Now Entering the Twitter World

Good morning to all!

This weekend I finally gave in to opening a twitter account. Pretty fun so far! If you would like to check it out...go to twitter.com...my screename is revkevq. It is neat way to keep up with folks and a cool way for me to communicate instantly with a lot of folks at the same time. If you are have an account, let me know and I will follow you as well.

Have a great week and look forward to tweeting with you!!!!

Yield

Yield means to slow down or give in to. Most of us struggle with the "giving in" part in our lives. Many of us wrestle with yielding everyday and don't even realize it. When is the last time you put your spouse first and yielded to what they wanted. For others, it is simply releasing control or power.

Spiritually speaking, yielding to God is something He calls His followers to do. Yet, we yield what it is easy and hold on to what we choose too. The Holy Spirit is central in this process. As Christ followers - we live with God inside of us every minute of every day. However, the reality of God living inside of us seems to be having very little impact on our lives as fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, and so on. What about witnessing to others and other commands of God we choose to omit from our lives too?

There is no doubt many of us who call ourselves "Christ-followers" who need to re-evaluate our spirit of yielding to God. We need to draw upon the power of the Holy Spirit inside of us to follow His guidance for our lives. May we push the spiritual brakes in our lives and slow down and listen to the still, small voice of God and yield to Him.

Next time you see a "yield" sign in the car, may we be reminded of what God call us all to do every day - Yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit!

Lost - Wrapping up the Loose Ends

This week began with the series conclusion of the tv show, "Lost". After six seasons of confusion, the show kind of ended the same way - lots of questions. I wasn't really disappointed in the end, but kind of wanted more. The show certainly was very entertaining, but the spiritual indicators were lacking.

Hollywood is filled with this non-offensive tolerance (except toward Christianity) when it comes to religion and God. Thus this show ends with most of the cast walking off into the light together. Stop the film!!! Come on now - let's get back to reality. The light!!! Give me a break!

Let me assure what the Bible says, (John 14:6) "Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me." In the show, Jack was a good guy who did a lot of good things - but we must remember that good is not good enough. A relationship with Jesus is what determines our eternal destiny.

We must be reminded that our view of God can be influenced negatively from Hollywood, books we read, and other things if we are not careful and stay grounded in His Word - the Bible! Don't forget we wrap our "Lost" series this weekend at South Pointe with a final look at Jonah's life. Hope to see all of you there!
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

"Do Something"

As a pastor, I often struggle with how some people within churches do nothing to serve the Lord. You know the old saying, 20% of the people do 80% of the work. For years I believed that was a myth, but it seems to be close in accuracy.

The Parable of the talents in Matthew 25 makes a good case for why it important to utilize our gifts instead of burying them. Certainly, this text can be viewed from a financial basis, but I also see the truth of it from a point of spiritual giftedness. We know from the Bible, that as a Christ-follower we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We are also gifted after we are saved! The question is, what do most of us do with our spiritual gift?

Churches certainly provide ministry opportunities that make it easy for us to serve and use our spiritual gifts, but it is not the only place -(remember we are the church - it is not a building) to use your gift. This may go against popular pastor opinion, but God can use you outside the church atmosphere to serve and grow the Kingdom! Yes- it is true! However, for most of us that is not the issue - it is simply doing something at all.

For those who attend South Pointe or any church? Are you a spectator or contributor? Do you simply receive and not give back? Jesus gave it all for us and we have an obligation to serve Him and use the gifts He has blessed us with. This is not challenge for you to serve out of guilt, but from the stirring of the Holy Spirit in your life.

All of us as Christ-followers have one of two choices to make -

1. Bury our gifts and do nothing

or

2. DO SOMETHING!!! for the kingdom!

What do you choose?

The First 100

Have you ever done something crazy? Last week, I jumped out of the comfort zone and it was a blast. A new Chick-fil-a opened near my house and they were having a "First 100" promotion giving away free chicken for a year. I called my brother-in-law, Todd who lives in Spartanburg to come join me on my quest. Here are the rules - Chick-fil-a selects 100 people that have to stay on property for 24 hours before it has its grand opening. If you do that, you win. The catch was this - 170 people showed up at 6:00 a.m. to win. Therefore, the dreaded lottery was put in place and 100 were chosen. Todd was picked #1!!! I couldn't believe it! I was sweating it our for awhile, but was selected #50!!!

Todd brought a tent and sleeping bags and we set up camp in the parking lot. It was an absolute blast! They fed us free Chick-fil-a all day. We played all kinds of games - Check out this link for a suprise video of one game I participated in.

http://monroescoop.com/new-chick-fil-a-in-wesley-chapel-offers-free-food-for-a-year-contest-video-highlights/

It was a rough night trying to sleep. Temp was 46 degrees and it was a little noisy, but we survived. We got up at 5:15 a.m. lined up and walked in to the store around 6:15 a.m. to the sounds of pots and pans and cheers as we received our 52 coupons for a #1 combo valued at $310.00. It was a great time and something Todd and I will never forget especially as we eat 52 sandwiches for free this year.

Check out the victory pics to the right -

Chase for the "bat"

As most of you know, I love baseball! Always have! I loved playing as a kid and even love playing softball as an adult. I am also a big yankees fan! In the year 2000, I was introduced to this game called fantasy baseball. It was a little difficult to understand how it worked, but I once I got started I loved it.

There were 9 other college buddies that started this league that we call, "The Fellas". Five of the guys ended up being pastors and a great competition began. We called it the chase for the bat. The winner of the league gets to keep the bat for an entire year. One of the neat things about the league is the way it helps keep all 10 guys in contact with each other for almost 6 solid months. There is a lot of junk talk, trades, and much more as we have a blast keeping up with our players.

Needless to say, the bat is back home this year safely in North Carolina. I had a great team last year and won it all and I hope I can defend my title. The 2009 championship was my 4th title since we started in 2000.

So here's to my boys; the Fellas - Meetze, Mac, Ruppe, Big Daddy, Rice, Perrin, Bridges, Breshears, Priddy! I love you, but I can't wait to beat you this year for title #5! Go yankees!

How bout the ACC? Yeah - Right!!

As a diehard tarheel fan, last night was a big bummer. As much as I love UNC, I can not stand Duke. And that really is the way it should be, I would expect nothing less from my fellow Blue Devil comrades. Flashback one year ago - The Heels were cutting down the nets in Detroit - and now this year has the "Dookies" doing the same. Sounds like a bad dream doesn't it? As tough as this year was for the heels, the only thing worse that could have happened was the "dookies" winning it all.

Oh well! Go ACC! Sorry - I can't go there. Partly to blame is the NCAA committee (my fingers shutter at the word - from previous churches) basically giving Duke the easiest path to get there and then the other giants falling around them. I tell you what; if that last three from Butler had done down, I think I would have run around the house like a kid at Christmas. No what if's though...Duke is the champion and the biggest rivalry in college sports gets a little more blood to add to the mix.

Congrats...sorta! Can't wait for football season - somehow I don't see many dookies saying the same thing!! :)