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A P E R S O N A LI N V I T A T I O N

Kara and I would love for You to join us at a Life Church Worship experience. Our setting is relaxed. Our people are friendly. Our music is passionate and lively. Our messages are relevant. And Most of All, Our God is REAL and ALIVE and READY to CONNECT with YOU!

Come join us... Worship Experiences....Sunday 10:00amWednesday 6:30pm

Real Student Ministries.... Wednesday 6:30pm

I’d Love to Connect with you and follow what’s happening with you... Join me @http://facebook.com/jscottholmeshttp://twitter.com/jscottholmes

{reality} magazine is a ministry of Life Church.

If you have questions or comments, you can contact us the following ways.

Life Church Shreveport2222 Meriwether RoadPhone: 687-7055 Fax: 687-7027Email: reality@shreveportlife.comMail: PO Box 8096Shreveport, LA. 71148Visit our Web page at:www.shreveportlife.com

Believe...At Life Church, we believe that God has a great plan for your life. We believe that building your relationship with Him and with a fellowship of like-minded believers is the best way to discover that plan. We believe that life is meant to be lived together, sharing our triumphs and our struggles. We believe that “all things are possible through Christ, who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13)

If you are looking for something to believe in, we invite you join us on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. at 2222 Meriwether Rd. Or visit us online at www.shreveportlife.com. We would love to see you and help you discover the One worth believing in.

03670154 November 2014

Family Tye-Dye

Spoiled

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 4

been grafted in. This happens with step parents and step grandpar-

ents as well; although not blood they fill a void.

Each and every family is like a tie-dye shirt, at first they all look

similar, about the same shape, size, and a pattern that appears to be

the same as every other, however we know that upon closer inspec-

tion they are all unique, created different. Wearing each shirt is a

person with hopes, dreams, and a will to belong. Our desires to form

bonds with other social beings, the longings of our hearts to love and

to be loved, are something all of us share in common. A unifying force

if you will is the desire to love and to be loved without conditions. We

were simply made to love.

When a certain lawyer asked Jesus

“What is the greatest commandment,” He simply

said “you shall love the Lord your God with all

your heart, mind and soul, and the second is like

it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Did

you catch that? Two times, you shall love… And

who is our neighbor… anyone we show mercy to,

especially those we love…especially our families. If

we’ll search our heart, and seek its depths, we’ll find

that the deep desires to belong still exist. We all want to

be accepted in our diversities, we all want to be united

to a family structure no matter how diverse we are, we

all need to be loved, and to love… We were after all

uniquely made to love… Be thankful for the family

you’ve been given this Thanksgiving…

1. Be Simply RealReal is the new Genuine — honest, open and accepting. We are real people with real needs, looking for the real truth.

2. Experience WOW in WorshipGod is the incredible Creator, Ready to invite us into His Kingdom and radically change our life. Following HIM is meant to be a LIFE Experience. Worship should be a WOW!

3. Develop Passionate Followers of Christ“Come follow me” is the greatest invitation ever. Jesus invites us to follow, to learn, to change, and to go and do HIS works. Connect, Equip, and Engage are part of our plan of discipleship.

4. Lead a ServolutionHelping people and Showing Jesus to our community is priority for us. Doing what Jesus would do is most important. We are involved in the community and we serve our city every way we can. We want to lead a revolution through serving...Servolution!

5. Make an ImpactIts about helping others and allowing GOD to use us to make an IMPACT. One of the greatest thrills in life is being used as an instrument of change. To show people we care enough to get involved is the first step to change. We will make an impact in our family, our community and our city!

6. Create a Culture of CareThe Church was originally designed to do LIFE TOGETHER! People are created to compliment, to enjoy and to help one another. We are creating a small group culture of Care and Compassion, so as we grow larger, we can stay connected.

7. Go GlobalThe mandate is to go global... to take the message of Christ to the entire world! We are serious in our effort. We go, we give and we pray. We support missions and we are increasingly involved in special projects around the world. {r}

LIFE CHURCH CORE VALUES 7 PASSIONS DRIVE US & 7 VALUES DEFINE US..

