More than listening

Dr. John Piper is at it again. Destroying the prosperity gospel. It is a little long but it is worth every second of it. I could not agree more.

Its official today is CCF Appreciation Day! October was Pastor Appreciation. Today November 3rd is officially CCF Appreciation Day. I say all of this because yes its important to appreciate your pastors but for me being a pastor I am so appreciative of my “kids.” One of the biggest reasons I love them is they love me well. They dont just love me for one month of night but I know they love me through their encouraging notes, prayers and all around support. With my position and youthfulness there is plenty of room to criticize and judge but I truly believe that my CCF family has my back. Secondly I am thankful for them because they allow me to preach the scriptures and pull no punches. Some weeks I look at the text and literally think “they will never come back after this message.” Then not only do they come back but they bring their friends. So CCF Family know you are appreciated, and loved beyond you will ever know. Thanks for bringing me much joy.

~Michael

A glimpse into my thought pattern from the weekend’s events

• I dont know who was worse at showing up to the game on Saturday the FSU “d” or the fans..
• Isn’t it ironic the FSU “D” is so offensive
• Watching a baptism tonight only fires me up for the future
• Something powerful about joining in what the church has been doing for thousands of years
• What a great skit to kick things off tonight at ReUnion
• Yeah I really do believe there are antichristS in/around CCF and on campus
• I eat sleep and drink 1 John but I love every second of it and am more like Jesus because of it.
• I really wish I could meet the writer John
• Thankful for the CCF family that loves me so well
• They know what I like: words (card) and food (gift card to carrabas)
• I am always eager to get home and read blu cards because I cant wait to see what God has done
• Love that CCF is located right on the parade route, always fun to be a host
• Met my blog quota.. and already got more scheduled for this week
• There is something to be said for the simpler life
• No news on the adoption for THREE WEEKS!
• Waiting is hard
• Jim Gaffigan is hillarious
• A real comedian is one who can be funny and clean
• Praise God for record attendance. Crazy when attendance grows as semester winds down. Gotta be a God thing!
• The holy spirit is the best teacher you will ever have
• No better teacher than the author
• Working through a book of the bible has been so challenging, humbling and ADVENTUROUS
• Its great to have to teach hard texts
• “Hosanna” never gets old to sing
• I wanna ooze scripture
• I gotta remain in the scriptures
• I love how BOLD John was about everything
• Clinging to the cross is the hardest simple  thing to do. ~Dan Cole
• “How can we live out His will if we dont know it?”~ Mark
• “Know how to solve your pride? Do everything for the glory of God” ~ Mark
• “Where are you living for yourself more than God?” ~Mark

My job really would be so difficult without freebies like Google. When I open my web browser it starts with google mail, followed byt google reader then google docs.I have always said that one day google is gonna start charging and we (CCF) are gonna be screwed. Well we won’t really be screwed we will just pay whatever they ask because their services are for sure top notch. But google is not the only one offering free amazing sources. Outside of all my free google resources I also hit up the  free resources of Mars Hill Church, Life Church, and Desiring God ministries.Each of these ministries provides a plethora of free resources which allows me to never write a sermon again. I KID, I KID! These resources are no doubt amazing and totally free. I highly encourage you to check them out. But what is even better than the fact they are free is the reason they are free. Here is a simple video about why Desiring God provides everything for free. These are ministries that are doing great things without competition or any desire to make a profit but are truly about making the name of Christ known and lifted high on the internet. Thank you!

I am not a man that really thrives in routine but as I grow and mature I am learning more and more the importance of routine and actually look forward to them. One of my absolute favorite routines is the “bible!”time with M.P and Katie.  I type this with an exclamation point because every night after bath time  M.P begins to yell “bible” or “Jesus” at the top of his lungs. Now when he picks up his kids bible he often times talks about finding Jesus inside of it. Even better than that is now M.P will often ask for bible outside of the set time or will go pick it up and begin to “read” it  on his own. My favorite though is when we make the mistake of putting him to bed on a late night and try to skip bible time and he will scream “bible” until we read a story or two from it to him. Even better though is when he uses it as an excuse to stay up late and asks for more bible. He already knows I cant turn down a fella (even at 2 yrs old) who wants to read the bible.  No matter how crazy of a translation this childrens bible is and the fact that it is only 50 pages I still believe that this is the start to training up M.P. in the word and prayer. I could not be more proud of my son when he screams for his bible and and shouts amen as we pray for our family, friends and ultimately that he would know personally Jesus as Lord.

So one of my campus ministry heroes is Ross Middleton. Ross is a great friend and an amazing man of God who is now serving up at National Community Church in D.C. Ross writes a great blog which I highly recommend you subscribing to. Needless to say not only is it a great blog but Ross is using it to call some people to action through microfinancing. Basically the way this works is Ross was given $10 to turn into $100. This $100 is sent to Hope International which in term is used as small loans to entrepreneurs in poverty stricken countries. The beauty of this all is that it starts with $10. YOUR $10. This investment basically means skipping a couple of drinks at starbucks or a combo at bagel. In the end your $10 can go a lot further than your stomach and not just feed somewhat for a moment but help them begin a business to feed themselves every day. Let me know if you are game..

