On the Job

My sweet friend, Jen, helped me with wedding a few weekends back. While we were working, she shot this photo of me doing my photog thing. I love it! :) Thanks, girl!

Our Two Shepherds

These two kiddos did a fantastic job in the church play tonight. So much enthusiasm. Reminds me that apples don't fall far from trees. :) So excited to see the people they become. I love them sooooo much!!

Thanksgiving and Root Canal

Well, we didn't spend Thanksgiving as we planned. I wound up having an emergency root canal that Monday. But we did really enjoy each other's company. And took this photo before we went to Golden Corral for dinner. (never again)

Styrofoam Cup Theology

(tonight's message - inspired greatly by Jeanne Mayo)

Styrofoam Cup Theology

Part One

What is it that you are holding in your hand? These are cups, disposable cups. Can you use these again? Can they say, go in the dishwasher? Will they hold up over time? No, these are only good for temporary use, right?

Hmmm. You could kind of say that about you and me, couldn’t you? When you consider that time has stretched out for at least 4000 years already and you and I only last about 70 or 80 typically. Our bodies weren’t crafted for the long haul, were they??

Tonight we are talking about Styrofoam Cup Theology. Everybody say it.

1 Corinthians 4:5-7 tells us that we are like these cups. “We do not tell people of ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as servants for God who said, ‘Let there be light out of darkness’ made light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory. But we have this treasure inside of us like throwaway cups and like jars that can be broken.”

The treasure is God’s glory and light. We contain Christ.

“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27

We are these weak, disposable cups. The Bible refers to us as earthen vessels, jars of clay, tents, grass that withers, flowers that fade, but a vapor. We are nothing on our own. What can we do?

We can contain Jesus. That’s right, Christ in you, the hope of glory.

It’s pretty ridiculously awesome that Christ’s Spirit dwells in us. Honestly, we have it even better than the disciples. Sure, they got to walk with Jesus. They ate with Him, hung out with Him. But Jesus was human and still needed to sleep, to spend alone time or down time. In His human form He was limited to being only one place at a time.

But now, because Jesus is IN us in spirit form, He is not held back by human limitations. He’s with you from the moment you open your sleep crusty eyes in the morning to when you lay your head on the pillow at night. You literally can walk every step, every day with Him. We all can. What’s more is that the Bible tells us the Holy Spirit is a deposit, guaranteeing our future in heaven. The Holy Spirit is a constant reminder of our future destination.

Because Christ is IN US - we can pour Jesus out to the world around us. I think you will find that as Christ pours His Spirit into us we can’t possibly contain it anyway! The natural reaction to ‘too much’ is to pour out.

So this evening we are going to talk about that pouring. We’ll start in 1 Samuel, talking about David and Jonathon. You all remember David, right? Rockstar shepherd boy who took out Goliath with five smooth stones?

Well, really that was just the beginning of his awesome rise to fame in Israel. And what often happens with rockstars, a few haters come to the surface. For instance, Justin Beiber is a modern day example. How many of you like Justin? Come on, we can all admit he’s talented, right? The kid is 17, and could sing circles around me and probably every person in this room. But a few folks just can’t stand him. My daughter, Sarah, is one of those people. She can’t stand the sight of his floppy hair and pretends to punch him every time she sees a cardboard cutout of the boy.

Well, back to our story. David had a hater as well. And unfortunately, he was a hater with a lot of power and influence. King Saul couldn’t stand to see David coming, and he wanted to do a lot more damage to David than punching a cardboard cutout! King Saul was determined to kill David.

But God had David’s back and brought him a smart and powerful friend; Jonathon. Jonathon’s main source of influence was the fact that he was Saul’s son. Did you catch that? Jonathon, David’s best friend, was the son of King Saul, the man who was out to kill David. Sounds like a soap opera, right? Not the Bible.. I’m telling you, you should read this book, there’s all kinds of fantastic stories in there.

Here’s a verse that tells you what kind of friends David and Jonathon were.

1 Samuel 18:1, 3- 4

After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. ² From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. ³ And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. ⁴ Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.

God gave David a soul-knitting relationship with Jonathon. 1 Samuel 1:8 “And the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David.” God knew that David needed a Jonathon if he was to survive King Saul’s attempts to murder him.

What does soul-knitting mean? Well, let’s start with what is your soul? Your soul is your mind, will and emotions. All of these ingredients combine to make your soul. Soul knitting is a combination of God’s supernatural plan with your day to day choices. It’s when your will lines up with God’s will and you act in accordance with His word and plan for your life.

Jonathon chose to daily care about David, even when it cost him dearly. I can’t imagine Jonathon had too great of relationship with his dad, King Saul, after he started hanging out with David.

You and I need to look for opportunities to develop soul-knitting relationships. There are people hurting all around us; at school, in your neighborhood, as you are walking down the street. I have started praying, “God give me eyes to see your souls.” as I drive or walk or go to the grocery store.

See, sometimes we are guilty of seeing people just as people. Sometimes worse than that, we see them as obstacles, in the way of what we want. It’s easy to do, there are so many of them. But God sees them as souls. He sees lost and hurting souls, in desperate need of a relationship with Him. And we have an opportunity to be the conduit (the link) between Jesus and people. God can use you and I to pour Jesus into people’s life through deep relationship.

But we need to be on the look out for opportunities to develop those relationships. And there are opportunities everywhere. My best friend, the one that I’ve been friends with for fifteen years now, well we met during the most boring sociology class of all time. Why? Because we took the opportunity to develop a soul-knitting relationship.

Part Two

So how do we develop a soul-knitting relationship with another? Is it magical? Does it just happen instantly? Is it like ‘imprinting’ in the Twilight books where you have no choice as to who or when?

Nope. You have to look for opportunities. Then you need to make unselfish covenant choices. Meaning, consistently choosing their best interests over yours.

We read on in 1 Samuel 18:3 “Then David and Jonathon made a covenant, because Jonathan loved David like his own soul.”

Jonathon and David made a commitment to place the other’s best interests first. They decided to love each other unselfishly. Did you hear me? Love is a decision before and after it is an emotion. Deciding to love someone daily is what builds a long term friendship, or one day a marriage. Deciding to love someone is what allows you to overcome the little irritants of the every day.

It’s a dangerous thing to pray “Brand me with unselfish covenant choices.” But that is what God wants for our lives. In fact, it’s exactly what Jesus modeled for us by coming to the earth as a baby and dying on the cross as a sinless man.

Our society says, “Love is an emotion. When you fell a certain way, than you act unselfishly.” This is a problem for sure, because as soon as that feeling starts to fade, you stop acting in the other person’s best interests. What happens next? The relationship starts to fail.

This is what happens in over 50% of all marriages. The couple starts out feeling like they adore each other, and when the feelings fade or the honeymoon wears off, they stop making unselfish covenant choices and suddenly the marriage ends.

I used marriage as an example but what about friendships? I’m sure the statistics on friendships are even higher, but that’s not something that anyone has tracked. Because unfortunately, I would guess the rate of failed friendships is even higher than the rate of failed marriages in this country. How many of you have had a friend that is no longer your friend? And how many of you have been married and no longer are married? See, point proven. Friendships die all the time, because you and I are are unwilling to make unselfish covenant choices.

Styrofoam Cup Theology tells us instead that right choices will eventually bring right emotions. See, when we are constantly pouring Jesus into our life (by reading the word, and praying, worshipping) we are compelled to do right things. Even when we don’t feel like it. When you start doing right things, eventually you will start to feel really good about those right choices.

I remember when I first rededicated my life to Jesus. I was sixteen. My dad and I had a way bad relationship. It pretty much consisted of yelling at each other. After I rededicated my heart, I knew it was wrong to yell at my dad. So I stopped. Cold turkey. It was really hard, especially since my dad didn’t stop yelling at me. In fact, he was annoyed that I didn’t fight back and so he yelled even louder. Those first few months of being yelled at were really hard, I had to fight my emotions not to yell back every day. But eventually, my heart got in the right place and I had no desire to yell back. I just felt really bad for my dad that he was hurting so much that he felt he needed to yell in order to release it.

Right choices will eventually bring right emotions. The only way to learn to consistently make right choices is by spending time with Jesus and allowing Him to teach you right ways.

Part Three

Jonathon was willing to lay down his life for David. We find this in verse 4. “Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.”

At that time, when you gave someone your robe you were saying “I give you myself.” But when you gave someone your weapons, you were saying, “You have conquered me. I will serve you.”

Styrofoam Cup Theology teaches us to be willing to genuinely lay down our life for others. To give them our robe and our weapons. In our stewardship series last month we talked about how everything we have is God’s and we need to be willing to give it away. Being generous is vital. But the higher standard is laying down your life for them. Considering their needs above your own.

Does this sound at all familiar? John 15:13 “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Jesus set this perfect example for us, didn’t he?

What if you look around and think, there’s no one here worth laying my life down for. Well, Jesus probably could have thought that about us, too, right?

Sometimes we need to be a friend rather than to have a friend.

Pastor Rob knew this kid in high school. His name was Nate Hanlon. He was a little slow. You know, kind of talked funny.

“I don’t know what you be talking about. I talk just fine.”

He tried to be a tough guy, wearing his leather jacket and all. He was kind of mean. But Rob noticed that Nate got picked on a lot. In fact, one day some bigger high schoolers were picking on Nate and Rob happened to be nearby. And because Rob was walking with Jesus, he had a swell of confidence and stepped in – asking the guys to leave Nate alone. Nate started hanging out with Rob. Rob invited him to the bible study he led on campus. Then Rob invited him to youth group. Nate gave his heart to Christ not long after that. And Rob and Nate made many great memories together in those years.

Often times our friendship can be a help up to a person around us. Just the fact that you have Jesus and are extending that to the people around you – you have something awesome to offer. You can be a good listener. You can genuinely care. You can be an encourager. You can just be there consistently. You can be honest. All of those things are qualities that people look for in a friend.

In fact, best selling author, Carol Ladd composed a list of seven qualities that people look for in a friend. They are as follows.

1) Genuine interest in others.

2) A giver, not a taker.

3) Loyalty.

4) Positivity.

5) Ability to appreciate differences.

6) Common interests.

7) Honesty and openness.

Wow, six of those seven qualities are built into the Christian life. And the one that’s not, ‘common interests’ can easily be resolved by making the other person your common interest. People are always interested in talking about themselves, it’s the subject they know the most about!

If you want to be like Jesus.. as we practice this Styrofoam Cup Theology.. we need to pour our lives out into others. Your friend will be the one whose need you can meet.. Not the one who meets your needs.

Altar/Prayer

God, tonight, place people in our hearts and minds. Help us to see the people around us as souls that are precious to you. Give us a deep appreciation for each one, as well as a burden for their salvation. God help us to see the individuals around us as Your masterpieces, objects of your affection. God we know that you loved each of us enough to die on a cross to restore relationship with them. God give us that love for the people around us. Allow us to be your hands and feet. Let us pour out our lives for the people in our world. God, give us opportunities for soul-knitting friendships. Help us to make covenant choices for the people in our lives. Keep us from abandoning relationships, but allow us to serve the needs of the people around us. Help us to be willing to lay down our lives for our friends as Your Word says. Help us to be good friends that continually point others to You.

Stewardship Series: Financial Responsibility

Turn the Key.

Tonight we are starting a new series on Stewardship. Stewardship is kind of one of those ‘church’ words that we don’t use outside this building too much. Anyone know what it means?

I like definitions. Webster’s says stewardship is “the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care”

God’s Word challenges us to be good stewards. Everything we have is ours at the blessing of God. That may be a new thought for you, but God literally has placed every good thing in your life. Your home, your family, your finances, your friends, your school, even your body are all gifts on loan from God. You need to treat them as such.

Considering that all you have is at the grace of God keeps perspective in your life, lends you towards thanksgiving, and stewardship. You realize that you need to be responsible with these gifts that God has given you.

Tonight we’ll be unpacking a great set of scriptures, taken from Psalm 37:21-26

²¹ The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously;
²² those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be destroyed.

²³ The LORD makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him;
²⁴ though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

²⁵ I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
²⁶ They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be a blessing.

So what can we learn about stewardship from these verses?

First off, the wicked borrow and do not repay. Borrowing and not repaying is not a trait of the godly. It’s important to repay whatever you owe. Really, it’s best if you just never borrow to begin with, you’ll save yourself a lot of heart ache and stress. Pastor Rob and I have tried to live by this because we didn’t early in our marriage and it was PAINFUL! Since we started living by the principle of not borrowing, it has been a very big blessing to us. It’s also an awesome opportunity for God to show Himself faithful in our lives when we refuse to use credit to solve our own financial responsibilities.

