Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week (3.31.17)

Hey Church! Can you believe it's the last day of March?  25% of 2017 is already in the books.  We're continuing our "Pray-er" series on Sunday, and I hope you'll be there to hear about 'Only Pray-er'.  A few other things that are important for the weekend: Workday at Harmony Grove Saturday from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.  We'll have donuts and coffee to kick things off and lunch will be provided.  Painting, cleaning, and light construction. Reminder that our Lawrenceville Campus will begin meeting in one service at 10 a.m. this Sunday. Bring candy to fill our Easter Eggs for our Easter Festival & Easter Egg Hunt beginning this Sunday.  Preferably no chocolate. Thought for the Week "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Romans 5:8 There has been a lot of talk about bridges in Atlanta the last day.  Thank God no one was hurt in the mess on I-85.  Lewis Grizzard once said they'd never finish 85.  He might have been right.  But, a lack of a bridge has halted all traffic.  You can't get from one side to the other.  That's what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross.  He made a way when we couldn't get from one side to the other.  As sinners, we can't get to God.  We can't do enough good works and deeds to bridge the gap, so our relationship with God screeches to a halt without Jesus.  There is a gap we can't overcome.  We are not holy.  God is holy.  And we can't be with Him unless we're holy.  Jesus is the bridge.  Even though we are sinners, Jesus died for us to forgive our sins and present us as holy before God.  Blameless before Him.  That's how much God loves us.  He became the bridge when we couldn't find a way over the gap. In Christ, Carter McInnis Lead Pastor

Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week (3.24.17)

Hey Church! I hope you had a good week, and I hope you've been praying "Thy will be done" this week.  I'm so enjoying teaching about prayer.  This week, we'll be talking about a tough side of prayer we've all dealt with -- when the answer is "no.'  What do we do when God says, 'no'?  What does that mean for us and our future?  I hope you'll be there to be a part of it. Thought for the Week "The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin."  Proverbs 10:14 I've been thinking about wisdom a lot lately.  It's probably something I pray for more than anything else.  Wisdom to raise my sons.  Wisdom to counsel others.  Wisdom to preach what God wants preached.  Wisdom to lead.  Wisdom to know how to obey God.  What I love about this proverb is that it's clear to wisdom requires some quietness.  Wisdom means taking some time to store up knowledge.  How are you storing up knowledge?  What are you reading?  Who are you allowing to pour into your life?  What is fueling your pursuit of wisdom?  You can't just talk.  Fools never take time to soak in wisdom, they just talk, and it can invite ruin.  I thought about social media when I read that.  Our words on social media are our online mouths.  They can lead to our ruin.  We need time to store up knowledge.  You want to be wise?  Find people who are smarter than you and hang out with them.  Read books from various subjects and fields for different perspectives.  Listen to things that will challenge and stretch you.  You want to be a fool?  Talk a lot and never listen.  I know which one I want to be. In Christ, Carter McInnis Lead Pastor

Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week (3.17.17)

Hey Church!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I hope you've had a great week.  This Sunday, we're beginning a new 4-weeks series called "Pray-er" in which we're talking about how to truly become people of prayer.  Whether you're just curious about prayer, want to know what it's all about or looking for ways to connect more deeply with God, I believe this series will transform your life.

Tonight is is our St. Patrick's Day Chili Cook-Off Party & Game Night.  Bring some chili for the competition, a dessert, or a game to share or just come on out for some fun!  No matter what campus you're a part of, all are welcome!  6 p.m. at Harmony Grove.

