Greg Pittman

Have you shared your 4-part “God Is” drawing with anyone yet this week? What are you waiting on? Here’s my drawing while at Jake’s Cafe with some guys this week:

God was not content just to be FOR people and WITH people. Even through the act that changed everything, God becoming ONE OF, God desired more. And so on in Acts 2, God’s Holy Spirit showed up in a brand new way. For those of us who are believers, God is now IN us. Our hearts are the temple of the Holy Spirit and so we don’t have to go to a special building or see a special person to connect with God. We don’t have to bring other people to some place to meet with God. God is in us wherever we go and we take people to Him because He is in us.

God IN us empowers us to do things we could never do on our own. We experience the fullness of God. We can say no to our sinful nature. We can represent him fully here on earth. We are His presence and we are His plan to connect with people who are far away from God. Because when God is IN us, we become FOR people like God is FOR people. And we want to be WITH people like God is WITH people. And we want to become ONE OF just like God became ONE OF.

Are you living like God is IN you? Or are you settling for something less? If you missed Sunday’s message, you can view it here.

Don’t forget about our special services this Sunday at all of our campuses highlighting Foster Care awareness month. We will have representative from OKDHS present and will be praying for them. Plan to encourage these workers and personally express your appreciation to them.

In the act that changed everything, God became ONE OF. He wasn’t content to be FOR people and WITH people. God came down and became ONE OF people in the person of Jesus Christ. Through God becoming flesh we can know and trust God. And then as believers we are given the responsibility of being ONE OF. We become ONE OF so that people can know and trust us, but ultimately so that people can know and trust God. It’s one thing to be FOR people. It’s a little more difficult to be WITH people. But to be ONE OF people can be risky and even dangerous. I’m so glad that our God “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant…And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:7). How far have you gone to be ONE OF?

If you missed Sunday’s message, you can always view it here:

We’re wrapping up our “God is…” series this weekend. And Sunday is Mother’s Day, so look forward to seeing everyone then.

I love God’s promise to Joshua before he led the nation of Israel into the long-awaited promised land, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:8). That is a theme that runs the course of history – God is WITH people. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

The mistake we often make is determining God’s presence in our lives based on how we feel or based on our current life circumstances. The truth is, regardless of how we feel, and regardless of what we’re going through right now, God has a long track record of being WITH people. And the promise for those who believe in him is that He will be WITH them for eternity. “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). God is FOR. God is WITH. This Sunday – God is ONE OF.

If you missed Sunday’s message, you can always view it here. Follow me on twitter @gregapittman if you’re interested in some additional discussion from Sunday’s sermon.

Look forward to gathering with you this Sunday and celebrating.

Last weekend we started a new series called “God is…” We’re exploring the nature of God; what He is like, what he is all about. This we know from scripture – God is FOR people. He is for all people. Not just “our” people, but for the entire human race. The news gets even better – God not only loves people, he likes people! We expect God to have to love us unconditionally, but from Jesus we learn that God actually likes us. He wants to befriend us.

Now, if God is for people, how can we his church be FOR people? From listening and observing our church, do people know that we are FOR them…do they know that God is for them? More personally – from watching my life, do people know that God is for them?

If you missed Sunday’s message, you can view it here:

Great job Sapulpa campus on your Serve Sapulpa Sunday this past weekend! Dozens of our Cedar Ridge family visited nursing homes, picked up trash in parks, mowed lawns, washed cars and more. There are people in Sapulpa who know just a little more that God is FOR them because of what you did.

Look forward to seeing you Sunday. God is WITH…

I love reading about the Acts 2 church. I love the growth and excitement of that early faith community. I love the way the Holy Spirit was working within ordinary people. I love the way it empowered those followers to be bold and courageous. I love it that some 2000 years later, we are a part of that same movement; The Christian Church – The Jesus Movement. We are the church! We are the program. We are God’s plan. We are the Jesus Movement!

If you missed Sunday’s wrap-up of the Jesus Movement series, you can view it here:

This weekend we start a new series called, “God is…” What is He like? what is His character? What is He about? Maybe this will clear up some question you have about the nature of God. We’ll also give you a simple method for sharing it with others.

Look forward to seeing you Sunday.

This is video we showed last week updating our church on our Coweta Campus Launch. Thanks Clay Allen for the great pics and Kelly Naumann for the great video.

Thanks Scott Ulrich for posting this great video. We had a team of 87 from Cedar Ridge travel to Puerto Penasco over spring break and build homes. While some students were skiing and enjoying the beach, these were serving. Most of our adults had to take vacation time from work. I love it when people “live like that”

Did you see the new billboard announcing our Cedar Ridge Coweta Campus? It’s located on highway 51 just east of Oneta Rd., viewable as you are headed toward Coweta. Pray that it will resonate with someone as they drive past and move them to connect with us.

It’s hard to believe Easter is already behind us. I love the excitement of lots of people worshiping together. I love the mystery and awe of the resurrection. I love the visible reminders of new life and celebration with family (I love the ham and mashed potatoes for Easter lunch too).

It was a great weekend at Cedar Ridge. Our second annual Good Friday Communion service was well attended. It was a learning experience of how Jesus celebrated and ultimately fulfilled the Passover Feast with his disciples at the Last Supper.

Easter Sunday made for record breaking attendance at Cedar Ridge with over 1,500 worshiping at a total of five services at our three campuses. Thank you for being considerate of our guests. Thank you for sitting on the front rows (I noticed), for parking on the back rows, and for welcoming new people and helping them find their way around. I love being a part of a church like that.

Let me congratulate again our Coweta campus staff and launch team for a second week of over 300 in worship. We held two services on Easter requiring a lot of flexibility and sacrifice for these volunteers. Thanks for stepping up Coweta team. Great job!

Remember, “Resurrection isn’t something that happened. It’s something that happens!” The resurrection is not isolated to an event that happened 2,000 years ago. It is a global force that brings us out of death and into life. The message of the resurrection is that in the chaos and confusion and fear of this world, Jesus offers you life and joy. Whatever it is in life that is keeping you from living. Whatever it that is making you afraid, Jesus says, “because I can defeat death, I can defeat anything.” And he wants to take whatever it is that is keeping you from living, whatever it is you’re fighting in life, and he wants to rescue you from it. He wants to take the fear from your life and replace it with hope and joy. That my friends, is good news! Let’s celebrate it again this Sunday, by doing what Christians have done now for 2,000 years – gathering on the Lord’s Day and worshiping him as the risen Savior.

If you missed Sunday, you can view the message here:

This weekend we will continue The Jesus Movement series with The Revolution. Not long after Jesus resurrection, a revolution began that continues to grow to this day. Sunday we talk about another defining moment of the Jesus movement, the inception of the church. See you then.