Principle of two or three!

Just wanted to share a word for you today that I believe will help you grow this new year, nothing new just the Word of God applied in our life! I shared this with Lighthouse Church Wednesday night it is the Principle of Two or Three! I want to share just some key points from that lesson that you can apply to your life.

• Matt 18:18-20
  18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
  19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
  20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
  
• This is not a bailout for a low attendance in a down church service
• But it is a promise of Power and Presence to be in that moment

• Using this Principle
  o The Covering of the Three Fold Cord-
  o Jesus had it so should you!
  o Peter James and John was the inner circle in Jesus’ ministry and life!
  Eccl 4:9-12 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

• Pray and work toward getting your three fold cord covering
• Three men for men and women for women that you will fight and dead for.
  We always quote Prov 18:24 “…and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” claiming that this is Jesus to us but most commentators agree that this is speaking of earthly friendship and not the divine.

• Is there someone or ones in your life that you have that bond of friendship to the level that is releases the promise of Matt 18:20
  

God is raising up unites of men and women that are so united in the Spirit to be powerful forces of prayer and might! Strong foundations on which His promises can be poured out!

Nothing would benefit the Church more that an outbreak of unity!

Eph 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

So as you work along this journey that God has called you now I challenge you to enjoy ever moment that you have been given
And Link up with your three fold cord because it is not easily broken

Who’s your three?

Ideas for Christmas!

It’s here, Christmas time is here, the most wonderful time of the year, right? The one thing that I wish that I could change about this time of years is not all the traditions that we enjoy with friends and family but that we would remember and actively celebrate the Real Reason for the Season!

So here are some helpful tips are ideas from Ways to Keep Christ in Christmas
by Mary Fairchild that you can do this Christmas Season to help you and your family Keep Christ in Christmas!

1) Give God one very special gift just from you to him:
Let this gift be something personal that no one else needs to know about, and let it be a sacrifice. David said in 2 Samuel 24 that he would not offer a sacrifice to God that cost him nothing.
Maybe your gift to God will be to forgive someone you've needed to forgive for a long time. You may discover that you've given a gift back to yourself.
Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian who survived extreme brutality in a German concentration camp after rescuing many Jews from certain death during the Nazi Holocaust, was later able to say, "Forgiveness is to set a prisoner free, and to realize the prisoner was you."
Perhaps your gift will be to commit to spending time with God daily. Or maybe there is something God has asked you to give up. Make this your most important gift of the season.

2) Set aside a special time to read the Christmas story in Luke 1:5-56 through 2:1-20:
Consider reading this account with your family and discussing it together.

3) Set up a Nativity scene in your home:
If you don't have a Nativity, here are ideas to help you make your own Nativity scene:

4) Plan a project of good will this Christmas:
Do you have an elderly neighbor in need of home repairs or yard work? Find someone with a genuine need, involve your whole family and see how happy you can make someone this Christmas.

5) Take a group Christmas caroling in a nursing home or a children's hospital:

6) Give a surprise gift of service to each member of your family:
Jesus taught us to serve by washing the disciples feet. He also taught us that it is "more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35 (NIV) The idea of giving an unexpected gift of service to members of your family is to demonstrate Christ-like love and service. You might consider giving a back rub to your spouse, running an errand for your brother, or cleaning out a closet for your mother. Make it personal and meaningful and watch the blessings multiply.

7) Set aside a time of family devotions on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning:
Before opening the gifts, take a few minutes to gather together as a family in prayer and devotions. Read a few Bible verses and discuss as a family the true meaning of Christmas.

8) Attend a Christmas church service together with your family:
If you are alone this Christmas or don't have family living near you, invite a friend or a neighbor to join you.

9) Send Christmas cards that convey a spiritual message:
This is an easy way to share your faith at Christmastime. If you've already bought the reindeer cards—no problem! Just write a Bible verse and include a personal message with each card.

10) Now You think of one….

Connecting is Key!

Understand that Relationships are so important when it comes to Connecting people to power of the Gospel.

