Have you ever been distracted at church even when you came wanting to worship God? Distractions during worship can minimize the powerful impact worship can have. We are easily distracted people. Upon further reflection, I’ve come to believe we have a very low tolerance for distractions (including pastors).  Additionally, I’ve discovered that pastoring a large church presents its fair amount of distractions and challenges.  It has been said that “confession is good for the soul.”  Therefore, it’s confession time for me.

One of the greatest distractions for me: CELL PHONES.

Each week during the sermon I hear cell phones ringing.  I wonder how many of these calls have been emergencies?

Let me guess – PROBABLY ZERO!

Cell phones are a great tool for communication but please consider how important it is to get that “important” phone call during church, a movie or anything else where the phone can be a horrible distraction to others.  God may speak to you during worship; however, he won’t call you on your cell phone.  Here are some alternatives; silent/vibrate mode, off button or leave the darn thing in your car.

While you’re at it go ahead and take the Bluetooth earpiece out of your ear…
it looks ridiculous during worship.

The longer I serve as pastor of a thriving church, the more I realize how VITAL prayer is!  Prayer is the link to a vibrant and fruitful ministry.

What if God granted you an opportunity to go back in time and speak to the wisest people who ever lived (people such as Moses, Apostle Paul, Solomon, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Fredrick Douglass)?  However, once you reached your destination, you sat at their feet and proceeded to do all the talking?  Would it be a worthwhile endeavor?  Did the aforementioned people need to know all you had to say?  Upon leaving would you wish you had talked less and listened more?  Incredibly, many people enter God’s holy presence in prayer and then do all the talking!

What God has to say to us is infinitely more important that what we have to say to Him, yet we generally monopolize the conversation. God already knows everything we plan to tell Him, yet we continue talking rather than allowing Him to tell us things we don’t know.  Why?  Our American individualist mindset tricks us to believe that we can dominate our conversation with God. Prayer is two-way communication, but it is not communication between two equal parties.

Tonight (7PM) we’ll gather @ the Mars Hill Baptist Church for our 1st Wednesday Worship.  This worship experience allows us to spend more time worshipping God and listening to the Word.  During tonight’s service, I will pose 5 Questions that will revolutionize the prayer lives of those in attendance.  The questions are as follows:

1. What is Prayer (the definition may surprise you)?
2. Why Pray (it’s not what you think)?
3. To Whom Do We Pray (is it God, Jesus, or The Holy Spirit)?
4. What Do God’s Answers Look Like (it’s more than, “God give me a sign”)?
5. What If There Is Silence?

Please come and join us!

Yesterday, we celebrated our 46th year anniversary & the Lord blessed it tremendously.  What a day at Mars Hill Baptist Church…here are some of the highlights…

1. During our 8AM Worship Experience, we were blessed to have a long-time friend of my father & our church preach the Word.
2. Dr. W.H. Foster, Sr., preached with passion and power as he encourage our members to continue to build on the legacy and expand for the Glory of God.  He blessed us by singing “Father, I Stretch My Hand To Thee.”  And yes, he ripped it & shouted EVERYTHING in our church.  What a mighty man of God!
3. During our 10:30AM Worship Experience, personally, I thought the music was UNBELIEVABLE!!!  WOW!
4. The Praise & Worship period blended contemporary praise peppered with traditional hymns.  From the response of the audience, I knew we were in for another awe-inspiring worship experience.
5. I sensed many in our congregation were carrying heavy burdens and needed a breakthrough.  Therefore, I preached “A Second Wind” from Isaiah 40:29-31 and saw how the words bypassed their intellect and pierced the very core of their souls!
6. To catch a Second Wind is to have increased energy or strength after feeling tired or weak.
7. A Second wind is a phenomenon in distance running, such as marathons (as well as other sports), whereby an athlete who is too out of breath and tired to continue suddenly finds the strength to press on at top performance with less exertion.  I FEEL A SHOUT COMING ON!!!
8. The phenomenon has come to be used as a metaphor for continuing on with renewed energy past the point thought to be one’s prime, whether in other sports, careers, or life in general.

A Few in Need of a Second Wind:

WIDOWS
SINGLE PARENTS
THOSE FACING HEALTH CHALLENGES
THOSE FACING LAYOFFS/DOWNSIZED
COLLEGE GRADS FACING A DIFFICULT JOB MARKET

As we wait on the Lord, we’ll find more strength (2ND WIND) to REST (while God prepares us for our next assignment), REFLECT (look around and see God’s faithfulness), and WORSHIP (to make Him the center of our affection).   Worship ended with a POWERFUL altar call for those who were ready to give up.  God interceded and gave them a “SECOND WIND” to go on!  As I prayed & laid hands, I felt the power of God breaking yokes & strongholds and people walked away with renewed strength.

Mars Hill…I love you guys…I am so blessed to be here and serving as your pastor.  I am BLOWN away by all that God is doing…and I can’t wait to see what happens next around here.  Ephesians 3:20 is becoming more and more real to all of us…we serve an amazing God!

Next week I begin a new series
“Can You See Him”

Here’s An Overview:

Daily life usually sets us on a path that’s almost robotic and we forget to see God in all things – the good, the tragic, or even the mundane.  Think of your day today.  Did you see Him in your kids’ laughter, the homeless person on the corner, or even the papers you stapled?  He was there. Join me as we discover how to see God in everything.

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