Bible

Jesus is our peace

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Just a few days into December and work is exploding. The environment is tense as a major project must go out soon after the beginning of the year. In other words, a typical stressful December here in my office. Knowing that things will get harder before they relax, I find my anxiety kicking in, causing my chest to tighten up. Feels like an elephant has taken up permanent residence on top of my heart. In the midst of fight or flight, God has reminded me of a snippet from Micah I read yesterday.

Micah 5:5A

I want His peace. Peace that surpasses all understanding.

The Bible App (YouVersion) Events – Sermon Notes

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This past week, I plugged my pastor’s sermon notes into The Bible App as an Event. I wanted to see if having the sermon notes (which we already have on the back of our printed bulletins) available via The Bible App, would be helpful to our members.

YouVersion Events - Sermon Notes

Above, you can see what it looks like once you have all of your information plugged in. You can add:

  • A Sermon Series Graphic
  • Church Name
  • Sermon Title
  • Location and Times
  • Sermon Bullet Points + Associated Scripture
  • Links for Giving, etc.

I made sure to tell a few members, before the service, that I had made the sermon notes available via the app. We’ll call this week part of a test run.

YouVersion Events - Sermon Notes

So, I intentionally sat my Bible down and only used my phone during the service. I liked that I could:

  • Take notes by typing
  • Read the corresponding scripture in the same version as the pastor

As someone who does not normally interact with a personal device during the Worship Service, I felt a bit awkward being on my phone though. But looking around the auditorium, I could see many members using their phones/iPads to read the Bible on.

I’m going to keep plugging the sermon notes into the app for the next few weeks. I would like to see what type of feedback I get. If your church is looking for another way to help your members engage, The Bible App – Events, could be a good thing.

Leading Family Worship

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Read a quote this morning that was a bit convicting:

Lead family worship It doesn’t need to be extravagant or long or particularly deep. But it does need to be consistent and it does need to be led by you. Set a time, sing some Psalms, read a Bible passage, ask each kid a question about the passage, and then pray together. Even if this wasn’t the Biblical pattern for Christian families, could you give me a decent argument why it’s a waste of time or unnecessary? – Read more here

Leading family worship has long been a struggle for me. One of those areas where I could easily lay blame on it not being modeled growing up–my parents did the best they could–. But at some point, I’ve learned, one has to forgive their parents and accept responsibility for what one is doing with their own family.

So what am I doing to lead my family spiritually? / How can I take the lead?

How are you leading your family spiritually? / How can you take the lead?

Away from the lights and fellow believers at church, in our homes, how are we leading?

I’m not sure what a family worship time looks like for my family. I can’t imagine us all sitting around singing songs. Sure, we’ve tried a few things in the past. When Wyatt was younger, we’d read Jesus Calling and pray before bed. More recently, we’d sit down and read scripture/pray in the evening. Consistency has always been my enemy. Kind of like with a personal quiet time. An evening would pop up that was out of our regular schedule and the first thing that would end up going were family devotions.

Jon Acuff, in his book Finish, talks about the day after perfect; the day after everything hasn’t gone 100% well. He asks what you will do after that day? Will you accept defeat or continue on?

I know personally that I often complicate things. Simple can be my enemy. And yet simple has to be the starting place for leading family worship. The simple acts of:

  • Taking/scheduling time for the family to sit down
  • Opening the Bible
  • Reading the Bible
  • Discussion
  • Prayer

I know that these are all things that I can do. I simply choose not to make them important nor do them.

It’s time to change that. Let’s consider this the day the family worship vehicle was put into gear.

Zoom, zoom.