Sunday night reflections
Ahhh, the first Sunday of a New Year – I love it! Here’s how it looks from where I sit tonight:
- today was one of the best attendances we’ve had in a long time – with easily more than 1,600 people worshipping at one of our three campuses today!
- the new, forever-settled-in-heaven-and-earth-service-times in Tinley Park seemed to help us with our space issues, as the 9:30 and 11:30 services were almost identical in attendance! (Thanks for rolling with us as we’ve experimented & tweaked to try to get this right)
- Pastor Dan reported a big attendance day at the Shorewood campus, along with more salvation decisions and great altar responses!
- It was FUN preaching today….all 3 times! (Thanks for all the encouraging words about how much you’re receiving from this series…but trust me, no one is enjoying it more than me!) I’m still so jazzed about what God’s Word says about these simple principles that enable us to be financially successful!
- Psssst – don’t dare miss next week – it may be the highlight of the whole series, when we explore Your Personal Bailout – and I promise it will be better than AIG’s or GM or Chrysler or anyone else that’s come to the government with their hand out lately!
and on a couple of personal notes:
I’m really feeling thankful to be a part of a church family like CLC tonight. As you probably know, my daughter Jen had surgery last Monday to remove a herniated disc in her lower back, and I’ve gotta tell you: the outpouring of love & support from our church family has been phenomenal! She’s had so many visitors, both at the hospital and here at the house, people cooking meals, bringing flowers, etc. – you guys have just outdone yourself in caring for my family, and I’m so appreciative. I’ve spent most of my 40 years of ministry on the ‘giving’ end of caring for folks, so to be on the ‘receiving’ end is different – but just incredibly affirming, and we want you to know how much we love you!
Not only that, but my wife returned from preaching in South Bend today to report that during the worship time, as she closed her eyes and began to worship, she suddenly found herself surrounded by a number of people from the congregation, all praying for her! It was SO encouraging to her as well, especially since she hadn’t even told anyone how drained she was feeling after a long week in the hospital, several meetings, and of course the early alarm and the nearly two-hour drive to South Bend for the service. She was truly touched by the expression and the prayers, to say the least!
So, to CLCers from all 3 campuses, we say thank you for your love & support. It’s a joy to be your pastors, and more importantly, it’s a joy to be a part of a group of people who truly live out their faith by caring for one another!
Finally, I confess to a strange pleasure in seeing the Eagles whip up on the Vikings tonight. I guess if the Bears couldn’t go to the playoff’s, I’m just glad to see Minnesota eliminated, too. Just wait ’til next year!
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Sunday, January 4th, 2009 at 8:19 pm under
I just want to take the time to tell you that I appreciate what you’re doing. Today I my uncle came to church with me, and because he is Catholic I was suprised he came. He said he really enjoyed service and that it has been a long time since he received The Word. He joked about you not being a screaming preacher or one that puts down certain denominations.
January 4th, 2009 at 9:11 pmAlso I am going to do my best to complete our fast this time, I start off good but by day 2, I have talked myself into something I’ve decided to give up.
NEAT…thanks for sharing about your uncle, Venus. Praying that your fast goes well….knowing that God honors whatever sacrifices we make for Him!
January 4th, 2009 at 9:22 pmHi Pastor J!
Didn’t get a chance to tell you today, but the message was absolutely GOLDEN!!! The explanation of the fish and the coin was amazing! Corey came home after his youth meeting and asked me if I had heard the message and went on to say how he recognized how God had planned some things to occur in his life –WOW! Oh, one more thing — we experienced our largest LifeGroup launch response today — 254 signed up to be a part of life groups and we still have 2 weeks of launch to go!!! WOW!!! Look at GOD!!!!
January 5th, 2009 at 7:47 amI agree, it was nice seeing the Vikes get whipped by the Eagles. That was a nice consolation.
January 5th, 2009 at 9:08 amI just wanted to say your sermon was right on point in regards to my attitude regarding my job. I loved the point you made regarding who we are really working for which is God.
Today came and I had a little more pep in my step!! I continue to thank Him for the blessings I have and for steering me to Christian Life.
January 5th, 2009 at 10:11 pmI like that, Felicia: we all need a little more pep in our step! (Especially while fasting). Thanks for sharing with us – we’re glad you’re part of our family!
January 5th, 2009 at 10:15 pmPastor I thank you for the wonderful series that we have been digesting. I thought that we serve a supernatural God so why don’t you think that He could have put the coin in the fish’s mouth He certainly knew supernaturally that the coin was there? Also, why not take the opportunity to serve communion and start the year off right, we had large crowd and it would have been so much more spiritual.
January 8th, 2009 at 1:31 pmShirley,Thanks for the kind words about the series – I’m sure enjoying it!
As to your 2 questions: what I expressed about the fish is my opinion; certainly Jesus could have supernaturally placed a coin in the fish’s mouth, but I wonder why He would have done that instead of just supernaturally creating a coin & handing it to Peter – so it’s personally easier for me to believe my version – which is to say, since the Bible doesn’t say, you can believe what you wish on that
As to communion, we just have observed that it takes us at least 15 minutes or more to make the communion experience meaningful, and since I’ve cut my sermons down to only about 30-35 minutes already, I didn’t feel I could shorten it by another 15 minutes. We did observe communion together last night as we always do on the First Wednesday of each month in our Refresh services. While the attendance is nowhere near the same, that’s just the decision we’ve made on the pastoral team, given our Sunday time constraints. We do have communion on every 5th Sunday “Family Service”, but we always plan accordingly and shorten other parts of the service, including the message. I’m sure that’s probably not a satisfying answer, but I hope it helps you understand. Blessings!
January 8th, 2009 at 3:46 pm