double the joy, double the love

Years ago Wrigley Candy Co. had a slogan for DoubleMint Gum and it was as follows, “Double Your pleasure, Double Your fun with Doublemint Gum.” That gum had two different flavors of mint combined to form the unique taste they were pushing at the time. I don’t think people really thought about what the ad said after a while; they just liked the ring of it. But the truth was they had a found a brand new taste that was doubling the amount of mint that their competitors were distributing. They took the market by storm and people were drawn to DoubleMint Gum without knowing all that it took to make it new and unique. In other words, the truth of the science of the gum and all the sacrifice was forgotten and reduced to a mere slogan.

Year after year we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with wonderful slogans that stir our hearts and cause us to reflect on God, family, church and the brevity of life. Those slogans, as good as they are, can never capture just what happened in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago. The Son of God was born…not a favorite Christian slogan, but a truth. It happened! God was born to a human in a humble setting, probably a hay stall or manger…not a favorite story, but a truth. It happened! Because of that our joy and our love should be doubled, or tripled, or whatevered. Like DoubleMint Gum we have a great opportunity to “double our pleasure, double our fun” but our slogan is double the joy, double the love. Take note of 1 John 1:1-4 (The Message) below.

Our love for God should be premium as we think about the upcoming Christmas celebration. Our joy should be doubled as we absorb all that God did through the birth of Jesus, the Christ. Listen to John 1:14 (The Message): “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” Instead of“there goes the neighborhood”, it should be “love your neighbor like you love yourself.”

Get the real meaning of Christmas. Not this year, not this month, not this week, not this day, NOW! Jesus is IN THE HOUSE. Let Him double your joy, which will double your love. That kind of love carries the message to the masses and changes lives, and that is what we are all about.

The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!

1 John 1:1-4 (MSG)

GPS: God's Perfect Spirit

Moving in the right direction is a major priority in a believer’s life. We use words like following God’s will, seeking His direction and others to emphasize just how much going the right way makes a difference for each of us. As a Christian it is imperative that we seek His Way, so that we match up with God’s direction for our life. God has an awesome way of giving us direction through the Holy Spirit. When we study God’s Word, interact with God through prayer and counsel with other believers an amazing thing happens, we start getting signals from God’s Perfect Spirit. This isn’t the only time that happens, but it seems to be an optimum time for God to reveal Himself to us in a very personal and unique way.

When Jesus promised the Holy Spirit in John 14 He shared that those who love Him will FOLLOW His ways by obeying His commands. Then He goes on to tell us that the Holy Spirit will come and be the Counselor sent in His name. That Counselor will teach all things and remind them of everything He has taught and said. Why do we need the Spirit to remind us of everything He has taught and said? Because we lose our way. We forget those things that we must remember to continue moving in the right direction.

When we lose direction it is because we are not following God’s GPS, or God’s Perfect Spirit, and the end result is confusion and fear. In John 14:27 Jesus says, “Peace I give you, I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.” He gives us the right direction and that direction is filled with His peace. The world gives us direction and that direction is imperfect and compromised. Tap into God’s direction and God will show you His way, and His way is perfect.

Thank you, Music Camp 2009!

Another GPS, God’s Plan of Salvation, was seen this past Sunday through the musical presentation of the children who attended Music Camp 2009. All were blessed as our children shared the salvation message through song and drama led by Allison Jordan and her leadership team. Approximately 850 people were in attendance, and the witness on the campus of UNCW by our children was felt by all. Please tell Allison, the workers and the children how much that effort meant to you and how much it inspired you. Music Camp 2009: a great success and a great time of spiritual growth for all involved. Thank you to all and praise God!
David Warren
Worship Pastor

pound for pound...

I got on my scale to check my weight a few weeks ago and when I got on, I thought, “Wow, I‘ve really lost the weight!” I had actually lost about 10 lbs and after jumping up and down for about a minute I noticed something funny on my scale. The starting point of the scale had mysteriously gotten bumped back so that it was 10 lbs. lighter than the true weight. Well, of course, I stopped the jumping part and got on my hands and knees and readjusted the starting point to 0. After doing that I crawled back up on the scales and read the figure. I had still lost 1 lb, but the readjustment to reality was very eye opening and the falsehood about my actual weight loss couldn’t be denied.

Sometimes I think we do that in our Christian walk. We coast along and things are going pretty normal. We don’t really step out in faith much, or dig deeper into God’s Word, or serve in a progressive ministry…we are just kind of here. We look at ourselves through our own eyes and everything looks pretty good, even better. That’s when we get the false reality that coasting is okay and just making due is acceptable, and well, you get the picture.

Then we make the mistake of checking the standard on the scales of God’s plan for us and suddenly reality hits. Instead of the finely tuned machine we think we are, we have become fat and idle and didn’t even know it. If we could only measure our Christian walk by how big we have become. In reality, God uses us more when we become smaller and He becomes bigger in our life.

So, pound for pound, how big do you perceive yourself to be? Be sure and dial in to God’s standard before you look at the scale. Then you will be able to realistically approach the throne when spending time with God in worship. He is always growing us to be more like Him, but we need to see just how little we need to become so He can grow us up in His grace and power.


The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren