God is able

Lifted up, He defeated the grave

Raised to Life, our God is able

In his Name, we overcome

For the Lord, our God, is able!

I know you’ve heard me say it before, but we go an to absolutely AMAZING church here in Birmingham. God is just doing incredible things there. He is present and moving. I just can’t even begin to explain it, other than to say, WOW! It has nothing to do with the church walls themselves, but the presence and blessing of God within it. It is such my prayer that every single one of our family members will visit us over the course of our 3 years here and attend church with us. It’s just life changing!

Pastor Chris started an unbelievable 4 week message series yesterday called Legacy – doing exactly what GOD created you to do here on this earth so that when you go, people will remember the name of the Lord.

If you’ve got 40 minutes to sit down, I’d strongly recommend watching the message from this past Sunday, and maybe tuning in for the next 3 Sundays! Legacy – part 1

Psalm 112:6 – A righteous (headed in the right direction because of a right God living within you) man will be remembered FOREVER.

Ephesians 4:1 – I URGE you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

Leaving a legacy is really about living beyond ourselves because we just can’t do it on our own. We ALL have a call of God on our lives, whether we’ve accepted Him as our Lord and Savior or not. The realty is, He created each one of us and put a calling on our life. You can’t truly find out what that calling is without Him because He is the only one who knows us and knows what it is!

You see, Acts 17:26-28 says that God determined the times set for us and the exact places we should live. God did this so that we would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him. For in Him, we live and move and have our being. … God placed us here in Birmingham, right now, for a purpose. He put you right where you are too for that very same reason. Do you believe that?

Pastor Chris also talked about being a generation that finishes well so that the next generation can continue to lead in such a way. Truly leaving a legacy. Before we can leave that legacy, we’ve got to be aligned with the life God has set before us to live. You see, it’s more than just being a “good person”. Yes, God calls us to do good works, not out of duty or obligation, but because of our faith and love for Him. A profound statement from yesterday’s sermon was that we must “ALWAYS connect the good deeds with the good news!” If we feed the hungry, but don’t tell them about Jesus, their tummy’s will be full but they will still be lost. Hungry people and full people both end up in the same place if they don’t know Jesus.

John 6:27 says, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.” So, let’s do good for the name of Jesus! Amen!

All this to say that David and I were extremely moved yesterday to be intentional in figuring out what kind of legacy we would like to leave. We feel so called to Birmingham at the moment and are just so excited about what God has in store here for us. Now, our focus is on being intentional, taking no credit, and giving all the glory to God.

For when (insert your name) has served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. Acts 13:36. Let’s be a generation that finishes well!

So, do you believe that your God is able to give you such purpose in your life? One of my favorite verses is Ephesians 3:20 – God is able to to immeasurably more than all we could ever ask or imagine! Praying that for you today!

Happy Monday!