ToddHendricks.org

A few weeks ago the JTV team went and did a little photo shoot with a friend of Pastor D’Andre’s.  The photo shoot went great and we all had alot of fun.  We just today updated our website pictures which you can check out under the ABOUT US portion of the website.  Here are a few of the pics that unfortunately DID NOT make the cut.  For your viewing pleasure…

This past Sunday, I had a short but great conversation with a young man in our church.  After service he asked me a question that I, and I think every follower of Christ has at some point asked, “Why don’t I feel God anymore?“

It seems that every person experiences this feeling at some point in their walk with Christ.  Many people have incredible moments in their lives when they first experience God and are swept away with His love and grace and their need for Him.  Following this experience is a season of fun, refreshment, excitement, newness – whatever you might call it.  But then something happens…  it’s as if the puppy love effect wears off and something changes.  When we pray, it doesn’t feel the same.  When we worship, there aren’t any more goose bumps.  When we read the Bible, the words aren’t leaping off the pages like they were before.  Why?

Here are 3 basics reasons this happens, then I’ll close on the most important issue we have to come to grips with.

1)  The Enemy Factor

There is no doubt that the moment you became a follower of Christ, you changed teams, you switched sides – and the enemy, Satan, is hacked off about it.  Before, when you were a non-believing heathen with no hope of heaven or purpose for your life, he didn’t care about you.  But all that has changed now and he would like to do nothing more than pulverize you (John 10:10).  One of the mis-perceptions of new believers is that now that you are a Christian, everything will get easier.  That’s not entirely true.  What is true is that there is a demonic force against you – challenging you, fighting you, pressuring you.  But the beauty of Christianity is not that you won’t go through anything bad anymore.  The beauty of Christianity is that no matter what you go through Christ will be with you, even when you can’t feel Him.

2)  The Sin Factor

The sin factor is real and works in a deadly cycle against you.  The cycle is simple:  Sin separates you from God.  Seperation from God makes it easier to sin.  That sin pushes you further from God.

The way to break that sin cycle in your life is to develop a lifestyle of repentance whereby you are confessing sin and moving your life in the opposite direction from it.  This is where life gets real practical.  Sometimes you have to change the company you keep, change the places you go and remove the ungodly influence in your life.

3)  The Parent Factor

This one might be the hardest to understand but I believe is still true.  God is always trying to help us grow and mature in Him.  Like any good parent, He doesn’t want us to settle for somthing less than our best.  Let me explain it like this…  When my son, Peyton, was learning to swim I would have him let go of the wall and swim toward me.  In his fear, he would always want me as close as possible and wouldn’t even let go if I got too far away.  But as soon as he would let go and begin to swim toward me, I would take a step back.  If he was still doing good, I would take another step back.  All to try and build his little muscles and even more build his confidence that he could do it while still staying close enough to cathch him when he neeed me.  Just remember that sometimes when you don’t feel His presence, it is a sign to you that you need to pursue Him all the more.

Closing:

Some of you are reading that quick list and are still wondering when you will feel that closeness with God.  Here is something that you must come to grips with.  God is not a God of feeling, He is a God of Faith.  There are going to be times in your life when all hell is breaking loose in your life and you just don’t know where God is.  That’s OK.  These are the times when you have to trust what He said and continue to follow.  Here are a couple of scriptures to store in your memory bank.

Joshua 1:9

Psalms 139:7-10

This week we kicked off a brand new series entitled CONTROVERSY and in the opening message covered the issue of abortion.  After service, I ended up talking to a very sweet woman from our church and she said that she almost didn’t come because controversial subjects stress her out.  She did say that I did a great job of opening up the scriptures in a very clear but loving way.  At the time I thought that was funny that a person would get stressed out.  But here’s the deal – the more I got to thinking about the message and the next week to come, I started to get stressed.  I started wondering if I had bit off more than I could chew.  I began to wonder, why God put this on my heart?  Couldn’t I get something easier like… 5 Steps to Living in the Blessing or Walking in Victory?  How did I end up with abortion, gay marriage and relativism.  None the less, here we are.  If you missed this past week, go grab the podcast or you can pick up a free CD this Sunday.  Don’t miss this upcoming week as we continue to get CONTROVERSIAL.

Here is a music video based on John Piper’s new book “Don’t Waste Your Life”. I’m not even a big fan of rap music but loved this song. I dig the way Lacrae uses so much scripture in his lyrics. Enjoy.

This past weekend, we kicked off a new series entitled “My Church”.  That afternoon, I was out with some friends and one of them bumped into someone that use to go to our church.  My friend asked how the family was doing and particularly how the mom had been?  And where they were going to church?  The response was interesting.  She said that her mom wasn’t going anywhere right now but that she was “church shopping”.

This phrase is only interesting because it reveals in us a certain mentality.  A consumer mentality.  Just recently I purchased a new vehicle.  So what did we do?  We looked for the vehicle that would give us the most bang for our buck.  We looked for the best deal.  We went where we got the best hook up.  We went with the car that best met our needs.  I was the consumer and I was in control.

Therein lies the problem with being a consumer for churches.  Church is never solely about meeting your needs, hooking you up or you being in control.  It’s actually the opposite.

