Go Metrolina

Thank you to all of you joined the Go Metrolina team meeting Sunday night. God is going to do some amazing things through us over the next few weeks.

If you weren’t able to make it, there’s still room for you. If you haven’t yet signed up, go here to let us know some areas you may be willing to serve in.

Stay tuned to gometrolina.org for upcoming details and ways to get involved.

Fireproof

Dear King’s Way Family:

I am preparing for the Fireproof Series. I really want to make this effective and helpful so I am asking you for your input. Here is my question:

What are the challenges that you think need to be addressed in order to fireproof our homes?

I know that each home situation brings its own stress and challenges. This series will seek to be more a “home” series rather than just a “marriage” series. Your home is important to you and to God. We have a very diverse church family. We have all ages and situations. Example: There are singles, marrieds, single parents, blended families, etc. Any ideas you have will be greatly appreciated.

Please email your input to pastor@kwbc.net

Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday,

Pastor Bradley Price

Weekend Recap (April 25-26)

God gave us another amazing weekend!  Praise God for all he continues to do in our church.  If you missed Sunday’s message  “No Deposit, No Return”, or if you just want to hear it or see it again, follow the links below.

• Audio
• Video

Here’s a quick look at the numbers from the weekend:

• Attendance in four worship experiences: 809
• Tithes and Offerings: $27,300.67

Thanks again to Larry Clark for his presentation regarding the new building and the finances of our church.  If you have any questions, make sure you join us this Wednesday night at 7pm for a follow-up from Sunday’s information.

Don’t forget about next week with Jamey Ragle.  Invite your friends now for this incredible services.

Mission to Haiti

Many of you know that we have an orphanage in Haiti that houses 11 children and teenagers.  Over a year ago they started their own church on the orphanage property.  God is truly using them in a powerful way.    This Sunday a group from King’s Way and a group from Brooklyn, New York will be travelling to Haiti to minister at the orphanage and in the community.  Many of you already committed to send items to Haiti for the trip.  If you did, please bring those items to the new Missions House (formerly the Roper house , located right before the church) by Wednesday evening.  The group will be packing in preparations for their trip.  Also, if you have a suitcase or duffle bag you would be able to give to send these doantions, please bring those to the house as well. 

Thank you to all of you have helped make this trip possible.  Please be in prayer that God will use this group to touch the lives of the people of Haiti.  For more information on Project 127-Haiti and the orphanage there in Aquin, Haiti, go to www.project127-haiti.com.

One2One With a Lunatic

Luke 8:26-32 Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes,[a] 27 And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes,[b] nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!” 29 For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. Then the people went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.

I don’t really remember when the demons came. Slowly, at first… then more until I was totally possessed. The terrible things I did to my wife and my children haunt me at night. It was as if I had no control over my mind and my actions. One day I realized that indeed I had no more control at all. My life had been destroyed. My family was gone, my friends were gone, my work was gone. In fact, all I have ever known had been taken away by the demons living in me. My body was covered with cuts and scars and my soul was consumed with evil. My mind was tormented day and night. Every night they tried to tie my hands and feet to protect the people around. I was living in the grave yard. And then …there he was…JESUS! And he was commanding them to come out of me. And to my surprise they were powerless in his presence. He asked me my name and I could not even tell him my name. The demons spoke and said “Legion” which meant many. I think they were trying to intimidate him, But how wrong they were. Immediately I was free! They were gone. My mind was clear, my heart was clean. I wanted clothes on my body and as I sat before him there was peace in my soul.

I wanted to stay with him but he told me to go home and tell my friends all that he had done. As I got to the door of my house, I saw the fear in the eyes of my wife and my children but as soon as I spoke they knew I was different. I was free. What a tearful and joyous reunion we had! With hugs and kisses and tears of joy we bowed to pray and thank the Lord for my encounter with the Savior. What a change he brought to our home!

Prayer: Lord, Let me speak peace to someone in the darkness. Help me to realize that the fearful, hard hearted, mean individual may just need your touch to set them free. Give me a One2One encounter with a desperate person today.

