Great Day

Now THAT'S what it's all about! Today was a great day all the way around.

This morning we were set up and finished sound check by 9:10 a.m. which is fantabulous for us. We normally aren't finished sound check until 9:45a.m. for a 10a.m. service. Today was fantastic. Our crowd was up today with somewhere around 20 new guests today. Awesome! The signs we put out last week paid off for several families as well as just 'God Visits' where people randomly did searches online.

The message was right on today. I came out to Jane's Addiction "Been Caught Stealing" and talked about getting locked up for stealing when I was a kid. I then transitioned into the "Farting Preacher" clip. The crowd loved it. I used it to talk about how Authority figures used to get respect but today people in authority are mocked left and right. (see there... it had a purpose)

The message was on the authority of Christ and spoke to the fact that without the Resurrection, Jesus' authority on life is pretty much worthless. The very reason we can talk about his authority on everything else is because of his resurrection. We spent time mostly in Matthew 5 and then John 2:18-22.

I had some balloons on stage tapped to the inside of a big trashcan. The four balloons the audience could see the whole service were "Health", "Testimony", "Relationships" and "Morality". As we walked through passages where Jesus referenced these things and spoke with authority about them, I popped a balloon with a switchblade I had in my pocket. (I pulled the knife out and opened it first). So we got to where we heard what Jesus had to say about these things and I simply kept saying "but without authority we can discredit this". On the inside of the trashcan I had 4 helium filled balloons tapped to the inside on ribbon that had the following words: "Healty Life", "Salvation", "Unity" and "Unselfishness". I first read John 2:18-22 and spoke about how Jesus DOES HAVE AUTHORITY to speak on all of life because of his resurrection. I then went back and talked about how each of these things ties back in. Now... with authority through the resurrection, these teachings can also be resurrected... I then allowed the audience to see the full balloons represneting what Jesus' teaching could bring to our lives.

This message was one that my friend John Smith and I worked on this week together as we both had "buffer Sundays" between message series. He did a similar version.

Well, three people accepted Christ for the first time today. I'm pumped.