If you want to view a whole album of pictures from today, CLICK HERE.

If you don’t have time to view the whole album, here are a few of the great memories we had from today. We’re so thankful for great friends and family!

This verse is an example of having unshakable confidence in what God has called you to do. Jeremiah said that he had been preaching God’s Word to a group of people for 23 years but no one listened. For him to still be preaching is a incredible testimony to pastors, and to all Christians,  in being confident in your calling. When God calls us to do something, he never promises that we will get earth-shattering results tomorrow. Remember that great obedience lays the foundation for great outcomes. Just because your ministry in not having the effect that YOU thought it would have in the time frame YOU decided upon does NOT mean that God didn’t call you to do it, or that it’s time to quit. It means that we have a decision to make: is our calling in ministry founded upon the presence of tangible,visual, and immediate impact or the assurance of God’s presence? God calls some people to ministries that plant the seeds of the Gospel and others to harvest those seeds. What has God called you to do that you are struggling with because the results/time frame were not what you expected?

• I was born missing something important- a sense of direction. I have no internal map whatsoever. So two years ago my parents gave me the best Christmas present a directionally-impaired person can receive- a G.P.S. for my car. I don’t travel anywhere without my Garmin. I may not know where I’m going, but the Garmin always does. So many people wish they had a Garmin for life. Guess what? You do. This week we continued our series based on the 23rd Psalm. Christ promises us in Psalm 23:3 that He will be our guide through life.
• As you read this post, you probably need some direction and guidance through some situations you are facing. Maybe you need some direction on what to do with your children. Maybe you need some direction on whether this relationship is leading towards marriage, or if its a dead-end. Maybe you need some direction on how to be an empty-nester. Maybe you need direction about which college to attend and which major to pick. Maybe you need direction about what to do next with your job. Maybe you just need direction in general…you have no clue what God wants for your life.
• In John 14, Jesus has a conversation with the disciples about gives them some wisdom on how to let Him be their guide (and our guide) through life. The disciples have just had a bomb-shell dropped on them: Jesus, their leader and friend, had just shared with them that He would be going away. And to add even more intensity to the situation, He shared that the catalyst of the entire situation would be one of the disciples betraying Him. The disciples fell to pieces. They began to ask all the usual questions: Who, What, When, Where, How, and WHY? The main thing we (and the disciples) need to remember is this: When it comes to letting Christ guide us, trust is a must. There is no way to let Jesus shepherd if we don’t trust him. If you’re facing some big decisions (and we all are), here’s 3 ways to help you trust Christ enough to let Him guide you:
• #1. Trust Jesus ONLY. So many times when we face a big decision, we figure out a solution and pray that Jesus will make that solution happen. The problem with that is that we’re trusting in ourselves, not in Christ. We’ve effectively turned Him from a guide into a genie. When facing a situation where you need direction, don’t seek a solution immediately. Seek the shepherd. Tell Him you trust Him to guide you through the situation/decision.
• #2. Trust His Directions. As kids, we were all asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Even as adults, we have a concept in our heads of how we want our life to go. The problem is that I’ve never met ANYONE whose life turned out exactly as they dreamed. We’ve got to trust Christ to lead us through the different seasons, situations, and circumstances, but that means movement. That means change- and we don’t like that word. We all want to wake up today and have life be the same as it was yesterday. But Jesus doesn’t operate that way. He leads us from one pasture to another. We have to trust his leadership and follow Him. I did some research this week about sheep, since we are the sheep and Jesus is our shepherd.  Sheep are the same as us- they hate change. They don’t naturally gravitate towards change. They want to take the same trail everyday. The problem? They turn into ruts, and they get stuck. They want to graze in the same place everyday. The problem? They deplete all the food, and they begin to starve. So the best thing for the sheep is for the shepherd to keep them moving. And what do we do about this? We usually protest change and movement that’s ultimately designed for our good. Follow Jesus- even in difficulty, He’s leading you to a place that is best for you.
• #3. Trust His Purpose. Read John 14:12-15. And then go back and read Psalm 23:3. Why does Christ lead us? The answer most people give usually sounds something like this: “Jesus guides me because he loves me.” That’s true- He does love you. Lots. But that’s not the main reason He leads us. Christ leads us primarily for His name and His glory. A book that I highly recommend you get to help you fully understand the 23rd Psalm is, “A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23″ by Phillip Keller. He is a vocational shepherd and helps you see the 23^rd Psalm through the eyes of a shepherd. Check out what he says about successful shepherding: “Here is the key to successful sheep husbandry. The owner’s entire and reputation depends on how effectively and efficiently he keeps his flocks moving onto wholesome, new, fresh forage.” So here’s what you need to understand: God is staking his entire reputation on how He takes care of you. As you face stressful and challenging decisions and seek direction, are you handling it in a way that exhibits trust in a BIG God and brings glory to His name? Or are you full of anxiety and fear? That leads those around you to surmise that you serve a small God and brings more attention to your situation than to your Savior.
• Trust Christ completely- He WILL guide you when you need direction!

