Only God

A brand new series begins this Sunday—Only God. For the past 25 years, we’ve seen God do amazing things at NewPointe - and our response has been "ONLY GOD!”—as in, only God could bring about something like this. And this fall, after seeking and dreaming about the direction God wants us to go as a church,  we are ready to move forward together in faith. The vision we have always had as a church now has a plan, a timeline, and a tangible need. 

We believe that if the people who call NewPointe their home are willing to allow God to change their stories—we can literally change the world. That’s what this series is about: changing the world. Here’s a sneak preview:

 

Are you ready to be part of a story that’s so big that only God can write it?

Series begins this Sunday at all three campuses.

the story of your life

Last Sunday at NewPointe Dave D’Angelo gave a great message about the story that your life tells. He talked about how, when we make decisions, we need to run our choices through the “story filter.” The story filter asks, “What story do I want my life to tell?”

It was a great set-up to this Sunday’s message (Oct. 24). And it’s also a great set-up to the next series, Only God (which, by the way, will be epic). We beleive that God has created each of us to live a life that will tell a story of His love to the world in a unique and amazing way.

As I’ve been thinking about that, my mind keeps going back to the song we closed the services with last Sunday: The Story of Your Life by Matthew West. I’ve heard so many comments about how powerful and meaningful the song was (is). In case you missed it, or you’re one of those people who has asked for more information on the song, here are the lyrics:

The Story of Your Life

Is this the end, or only the beginning
The second chance, you never thought you’d get
The question is, will you do something with it
Or spend your days lost in your regret

This is the story of your life
You decide how the rest is gonna read
This is your chance between the lines
To redefine what kind of legacy you leave
This is the story of your life
And it’s a story worth telling

Breathe in deep, feel your heart still beating
Let’s go see the reason you’re alive
Oh you are here, and love is up to something
So take your fear and leave it all behind

This is the story of your life
You decide how the rest is gonna read
This is your chance between the lines
To redefine what kind of legacy you leave

This is the joy, this is the pain
And all the pages in between
Your finest hour, your weakest moment
Is where you’ve been
It’s where you are
It’s where you’re going

This is the story of your life
You decide how the rest is gonna read
This is your chance between the lines
To redefine what kind of legacy you leave
This is the story of your life
Go tell the story of your life
‘Cause it’s a story worth telling

It’s worth telling
Is this the end, or only the beginning

Great song, great service Sunday. If you missed it or just want to watch it again, you can see the entire service here.

sunday’s scuds (october 17, 2010)

Sunday brought us part two of the Alternate Endings series. Dave D’Angelo talked about the second filter we need to employ when faced with a decision—the Story Filter. In other words, we need to ask ourselves, “What story do I want my life to tell?”

In case you missed it, the first filter was given to us last week by Dwight: the Reality Filter. The reality filter asks: What’s the real reason I want to make this decision? Am I being completely honest with myself.

It’s been a great series so far. Very helpful. Very practical. Here are some of the scuds DD fired Sunday:

• The way you respond to your circumstances becomes the story your life will write.
• We don’t get to decide what happens to us but we DO get to decide how we respond.
• In the heat of the moment of our decision, our focus gets very narrow—we tend to forget about our life story.
• Your life is a story that you are writing with the choices you make.
• We cannot detach moments of our decision-making from our life story.
• Your life story affects more people than just you.
• Your kids will begin their lives based on the decisions of their parents.
• You want to be able to tell your whole story.
• Don’t ever say yes to an opportunity that will make you a liar for life.
• Your life story becomes bigger than your moment when you pause and acknowledge God.
• Don’t be blindsided by the smallness of the moment.
• Remember your story.
• What story do you want your life to tell?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6

putting first things first

Years ago I received some advice from a mentor about priorities in life. It’s stuck with me. I’m passing them along to you now:

Five things, in this order, lead to a well-ordered life:

1. God. It all starts here. If this one’s not right, none of the others will ever be right. Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek FIRST the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
2. Spouse. Notice it’s not “Family” in the number two slot. It’s specifically your spouse. We must prioritize our spouses ahead of our kids. Loving our kids well and prioritizing them properly begins with loving our spouses well. When you were married the preacher said, “and the two shall become one.” He didn’t say, “And the family shall become one.” Your spouse takes priority over your kids.
3. Your kids. Sometimes we get messed up here and our kids get our very best and our spouses get leftovers. When this happens, our priorities are out of whack. Your kids need to understand that, while they’re extremely important, and unconditionally loved, your relationship with your spouse trumps, BUT they absolutely come ahead of…
4. Career. We all know lots of people who have this one too high up (sometimes #1) on the priority list. For the record, if your priorities are in proper order, this one checks in at #4. You don’t want to lose numbers 1-3 because this one came ahead of them—and we see that sort of thing happen all the time.
5. Ministry—as in, your ministry at church. Surprised to see this one come in after some of the others. Don’t be. Again, if the top four are misaligned, then the others will never be right.

