Day 6
With All your Heart
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
-Matthew 6:19-21

We tend to grow uncomfortable when the church talks about money. Why? Are decisions about how we live and how we use those resources unimportant? Is our faith supposed to be separate from our finances? Are not believing and praying and loving more important? Look at a revealing count of New Testament words: Believe, Believing—275 times; Pray, Praying—371 times; Love, Loves, Loving—714 times; Giving, Give—2,162 times. Jesus knew that our treasures and our hearts are inseparably linked. For Him, talking about treasure was to reach more completely for people’s hearts. Remember the story of Zaccheus in Luke 19? We have no idea what happened between Jesus and Zaccheus other than they had dinner together. But we do know that Jesus reached and dramatically changed that person’s heart. How do we know? Follow the money trail! Look at what happened with Zaccheus’ treasure. Seeing where the treasure went, Jesus exclaims, “Today salvation has come to this house!”

What’s In A Nickname?
“Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”
-Acts 4:36-37

The name “Joseph” is such a fine name, especially for a man of Jewish descent. In Hebrew, the name means “God’s added blessing.” This was the name for the cherished son of the patriarch Jacob. So why would the apostles give Joseph a nickname like Barnabas?

This Joseph was such an encourager that a new name was in order. When the early church needed money to underwrite its ministry, he was there to make a generous donation. When Saul of Tarsus needed a friend to welcome him into the Christian church he once persecuted, it was Joseph who was that friend. When the church needed to send someone to encourage believers among the gentiles, they sent Joseph. When young Mark needed someone to believe in him and give him a second chance to serve as a missionary, Joseph encouraged him. Any wonder all of Joseph’s friends call him “Son of Encouragement”?

Day 4
A Partnership Of Parts
“So in Christ, we who are many form one body, and each belongs to all the others.”
-Romans 12:5

The most important piece of a jigsaw puzzle is the piece that’s missing. It only takes one errant piece to ruin the whole effort. Every part is important. Synergy is a word better understood when divided. Ergo is Greek for work, while the prefix syn means together. When merged, it means working together. But, there is more. Synergy is better defined to mean the result accomplished is greater than the individual parts. Sports teams demonstrate the meaning of synergy. Playing together makes them better than playing as individuals. However, one team member failing to do his or her part can make everyone lose. One musician not in concert with the orchestra will ruin the music.

Day 3
Last Word, Lost Word
“The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name…’ He replied, ‘…do not rejoice that the spirit submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’”
-Luke 10:17, 20

Being, doing, and having is a fairly accurate motto for most people today. For some, having is more important than the other two. They sacrifice who they are through what they do in order to have. Everyone is big on being. Some pierce the parts in order to pound the point, “Look at me, notice that I am here, recognize my being.” The more sophisticated way of doing the same thing is in buying houses that do more than hide us and cars that do more than carry us. It’s another way of saying, “I am somebody! Look at me!” And then there is doing. The first question asked of a new acquaintance is often, “What do you do?”

Day 2
More Than Asking
“And I say to you, ask and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.”
-Luke 11:19

Most of us are good at the first baby step of prayer. It is easy to ask God to do something! Unfortunately, after the asking, we think we are done, and that we are expected to do nothing. The first step in any journey is critical. We do not need to ask in order to receive. But asking is just the first step. Many more steps will make up a real journey of prayer. Jesus offers His disciples a model for such a prayer journey. Ask—yes, or course—but then seek, and finally, knock on the doors you find!

Day 1
Growing The Church: one prayer at a time
“Epaphras is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, and be mature.”
-Colossians 4:12

Wrestling is ancient sport. During the first century, wrestlers struggled for their lives, not for TV ratings. In the language of the day, the wrestling ring was called the “agone,” and the wrestlers were called antagonists.
Such is the word-image that Paul uses to describe the work of prayer from the spiritual leader of the Colossian church, Epaphras. Paul says that Epaphras prays fervently (he uses the word root agone) for them. What a powerful image—and a Biblical image too—like Jacob wrestling with the angel all night for a blessing (Genesis 32:24-31), and like Jesus praying so fervently in the Garden of Gethsemane that His sweat became like drops of blood (Luke 22:41-44).

Dear Rocky River Family,

As we begin another chapter in the life of our church and prepare to make our stewardship building campaign pledges, I want to remind you what this campaign is really about. It is not a campaign about money and how to get enough of it to build a building. Rather, it’s a campaign focused on God and our personal commitment to Him. It is a campaign about our own spiritual growth. It is a campaign about our commitment to being a devoted follower of Christ who desires to radically follow the leading of our Lord. Our desire is to allow the next few days and weeks to be a true spiritual encounter with our living Lord.

In order to draw close to God and to truly know what He is asking from us, we must go to Him in prayer. Beginning November 8 through November 19 (the day we make our campaign pledges) I will be sending you an email devotion designed to help all of us to focus on God on a daily basis. We must set aside quality time so that we can passionately seek His will for our life and know our role in helping R2C2 reach its goal and build our first home.

As your pastor and friend, I’m asking you to join me in committing to consistent prayer and soul searching. Listen closely to what God has to say to your heart, then, commit to obeying His voice. Together, we will achieve the dream that is and will always be…Rocky River Community Church!

I am excited about this coming Sunday. I will be teaching from Hebrews 11:6 and Proverbs 3:5-6 and how to build a life of faith. I look forward to seeing you then.

IMAGINE!
Jimmy Britt
Lead Pastor

www.jimmybritt.com

Hey everyone. Thanks for a great start to our Imagine campaign. Things are really getting exciting. Many of you are asking questions about the campaign, which is great. I will start answering some of them on the site beginning tomorrow. Also, I will talk with the campaign team at our Thursday night meeting about setting aside some time during the next couple of weeks to answer questions in a large group session (likely on a Sunday morning).

For now, I will start answering the questions I am getting. You can email me your questions at jimmy@jimmybritt.com.

Thanks again for your support. God bless you!

This weekend about 50 people took a prayer walk through Phase 1 of our
future ministry campus. No, the building isn't there yet, but a
life-size grid marking all the major areas of the building is set up
on the exact location where the building will be built.

The prayer walks are designed to help folks imagine what the building
will be like and to encourage people to evoke God's help as we
launch into our campaign to raise funds and pledges to build.
These prayer walks are NOT a sales pitch to ask you to give. I hope
you will make a plan to participate in one of the prayer walks next

Hey everybody! Welcome to our "A Place That Matters" website. This site is designed to give you up to the minute information about what’s going on and what’s coming up in the campaign. Very soon we will have a calendar of events page, pictures of the building and much more. So be sure to check back to this site often.

HERE WE GO!!!

Keep imagining…
Jimmy