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There are down times in our lives when our soul says, "Thanks for nothing," times when our dreams don't seem to come true. Join me in this audio sermon as we examine Joseph's life to learn 6 ways to remain U.P.B.E.A.T. in these down times.
Subscribe to this audio podcast! It's available every week on iTunes or for any other mp3 player.
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Would you like a preview of tonight's U.P.B.E.A.T. message at Church Requel? Open up your YouVersion Bible app on your mobile device. Click on "LIVE" icon. Type in zip code 44906 or Requel. Or you could also type in http://bible.us/e/DTq in any browser window. Here's what it should look like (you can scroll down within the window below):
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Hi everyone! Pastor Mark here with your weekly Church Requel update. I hope this message finds you well. I'm writing you from my favorite haunt - Panera Bread for lunch!
This weekend we're going to talk about a struggle many of you have confided to me. We're going to address the question of how you (and I) remain U.P.B.E.A.T. in down times. Let's face it. We all have down times. Sometimes, though, these times of despair and disappointment can be deeper or longer than we've ever thought possible. What should we do? Is P.M.A. (positive mental attitude) the answer? Or should we just give up? Does the Bible have any serious advice for us?
My answers? "No" to the first two questions and an unwavering "YES" to the third!
We're going to continue our Dreamcoat sermon series with our 3rd study from the life of Joseph. We'll discover together that he often had to deal with being disappointed and disillusioned. He must have struggled with the turns his life took, veering well away from his dreams. In fact, much of his life was more like a nightmare. Can you identify?
We'll learn six steps to take for these down times in our lives. Not surprisingly - these six steps coincidentally all begin with the letters U, P, B, E, A, and T. This is not a theoretical talk for me this weekend. This talk comes from both the Bible and from my own personal "school of hard knocks." God has been speaking to me all week long in preparation for this talk, and I'm excited to bring you this message!
We'll also enjoy some great worship together, singing "Glory To God," "So Good," "Agnus Dei," and "Still." We'll also watch a short video illustrating Psalm 42, which artfully paints the fog in which many of us find ourselves. Steve will lead our prayer time and Nancy will read our Scripture.
I'm very much looking forward to sharing this worship service with you at Church Requel this weekend. - Pastor Mark
P.S. - If someone emailed this to you, here's directions to our church. We meet Sunday night at 6pm.
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Every week I publish my sermon notes so that you may read them for yourselves. For my parishioners, this could be a good review from the weekend before. And it gives you a chance to see what I intended to say! For other pastors and ministers, feel free to borrow and use any of this material. I'd love for God to be glorified by you incorporating these notes into your own worship.
Click here to listen to The Green Giant
Dreamcoat Part 2: The Green Giant 10.23.11
Scripture: Genesis 37:18-28 NIV
Intro: Today we continue our new Dreamcoat series with part 2. We are calling it the GREEN GIANT because when jealousy, covetousness and/or envy enters our life - it really does become a giant! We can’t see anything else. We focus on what we don’t have or what we are afraid of losing - and we LOSE OUR JOY! I want to discuss with you 6 things that happen to us when this Green Giant gets in our way. Take out Bibles!
But 1st! Let’s talk about the difference between jealousy, coveting, envy.
Regardless of how you define it, when this ugly green giant comes into our lives, it can be devastating. Here’s our game plan today. I’d like to tell you about the six results of envy in our lives. Then I’d like to show you a short video that will make this really clear. Finally, I’d like to invite Randy Craig up to share his own personal story of envy. Sound good?
Six Results of Envy
#1 - Envy causes me to _BREAK GOD'S COMMANDMENT_.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbors.”
Exodus 20:17 ESV
Sometimes we make this more complicated than it needs to be. God warned us against coveting when He gave us the Ten Commandments. That’s right! Wanting what someone else has that does not belong to you is a sin. And not just any ole’ sin. It’s one of the BIG TEN! God didn’t call these the 10 suggestions! They are commandments for a reason. To break one of these breaks our fellowship with God and with one another. Notice how wide-ranging this command is: wife, servant, ox, donkey (car) or ANYTHING ELSE! Why so all encompassing? We see it in our study of Joseph and his brothers...
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The phrase "Green With Envy" demonstrates that envy makes us sick. In this audio version of Sunday's sermon, I share 6 reasons why envy hurts us. Then, one of our parishioners, Randy Craig, shares his own stuggles with envy. Scripture from Genesis 37:18-28.
