A Few Resource Links

Yesterday was an amazing God-filled day at NLC! In the morning, we were challenged to FORGIVE others in our lives. I am already hearing the stories of how God used that time. At the end of service, Pastor Scott mentioned a book for those who want to continue the journey of forgiveness of others. Here's a link:

Total Forgiveness by R.T. Kendall

Last night was Night of Worship at the Warehouse and it was incredible! We spent an hour just enjoying the presence of God and soaking Him up! It was awesome. If you want to keep worshipping in your personal life, the music our worship teams are doing comes from the following cd's. You can download it on the iTunes website, I'm sure.

Northpoint: Louder than Creation

God of the City

Hope that helps you connect with God this week,

Pastor Matt

Playing Keep Away!

I was reading 1 John 5 today in my devotional time and couldn't help but be captured by the last verse. In the New LIving Translation (NLT) it says:

"Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts."

Do you remember playing keep away in elementary school? There would be 1 kid who everyone else was trying to keep the ball away from. We could spend entire recesses just running around the playground trying not to let the 1 kid touch the ball. I remember the creative things we used to do to keep the ball away from him.

This verse tells us that we need to play "Keep Away" from anything that might take God's place in our hearts.

I love the word "MIGHT". This is that conditional phrase that eludes to: "If you think there is ANY chance of something taking the place of God in your heart, RUN!"

This requires creativity and discernment on our part. I continue to be amazed at how subtly things can creep in and take the place of God.

A great way to start this week is by pausing for a moment, and reflecting on the question:

"Have I let anything take the place of God in my heart?"

If the answer is "yes" then confess it, ask God to forgive you, rearrange your life to remove it, and get God back to His rightful place of #1 in your heart.

Just a bloggish thought,

Matt

Easter Sunday @ NLC

Hey everyone,

On Sunday afternoon, I couldn't help but reflect on how far God has brought our church in the last 6 years. We went to my parent's house in Cape Coral for Easter Lunch. That's the house that Sarah and I lived in for 5 1/2 years before mom and dad retired last fall. As we sat around the table, I couldn't help but think that just 6 years ago, there were 6 adults and 2 kids (taking naps) during "Easter Sunday Service!" in the living room of that house!

Easter services at NLC yesterday were absolutely mind-blowing. We had over 1000 people in church and saw hundreds of people respond to the first of our 3 part series we started called, "CAGED."

A Few High Points for me for the Day were:

• Seeing one of our worship leaders, Elizabeth, (I call her Bethy), who is 17, absolutely set the stage for the presence of God to move in our church in an unprecedented way! I believe our people responded to God's presence like they never have before b/c of the words Bethy shared!!! I'm so proud of her! She's an amazing worship leader... and only 17, that's just crazy!


• Seeing our staff giving ministry away! I loved watching our staff at their best yesterday! They were impowering others to "do the work of the ministry" and were rising above it all day long! The staff of NLC truly has the DNA of this thing and are doing the work of reproducing that DNA into hundreds of Team Members!


• Seeing Mike and Scott lead, cast vision, and truly pastor our people like they were created to do! Those two guys are an absolute riot! I can't believe I get to do this with them!


• Seeing South Fort Myers High School transformed into a house of worship every Sunday is just a cool thing! What a gift from God that we don't have to build a $40 million facility to have church in! The state of Florida did that for us! Wow!


• Seeing it all come together. I heard John Siebling, an ARC pastor from Memphis, TN, say, "Our goal is to try and put 3 good Sundays in a row!" anyone in the church world knows just how hard that is to do. Yesterday was truly a good Sunday! I feel like we keep stringing "Good Sundays" together, I think we may even be able to get to "3" by the end of the year!!! :)

To all who are apart of making NLC happen on a weekly basis, this is BIG WIN for you too! Do something today to celebrate! Take your spouse to dinner, play with your kids, give your pet a treat, get the mail, yell out the window in traffic, drink an energy drink, go off your diet, take a day off!

Personally, I'm opting for the last one,

Matt

I'm excited about Easter

Hey all,

I just wanted to post a quick note to tell you how excited I am about Easter Sunday at NLC this year!

It's hard to believe that 6 years ago there were 6 of us in my living room! I just got finished practicing my message for Sunday Morning & I can't wait to deliver it. It's going to hit home for all of us that's for sure!

2 things:

1. If you have people who don't go to church anywhere, this Sunday would be a great day to invite them. We're laying it out in a really cool, creative and relevant way this weekend!

2. Pray for me & my family. We're feeling the pressure and stresses of Easter and all that goes along with it.

I love you guys,

I can't wait for Sunday Morning! Happy Easter ya'll!

Pastor Matt

"The Greater the Suffering, The Greater the Anointing."

I am preparing for our Upcoming Series called, "CAGED" that premieres this weekend at NLC. It's all about the subject of forgiveness. It's going to be incredible. First Trust, now Forgiveness. There is a real sense that God is taking us into the deep places of our hearts right now as a church. If you missed any of the "Pete's Blog" series on Trust, you gotta listen to them. Just click the link on the side of this blog to listen.

