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!

Supernatural Series: Lucifer

1.) Any of you watch crime shows? CSI? Special Victim’s Unit? Criminal Minds? All of those shows have to do with Criminal Profiling.

Criminal profiling, is a behavioral and investigative tool that is intended to help investigators to profile unknown criminal subjects or offenders. Basically, it’s getting a clear picture of the motives and thought processes of the enemy, or criminal.

Tonight I’d like to do a criminal profile on Satan. Why on earth would I want to do that? Because Satan is real, and he’s after you and I and will not be content until he’s captured our souls. In any battle, it’s important to know your enemy. So this evening, we are going to explore three characteristics of Satan.

First, he is a distracter. Well, where is the harm in that? We all get distracted. In fact, some of you are distracted right now. J But Satan knows that if he can distract you, he can keep you from your true purpose, which has everything to do with God and giving Him glory through your life.

How does Satan distract you? He’ll keep you busy. Too busy putting out fires in your own life to even think about the people around you. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.” Haggai 1:9

Our personal plans and feelings and stuff keep us focused on our own life, rather than the great commission. Satan doesn’t even have to entice you to sin if he can just keep you too busy to be about God’s work.

He will also distract you with temptation. Temptation is tricky, because it is everywhere and you can’t control that. But you can control your reaction to it. What should that reaction be? To FLEE!! Run away, run away!! (monty python blip here?)

Another way to deal with temptation is to pray and ask God to remove it from you. Matthew 6:3 “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Our public enemy number one is who the Bible is referring to as ‘the evil one’. Another verse in 1 Corinthians promises us that God will always provide a way out. Always.

So we now know that Satan is a Distracter, He’s either keeping us busy or tempting us with sin. Be on the lookout for this tactic, it’s probably his sneakiest.

2.) Satan is a deceiver. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says “for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” He pretends to be a good guy. He promises good things; an easier life, no consequences, better opportunities.

He misleads us, misrepresents. Presents false information or information out of context. He’s a big fat liar! Ah, but he’s a sneaky liar. He’s a good liar. And a good liar will mix just enough of the truth into their story that you will buy into it, hook, line and sinker. Do you know what that phrase means? Hook, line, and sinker? It’s fishing phrase. It’s when a fish takes the bait. They swallow everything that the fisherman has put in their path. What happens next? Jerk! The fisherman is tugging that line and hard as the fish may try to swim away, he’s getting reeled in and tossed into the frying pan for supper. Or at the very least, a good chunk of him is getting left on that hook.

It’s the very same for us. Satan feeds us a line. It usually starts with something minor, say, if you cheat on this test no one will know and I’ll just do better in the class. He usually throws in a supporting argument, or a justification. Besides, you’re a really good student anyway, you do fine in your other classes, this teacher is just really unreasonable. And soon enough you’ve compromised yourself. It may not be cheating on a test. It may be lying to your parents. Or shoplifting something minor like a lip gloss or a lighter. It may be dating the guy or girl that your parents explicitly told you not to date. It may be trying that first beer or smoking that first cigarette.

See Satan is a smartypants. He knows that if he can just get you to compromise a little bit the first time, then the second compromise will come easier. Meaning he won’t have to work so hard, and you will let your guard down faster. And soon, you will be compromising so often that you don’t even think about it anymore.

Our youth pastor growing up told us that sin will always take you further than you ever wanted to go.

I have an interesting example for you. How many of you have been bitten by a flea? I’m not saying you have fleas, but maybe you have just been bitten by one. I have. It’s not a huge deal, just a little pinch and it may itch for a bit afterwards, right?

How many of you have heard of the Bubonic Plague? Or the Black Plague? It was responsible for 75 million deaths in the 1600’s. Turns out, the Black Plague was caused by flea bites. The fleas caught the infection from rats, when the rats died, the fleas looked for a new host and gave it to people. 2 out of every 3 people infected from a flea died within four days.

