It seems

I really try. But it really sucks. What are you gonna do, though? Nothing, when it gets right down to it.

If your friends don’t, then who will?

Still Alive

Work is crazy, we had the coldest beginning to January since 1989, and I got an iphone and a nook. Avatar was great, Holmes was great, and Haiti is tragic. Church is going amazing, we got a new Collierville campus building.

Are we caught up?

Merry Christmas Season!

It is my favorite time of the year! The air is crisp and chilly, but yet hearts are warmed with love and kindness, with giving and family. This is the summer of the soul. I love Christmas time.

Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!

Life Church October 3rd

Life Church October 3rd
Pastor John Siebeling
In the House Week One
What Kind of God is God?

I Timothy 3:14-15 – the place where the Living God lives – Jesus loves the church, we should too! God is doing things in the church, lives are being changed. Healthy things grow!

A Healthy House of God… has the right perspective about who God is.

1. God is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Exodus 34:6 – What God said about himself – compassion is mercy moved to action – faithful to 1000 generations – Jesus is the express image of God (Hebrews)
2. God is full of rest, gentle, humble, easy, and light. Matthew 11:28-30 “you can’t do that in church” Who says? JESUS is the head of the church.
3. God is our healer, our leader, and our comforter – Isaiah 57:16-18 – God going beyond what we deserve, to heal what we have done by our own choices.

Mamaw

I sit here and gaze at your picture, and I wonder. Do you stroll with papaw beside the crystal sea?  Are you watching me? Are you proud of me?

I am sorry that I was not the grandson I could have been. I was not around, not just because it was painful to watch your sharp brain decline, and those piercing, knowing eyes glaze over bit by bit, but mainly because I was lazy. I had better things to do.

No I didn’t, and I only now know it. I love you, Thelma O’Daniel. You will see me again, you and Papaw both.

But not yet… not yet.

Friday!

Yes! Another week comes to an end. Flooring gets put in at the house tomorrow. I am going to steam clean again. Good times!

Life Church September 26th

Life Church September 26th
Pastor John Siebeling (Tithe/Offering) Isaiah 50:7
Christine Caine

All fear does is cripple and immobilize us. That is what Satan wants. II Timothy 1:7 – While all of the earth lives in uncertainty, this was the hour for the church to rise up and shine, to have the answers, to bring hope, don’t pull back.

God is still in control, we don’t have to freak out. God put us here, for this time, to advance His kingdom. We are put here as the answer to this generation. Safety in this age is a myth. There is no point trying to live, to arrive at death, safely. Don’t pull back, accomplish what God has for you to do.

Death is the ultimate statistic: 1 out of 1 die. Everything is vapor, so it’s gotta count. James 4:13 – The church is an unstoppable force, unshakable! Give all you ahve for God because our lives are vapor.

[Note: Chris doesn't do pain either!] The plane story – “hope this doesn’t hurt” “try to land” not what you want to hear – vacations are risky, traveling is risky, flying is risky, being an evangelist is risk, LIVING is risky, love is risky – bad things happen to good people, we can’t control life, safety is a myth, so as Christians we pull back and don’t step out of the boat because we are seeking a place of safety that DOES NOT EXIST this side of eternity.

Safety is not the goal of a Christian, freedom is! Jesus didn’t come to make us safe, he came to make us dangerous – there is no more church as usual! This world is waiting for the things of God and we are the answer, but to do so we have to live a life of risk (faith)

We pray for miracles, but desperately avoid situations where they are required. We either believe that Greater is He or we don’t. Christians get saved and become caged by legalism and religiosity and become tame. We define ourselves by what we aren’t and what we don’t do, and especially the cage of fear.

Jesus didn’t come so we could be tamed. He came so we could be dangerous.

Don’t use God to get what you want. You aren’t His just until you ‘make it’ or until you get married or until you get the house and fence, you should just be His, PERIOD! We are trying to use our flashlight in the bright lights of Wal*Mart, we need to use it in the darkness!

