Beach condition update from Gulf Shores / Orange Beach

If you are planning a trip to Gulf Shores / Orange Beach, check out this video. If you know someone planning a trip here, please share it with them. If you just want to see the actual conditions of our beaches, not what the media is portraying, check out this video. Feel free to share :-)

You don't have to go to church to be saved

That’s something I’m hearing a lot of lately (mostly from Christians that don’t go to church :) anyway, just wanted to weigh in on it.

Scriptures referenced:

Hebrews 10:23-25 (New International Version)
23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Acts 2:41-42 (New International Version)
41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

1 Peter 5:8 (New King James Version)
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Ephesians 4:14-16 (New International Version)
14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Put the past behind and grow where you are!

Don’t let blown chances, mistakes, or failures keep you from going on with the plan God has for your life. Look to today, what He has in store for you. That’s the place you will grow and thrive. You can’t change the past, but the future is bright!

Genesis 9:7 (New International Version)
7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."

Philippians 3:12-14 (New International Version)
Pressing on Toward the Goal
12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 1
(New International Version)
1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Remember the Power

Remember the Power this Easter season. As we celebrate His resurrection, remember what all that means to us as believers!

Mark 7:13 (New King James Version) making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Perfect peace

Isaiah 26:3 NKJV "You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You"
Joshua chapter 1, and Psalms chapter 1 tell us that we keep our mind stayed on Him by meditating in the Word. Meditating on the Word keeps our mind stayed on Him, which in turn builds our trust in Him (or our faith) which allows us to stay in that perfect peace.

Sowers Club

Better than a hot stock tip! sowersclub.com

Always more not with us than are

Always more not with us than are from Brian Salley on Vimeo.

All of us as Christians are on the same team. Every church is, ultimately, going after the same thing. Instead of criticizing one another, especially ones that don't do things the way we do, or believe the way we do, we need to do what Paul says in Philippians 1:18 "So how am I to respond? I've decided that I really don't care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on!" (Message translation)

We need each other. No matter how big we get, there will always be more people that don't come to our church than do. There are always going to be more people that need to be reached, and no one church, regardless of method, is going to be able to reach everyone. Fight the enemy, not each other!

I thank God for what you are doing, and I cheer you on!