Keyes for the Kingdom

46,520 readers - THANK YOU!

That's how many people have "clicked" on my blog since inception. I got into this to kind of have a "cup of coffee over the internet" with family and friends.. It's been a good journey for me - kind of like a public journal of my thoughts, fears, and insights...

However - (drum roll here) - today will be my LAST POST for my blog!

I think it's run its course - most of our other pastors don't blog anymore either, so I'm kind of the last guy standing. Maybe blogs are going the way of the "cassette tape" or "vinyl record album"... who would know how long trends like this are effective?

I guess I might actually go to what I've been dreading for a while... facebook.. oh boy... I'm surely not going to "twitter" about my ordinary life.

So, to all my readers, family, friends, strangers - THANKS FOR YOUR TIME! I hope it's been some type of spiritual encouragement and help to you in some way. I'll leave the archives up for a while until I take it all down...

May God bless each of you greatly in this coming new year!

Sincerely,

Steve Keyes

What's YOUR Idol?

Oh no... another season of "American Idol" is about ready to roll! I have never liked this so called "title" of an American phenom TV show...Idols aren't considered GOOD in the Bible at all...  I came across this amazing blog today from Mark Batterson - he's the author of my favorite blog I read daily: evotional.com

When I read it, I thought I'd just rip it off and give him credit for one great post! Thanks Mark for saying HARD WORDS that I needed to hear... how about you? What's YOUR idol?

When we read about idols in the Old Testament, we tend to think of ancient people bowing down to carved wooden statues. How silly. How foolish. But most of us are just sophisticated idolaters. And it's no less silly or foolish. I'm convinced that idolatry is our root spiritual problem. Maybe that's why it's the first commandment of ten?

In the beginning, God created us in His image. We've been creating Him in our image ever since. Instead of worshiping the Creator, we settle for something less. We find a substitute god, small g. And here's the tricky thing. Most idols are good things, but those good things become bad things because they take the place of God. Instead of being the Ultimate End, God become a means to an end. We want something more than we want God. And we try to use God to get it.

So how do you identify an idol? Here are four idol identifiers:

1) What consumes your thoughts? Your daydreams are idol clues. If it's something you think about more than God then it may be an idol.

2) What bad habits do you struggle with? Your addictions are idol clues. An idol is something you cannot control. It controls you.

3) What do you spend too much money on? Your spending habits are idol clues. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also!

4) What produces your strongest emotions? Your intense emotions are idol clues. If you want to identify an idol, all you have to do is identify your emotional attachments.

Identifying an idol takes a tremendous amount of soul searching. And you have to be brutally honest. But you cannot tear it down until you name it. If you're serious, I highly recommend Tim Keller's book Counterfeit Gods.

Raising the Dead...

I've had conflicting thoughts in my head about "raising the dead" recently... I KNOW that Jesus can raise people from the dead - He did so with Jairus' daughter and also raised Lazarus from a cold dark tomb. Of course Jesus HIMSELF was raised from the dead... so how do I balance out the RED LETTER words of Jesus when He told his followers this:

(Matthew 10:8)  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

We do a pretty good job of praying and seeing God HEAL sick people! I know of lots of people who have deliverance ministries where demons are driven out - yeah!!! But "raise the dead"? I read reports about this happening around the world in some amazing ways, but frankly, don't see it around here much at all - really I've never seen it EVER... so why is this word given to US - the followers of Jesus - if it happens very rarely, and mostly not at all ????? That's my question this morning sitting before the Lord. I felt like I needed to read I Corinthians 15 - all about resurrection... Here's what I believe I heard from the Lord.

Everyone who has ever been "raised" from the dead actually died a physical death sometime later - so all "resurrections" in this world are temporary at best. BUT... the Bible clearly tells me resurrection IS POSSIBLE and is a BEAUTIFUL picture of what Jesus came to do - GIVE US LIFE! (We sing "O Praise the one who raised this life up from the dead") - ALL believers in Jesus were DEAD in our trespasses and sins and when we come to faith are RAISED TO NEW LIFE! Our own lives and the LITERAL resurrections that have happened around the world ALL GIVE TESTIMONY to the fact that it IS TRUE, CAN STILL HAPPEN TODAY and is a guarantee (down payment) that we WILL one day ALL BE RESURRECTED from the dead (those who ARE in Christ Jesus). 

I just talked to a wonderful guy in our church, Ray Millet - his 82 year old mom just suffered a serious stroke and Ray believes her life on this earth will soon be done.. BUT she's a believer, which means, guess what? ONE DAY she WILL BE RAISED FROM THE DEAD! You can count on that and take it to the bank! Would I LOVE to see an actual physical person raised from the dead in our day and time: YES, but even if I don't, I still BELIEVE it is true and will happen one day for all the saints of God who have gone on before us....

Day of Passion and VISION

WOW... what an AWESOME day at CRCC!! It was the FIRST Sunday of the new year, the FIRST Sunday of the new month, the FIRST Sunday of the new decade and Rich hit a HOME RUN with our vision talk for the coming new year! Wow... I was SO EXCITED feeling the passion and emotion that was in the room. We have some awesome "God chasers" in our church who really want this year to be an amazing year of serving, giving, and growing DEEPER in God's word.

Rich set the BAR HIGH for all of us this year - reading the entire New Testament in 30 days starting next Monday - going on a 21 day fast - praying like never before - serving the poor and the least of these... I wished Rich had asked everyone "Who's WITH ME ON THIS FOR THIS YEAR?" I think I would have run up on the stage! ha! I'm ALL IN! I met several brand new families this morning  - each week we have more and more people coming...

GREAT NEWS: Rich announced this too: GREATEST FINANCIAL GIVING to the church last quarter in the HISTORY of our church - and this is in a...... RECESSION ?????? There's NO recession in the Kingdom of Heaven and when we're on mission with Father God - He will FUND what He orders to be done!

I'll try to post our new vision video online soon - if you'd like to see it asap - it will be up on the church website this week... 2010 - here we go!!!! yeah!!!!

VISION VIDEO

Don't miss our brand new amazing VISION VIDEO this Sunday morning at CRCC - Jan. 3: 10:00 am. Rich and our whole office staff have been working hard on it this week and we think will be a creative and fun way for everyone at our church to catch a glimpse at where we are and where we're heading in this new year.

My son, Adam, owner of REEL EVENTS video production, is working hard on all the editing to get this ready to roll for Sunday morning. We're adding some staff, moving other staff around, and believe that we're getting all SET for the best year in the history of CRCC! I could not be more excited right now and think we're ready to roll... WOW... don't MISS SUNDAY!!!

Goodbye 2009

Ahhhhh... the last day of a VERY challenging year for sure! We spent today helping Megan, our daughter-in-law, pack up her car and head back to Atlanta. Aaron has been with his band doing a Christmas Conference in Nashville. After they left, we've been taking down ALL the Christmas decorations. They are a lot more fun to put UP than to take DOWN! Have you noticed that too? We're pretty tired, so we're just going to hang in here to celebrate the night. We'll watch a movie, then go to bed before the big ball drops in New York City. When we wake up, it will be a BRAND NEW YEAR! Yeah! I'll try to watch some of the college bowl games and hopefully take Becky out for a nice meal somewhere...

Happy Birthday Becky!

Today is my sweet wife's birthday... I always LOVE this time of the year when her birthday, Christmas, AND our anniversary are all in the same month (within 9 days of each other!!!) I have tried the old "let's just get you ONE present for all three events" - that doesn't work... I think I'm going to be getting her some new bar stools for her birthday - that's what she's been saying we need... with the FOUR older grandsons, we now only have THREE stools, so we're in the market for FOUR of them...

I'll also try to take her out for a nice dinner once things settle down at our house and we get a little more back to normal. Back to normal? When are we EVER that way? Ha!

I guess we'll start taking down the Christmas stuff as well... it's not as much fun to put away as it is to get it out! My job is the outside stuff (should be fine with the temp around 20 degrees!) I think we went more places this year during the holidays than I can ever remember - calendars were packed, but lots of fun with family and friends!!

Stirin' the Soup!

We've got a LOT of things moving at CRCC right now! New staff coming, current staff shifting in roles and responsibilities, new series starts on Sunday... Wow.. it's a whirlwind around here today! We're also making a "New Year Vision Video" to show you on Sunday - Where are are heading in this new year! It will be informative, creative and lots of fun! DON'T MISS THIS SUNDAY!!!!

Our heat was out at the office yesterday - why? Because the GAS COMPANY FORGOT to come and fill up our propane tank! 45 degrees in here - makes it kind of hard to type on the computer - so I got three candles that smell like "Fresh baked bread" and put them in a little grouping on my keyboard tray - was able to move my hands around them like a little campfire! I had on a hoodie, so I pulled the hood over my head - looked like a monk. Brian went and got us some portable heaters and when we turned them all on we blew a fuse! Oh boy... the JOYS of having a church office in an old house! ha! It did make us laugh and have a fun day in the midst of freezing half to death! Today - TOASTY in here.... ahhhhh. What lesson do I learn from this? When there's no fuel in the tank - no heat or warmth at all... When I don't keep my life FUELED by the Holy Spirit and God's Word, I"ll be running on fumes - no light, no warmth for others, and basically wasting my time! Get FUELED UP by the Spirit and WORD to start off this New Year!

Last Sunday musings..

I preached the LAST message of 2009 at CRCC today... Always kind of a "strange" day to preach - Christmas is over, but the church decorations are still up - like our lights at home! It's not YET the new year, so hard to get going on a "new exciting series" this week... So what did I do? I taught about Jesus getting LEFT BEHIND as his parents took off for home after a religious feast in Jerusalem. When they came back he was teaching in the synagogue and the people were AMAZED at what He was saying! Jesus, even as a 12 year old boy told them, "He was all about HIS FATHER'S BUSINESS!"

That's what we want to be about in 2010 at CRCC: Our FATHER'S BUSINESS - and that means KINGDOM business! Next Sunday Pastor Rich will kick off our new series called : RED LETTERS - about the words of Jesus in the Gospels. What Jesus SAID will be followed after Easte by what Jesus DID. It should be awesome... We had a great fall - highest offerings this quarter in the history of the church. New people coming each and every week - Presence of God in our services - awesome - WOW... a good year , but I really think our BEST YEAR IS YET TO COME!!! Come NEW YEAR!!!! yeah!!!

Christmas Lull...B4 storm!

We had a GREAT time at Aaron and Megan's house last night... The Christmas Eve service at the Gwinnett center had about 8500 in attendance.. It was simply AMAZING! Awesome singing, staging, lighting, video and the variety of the evening just FLEW by! How fun to see Aaron leading that many people in worship! THANKS LORD!!! After the service, Aaron and Meg served us an amazing gourmet meal! yum!

This morning we had another great breakfast of Sausage pinwheels and French Toast. Then we loaded up the Ford Focus for the journey home. NOW is the LULL before the storm... what storm... ALL the fam descending on our house for Christmas dinner at 5:30. Becky's cooking a huge PRIME RIB for us... yum! Then we'll open presents and rejoice in the birth of our Savior!

Aaron leaves with his band to do a Christmas conference in Nashville for about 2000 college students, and Meg and boys will stay with us for 4-5 days... should be wild and crazy around here for sure! But a FUN crazy! PRICELESS~~~