Leaving the world a better place

Have you ever been in a situation where you were it group and you had to add a new person, that person came in caused a ruckus and left the group all together and when they left, the group was way worse than when they Joined. Man is that frustrating! It is very rare in our world that someone leaves a situation better than when they got it. Everyone who has ever rented a car knows what I mean, you know who you are, you get your ford festiva and pretend it is a off road rock crawler, you feel like its no big deal when you got your car it was clean and had good alignment, and you returned it with a new mud paint job and a wobbly suspension. Have you looked at your life and thought about how you are living it and will that life make this world better after you've gone or will no one even remember it, or even more important will they remember it for the wrong reasons. When Paul was talking to Timothy he was confident in the life he lived, he said I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I am ready to meet my maker. In a sense, I have left this world much better than I received it. I hope that the series we have been covering has helped you realize that we only have one dash between the day we are born and the day we die, it is usually shorter than expected and only you get to choose how to live it out. I hope this series hasn't been a series about dying for you but one that has inspired you to live fully. Part of living fully is to know our days are numbered, and that we need to live the out with passion, to love completely, to learn humbly, and to leave boldly. In your journey through this life what legacy are you leaving along the way? What are you teaching your children? Are you taking serious the call to make disciples, are you being a good mentor to others? Are you going to be remembered more than just for being a good person? Are you living so fully for Christ that others can't deny your faith? You can't change your past but you can spend more time in your present making each day the best you can so that your future will be stamped and sealed, a future that was promised to us, a future living in Glory with God our father. As the song says, "this is your life are you who you want to be." Well..... Are ya, are you who you want to be, are you who you want to be remembered as, are you who God made you to be, are you timid, weak in heart, ashamed? If so then you need to wake up o sleeper and rise from the dead so Christ may shine on you, because Christ didn't give you a spirit of timidity but of power, discipline, and self control. Lets get out there and leave this world better than when we entered it, leaving an amazing legacy for Christ!

Leaving Boldly

We have reached the end of the series of 30 days to live, it is interesting where we have gone, we have learned that we have a dash between the day we are born and the day we die, we only get one and it is usually a lot shorter than we expect it to be. W have learned that to live a life with no regrets we should allow The Lord to teach us to live with passion, to love completely, to learn humbly, and ultimately to leave boldly. The apostle Paul talked to Timothy about his days coming to an end, that he had fought the good fight and he had finished the race, he stood upon the goal of leaving a legacy that would out live him. He was investing into something that was bigger than him. There was a professor that did research based on people that were over a 100 years old and they asked them if they could go back in there life would they change anything. There were 3 things that stood out the first response was I would take more risks, the 2nd wash would live with more purpose, the 3rd stood out the most, they said I would spend more time investing it things that would out live me. I would invest my energy, time, money, talents etc... Into things that had legs as they used to say in the news paper. To me that sounds like leaving a legacy. What are you doing now, what are you investing your time in now, are your investments currently building sand castles or are they building foundations that are solid that generations behind you can take and start to carry out, continuing the legacy. Wouldn't you want to invest into things that will out last you, the biggest legacy you could leave with anyone and will out last anything is the foundation of Christ, that foundation is based on love, forgiveness, grace, and everlasting life in heaven. Gd is good and his love endures forever! For more on leaving boldly joins on Sunday for more info on times and locations, elkgrovechurchofchrist.org

Learning Humbly (are you willing to Learn)

