Conversation

"Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone"(Colossians 4:6 NLT).

Have you ever been around someone who seems to say just the right thing at just the right time?  And when they do talk they attract people when they start talking?

Knowing God has been so gracious in our lives we should show grace in our conversations with others.  If our conversations are sprinkled with grace it's hard to be critical.  It's hard to be unpleasant.  And what does it mean to be attractive?  Do I use a lot of big words with people to make my conversation attractive?  I looked up attractive in the Greek and in this case it means, "seasoned with salt". We should choose to work grace into all of our conversations and we should choose our words carefully asking God for wisdom so that we can respond in a Godly way to every situation.  

Prayer:  Lord let us be led by your spirit, speaking the truth in such a way that is going to promote life change in us and the people around us. 

Amazing Grace

October 18, 2011

16 This is what the LORD says:
“Stop at the crossroads and look around.
Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it.
Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.
But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’

During my devotional time this afternoon,  God reminded me not to forget that assurance I received so many years ago.  My relationship with Christ began at a tender age of 7.  Yes, 7.  I learned about the work of the cross when an evangelist was speaking at our little Baptist Church one Sunday night.  He shared the story of the cross and he said, "And he did all this for you!"  As a 7 year old I immediately understood the sacrifice that was made for me and I was compelled by that.  I went home and couldn't stop thinking about it and I asked Christ into my life in my room that night.  I remember the feeling of complete peace that surrounded me.  

Fast forward a few years later when I entered High School.  I was trying to walk down a path that didn't include Christ.  I was the one that was saying, "No, that's not the road I want!"  I won't lie to you.  I had some great times when I wasn't following Christ.  But there was always this constant battle that was going on in my life.  I was riding the fence so to speak and definitely was being torn in two directions, until that moment I stopped and took stock of what I was doing and decided I was going to jump in with both feet.  No more riding the fence, I was going to follow the path that God had laid out for me.  

40 years later I still need to be reminded not to forget His amazing power to save.  I need to take a moment and remember the peace that flooded my room that night so long ago.  

Take a moment today and thank God for His Amazing Grace.

-Pastor Andy

Monday Morning Quarterbacking

Good Monday Morning!

It's week three of our 30 day challenge at Crossroads.  We have challenged and encouraged each other to read the Bible for 30 minutes, pray for 30 minutes, write down God's revelation, AND share Christ with one person that week.  Fortunately, in order to make this happen we have accountability partners who are calling each other on a daily basis to encourage each other.  The testimonies have been awesome and we are seeing God at work in our lives and the lives of others around us.

All of us have a story.  Facebook, Tweet, Blog, and get on the City and share what God is up to!!!  I'm looking forward to seeing what God will do when we read His love letter to us, talk with Him and share what God is doing in our lives with someone this week!  It's amazing what can happen when God joins together a community of believers and works in and through them to bring God's light to a neighborhood, community, city, a nation and the world.  The light that shines the farthest shines the brightest at home.

Prayer:  Lord let your word come alive in our lives and the lives of those around us.


"And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47 NLT)

-Pastor Andy

 11 Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die;save them as they stagger to their death.12 Don’t excuse yourself by saying, “Look, we didn’t know.”For God understands all hearts, and he sees you.  He who guards your soul knows you knew (Proverbs 24:11,12 NLT).  


I love to read novels by John Grisham.  Recently I read "The Confession" which is about a man who walks into the office of a pastor and confesses to a grisly murder and tells the pastor that another man is about to be wrongly executed for the crime that he committed.  The pastor has a choice.  He either gets involved and tries to stop the execution or he looks the other way and does nothing.  It is a very compelling story and there are many twists and turns but the Big Picture is what this pastor does.  He violates the murderers parole and goes on a journey that will change his life forever.


As I read Proverbs this morning that novel came to my mind.  I thought about what would have happened if the Pastor walked away from the situation and didn't act.  In verse 12 of Chapter 24 in Proverbs it says that the people say, "we didn't know".  But the Lord who guards your soul knows you knew.  


As I searched my heart this morning I thought of a young man that came to me for help.  He needed something.  I was busy getting ready for a meeting and almost said, please come back later but God prompted me to listen to his story.  As I did my heart was compeled to act.  After the service I shared with him from what we had.  I listened to God's prompting.  As you go about your day today ask God to open your eyes.  Each of us are leaving a legacy.  What is the legacy that you are leaving?


