Great afternoon on the the beach

The crew has arrived safely and spent the afternoon on the beach and shopping. We met with pastor Leroy. Looks like we will be pouring some concrete! Starting Monday morning. I will be preaching in the morning at Victory Christian Fellowship. We are getting ready for supper with pastor Leroy at the pork pit. Should be a great meal.

Bags are packed ready to go

Headed to the Airport

The Jamaica mission team is headed to the airport. We are set to land in Montego Bay around lunch time (Saturday). Pictures and updates will be posted here. Prayer for our team today as we travel and go through customs.



--
Myles Brown

Seeing 4 Directions

On Sunday I shared during my Bible talk that in order to make the best decisions, we need to see 4 directions (a 360 degree approach).

Here is the recap and warnings about being using less than all four angles.

1. God's Spirit.  We often "feel/sense" a leading from the spiritual realm.  However, we must be careful. Not all spiritual leadings are from God.  God's Spirit always squares with the word of God, ways of God, and purposes of God.  Other spiritual forces seek to persuade us as well which appeal to lots of motives. 2 big ones are our selfishness and arrogance (pride). 

2. Good Sense.  Using good common sense is valuable and can prove to be life saving.  God rarely leads away from good sense.  But He may push the boundaries and defy cultural opinions of wisdom.

3. God's People. We need the counsel of people who are also seeking to follow God.  The key here is to gain advice and counsel from people love you enough to speak truth, correction, and warnings.  Something to remember is that you will often need to seek out the counsel of the wise.  The wise do not go about dishing out advice.  You must seek their counsel and heed it.

4. Circumstances.  God opens and closes doors or opportunity. But not every opportunity that appeals to us is from God.  Circumstances can be a test to see if we will make a decision based on faith or pursue selfish, arrogant paths, easy/lazy paths, or deviant paths.

Complicated? No one said decisions were easy. Look in 4 directions and operate in faith.

Comments and thoughts welcome.

Thoughts from Sunday's Ministry Fair

Dear ministry team leaders,

What a great day we had Sunday! The ministry fair was amazing because of the hard work and creativity that you put forward.  Several good things happened Sunday. Here are a few:

1.       Worship attendees and members saw the multiple ways to "get in the game."

2.       There was a "join us" attitude that demonstrated to all that we are an inclusive bunch. 

3.       The operating value of EXCELLENCE was lived out. There was no shabby work done Sunday. People across the board gave their best effort.

4.       Sharp: We did things Sunday in a sharp way. Thoughtfulness and creativity was demonstrated by all.

A few ministries saw immediate responses in folks wanting to join the effort. All ministry areas that participated were showcased. Each group in our local body of Christ shined well.

Thank you so much for putting your best foot forward. We will continue to explore new ways of communicating and promoting opportunities to "get in the game."

 

Pastor Myles

What is the Church?

A church is not a building with a steeple, stainglass windows, or a more contemporary building with banners and no windows.

As we saw from the Bible Sunday, the church is the people of God.  A called out bunch who have received God's mercy.

The church is the body of Christ in the world.  We follow the lead of our head (Christ Jesus).  We function best when we work together and use our uniquely given gifts, abilities, and talents.

The church is where we learn to really love people with names and faces.  It is joyful hard work to love one another the way Jesus loves us.  We prove that we really love when we link arms with a church family and work together through thick and thin.

The church is the plan for taking God's message of love and forgiveness to the world. 

Get in the Game 1: knowing the context

In the game of life, knowing the lay of the land is vitally important.  Sizing up situations correctly can mean the difference between life and death, joy and dismay, success and failure.

So just what kind of world do we live in? What is reality?

1. There is the God of the Bible who created all else. He is the Uncreated One who created all else.
2. The reality he created is:
• made up of some things that will fade away and some that are eternal
• has both a spiritual and physical (material) plane which interpenetrate.
• operates by cause and effect
3. The creation of God contains:
• matter and energy governed by the laws discoverable by physics and chemistry
• plants, animals, humans, and inanimate objects (living and non-living things)
• spirit beings (holy and demonic angels)
4. What happens in life is the result of:
• actions of people (freely choosing)
• directional sway of Satan (the prince of this world)
• interference by spirit beings in defense of God and his children and unholy spirits blocking the ways of God.
• Under God supreme power and purposes

So...

Living God's ways in His world really matters and prayer really works. Know this and living in the REALity will make all the difference in the world.

Come find out more this week as we consider: What is the Christian Life? PVBC Carrollton, 11 AM Sunday.