A cool example of that was last summer. I was having some tooth pain and went to the dentist and found out I needed two crowns, like immediately. Crowns are extremely expensive; about $1400 a piece by the time they are seated an all. We did not have that kind of extra money. I told the appointment lady that I needed to go home, talk to Rob about it and pray with him about it. She handed me a credit application and encouraged me to fill it out. I stood my ground, said I’d call back with an answer in a week.

The week passed. Rob and I prayed and believed and asked you guys to pray to. By the time came that I needed to make the appointment, God had provided all the money we needed, without borrowing a penny. We paid cash for the crowns, and got a discount because of it. See, God is faithful! We depended on Him to provide, rather than rushing to solve it on our own. And He did, and now I have this cool sermon illustration and two shiny, paid-for crowns!

The opposite of borrowing and not paying back is what the righteous do, giving generously! God has really been challenging Pastor Rob and I in this area of our life. So much so that I have found myself looking for opportunities to bless others. It’s fun!

One time, when we were first married, we had some friends that were really struggling financially. They were in Bible college, had three kids, and had just hit a hard time. We decided to buy them some groceries. So we went to the store and picked out kid friendly foods and then snuck down the back alley behind their house, quick unloaded the groceries on the back porch, rang the bell and drove off as fast as we could. To this day they have no idea where those groceries came from. It was such a fun thing to do! Way better than tp-ing or forking someone’s yard! Although, that is fun too!

The scripture goes on to say that the Lord makes firm the steps of those who delight in Him. This has been our experience as well. As we grow in our walk with God, the firmer our steps are. The closer we live to His biblical principles for our life and especially finances, the less frightening our finances have been. We still depend on Him completely, but there’s no fear. We have a legacy of His provision in our lives, meaning we can look back over the past almost 14 years and see all the ways He has taken care of us. Trust is firmly planted because He has been faithful all those years.

The next portion of that verse says “though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him in His right hand.” This is so true. Rob and I have tripped up in our finances. Lots of times. We’ve messed up, we’ve stumbled. But God is faithful, and He is our restorer. He has allowed us to learn from our mistakes and to learn to trust Him more and more. And He’s even gone so far as to allow us to teach others from our experiences, which is so much how the Lord works. He’ll allow you to go through things to grow your character, and to enable you for the ministry of others.

The last part of this verse describes how the writer is a very old man, but has never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging for bread. Instead the righteous give freely, and their children are a blessing.

God provides. Miraculously and faithfully. And we can give to others out of the trust that God is going to continue to provide. Remember how I said PR and I were really working on this area of giving more freely? Since we’ve been doing that, God has blessed us both so incredibly. I seriously could write a list of all the ways He has rained down physical blessing in our life in the past few years, but what would be harder to articulate is all the ways that He has emotionally, relationally and spiritually blessed us. Meaning, He’s healed hurts, given us vision and favor, allowed us relationship with people, provided understanding and wisdom.. All of these things that we aren’t capable of on our own, He has poured out on our lives. We are truly blessed in ways I don’t even know how to express, but I know it’s a direct result of being generous.

I know Pastor Rob says it all the time on Sunday mornings when he receives the offering, but you cannot outgive God. It is the one thing in scripture that God tells us to ‘test Him’ in. Malachi 3:11

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

When we are faithful to God to give our tithe (ten percent of our income) He will bless you. Not just financial blessing, but every kind of blessing you can imagine. Giving unlocks God’s blessing in your life. This verse talks about floodgates. If you aren’t familiar with floodgates, they are giant door-type walls that control water in a river, specifically to maintain a specific flow or water stage. When you ‘open the floodgate’ all the pent up water comes rushing out. I see giving, specifically tithing, as the key that turns the lock on the floodgate, allowing it to rush God’s blessing all over your life. So much that you ‘won’t have room enough to store it’.

What do you do when you run out of room to store things?

It’s an opportunity to start giving things away. So picture this with me. God has all this blessing, literally just ready to pour out all over your life, so much so that you won’t be able to help and give it away to others. He’s just waiting for you to tithe, to give, so that He can respond by opening the flood gates. It’s a pretty awesome image, isn’t it?

The other aspect of giving is that giving allows the church to move forward in it’s mission. We all understand that we are part of the Great Commission; going and telling all the world about Jesus. And hopefully, each of you are doing your part in the going and telling in your school and home, with your family and friends. But Jesus called us to tell all the world. Now how can you and I in San Antonio obey that call? If you can’t physically go, you can SEND. Giving is one of the ways we send. By giving, we empower the church to do the work. By giving to missionaries, they can tell the world. And our church, ct|church, supports 33 international missionaries, as well as about 15 home (or United States) missionaries or missionary organizations. See, you may not be able to go to Africa or Cambodia or Thailand to tell someone that Jesus died for them, but your dollar can go to fund the missionary who will.

The truth is giving is how church works. Realistically, it’s a reflection of how God works. He loved us so much that He ‘GAVE’ His one and only son to us. When you love, you give. You and I are called to love and called to give.

You know in your heart if you are being faithful to give to God, and to others. You know what you are supposed to do. Lately God has been pressing on my heart, asking me, is there anything I have that I’m not willing to give? God has given me everything that I have. There should be nothing that you are unwilling to part with for His glory. Because the truth is, it’s just stuff. It’s just money. You can’t take it with you. We talked about death last week. None of this temporal stuff goes with you to the next phase. We need to remember that as we deal with money and things. We worship God, not money or things. Let’s remember that our relationship with God and others are the only things worth hanging on to in this life. Loosen your grip on the other things and let God bless you for your trust and faithfulness in him. Start giving generously, start tithing. Turn the key to open that floodgate in your life, and then stand back and enjoy the outpouring.

(lay the keys on the altar, have students come up and take a key and pray as a symbol of being willing to give whatever they have to God)

Stewardship Series: Social Responsibility

The Planet, the People and Papa.

The Planet

God gave us this planet. We reach back to Genesis and can see that He built the planet from scratch. In fact, put a lot of effort and creativity in it. Don’t believe me? Look around at all that has come from His imagination! Let’s think about crickets for a moment. Can you name a few types of crickets? There are lots of varieties of crickets house crickets, field crickets, cave crickets, ground crickets, camel crickets, mole crickets, snowy tree cricket and the northern mole crickets. Honestly, I didn’t know all those names of crickets, but google is a handy tool and it turns out there are over 900 varieties of crickets! Just knowing that God designed 900 different types of crickets is enough to make you stop and go, whoa! God used his best efforts when He created this planet!