• God commanded Moses to create it in Numbers 21. The snake was a visible way for people to repent from their sin/bad attitudes and turn to God.
• Jesus referenced this bronze snake in a positive way leading up to perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible. In John 3:14-16, Jesus says, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.“

So here’s the million dollar question: Why did Hezekiah break this snake that had been created at God’s request as a sign of His presence among the people and was mentioned by Jesus as a good thing? Because people began to worship the snake instead of God. As Romans 1:25 says, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.” Before we judge these people too quickly, remember that this is common practice within many churches today. It’s easy for useful ministry practices to become problems. Why? Because our created ministry practices becomes more valuable to us than the Creator for which they were made in the first place. Leave some comments- what are some ministry practices that you’ve encountered that unknowingly became “too important?” Some common ones I’ve seen in ministry- programs, buildings, and administrative practices.  Remember, these things are only replaceable, dispensable tools that’s sole purpose is to reflect attention TO Jesus, not to take attention AWAY from Him. What are some things in your church that you simply could not do without? Your first thoughts may reflect some unintentional bronze snakes in your ministry.  Don’t let the method be more important than the Messiah.

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This past weekend I had the privilege of officiating the wedding of Michael Oleson and Beth Bland. This is one of the few weddings that I’ve ever been a part of in which I had a personal relationship with both the bride and the groom. Beth is from my hometown of Tifton, GA. We grew up in the same church/student ministry, and have managed to live in the same city our entire lives. First Tifton, then Athens, and now LaGrange! Michael is one of the first people I met when we moved to LaGrange 4 1/2 years ago. He heard I liked to fish, and came by to meet me. We’ve fished just about every week since then. Both Beth and Michael truly love Jesus, and I know their marriage is going to be great. It was really special to hang out in my hometown all weekend. We were surrounded by family, old friends from Tifton, and current friends from LaGrange. I’m so thankful for the friends that God has surrounded me with. It was great to spend some quality time with my parents- Katie and I left Charlie with them for the next 5 days. He’s going to get to do all the special grandparent things- shopping, making cookies, getting spoiled rotten, and fishing.

Speaking of fishing, I’ve promised Michael for months that I would take him fishing in my uncle’s lake during his wedding weekend. We got up bright and early Friday morning to sneak in a few hours of fishing. My prayer was that he would catch a “wedding fish.” And that he did.  Right before we left my uncle’s lake, Michael hooked this 8 pound beast and managed to get him into the boat. It was a great start to a great weekend!