Sin is kind of like that first flea bite. It just seems like a small deal at first. You don’t realize that you’ve infected yourself with something that will ultimately consume you and destroy your life.

The first tiny bite is one of Satan’s favorite tactics. Because he is a deceiver who looks for opportunities to entice you into sin.

3.) The last attribute of Satan I want to discuss with you tonight is that he is a destroyer.

The reality is that Satan’s fate has been decided. God shared his end-game with us all the way back in Genesis 3:15 when he told us that the offspring of man will ‘crush the head’ of the serpant. The serpent is Satan and Jesus is the offspring of man that will crush his head. It is only a matter of time before Satan’s destiny is fulfilled and it is a Lake of Fire. Revelation 20:10 tells us just that: “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Satan’s promised demise is no surprise to him. He knows his destiny. He sealed his fate long ago. Now he’s just seeing who he can take down in the process. Like that movie, Drag Me to Hell. Rob and I were appalled at that movie, why would anyone want to see it? Because that is what Satan truly is trying to do.

If he’s going to have to suffer hell, he wants you to as well.

So Satan is a destroyer. He is doing his best to drag you along with him on his path of self-destruction. He’s proving the old saying “misery loves company.” Satan longs to make you as miserable as he is.

There is a scripture that paints a very clear picture of Satan’s plan for your life. It is found in 1 Peter 5:8. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

I had dream about this one time. I dreamt I was swimming in a public pool, early in the morning. It wasn't crowded. I was really enjoying the cool of the morning and the cool water against my skin. Very invigorating. I finished up my swim, climbed out of the pool and walked out of the fenced in pool area towards my car. Right away I felt like something wasn't right. I could see people up in trees, and after a moment I realized the object of their terror - a tremendous hungry lion was out of his cage. I know this because he was dragging a big chain from a collar on his neck, along with a chunk of his iron cage. Of course, he immediately spotted me and I knew I was lion bait. Quickly, I assessed that running wasn't an option (he'd only be playing with his food before he devoured it) so I pulled my towel over my body and huddled on the ground as still as I could. I could feel him approach me, sniffing me out. I was terrified for a moment, at the sound of his pads approaching. I felt the lion open his cavernous mouth and place it over my head, literally encompassing my head is his open jaw. In this moment I was no longer scared, all the Bible stories of lions and salvation downloaded into my brain. I just whispered an internal prayer, telling God if it was my time to go and it was going to be like this, I was ready. But I also told Him I believed He could still save me if He wanted to. We hung there for an eternity, long enough for me to wonder if I had already passed from this life to the next. Then, the lion picked himself up and closed his mouth and walked away, distracted by some other more interesting food perhaps? As soon as he had left the immediate premise, I quickly climbed the nearest tree, which wasn't very tall and probably no trouble for a hungry lion. The rest of my dream was spent debating whether or not I should take the risk of changing trees or running to my car (several hundred yards away) and wondering why no one had called animal control yet. My cell phone was in my car...

I realized when I woke up how the dream was exactly like real life. We just go about our daily lives and forget that Satan is seeking who he may destroy. The reality is, a hungry predator is on the loose looking for it’s next meal. Satan is a destroyer.

Altar:

So how do we counteract the fact that Satan is a distracter, a deceiver, and a destroyer. Is it hopeless for us?

Not at all. Remember Satan’s future? He is fighting a losing battle.

Romans 16:12 “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”

The son of God reigns in your heart. Jesus is with you. He will guide you if you just allow Him. If that weren’t enough, He also sent His Holy Spirit to empower you, and we are going to talk a lot more about that next week.

We can overcome Satan’s accusations by Christ’s blood and the word of God. Reading your word, understanding the battle plan for the fight you are in, that is huge in defense against this enemy. In fact, with an accurate understanding of the battle, you can move from defensive to offensive, where you are actually taking territory back from Satan!

Mark 3:27 says “In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.”

In this scripture Satan is the strong man and the plundering refers to taking back the lost. Armed with scripture and the Holy Spirit, we literally have the authority to reclaim what the devil has taken from us.