Anyone know what God told us to do with His earth? Are we supposed to use it up? Abuse it? Trash it? Ignore it?

Well, let’s see what scripture has to say about it.

Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”

So God told us to fill it, right? Be fruitful and multiply. Make babies, fill up the earth. And man, we are doing a great job. We just hit the population point of 7 billion people on the planet about 2 weeks ago.

The next part of the verse tells us to subdue the earth. Subdue means to bring under control or overcome. Another translation, the Message says be responsible for the earth. God wants us to care for His planet. He’s put it on loan to us and you and I are to be caretakers, or stewards of.

Pastor Rob used to be a caretaker of a church camp while he was in Bible college. (we always joked that the job title caretaker sounded like a horror movie title) His job consisted of yard maintenance, pool care, keeping the plumbing working, and just overall upkeep. The camp belonged to our church, so he was very diligent because he knew that really, the camp belonged to God.

Our planet is the same way. God has allowed us to live here. We need to properly care for this treasure that He has created. Taking care of the earth is wonderful way to say ‘thank you’. What are some simple things that you can do to care for His planet?

Not littering is a big one. Shutting off the water while you brush your teeth. Some of you might think ‘take less showers’ but let me promise you, everyone around you needs you to take a shower every day, so don’t cut any corners there. But say with food - you can take what you need and eat what you take. Or even with napkins and ketchup packets at your favorite fast food restaurant. Shut off the lights when you leave a room. Shut the door when you walk out of the house. You don’t want to air condition the state, right?

An easy way to tell God ‘I love you’ is by taking care of this planet. Another one is to thank Him for it regularly. Take a walk and just enjoy the sights and sounds of all that He created and say ‘thanks’.

The People

We also have a social responsibility to people. What do I mean by that? Well, you can’t just do whatever you want whenever you want wherever you want. Hopefully you guys have already begun to figure that out on your own.

See, God placed us in homes and families and schools and communities according to His time and purposes. Scripture tells us so.

From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. Acts 17:26

And in living according to His purpose for our lives, we have certain responsibilities or duties to the people around us. Can anyone tell me what God says about how we are supposed to treat our neighbor?

Luke 10:27 says ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

We need to love the people around us. We have a responsibility to get our heads out of the sand in our lives and start paying attention to the people in our world.

How do we love the people around us? Let’s start with your family. When we first start talking about this you may think ‘well, I don’t even know if I like my siblings, or my parents’ but let’s pretend for a moment that your cell phone just rang. It’s the police chaplain and he’s calling to tell you that your whole family had taken the car down to HEB to get a few things before church. But as they rounded the corner in the grocery store parking lot an explosion took place at the gas pumps and your entire family was proclaimed dead at the scene. I bet if you had the phone in your hand and heard that in the receiver you’d change your mind real quick about how much you love your family.

Why do people wait until it’s too late to love the people God placed in their lives? Decide right now that you genuinely love your family. Start treating them with love; honoring them, speaking kind words, avoiding arguments or tantrums.

Romans 12:18 tells us “In as much depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”

God wants you to get along with your family. And a lot depends on you. The truth of the matter is that it takes two people to argue. You are in control of your end of that relationship.

But that verse doesn’t just apply to family. It says ‘all men’. God means everyone you come in contact with, everywhere you go; at school, at practice, at church. Get along with people, don’t pick fights, don’t stir up drama. Obey your teachers, listen to them, you might actually learn something! Respect the authority that God has put over you. Remember, He set you exactly in the life you have to form you into the person He wants you to be.

And as special as you are, He uniquely and lovingly designed the people around you too. Treat them like they are the God creations that they are, because you have a responsibility to them as well.

The Papa

You have a social responsibility to the Papa. Papa is another word for daddy, or father. And I’m not talking about your earthly dad, we covered him in the last section when we talked about loving people. I’m talking about your spiritual father, your creator. You have a responsibility to God.

God created us as objects of His affection. Meaning, He loves us. He longs for us to return His love. Deuteronomy 6:5 tells us “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

In fact, Jesus tells us 1200+ years later that this commandment is the greatest commandment God has given us. God told us to do or not do a lot of things, but Jesus (His son) told us that this is the most important, this loving the Lord with all your heart, soul and strength. Probably because Jesus knew that if we got our relationship with God in proper perspective, all the other things would come into place.

If you love God with everything you have, it’s hard to sin. God probably knew that, since He knows all things. His goal isn’t only to keep you from sinning, but to help you become everything He’s created for you to be.

We don’t love God out of compulsion, it’s not because we have to. You and I have a choice. Each person on the planet has that choice. But the best for your life and mine comes when we choose to love God with everything we have to offer.

God loved us so much that He did what?

John 3:16, God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son.

Right? Can you imagine with me for a moment that you have liver cancer. It’s killing you, slowly but for sure, unless you receive a new liver, you are going to die, a long, drawn out painful death. And my son, Eli, is a perfect match (actually,the only match) for your liver. Of course, keep in mind that he is currently using his liver and needs it to live. But I decide, because I love you so much, that Eli will give you his liver. Even though, if Eli give you his liver, he will die.

That is exactly what God did for you, to cover your salvation. You were dying of a disease called sin. And Jesus was the only cure, because He was the only one without sin. So God offered up his only son to cure your disease. Wow. He loves us.

So there’s that, and also a couple hundred other verses in the Bible tell us that God loves us. God knows we need to hear it often, I guess. So how should we react to His love?

We respond with love in return, and gratitude. Take a moment and think of three reasons to be grateful for God…

That’s easy, right? Especially this time of year, we are all thinking about what we are thankful for anyway. For me, it’s actually hard to just stop at three. The first three that pop into my brain are my savior, my Rob and my kids. But then I start thinking about how I have good health, and a job I love and hair on my head and a happy life and chocolate and it just starts blowing up from there. Wow, God, You are so good!! To me!!

You can see how just having an attitude of gratitude grows your love for God, right?

So as we wrap up this evening we have a couple things to consider. First off, are you showing God your love by the way you treat His planet? Are you being respectful? Are you showing Him gratitude or thanks by being a good caretaker?

The next question is how are you treating His people? Are you loving and kind, slow to anger? Or are you quick-tempered and mean spirited? Do you need to get a better grasp of how God views the people around you?