As we start to finish up on our series of 30 days to live we have reached a part that is pretty difficult. Which is being a humble learner. I am going to give the tease version and hope that you tune into church on Sunday at 10am for more on this but as I was studying for this my heart started to weigh on me. Long story short there is something that gets in the way of us learning and being humble learners; that something is pride. Pride doesn't allow us to be good listeners and in turn when we do not listen we have a hard time hearing what God is trying to teach us. When Cain was angry that God found favor in Abel instead of him, God tried to teach him something but pride plugged his ears. God was teaching Cain that if you do what I ask you will be blessed but if you do not sin is knocking at your door and you must conquer it. We find out later Cain didn't conquer it instead he felt killing his brother was a better solution. There are so many times in our lives that sin is knocking at our door and instead of listening for gods guidance and learning through the struggle we play def to it and act as if it doesn't exist. When we do this I often call us appearance managers. An Appearance manager will do whatever he has to do to let people think he has it figured out where in fact we don't. Appearance managers are people that get frustrated and ticked off when things are said about them that aren't glowing remarks, A.M's are people that get upset when others around them get promotions instead of them, A.M's are people that when things start to unravel in their lives they blame others and circumstances first... Is this hitting home? Well it did for me, I have a huge issue and I will give full discloser here sometimes to save face or to avoid conflict I won't tell the truth 100% of the time. I has been eating at me because I have found myself doing it over little nothing situations. Let me tell you there are a lot of regrets here; I got some good news however, I am a person that wants to learn, and learn humbly... I have started truly listening to God to allow him to guide my heart and choices. God is trying to teach me something and for so long pride blocked my ears but I am ready for them to be open so I can truly hear his calling for my life. Your word to know for the day in tapenoprosune I may have spelled that wrong so forgive me... It is the Greek word that means push down oh your gut when translated directly. It also means, the having a humble opinion of one's self a deep sense of one's (moral) littleness modesty, humility, lowliness of mind. God is saying when your sinful gut desires approach you push them down and come before him with a humility, understanding that you do not know everything and believe it or not God knows you better than you do and he wants to prosper you. Take time today to be still and know that He is God, and he is trying to teach you something today, are you listening and are you ready and willing to learn.

May God bless you, if you need prayers or have something on your heart you want to share, leave a comment or email me, ghavinn.crutcher@elkgrovechurchofchrist.org we would love to be apart of your lives and have a great family that will support you, come visit it us elkgrovechurchofchrist.org

The Mountain of Resentment

Another teaser for this sundays sermon on "No Regrets: Loving completely" we are going to be talking about love with the metaphor of being like a mountain. There is a point toward the top of Mount Everest that is called the dead zone, it is called the dead zone because at that high of altitude there is not enough oxygen to sustain life, and it is an awful and slow way to die. When we are learning to love completely and we are loving people regardlessly of how they perform, and loving people that may not deserve it we have to learn how to forgive. it is like looking at a mountain that is impossible to climb because it is a mountain full of resentment, a mountain full of hurt, full of disappointment, and it sucks the life right out of us. Maybe you have found yourself saying but he lied to me, or she wasn't faithful, or he took my heart and crushed it. Maybe today is the day that you decide in order for me to truly live a life that is full and has no regrets, I need to forgive those that hurt me, to forgive those that have taken advantage of me, because in doing so you are allowing yourself to finally heal.

For more on how this all wraps up join us sunday, there is a hint here, we will never understand the power of forgiveness until we can see for ourselves the depth and height of God's forgiveness for us.

jon us sunday at 10 am Elk Grove Church of Christ

www.elkgrovechurchofchrist.orrg for more details

Love completely!

A we continue with our series discussing 1 month to live and we are reaching the time were we say, "if you want to live with no regrets we need to learn completely." I think that it is great that we are. Smack dab in the middle of the series and we are talking about love. I think it is interesting because I believe that that's how God wants our lives to be also right in the heart of us we are guided by love . I Love how the message puts 1 john 4:8 "The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love."

If we are choosing to live a life that is void of love because of whatever reason you want to choose we are in turn choosing to be void of God, because God is love. The teaser to our sermon this week if you want to join us is this, if you are putting off the need to forgive someone because you are waiting for them to talk to you first, that is not living a life with the mindset of numbering our days so we can gain wisdom. Or how someone else put it start counting down your days so we can make our days count. Learning to live with no regrets is to lean on the model of God which is love unconditionally. Part of learning to do this is the willingness to forgive, and to be forgiven. Spend sometime tonight making that phone call you should make to build a bridge, or hug someone that needs your encouragement, have someone over for dinner, share some kind words, invest in the people around you, and pray. Remember 1 Peter 4 when it says "The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay." (1 Peter 4:7-9 NLT)

Lets start building a community of love where so we will leave this world when it is our time with no regrets!

If you have questions or thoughts leave comments, if you want to hear more join us Sunday 10a Elk Grove church of Christ

What are you doing with your life

There is a song by switchfoot that has the lines "this is your life are you who you want to be, this is your life are you everything you dreamed that you would be when the world was younger and you have everything to lose." So listening to this song especially during our one month to live series and talking about living with no regrets, have you asked yourself this question lately, this is your life are you who you want to be? You only get one dash that is between the dates of birth and death are you living the way you Invisioned? If not what is stopping you. Are you getting rundown by the mundane activities of life that you are neglecting the important parts. Are you so wrapped up in routine that you forget to give hugs to your kids, kisses to your spouse, words of encouragement to your neighbors, time and attention in church, dedication to reading the bible and praying to god for comfort and thanksgiving, as the quote goes, "death is the only common denominator, everyone dies but not everyone lives." Are you spending more of your time on this earth living and living with purpose or are you just merely existing? I hope that you decide that your life has the opportunity to make such beautiful music and that you can let the world hear it, that your lives are so full of love that people want to know what it is within you that. Is so full of life and compassion for others. Take time to dream big today not about what you will do tomorrow or years from now but what you can start doing today. Today is the day we make changes, today is the day we start loving more, today is the day we choose to forgive more, today is the day we start to say this is my live and I am who I want to be, today I am truly living and ready to be regret free.