Thought for the Week
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  Romans 8:28

Today, many of us will wear a shirt with 'lucky' on the front or hope for the 'luck of the Irish' in our lives.  It's all in good fun along with our green clothes.  If you search for the keyword 'luck' on Biblegateway.com (a great resource) or the Bible App on your phone (another great resource), you won't be able to find the word luck anywhere in the Bible.  Now, this isn't to say I don't believe in luck.  Sometimes you get lucky.  Sometimes you're unlucky.  I'm a big enough sports fan to have seen both sides of it.  But the idea of luck is a really deep issue if you want to get into it.  It's hard use anything other than luck to describe something like me fooling around on a basketball court and throwing a full-court basketball shot one handed and it going in.  But the idea of luck is not really addressed much in the Bible.  It's not really a concept that's discussed.  Unfortunately, many of us bank on it.  We're just hoping to get lucky.  In our jobs.  In our finances.  In relationships.  In parenting.  In life.  Maybe we'll just get lucky and things will work out.  That's not really the message of God.  Instead, in Romans, the Apostle Paul flatly says that things wont's always work out.  There will be negatives.  We might call it bad luck.  But, for those that fervently pursue God, He begins to weave those negatives into a beautiful tapestry that tells our story.  They become a part of the fabric of what God has done and is doing in our lives.  They become a catalyst for the movement of the Spirit.    So love Him.  Seek Him.  God is working for the good of you, even in your unlucky moments.  He didn't cause them. He CAN use them to write your story.   And He has such a good story planned for you.

In Christ,

Carter 

Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week (3.10.17)

Hey Church!

I hope you're finishing up a great week.  I know students across Gwinnett & Barrow are enjoying a day off today!  This Sunday, you'll hear special messages at each campus.  It will be a great day of worship.  Then, gear up for a 4-weeks series called "Pray-er" beginning March 19.  It's going to be a great season ahead as we prepare for Easter!

Thought for the Week
"He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning."  Daniel 2:21

This Winter (if you can call it that) has been one for the books.  You can see signs of an early Spring peeking through nature. The older I get, the more fascinated I am with the seasons.  Almost overnight, you wake up to see greenery in the Spring or the leaves turning in the Fall.  It's an amazing process that takes a year in the making, and it reveals there is much going on behind the scenes.  This is our God -- Master of the Season.  The Orchestrator of "much going on behind the scenes."  It is in those moments of recognizing God's grandeur that I remember He is orchestrating much behind the scenes of my life.  And I need not worry.  I can't hurry the process.  I can do things to harm it, but the most important thing is to think about what I can do today that will ensure that whatever God is doing blooms when it's supposed to.  That may mean a season of being dormant.  It may mean letting go of the 'leaves' that need to go.  It may mean soaking in the rain of a wet season (which isn't particular fun).  What I can do is trust the process and be faithful in it.  There's a lot going on behind the scenes of your life.  A lot.  But the God that directs the seasons is the same God who is working in your life to spring-forth something beautiful.  You can trust Him.  He's got this.  How can you be faithful today to be ready for whatever God is doing in your life?

In Christ,

Carter McInnis
Lead Pastor

Sports

Kris Jenkins wins it for Villanova at the buzzer.

Sunday marked one month since the Super Bowl, and Monday I finally emerged from under my sports rock.  Since late in the night on February 5, I gave myself a one month ban on sports talk radio and barely watched ESPN except to catch a UGA or UNC basketball game.  I needed to create some separation for myself.  I didn't want to hear about, read about or talk about the improbable comeback.  I'm happy to hear the conversation is now much more about pitchers and catchers.  It's March.  Hope springs eternal for my Braves.

I've had a rough year in sports.  It all started in Houston, but not in the Super Bowl.  It started in at the Final Four at NRG Stadium. My wife is a UNC fan, and we're pretty big Tar Heel Basketball fans.  The stars were aligning last march for the Heels' third National Championship under Roy Williams.  Preseason #1.  Regular season ACC Champs.  ACC Tournament Champs.  And they'd made it to the National Championship, and even hit an improbable 3-pointer to tie it up.  Then Kris Jenkins happened, and Villanova won the greatest NCAA tournament championship ever.

