Tuesday Morning Reflections!

December 30, 2008

Tonight I am going to be busy most of the evening, so I decided to post something this morning.

Early Morning Reflections

  • Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.(Matthew 5:6)  Woe to you who are full, For you shall hunger. (Luke 6:25)
  • God has been rocking my world lately with these simply verses. Am I filled with things that are curbing my hunger?
  • 2008 was a year of extreme blessing in my family! Don’t get me wrong, the year was full or challenges and warfare, but it was a very blessed year by God!
  • In 2008 our family grew stronger, our church has grown, God has done awesome things, many material needs and desires were fulfilled, and God has increasingly been speaking to Ash and I over the last couple of months!
  • I am expecting 2009 to be an amazing year for the Bradford family, and the Overflow family.
  • In 2009 our church is going to stretch those in our body like never before, God is going to become real to more people in our midst, and our church body will double in size!

2009 Goals (Not Resolutions)

  • To work out 4 to 5 days a week!
  • To eat healthier all the time!
  • To ride my bike 2 days a week over the spring, summer, and fall.
  • To read 14 books.
  • To stay caught up, and maybe ahead in school.
  • To be a better husband, father, pastor, and friend!

What things have you been blessed with in 2008? Was it a blessed year?

What are your 2009 goals?

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Posted by kevinjbradford

Tuesday Night Reflections!

December 24, 2008

It was Christmas Eve – Eve! Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse! (So I thought) The stocking had not been hung yet, but the Christmas tree and decor was glistening. The kids were snuggled in bed in hopes that Jolly old St. Nick would be preparing His sleigh!

I had just settled in for a quick power nap, so that Ashlee and I could watch “the nativity story”. When rose such a patter, that I arose from my sleep. As I arose slowly I began to understand that patter, was really the tap,tap,tap of the office keyboard, for behold my wife was still on Facebook, or Fashion Wars to be exact! So I quickly went in and chatted with her, only to find out my power nap was two hours in a zap! Now that you know why my Tuesday Night Reflections were not last night, I will post them this day, Wednesday the true Christmas Eve!

A few reflections before I rush off to work this morning:

  • The Packers lost another game by only a few points on Sunday. It was a bummer, but not too surprising. (It makes me wonder if they simply cannot finish strong.)
  • As Christians we are encouraged by Paul in several different places to finish strong. I have heard of and seen too many  Christians who are running the race strong, but cannot seem to finish strong. I want to be a Christian who is known to finish what I start, and to be at my best at the end, not just the beginning.
  • Today is Christmas Eve, and I cannot get over how much God has blessed us this year. We have had so much blessings this year.
  • This is our first Christmas in our New House!
  • We have a new Fridge (very similar to Ash’s dream fridge)
  • Our girls are healthy, and getting so many amazing things for Christmas!
  • Santa is bringing them their most request gift! (Guitars, keyboards, and drums)
  • They have requested them so they can learn to Worship God with instruments. SERIOUSLY! Yea God!
  • Ashlee and I have a wonderful marriage, and love each other now more than when we first got married.
  • Our church has potential, and I believe we are finding our stride, so that we can finish stronger in 2009 than we start. (Definitely the case for 2008!)

Those are my thoughts before work on Christmas Eve!

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Posted by kevinjbradford

Life Group Christmas Party

December 21, 2008

Wednesday Night was our 2nd Annual Christmas Ornament exchange for for Life Group.

We had a lot of fun with appetizers, meatballs, and home made Eclairs. We had a lot of fun allowing the kids to open some presents and enjoy a little candy.

Then we began to ornament exchange. We each drew a number, and we played by Texas Rules. Each person grabs a new gift off of the pile, and then they can open it, or they can steal. If they steal then they give their new gift to the person they stole the ornament from. Each ornament could only be stolen twice, and then it is safe. The person who drew number 1 gets to go first, and last.

We had a lot of fun, and only a few stolen ornaments. In the end everyone was happy, and had a really great time.

Okay, I am from Texas, so we play Tx rules when we do gift exchanges. Do you know of any other variations of the age old “gift exchange”?

fam-life-group-xmas-party-257fam-life-group-xmas-party-239fam-life-group-xmas-party-236fam-life-group-xmas-party-237

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Okay…I am finally learning!

December 19, 2008

Have you ever been in a situation where you were just being a sponge, and suddenly you realized your soaking a lot of it up into your spirit (which is good), but in your mind your not learning a thing?

That is the realization that hit me today. (Wednesday Dec 17, 2008). I realized that God has been taking me to the woodshed for 2 weeks now, and He has been disciplining me, counseling me, comforting me, and breathing life into me. My spirit has loved it, but my soul (mind, will, and emotions) was still lagging way behind.

NOT ANYMORE! PRAISE GOD! Today, I had breakthrough revelation that will shape the way I spend the rest of my life.