May god bless you and make his dwelling place with in your heart

Late night random thought

I'm sitting here awake at 4:30am thinking to myself, I wonder how many people in my world ( my community) are living not knowing of a God that wants to bless them and prosper them. Jesus says in John chapter 10 that he came and died that we my have a life and live it to the full. Another translation says me came so we could have a more, and better life, better than we could even dream of. Take time to dream of your life, the best you could make it, now understand that that dream is nothing to the life God has planned for you. If you are tired of living an empty life one that you may feel is full of regrets why not take a chance on a savior that took the ultimate chance on you, he took the cross on without complaining because of his passion for you. Passion the root for this word means to suffer and Christ showed that his passion was the price for your life and he was willing to suffer for you, his loved creation. It is my prayer that my life be filled with the same passion, that my life will be driven by the cross like Christ's was, so that through me many people may find their way to Him. I hope you find the same passion too, may The Lord bless you this week, and may you love the ones around you and start living as if tomorrow wasn't guaranteed because then you will gain a heart of wisdom. "Teach us to number our days, so we may gain a heart of wisdom" Psalm 90:12

Live your life with PASSION!

When we think about living passionately I like this version of mark 12:29-31

Jesus said, "The first in importance is, 'Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.' And here is the second: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment that ranks with these." (Mark 12:29-31 MSG)

Love your God with all your PASSION. live your life passionately, have you noticed we are passionate about negative things and are not so passionate about what matters. We find ourselves jumping on someone over minor things but when we see our kids and spouse we ho hum it and dont show it the importance it deserves. Lets live out our week with one word in mind Passion! And have passion for things that matter. Like telling your wife in the morning "I love you" with all your heart, or giving your kids the time they need. Live your live with passion like Jesus did. In John chapter 13 Jesus washes his disciples feet, his passion to love and served came from what he KNEW FROM HIS FATHER. For more about living with passion come join us Sunday at Elk Grove Church of Christ at 10am. check out our website www.elkgrovechurchofchrist.org for more details.

Live out your days well

As we continue to discuss how our lives would change if we thought our days were up I want to draw some inspiration from the bible:

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV)"

The good news is on earth we are temporary but we serve a God that is eternal and promises us eternity with him. I too want to encourage you like Paul did here in this scripture to allow God to strengthen you and for you to live knowing that the love of God is at work within you, allow that love to shine out and bless others.

As part of my list I wrote on Sunday to start living out, I chose to spend more time loving on my kids, playing and singing with them, showing patience and love. I want them to know how much their daddy loves them. I also spent time doing dishes with my oldest because our dish washer is on the fritz, and this gave us the opportunity not only to work together but for me to instill in Micah that hard work is not a bad thing and that it can be fun. Please send stories so I can hear how you are living out your 30 days.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

God bless you and give you a great day

30 days to live

This Sunday we started a series on living with no regrets, how would you live if you only had one month to live? Our memory verse for the day was psalm 90:12 "Help us to number our days aright, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Wen we acknowledge that our days are numbered and that we are not guaranteed tomorrow maybe we will start living in a way were the little things that used to bother us wouldn't bother us anymore. Maybe if we starts to live like we were dying we would invest in more important things like loving the ones around us more. Hugging our children more. Appreciating our spouses more. Making a better effort to grow our relationship with God more. Lets no longer put things on our bucket lists to do but instead let's start moving towards the list, lets live our lives to the fullest. So what I am going to ask you all to do that read this is maybe start putting stories of how you are living out your next 30 days, how are you going to live they out like they may be your last. And also I would ask you to check in here periodically because I will b posting more scriptures we will be using throughout our series. May god bless you and shine his face upon you and give you peace, lets start living this new year I n a way that will bring joy to the world around us a joy that only comes from above. God bless you live your life out loud and make beautiful music with it.