Subscribe to this audio podcast! It's available every week on iTunes or for any other mp3 player.
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Hey everyone! Pastor Mark here with your weekend highlights email. Read on to find out all the cool things happening at Church Requel Sunday night. But first, let me share some great news with you!
Yesterday morning I reflected on the blessings of Church Requel being a beautiful, small church. When I finished posting the article, I remembered an exchange of emails I had about a month ago with Brandon Cox, who is the editor for the Pastors.com Blog and a church planter in Arkansas. I thought that perhaps Brandon would like the article and so I shared the link with him. He wrote me back that he immediately posted it on the Pastors.com blog site and that the article would be shared in Pastor Rick Warren's next weekly Pastor's Toolbox email. Since then I've received emails and twitters from a dozen folks around the country and have watched with fascination as others have shared encouragement on Twitter! I have been reminded - and I want you to be reminded as well - of just how BIG results can come from our small church. Remain faithful. Continue your ministries. Know that you are an encouragement to many people beyond the walls of our church!
Now on to the wonderful worship we have planned for Sunday night. We'll start off with a couple terrific praise songs including "New Doxology" and "Oh Praise Him." After you finish greeting one another (your greetings become longer every week! - I love it!), we'll sing one more worship song, "In Christ Alone." After communion, Dick Jourdan will tell us of his wonderful good news and answer to prayer regarding his recent doctor's appointment. (Perhaps someone else has a praise they'd like to share too? If so, email me!) Then, as always, we'll stop talking about prayer and actually pray together!
Marci Crawford will share our Scripture reading with us from Genesis 37:18-28. By the way - and this is MY answer to prayer!!!... This weekend's program will look a little different - BETTER would be the better word actually. This week for the first time in almost 3 years, your pastor did not produce the weekly program. Marci did it from start to finish - including the computer work, sending it to the printer and delivering it to church. Let her know how much you appreciate her ministry! AND if you have something you'd like to share with others in the weekly program, email Marci at her snazzy new Church Requel address!
Our teaching time will focus on the topic of envy. We're calling it "The Green Giant" because envy really is a giant of a problem for us. This week in preparation I came up with six diseased results of envy in our lives. I think people use the phrase "green with envy" for a reason - envy makes us spiritually sick. As we'll learn Sunday night, it is the gateway sin to many other dark places.
We're going to do two things to bring the point home Sunday. First, we're going to watch a short video with the surprising title, "More Coke." (Yes, I'm giving you the link to this remarkable, short video. Why? Because I want you to know ahead of time just how powerful this will be - you will want to invite some friends to come see it!) I guarantee that after watching this video, you'll never think about envy in the same way again!
The second way we'll help you with your own struggles with envy is to hear the story of one of our own parishioners - Randy Craig. Randy and I shared lunch together on Wednesday. Remarkably - and without even knowing what our topic was going to be Sunday - Randy shared with me his own struggles with envy that he has dealt with in his business. With God there are few coincidences. I immediately asked Randy if he'd share his story with you all as well.
We have a great worship service planned for Sunday. You could do three things to help! #1 - Pray for God's Holy Spirit to be present and that we all would have a pure heart of worship. #2 - Make plans for you to be present as well. It just won't be a party without you being there! And #3 - Invite a friend to come with you. You'll both be glad you did.
Love you all!!! Pastor Mark
P.S. - This weekend's sermon outline is ready for your mobile Bible app. Download it here.
P.P.S. - If your friend sent you this email as your invitation, here are the directions. See you Sunday at 6PM!
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The average size church in America, I'm told, is 75 people. When I served as a teaching pastor in a large, mega-church I remember wondering how a church could remain less than a hundred people for long. Now that I've been a church planter for almost 3 years, God has greatly tempered my previous ignorance. If the average size is 75, then it only makes sense that many churches attract fewer than 75.
We had 61 people at Church Requel two weeks ago and we were thrilled! Ironically it was a weekend when Mary Kay and I weren't even there. We received emails and text messages from many parishioners celebrating the evening. It felt good.
We're the size church that has to look up to see "average." With that mindset it's easy to fall into a sense of inadequacy. We live in a world of "super" things: Super Bowl, supermarket, and megachurch. In such a super atmosphere, where BIG is celebrated, where large numbers equals success, it's easy to suffer from low esteem.
