- I love the book of James! It’s straight forward, practical, brutally honest and undeniably beneficial for those serious about becoming more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. Christians should have a little more “Moxie” than your average Joe. There should always be something different about the believer that causes others to want to know what makes him tick. We’re calling it “Moxie” and we have four more weeks to grab hold of it at Southbrook Church! Plan on being there for all of them! And bring a friend!
- I know this is long, but I thought it was good—useful to remember when facing trials and storms in life:
STORM WITHOUT WARNING
“Now I love a good storm on the ground but not while flying. Any good Airline Pilot will try to avoid thunderstorms like the plague. The rule is for every 1,000 feet in height the storm cell is that is how far you should avoid the storm. If the tops of the thunderstorm are 40,000 feet then you would avoid the storm by 40 miles. Turbulence can be quite severe outside the storm cell itself for quite a distance. I have not done much boating but I am sure that same fear would come about if you were caught out in the ocean or a large lake in a storm.
“Without Warning” this storm on the lake came up and the disciples were afraid to the point where they though they were gong to drown. All of us have had storm in our lives come without warning. My mom yesterday went to the doctor for a normal checkup and now she has to have 6 spots of skin cancer removed in a couple weeks. A mother and her two young children were coming home in a minivan when they got into an accident. The mothers back was broken and the two young children were taken to go home to be with Jesus.
If things have happened to you “Without Warning” you can start to live your life in fear of when the next event will take place. We are very much like the disciples. The above verse says that the waves “swept over the boat”. This isn’t a 30 foot fiberglass boat but a wooden boat. There are no life preservers and they are in the middle of a large lake. It isn’t like they can go full throttle to outrun the storm. How many times in our lives would we like to run from the storm but we have no power to move. We seem to be still at sea rocked back and forth just keeping our head above water. People ask us to do something but we think in our mind “If they just knew what I was going through”, that I can hardly take care of myself more in less get the job done for someone else. I know you have been there. The key to this life is “How do we become like Jesus” and have the faith to rest in the storm?”
Contributed by
Brad Henry
- The women of Southbrook and their guests were truly blessed by what Lisa Duvall shared this past week at their mini-conference. My own wife, Michelle, couldn’t stop talking about it! Truly blessed.
- We already had more than 600 people in life groups at Southbrook—and that might sound good, but our goal is to have 100 percent of those who call Southbrook home in a Lifegroup. God’s Word clearly teaches that much of the Christian life is to be lived loving and serving “One Another.” In fact, nearly 50 percent of all the Lord asks us to do in the New Testament can’t even be obeyed outside of community—they are ‘one another’ commands—things like, Love one another, serve one another, pray for one another, take care of widows, take care of orphans, be generous to one another (share), clothe those in need, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless. I could go on and on but what to all these have in common? They are all a part of ‘one another!’ If you weren’t with us this weekend and are not in a life group, don’t wait to long to move from Lone Ranger Christianity to biblical community.