A WOW Moment

Everyone knows what a WOW moment is.  When you hear or read something and all that can be said is, WOW!  I had one of these moments just the other day.  I am new to Twitter and I follow Gary Morgan, a pastor in the Nashville area.  He was the camp pastor at the Fuge camp that we took our youth group to this summer.  His tweet was, Why is the church the most likely place to find people doing something just once a week and expecting life changing results?  When I read this all that could be said was WOW!  This is a bold statement, but sadly its true for many believers that walk into a church building on Sunday mornings.  Show up, sing the songs, and listen to the sermon.  Walk out feeling good that they heard a good message.  The rest of the week, they never open a Bible or pray.  What's worse, there life never reflects Christ.  Growing up, I thought all you had to do as a Christian was to just go to church.  God wants us to have a close relationship with Him and the only way that we can ever have that is through studying His Word and talking to Him in prayer.  Take some time and spend it with Him each day, it will change your life. 

We are FREE

With this being the July 4th holiday weekend.  We celebrate the freedom that we have as Americans.  But I was thinking about all of the freedoms that we have as Americans that we overlook.  The freedom to assemble as a body of believers.  To go into a building and not have to worry about being arrested or executed for doing this.  Owning a Bible or sharing the Word of God to those that we come into contact with on a daily basis.  So many of our brothers and sisters in Christ are persecuted daily for sharing God's love to others on foreign soil.  The sad thing is that we have this freedom and so many are embarrassed or scared to do so.  While death is a part of life and people are dying daily, we are so consumed with what others think of us that we don't say a thing.  The opportunities that God gives us daily, we just stay silent and people die without Christ.  On the mission field, men and women are sharing the Gospel to villages and countries all over the world.  Our mission field is here and the calling that God has given us is in Matthew 28.  The message that Matthew 9 gives has never been more true than today.  The harvest is great but the workers are few.  We have been freed from our sin debt, when Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose three days later.  He defeated the one thing that we could not have.  God's love for us is the greatest gift that we could ever have been given.  Its time for the children of God to step up and share that gift with our families, friends, and those that we come in contact with daily.  Stop worrying about what people think and start doing what God called us to do

Keep Christ First
Billy

Having a Blast at Camp

Well, its Thursday afternoon and the Fusion students are at Fuge camp.  We are having a blast and it hard to believe that the week is flying by.  This year's camp experience as been amazing so far.  We are doing the XFuge on Mission camp.  This is a where for some of our time here, we are serving in the community around the Black Mountain area.  We have cleaned roadsides around parks, landscaped around local schools, and worked in a community garden.  This garden is used to supply vegetables to the community.  Several of the people in the Black Mountain area are real nature lovers.  They have put the Earth as their god.  We believe in Mother Earth providing for them.  So we had the chance to show God's love, by simply coming to help them with weed and clean around the garden.  Its hard to believe that in a small town, that has a large camp like Ridgecrest, that a large majority of the people that live here don't believe in God.  There are several that practice witchcraft and several that believe Mother Earth.  That is the amazing thing about this camp that we are a part of.  Each week for two months during the summer, church youth groups from all over the United States come to Ridgercrest.  During this time, teens spend time getting closer to God, grow into stronger groups, and share God's love to the people around this area.  It has been another great year at camp and I always enjoy coming here with our youth.  Check out information about the Fuge camps at Lifeway.com.

In His Service,
Billy

Workers in the Field

My middle school boys small group were studying through Matthew 9 last night.  In the majority of the chapter, you see people putting their faith in Him to heal them.  We spent a few minutes on theses verses, then we camped out with the last three verses.  Where Jesus said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field."  Matthew 9:37-38  I asked the boys what they thought Jesus was talking about.  One of them said, there is more work to do than there are workers.  That answer truly rocked my world.  Are we as a body of believers doing all that we can do to spread the message that God loves you and died for your sins.  Are we truly reaching out to the lonely and hurting in our community.  For the longest time, I believed that once you accepted Christ and you went to church, you did all that you had to do.  God opened my eyes.  God has a plan for each and everyone of us, to be His hands and feet.  If there is a need in the community, the church should be there to help in that need.  If someone is lonely and hurting, a child of God should be there.  Not to judge, but to be a comfort.  It does take us stepping out of our comfort and is a self sacrifice.  Putting others before us.   In the end God gets the glory for the obedience of His children.  There becomes more workers for the field.

Next Monday, 26 teens and adult leaders will be going to North Carolina for camp.  Please pray for our group and that God will touch the hearts of the group.  There will be updates on my blog next week

Keep Christ First
Billy

Joy in an Uncomfortable Situation

Joy in an uncomfortable situation, that sounds crazy doesn't it.  How in the world can anyone find joy in that.  It is by God working mightily and you feel His presence, that where the joy comes from.  We all want to have a normal, comfortable life.  We want to feel comfortable from our family and friends to our workplace to school.  We want to rely on our strengths to handle any situation, but God works through us in our weaknesses.  It is a step of faith.  I remember my grandfather had an acronym for the word faith that he used all the time.
F-Forgetting
A-All Others
I- I
T-Trust
H-Him

I don't know how many times over the last few months, that I had to ask for God to help me through a weakness.  It is awesome to see how God works.  In a weakness, you have to rely on God to work in whatever the situation may be.  When He works, it is truly an awesome and humbling time. Knowing that there is no way I can do this on my own.  Just a few months ago, my aunt asked me to do the funeral of her sister.  When she asked me, it truly scared me to death.  Not that I didn't want to do it, but I had never done a funeral before.  Truthfully, I don't even like going to funerals.  After much prayer and speaking to my pastor, I agreed to do the funeral.  On the day of the funeral, there was a peace that I can't even come close to explaining.  God had laid John 14:1-4 on my heart as I prepared and He opened a door for me to try to comfort the family and share the Gospel with those in attendance.  A step of faith that God used to work in a mighty way.  I walked away from that funeral knowing that God helped me and was with me and that is where I found joy.




Keep Christ First
Billy

Why do you worry?

Over the last few months, the middle school boys small group at Eastside Community Church have been studying the life of Jesus Christ.  We are going through the book of Matthew right now and we are going through the Sermon on the Mount.  This past Wednesday night, the subject was about worry.  Jesus teaching the multitude not to worry about everyday life.  The awesome thing about the passage in Matthew 6:25-34, is the examples that He gives.  He tells them to look at the birds, they don't worry about food.  He asks the multitude, aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?  Then, He goes even further.  Look at the lilies in the field, they don't work or make their clothing.  God cares for them.  Then, He calls the multitude out.  Jesus says, Why do you have so little faith?  Those verses speak volumes today for us.  The world today is filled with worries, and people hold on to those worries and never turn them over to the One that will give them peace.  Why do we worry when there is someone that will give us peace?  Give your worries to Him.

Keep Christ First
Billy

Looking forward to the weekend

You here a lot of people say how they can't wait for the weekend.  Most of the time its only Monday.  I am as guilty as anyone, I have said that very thing more times than I can remember.  Here is just a thought  that I woke up with this morning that really rocked my world.  If this is a day that the Lord has made, than why do I wish it away like it means nothing.  Why do I want the week to move so quickly, when each day that I am given is a gift from God.  I am not guaranteed tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year.  So if we are going to truly enjoy life and make the most of it, we need to thank the Lord each day for the gift of another day and take that day and use it to give Him honor and glory.  Lets make today a day that others see Christ in us.

Keep Christ First
Billy Edwards