Thanks to the foresight of our leadership team, I'm back to my seminary studies at Ashland Theological Seminary. Interestingly, the best class available to me this quarter is "Smaller Churches: Challenges & Opportunities." Wow! Talk about a class designed just for me. Small. Challenge. Opportunity. This class speaks my language!
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Dreams are important. Sometimes dreams are even from God! If we're not careful, we can turn our dreams into nightmares. Join me in this video sermon from last weekend and learn 3 ways we can dream ugly. The Scripture comes from Genesis 37:3-10.
Here are the resources to support this week's sermon. You may want to download the weekend program and follow along. Or perhaps you'd like to have a copy of my notes. If you are a pastor or ministry leader of another church, you are most welcome to use these resources in any way that could build the kingdom of Christ. We're on the same team! Download any of the following:
All of the Church Requel sermons are available either in the CR Video Library or the CR Audio Library or you can listen on the Church Requel Audio Blog. Would you like to subscribe to the weekly audio podcast and receive the sermon each week? Subscribe here for iTunes or here for all other mp3 devices. You can also subscribe to the weekly video podcast.
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This morning I watched the video below in The Daily. I immediately tweeted that if anyone has ever run a meeting, they should view this video. President Clinton and his foundation have come up with this genius idea to create something funny so people would learn about the Clinton Foundation. This morning I'd like to consider this as a teaching moment of how NOT to run a meeting. Watch, laugh then read.
6 Ways NOT to Run a Meeting:
1. Substitute "brainstorming" for "agenda." Brainstorming can be great... assuming everyone is on the same page. Here there are multiple agendas going on. If you're a leader, start planning your agenda for the meeting long before the meeting takes place. Think it through. Write it down. Review it before the meeting starts with everyone in the room. Make sure everyone is on the same agenda.
2. Look for a group of winners rather than a winning group. Here we have a room filled with comedic geniuses. (Which is why the video idea for the Clinton Foundation is such a genius idea.) However I have discovered that often people can be really great on their own doing their own thing, and yet be complete duds in a meeting. A group of people does not equal team.
3. Long Meetings Equal Productivity. Ben Stiller begins the video with this statement: "It's been two hours and we still don't have anything." If you don't have anthing after two hours, it's pretty clear you're not going to have anything in hours 3, 4 or 5. Actually I'd say 30 minutes is about tops.
4. Allow Surprises to Derail Purpose. Sean Penn has his own surprise: "Stop stealing my sandwiches." This has nothing to do with the agenda. Oh wait... there's no agenda. Go back and read #1.
5. Forget Your Mission Under Guise of Camaraderie. Matt Damon observes that team spirit (morale, camaraderie, community - pick any of the above) is down so they should start a softball team. Camaraderie is built when all are working well toward a common purpose. Starting something off-mission for the purpose of building team spirit is the surest way to kill team spirit.
6. Let Group Enthusiasm Replace Your Better Judgment. Kevin Spacey calls in pretending to be President Clinton and tells the group how wonderful their ideas are. Everyone is relieved and surprised. Why? Because the ideas stink. And everyone in the room - in their heart - knows it. However the elation of the group overwhelms better judgment. Sometimes you need to listen to your own better judgment.
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Every week I publish my sermon notes so that you may read them for yourselves. For my parishioners, this could be a good review from the weekend before. And it gives you a chance to see what I intended to say! For other pastors and ministers, feel free to borrow and use any of this material. I'd love for God to be glorified by you incorporating these notes into your own worship.
Click here to listen to Dreaming Ugly!
Dreamcoat Part 1: Dreaming Ugly 10.16.11
Scripture: Genesis 37:3-10 ESV
Video: “Dreamcoat Promo” [1:15]
Intro: Today we begin our new Dreamcoat series. Over the course of the next month we’re going to look at the life of Joseph in Genesis. We’re going to talk about the role of dreams in our lives. Sound good? In a few moments, today, we’ll talk about dreaming ugly. Next week we’ll look at dreams from the outsiders view point - how do we handle other people having big dreams and/or big success... how do we handle the Green Giant of jealously and envy. In a couple weeks we’ll talk about what we do when our dreams aren’t being realized - “Thanks for Nothing.” Then finally we’ll talk about how to handle when our dreams come true beyond our wildest imaginations - “Thanks for Everything!”