Your limitations are NOT greater than what God can do in and through you! It is pride that keeps us bound. Remember the one day missionaries. They left for their missions and had a funeral before they left because they knew they would not be coming back.

Wherever we go during the week, walk in faith, take risks, shine your light, change the world. Don’t fear and pull back Isaiah 60 – Deep darkness covers the earth and only the church of Jesus Christ can rise up and dispel it.

Life Church September 19th

Life Church September 19th
Pastor John Siebeling
Get That Monkey Off Your Back
Part Two: The Biblical Financial Principle of Responsible Stewardship

Haggai 1:5-6 – The Tithe – we need to match our giving with responsibility with the other 90% – Stewardship means taking care of something that isn’t yours.

God is the owner of everything, including all of our finances. We are the manager. God owns everything, has blessed us with everything good. We need to make sure we take good care of everything God has given us, financial and otherwise.

You have to take care of your money AND tithe, you can’t just do one.

3 Things; MAD about Responsible Stewardship:

M – Mind your business – get into the details Proverbs 27:23 – take 90 days, find out the condition of your money.

A – Act your wage – Americans spend 22% more than they make Proverbs 13:4 - we have to be content where we are on the way to where we are going – we tend to get our conception of money from our parents – We need to get into the Word and renw our minds Matthew 6:21

D – Deal with your debt - Proverbs 22:7 – you have to pay off the debt!

Life Church September 12th

Life Church September 12th
Pastor John Siebeling
Get That Monkey Off Your Back
Week Five: The Monkey Of Financial Pressure
Part One: The Biblical Financial Principle of Tithing

Both principles are linked! You have to follow both. (see part two)

Tithing is giving the first 10% of my income to God via my local church. Three things about Tithing:

1. Tithing is giving back to God what already belongs to him. Leviticus 27:30 - The tithe has God’s initials on it.
2. Tithing helps us to keep God first. Deuteronomy 14:23
3. Tithing increases my faith in God

5 things you do with your money: spend it, pay bills, pay taxes, save, give – and in that order. It is a “me first” list, and its wrong!

Matthew 6:25-34 – Obedience is better than sacrifice. Change the list! 1) Give, 2) save, 3) pay taxes, 4) pay bills, 5) spend – we are last!

Malachi 3:10 – Don’t send, bring – tithe, don’t tip! – don’t bring God whatever dregs are left over. Test God! He dares us to test Him in this! 90 day money back guarantee, been teaching that for 12 years and hasn’t had ONE person ask for the refund.

Life Church September 5th

Life Church September 5th
Pastor Johnny Hill
Get That Monkey Off Your Back
Week Four: The Monkey of Doubt

Our society has trained us to doubt before we believe. In the kingdom of God, it is the opposite, we should believe and NOT doubt.

James 1:5-8

1. Doubt will sneak up on you. We don’t always see doubt coming, but we see its effects in our lives. Over time we end up embracing a little doubt, and we cannot allow this.
2. Doubt will cause you to miss out on God’s best. Hebrews 11:6 – God DOES care enough to get involved in our mess of a situation! We have to trust that God will back us up when we take steps of faith.
3. Doubt makes you unstable. God cannot build in our lives where there is instability. Make a decision! Don’t let doubt freeze you up, move forward into what God has for you.

To defeat doubt, we have to build our faith. God wants us to increase our faith!

1. Go to God for answers! Ask him to increase your faith. II Chronicles 20:13-17 – We may not know what to do, but our eyes need to be on God, remembering God’s promises and what he has already done. The battle is the Lord’s!
2. Get into position. Put action to your faith. FAITH: Fully Anticipating Intervention To Happen. You don’t get it sitting on the couch. Believe God for ridiculous things! (Johnny believing God to win the publishers clearing house) Nothing is too crazy for God. He may not do it where or how you think, but He will come through. You may have been waiting a long time… but God will come through!
3. Standing firm. II Chronicles 20:20 - get the Word on the inside of you. you will be UPHELD, it doesn’t mean the armies won’t come. The word of God is our defense and we have to use it against the enemy!