If you haven’t heard, over the next 21 days we are challenging everyone connected with our church to begin a time of serious self-examination as Good Friday and Easter approach.

Our prayer is that you would read a chapter of John each day for the next 21 days, read the corresponding devotional on our southsidereflections.com, and respond with your thoughts on what you just read.

We would love for you to check out this new blog every day for the next 21 days!

A few things I saw/heard this morning:

·         Had an amazing weekend at Southside with our Men’s Conference, then of course this morning.

·         Big thanks to Matt for posting conference notes on the blog.

·          This Sunday was the first time in my ministry career that I have ever handed out little brown bags with the bulletin…got some interesting comments… “Is the service going to make me sick? etc…” - no shortage of comedians in Warner Robins.

·         We announced our Easter service times: Saturday 6pm, Sunday 9am & 10:45am.

·         I had a visiting pastor tell me this weekend “This is the most amazing church I’ve ever been to”….I told him he needs to get out more J…he then looked me in the eye and said “I’m serious, you guys have changed the way I do ministry and I love you for that” – how awesome to be able to minister in a place that is being a blessing to others.

·         An ongoing debate in the church world has to do with a non-believer playing in a worship band at church.  Most churches hold to the theory of NO – because they are “worshippers” on stage and represent your church.  You can’t have a lost people participle in worship.  Well, our worship leader Mark had a lost friend that was highly talented in music.  Mark had a spot open in his band, so he asked him to play.  So, a lost 23-year-old was playing in a worship band at Southside.  After a few intentional conversations and lots of people caring about him, he became a Christ-Follower this past week.  It’s funny how “perceived standards” are totally washed away when eternity is on the line….welcome to the family Josh!

·         Amber rocked the house this morning with a song called “Hosanna.” 

·         A few sermon points from one of our favorite missionaries, Jim Horn:

o   Christianity is summed up in one word – Sacrifice.

o   The need for sacrifice makes us confront our limitations to see His possibilities.

o   Sacrifice identifies us with Jesus.

o   Sacrifice for the advancement of God’s kingdom leads to multiplied blessings.

·         Start tomorrow reading your church devotional online www.southsidereflections.com

·         FYI – Jars of Clay tickets are going REALLY fast…don’t be left out.

Pastor Johnny started off this morning talking about money and greed. Here are a few of the thoughts he shared:

• “We don’t need more possessions, but less desires.”
• “If God really needed to get our attention, he would probably hit us in our pocketbooks.”
• “To be focused on temporal riches is to miss out on eternal blessings.”
• “Cultivate a thankful heart and distinguish wants from needs.”
• “Spend less than you make and give more to the Lord.”
• “It’s easy to give God the credit, but difficult to give God the cash.”
• “Any of you that have more than you need to live on is rich.”
• “The only antidote to materialism is generous giving.”
• “Tithing is ‘training wheels’ giving.”
• “Use your resources to meet the needs of others.”

This weekend, we are privileged to have Dr. Johnny Hunt be with us to speak to our men (and some men from all over Georgia, as well as several churches from Florida as well).  He is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia

He’s spending all night tonight and tomorrow morning talking about the three main struggles men face: money, sex, and pride, and he spent tonight talking about sex and lust.

Anyway, I thought that some of you ladies might want a little insight into what Pastor Johnny shared with your husbands, so here are some of the takeaways I wrote down from this evening.

• “Lust is when I must have something at once.”
• “Have sex with your own wife!”
• “Be intoxicated with your wife.”
• “All of us have the potential to be seduced.”
• “We cannot allow anything to serve as a substitute for what God expects us to find in our wives.”
• “Can you honestly say that your best friend is your wife?”
• “God created sex for our enjoyment.”
• “Providing for you wife doesn’t mean you just give your wife a place to stay!”
• “You can be totally forgiven and still suffer from the consequences of your sin.”
• “What will you be robbed of if you give into sexual temptation?”

I played a lot of sports as a kid and one phrase that I constantly remember hearing my different coaches say was, “Take one for the team.”

I especially remember this phrase being thrown around during baseball season. My coaches constantly encouraged me and my fellow teammates to “take one for the the team!”

Sometimes it meant staying in front of a hard grounder on defense. Sometimes it meant bunting when you wanted to swing for the fence. Sometimes it meant getting hit by a pitch when you wanted to get out of the way. Regardless, when all my years of baseball were said and done, I understood the concept of taking one for the team. I understood that baseball is a team sport and when an individual puts his wants and desires ahead of the team’s, then that hurts the team.

But while I understood the concept then, and understand it even better now that I’m older, I’m surprised to see so many people in the world today who don’t seem able to grasp this concept.

Let me apply it as simply as I can and then I’ll be done. Those of us who are active in local churches have to make sure that we take one for the team. We have to make sure that our plans and our agendas and the programs we love and the Bible studies we want to do, don’t get in the way of what God wants to do in our churches. We may even have to do something we don’t want to do for the sake of the rest of the team. I never wanted to get hit by a pitch or take a grounder to the chin, but I did both on multiple occasions because I loved my team and I wanted to win.

Anyway, don’t talk about your coach. Don’t bad mouth your teammates. Just take one for the team.

I might get one of these sweaters.

Actually, there is no way I would ever wear something like this!  Would you?