about this weekend…

September 21, 2012 |admin

Today my first-born turns 21. My goodness gracious, what the what, and how did THAT happen? I can remember the anxious months before Miss Brooklynn popped out of the oven. There were books to read, classes to attend, and massive amounts of information to ingest for the road ahead. That info, while helpful, was also overwhelming. It was heavy. Burdensome. There was a lot to do and learn before the blessed event coming like an unstoppable freight train.

On that 21^st day of September, 1991… there was simply an announcement. There was a lingering moment when all the to do lists stopped. Joy was found in the awesome news of my beautiful baby. It was glad tidings. This was a thing of good news for a screw up like me. The tedious information brought on the darkness of night, but joy came in the morning, some twenty-one years ago today.

How much of our walk with Jesus points to information, and how much to an EPIC announcement of joy? It would seem an information-only approach to Jesus would create a burden He never meant for us to carry. Of course knowledge is not a bad thing, but left alone it does some serious, puffing-up damage (I Cor. 8:1).

What if the Kingdom of Jesus was first a powerful announcement? What if evangelism and discipleship were not separate activities based on levels of information? What if Jesus calls us to an EPIC story of restoration that IS joy and CAUSES joy? Wouldn’t that change the way we evangelize, disciple, and live our lives? Could a foundational base change of joy turn an ineffective American church into something of power and Jesus?

Can we talk on Sunday? Jesus has some very powerful things to convey for His body at CCC. If received and reproduced, this will be a game changer. We’re three weeks in to our EPIC series (a study in Mark). The text for Sunday is Mark 1:14-20. I’m anxious to teach. I’m anxious to celebrate and express joy that causes joy.

A guy by the name of Pierre once said that joy was the most infallible sign of the presence of God. How true or indicting is this in your life? There really is some EPIC, joy-creating news for screw-ups like you and me.

See you on Sunday. Bring a friend…

Blessings,