One2One With Love or Legalism

John 8–Then the Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Master, this woman was caught[a] in adultery, in the very act. … Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.[e]…“He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. …He said to her,[h] “Woman, where are those accusers of yours?[i] Has no one condemned you?” 11She said, “No one ,Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and[j] sin no more.”
I was embarrassed, humiliated, angry, hurt and ashamed all at once. We were caught in the very act of committing adultery. I knew it was wrong. We both did. But what happened next was unbelievable. These church people let the man go free and drug me down the street in front of everyone until we came to the crowd who were listening to Jesus teach. It seemed like the whole town was there. They threw me on the ground in the middle of the circle and told Jesus what we had been doing. They did not really care about the adultery but they wanted to test Jesus and just use me to prove their point. After all, the law was more important to them than personal purity. They began to talk about stoning me. I had seen this before. I knew that it was possible that in a few minutes I would be feeling the rocks and condemning words being hurled at me. My clothes and my body were covered with dust. My eyes were filled with tears. My shame was unbearable. I thought, just get it over with and let me die. I will never be able to face anyone again.
And then Jesus stooped down and began to write in the sandy road. All the while the Pharisees were asking him if he believed in the law. But the more he wrote, the quieter they became. I did not see what he wrote but it must have convicted them terribly. Then he said, “He that is without sin go ahead and cast the first stone.” In stunned silence they began to leave–one by one until no one remained. And then he spoke to me and asked, “Is no one left to condemn you?” I said, “no one, Lord.” Then came the life changing words, the restoring words, the cleansing words, the forgiving words…”neither do I condemn you, Go and sin no more.” That was the last time I ever committed adultery. From that day forward, my life was changed. I had found love in the face of legalism, and I was free to serve my Lord.
Prayer: Lord, let me today be your voice of love and restoration. Let me have a One2One encounter with someone who is fallen and needs a lift to Jesus.

One2One With a Little Lad

John 6:9  “There is a lad here …who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”

I was a nameless little boy in a huge crowd. We had all come to see Jesus. He was the miracle worker. Everyone knew about Him. I knew He would never see me. After all there were 5,000 men not counting the women and children. I was just a nameless face in the crowd. Why my mother let me go I don’t really know. Maybe she just wanted me to see this man that everyone was talking about. She cleaned me up, gave me “the speech “ that mothers give and made a lunch for me. When I got there I was a little embarrassed because I was the only one with a lunch. I tucked it away hoping no one would notice.

As Jesus spoke, I soon forgot about everything else. He was touching people and healing them. He was speaking and everyone seemed to understand. In fact, it seemed to me that he was talking just to me. The rest of the big crowd seemed to melt away as if it was just Jesus and me. Never had I felt this way before. The minutes turned to hours and yet it seemed we had just started. And then I noticed one of his disciples looking at me. He went to Jesus and whispered something to him. Now he was coming right to me. Jesus needs my lunch? He wants me to come to him with my lunch? I could not believe it. I was going to get close to Jesus. Sure, he can have my lunch!

Proudly I put my lunch in the hands of Jesus. I thought he might eat it.  He surely must be hungry. But what he did next was beyond my belief and my understanding. He made everyone sit down on the grass. He took my lunch and prayed over it. Then he began to break it into pieces and give it to his disciples. It just kept multiplying. Soon everyone had eaten all they wanted and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls that were left over.

I will never forget that day. It was the greatest day of my life. How can I ever thank the man who brought me to Jesus? He was a grown up and I was a child but that did not seem to make any difference. He knew what Jesus could do with the little lunch I had. All I had to do was give it to him. I was part of a miracle because that man brought me to Jesus.

Do you know a child who needs to know the Lord? Maybe they need a ride to church…or maybe just an invitation. You can have a One2One encounter with a little child and change their life and maybe their home.

Prayer: Lord, let me look around and see the little ones who need you. Only you know what they have and what they need. Give me eyes to see them in a crowd and bring one to you this week.

One2One With a Loved One

 John 1:40-42  “One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). ⁴² And he brought him to Jesus.”

Simon was my older brother. He was the bold one. Outspoken and  always the leader of the pact. We were more than brothers we were also business partners in the fishing business. This was hard and dangerous work. Pulling fishing nets all day and sometimes all night was not easy. We were probably closer than most brothers. I was always known as “Andrew, Simon Peters’ brother”. But that was just fine with me.  We were well known in our town. In fact, my brother Peter would be called by Jesus as one of the three “Sons of Thunder”. I knew he could make things happen.

