Do you have goals for the summer?

Are they specific?

Can they be measured?

If not, they probably won’t happen.  I’m not trying to kill your goal, but if your goal is to excercise more then you might do that.  But if your goal is to work out 3x a week you can measure that, you can tell if you are obtaining your goal.

The same is true spiritually. If your goal is to grow spiritually that’s a great goal, but really hard to measure.  But what if your goal is to read your bible 3x a week or pray for specific people/things each day- then you can measure. Sharing your faith is a great thing, but if you say you want to talk about your faith to one person a week then you know if you met your goal.

So go for it- set a goal.  Stretch yourself. Trust that God has great plans for you this summer.

Our adrenaline makes our heart beat a bit faster when we hear those words- All In.  We get excited, our nerves are on edge, we sit on the edge of our seat- just waiting… I think there is something in all of us that wants to be the guy or girl who is “All In.” We repsect their courage and the fact that they are willing to hold nothing back.

Some people might look at going “all in”, not as courageous but as foolish, and to some extent they are right.  You can’t go “all in” and then ask for some back.  You can’t go “all in” and say “nevermind.”

So what about in following Christ, are you at the point to say, “I’m all in!” Of course we quickly jump to say, “Yes!” But really? 

Are you still holding on to some chips?

Do you still have an insurance pile? 

Are you waiting for someone else to go all in first?

Is there part of you that is just not sure if you can really trust Christ with EVERYTHING?

The final three weeks of the semester we are going to finish up with this question- What would my life look like if I held nothing back from Christ? My time….my money…my relationships…my heart…my dreams…my faith….all of it- All In.

Sunday Nights @ 7pm

We started the discussion last night with this thought, “God is teaching me….” So it doesn’t matter whether or not you went to passion- What is God teaching you? When’s the last time you shared with someone what God was teaching you? Are you confident in the power of what God is doing in your life?

You should be…because you’ve got Christ in you.  Your story is powerful.  Your story can change the people around you.  Your story is part of HIS story.

So tell your story this week.  Don’t talk about the stuff, talk about what Christ is teaching you.  Tell your story.

Many people say- i just can’t memorize scripture- but they have the top 20 songs memorized and the dance to go along, every sports stat is locked in their brain, celebrity gossip rolls off of their tongue like it’s nothing, and they can tell you all the characters on one tree hill.  So you CAN’T memorize, or you don’t want to memorize? The truth is that for many of us, we are not convinced we need to have scripture memorized. We go to three services a week, two small groups, got the latest cd, subscribe to 14 podcasts, and we have a new book.  So we convince ourselves we have “enough”.

So as we get started- what’s tattooed on your mind? Ask God to begin “taking off the old” so we can begin to “put on the new” this week.

We are starting a new series this weekend: Tattoo- do not be conformed…be transformed.

What would it look like for scripture to be tattooed upon your heart? What if your mind was filled with scripture? How do we remove the images, words, thoughts, etc…that are already ingrained in our thinking? Paul tells us- if you want to be different, renew your mind! So how do we do that?

Tattoo: A new series- 7pm Greenbrier Ridge Apartments. 

 http://www.bonothoe.blogspot.com/ 

This weekend we are back to CollegeLife as normal. After a phenomenal Superbowl party, we will resume CollegeLife at Greenbrier at 7pm. It should be a great two weeks as we are led by two of our very own- Tim and Matt, I’m really excited about it.

Also don’t forget that there are only 2 weeks left to sign up for the retreat so turn in your $$ asap.

see you this weekend.

February 22-24th!  Sign ups have begun, so you won’t be the first to sign up, but you definitely don’t want to be the last! It’s going to be a great weekend to get away and think, pray, worship, laugh and grow HARD! $65 dollars gets you in the door! But if money is a problem let us know and it won’t be anymore.

Email jneely@fefc.com if you have any questions. You can get a sign up sheet from him at church on Sundays or at Crossroad.  The dealine is Feb. 17th.