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.

Your Social Network

(last week's shiftVARSITY sermon)

So how many of you have heard of Delilah? Not exactly a name you want to give your kid, right? It’s right up there with Lucifer or Jezebel or Judas.

Can anybody tell me what Delilah is famous for? She robbed Samson of his strength. So how in the world did a big guy like Samson get hooked up with a lying, cheating mess like Delilah? Let’s take a closer look at his story.

Judges 14:1-3 Samson went looking for a Philistine wife. This was a problem, because God had told the Israelites not to marry unbelievers, so he had no business even looking at a Philistine. (God tells us not marry unbelievers as well, so you shouldn’t even date one) He found a doozy in Delilah. Delilah turned out to be a whining, conniving, manipulative and self-serving wife, who eventually cost Samson his strength, his freedom, and even his very life. Samson should have seen this coming when she sold him out on their honeymoon. He had made a wager with the Philistines (Delilah’s people) and Delilah bellyached and moaned until he shared the answer to the riddle with her. She shared the riddle and in turn he lost the bet. This loss fueled a lifelong quest of revenge on the Philistines. But, instead Samson continued to pile bad choice on top of bad choice when it came to Delilah. Funny how that works, isn’t it??

Here’s a little song to summarize it for you.

So that is one example of a relationship gone wrong. But the Bible has another great example of a godly relationship for us to look at.

Everyone remember David, the shepherd with the smooth stones who took out Goliath? Well, after that story, David goes to work for King Saul. King Saul has a son whose name was Jonathon. Jonathan and David became very best of friends. So much so in fact that 1 Samuel 18 tells us “After David had finished taking with Saul, Jonathon became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.”

See, God knew that David was going to need a friend. Because God weighs our hearts and judges our motives, God already knew that King Saul was beginning to have some jealousy issues with this new giant slaying star in Israel. In fact, in the very next chapter, King Saul tries to kill David. But Jonathon had David’s back, and let David know about his father’s evil plans. Jonathon even took it upon himself to speak kindly of David to his father, but his father was crazy with jealousy and went on hating David the rest of his days. Jonathon swore to aid David as he ducked multiple threats on his life from Jonathon’s father. They were best of friends, and their relationship built each other up, supported one another, and grew them as people.

Friendships are born out of need or love.

A friendship born out of need is usually self-serving. You have a desire, and the person, for a season at least, fulfills that desire. Maybe it’s to be a part of the cool group, or to not sit alone at lunch or maybe it’s just to blend into the background and not to draw attention to yourself. The problem with with need-based friendships is that you are basing the choice to be friends with that person on what you can get out of them.

A friendship born out of love is an animal of a different sort. Love-based friendships are life-giving. You see that person, and you recognize that they are a unique creation of God, they have special characteristics and personality. You desire to nurture and protect them. You enjoy spending time with them, because you both build each other up. It’s not about fulfilling your need as much as it is about enjoying who they are, and celebrating who you are when you are with them.

I’ve definitely had both kinds of friendships. In junior high, most of my friends were need based. See, I was a nerd, with a capital N. I wore glasses since the 2^nd grade! And when I hit jr high I realized that the people around me could dictate quite a bit. So I found some friends that had a better life than I did. My one friend, in particular, we'll call him Bob Jones. He had a Super Nintendo, which was a really big deal back then. He was the youngest of two, and his family had significantly more money than we did, being pastors. He made me feel included, funny, and part of a group. I also got in more trouble with him than any other friend up to that point. You see, I was using that friendship to prop myself up. I didn’t genuinely care about Bob Jones as a person, I was enjoying the privileges of being his friend.

Fast forward to college, I met my friend, Lori Camiolo. We were in sociology class together. The night I got to know her it was because we were sharing a dorm room at retreat and she was going through a bad breakup. She needed someone to talk to, she was hurting. And I just listened. Encouraged. Turns out we had a lot in common. She’s smart, funny, and a little nerdy like me. I met her through youth group. And over the years, God has shown me so many cool things about her. We have cried together, prayed together, hoped together. I still talk to her every day. She holds me up. I hold her up. I’m invested in her as a person, I genuinely love her! She challenges me, and I do the same for her. In fact, she is so loyal. I bet I could call her up right now and she’d just be thrilled to talk to me.

[at this point in the message I picked up my phone and called Lori, we just checked in with each other. it was pretty cool]

If you remember back to our definition of love, it is a deep desire to nurture (grow) and protect someone. I definitely have that with Lori. And honestly, most all of my friendships are that way now because I have finally learned to stop weighing people by what they can offer me, but to start looking at people as the unique creations of God that they are. Remember how you are a masterpiece? Well, the person sitting next to you is too! And the person next to them. In fact, every person in this room!! When you start looking at all the people around you as God’s masterpieces, and considering His heart for them, soon all of your relationships will be born of love. You’ll stop using people to step up, and start offering your hand to others.

My guess is that most of you aren’t to that point yet. You are likely still choosing friends on a need basis. I’m not trying to insult you, that’s how I chose my friendships at your age too. But the big problem with that is when you choose a friend based on a need, you are likely to make the choice hastily and foolishly. Like Samson.

Samson chose Delilah because he wanted to get some. I know that’s vulgar, but read the scripture, he looked, he like her, he went against the advice of his folks and married her anyway. And he produced a miserable life from there on out.