The last but probably the most important question of the evening; are you being responsible to the Papa? Because honestly, you can be the biggest tree-hugger on the planet, so green that your hybrid car runs on sunshine and lollipops, but if you don’t know God, what good is it? Or maybe you love people really well, you’re a huge people person and you have an infectious personality and tons and tons of friends but you don’t give God the time of day. Hell is going to be a really lonely place if you are people person who didn’t know God.

We need to love God with all our heart, our soul and our strength. We need to love Him when we wake up in the morning and when we lay our heads down at night. We need to realize that every tiny detail in our life from the sun streaming across your desk in study hall to the best friend that shares your exact sense of humor is a gift from Him. When you start to wrap your mind around that, you will find all kinds of reasons to thank Him, and love Him.

If that sounds a little far fetched to you right now, just begin to ask Him to show Himself in your life. Take a few moments in your chair and ask Him to help you love Him more. Remember that He is faithful and He longs to be in right relationship with you if you will open your eyes and see His fingerprints all around you.

(altar - Fingerprints of God)

Me and Jeanne

So two weekends ago I was in the restroom at Youth Convention. Truth be told, I was hiding out a bit from the bass tones of worship. I was in some pretty tremendous pain from a tooth that was about to have a root canal (unbeknown to me). But as I'm in the stall I hear the lady in the stall next to me talking at her cell phone "Text so and so.. tell her..." but the phone was not cooperating. I laughed to myself and asked across the partition, "trouble with Suri?". The lady laughed and we struck up a conversation. After we both imerged and washed our hands it suddenly occurred to me that she was Jeanne Mayo, a female youth pastor that Rob and I have been learning from for over a decade. Holy cow, right there in the ladies room!! I introduced myself and we hugged (that's just Jeanne for you, never met a stranger) and she asked me to take a photo. Right there in the ladies room. Well, for once I had left my camera in the convention center and couldn't oblige for one with her. But she was our speaker for the next session. Rob and I sat right up front and got a photo with her and she signed our books and everything. We actually had opportunity to have two different conversations with her and she personally invited both of us to Cadre, her leadership training program. Then she spoke, and it was epic. Very encouraging. She's kind of all over the place, but amazing. It was really eye opening to me, because my personal style of speaking is super similar. :) So here is a photo of us. My hero.

Day Ten - Thankful

Today I am thankful for Pinterest.com It has been such a source of inspiration to me! Especially as I prepare for the holidays and this ladies luncheon.

the Slow Kid

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how God allows us to partner with Him in ministry. Just going through the credentialing process itself has been extremely humbling and eye opening. I've been reveling in the joyous truth that God invites us into this process of 'going and telling'. I mean, He's God, surely He could evangelize the world more efficiently without us. Consider Saul and his Damascus Road experience. God doesn't need our help in evangelism. He allows us to participate in this great miracle.

This morning, during my quiet time, I felt like I received a better understanding of this concept. See, it's kind of like when you are in middle school and the teacher divides you up into groups to work on a project. God is the smart kid with all the answers. He doesn't need any help with the problems, in fact He had a solid understanding of the problem and the solution long before He came to class that day. But He partners with us, the slow kids in class, for our benefit. It's opportunity for us to grow and learn.

So this morning, I am grateful to be in God's small group. I am praying to be a humble and quick learner, and to make Him proud with my efforts. To hear "Well done, my good and faithful servant." is my goal. I will always be His student. I'm hoping to graduate with honors one day. ;)

Day Nine - Thankful

This morning I am thankful for Berean School of the Bible. Even though it kicks my rear all over the place, these classes have been a tremendous challenge and blessing to me. I now know just how much I don't know. LOL.

Day Eight - Thankful

Today I'm thankful for my productive mind. It's crazy, in jr high and high school I was a slacker as far as a student. I had trouble focusing, I was distracted, and extremely unreliable. I still have some of those qualities, but I've definitely learned how to manage my time better. I really enjoy finding a challenge and rising to it. I know that it is a gift from God and I couldn't manage my life without it.

Day Seven - Thankful

Today I am thankful to live in this house. This HUGE house. In fact, as I clean it in preparation for my sister's visit I can't help but think about just how thankful I am. I'm probably the only person who mops their floors with thanksgiving but I still can't believe we get to live here. :) What a blessing!! And it's been so fun to be able to host people in our home again.

Day Six - Thankful

Today I am thankful for children with amazing personalities. They are such a delight to watch and learn from. The other day I noticed them playing Monopoly together and it amazed me that they are old enough to play a complicated game without direction from adults. They are growing up so fast, but just delighting me in the process. I constantly post their little quips on Facebook because they just crack me up. Here are a few samplings from the past couple weeks.

Sarah's dinner prayer: "thank you for this food and that mom has the talent to make this good stuff." #homemademacandcheeseisahit

Sarah got new church shoes and she just asked Eli "Do you like these shoes? Do you think they are supreme??"

looking at the kiddo's Christmas lists.. Sarah put "to go to Paris. PS - I want to see a mime." #applesdontfallfarfromtrees

and Eli put "a surprise present.. (a good one!!)"

Sarah is reading the story of Moses and Pharaoh and when she gets to the tenth plague Eli looks at me and says "that STINKS!"

Eli is Lot. Connor is Noah. I asked to take their pic together and Eli says "But we are from different timelines!" #gatekids

Eli's teacher told me that they were discussing slavery in class today and E said that if he lived during that time in US History he would buy slaves so he could free them. #lovethiskidsheart

Just saw my kids pass each other in the school hallway and they totally high-fives each other nonchalantly as they passed. #coolestkidsontheplanet

Have some leftover desserts and I told Rob we could take them to the neighbors and Eli says "Give it to the neighbor that has the POOL!"So Eli asks me this morning if Rob and I will handle the kids inheritance in a Biblical fashion: "you know, where the firstborn son gets everything." #hiswheelsarewaysturning

Listening to Eli Thoreson explain on the phone to Papa Charlie Sheats how he's using reverse psychology on his teachers. (as long as it's only his teachers)

My kids just asked me "Mom, who put the ABC's in order?" (my kids think I know a lot more than I actually do)

See, they are amazing, right?

Day Five - Thankful

Today I'm thankful the the Holy Spirit wrecked our service this week. We started singing "My Soul Sings" which was totally new to the students and they were overcome. I personally felt out of control and completely dependent on God for the direction of the remainder of the service and it was scary and exciting at the same time. I'm so thankful to serve a living God who has blessed me with His Holy Spirit as a guide towards truth and righteousness.

