LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! ~Psalm 8:1

We kicked off MBC Loudoun’s first ever Digging In!  On the last Sunday of January, we dug into our lunches (pizza and ‘dirt dessert’) and the sermon. It was a great time of fellowship with others from our MBC Loudoun family and we got to know Pastor Jim more personally.

We dug into Will Pavone’s sermon about Psalm 8:

“What are some things in the mundane of which you can be more mindful?”

Our group pointed out the beautiful area that we get to live in – the houses, trees, parks and mountains – and the remarkable God we serve who made it all for the enjoyment of our eyes. It’s easy to take these things for granted, to allow them to become mundane, everyday and common when we should really take the time to thank God for the beauty and wonder of the world He’s created for us.

“What steps can you implement to make room for a greater attitude of praise in daily life?”

We discussed how we need to prioritize a special time to spend with the Lord in order to have a greater attitude of praise from day to day. Sometimes this means taking time away from the everyday. My husband and I do this by taking time to go to the mountains, hike until we find a gorgeous view and then, take it in – this allows us to remember how small we are compared to God and how He has everything under control.

One thing that was very impactful was how vulnerable Pastor Jim was.  He shared some things that gave us a glimpse into the heart and mind of our pastor, the impact the Lord in having in his life and the impact He can have in ours.

It was a great time and I want to invite you to join us for the next Digging In – which happens to be this Sunday(2/26) at 12:15 in The Rock.

This past weekend, Pastor Will Pavone spoke about how believers can resist temptation. He did a phenomenal job talking about the fall of Adam and Eve and what we as believers in Christ need to consider to resist falling into temptation ourselves. Feel free to listen at www.mbclive.org – but for now – one of his main points addressed what it meant to accumulate “fighter verses” for daily living. Basically his premise was this – When temptation comes (and it will) we need to be ready with appropriate scriptures to meditate on and appeal to as a defense. When Jesus was tempted in the Garden, the first thing He did was to appeal to Scripture as His defense. Three times He was tempted, and three times He responded using scripture – “it is written…!” (The temptation of Jesus is found in Matthew 6).

Will provided three really good examples: Ephesians 5:3 for purity – There must not even be a hint of sexual impurity in your life, 1 Peter 5:5 for pride – God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, and Matthew 6:20 for dealing with material possessions – “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” I have a bunch of verses myself – committed to memory and some typed out and placed in strategic locations like my computer screen.

• I will set before my eyes no vile thing – Psalm 101:3
• Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind – Romans 12:2
• …we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ – 2 Corinthians 10:5
• Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths – Ephesians 4:29

And of course, we could go on and on. What are your “fighter verses?” If you don’t have any, you need to first identify the areas of greatest temptation for you. What are they? Gossip? Anger? Lack of Discipline? After you have identified your key temptations, you must then go on a search of the scriptures for the verses that speak to those temptations. Lastly, you need to commit these scriptures to memory so they are available to you at a moment’s notice for your protection. Then you can ‘resist the devil and he will flee’ – James 4:7. This is a critical discipline for every Christ follower to learn – and one that produces enormous fruitfulness in daily living. God bless.

Jim preached LIVE at MBC Loudoun October 24 and 25! Listen his great sermon, “So that Others May Believe,” here:

Click here to view the embedded video.