“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ (Matthew 25:40).

Good Tuesday Morning to You!

This is day 9 for me in the 30 day challenge and I am amazed at how God is using the Holy Spirit to bring understanding as I read.  It does come alive!  I am finding that the Words on the page that I am reading really are applying to the situations I have encountered in the past few days.  

Today I read in Isaiah that God's arm is not too short and his hearing is good so when we cry out to him he will hear us.  Then I turned to Philippians and it says,  "And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns" (Phil. 1:6 NLT).

This pursuit of God is a daily routine, but don't let it become routine!  Ask God to bring the Word that you read alive today!   Embrace it, Obey it, and let it change you into the person God has designed you to be.

"The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet; it runs after me; it has hands; it lays hold of me." 

-Martin Luther

It's the end of the first week of the 30 day challenge and already I am seeing how it has revolutionized my prayer time and time in the Word.  My outlook towards those around me have changed dramatically.

True story:  So, I am getting towards the end of my week and I am really praying to ask God to show me who to share my faith with this week.  If anyone knew what was going on in my brain while going about my day they probably would have thought I was a bit crazy.  I would look at people and literally ask God is this the one I am supposed to share with!  I got home from a particularly crazy day of substitute teaching and God was speaking to me to pray specifically.  So I prayed a quick prayer that God would lead me to someone to help along their discipleship journey with Christ.  As I did that I found myself in a conversation with an old friend that had moved out of the area and moved back recently.  My friend told me that reconnecting with God was hard and that he was fearful because he had walked away from God.  I shared with him that God's arms are always open and that He always welcomes us back.  We started talking and in that process God gave me some things for him to do to reconnect.

As I finished that conversation I walked away with such an amazing feeling of joy!  There is nothing like asking God to use you and then having the Holy Spirit present the situation in such a simple amazing way.

Prayer:  Thanks God for using this 30 day challenge to help me to think of others before myself.  Help me to be led by your Spirit every day and lead people into relationship with you. 

This morning God showed me during my prayer time that I need to pray specifically.  I need to let him know exactly what my needs are and ask others to pray along with me.  Yesterday, I shared this with accountability partner and he prayed for something that I shared with him.  This morning without going into detail, God answered that prayer!  It's amazing to see how God wants to interact with our everyday lives.  He cares about even the smallest details of our lives. 

http://bible.us/Ps17.7.NIV

“I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you what is good for you
and leads you along the paths you should follow. (Isaiah 48:17 NLT). 

I read this scripture in Isaiah and believe it is for you.  This morning I am believing that God is the one that teaches us what is good and that He will lead us where we should go.  Simple, but true.  He is a faithful God, and He shows us His faithfulness to us over and over in His word.  

Prayer:  Father I pray that you would show us your path and make it clear to us.  I pray that you would reveal yourself through scripture and that through your Holy Spirit you would reveal to us your perfect plan for our lives.

• Read in the Word 30 minutes a day.
• Pray 30 minutes a day
• Journal: Write down what God shows you in your prayer and reading time
• Share Christ with one person each week
• Hold another person accountable to these things on a daily basis.

My blog for the next thirty days is to chronicle this challenge.  I want to share with you the effects of this discipline and hopefully you will be encouraged to go deeper in your relationship with God.

October 3

This morning I woke up and walked across the hallway to the office and opened my laptop and turned to http://www.youversion.com  (The Bible).  I turned to the one year Bible devotional and read Isaiah 44:3 http://bible.us/Isa44.3.NLT which says, 3 For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields.  And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children.  Now when I woke up this morning I was thinking and praying because one of the comments that someone in our church made to me was that he was feeling dry spiritually.  I immediately emailed him this scripture and thought how cool it was that in less than two minutes of devotional and prayer time that God opened my eyes to see how this scripture could speak life to someone who was asking God to quench their spiritual thirst.  


Prayer: Father I pray that you would quench our thirst every time we sit down and pray and read your Word.  Thank you that it's life to those who listen and most importantly, help us to apply it to our daily lives.