Anyway, RT Kendall, a pastor, author and speaker, has much to say on the subject of Forgiveness. So this morning I'm listening to one of his messages and he made a statement that I think is so appropriate for us during this time of "Trust" and "Forgiveness." He said...

"The greater the Suffering, the Greater the Anointing."

Now Anointing is a Big Bible Word that basically means, "God's power on us for service." In other words, what RT is saying is, "For those of us who have suffered greatly, God desires to use us greatly." He went on to say that, "Some of us have suffered so much, we are literally sitting on a Gold Mine of opportunity to be used by God."

The key factor is being willing to not let the suffering defeat us, but teach us. Here are a few questions for us to consider on this idea:

1. What are you learning in your suffering?

2. Who can you learn from that has experienced what you're experiencing?

3. Who needs to learn from your experiences?

Even if you're not on the other side of this thing yet, God wants to use your story to impact someone else. Your greatest anointing lies in your greatest pain.

Change your perspective on suffering and you change your world!

Just a Bloggish Thought,

Matt

What I'm Listening To Right Now!

Worship Music is one of the greatest tools of encouragement in my life. There are so many times when worship songs say exactly what I'm feeling in my life. As a leader and influencer in many of your lives I wanted to give you a run down of what I'm listening to right now.

I think it's all available in iTunes & I highly recommend downloading as much of this as you can and then integrating it into your daily life somewhere. (In the car, during your workout, etc.)

Yesterday's Worship Set @ NLC:

• Faithful - Steve Fee


• Your Name - Ross Parsley


• Jesus Paid it All - Kristian Stanfill


• Oh Praise Him - David Crowder

My Personal Top 6 Worship Songs Right Now:

• Mighty to Save - Kristian Stanill


• God of this City - Chris Tomlin


• Happy Day - Kristian Stanfill


• Let Me Sing - Todd Fields


• Beautiful Jesus - Kristian Stanfill


• We Shine - Steve Fee

If You Only Buy 1 Worship CD this Year Buy:

Northpoint Live: Louder Than Creation

It's got everyone of those songs on it except for Your Name which is a Ross Parsley one.

A Few Other Notables that Are Ministering to My Heart Right Now:

• Healer - Planetshakers


• Here in Your Presence - Ross Parsley


• You are the Light - Steve Fee

Seriously, download these songs... it could be the best thing you do for your spiritual life all week! You'll drop 4 bucks on a coffee, download 4 songs instead and feed your spirit.

Just a Worshipful Bloggish Thought,

Matt

Good Advice from a Great Friend

This morning I ran across a motivational thought written by Max Lucado, a Christian author. Since we're in a series on Trust, I thought this was so amazingly appropriate. If you've been struggling with trust, then this is for you.

The same God that gave us commandments such as "Do not commit adultery, do not murder" said, "Do not worry." It's a violation of our relationship to God to question his authority by worrying.

Has any good ever come out of any worrying that you've ever done? Worry only compartmentalizes us and makes us unable to do what we set out to do. If you are worried about a problem, what you need to do is simply trust the Lord and do good.

The word worry comes from a word taht means "to divide." When you worry, you divide your energy.

Amazing insight isn't it? A few things that jumped out at me:

• "Do not worry" is a commandment of Jesus. It's not just a nice suggestion. That means Jesus thinks we can actually do it... not worry, that is.


• To worry is a violation of our relationship with God. As a command of Jesus, then to not do it is... a violation.


• No good comes from worrying.


• Worrying compartmentalizes us. In other words, it breaks us down instead of builds us up. Worry really does divide us.


• Worry keeps us from doing what we know we need to do... Trust Him and Do Good.

Great advice on a Thursday,

Just a bloggish thought,

Matt

The Thing about Being a Pastor

One of the craziest things about being a Pastor is that you have to live what you're preaching! So we're in this series called Pete's Blog... a journal of trust. For 4 weeks, we're talking about Trusting God. In the Storm, in the face of Unconventional Thinking, etc.

Well, trust me when I say I've had to live this whole trust deal! Wow. Let me just go on record and say that Pastors don't live in a bubble. We face the same challenges and real-life issues as everyone else.

I'm excited about the new places in God that "Trust Tests" are taking me.

If you haven't heard the messages, I highly recommend downloading them asap. Especially if you're going through a "Testing Time." 4 ways to do that:

1. Order a CD at the Resource Table on Sundays at NLC.

2. Go to www.NextLevelChurch.com and click resources, then listen to messages. You can listen through live streaming or.

3. Right click and then save target as to download the mp3 to your desktop. At that point you can make your own cd's if you want!!!

4. Go to iTunes, click on podcasts, then search Next Level Church. Click on us, and all of our messages are available to automatically sinc with your iPod.

5. You can also subscribe through iTunes as well. Simply click subscribe and you'll start getting each and every week's message automatically in your iTunes library and on your iPod. (I highly recommend this option by the way!) What a great way to make sure you are feeding your spirit every week.

I'm so excited about Part 3 of Pete's Blog.

See you Sunday at 9 am and 10:45 am.

Matt