Sunday Nite (August 5th)

A sign?

We had another INCREDIBLE day at Vertical!!! This summer has just been mind blowing for us as a church. I hope that you were with us today, but if you weren’t, here’s what you missed:

• Week 4 and final message in our “Heart Attack” series. Donnie brought an incredibly convicting message on the heart attacker of greed. None of us feel greedy but I find it amazing how very easily greed can enter into my heart.
• I am definitely greedy when it comes to food (grin-but for real)
• At the heart of Greed is a debt to debtor relationship that says, “I OWE ME”!
• Andy Stanley in his book, Enemies of the Heart says that  “When it comes to greed, greedy people believe they deserve every good thing that comes their way. Their mantra is, What’s mine is mine because I’ve earned it and I’ve got a lot more coming to me.”
• The bad thing about greed is that unlike the other three enemies of the heart, it is the easiest one to disguise.
• Donnie shared some stats about greed being all about perspective that made the room get really quiet.
• 50% of the world’s population lives on less than $900/year.
• 80% of the world’s population lives on less than $3,650/year.
• 22,000 children die each day in the world due to poverty (lack of access to modern medical supplies, unsafe drinking water, starvation due to no food).
• By world standards, if you have food to eat, have access to clean drinking water in your home, and make over $4,000 a year you are in the top 20% of wealthiest people in the world! And remember, greed is not a financial issue , it is a heart issue!
• “Lord, this is all Your stuff – what do You want me to do withYour stuff?!?”
• Remember, it’s not about what you don’t have. Greed and giving is about what you DO have.
• Near the end of the message our Stage Director and Vertical Worship Leader and guitarist, Robby Gaddy, gave an awesome testimony about God providing for him after unexpectantly losing his job of 17 years. You can hear it on the podcast. God is Awesome! Robby’s pretty cool too.
• Donnie closed the message by challenging our church with a 90 day tithe challenge. We challenged the church to sign up to take the challenge to begin giving 10% of their income over the next 90 days and if God doesn’t bless their life as they GREATLY trust Him we will give them their tithe money back. Every bit of it.
• That’s what I call putting our money where our mouth is. (Malachi 3:10 ESV) says, ”Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” I want you to experience this!
• Make sure that you check out the message “Greed” on iTunes, the Vertical app or on our website.
• I return to the stage next week as we go “All In”. I CAN’T WAIT TO PREACH! WOOOOOOOHHHH!!!
• Worship today was incredible, but before we get to music I GOTTA GIVE A SHOUTOUT to our Media Director, Scott Shaver. As we got to the 1st service our projector was not working. So, 1st service had to deal with no projector, no words, and a little change in what we were planning for you. While the service was going on Scott and Joey Landrith opened the projector, diagnosed and fixed the issue in time for the 2nd service which went off without a hitch. Talk about performing under pressure – way to get a BIG WIN fellas!!! #shoutout
• We went into that first service remembering that everything is about Jesus… the rest is just icing on the cake.
• Justin was our worship leader this morning and did an amazing job. I especially LOVED him bringing one of my favorite songs for such a long time, “Your Love Never Fails” by Jesus Culture.
• Karla Beth brought an incredible version of Audrey Assad’s song, “Restless”. Just breathtaking… worshipful… best ever for KB! Proud of you girl.
• Wanna hear a #shoutout about churches sending church planters and the difference it will make? Check out this short postfrom our church planting intern and Pastor of Fuzion Church, Raeford, Matt Harmon.

Tonite we gathered in Bladen County to pray. We believe God is calling us to bring Vertical Church to Bladen and it’s true that we have seen some spiritual interference happen. We prayed. We invited some of our friends to join us at West Bladen HS to call out to the God of heaven. I wasn’t able to make it as I needed to head to UNC Hospitals to see one of our attenders (Jessica Jones Seals-give her a #shoutout on her wall). I really wanted to be there but it looked to me like the Lord showed up as His people called out to Him. In case you forgot, it’s all about JESUS anyway. As the people walked around West Bladen HS praying the above rainbow appeared reminding us of the promise of God who cares more about the lost than we ever could. Those who attended were really encouraged by that sign. Donnie said that as they made their final lap the rainbow disappeared. We trust that is God saying, “I got this!”

We know YOU do, Lord and trust You.

A couple of attenders words…