Before we get there, though, I want to affirm to you just how important our dreams really are to us. The last thing I want you to take away from Genesis 37 is that we shouldn’t dream.
Our dreams are important! Both to us and to God!
Consider that our Bibles are filled from beginning to end with dreams! In my ESV Bible I find dream(s) mentioned ___112x___!
Dreams continue to play an important role in our world today!
Why are dreams so important? They are a window into 2 views:
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Dreams are important. Sometimes dreams are even from God! If we're not careful, though, we can turn our dreams into nightmares. Join me in this audio sermon and learn 3 ways we can dream ugly. The Scripture comes from Genesis 37:3-10.
Click here to listen to Dreaming Ugly!
Subscribe to this audio podcast! It's available every week on iTunes or for any other mp3 player.
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Every Sunday Church Requel publishes a "Live Event" for the YouVersion Bible App. Tonight's sermon comes from Genesis 37, where we learn about Joseph's dreams. All the Scriptures we'll use tonight, along with the sermon outline, fill-in-the-blanks, feedback questions, and prayer requests are included. If you have the YouVersion Bible app on your mobile device, click on "Live" in the main menu, then type in either Requel or zip code 44906. Or just click here! See you tonight at 6pm!
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I'm back! Reminds me of the line made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger. (By the way - did you know he flubbed that line? In the original script, he was supposed to say, "I'll come back." Wow! Talk about change and opportunity. There must be a sermon in there someplace!)
Mary Kay and I had a great time with my dad and Julie down in Mytle Beach. Dad fed us every day - usually twice a day. Between returning to a more normal (sane?) diet and not hearing the ocean surf anymore, I'll admit to some withdrawal pains.
One thing I'm not withdrawing from - at all - is my commitment to an awesome Church Requel worship service this coming Sunday evening. We begin the new Dreamcoat sermon series this Sunday. I've enjoyed putting together our first thematic service to support these dream sermons. This Sunday we'll be talking about Dreaming Ugly, a study of Joseph's first dream recorded in Genesis 37.
Jana will read this Scripture for us Sunday. She does an awesome job! You could just close your eyes and dream yourself away listening to her read!!! (I only exaggerate slightly. Ha!)
We've found a way to sneak in some great dream sequences into our videos ("I have a dream!" - how could we not include that one?) along with some great music. I'm not a fan like Mary Kay, but some of you love the music recorded by Celine Dion, right? Then you'll want to come early for the countdown and listen to her famous "Power of the Dream."
A new soloist - at least to me - Shirley Murdock - will sing during our communion time. You've never heard Shirley sing "Dream? Take 5 minutes for a little soul lift over on YouTube! Her Journey CD and DVD will be released next week!
Speaking of new releases, we've also found a way to sneak in a movie clip from a new movie, The Mighty Macs, being released nationally one week from today. This inspirational true story highlights the coaching career of Cathy Rush, who took the women's basketball team of tiny Immaculata University to 3 national championships in her six years as head coach.
Why are we showing this clip? There is a scene in the movie where her star basketball player tells the coach she has to quit so she can take on a part-time job at a department store. The coach asks the player a key question: "Is this something you've always dreamed of doing?" The player responds - and this is sure to become a classic movie line - "No, but I do get a 50% discount!"
This Sunday we'll talk about ugly dreaming. What can turn our dreams into nightmares? This Sunday we'll learn that it's not my dreams that make a difference in my life, but what I do about my dreams that matter! (Let that roll around in your brain a few times!) We'll also explore three ways to take a beautiful dream and make it into something ugly!
I promise you won't want to day dream through this service. Not only that, but you won't want your friends to miss out either. So forward this little blog post their way along with your personal invite. Tell them that this church service will be beyond their wildest dreams!
Sweet dreams! Pastor Mark
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Hey all you Church Requel readers and parishioners! I'm working on the new sermon series from the life of Joseph today. We're calling it "Dreamcoat!" I'm learning all about the importance of dreams in our lives. I can't wait to share what I've learned with you!
I've also learned a few new things about our website. (Thanks Cloversites for the great website tools!) Today I set up the front page of our website as a photo slideshow, highlighting the title, Scripture, and date of each sermon in the series. On top of that, we've included an overlay of basic info for new people checking out the website. Check it out!
