The Death of Mr. Me

Did you have to wrestle a little with Mr. or Mrs. Me in the last few days?  I have.  Isn’t it crazy how that old man, Mr. Me, continually comes back from the dead trying to assert himself once again?  I’m thankful for Galatians 2:20 power that we have to find the life of Christ in the death of Mr. Me.  If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, you missed a great weekend and pivotal message on Sunday.  I recommend jumping on our website to watch or re-watch it sometime this week.  

The main point for Sunday was this, “In order to fully experience the life in we, I must first experience the death of me.”  Grace World is called to be an authentic community of believers.  However, we must follow the example of the the early church and lay everything down. Everything means our ego, pride, agenda, hurts, offenses, needs, desires, wants and the list goes on.  All of it laid down at Jesus’ feet so that we might pick up the life only found in Him.  That’s what the church is called to do. 

When you look at all of the problems that are currently facing our society, at the root of every problem you find the sin of pride.   Pride, just as it did with Ananias and Sapphira, produces death.  It kills, steals and destroys.  As the church, we are called to let go of that selfish pride, and pick up a life of humility and brokenness.  It is only through our brokenness that we bring healing to a broken world. My friend, this is the ancient roots that built the early church.  So, I can’t be offended. I can’t be hurt. I want nothing for myself except to see Christ glorified.  Everything is laid at the feet of Jesus.  It is all His to do with as He desires.  All I want is to see His life flow through me, through our church family and bring forth the healing of our land.

This is why our message is Jesus and why our mission is His mission! He said, “I came that you might have life in all of its fullness”.   We want to see that life fully released to the Nature Coast.  It seems so counterintuitive that the way we find and release life is to lay our lives down.  That is the Kingdom of God.  It’s the example Christ set.  He willingly laid down His life that we might live and then calls us to do the same.  Again, if you didn’t catch this weekend’s message, you can find it here.

This weekend we continue with part three in our series, “Rekindled”.  We will be diving into the ancient path of prayer.  Speaking of prayer, we just wrapped up 21 days of prayer and fasting.  Even though the season of prayer and fasting has ended, the need for prayer has not.  This month there are multiple calls to prayer you can participate with.

First, the Dome is also open on Tuesdays from 8:30am-4:30pm for prayer.  There’s a special call to prayer from 10:00am-12:00pm with our intercessors followed by an online time of prayer from 12:00-12:30pm live on Facebook.

Saturday, September 26th we will be joining with the National Day of Prayer that will be taking place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C..  The prayer event will be simulcast from the Dome from 9:00am-9:00pm.  We will communicate specific prayer points for that day soon.  Grace is more than a church that prays, we are a praying church! Prayer is the heart of this house.

Also, now is the time to sign up for our fall semester of Grace Equip classes.  We are offering 12 classes this semester.  Some will be meeting in person and others will take place online.  Take a look at what we are offering and register today.  We have partnered with Right Now Media to offer over 20,000 virtual resources for our Grace Equip classes and Grace Connect groups.  You should have received an email invite to set up an account this past Sunday.  This is a resource we are investing into you and your family. 

Finally, in an answer to prayer we are seeing the numbers of new Covid cases drop in our state and also our county.  That is great news and we thank God for it! Even though the numbers are dropping, we must not drop our guard. This virus is still dangerous and can be critical to friends and family members with health concerns.  We want to do our part to help keep them safe.  

If you join with us in our in person gathering, please remember the following:

1 Respect physical distancing.

2 Practice good hygiene. 

3 Stay home if you are experiencing flu like symptoms.

4 Wear a mask when you cannot maintain 6 feet distance from another person.

If we will continue to respect those guidelines, we will be showing honor to our community and taking personal responsibility of those around us as we continue to come together again. 

This weekend at 10:00am, we will gather again in the Dome.  We understand there are many who do not yet feel comfortable in a crowd or have been advised by medical professionals to stay away from crowds. I do not want you to feel any guilt or condemnation. We are providing the live stream for you and love that you are able to join with us from your home.  I know this weekend we had a few internet outages that disrupted the service.  The issue was with Spectrum and outside of our control.  We have worked with Spectrum this week to make sure we provide the best service we can.  I expect to notice a difference this weekend.

Grace World, Jenna and I love you and we are praying for you.   This weekend whether you are joining us live in the Dome or from your home, we still are one church family. I cannot wait to see you this weekend!

Pastor Daniel Norris