to it’s pre-Civil War opposition to the abolition of slavery.  In addition, the name “Southern” communicates a regional bias to the South that is contrary to the evangelical fervor of this movement.

I predict most people reaching people under age 60 will start using the term “Great Commission Baptist”, while churches orientated to an older congregation will stick to the “Southern Baptist” term.

Tennessee Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey e-mailed this beautiful tribute to President George Washington on President’s Day (2.20.12):

George Washington, our first President, was born February 22, 1732 and it is today, the third Monday of February, that we formally honor him.

The father of his county, George Washington was a man of great moral courage. His decision, as a former British soldier and respected member of colonial society, to join the cause of Revolution was made at great personal risk. Were the Revolution against the crown to fail, he would have not only lost his wealth and position in society but, most assuredly, his life. But revolt he did and the rest, as they say, is history.

As our new experiment of democracy threatened to end just as soon as it had begun under the Articles of Confederation, Washington again answered the call to serve. Presiding over the writing and ratification of the Constitution, Washington became our President.

So universally beloved, Washington could have easily parlayed his popularity into asserting absolute power over our new republic. Instead he rejected — time and time again — the trappings of supreme executive power. He set a precedent and a standard that every president has sought to meet since then. Seldom do you see such selflessness and forethought in leaders today.

In an age where petty partisan political battles prevent our leaders — in the namesake city of first President no less — from accomplishing the basic tasks required of them, I think a good dose of reflection on the life and leadership of Washington could do wonders. – Ron Ramsey

Full article can be found by clicking here

 

The current message series I Married Up is inspiring both our singles and married.   This Sunday, I want to lift up the value of marriage with a message called Married to My Best Friend.   Come this Sunday, and let the Scripture point you to God’s plan for a marriage.

Author and speaker RT Kendall will be speaking at CIL in both the 9:00 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. service on Sunday, February 19^th.   After 25 years of pastor of the world-famous Westminster Chapel in London for 25 years, Dr. Kendall now travels the world ministering from his home in Hendersonville.   He will be speaking on one of his most popular subjects and books called Total Forgiveness.

Starting this Wednesday (February 8), we will continue our focus on marriage with a video teaching on marriage.   We’ll have live Praise and Worship as we typically do, but will show a video teaching on marriage during the message time.  Jimmy Evans will be teaching Seven Great Traits of Every Marriage.

Join me at 6:30 p.m. for a night to invest in your future or current marriage.

 I closed with this quote on Sunday in my message Dealing with an Incompatible Spouse:

Within this Christian vision for marriage, here’s what it means to fall in love. It is to look at another person and get a glimpse of the person God is creating, and to say, “I see who God is making you, and it excites me! I want to be part of that. I want to partner with you and God in the journey you are to his throne.  And when we get there, I will look at your magnificence and say, ‘I always knew you could be like this. I got glimpses of it on earth, but now look at you!’” – Timothy Keller[1]

We’ll continue this series on marriage this Sunday (February 12).

Our first ever Men’s Retreat was a great success!   We had a fantastic group of men who drew closer to God and one another.

Observations from the Men’s Retreat:

– We had a good spread of ages represented in our group.  It was great to see men of different age groups connecting in a casual way.

– The worship team’s hard work really paid off.  These guys put a lot of heart in their songs, and we all benefited from it.

– Jay Edgerton, Tim Parry and Charles Watson all did great jobs sharing Saturday morning.

– We were impressed with the food and facilities of Deer Run Retreat Center in Thompson Station, TN.

– I’ll never be able to describe the symphony of snoring that took place in my cabin.  Yes, I was part of that symphony.

– Our guys were a relaxed and confident group, which produced great conversations.

– Everyone loved the time Friday night when we just sat together in the Lord’s presence.  We had worship music playing, and every man just enjoyed sitting with the Lord.  It was truly special.

– The weekend culminated with the presentation of a Discipleship Program for our men.  This is an intense program, but it has incredible potential to develop disciples.  More information on this will be coming soon.   The good new is, the men at the retreat were very excited about this new opportunity.

– I believe this will be the first of many opportunities for our men to have retreats and other discipleship opportunities.

1. Tom Brady and Eli Manning are both amazing quarterbacks.  Two of the best I’ve ever seen.

2. Watching the game with my two boys is one of the highlights of my life.   Having eight and nine year old boys is such a gift.

3.  The sexually explicit commercials are really disappointing.   The networks who provide the Super Bowl should be aware of the wide-range of viewers and censor the content better.

4.   For the second year in a row, my family enjoyed Chuy’s for lunch between church and the game.  This tradition needs to keep repeating!

5.  When I was able to hear the TV, I thought Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth are outstanding announcers.  They are among the best.

6.  Watching the Super Bowl is much more enjoyable after you have been filled up with worship and the Word like we were on Sunday morning.   We had outstanding services Sunday morning, and that was the highlight of my Super Bowl Sunday.

7.  Madonna doesn’t have anything on Beth Allison!