• Some of your needs can only be met by serving and caring for others

• Jesus said that is was better to give than to receive – so the only bang is going to be giving your bucks to help others

• Pastors are not there to sweeten the deal, they are there to confront you with truth that you may not like

• Some times you’re there to be comforted and sometimes to be  challenged

• You don’t go to church so that you can be in control, you go to church to be submitted under qualified, godly leadership

Church is in many ways the anti consumer model for those who are followers of Christ.  Jesus said more challenging things like…

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. – Matthew 16:24-25

This past week was one of the most practical messages I have ever shared.  And the first on personal finances.  If you missed this last week, here are some of the thoughts I shared.  But whatever you do, do not miss this coming week as we look at Principles 3,4, and 5.  I promise this week will change your financial future.  See you then.

• 90% of marriages that end in divorce before year 7 are money related

• 80% of Americans are stressed because of today’s economy.

• The Bible talks more about money than any other subject.  In the Bible, there are only 500 scriptures concerning prayer, less than 500 on faith.  Over 2,300 scriptures on money and possessions.

• Jesus talks about money and possessions more than He does on Heaven and Hell combined.

• Most of the scriptures in the Bible have more to do with management than with giving.

19″Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.    Matthew 6:19-21

• You can’t stay a follower of Christ and not surrender your view and practice of personal finances

Finance Principle #1 – GET ON A BUDGET

• If you worked for a company called YOU INC.  and you were the head of that corporation, would you fire you?

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. Proverbs 21:5

Finance Principle #2 – ACT YOUR WAGE

In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has. Proverbs 21:20

• If you spend everything you make, the Bible says you are a fool.  You have to live below your means.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:6

• Don’t try to live like your parents when you start out in life.  It took them 30 years to get where they are at.

• The first time Laney threw a temper tantrum was at the mall.  Do you know why?  She couldn’t get a pair of shoes she wanted.  We do the same thing, only in a slightly more sophisticated way – we just put it on a credit card. We correct this behavior in our children but repeat this behavior in a slightly more sophisticated way as adults.

• God wants us to get in on His way of doing things so that He can bless us even more.

What an awesome service this past Sunday.  The ending was the best part as we prayed for people who were dealing with sickness in their body.  I am believing God for some major miracles as I prayed for people with everything from back pain to diseases I’d never even hear of.  If you missed this past week, here are some of the notes.  Don’t forget, you can download or just listen to the messages for free at jubileetrivalley.org.

• In Mark 4, the disciples experience the great white squall as a testing of their faith

• Remember, some of these guys were experienced fisherman who had seen bad storms before, this one was so bad they thought they were going to die.

• Side thought – the way you know whether or not you should be freaked out on an airplane – look at the flight attendants.  If they are freaking out, it’s time to pray.

• Have you ever felt like Jesus was sleeping right in the middle of your crisis?

• Have you ever been through a trial that Jesus led you into?

• In verse 39, Jesus shows them a key to the kingdom.  He doesn’t talk about the storm, He talked to the storm.

• Faith is released by…

(1) The size of the prayers we pray

(2) The actions we take

(3) The words we speak

• The key to Thriving in adverse situations is to put God’s words in your mouth.

Here are some Bible Promises to keep on memory…
Fear – 2 Timothy 1:7
Guilt – 1 John 1:9
God’s Love – Romans 5:8
Provision – Philippians 4:19

DO NOT miss this week as we take a practical look at how to Thrive financially in a down economy.  You are not going to want to miss this one.  See you Sunday!

I am on the internet often. I also love to read the bible. So when I discovered something that not just combined the 2 but did it in a very innovative and cool way I just had to share it with you. YouVersion.com allows you to not only read the bible but also:

• Search for scripture, jump to a book/chapter/verse, or scroll through our Bible Reader
• Star verses and content
• Tag verses and content
• Contribute and/or associate images, videos, links, and text to verses or series of verses
• Start journaling in the “My Journal” feature
• See what others are sharing
• Email items to your friends and family
• Rate content

I have used this for some time but the guys just released an update for the site. If you like the bible and like to here others thoughts and contributions to scripture then this is a site you must check out. Best of all, its 100% free. Nice.

I just want to say that I was blown away from the respoone to the opening of THRIVE.  It seemed like one of those timely messages that people were needing to hear.  I’m just glad I got to be apart of it.  It is an amazing thing to have the Holy Spirit use you to speak life and encouragement to God’s people.  The cool part is that you don’t have to be a pastor to have that experience.  The reality is that the Holy Spirit wants to speak through you as well.  I want to encourage you to be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading and look for the divine moment to help other people.  With all that said, here are some notes from last weeks message.

• Last year, Warren Buffett lost 11 Billion dollars.  At least we didn’t lose as much money as he did.

• Over 2 million jobs were lost last year, there is no doubt the our country is facing a down season.

• In Numbers 13, Moses sent spies in to check out the PROMISE LAND

• Christianity is built on promises.  There are 100’s of promises throughout scripture, waiting to be inherited.

• For every promise, your enemy has created problems.

• Remember, there were no giants in the desert.  The enemy is not trying to keep you from mediocrity, he is trying to keep you from God’s abundant life.

• Big problems require big faith.

• Joshua and Caleb were the only guys who had any faith in God.

• In Numbers 14:24, it says that Caleb was of a different spirit.

• The tough question to ask is which spirit will I have when facing adverse situations.

• The wrong spirit was that of complaining, doubt, fear and worry.

• Joshua said in Numbers 13:9 that Israel could eat those giants for lunch.

• We need to remember that God wants us to not just survive, but to THRIVE.

Make sure to be here this Sunday as we look at how to Release the Faith that is within us.  See you then.