Day Four - Thankful

Today I am thankful that God always hems me in. When I'm off kilter, or just plain out of line. My personality is sometimes simply too big for my stature. But God always draws me back to Himself, softens my rough edges, and gives me next steps. Most days, I need all of the above.

"You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me"

Psalm 139:5

Day 3 - Thankful

So today I am incredibly thankful that I just discovered the blogger ap. i have been hoping they would make one for a long time now. Sadly, it's only for iPhone right now, but I hope that means iPad is around the corner. I've wanted to blog away from home so many times, this will be helpful!

Day Two - Thankful

Today, I am extremely thankful for life in San Antonio. The weather is beautiful at least six months of the year. I'm able to shoot almost all year round. I can walk my kids to school. The people are so friendly. I'm amazed by how much I love it. It's not Iowa, but it's a close second and I'm thankful that God put us here.

Day One - Thankful

Tried to do this on FB last year, but didn't seem like the appropriate place. I like the idea though, and I'm going to try to be more creative than "I'm thankful for my family, my husband, my kids." Of course, I am thankful for all of them, but I want to dig a little deeper.

Today, I am thankful for our new Mac. Not only is it a visual reminder of God's faithfulness in my life, but it has already cut my post-processing time in half. And that is a gift from God, especially right now, during my busiest season of the year. Plus, it's just a dream to use. And paid for in full. God is so good!

Ten Minutes

Looking back at my blog it looks like all I do is post sermons lately. And this blog was never supposed to be for that. :) So I decided to quick give myself ten minutes to check in, say hey, and tell you what is on my heart. The sermon thing is pretty realistic though, seems like that's all I do lately, writing messages. It's ridiculous how long it takes me to carve out one twenty minute message. oh well, at least I take it seriously. Oh, and last night on the one hand was super annoying because the power point that I had spent three hours preparing didn't work. Grrrr.

On the other hand, in the second service, our students hi-jacked it for a few minutes, did the most awesome skit 'Homecoming' and then at the end crowned us King and Queen, homecoming class of 1996. I was almost in tears, it was so sweet and genuine. We really serve some amazing students. They also presented us with a giant check 'for all their love' and a babysitting voucher and a gift card to Panera for a date night. It was super thoughtful.



In other exciting news... We have been saving for a new iMac forever. Every time we get close, something happens and we have to spend the money in other ways. Well, with Pastor Appreciation (man, we were appreciated, ct|church does a terrific job of loving their staff, service and the dinner were beautiful!) and then the extra ATP work lately, we were finally ready to press the 'buy' button on our Amazon cart with a new 21inch Mac. Something caught in me and I suggested we quick look at Craigslist. We found two month old 27inch for just a teensy bit more than what we had been prepared to spend on the smaller 'economy' iMac (if there is such a thing). The best part is that it's still under warranty and transferable.



Here is my new baby, which I actually have only put eyeprints on because the tiny bit of time I have been home I have had too much going on to play with it. But Rob is still setting it up (which is his favorite part) so it's all good. Isn't it beautiful?

To me the best part is how we waited on the right timing... Not going into debt and not touching the emergency fund. I feel like those extra six inches (which is HUGE, this desktop is giant, my iPad is there to give you perspective) are God's special blessing to us for doing this the right way. He's so good to us!

Ok, so I'm out of time but that was fun and I need to do this more often! And just because the kiddos always make everything better, I'm throwing in a quick pic of them and me from last Sunday. We were coordinating and I was going to shoot Dr. Starner during the service, so we grabbed a shot real quick of the three of us. BTW, my kids are amazing and huge and I love them oh-so-much!!


PS- I don't think I have posted any photos since I changed my hair! my bad. Jen took out my highlights (at my request) about two months ago. The brunette is still a tad dark for me, but actually really close to my natural color at this stage of my life. Crazy, cause it used to be Sarah's hair color growing up. But the best part is my one crazy streak! Keepin' it funky!

Supernatural Series: Afterlife

(this was a tough one to write. Heaven and Hell is some pretty tough subject matter.)

Heaven, Hell, and a Choice.

Part 1) Heaven.

Have you ever thought about happens when you die? Sometimes we are so busy living that we don’t spend much time thinking about it.

See, life is like a standing in line at Six Flags for the Superman. We stand in line for so long we start to think that this is all there is. But the reality is, the real ride begins when we pass from this life to the next.

When you die, you don’t just cease to exist. Although some people would find that more comforting. When you die, you go one of two places.

I want to tell you about the first place. It’s a place that most of humanity hopes to go, but few people have a very clear understanding of what it’s truly like, and even fewer people have a real understanding of how to get there.

This place is called Heaven. It’s a real location. In fact, it is THE place.

Some people wonder why astronauts or airplane pilots haven’t found heaven if it’s real. To that I would tell you that God is over time and space, do you think He can’t hide heaven from us? We know that God is bigger than us, all we need to do is take a look around to see all that He is capable of so much more than we do. Keeping heaven a perfect secret (like a parent keeps a Christmas gift from their child) is not a difficult task for Him.

Because it’s this perfect secret, we have limited information about it. But, let me be very clear, the Word of God has dozens of references to the kingdom of heaven. And when we study the Bible, we can learn a few major things about heaven.

First off, God dwells in heaven, and it is where Jesus went when He ascended after He was risen from the dead. John 14:2 tells us that Jesus went to prepare a place for us, in a house that has ‘many rooms.’ A big house. Like the Audio Adrenaline song. Lots of rooms, lots of food, lots of fellowship.

We know that we will have perfect relationship with others. John 17:21 tells us we will all be as one as the Father, Holy Sprit and Jesus are one. There is no sin there, no division, no selfishness. We will live in unity together. I picture Facebook, only in real life, hanging out with all our peeps and no negativity, no fighting, no arguing, no drama. This is an especially exciting concept as you get older. Right now probably most of you are still running with the same friends since preschool, but as you grow up situations change and people move, life changes. Pastor Rob and I have friends all over the country that we never get to see, only through Facebook are we even still in touch with them. But in heaven, we’ll all be together again. It’s an exciting thought!

Another thing we know about heaven is that there is treasure there. In fact, how we behave here determines our treasure there.

Matthew 6:20 tells us:

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Your treasure in heaven doesn’t expire. It can rot or fade or be stolen. In fact, heaven itself is a treasure.

