Posts made in February 12th, 2014

Welcome to Intentional Living

Posted by on Feb 12, 2014 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Welcome to my blog.  Each week as I preach, I will be posting a post sermon blog on my morning message.  I will also be posting resources that are related to our ministry here at Bethel and will help you be intentional in your Christian life.  It is my prayer that it will be a helpful ressource that will be a blessing to you.

 

Worshipping Him,

Chris

Read More

More to The Story Chapter two

Posted by on Feb 12, 2014 in The Story | 0 comments

When the Last in Line Gets Chosen for the Team
The casting agent enters the room with her top picks for the show’s leading man and lady. The new series
will follow the spellbinding story of a clan that builds a powerful, world-impacting family tree. This is
the pilot, and it is crucial to make the right call on the individuals who will fall in love and launch this
Kennedy-like family of influence and fame.
Producers and writers alike have waited breathlessly for this moment, the moment when who they have
envisioned as the leading characters will be finally realized in an actor and actress. But when they turn
to see who has been tapped for these most special of roles, the thud of their collective jaws hitting the
majestic mahogany conference table muffles their mutual groans.
There before their wide eyes, instead of the expected vibrant, young couple with gleaming white teeth
and tanned and toned bodies, stand a 75-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman. Not what they had
pictured for their production.
And yet, this is what God has chosen. His screenplay called for a couple to launch a new nation, one
that would impact the entire world. As he would say, a nation through whom “all the nations of the
earth would be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).
Abram and Sarai stand there, adorned perhaps by dusty old robes and crowned with wispy white hair and
loosely fitting skin and as befuddled as anyone else. God chose them to begin a nation. An unlikely pair,
especially after factoring in the fact that Sarai was barren. How could God expect to start a nation with a
woman who could not bear children?
To complicate the story line, it will be 25 more years before they actually have their child of promise. By
that time Abram and Sarai will be 100 years old and 90 years old, respectively (and their names will be
changed to Abraham and Sarah). Perhaps Social Security checks will help this special couple decorate
the baby’s tent and they’ll be able take naps when the baby does. And the rest, as they say, is history. His
story.
God picks people you and I wouldn’t necessarily select to take part in his story. In fact sometimes we are
shocked who plays the starring roles in his stories. Unlike the way we do business, he taps people, not
merely because of their abilities, but for their availability. God searches for people who are open to be
used by him. Since he uses only those who are willing to be used for his purposes, there is no doubt that
it is he who is doing the the wonder- working. Let there be no doubt, throughout history he is the one
making things happen.
That’s good news, isn’t it? In the business world, you may not have a great pedigree. In academics, you
may not be a Rhodes Scholar. You may not have a lot of money and you may have average looks. But you
may be sitting in a pretty good position to be a top pick for God’s work.

Read The Story. Experience The Story. Used with permission © Zondervan 2010

Read More