John 4:19-26

"Sir," the woman said, "you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?"

Jesus replied, "Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on the tis mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming-indeed it's here now- when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth."

The woman said, "I know the Messiah is coming-the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

Then Jesus told her, "I AM the Messiah!"

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Holy Buckets!!!!!

Well, I'm back among the living!! So, how have y'all been? For any of you who attend the Journey, you got to see the new media system that we have implemented. This is referring to the MAC nation post, for those of you who don't have a clue of what I'm talking about. And it's also the reason that I haven't posted in a week. 

I have literally spent about 70 hours this week, learning the entire MAC operating system and the software that we are now using and how to use that, as well. All week long, every time I saw any of my friends, they would remind me that John Griffin has posted twice since I have!! For those of you who are familiar with John's blog, you'll know that he's not someone who posts frequently. 

So, as a penance for not posting for so long, I'm going to go mow my yard and balance the chemicals in my pool! Two things I never look forward to doing! 

So now that I got that out of the way... Those of you who know me, know that I love to say, "Holy Buckets!" like some people say, "holy cow!". It is exactly what it sounds like: a proclamation of astonishment, or disbelief. Today at the Journey.... HOLY BUCKETS!!!!!!!!!

God was at work in a mighty, mighty way today. I can only imagine what He was doing in other churches around the world, cause at the Journey, He was rollin'. :) Today was a celebration Sunday for us. We gave props to the graduates of our congregation, commissioned new staff (this is the Journey's membership process), dedicated some babies, took the sacrament (communion), and then, Baptism!! Here's where Holy Buckets comes in!

Jamie Kimbro, a young lady who has been coming to the Journey for awhile, got baptized today. It was awesome! Everybody shouted and clapped their hands and praised God! But then, Erik asked anyone who had given their life to Jesus, and hadn't been baptized yet, to come forward, if they felt led to do so, and he would baptize them. 

Here's where we need to stop for a second! I have a friend who was, and I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to say "was", an atheist. A few months ago, his wife started coming to the church with his kids. After seeing something different about her and his kids, he began to question what was going on. He came to the Journey one sunday with his wife. God did a number on him!!!! He came up to Erik after the service and told him he that he wasn't a Christian, but he kinda enjoyed the service, and would Erik mind if he came back. Fast forward to today. Jeff, my formerly an atheist friend, Alex Perry, another one of my best friends (also a Journey-ite), and I have been having a Bible study for a couple weeks. We've gotten to talk about a lot of cool stuff and get into some good questions. All the while, I'm watching God do a complete overhaul in my boy, Jeff. I mean you could see it in his face. He looked like there was just some major torment and angst going on inside his heart. 

Well, today, when Erik opened it up for anyone to come forward and give their life over to Jesus, my boy, Jeff came walking down the aisle. HOLY BUCKETS!!!!!! When he came up out of the water, I saw more people crying and laughing at the same time, than I've ever seen. 

You see, there have been a ton of people praying specifically for Jeff. And what's more, there's a lot of people who cared about Jeff enough to pray for him. Today, the kingdom of Heaven grew. And it's because someone cared enough about Jeff, and how he was going to spend his eternity, to get to know him, to love him, and allow him to see what God was doing in their life, so that Jeff could see what a changed heart, and someone who followed Jesus, looked like. 

I'd love to tell you that I'm the reason Jeff came to know Jesus. But the truth is, God is the reason. Jeff was born with the desire to know Jesus intimately. It just took some people like me and a few others to care about Jeff enough to tell him. Who do you care about that doesn't know their savior? Are you more concerned with ramming Jesus down their throat, or do you care enough about them to love them, build a relationship with them, and let them see Jesus in you. You see, we can't save anyone. And if we try, we fail... miserably. Today, Jesus- the Son of God, the Risen Savior, the redeemer of all, saved Jeff. We just loved him and told him who Jesus was and what He was doing in OUR lives, and that there was a God who loved him more than all of creation, and created him so that He could love him. Today, Jeff found his Creator. And it was one of the most awesome things I've ever witnessed. HOLY BUCKETS!

God bless-
robbie
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)