Category Archives: Church Business
Notes from WKND
Click link for image of my new version of sermon notes. I’m almost note free at this point. I am preaching verse by verse, so I have little clues for each passage.
Baptism Thoughts
We are baptizing at the San Marcos River, July 5th. If you haven’t been baptized or know someone that hasn’t, please read this post. It covers the concepts of baptism very well.
This was written by a new friend of mine: Dr. Jeff Garner:
“Baptism- The watery replica of Jesus’ tomb serves as an invitation to be in Jesus. Paul terms it “in Christ,” “In Him,” and “In Whom” and speaks of baptism as though it were a washy lost and found. It’s a call to lose your sin-identity in Christ’s righteous identity. When you look at Jesus, from your baptism forward, you will see yourself in him. Baptism is the event by which you are placed in Jesus Christ. Your baptismal is a re-enactment in the redemption story of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. You choose to separate from your old life and old self and going under the water is a type of burial and rising up out of the water is a type of resurrection. Our final exhale as we are placed under the water is a type of final breath and our held breath is a type of burial and our first inhale is a type resurrection life.
Tree of Life Thoughts
Last night we joined with Tree of Life in New Braunfels for a time of worship. I believe it is time to agree and accept brothers and sisters, friends, and family. If you did not hear the message last night, you will not understand thoroughly where I am coming from. Looking for ways of agreement and focusing on Jesus Christ creates a powerful place for God to move. It is a new venue for God in our lives that simply does not exist until we join together in unity. We should not focus on our individual skills as much as fostering ways to unite, be in harmony and accord. All of our excuses or reasons (valid or not) will be resolved when we surrender our pride. Will we agree on every issue before there is unity? Will we understand all doctrine and know the intricacies of each others past? What are the prerequisites? There are obviously some things that we will never compromise or associate with. However, I feel like we error on the wrong side of agreement way too often and lack the faith it takes to allow God to move. Our fear of ‘what if..’ What if we are contaminated? What if people think we support their sin? What if we compromise? What if we fail God?
NEWNESS
First, I must say that I love the new stage. I am so proud of our team getting it together and only slightly over budget. However, it was so different that it will take a while to get used to. I guess that is what change is all about. As I was speaking yesterday, it felt as if we were in a completely different room. I am so proud of all the Saturday folks and many of the 11am folks moving to the 9am service. It created growth room in the 11am seats. We had mixed crowds (people sitting in strange seats). A shuffling of the deck, a mix-up, tossing of the salad. However you want to express it… that is what we were wanting and I think it is what we are getting.
The Summer on the Mount series has everyone talking. From what I hear, people really like the verse by verse teaching. The message of Jesus is unbelievably simple and applicable. We are getting reports from all over the church of healings and fillings! Last night, Rudy Rodriguez had 60 attend his first session on Spiritual Warfare! I am really looking forward to my class on Thursday (6/11) on “How to Study the Bible” and unleashing people to thoroughly get into the Word.
OK, here is a new level that I thought I would never endorse: for all of you that Read the rest of this entry
Robin Steele 