Revelation 21:10-11 tells us about the vision that was given to the apostle John about heaven:

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. ¹¹ It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

Heaven is a beautiful place, far beyond any beauty we can experience here. In fact, studies have shown that we only use about 15-20% of our brain’s capacity. It’s my personal theory that in heaven we will tap into the rest of our 80% and it will be incredible to see, hear, taste, smell and touch the experiences of heaven. There are verses in scripture that talk about how life here on earth is a mere shadow of life in heaven and that is how I’ve come to that conclusion.

What’s more is that heaven will be a place of rejoicing. Luke 15:7 tells us:

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

There will be parties in heaven. And worship of the one true God. Revelation 7:10 tells us All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God..

Heaven sounds awesome, right? Someplace you want to spend eternity in, and a place you want to take your friends and family, right?

Part 2) Hell.

Well, the downside to this message is that if heaven is real, hell must be real as well. And that’s a bummer because it’s a nasty place run by some nasty people. I’m going to pull a description of hell from a story that Jesus tells us in Luke 16:19-27. I know that’s a lot of scripture, but hang with me, it’s a good story.

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

Man, hell sounds awful, doesn’t it? Let’s unpack those verses a little bit, and make sure you got the whole story.

First off, hell is separation from God. Don’t minimize this. Your entire existence you have enjoyed relationship with God, even if you were unaware. You have relied on His favor and love and creativity to fuel your life. You were created, by Him, to worship Him. Being denied access and opportunity to have relationship with Him, that will be a futile existence. Being removed from His presence is hell all on it’s own.

Furthermore, you are removed from relationships with others. I’ve heard people joke “Well, I want to go hell, that’s where all my friends are going to be.” I cringe when I hear that. I think that the person has no real idea of God’s grace and love and mercy, and even moreso, no idea of how bad hell is going to be. Your not going to be hanging with your bad friends. You will be cut off. Alone.

Here’s another scripture on hell:

Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

. Have you ever smelled sulfur? We had to use it in chemistry when I was in highschool. It’s nasty stuff, smells like rotten eggs, only much stronger. The Lake of Fire is also referred to as a lake of sulfur, so it will STINK. As much as heaven will engage and delight all the senses, hell will torment all the senses.

If you’ve seen StarWars, episode 3, I thought the scene where ObiWan and Anakin (who grows up to be Darth Vader) was a pretty stunning example of Hell. The entire planet looks horrific! I can’t imagine the heat and discomfort of visiting there, let alone living there.

Another verse in Matthew tells us a bit more about hell: “But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Who in here is afraid of the dark? I’m not terribly afraid, but when it’s crazy dark, it definitely freaks me out. One time at camp I was sleeping in the big room (think 50 girls in bunk beds in one room) and I woke up in the middle of the night. Some genius had decided to shut off the emergency exit lights. But it took me a while to put that one together. What I realized first was that my eyes were open but I could see nothing! I then felt my face, yep, my eyes were open, but NOTHING. Couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face! I started to panic, did I go blind in the middle of the night? Finally I decided to test my theory and fumbled for my phone, as soon as I hit the button, light burst from it and I was so relieved. I guess I was more scared of the dark than I thought!

Hell will be dark. Like pitch dark, scary, things that go bump in the dark, DARK.

This scripture also tells us that you will be tormented; ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ In agony, with no end. Think about when you are sick. I mean really sick. Like out of both ends. I remember one time Pastor Rob and I were so sick we were just laying on the bathroom floor, heads pressed against the tile floor. I just wanted to sleep, or die, to end the sickness. In hell, it will be worse than that. But there will be no sleep or death, no end to the torment. It will be continuous and for all time. As bad as this life gets, it has no comparison to hell. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Absolute torment.

Alright, so now, knowing all that, who here wants to go to hell? Realistically? No one. In our next segment we are going to talk about your choice.

Part 3) The Choice.

I’ve almost died twice in my life. Like literally, tunnel of light, life flashing before my eyes, summing up my existence in a moment died. Twice. And I believe God allowed both circumstances in my life for a very specific purpose.

See the first time, I was fifteen. I had known Jesus, but I was mad at the world and living in rebellion. I was making some lousy choices, but the bigger issue was in my heart. I knew who God was and was living against Him purposefully.

I was in a movie theater, watching a dumb movie. Literally, it was Dumb and Dumber. I laughed so hard during that movie. Turns out laughing and eating milk duds, which turns out to be a lethal combination. A funny part happened as I had just thrown a milk dud in my mouth, and sucked that puppy right down my esophagus at the perfect angle to completely block it. I couldn’t cough, I couldn’t breath, I couldn’t yell for help. I’m making the international choking sign and my friend was just laughing and laughing. The theater grew darker and darker and the screen was further away and smaller by the moment. My life (all fifteen years) flashed before my eyes, and this cold, dark feeling came over me, darkness just seeping in. I could tell this was not heaven bound.. Thankfully, the fear in my body took over and jerked the milk dud out of my throat and I was suddenly sucking in air again.. So thankful to be alive. To this day, I can’t stand that movie and can barely tolerate milk duds.

Two years later, after I had rededicated my life to the Lord, I was in a pretty intense car crash. As the crash was happening, time just seemed to slow. I was calling on Jesus’ name, depending on Him so completely. Again, my life flashed before my eyes, but this time all I saw was brightness, light. I had no fear, because I knew if I died I was going home.

I feel like God allowed me those two experiences so that I would believe in heaven and hell. And that I would know where I was going, as long as I am serving Him.

You can know where you are going. It doesn’t need to be something you live in fear about. Decide you are going to know Jesus and serve Him daily, and then the matter is settled.

I know I’ve thrown a lot of scripture at you tonight, but it was purposeful. I didn’t want you to think I’m just giving my opinions out there willy-nilly. The Bible should be your source for all truth, and I wanted you guys to know that everything I’ve said about heaven and hell is straight from the Word of God. Go ahead and research it yourself.

The thing is, you have a choice. Tonight is all about that choice. See, when you die, Jesus has two questions for you. Not unlike the skit we did earlier tonight.

The first question is very simple.

Did you know me?

This is not a hard question. Did you know Jesus? Did you have the saving knowledge of what He did on the cross for you? Did you accept Him as your savior? You know in your heart right now whether or not you know Him.

If the answer to this question is no, then your destination is hell. If you have rejected the knowledge of Christ in this life, then it is too late in the next. Your life NOW determines your destination.

The second question is a little more complicated. See, he’s going to ask, did you know me, but then..

What did you do about it?

Meaning, what did you do about your knowledge of me? Did you hide it? Did you keep it to yourself? Or did you spread His love around? Did you tell others? Did you live a life worthy of someone who has been saved from hell?

