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The Real "F" Word... Forgiving Others

 
This past weekend, we continued our series on the idea of fogiveness...the real F word! We began with Metallica singing about "Unforgiven" and were reminded of the fact that without Jesus, none of us are able to experience the freedom of forgiveness. 

We then jumped into the topic of the week...and this was the issue of forgiving people in our lives. So many times, we hold grudges and bitterness against people who have offended or hurt us in very real ways. But what ends up happening is, in the long run, we are only hurting ourselves. We are reminded in the Lord's Prayer, that we are asking God to forgive us as we forgive those who have sinned against us...so the stakes are high in this area of forgiveness!

Click here to download and listen to the message....Download Real F Word - Part 3

At the end of the service, I challenged our people to write the initials of someone who they needed to forgive and release.... 48 initials were written down! Amazing to think about the freedom that was felt and discovered as this number of people were forgiven!! WOW!

The Real "F" Word concludes this week with our last teaching... Livin Forgiven... see ya there!

Weekend Update

- been fighting a cold all week...I even went to the doctor on Friday!

-he basically said "just fight it with over the counter stuff"

- I had been doing that since Wednesday! Why did I even bother??

- Saturday went well...rested a little bit, got some studying and the presentation done early this time, and ran some errands with the boys...

- we drive by the theater about 5pm and here is what Zachary says..."why are all these people going to church?"

- I love my boys!!! 

-Sunday I woke up with a deep Barry White voice...pretty congested and throat was kinda weak...

- all the set-up and prep went very smoothly...I think we need to add some equipment just to keep us on edge!

-sent out a twitter asking for prayer for the voice...honestly didn't know what would happen...

- had an amazing turnout for service...our 3rd largest ever! Right around 125 total...

- 39 were 5th grade and under...wow!! Our team was outnumbered and overwhelmed but they do a great job each week...

- at one point, they were 7 deep at the check-in table!

- all through worship, people kept coming... continue to be blown away to hear and see how God is growing Oasis Church NFL...

- just so you know, this doesn't always happen...churches and church plants pull the plug and shut down every week...

-God is being incredibly good and what is happening here is a completely God thing!

- spoke on the Real "F" Word - forgiveness and specifically forgiving others

- powerful stuff... really feel that people were letting go of grudges and forgiving people in their lives

- had them write initials on cards of people they were forgiving... awesome to see all the lives that were being released this weekend!

-had about 15 newcomers over to our house for lunch after church... this is something we are doing on a monthly basis

-always great to connect with people and hear more of their backstory and how God is using Oasis Church to impact their family!

- love sharing the vision and challenging people to join us in the vision of being and living as Oasis Church!

- Praise God...my  voice was actually getting stronger throughout the day!

- pretty tired the rest of the day... I think we all were asleep by 10pm!

- catch you later!

The book resource... The Gift of Forgiveness

 Here is the book mentioned in Sunday's message about the process of forgiving others...to order, follow the link to amazon to purchase this resource...and thanks for choosing to learn more about forgiving the people in our lives as we follow the process laid out in the Bible!

Click here to go to amazon and order this resource!

Behind the scenes of Oasis Church NFL...

I was also going to call this post, "I Love My Commute To Work" or "welcome to my garage office"...but I thought I would give you a glimpse of where the behind the scenes follow-up, data entry, emails, phone calls, study, and other parts of launching a new church are happening...

 

-Yes, the office is in our garage...

-Yes, that is some of our stuff we take weekly to the church (aka theater)

-Yes, it is getting hotter...summer is coming!

-Yes, that is our Kids Pastor, Jonathan Higdon, making copies

-Yes, that is our FREE printer/ copier donated to us by the Northeast Fl Baptist Association (it's a Gestetner!)

-No, this is not our long term office solution...but it is what we can afford and use right now...

 -if you have any budget-friendly office or warehouse space on the Northside of Jax (or know of any) we are always willing to dig deeper and find out if it could be a fit! Drop me a line at jeremyh@oasisnfl.com

- Back to work...Sunday's coming!

-Thanks for stopping by!

-(picture in your mind my garage door closing)

How I Celebrated Earth Day...

Let me just say up front that I believe we are to be good stewards of what GOD created...the earth, the heavens, and everything on and in them...we honor GOD first and earth second...so here is how I spent Earth Day

- I drove about 60 miles around Jax...it was not in an SUV but I did miss my Expedition...and I will be driving a V-8 truck again soon!

- I enjoyed my air conditioner...in my house, car, etc...

- I turned every light in my house on...whether I needed it or not...

- I took stuff out of my recycle bin and put it back in the garbage...