Today I got free from conforming, doing things to please _____, selling out my calling in order to recreate someone elses vision, among other things.  In the future this blog will consist of my Tuesday Night Reflections, and hopefully some entertaining blogs, but most importantly it will be used to let you guys know what God has been speaking to me, doing in me, and directing me into. It will also let you know my weaknesses and the things I am struggling with, so that you can go to war with/for me.

To start:
2 weeks ago today God gave me a prophetic word for the church today. It was a prophetic word for Overflow, but also, I believe a word for THE church. So this past Sunday I lent my time for preaching to the battle that is going on in the heavenlies for those Christians who have fallen away from faith.

It was powerful.  Even before that Sunday we started to see some fruit from me praying the declarations in my private time with God. Since, Sunday we have seen some fruit.

This week I have also been begging God and making some prophetic declarations over some of my friends situations, and I am anticipating the GOOD NEWS that comes from their testimonies about how God came through for them. Please guys, share any testimonies with me, I want to hear all the GOOD NEWS in the Kingdom.

Then today, I began to get the revelation that puts together all of these different things I have been praying for, hearing, and declaring into the heavenlies. It was absolutely amazing. God began to speak to me so clearly, and quickly I was almost dizzy. (Praise God)

God answered my prayers for a new vision statement to help define who we are. Out of it, came this amazing revelation. “I had to repent for trying to recreate something that was meant for Clyde, Texas. We are the same DNA, and want to build the same type of church, but to recreate it was simply selling out and being lazy to what God has called me to do here in Appleton. God began to show me how that has hindered our growth and more importantly His presence in some of the things we have done.

Here is a declaration of what I am going to be doing in 2009!

  • I am going to “Dream Big Dreams ” – I am no longer going to cap the size of church I want, or the amount of growth I want. I have been limiting an unlimited God!
  • I am going to beg God to come through on those dreams.
  • I am going to walk a dangerous, risk taking journey toward my destiny, allowing God to build the bridges in my life.
  • I am going to beg God to show up in a manifest presence that allows us to worship Him freely.
  • I am going to pray “stupid” prayers
  • I am going to ask people for commitment
  • I am going to cast the vision of leadership and hold them to it!
  • Invite everyone to something (Life Group, Sunday Service). I mean everyone. What have I got to lose?
  • I am not going to be ashamed to just let people know that I am totally in love with Jesus. I just love Jesus!
  • I am going to love Jesus without abandon (like a man/woman trying to win someone’s heart in a sappy love story)
  • I am finally going to be ME!

Join me on this journey! I need you to partner with me.

God is about to do some awesome stuff. I am ready for the ride, are you? (Either way, buckle up!)

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Posted by kevinjbradford

In Awe…really!

December 18, 2008

Well,  I had another post for tonight. I will type it up, and post it tomorrow. Then the one I had for tomorrow, I will type up and post Friday.

Why you might ask?

Tonight after Life Group my two girls came to tell me about a discussion they had earlier in the day. My oldest daughter (6) explained that she taught my youngest (3) something today.

Here is the conversation between the two.
Y: I want to be beautiful like you.
O: Sissie, God made each of us different, and you are beautiful because you are who God made you. Then, she went on to tell her that you had to understand that Jesus loves you, because He died on the Cross to forgive you of your sins.
Y: Oh and continued to ask questions that the Older daughter answered.

The whole thing ended in my older daughter leading my younger daughter in a prayer asking Jesus into her heart, and believing that Jesus died on a cross for her sins, and that she wanted Him to live in her heart for ever. She then stated that she would pray that prayer many times.

I had to change my blog for tonight, even though God really hammered me today.

I am really in AWE…my 6 year old jumped the bridge from a conversation about being beautiful like her to understanding how beautiful each of us are, because God created us and died for us. In doing so, she led her little sister to praying to receive Jesus.

After that, my wife put on some worship music in the living room and the girls were dancing and praising.

Thank You Jesus!

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Tuesday Night Reflections

December 17, 2008

It is a little past midnight, and I wanted to get some of my pondering and reflections typed up before bed.

  1. I just downloaded Fire-Fox (So 2009) due to the IE problems and recommend that you do the same. (Not only is it safe, it is awesome!)
  2. I will finally be on Face Book this week, and hope to begin following some people on Twitter. (Again, finally caught up to 2009 living)
  3. I am not sure where I will find the time for my new blog, facebook, and twitter even though people ensure me that Facebook and twitter don’t take up much time.
  4. I have been stressed this evening for no good reason. I was not anxious or worried, just stressed. Have you ever had that heavy feeling and not been able to completely been able to put your finger on it. Well that was me today.  I came home from work, and honestly spent the better part of 2 1/2 hours processing. Pondering one might say!
  5. The last week has been good. Very good!
  6. Wednesday was our last regular Life Group of 2008.
  7. Thursday Night was a great family night with Pizza and Movies with all the girls.
  8. Friday Night was our Christmas Party (I already blogged about that)
  9. Saturday I shoveled our deck off (10 inches) and then I grilled baby-back ribs. (One of my favorite grill items)
  10. Sunday was an awesome day at church. The worship was absolutely wonderful, and God presence was amazing. Then the word lived up to the hype God had been speaking to me about. As a body, we agreed on seeing some fallen away Christians coming home in 2009.
  11. My Steelers finally clinched their division in the AFC guaranteeing a play-off spot. ut
  12. Last but not least, I am playing for the Fantasy Football Championship in our league this coming weekend!