…Good news? If that saying holds true then we have good news as in no news or very little to say the least. Any ways, right now things are semi on hold. We go from a slow process to a rapid to a slow. So its pretty up and down to say the least but there is no doubt a ton of lessons (And sermon illustrations) in the process. Last most of you heard we were supposed to hear by today whether or not we were a ” best fit” for the family. Well today we received a call but it did not answer that question but rather gave us another week to wait. So why the wait? From what we understand we there are two meetings that need to take place this week. First the family which is currently fostering the children needs to be met with to talk about whether they are interested in the  adoption of the girls, then if not they will look into whether or not we are the best fit. Then we will get an update on Friday followed by more details on Monday or Tuesday. At times this no doubt  frustrating but we also are coming to understand that this process is not simple and there are literally the lives of 3 little girls involved plus all of the legal work. Needless to say this was not the most exciting news for us but we are learning so much about being patient and totally trusting God in this whole process.  In terms of prayer there are lots to be prayed for. Pray for the social workers involved just for wisdom for them as they make decisions, pray for patience for us but ultimately pray for these 3 girls. Pray that they would experience the love of God which came through the cross and that they would each come to know Jesus as lord one day.

2 Weeks in a row… that makes it  a streak. Kinda like fsu not losing 2 weeks in a row.

• No matter how I “feel” a sermon went knowing a girl accepted Christ tonight and her eternity is changed FOREVER fires me up
• What an amazing job of rapping the announcements.Way to go “T” and Aron
• Seeing people come to know Christ as Lord and Savior always puts things back into perspective
• Love this verse: “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
• I have been humbly reminded how much I need strength outside of myself
• thank ya holy spirit
• Ponder for Heisman
• yes i was on the set of a t-pain music video
• Still never heard a t-pain song
• I am NOT proud of that
• It sure doesnt take much for my pride to flair up
• The Setup Crew was top notch today. Smoothest to date for sure
• Props to Zac Kerce for leading that group
• Planning Center Online is the greatest thing ever for planning large group
• Compliment of the day: “I love  your kids (CCFers) what is that campus ministry do over at FSU?”
• “Fathers in the faith” have spiritual hindsight! ~Mark
• Amazing 3 verses can be preached so differently. Living and active no doubt
• I have SO MUCH to blog about. SO MUCH… Just need to do it. Goal is 4 posts by next Monday
• I am loving “forgotten God” by Francis Chan
• “Lover of my soul, I want to live for you” Lyrics from Josh Hughes
• Nights like tonight at CCF leave me humble
• In my battle  against worldliness I need the cross and the holy spirit
• You cannot run towards God and sin at the same time
• “The reason the church has so little influence over the world is the world has so much influence over the church.”  ~Spurgeon
• Worldliness is the way of man without God.
• We like to blame our surrounding for our struggles but so much of our struggle is on the inside (Cravings, lusting and pride)
• My tombstone: “The same man outside of church as he was inside of church”

The CCF free tutoring has taken off and we are already running out of tutors after only being a week in.We are excited to see such sucess already and with our ads now on the big screen at the movie theater  there is no doubt we are going to need more volunteers. So all you upper classmen CCFers that can tutor in any area (ESPECIALLY SCIENCES) please please let us know via email (ccftutors@gmail.com)

Just a little update…

First up. THANK YOU. Thanks for all the prayers. My blog saw the most “hits” ever from our most recent post on the big adoption news in our life. This number of hits was not a stroke of my pride rather humbling to see how many people were praying for us. I received emails from people all over and met others at churches and various places that were praying for me and Katie that I had no idea even read my blog. Oh the power of the internet.  Any ways the news right now is pretty much no news. But we do have a new timeline. This Friday there will be a meeting with the case workers for us and the children which are up for adoption. Monday or Tuesday we will find out if we are a possible best fit for the children. Then from there comes information meetings, prayer, meeting children and lots more prayer.  This delay in timing has been rather challenging and frustrating at times but is a constant reminder that this is in our creator God’s hands. I am reminded daily that the same God who puts the earth into orbit and causes the sun to rise and set is in control of this entire process. During this time we are not praying to have these children rather that the will of God would be made clear and we would be obedient to it. Time and time again the case workers have reminded us that this is a search for the best fit family. This is challenging at times to hear but so encouraging because it is just another reminder that this is not about us. This is about three little girls that deserve a loving family. Our prayers right now are for our patience and trust and for the girls to experience the love of our heavenly feather with whichever “forever family” He so chooses. Thanks for your prayers and keep em coming.