• Yesterday was a great day at Encounter. I know I say this every week, but I really love the heart of our volunteers. They put in so many hours to create an environment where others can really connect with God. The worship was great yesterday, and the mix was awesome too. I was also really encouraged that so many people stayed after the service to help us break down. We have some great people!
• We had a TON of guests yesterday. I always love to see that!
• We added a new element to our service yesterday: YouVersion live. YouVersion is a free Bible app for your mobile phone. One of its many cool features is that it allows you to interactively connect with the people in your church during your message. Once people find our service in YouVersion live, they have access to sermon notes, the Bible passages for the morning, interactive questions, further Bible readings for the week, etc. We got a lot of very positive feedback after the service. Speaking of the morning’s message…
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• We started a new series named, “Seasons” yesterday. It’s always exciting to kick off a new series. I am always excited to think about how Jesus will change and grow people over the course of the series. Seasons is based around this idea: life is one big transition. We are always experiencing new and different seasons in our life.  For the next 6 weeks we’ll be walking through the 23rd Psalm that talks about, as verse 6 says, “all the days of my life.” Yesterday we took a look at verse one, which is the foundation of the rest of the series.  Many people wonder how they can successfully navigate all the different Seasons of life. But that’s the wrong question- the question really should be: WHO will naviagate us through all the different seasons of life. Our main takeaway yesterday was: The key to making it through life lies not in a Great Strategy, but in a Great Shepherd. Jesus, the Great Shepherd, explains how we can make Him our Great Shepherd in John 10: We know Him personally, we listen to Him, and we follow Him.
• Join us for the next 6 weeks as we discover how the Good Shepherd helps lead us through all the changing seasons in our lives!
• Pray for James. James is one of our dedicated volunteers that runs sound for our service. He loves Jesus and always has a smile on his face- the perfect volunteer! Anyhow, James has been battling kidney stones for several months now and had to go the ER last night. He has to have surgery today to have them removed. Lift him up to the Father as you pray today.

Common-tary

• Today I’m beginning a new feature on my blog. It’s going to be called “Common-tary.” One thing that I really want my blog to do is to lift up Jesus and help people know Him better.  I know part of the reason for having a blog is to keep people up to speed on what my family and I are doing, but also I want to do a better job of making it more about Jesus and less about me. A verse that God has really been putting on my heart lately is John 3:30- “He must become greater, I must become less.” Anyway, back to the point. Common-tary will be a feature that appears on my blog a few times a week. It will be a common man’s (me) thoughts on the greatness of our God, and how it affects our common, everyday life.
• I mentioned using YouVersion on cell phones to enhance our worship service yesterday. I also use YouVersion on my computer to assist me in my daily time with God. They have a lot of great reading plans to choose from. I’m going through the Life Journal Reading Plan which will take me once through the Old Testament and twice through the New Testament over the course of a year.
• My reading today came from Isaiah 11, 12, 13, 14 and Hebrews 9. Here’s some thoughts:
• Isaiah 11:1- The amount of prophecy that was spoken by the prophets so that we could recognize Jesus as the Christ is incredible.
• Isaiah 11:3-4-  Jesus does not judge us based on our outward appearance or actions. Our heart is judged by His unchanging righteousness. But as believers in Jesus, when God looks at us He sees the righteousness of Christ! Wow.
• Isaiah 12- I posted the link to all of Isaiah 12. Read it- it’s short, but powerful. Our salvation (besides restoring us to God) becomes two things in our life: a celebration and a catalyst. First,  celebration- Our salvation is the source of all of our worship and joy. It’s described as a well that’s depths never run dry. It’s a constant source of joy for us. Other wells in our lives run dry- this one never does. Second, catalyst- Our salvation is a catalyst for us to take the good news of Jesus to the nations. As we experience the grace of Jesus, we want others to experience it too. And I love how verse 6 describes that we should take this news- loudly!
• Hebrews 9:1-6- Check out the preparation and attention to detail that went into setting up the tabernacle for worship. As worship leaders/ministry leaders, how much prayer, time, and effort do we spend making sure that God will be maximally revealed in our churches every week? And for everyone, how much time do we spend getting our hearts (Jesus’ tabernacle) ready to engage Him weekly in worship?
• Hebrews 9:7-9- I’m so thankful for the sacrifice of Jesus! No longer do we have to go through a priest. Through Jesus, we have access to the Father directly!
• Hebrews 9:14- This ties in so well to Isaiah 12. The forgiveness of Jesus is not to be received simply with an internal celebration. It’s a catalyst for an external expression of our gratitude. We are forgiven from “acts that lead to death” to serve others with “acts that lead to life!”