So tonight, have you realized that the devil is a distracter, a deceiver and a destroyer? Do you need to kick him to the curb in your own life? Do you need to call out the names of lost loved ones that he has claimed? That is what we are going to do right now.

Divide into small groups. Share together if Satan has been winning the war in your life. Share the names of loved ones that need to be won back to Christ. Pray together over your own lives and the lives of the lost loved ones.

Supernatural Series: Miracles

(I was sooo pumped about this message!)

Tonight we are kicking off a new series, Supernatural. Yep, it’s a little freaky because it’s October. This first night we are going to talk about miracles. So what exactly is a miracle?

1. an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.

2. such an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God.

3. a wonder; marvel.

So tonight we are going to take a closer look at miracles, and just who might receive one.

Let’s dig into John 2:1-11

Jesus Changes Water Into Wine

¹ On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ² and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

⁴ “Woman,^[a] why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶ Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.^[b]

⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

⁸ Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, ⁹ and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰ and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

¹¹ What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

This is incidentally one of my favorite stories of Jesus in the Bible. And it’s not because there’s drinking in it. I’m sure that is a distraction for you right now, so let me just say a few things about that so that we can move on to the good stuff.

It was a different culture, a different time. Think, life without refrigeration. Your beverage choices were water, or various forms of grape juice. I did a little more research and most wine at this stage in history had an alcoholic content of about 3.5% where today’s alcohol it’s more like 14%. Most biblical time wine was much less potent than today. Our official statement on alcohal is that it’s a gateway to sin (meaning it leads to so much more) so you might as well flee from it. God’s stance on wine is pretty clear, there are more than 600 verses in the old and new testaments that preach against drinking to excess or drunkenness. More than that, all of you are underage and therefore alcoholic consumption is illegal so why should we waste any more time on this subject.

Whew, glad we got that out of the way. Now let’s move on to the meat of this story. We will reap several truths, if we just dig in a little bit.

First off, the servants were obedient. Seems like a simple thing, but what Jesus’s mother was asking them to do was pretty crazy. These ceremonial jars were HUGE and not needed at the moment. This wasn’t a time for ceremonial cleansing, this was a time for celebration, for partying. The servants likely wondered if this Jesus guy was off his rocker. Why on earth should they fill these giant jars with water? What, were they going to fool the drunk guests into thinking it was real wine?

Understand that just filling these jars was an undertaking in itself. They each could hold 20-30 gallons. They were stone as well, so it’s not as though they could pitch them over their shoulder and carry them to the nearest faucet, or even run a hose over to them. Nope, they had to haul water up from a well, or from a nearby stream or lake, and fill these jars a bucketful at a time. This was a serious endeavor that was time and labor intensive. These servants were faithful to the task that Jesus had asked of them.

Have God ever asked you do something that in your natural mind didn’t make sense?

For Pastor Rob and I, one example was leaving our last church. See, things were going well there. We had a solid youth group, about 25 kids. We enjoyed our church, had good relationships with people. We had a cute little house that the bank still owned most of. Our kids were happy. We were happy, comfortable.

And God wound up calling us here. Any time you face change (especially as an adult) it’s nerve wracking. In fact, I’m taking conflict management right now and my book said that change almost always brings about conflict. It’s just tough, for all of us. We were facing the unknown. Trying to sell our house in a down market, living apart for a few months. All of that was hard. In fact, I remember one phone conversation about 5 weeks into our transition where I was whining to Rob about how hard it was and he says to me “Well, do you want me to quit? Is that what you want, me to come back to Baytown and just forget about what God told us to do?” Well, of course I didn’t. The next thing he said was iconic. “Anna, you don’t know how awesome it is here. You aren’t here yet, you don’t see what I see, you aren’t experiencing what I’m experiencing. I promise, it’s worth all the misery you are going through right now.”

