Dwight's Monthly Letter - MAY 2013

I have heard a lot of good comments about the "Weeds" series. It ends this weekend, and I want to encourage you, if you missed any of these five messages, to listen online or get the CD. I believe it will give you direction and help in the critical areas of life that we all deal with. By the way, it would be a great way to invest in a friend or family member. Let them know that it spoke to you, and it might be helpful to them also.

A new tool available to help you dig deeper into the Sunday messages is “The Daily” – designed to help you connect with God through Bible reading, reflection, and prayer. It can be completed in about 20 minutes a day, and fresh content is available each week Monday through Friday. It's available online, in printed format at the Info Desk, or delivered to you through email or social media.

I am excited about our next series called “Circle Makers” starting May 19. It's about praying circles around your biggest dreams and greatest fears. I'm taking from Mark Batterson’s book, The Circle Maker. Here is why I am so excited about it. Prayer can do anything God can do. It is our greatest resource, yet I believe for many of us it is under-utilized in our relationship with God and what we are experiencing in the world in which we live.

As a sort of companion tool, available for purchase for $10 will be a day prayer devotional guide called “Draw the Circle”. It's already being used by our staff; it's a powerful tool. I am also going to call us to 21 days of prayer, asking us to draw a circle around the big items in the life of our church as well as your own personal life. We are going to see what happens when we take this incredible and powerful gift called prayer and be intentional about it. I promise you won’t want to miss a weekend.

Coming in June we’ll be sharing information with our Partners in a new, innovative way - you're going to like it. God is on the move and is using each of our NewPointe campuses in incredible ways to help people realize and reach their full potential in Jesus Christ.

Only GOD (the book) - Who Are You?, Part 2

It is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. When Adam and Eve were created, God bestowed upon them 3 key attributes:

1. Significance - you will reign and rule over all the earth.
2. Acceptance - they were naked and felt no shame.
3. Safety and Security - you can eat from every tree in the garden expect for one.

When Adam and Eve sinned, these attributes became needs. The number one way in which Satan works is through fear, which was the first negative emotion that they experienced. It is through these needs that Satan seeks to destroy us and keep us from writing an Only GOD story. He did this with Jesus in the wilderness. Satan threw 3 temptations at Christ (the same 3 areas where he threatens us), making us run from self-knowledge and stunting our relationship with God:

• When Satan came to Christ and tempted Him to prove that He really was the Son of God by turning stones into bread, he was tempting Jesus to believe the lie “I am what I do. My performance is who I am.” This is absolutely a temptation in our world today. Too many of us get our self-identity by what we achieve, how useful we are, and what we have accomplished.
• When Satan showed Jesus the magnificence and wealth of the world, he was saying, “Look at what everyone else has. You don’t have anything. You’re a nobody. ”The devil was attacking His source of security. He wanted Jesus to believe “I am what I have. My possessions define who I am. ”This is more twisted thinking in our world today— what we have defines us.
• When Satan invited Jesus to throw Himself down from the highest point of the temple so that people might believe in Him, Jesus was an unknown. Satan wanted Him to believe this lie: “I am what others think I am. My popularity defines me.” Most of us are addicted to what others think of us. We are made by the approval of others and destroyed by a single word of criticism.

When we give in to these temptations, we spend our lives in image management, trapped in a self we have created, never knowing who we truly are. Writing an “only God” story with your one and only life—a story that changes you and your world—is an impossibility unless you peel back the layers of pretense, shut down the voices and demands of others, and discern your true value and the vision, calling, and mission the Father has given you. Only GOD (the book)
 
Remember in Christ:

1. You are significant - for you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect (I Peter 1:18-1).
2. You are accepted - God has made you complete in Christ. Christ is in charge of every ruler and authority (Colossians 2:1).
3. You are secure - and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:2).

Believing and experience these in Christ, empowers you to not only to be spiritually mature, but emotionally mature. We must experience both to write an Only GOD story.