• This past weekend I had the honor of officiating the wedding of Luke Hughes and Jessica Arrington. I’ve performed my fair share of marriage ceremonies, and they’ve all been special. However, this one was extra special because it marked the first time I officiated the wedding of two former students. Both Luke and Jessica were in my youth group when I served as student pastor at Heritage Baptist Church in Douglasville, GA. Luke’s dad, John, was actually the first pastor I ever served under. John was the pastor of Heritage while I was there, and now serves as the minister of spiritual development at the church I grew up in. It’s a small world! I had several thoughts from the weekend that I wanted to share:
• I am getting old. 
• It was great reconnecting with people that I had not seen in a long time.
• It was really great catching up with former students. One thing I noticed was that even though my gift is teaching, no one really asked, “Do you remember that message you did on…….?” All we talked about was time that we had spent together. We mentioned funny times and serious times, but the common thread was this: people remember moments more than messages. It was good for this communicator to remember that a great message has to be reinforced with a great presence.
• People don’t tell their friends and family how special they are to them enough. At the end of the rehearsal dinner, there was a time where friends and family shared with Luke and Jessica how much they meant to them. As I was reflecting on that night (which was great), I realized that most people communicate how much they love their friends/family twice in their lives: once at their wedding, and once at their funeral. And your friend/family member doesn’t get to hear your words at their funeral. Tell your friends and family how much they mean to you regularly!
• There’s nothing more beautiful than a bride on her wedding day. (You looked beautiful Jessica!) The day is all about her. Everyone makes sure her needs are met, everyone watches her…you get the idea.  In the Scriptures, Jesus refers to the church as His bride.  It’s a great refocusing moment for us- how many times does church become about us? We want a church to play the music we like, offer the programs we want, and meet our needs. In actuality, the opposite is true. The church is the bride of Christ…we’re placed here by Jesus to serve HER, meet HER needs, and make sure HER message, the Gospel of Jesus, is communicated. Don’t upstage the BRIDE!
• It’s humbling when you’re able to watch students who grew up under your influence mature and serve Jesus. Both Luke and Jessica love Jesus and take the call to serve him seriously. Luke is actually called to full-time ministry and is serving as a protege at Mosaic Church in Los Angeles where Erwin McManus is the pastor. It’s a great reminder. Everyday, you influence people. Who are you influencing, and what is your influence? As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.”
• Enough serious stuff. I laughed so hard all weekend with the great memories, funny comments, and off the wall antics. Mainly by Cameron Wilkins, who was also in my student ministry. Here’s a video from my cell phone of Cameron entertaining us by dancing to “Jump On It.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This past Sunday was incredible at Encounter. We had a packed house for Father’s Day.  My message was named “Awkward Family Photo,” after the popular website. There’s no doubt that being a dad is a hard job. Don’t worry though- our heavenly father has given us some great advice on how to be an awesome father to our children. When we follow the model for being a dad that God gives in Ephesians 5-6, we can create awesome memories. But if we ignore God’s wisdom and try to do things our own, we can create some really awkward moments and awkward circumstances in our families. We had some creative elements to the service that made it a lot of fun. To stay with the Awkward Family Photo theme, and to involve our dads, we took “awkward photos” of them. So many of our volunteers worked hard to make all the pieces fit together. Thank you team! The top 3 dads got some pretty awesome prizes. Here are a few pictures of our “awkward dads:”

First, church was great this past Sunday! God did some great things. At Encounter, the worship team did a great job. Volunteers, as always, you knocked it out. Thanks for your time and effort! I taught at the 8:30 service on Sunday. My message was named REDEEM and it was based on Luke 23:32-43.