We also created a new video promo, which we showed to our parishioners for the first time last week. It is also connected to the front page of the ChurchRequel.org website. When someone clicks "Learn More!" the short 1 minute, 15 second video pops up. I've included the video below:
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In football two guards protect the quarterback. We Christians also have 2 guards. Join me in this video sermon as we talk about both guards AND the 3 steps we take to guard our faith. The Scripture comes from 2 Timothy 1:3-14.
Here are the resources to support this week's sermon. You may want to download the weekend program and follow along. Or perhaps you'd like to have a copy of my notes. If you are a pastor or ministry leader of another church, you are most welcome to use these resources in any way that could build the kingdom of Christ. We're on the same team! Download any of the following:
All of the Church Requel sermons are available either in the CR Video Library or the CR Audio Library or you can listen on the Church Requel Audio Blog. Would you like to subscribe to the weekly audio podcast and receive the sermon each week? Subscribe here for iTunes or here for all other mp3 devices. You can also subscribe to the weekly video podcast.
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In football two guards protect the quarterback. We Christians also have 2 guards. Join me in this audio sermon as we talk about both guards AND the 3 steps we take to guard our faith. The Scripture comes from 2 Timothy 1:8-14.
Subscribe to this audio podcast! It's available every week on iTunes or for any other mp3 player.
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Every week I publish my sermon notes so that you may read them for yourselves. For my parishioners, this could be a good review from the weekend before. And it gives you a chance to see what I intended to say! For other pastors and ministers, feel free to borrow and use any of this material. I'd love for God to be glorified by you incorporating these notes into your own worship.
Sunday Night Football Part 4: Guard the Faith 10.09.11
Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:8-14 ESV
Video: “Football Advice from Pastor: Guard!” [1:39]
Intro: Doing things a little differently today. Mary Kay and I are enjoying some sun and surf and Myrtle Beach this week. So I’ve pre-recorded today’s talk. I think you’ll still enjoy it and benefit from it because we’re talking about such an important topic: GUARDING YOUR FAITH!
Illustration: In football there are two positions called “guard.” A right guard and a left guard. When the plays are designed this is where it begins. Blocking... Guarding... fundamental to football. Both are important and both must do their job in order for the team to advance the ball and protect the quarterback. Same is true of our Christian faith. To guard our faith is fundamental...
In our Christian lives we also have 2 “guards. Let’s talk about each:
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Feel like a good Monday morning laugh? Here's the blooper reel from our Sunday Night Football promo videos. It always looks so easy...
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Would you like to follow my sermon tonight using the Bible on your phone? Here's the live event available from your YouVesion app on your mobile device. If you don't already have the YouVersion app on your phone, just search for Bible app on whatever kind of smart phone or tablet you have. Once you've downloaded it, click on "Live" and search for "Requel" or type in the zip code, "44906." Then you can follow along on your mobile device (iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows, etc.) tonight at Church Requel!
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Hey everyone! We have a really great worship service scheduled for this Sunday evening at Church Requel. Let me tell you some of the cool things that's going on!
I'm thrilled to tell you that we have a great praise team playing and singing and leading our worship! Dave Johnson, Josh Langdon, and Ryan Shoemaker will all be back on the Church Requel platform. Joining them will be Bethany Pierce! Woo hoo! Bethany is a fantastic singer, but raising 4 children under the age of 7 has kept her busy the last year or so. She's back leading our worship - at least for this weekend.
Our praise team has a great worship set picked out including "Indescribable," "Our God," and "Mighty to Save." They also have a worship opener planned for us Sunday night. Come early and be surprised! Here's a hint. Their song will make you want to sing along! Ha!
We'll also get our first peak at the brand new sermon series starting on October 16th: Dreamcoat! Lots more details to come - but the short story is that we'll be studying the life of Joseph and learning how important it is to handle our dreams in the right way... how to handle envy and jealousy... as well as the ups and downs of living a thankful life. We get our first taste in a very creative way this Sunday night.
Diana Devolder will talk to us briefly about how YouVersion Bible app has helped her in her faith walk. Nancy Roop will read our Scripture from 2 Timothy 1. Steve Thoman will lead our communion and prayer times. And yours truly will finish the Sunday Night Football series with my favorite talk of the entire series: "Guard Your Faith."
Oh... and one more thing... we have a blooper reel to show you after church is over. It's 3 minutes long. If you don't think you should laugh in church, you'll want to leave before we start it. What's so funny? Let's put it this way: our pastor isn't as young as he used to be! You'll have to come to find out more!
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