When I heard John the Baptist introduce Jesus as the Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world, I knew that I had to tell my brother Peter. All our lives we had waited for the Messiah to come. He would be the Savior of the World. Perhaps he would conquer Rome and set us free.  

Peter was eager to come to see this man Jesus. When Jesus saw my brother, he gave him a new name. He called him Cephas which means ‘a Stone.’  Little did I know that my brother would become one of the pillars of the early church and that the Lord would call on him to preach on the Day of Pentecost. I just knew that I wanted my brother to meet Jesus. It is not easy to witness to your own family. But this was just too important to let fear stand in my way. He just had to come to the Savior.

You may have a loved one who needs Jesus. Today is the day to go get them and bring them to meet Him. Andrew was the quiet but powerful brother who won his brother to the Lord.  All he did was to bring him to Jesus and Jesus did the rest. He had a One2One encounter with his loved one and the rest is history.

Prayer: Lord , help me look at those who are closest to me and be a witness to them. Help me to bring them to you. Let me be an Andrew to my family.

One2One With the Lonely

John 4:4-10 …And Jesus must needs go through Samaria.  ⁶Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat  on the well ⁷There came a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus said unto her, Give me a drink.   ⁹Then said the woman unto him, How is it that you, being a Jew, asks drink of me, since I am a woman of Samaria? ¹⁰Jesus answered and said unto her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked  him, and he would have given you living water.

You call me the woman at the well…although that’s like saying the woman at Wal-Mart. We did not have that water coming through a pipe like you do. Back in my day we went to the wells for water, and we might have to make a dozen trips a day. I always preferred Jacob’s well, the one that had been giving water to our people from ancient times.

It was a lonely walk but it was my routine. It was my life. Who could have known that I would meet a man named Jesus at my well? I was not expecting him but he seemed to be expecting me. I could not believe that he spoke to me, talked to me, even wanted to help me. I’m sure that I would have seemed impolite to most people. Jesus didn’t seem to mind. He acted as if I was his main purpose for being there that day.

How did he know that my heart was so thirsty? How could he know how empty I was? But as He spoke to me I realized that he knew me better than I knew myself. He knew my burden of sin, of loneliness, of a broken life and yet he reached out to me. I will never be the same again. He gave to me a drink of Spiritual Water that became like an inner well in me fresh and deep. I just had to share it with all my friends.

All of us are like this woman. All of us have deep needs that no one seems to know about. But Jesus knows and cares.

Today let’s be Jesus to someone. Be on a One2One mission with a lonely heart.

Prayer: Lord, put me on mission today to find someone who is lonely and needs your touch. I can’t change them but you can. Put fresh Spiritual Water in me today so that I can give it out to others.

More Like Jesus

Does the moon know it reflects the sun? Does it have to do anything to capture the sun’s light and throw it our way? Does it work at this? No, it only has to stand in the sun’s light. Most of the time, the moon is just being the moon – a pretty dark, depressing place, actually – a dead place, with no color, no life, and yet from earth at night this desolate rock can be transformed into a source of light that has become a universal symbol of romantic love. Moonlight. We fall in love by it. We rock our babies to sleep in it. We take walks in it. We sing to it and write poems endlessly about its mystical ability to show us the world in a different light.

“But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, then the veil is taken away. Now, the Lord is the spirit, and wherever the spirit of the Lord is, He gives freedom. And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more.” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NLT)

Paul says that our spiritual growth – our becoming like Christ – comes from living an honest, open life with our minds and hearts set on following Christ and doing His will.

When we see the moon, it is because it is out away from the earth’s shadow and in the light of the sun. As we come out from our hidden places and pay attention to Him and take His words to heart, we begin to reflect Christ through our lives. This does not happen through human effort; it happens as we focus our lives on God and His purposes for us.

The moon has no light of its own; It puts itself out in full view of the sun and the sun’s light is reflected to us. In the same way, our life and faith lived in full view of others and of God will begin, through the Spirit of God in us, to reflect more and more of Christ’s character.

We are not trying to create this character – we are not even aware of this change happening to us – we just keep looking to Christ. The more we focus our attention of Him, the more like Him we become.