The main take away was this: redemption is found in repentance. As Jesus was hanging on the cross, he offered us the most valuable gift He could ever offer: forgiveness. But it’s like a gift card. A gift card in no good unless you redeem it. Jesus’ forgiveness, as priceless of a treasure as it is, does you no good unless you redeem, or accept that gift. The only way to redeem the forgiveness of Jesus is through repentance. I’m not going to re-type my sermon, but here’s the cliff’s notes version. Here’s some signs that you HAVE NOT redeemed the gift of Jesus’ forgiveness: #1. You’re more interested in the things of Jesus rather than Jesus Himself. Knowing a lot of information about Jesus or attending church does not mean that you KNOW Jesus. The crowds at the cross knew a ton of information about Jesus, but did not believe they needed his forgiveness. #2. The word IF is a big part of your spiritual vocabulary. Check out the crowds in Luke 23. Their acceptance of Jesus’ gift was conditional on Him doing what they wanted. In essence, they were playing God. They said,
“If you’re really the Messiah, come down!”  If Jesus had listened to them and come down, we would not have salvation. If you find yourself placing conditions on God, it’s a good sign you haven’t accepted His gift of forgiveness. #3. You find yourself consistently changing the words of Jesus. The crowd rationalized that surely Jesus didn’t mean he was truly the son of God. Therefore, surely He didn’t mean they needed His forgiveness. Therefore surely….Do you see how that ball of yarn unravels? Jesus said what He said. Even the tough stuff. Rather than explain it way, ask Jesus to help you understand it, apply it, and live it out! The question then becomes, “How do I make sure I redeem this free gift of forgiveness?” The answer is repentance. There’s 2 major components to repentance that I want to make you aware of, and you see both of these evidenced in the words of the thief on the right of Jesus: #1. We need to repent of our sins not because we messed up our life, but because we broke the heart of God. Even when we “repent” of our sins, it can still be “us” focused. We’re sometimes more focused on how our sin inconvenienced our life instead of how it impacted God’s heart. #2. Remember that Jesus’ offer of forgiveness is based solely on His grace, not our goodness. Many Christians accept this gift by grace, not works, then spend the rest of their lives trying to be “good enough” for God. The thief on the cross didn’t have that opportunity. He didn’t have the chance to promise to “do better,” not hang out with criminals anymore, not rob anymore, and lead a rec group at VBS. He was about to die. He entered heaven that day not based on his goodness, but by the grace of a loving God.

Second, here’s a quick life re:cap:

Life is great in the Cottle household! Katie’s doing great…our third baby is due in late August/early September, and Katie is wonder woman! Despite being pregnant in the hottest time of the year, she manages to teach kids Sunday School, teach kids at a women’s Bible study, take care of our kids, and me, which is a hard job. Molly Kate turned one this past weekend. How did that happen? Where did a year go? She is a such a sweet little girl. The poor thing had a virus earlier in the week, and had a residual rash on her birthday. Life just isn’t fair sometimes! Charlie is being Charlie- one hilarious saying after another! I’ve had the chance to go fishing a couple of times lately. Two weeks ago a buddy and I went out on West Point Lake and the striper were surface feeding. It was a blast- here’s one I caught:

Last week, I got a chance to do my favorite thing: go out on a private lake and catch largemouth bass. We caught them- there were three guys in the boat and we caught 60 bass! But that experience had its consequences. I got EATEN UP by chiggers. Check out how bad my legs were. I itched for days!

Here’s a quick church construction re:cap:

If you attend First Baptist, you know that’s there’s a lot of dust flying. Our church is about to start construction on a new building that will provide room for our contemporary worship service (Encounter), fellowship, and outreach. But before a new building could go up, there was an existing building that had to come down.  Last week, the demolition job began on that existing building. It was incredible to watch it go down.  Here’s some pictures from my cell phone that show the progression, and a You Tube clip (also from my cell phone) that shows a few seconds of the backhoe taking the building down. The guy that was driving that thing was an artist! Pray for the ministry that will take place here!

Here’s the clip of the backhoe taking down the roof:

Click here to view the embedded video.