- I buried some batteries and used motor oil and tires in my backyard...

- I broke every stupid mercury curly lightbulby thing I could find...

- I burned several trees...

- I sprayed tons of hairspray and aerosol cans all day long...

OK...MAYBE I didn't do all these things! But seriously, does anybody else think we are going a little overboard in some of these areas??

- first of all...we are constantly making a big deal about humans and our role in the world...but we are simply not that great or big enough to overpower what God has made or His plan for the world...(we are not the main characters in this story...)... we make too much of our role and way too little of God!

-second...just about everybody is a hypocrite or making TONS of money in this area of "going green"...think about it!

- thirdly, I heard yesterday how the sun has been getting cooler than it has been in 100 years...which would affect the earth...so I propose SUN day!! (get it?? Sunday?!)

Ok.. one last thing...whenever I am asked at Publix "paper or plastic" I always ask for plastic...the last thing we need is for Earth to get soft on us...it's like football practice without pads...get tough, Earth!  

Another Oasis Church with 7 Nights of Worship?

I nearly drove off the road, trying to read this sign! Is it possible there is a church in North Florida meeting every night of the week?? I did a quick u-turn to investigate further...

Well... no... on closer inspection, this Oasis sign I found in Yulee "only" offers 6 nights of worship...so that means Oasis Church of South Florida is still the only church I know of that offers a worship service every night of the week/ year... way to go guys!

PS... Wonder what "unscripted" means? Interesting....

*for the record, no, Oasis Church North Florida will not be having services every night of the year in the near future... I know you were wondering!

Weekend Update

- really good day yesterday... but it felt a little different!

- we were set-up and ready to go with not as much stress as normal... weird, huh?

- some pastors talk about the Sunday after Easter being a really down day, especially compared to Easter... but that wasn't really our story this year...

- our numbers were great.. a little better than our average attendance...but we were lower in kids area... and I know of several regulars who were not in attendance...

- had a chance to meet several families returning from Easter... woohoo!

- had a chance to meet several first-timers who came from our Easter mailing... all right!

- I have noticed that about the mailing... it has a residual effect for weeks to come... interesting...

- worship was really great...Justin does a great job each week and this week, he even had to get some other players...way to go man!

- I spoke on week two of the Real "F" word... forgiving ourselves...

- I felt it was ok... I wasn't on my "A" game! But I am learning to forgive myself!

- BTW, this can only happen because God has forgiven me...thank you Jesus!

- maybe need to do two services every week...that way I can make changes on the fly!

- had some visitors who heard about us from Oasis Church North Miami...awesome!

- all in all, a good day...but we are always trying to elevate what happens in our Sunday experience and that requires making some tough decisions... I had to do that Sunday...

- sometimes being the leader makes you the bad guy... comes with the territory...

- looking forward to meet some more people at our Newcomers Lunch after church this coming Sunday

- also looking forward to getting lunch/ coffee with some of our guys in the next few days...

- can't forget we are building community, which requires connecting with others... we are the church!

- line of the day..."we have been to the fashion show before, and to the health and wealth church too... it was great to be here with Oasis today...we will be back!"

- our goal is to be us and to preach Jesus... so there you go! 

-which is good...because I can't be what I am not! Ha!

Easter Egg Coloring Time...

Ok, so this post is almost a week late...Easter was kind of busy for us!

Here are some pics of Zachary and I and a bunch of multi-diverse eggs...btw, Ryan was asleep and Jeanine was relaxing... in case you were wondering!

 

 

Joining the NEFBA...

 

Tonight, I went to an association meeting for Northeast Florida Baptists where I found out that we (Oasis Church) were approved to begin the process of formally joining this group of churches...woohoo!

- this allows us to be part of a team... the power of many working together vs. by ourselves

- this allows for shared resources... theirs and ours...

- this allows for God to continue to use many kinds of churches to reach many kinds of people...

- this potentially allows for friendship and connection and unity... but that depends on humans not an organization!

Excited to get this process going and to see where it will lead in the future... really enjoying getting to know David Drake, the director of this association... he has visited our church twice... so he knows what he's getting in to!! Thanks Dave!

*****and yes, if you are wondering... we are a baptist church...that is our background, that is our sponsoring church in South Florida, that is Oasis NFL...we are just not your "normal" baptist church! More (much more) on this thought later...

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Tax Day

Today was the day to pay unto Caesar...for the first time ever, we went to HR Block...paid more prep fees then I wanted to, but now I know for next year...

Two thoughts... flat tax is a great idea that Congress will never pass because it is too simple and I am loving hearing about and seeing pics of the tea parties all over USA... love seeing a lil history repeat itself!