DreamCenter Book Bag Give Away

What a great opportunity I had this morning to go share the salvation message with families at the DreamCenter. Amie and her crew did such an amazing job of organizing the event to give book bags away to kids. From what I know, the NewLife pastor and his church started the book bag give-away tradition in the community. Seacoast has partnered with them to reach more together than they ever could do on their own.

This morning, the Adopt-a-block teams went into the neighborhood to invite families to come to the event. They had to wait in line before coming to hear our story. After the message, they could pick up a book bag stuffed with goodies (thanks to the Nerve2Serve kids) and get free haircuts. Outside there were basketball games, music, and sno cones - yum! I went out and played a little b-ball with the New Life pastor's daughter and then we joined in to the Cha-Cha Slide and Chicken Dance.

Here are a few pictures from the day. It was hot, it was fun, it was so worth every bit of it!

We used a lamp with a light bulb in it to tell the salvation message....we got to smash a light bulb (it was great!). Here is the message we shared: It starts at the beginning of the Bible. God created a world that was full of good and light. Just like this lamp sitting here shines, God’s light shined everywhere and on every thing. Then…sin entered the world through man when Adam & Eve disobeyed God’s command and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This sin separated all men from God. Without a source of power, the light cannot shine.

(Unscrew light bulb from the lamp.)

We are the same as this light bulb. We need God’s power to shine His light, but with sin, we are separated from God, the source of light.

(Throw light bulb onto floor and shatter!)

The sin we have in our lives separates us from God. We tell lies, hit our brother or sister, disobey our parents, take things that don’t belong to us. All these separate us from God’s power. Sure…we try and sweep up the pieces with our own power. (Sweep up small amount of light bulb shatters and hold them up) We think we can shine again by ourselves and say, “God, look here I am! I can shine your light. But the reality is that we cannot do it on our own power. We get nowhere on our own strength.

The good news is that the God offers us a choice. He tells us that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He provides us a gift (pull out new light bulb). One that we aren’t worthy of, but fully given by His grace. He provides us the opportunity through the cross and blood of Jesus to shine His light. A light that can never be extinguished.

It isn’t automatic! It requires action on your part. The Bible tells us it is not good enough to merely listen to the Word. It requires a choice. God offers us full forgiveness of our sins if we ask Jesus to burst into our hearts. He asks us to repent and turn away from our sins. It doesn’t mean that you’ll never do wrong again, but it does mean that His light will shine from within you and no matter what happens around you…the light is NEVER turned off. Are you willing to make that choice? Do you want to have that light live within your heart?

If you have never made this choice to follow Jesus, I want to offer the opportunity to do that right now. If you have made that decision, I want to ask you to recommit your life to follow Jesus and tell Him you are ‘ALL IN.’

Father God, we thank you for these new names written in the book of life. We ask that you protect them as they walk out of this place and let them know they have a home here at the Dream Center. We want to walk through this with them, support them and provide them with extended family. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.