My mom one told me about one of her most embarrassing moments. She saw a lady she knew in a local department store. She hadn’t seen this particular woman in several months, and this woman was noticeably heavier than the last time my mom had seen her. My mom went up to her with a big grin on her face and said, “I didn’t know you were expecting!” The woman’s response? “I’m not.” Ouch. Aren’t we quick to judge? I believe that everyone who reads this post has probably been on both sides of the fence when it comes to judgment. We’ve probably all judged someone else, and we’ve probably all been judged. Other people have judged us quickly, and we’ve been quick to judge others. The story I wrote about my mom was unintentional and led to an awkward outcome. But judgment can also be very intentional and lead to very hurtful words and actions. Maybe you heard that someone’s marriage was ending, and you said, “Yeah, I saw how they treated each other. I saw that coming. My marriage would never play out like that.” Maybe someone you know had a moral failure and your thought was, “Obviously their relationship with God is nowhere close to mine!” To keep your pristine walk with God pure, you’ve since avoided any contact with this person. Encourage them? Why? They messed up BIG TIME. Maybe you’ve been on the receiving end of judgment. You’re doing the best you can to raise you children, but you’ve heard the whispers behind your back critiquing how you raise your kids. There’s an awesome story in John 8 where Jesus has teaches some incredible stuff on the issue of judgment. He has some intense things to say for both those who struggle with judging others, and for those who are suffering through being judged by others.

For those who struggle with judging others (which is all of us):

Read John 8:1-6. This is a fairly well-read passage in the Bible. To give you a brief background of the story, a woman has been caught in adultery. A crowd of self-righteous people  catch a woman in the act of adultery. They drag her to Jesus, publicly humiliate her, and ask permission to have her stoned to death. Why? To make themselves feel more righteous and holy than the adulterous woman, and to trap Jesus so they could disregard His teachings. Which leads us to the main idea: Judgment is never about other people- it’s about YOU. When we observe sin and brokenness in others, it reminds us of our own sin and brokenness. But it’s much easier to point out others’ flaws rather than deal with our own. When we judge others, we take someone that is already broken and SHATTER them. We SHATTER their lives and reputations by casting our stones of exclusion, unkind words, and judgment their way. And yet, it’s really not about them. We would rather SHATTER someone else’s broken life and make ourselves feel better rather than admit that we are just as broken. Just remember: when you find yourself judging someone else, it’s not a reflection on their character. It’s a reflection on YOUR character.

For those of you who have been SHATTERED by judgment:

Read John 8:6-11.  Jesus totally changes the standard by which we judge others. If someone else has judged you condescendingly, the measure they used was their own self-righteousness.  But it’s much different when the measurement is the righteousness of Christ. In comparison to the righteousness of Christ, guess who measures up? No one! We know from Romans 3:23 that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. After Jesus reminded the self-righteous crowd that all people were sinners, they all left. He then asked the woman where the crowd went and if anyone was left to condemn her. She answered no, and Jesus then said, “Then neither do I condemn you.” You see, when we judge others by our self-righteousness, we attach labels to people. We identify people with their sin- Sarah the adulterer, Tim the embezzler, Kim the gossiper, John the liar. Basically, we label people. If you’ve been judged, if you’ve been labeled, here’s the awesome news- the self-righteous may label people, but Jesus liberates people. Jesus did not condemn this woman, but liberated her from her label and encouraged her to GO- to move forward. In Christ Jesus, your identity is not your mistake; your identity is who you are in Christ. Jesus came to rescue and redeem us.

I know some of your heads are spinning right now. You’re trying to process this. You’re wondering what this looks like in your everyday life when someone you know (co-worker, friend, family member) is involved in sin. Your question is, “Since I know I’m a sinner just like my friend, does this mean I have to remain silent and just let them wreck their life?” The answer is no! Notice that Jesus says to this woman, “Go and sin no more.” Sin is not excused or tolerated, it is redeemed. Jesus’ mission was not to shatter the lives of people broken by sin, his mission was to save their life. As followers of Jesus, we’re called to come alongside that mission. With humility, love, and grace, we confront those in sin with the redemptive judgment of Jesus- not to shatter their life, but to shatter the power  of sin in their life!

Who do you need to be “walking with” instead of “talking against” this week? Make a phone call or send an email today!