In all seriousness, Fire-Fox is the way to go for Internet browsing, and I recommend the Tinsel Town package for the Holidays.

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Posted by kevinjbradford

Christmas Party II

December 13, 2008

Last night the Bradford Family held it’s 2nd annual Christmas Party.

We had 11 adults come over for the annual board game party. We had enough food to feed about 30 people, and it was all very yummy!

We spent the first 30 or 40 minutes eating and chatting about various topics from kids to i-phones.

We then played a 3 team game of Cranium WOW which was a complete blast. There were several times that everyone was laughing hysterically. At one point, I was laughing so hard, I could barely breath.

One of the funnest parts of the night, is a tradition at our board game parties! We had random drawings throughout the night for our many door prizes. We had enough prizes for everyone to get 2 door prizes. I wish I would have take some pictures, and will have to start doing that more.

Any good Christmas Parties Yet? Any your looking forward to?

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Posted by kevinjbradford

Expectations Met!

December 12, 2008

This Sunday I will be finishing up a series on expectations. Originally, this series was designed as a single message. Then God gave my wife an awesome message on God’s expectations for our lives. Can I say, “Honestly, the best and most provoking message preached at our church since we launched in June of this year”.

To be real honest with you, the last few meetings we have had here at Overflow has just been so awesome! God has really been showing up and pouring out His spirit in our meetings.

Last Sunday really was one of the most powerful times we have had on a Sunday morning, last night was an amazing Life Group that started with some very anointed worship. Our discussion revolved around  Mark 4:1-25 concerning the parable of the sower.

Tonight did not disappoint either! We had a family night planned, and today was just amazing.

Earlier today, my staff gave us a hand crafted popcorn bowl. It was engraved with “The Bradford Family” in a circle in the middle. I will post pics very soon! In addition, they have us 4 free pizza gift certificates, and $30 of video rentals.

So tonight, we ate pizza, and watched a movie. We also had an awesome milestone in our family. We expected to have an awesome night, and God came through. My oldest daughter lost not only 1 tooth, but 2 teeth in about a 10 minutes.

We serve a wonderful God!

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Tuesday Night Reflections

December 10, 2008

It’s been a long week already, so here are a few thoughts before bed!

  • Sunday I felt like I got hit by a truck. I slept most of the day!
  • I am so thankful God knows what He is doing, and Ashlee was already planned to preach.
  • The only hour I was up was the end of the Steeler’s Game! What a portion of a game to watch! It was awesome, and the Steelers were awesome!
  • Still ranked # 1 in the Fantasy League with the play-offs starting Sunday!
  • The snow is unbelievable this year. We are already 11 inches over average and it is only Dec 9th. I expected a lot of snow this year, but not this early!
  • We had an amazing leadership meeting on Sunday. I am excited about where God is taking us in the near future.
  • God is calling us to stand in Faith for the believers who have fallen away from the Faith. I believe that 2009 is going to be a year of restoration for those beleivers. They love Jesus, but simply do not attend church, spend time in prayer, or read His word for one reason or another.
  • I believe there are thousands of these believers in every city, and God wants to bring them back into the fold!
  • I am very excited about our new Life Group Format and the 1st semester that starts in Jan. I am excited to release the theme and message topics tomorrow night at our Wednesday Night Life Group.
  • In the last 7 days, God has really been revealing some things to me, some good and some bad.  He has used several blogs I read to really slap me up side the head. He has taken me to the woodshed a couple of times, and other times He has poured out His love.
  • I am so thankful that we serve a might God who is willing to discipline us and love us in the same day, so that we can be more like Him.
  • Jesus Christ is the prophetic picture of my destiny! I am Blessed, Blessed, Blessed.

What has God been speaking to you lately?

In His Favor,
Kevin

P.S. More from the book of Acts tomorrow.

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Christmas Party Number 1

December 6, 2008

In a little over an one hour I will be going to my first official Christmas party of the season.

It is a monumental moment, as it kicks off the series of 5 Christmas parties in the next two weeks. I prepared for the evenings event with various activities.

  • 7:00   AM     Shoveled some snow (2 inches)
  • 8:30    AM     Men’s Breakfast (Biscuits and Gravy  – I miss Texas)
  • 10:00 AM     Boom Blox on the Wii with my lovely wife.
  • 11:30  AM     Mario Kart on the Wii with my kiddos!
  • 2:00    PM     Puzzle and games on the floor with the kiddos!
  • 5:00    PM      Read Blogs, make comments, and leave this message.

How many Christmas Parties are you attending this season? I know my 5 is no where near the high mark!

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