I’m going to pass this card out. I want you guys to hold it in your hands and pray about it. Answer those questions in your head right now. Decide if the answers you have currently are the right answers. Then when you go home, tuck this card in a place you’ll see it often, where you can remind yourself to answer those two questions each day.

Supernatural Series: the Helper

Tonight I want to talk about the Holy Spirit and how having the Holy Spirit in your life will make you a superhero of the faith. But I don’t want to just preach about it, I want to give each of you an opportunity to seek the infilling, as evidenced with speaking in tongues. So I am going to preach fast, you ok with that?

First off, I am hoping that you all are familiar with the Holy Spirit. It’s a gift that Jesus promised us in multiple places in the new testament. Let’s read John 14:15-19 to give you an idea.

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

Understand that the Holy Spirit is a secondary gift. The first, of course, is salvation, which comes from belief in Christ, and what He did for you on the cross, covering your sins with His innocent blood.

The Holy Spirit is what draws you to Christ. And it dwells in you when you receive Christ. But the Holy Spirit can do much more than that!

A great way to explain it is with this iPhone and a paper bag. For this example, let’s pretend the iPhone is the Holy Spirit (it’s powerful, can do a lot of things) and you are the paper bag. When we accept Christ, the Holy Spirit comes in us. (place paper bag over the iPhone) But there is a greater purpose than just being in us. The iPhone is a powerful device, just like the Holy Spirit is extremely powerful, effective. When we become infilled (ask for the lights to shut off and turn on flashlight ap) then the Holy Spirit spills out of us and effects the world around us. We have suddenly tapped in to power that we had never had before.

See, those first verses we read in John are such a great testimony to us. When Jesus went to be with the Father, to prepare a place for us, He didn’t leave us alone to fend for ourselves. He sent this great helper. The scripture says “I will not leave you as orphans.” Jesus didn’t abandon us. He left us in great hands.

So why do we need the Holy Spirit? That collection of verses gives us several great reasons.

First off, the Holy Spirit is a Truth Serum. Ok, so the Word calls it the spirit of truth, but I thought truth serum sounded pretty cool. You can’t lie with a truth serum, it seeks out the whole story.

John 15:26 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.

This truth serum testifies to the truth. Like a witness in a court of law, the Holy Spirit points the way to the truth, illuminates truth. How handy is that? It also exposes untruth, meaning it brings lies out into the open. Remember last week, we talked about how Satan is a deceiver? The Holy Spirit is your best weapon against Satan’s lies. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you are lead into all truth, you are able to discern lies from facts.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit is our Trusty Sidekick. Counselor is the biblical word for it. Think Robin to your Batman. The Holy Spirit is there to help us and strengthen us. Just like any trusty ally. He intercedes in prayer for us. What does that mean? Have you ever needed to pray and you just couldn’t find the words to speak? The Holy Spirit helps you pray from deep down in your heart.

Romans 8:26 tells us

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

When you are beyond words– that’s when your prayer language, speaking in tongues, is such a blessing. The Holy Spirit will help you negate your circumstances and deal with your heart. He’ll help you pray the things that you can’t find the words to speak.

The Holy Spirit is our trusty sidekick in more ways than just intercession, which is pretty awesome on it’s own.

He also promises to be with you. He’s going to comfort and encourage you in difficult situations. I found an amazing example of that one of my favorite books, The Shack. In the book, there is a little girl, about five years old, who is violently kidnapped and taken into the woods to be tortured and killed. As the little girl is being driven into the woods, she’s tied up in the back seat of the killers truck, terrified. She has a vision of the Holy Spirit, whispering comforting words to her, alleviating her fears, strengthening her. I understand that the book is fiction, but that is exactly what the Holy Spirit does. He reminds us that this world is not our final destination, He continually comforts us by pointing us to Jesus.

Another role the Holy Spirit plays in our life is that of Teacher. Really cool, relevant, wise teacher. Think, Professor X type teacher. Because Professor X can read minds, he’s extremely powerful and wise. The Holy Spirit knows all as well, and leads us into truth, leads us into knowledge. He teaches all things to us, and explains the mysteries of faith.

Professor X is also very good, always fighting for justice. The Holy Spirit is, well, holy. And His holiness leads us into holiness. Just walking in the Holy Spirit (with His infilling) brings dramatic life change.

The last role the Holy Spirit plays in our life is that of the arc reactor. You know, from Iron Man. It’s the glowy thing in the center of his chest that provides him with excessive strength and keeps his heart going. The Holy Spirit does the same thing for us, He powers us up! The infilling of the Holy Spirit is an influx of power unlike any other on earth. The point of this power is to be witnesses for Christ. With the infilling, you will obtain a boldness you never thought possible of your personality before. And that boldness will bring others to Jesus.

(altar workers come forward)

So the Holy Spirit illuminates truth, comforts us, teaches us and empowers us. That is why we want Him in our lives, need Him. So I promised I would preach short tonight, I want to give you opportunity to spend some time seeking the Holy Spirit. The word promises us in Acts 2:39 that the Holy Spirit is for every believer. All you need to do is surrender your life to God. Ask Him to fill you. Tell Him you long for greater relationship with you. God longs to give you this gift.

If you have already received it, it’s time to use your gift again. Speaking in tongues is not a one time experience. If you’ve done it once, you can do it again. Any time you choose to. Begin by praying and seeking God. Ask Him to fill you again. Start praying for your neighbor.

I have purposely built time into this service to pray and ask for the Holy Spirit. If you want to turn around in your chair and seek Him, you may, or you may come forward to pray with one of our leaders. The altar is a great place to seek God. There’s something about that act of submission, getting out of your comfort zone, getting down on your knees. It shows your submission to His lordship.

I urge you to pray out loud. Begin to worship Him, call out His name. Tell Him what you love about Him. What you are thankful for in Him. Ask Him to fill you up. Don’t sing. This is not a time to sing, this is a time to praise and ask for His Spirit. At some point you will need to just make a noise that doesn’t make sense. Don’t be afraid of it, just allow it to happen. It doesn’t matter if you sound silly, just let the Spirit flow through you. You’ll sound silly for a few moments and then the Spirit will take over and do something beautiful with it.

Leaders, pray for these students. Call on God with them, ask God to fill them up! We are participating in a miracle!

Students, don’t give up. Just keep pressing in! He longs to give you this gift! You need this power in your life, you need the Holy Spirit!