I hung on to that promise until we sold our house got here. And you know what? He was right. We’ve experience more satisfaction and success and joy in ministry here at shift then anywhere before. God’s miracle for our life happened because we were faithful to listen to His voice, to be obedient even when it was uncomfortable.

Likewise, these servants were obedient. The scriptures don’t say “they hemmed and hawed and finally decided to what Jesus told them to do.” Nope, their response was to ‘fill them to the brim.” There obedience was both immediate and complete. Which is truly the only kind of obedience that exists. Anything other than immediate and complete is actually disobedience.

In fact, filled to the brim implies best effort, doesn’t it? We are always telling Eli and Sarah, ‘give your best effort’ when it comes to homework and really anything they put their little minds too. Why? Because that’s what God expects of us in everything He’s asked us to do. Best effort is just a great work ethic to develop and maintain. It’s also a sure way to live without regrets.

So what can we learn from their obedience? What was the result of their obedience?

They received a miracle.

That’s the big lesson in this scripture. Obedient servants can expect a miracle. I heard my mother preach that particular phrase, Obedient servants can expect a miracle, on this passage fifteen years ago and it’s been etched in my brain like a scratch on fine china ever since. All I need to be is obedient, and God will supply the rest. I can expect His miraculous provision in my life.

See, miraculous provision is always God’s best, and God’s best is always better than you expected. God’s best is always more than you hoped for, and more than you dreamed possible.

Remember my story of leaving our last church? I was hanging so tightly on to what I had, scared to step out in faith. I want to show you this next slide to give you a physical example of God’s best in our life. Remember the tiny house? This is the house we live in now. And it costs less than the tiny house. God’s best is more than we imagined.

God’s provision is always more than you imagined. He’s God, He doesn’t do anything half way.

So let’s get back to the story in John. Remember the servants? So they’ve gathered the water and filled the jars. And they are probably waiting for the other shoe to drop when the host finds out they are serving nothing more than well water.

Can you imagine their faces when they went to ladle out that first glass of water and it was actually wine? Moments before they had been mucking this water out of a well and suddenly it was the choicest wine of the party. Do you think they suddenly took notice of who Jesus was?

Well, we know they did because the scripture tells us so. “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which He revealed His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”

Miracles bring Jesus glory. They are like kind of like fireworks over a baseball game. The fireworks aren’t there to bring glory to themselves, they are there to bring attention to the main attraction, which is the game itself. Fireworks say “hey, something important is taking place here, you should check it out!” Miracles bring attention to Jesus. When Christ’s glory is revealed, it causes others to have faith in Him. This was the first moment his disciples truly believed in Him. Miracles were proof positive that He was the messiah that all of Israel had been holding their breath for.

So we all agree then? Obedient servants can expect a miracle. Provision through God’s miracles is always greater than we can imagine. And miracles reveal Christ’s glory.

Is it possible that there is even a greater purpose in miracles? Do they affect our lifelong story? I would say yes. I know the miracles in my life have had a profound long term affect. If not, I wouldn’t be standing here and you wouldn’t be sitting there, nodding your heads in agreement.

But especially this miracle at Cana. There’s a lot of debate as to why this was Jesus’s first miracle. It may seem kind of trivial. But upon further investigation, we can uncover a greater truth and purpose in this miracle.

The jars were used for ceremonial washing. This meant special cleaning before you went to the temple to perform sacrifices, to repent and be forgiven of sin. The jars represented old ways of purification and old standards of clean before God. Jesus came to change all that. He would instigate a new covenant with us. New wine in the old jars. Opportunities for true relationship with God, no longer bound by our broken ways. This miracle at Cana was representative of all that Jesus was going to do. Blood and water in Bible are always important, so you should pay close attention when you see them occur in scripture.

How can you be obedient? (read the Word daily, ask God to reveal a plan for your life, steps for obedience)

What miracle do you need right now?? (healing, finances, restoration, power to overcome addiction)

New Song

Rob has gotten this song in my head and it's absolutely haunting me. I so can't wait for heaven. just sayin.