Surely it would get better in the Fall.  My Dawgs had a new coach, started the season with a resounding win in the Chick-fil-a Kickoff vs. UNC (can you say house divided?), featuring our star player's (Nick Chubb) improbable comeback from injury, and thrilling last minute win at Mizzou at the hand of our rising star, freshman QB Jacob Eason.  Against undefeated Tennessee at home, we'd played our best game of the season, trailed late and made a miracle play with 10 seconds left to seemingly secure the biggest home win in several years.  It would be a huge moment for our rookie coach and rookie QB, who had made the (almost) winning pass.  Then the unthinkable happened.

Jauan Jennings makes the game winning catch.

But the Falcons were rolling through the season.  Midway through the year I thought we looked like a Super Bowl contender.  Indeed, we were.  Matt Ryan was the best player in the league, except maybe for his teammate, Julio Jones.  The offense was unstoppable and the defense was maturing.  The playoffs became the ride of the lifetime, and at halftime of the Super Bowl, I couldn't hardly believe my eyes.  We were going to win the Super Bowl.  The loss to 'Nova stung.  The Hail Mary that derailed our season still hurt.  This would give me some momentary sports joy.  Would I get the red, black or gray Super Bowl Champion shirt?  Maybe one of each, or one short sleeve and one long sleeve.  And a hat.  And a pennant for the basement.  And you know what happened.

James White scores the game winning TD in Overtime

In the stadium where the season of my sports discontent started, it ended.  I'd seen my favorites lose the greatest NCAA championship game ever, one of the greatest SEC games ever (Two 40+ yd TD passes in 10 seconds), and the greatest Super Bowl ever (the only one to ever go to overtime.)  I needed a break.

But I can't just give up on sports.  Hope springs eternal, and there are too many lessons.  During my hiatus from sports talk, my boys' basketball seasons marched on.  My youngest was in an instructional league for Kindergarten and 1st graders.  They didn't keep score.  At that age, the kids there were super aggressive kind of took over.  Nothing wrong with that.  The kids were trying to make plays and really got after it on defense.  It was hard for some kids to even get a shot off all season.  In the last couple of games, the referee cleared a path for a few kids who hadn't been able to score all year to get some clear shots.  They were ecstatic when they'd finally made one.  They beamed the whole way back down the court.  That is what sports have really been about in my life.

Sports build confidence and character like few things I know of.  They teach us to keep fighting and working hard.  They teach discipline and effort.  They teach us to respect leaders.  They teach unselfishness.  They teach teamwork.  Few things have shaped my work life and adult life the way sports did.

They also teach dealing with disappointment.  In the movie Fever Pitch, Jimmy Fallon's character, Ben, describes his affection for his beloved Red Sox and their success this way:  "I like being part of something that's bigger than me...It's good for your soul to invest in something you can't control."  And guess what?  Much of our lives we can't control, and we have to learn to get back up and move on when we're disappointed.  Even being a real fan can be positive.  Can we learn to stick with a team or organization through highs and lows or will we be a front-runner fan?  That teaches us something about commitment and relationships.  People will disappoint us.  Will we stick with them?  And isn't success sweeter when we stuck with them for the long haul?

I love art -- music, movies, artwork.  But someone decides what they look like and how they end up.  The artists controls what they create with the skills they spent a lifetime honing.  But sports are unpredictable.  We have no idea what will happen when the game begins, and how hard you worked doesn't always mean you get the results you want, and sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes the ball bounces the wrong way, and sometimes one decision changes the course of the game, and sometimes your preparation meets the perfect opportunity, and sometimes you have to play again after being incredibly disappointed, and sometimes you celebrate a win only to realize there's another game.  Ain't that life?

And the greatest thing about it?  There's always next year, and in your life, there's always tomorrow.  After all, the Heels are looking like they could make another run, the Dawgs are about to start spring practice, and the Braves look like a young, hungry team.  Don't talk to me about NFL free agency.  I'm not ready for the NFL yet.  

I'm still not over it.

At least I'm not a Warriors or Indians fan.