More and more people turned off by religion because of relationships or the lack there of. People have a personal connections in their past to someone who used the Name of Jesus for personal gain or they claimed to be a Christian but their action spoke loader than their words. On and on we could go but I think you get the point, the reality is people will not trust your God until they can trust you.

Simply put we are called to be the body of Christ, so the question is who do the people that you are connected to on a day to day basis see who are they getting to know. Do they see just you, the world, the enemy, or do they see Christ. Who are they getting to know you or the God that lives inside of you that is madly in love with them. We are called to live as Christian (Christ-like) day in and day out so your connection matter and what your are portraying matters...

Here is a great article on connecting or networking by Chester Mitchell, allow this to challenge you to make the most of your connection! It is no accident that you keep running into the same person or that you keep having the seemly same interaction with that person. Next time be perpared with the knowledge of win that person (to you then to Him) by being who you are called to be....

Networking Your Community
By Chester Mitchell

For the church planter, the single most important challenge after identifying the unique harvest field of your calling, will be finding ways to connect to the people in your city. Whether you are in a large metro city like Washington, DC or a small rural community, the challenge is that of making contacts. Connecting is everything.


"Your church beginning with you must change its heart and its behavior, learning to build intentional relationships with people in your community who aren't Christians yet." Tom Clegg

Every successful church planter must become a skilled networker. According to the book, Power Networking, a referral generates 80 percent more results than a cold call. Seventy percent of all jobs are found through networking. It is estimated that each person has at least 250 unique contacts.

Anyone you want to meet is only about four to five people away.

Networking is best when it is done in the natural process of life. The guy who works in the produce section or the gal who checks out your groceries at the store where you shop. The clerk at the dry cleaners. The person who delivers your mail. The garbage collector who picks up the trash. The moms on your street who wait at the same corner to pick up and drop of their kids. The business associates or family members burying a loved one at a local funeral home. The barber who cuts your hair. The people at your community association meetings. Relatives, friends, and friends of friends.

Get your whole family involved!

Every communication must be crafted with the goal of ensuring that its not the last one. The best way to do this is to make sure the people whose lives you touch know that they are in charge of choosing how much information they receive. They must know you honor their choices at their level of willingness to engage, or they will feel pressured and threatened, and trust will be broken.

Keep in mind the following key action concepts:

(1) Identify and build on your existing circles of influence.
(2) Create and build on new circles of influence.
(3) Develop a system of regular, repeated contact with each person.
(4) Base your networking on building relationships, serving and disciplining.

(Chester Mitchell is the pastor at Capitol Community Church in Ashburn, Virginia)

Is Your Faith Private Or Public?

Just wanted to share this challenging video about sharing our faith! It is our job to be the Light and Salt!

Hope this has challeged you today to be Light and Salt!

Some Easter Pics and Beyond!

Pictures from Baptism!

This last Sunday we have an awesome experience @ Lighthouse Church....

In our Sunday School lesson we covered the importance of baptism in the name of Jesus, and as we began to cover this truth one lady said right in the middle of the lesson "I need to be baptized" and right after she had said that the man she was sitting next to said "I want baptized too" then a lady sitting by him said the same thing. So we began our worship with those and before we could finish we had seen six people buried in the name of Jesus! It was awesome to be a part of God moving on people with the revelation of the importance of baptism and that in baptism we keep on the name of Jesus....Awesome

Here are some pictures for this week....

Some Thoughts

Anything worth doing is worth a critic or two.

If we spend time chasing and challenging every critic then all that time has been wasted. But the word critic in the Greek means "able to discern".
So don't just dismiss critics no one person or group is above a critic. Process it, especially if it's someone whom you trust and respect and if any of it applies turn it... into the fuel for change.

Know your God given values and vision so you can grow from your critics.

And if they are hurting you, do you hurt them back, if they bite do you bite back!

"But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another" Gal 5;15 NLT

This was a First century and is a Twenty-first problem for the church, I think we have forgotten how to turn the other cheek and seventy times seven.

"If someone says, "I love God," but hates... a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don't love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?" 1 John 4:20 NLT

Just a thought people just a thought!