C.S. Lewis said, “Put first things first and you’ll get second things thrown in. Put second things first and you’ll lose both first and second things.”

Are your priorities in the right places?

sunday’s scuds (october 10, 2010)

Sunday brought us the first of a three-part series called, “Alternate Endings.” It all about the choices we make. During this series we’re looking at three filters through which our decisions need to go in order for us to make the right choices in life.

If you missed it, well you missed it! Dwight was flat brining it! He didn’t beat around the bush or leave any of us wondering, “what’s he talking about?”. Strong, practical stuff.

And here are some of the scuds I wrote down:

• You are where you are in life primarily because of the choices you’ve made.
• You are not a victim. Your choices make you.
• Every time you make a decision, you have no idea what hangs in the balance.
• Are you happy with the decisions you’ve been making?
• If you don’t like where you are, you need to begin making different choices.
• Most of us are more interested in happiness than we are interested in truth.
• You cannot cure your deceitful heart—but you can control it.
• Don’t trust your heart.

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:7-9

• You can’t make good decisions based on bad information.
• The reason we lie to ourselves is because it gives us the energy to move ahead with a bad decision.
• We have to ask ourselves, “What’s the real reason I want to make this choice?”
• Do you lie to yourself? I do.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

i can only imagine…snapshots

We thought it would be cool to have NewPointers send in photos of themselves holding snapshots of loved-ones who have passed away that come to mind when they hear the song “I Can Only Imagine.” We took those photos and made a video to go with the song. Then we closed the series with this video and song:

Powerful moment. Hope you got to experience it. Dwight concluded the series by talking about the hope we have in Christ. Great series. Great song. Great way to end it.

mike’s baptism

Two Sundays ago was a very special day for me. I got to baptize my buddy, Mike. Mike and I became friends earlier this year after we met at Super Fitness. We started hanging out, talking about life and its struggles, stuff like that. In August, Mike decided to turn everything over to Christ—invited Him into his life to begin to change him from the inside out. It’s been thrilling to see Mike’s life transform right in front of me.

Like I said, I got to baptize Mike on September 26. It was awesome seeing Mike “go public” with his faith and getting to be a part of that.

Mike knows that, like all of us, he’s a work in progress. The difference now is that he’s got Christ in him to help him become who God created him to be.

Check out his baptism video story:

Love that guy. And oh, by the way, Mike is now my trainer at Super Fitness. He kicks my butt in the weight room on a regular basis. So, in a cool little twist of fate, he’s helping me transform, too.

Congrats on gettting baptized, Mike! Can’t wait to see the rest of your story unfold!

sunday’s scuds (october 3, 2010)

Sunday brought us the conclusion to the SNAPSHOT series. What a series! Wow. Love the easily explainable idea that life is not a snapshot. Hope lies in the bigger picture. And God not only sees the bigger picture, but he’s in control of it.

Hope you got to be at NewPointe for the entire series. If not, you’ll definitely want to watch it in the archives online or get the CDs.

In the meantime, allow me to present the scuds that Dwight fired as he wrapped up the series on Sunday:

• Hope does not come from your prayers being answered or your circumstances changing. Hope lies in a person—Jesus Christ.
• Every person here is putting their hope in something—and it’s either satisfying you or it’s lacking.
• God has an active, intentional plan for your life.
• Some of us don’t buy into the fact that God is all we’ll ever need…some of us think that all we need is for our circumstances to change.
• Grace: the strength to move on in spite of your circumstances.
• Most of us in this room have some kind of ‘thorn in our flesh.’
• Sometimes God says, “No,” to our requests and instead gives us grace.
• God doesn’t always promise to deliver us from our circumstances but he DOES promise to deliver us THROUGH our circumstances.
• Disappointment with God is tough. Disappointment without God is unbearable.
• God wants us to live every day with a sense of dependency on Him.
• God opted to make Paul dependent on Him instead of healing him. Sometimes that’s what God does for us.
• Your greatest weakness is God’s greatest opportunity for Him to show Himself strong.
• The only thing worse than disappointment with God is disappointment without God.
• When God says no to you, it’s not indicative of a lack of faith.