By Matthew McCarty

Have you ever noticed how many different kinds of families there

are? Single mothers, single fathers, married with children, married

without children, widows and orphans, etc…Like a friend of mine

would say, “What’s really going on?”

One major thing that we all have in common is the fact that we

are all different. We all have different families that differ in differing

ways. Tongue tied yet? However, despite all our differences, and no

matter what kind of family we grew up in, even if it was an abusive

home or one in which we were neglected or left alone (abandon-

ment), most of us still long for some pretty basic desires in life. We

seek peace within ourselves, love for each other and ourselves,

unity in our diversity.

It just takes a moment to look around and see

the complete collapse of the traditional family unit,

and also, if we will notice, the longings to belong to

a family unit are still intact; so did the families really

disappear? Or did families as we know them really just

change form?

Another friend of mine who actually knows how to

make tie-dye shirts informed me that, “the actual tie-dye

process never makes exact duplicates, and that every shirt

turns out a little different. And then of course when you start

throwing various colors and pattern techniques in the mix,

things can really start getting interesting!” In most of our

families we probably have an uncle so and so or an aunt

you know who, who is not really a blood relative, but be-

cause of a relationship that they have developed with our

parents or grandparents or some other blood relative they have

Be

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Beginning a REAL relationship with Jesus and becoming part of God’s family is NOT a mystery. The way to know God is outlined in the Bible. God has not hidden

His Love from you. Be reminded today that God’s loves you. He sees you as valuable and precious and He desires your fellowship.

He has already invested great cost that you could know Him…Look at what the Bible says about it..

His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. - Ephesians 1:5 (New Living Translation)

God, has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God’s own family. - I Peter 1:3 (Living Bible)

To know God and experience the Life He has promised follow the steps below.....

A. Admit you have sinned. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. - Romans 3:23

Ask God for forgivenessEveryone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. - Romans 10:13

B. Believe in Jesus. Put your trust and Faith in HimFor God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16

Become a child of God by receiving Christ To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. - John 1:12

C. Confess and leave your sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. - 1 John 1:9

If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. - Romans 10:9

Your decision to be a Christ-follower is the most important decision you will ever make. We congratulate you and would love to send you a free booklet to help you get started in the right direction. Please phone us at 318-687-7055, or email us at reality@shreveportlife.com. {r}

We are transitioning into that “most wonderful time of the year’

when Youree Drive is a catastrophe, when people start camping

in parking lots, and when over a quarter billion dollars is spent on

ads just to convince people to buy more stuff. I’ll be the first to

admit that it is very hard not to “dream big” or “add that to your

wish list.” As Americans we are subjected to an insane amount of

advertising that constantly and consistently tells us what we need,

or to put it bluntly, what we don’t have. The reason that I point all

of these things out about our society is not to say anything about

the economy, family traditions or even Black Friday. In the middle

of all the wonderful lights, trees and festivities there is the poten-

tial for a huge mistake to be made.

We can get distracted by the things that we hope for and miss a

connection to God in the process. How is that possible? If we look

at Psalm 100:14 it says, “Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving and

into His courts with praise.” At first glance it seems like the writer,

David, is describing what to do when you enter into the temple of

God. But as we look a little closer I think it is showing us HOW to

connect with God personally and not just an ancient temple ritual.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving means If you want to be in God’s

presence then it must be done with gratitude. The easiest way to

approach the Lord of all is by thanking Him for what He has done.

The second half is similar, but a whole different level of action and

reaction. Enter His courts with praise. This phrase sounds like

David is just repeating himself but in all actuality he is giving us

the next step to getting even closer to God. Praise is the key, and the

reward is intimacy with our Creator.

Thanksgiving = being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

Praise = the offering of grateful homage in words or song.

Being grateful happens in your heart and you must remind your-

self of all the reasons to be thankful as often as you want to interact

with God on a real level.

Praise is when we let those appreciative sentiments overflow and

spill into our life by being kind to those around us and letting God

and the world know that we are so blessed even if we have nothing.

God is all we need to be happy. So remember this in the middle of

this next crazy season, don’t get so distracted by what you want that

you can’t say Thank You for what you have. Because without a little

gratitude, you are spoiled, and you’ll completely miss God.

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among

the things you only hoped for.” ~ Epicurus

‘Spoiled’