…for the rest of us

…if you let it be just about your feelings.

Today was an amazing day at EastLake.  Five people made first-time decisions to follow Jesus.  More stories of hope.  More stories of people taking practical steps to follow God better than before.

We concluded the Don’t Waste Your Life series talking about time and how we divide our loyalties.  Are you cheating your husband, wife, kids or close family and friends out of quality time they need in order to give more loyalty to work or other projects?

Here are some takeaways from today:

• We say “yes” to too much in life, so we end up cheating those closest to us out of quality time.
• When life falls apart, it’s never one singular moment, it’s the result of the process of not taking care of your close relationships.
• There are two versions of “I love you.”  The fake one and the real one.
• FAKE I LOVE YOU:  ”I really only love what I get out of this.  I really only love how I feel around you.  I love what you do for me.
• REAL I LOVE YOU:  ”You are amazing and I love being with you.  So I will commit to serving and investing in you, being attentive to whatever your needs are and constantly do my best to meet them, thinking of you before myself.”
• The fake “I love you” isn’t an “I love you” at all.  It’s really “I love ME.”

Fearless is a word that should not exist.

There is no such person in the world that has never had a fear or never wrestled with some type of fear. Fear of rejection, the future, what people think of you, failure, intimacy, commitment - all of those fears of all shapes and sizes exist in us.

You can’t eliminate fear in your life. It’s not possible.

So we have to learn how to identify and manage our fear before it manages us. That’s what King Jehosophat (what a great name) did. He was Judah’s leader and commander, yet was open about his fear.

Here are some takeaways from yesterday:

• There is no such thing as courage if there isn’t a fear to overcome in the first place.
• Giving into fear results in an array of missed opportunities for a better life.
• Fear is all about us.  Since God shows us life isn’t all about us, fear keeps us self-centered.
• Fear is a self fulfilling prophecy.  Since we concentrate so hard on the fear, we end up making decisions that result in the very fear we’re trying to avoid.
• In the midst of our fear, we first should worship God (give acknowledgement to Him for all the loving, powerful things He is), then thank Him for all He’s done for us, and then be patient in your response after telling Him what your needs are.

A handful of power outages couldn’t stop us.

A huge thank you to all who came and volunteered to set up and tear down on a non-Sunday.  Tonight was phenomenal.  Here is the Worship Night intro video by request: