The best part about our tickets is that they were with the Chevrolet team and included infield hospitality passes, pit row tours, free concert and the driver intros.  Now the coolest part was that for the driver intros they had 48 brand new 2500 Duramax Diesel 4 door chevy trucks (I’m not jealous) that each NASCAR driver is driven around the truck in to intro them to the crowd.  So we picked out our truck from among the 48, actually drove it around the track and then came back to the finish line to pick up our driver.  We did not know who was going to be in our truck until he walked up and this is who we got:

We all started freaking out as he climbed into the back of our truck.  I hung out the window getting pics & video as the stands erupted as we drove by.  It was SURREAL to say the least. Then as we pull INTO PIT ROW he leans it and hugs Jax, high fives him and asks him if he is ready for the race.  We got him to sign our tickets and I am seeing them framed up in the near future.  Here is a video of us driving him: JR intro

We hung out in the infield for several hours as they were getting the pit ready and bringing out the cars.  We got to watch up close them roll out the cars and get everything set up for the race.  Then we would go back to our tent and grub on some free food.  I am telling you man I have not had quite an experience like this at something so HUGE.  There were people everywhere and a lot of them looked like this guy:

Ultimately the race did not end until midnight as Tony Steward pulled out the win after the last caution.  Then we waited in the parking lot for an hour to get out and we finally made it back home at 2:30 AM.  I have never seen so many people in one place even though people kept telling me that ticket sales were down because of the economy.  It was a great experience for Jax and I and all in all it was good clean fun.  We sat in great seats at the top right as they go into pit row and it was so loud we still had to wear earplugs (I guess that’s what you get with 800 horsepower running straight headers) Him and I both are definitely fans now and given the circumstances I think we might be cheering for JR.  Here are a few more pics and video.

Our truck picking up Dale Earnheart Jr:

Driving off the embankment going to get JR:

Rolling out Kurt Bush #2 car:

Hanging out in PIT ROW before race:

Winners circle:

Jax sitting in Gordon’s pit stop:

Also here are 2 videos of the cars driving by our seats:

Cars racing Cars racing 1

• Our Host Team is doing an UNREAL job.  I had a first timer tell me yesterday: “This was the BEST church experience I have ever had”.  Pastor Tim is doing a phenomenal job with them and there are so many awesome volunteers.
• Worship was BIG yesterday.  I was trying to think of the right word to describe it but it was so good it is hard to put into words so BIG sounds right.
• Speaking of worship, we did the song Wake Up by Arcade Fire because it talks about “If the children don’t grow up.” During the song when it changes tempo we had kids run into the services and start dancing around the room and on stage.  The place went through the roof.
• We love kids at Revolution and it was a very cool way to highlight what an awesome job our REVKIDS staff and leaders do.  Thanks guys.
• Then we talked about Colossians 3:20-21 & 15-16.  Here Paul deals with Christian households and how we are to work out of our salvation in Jesus first in marriage and then in parenting.
• Nothing reveals your need for Jesus like these 2 areas.  Marriage and Parenting go hand in hand and can only truly be successful as we continue to lean on our need for Jesus and ask him to rule in our hearts and through that let peace rule in our homes.
• It is tempting to think that there are 5 steps to successful parenting but in reality it is a lot more complex than that.  We strive to live out the biblical principles but never thinking that we can do it without Jesus.
• Also, announced our new series that is starting on September 12 called “How to Ruin Your Life.”  This is going to be a great chance to invite friends, family & whoever else needs to hear about the Gospel.  I am really looking forward to this one.

If you missed this weekend then you missed a lot of fun but as always you can catch the message here.  It goes up each week on Tuesday mornings.  I am more excited about our church than ever and this is only a taste of what is to come, trust me.

Here are my sermon notes:

I know there are some very godly women who are married to ungodly men…so you might be really mad at this set of scripture because you are being called to submit to a man who doesn’t love Jesus the way you do.  I talk to women all the time who are struggling with this.  Let me remind you that if you are striving to be like Christ, first HE is your ultimate authority, so you MUST submit to him.  Second, there is no better way to show your husband your love for Christ then to respect him and submit to him.  Remember, this doesn’t mean you lose your ability to think on your own, have your own opinion, or to be able to have a voice in a situation.  But, our opinions and voice STILL have to line up with scripture!  You be the constant reminder to him daily that Jesus loves him, not necessarily with what you say, but with what you do!  God will reward your submission!

Mine and Jason’s heart is to SEE marriages restored!  We have been through rough times as a couple but divorce just simply hasn’t been an option for us!  I have TOO much invested with this man!!  Jason is a man saved by GRACE and I am woman saved by GRACE!  We didn’t deserve God’s love, we didn’t deserve Christ dying on the Cross for us, we don’t deserve ANYTHING.  Yet God placed the two of us together to LOVE and SERVE one another.  The God who created the universe created JASON GERDES for ME to be married to, to have children with, to serve alongside with, to encourage, to do life with, and to LOVE!  Gods plan is perfect.

We are praying for our marriages in our church!  We BELIEVE in a God who restores ALL wounds and we trust our Savior to heal!  Call us positive, naive or whatever, but we just simply believe Gods Word!

Oh…and by the way…Jason DID put up his laundry ON SUNDAY NIGHT!
–
Lindsey Gerdes

I have said many times since coming to Revolution that the primary purpose of marriage is not to make your HAPPY but to make you HOLY.  Nothing reveals the selfishness of our own heart like marriage does.  Nothing teaches you how to love someone more than yourself like marriage does.  Nothing teaching you about your need for the grace of Jesus like marriage does.  It is a gift from God but honestly a lot of times it can feel like a curse.

The temptation is to think that you will be happy once you are married or worse yet that after you get married you would be happier with someone else.  The key point is NO ONE can make you happy outside of Jesus as that is too big a weight for any person to handle.  I have been married 8 years to my wonderful wife and it has been truly amazing at times and truly frustrating at others.  I love her more than any other person on this planet but she cannot fulfill me like Jesus can and I will never be able to truly love her like I am commanded to if I am not being filled up the the Holy Spirit first (Ephesians 5:18).

It was a true joy to have her speak with me this weekend and she has said that she wanted to post something on here too so I might just let her do that as well.  It is amazing the things God has shown me through her and I count it an honor to be her husband.  But the key thing I have learned while being married to her is that I cannot WAIT for us to have a great marriage, I must CREATE a great marriage.  And that can only happen as I submit first to Jesus and then take his word’s serious enough to live them out in my daily life.  It is amazing what can happen when you live out of your joy in Jesus and try to line up your life to his.

Here is the article that I told you about and also my sermon notes:

I have gotten to know Michael Lukaszewski, pastor at Oak Leaf Church in Cartersville, over the past few months and I wanted to give them props for what they are doing here in Canton.  They are launching out a campus here in Canton this weekend and I would love for you to tell your un-churched friends about it.  They have been doing some cool things to reach out to people here in our community and I truly believe that they are a gospel centered church that wants people to know Jesus.

For information about them and this campus check out:

http://www.oakleafchurch.com/canton

Let’s be praying for them and the success of this campus so that more people in our community will come to know and love Jesus.

7Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Hebrews 13:7

I think maybe it hit me because this is what I do, speak the word of God.  Honestly, it wasn’t one of those feel good scriptures but rather one of those stop you in your tracks and re-evaluate your life kind of scriptures.

Here’s why.

The writer of Hebrews is challenging them to not just listen to those who speak the word of God to you but to “Consider the OUTCOME of their way of life”. Did you catch that?  It is one thing to stand up and talk about God but it is another thing to live it in such a way that it produces certain outcomes.  As a pastor the ultimate test of my teaching is the OUTCOME of it in MY OWN LIFE.  That is huge.  Can I truly say don’t just listen to me but also imitate me in the way that I live.  Are the outcomes of my way of life worth imitating?

Before you listen to me or any other pastor/leader first consider the outcome of their way of life and ask yourself these questions “Do I want my life to go the way theirs is going?  Do I want the same outcomes they get?  Is their life/faith worth imitating?”  If not then pack up shop and start listening and following another.  If so, then truly consider their outcome and go beyond just listening.

SO please excuse me, as I go consider the outcomes of my way of life to evaluate if they are worth imitating.

• Sunday is a big day for Churches and even lost people know that so we need to be on our game
• Tomorrow might be the first time somebody comes, meets Jesus, finds hope or simply finds a group of people willing to accept them so it is not just a normal Sunday morning
• If it were not for the rest of our team (staff and volunteers) there is NO WAY we could BE the church.  I am honored to pastor such a great TEAM
• Our opponent tomorrow IS NOT other churches but the forces of spiritual darkness.  Hundreds of other churches in our county will show up tomorrow to meet with Jesus and His people and that is a GREAT thing
• Don’t get sidetracked by what other teams are doing or not doing, they will have to report to their own COACH and that is NOT YOU
• It is our job to study our OWN game film and make sure that we are operating as a healthy church by making sure that each player is playing their part well
• We should get butterflies on game day as we PRAY for God to show UP and show OFF
• After the game is over we should be able to walk off knowing that we left EVERYTHING on the field

Tomorrow is a BIG DEAL for our church and every church that is preaching about JESUS and I am praying tonight for us all.  We all need the Holy Spirit to continue to fill us so that as we represent Jesus tomorrow we would do it in such a way that people would be attracted to HIM.  It is humbling to think that Jesus ever called me up from the bench to lead at all so tomorrow I am going to give it all through Him, for Him and to Him.

• 33 people put their faith in Jesus this weekend
• 8 people got baptized last week at 1st Wednesday
• We had 45 first time guests this weekend and we average around 25 a wknd
• We had right at 1000 in attendance and over 200 volunteers
• We have 80 women going through our first ever women’s Bible study
• Countless stories of people’s lives being changed

I only share these numbers with you because they represent people and are just a small glimpse of what God is doing at Revolution.  Also, this weekend we started a new series called FRANTIC that I am really stoked about because I know God is going to use it in massive ways.  For the series we are walking through Colossians 3 and we started a 30 DAY CHALLENGE where we take 3 minutes a day and read through Colossians chapter 3.  I truly believe in the power of God’s word and I know as we walk through it people’s lives will be transformed.

Also, our BRAND NEW website just went live today and it is awesome.  We are still making tweaks to it but the majority of the info is there.  Go check it out and let us know what you think or other ideas that could be helpful.  Amazed at it all.

LOVE JESUS. GROW PEOPLE.

This vision focuses us in the kind of church that we are trying to build.  We want to be clear and communicate our vision simply so that everyone can know it and understand what we are trying to do.  Revolution church will first be about Jesus and then second about people.  We have a keen awareness that this is Jesus’ church and that He is the one that brings about life change.  Also, we know that what people need most is a relationship with him.  That leads us to the second part of the vision where we want to GROW people.

We want people to see that Jesus died and rose again for them so that they can have life by putting their faith in Him (GOSPEL) and then we want them to get connected into the church so that they realize they are not alone in their struggle by living out their faith with other believers (RELATIONSHIPS) which push them to course correct areas in their life where they have been disobedient as they read and study the Bible (OBEDIENCE) that in time produces fruit in them by changing their hearts as they begin to serve others and share their faith with those that are lost like they once were (WORK).

In short, our vision defines for us what we are trying to do and how we are trying to do it.  I cannot tell you how POWERFUL this weekend was for all of us at Revolution as we lived up to our name and started a NEW REVOLUTION.  This is only the beginning as Jesus builds us into an unstoppable force in our community.  Hold on as we begin to see in our lives the greater things that we can only dream about now.

The best is yet to come.

Here are my sermon notes and also a great article on the power of Vision.

Here God says that his people strayed far from Him and went after worthless idols and in so doing they became worthless themselves.  The problem with idols is not just that you are looking to something else besides Jesus as your first love but that when you do that you actually become WORTHLESS.  Now, I honestly think most people don’t intend to BECOME worthless but what they don’t realize is when they chase someone or something else besides God that is what happens.

The word worthless literally means in vain or empty and is the idea of a breath that goes away and disappears.  The interesting thing about that is people that go after something else tend to talk a lot as they do so because they are trying to rationalize what they are doing.  But the irony is that their life is becoming exactly like what they are saying, vain and empty.  Listen to what God said right before this:

This is what the Lord says:    “I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren wilderness.”  God says that he wants us to go after Him like a bride goes after he husband when they are first married.  He wants us to treat Him as ULTIMATE but not just for him but also for us because he knows that if we go after anything else then we become worthless.

An idol therefore is ANYTHING or ANYONE that you are following that is not Jesus.  That could be:

• A certain way of living
• A relationship
• Success
• A certain style of church
• An authority figure
• Anything or anyone else that you are tempted to listen to over Jesus

My goal for you is to have a WORTHY life as you worship the only one who is worthy and sometimes that means calling out what you are worshiping that is worthless.