Building a relationship based off of a need will likely result in a crash and burn. Sadly, the more invested in that need-based relationship you are, the bigger the burn will be. Say, if you start hanging out with the wrong crowd because you are desperate to be a part of any crowd that will accept you, you are likely going to be caught sooner than later doing wrong things. You guys know what I’m talking about.

Maybe you are already hanging out with the wrong crowd. You know what I’m talking about. If the kids you are hanging out with are pressuring you to make choices you wouldn’t normally make, or choices that you know break God’s heart.. well those are friends you need to ditch while you get your life together. You figure out who you are in Jesus, and what He says about you, and about them, and when you are stronger, (ready to stand up for what God says is right) then you can go back and begin a love-based relationship with that person. Love based meaning that you see them as a hurting child of God in desperate need of the saving knowledge of Jesus. But if you don’t have that story straight in your own life right now, you aren’t ready to pull that person up cause you are barely swimming on your own. I’m not a very strong swimmer, I couldn’t save someone from drowning if it was more than about 5 feet deep.

What you need is some love-based friendships with people who know Jesus. Love based relationships add value to your life. These folks will be the ones who see you for who you really are. They are willing to invest in you, and you will do the same for them. You’ll begin to see relationships as something of eternal value, because they are truly the only earthly treasure you get to keep on the other side. These kind of relationships will last a lifetime, bring you hope and encouragement every time you even think of them.

So now is your decision point. Do you have some need-based relationships that need to go? It may not be the wrong crowd at school. It may just be one boy or one girl who is encouraging you to compromise your values, God’s values. It might be an older sibling who keeps getting you into trouble. Decide today that you are going to stop basing your relationships off of selfish desires.

Maybe you are lacking a love-based relationship, where you genuinely see the other person for who God sees them as. Love-based relationships are fewer and farther between (at least in the beginning) and may be harder to find. But we serve a big, awesome God who gives good gifts. And He’s given you an awesome one by bringing you to shift. We’ve got a lot of students here who love God and want to see you as the person God created you to be. Students, and leaders, who will link arms with you and encourage you towards growth. These are people who will hold you accountable and ask the tough questions. But you need to be willing to do the same.

How do you start building those love-based relationships? Coming to shift is the best place to start. Come early, hang out in the snack shack. Open up, talk to us. Come to shiftAM, we are changing the format a bit and I know you’ll make some great friends in there. Join a ministry team. That’s one of the best ways to get to know other people for who they really are. Pray about it, ask God to bring you new relationships with people who will help build you up in the faith. No one needs a Delilah, but everyone needs a Jonathon, and everyone can be a Jonathon. In fact, Acts sets up an awesome example of what happens here at shift each week. The word tells us in Acts 2:42 that “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” That is what we are all about here at shift; teaching, fellowship, communion, and prayer.

So tonight’s altar is simple. The first question is, do you need to give up some friends? Do you have some of those need-based relationships and they are holding you back?

The second question is are you conscientiously building love-based relationships? Are you being someone’s Jonathon? Maybe you are just lonely right now. I understand that, I”ve been there at different seasons. Stop focusing on your loneliness. Instead, look for someone to build up, to invest in. Start seeing the people around you the way God sees them.

Credentialing Interview

I woke up this morning with the words, "Today is the day" in my brain. After a year and a half of working through Berean, I was finally to the last step of the first level of credentialing. Today was my interview. I was nervous, but confident in my calling, if you can be such a thing. Turns out it wasn't nearly as stressful as I had imagined in my mind. But I took it seriously, cause it's me. :) The best part of my interview was the prayer that Dub Jones prayed over us at the end. I was shaking, simply because I am all too aware of the spiritual brevity of the calling of 'pastor'. He prayed thanksgiving for my life, for the way God carefully knit together the events of my youth to create the woman He's called me to be. He prayed for my children and my husband and our ministry. He called on spiritual gifts to be evident in my life, specific gifts that I have been privately seeking the Lord for and hadn't even shared with Rob just yet. It was powerful. I definitely had an experience with God during that prayer. I was again, filled with humility and awe of God's hand on my life.

On a less intense note, here is the outfit that Jen so carefully crafted with me. I was wearing a great pair of black pointy pumps too, in case you were wondering.

The whole interview went really well and my paperwork has been sent off to Springfield. Someday soon a little card will come in the mail saying that I now have authority to marry and bury. Hurrah!! God is so faithful! Even as this step is solidifying, I am half way finished with my next step - licensing. 14 more classes and I'll be ready to step up to ordination. I am so excited for this process!!

It made it all the more awesome that Autumn was here through this day. She came for Section Council and spent the night with us. We are going out with missionaries (and former co-workers) Matt and Stacey to celebrate successful interviews here shortly. We are having Thai food, which is a first for Rob and I!

The Next Twenty Years of Your Life Are Going to be the Most Fruitful

Those were the words spoken over me at lunch today by my new friend, Ardell Fleck. I'm still turning them over in my brain, like precious pearls plucked from an oyster. When I think about the future in ministry, it is incredibly exciting. I think about the past fifteen years, sixteen really, since I rededicated my life to Jesus in the darkened sanctuary of First Methodist in Sioux City, IA. It's incredible what He has done in my life, the experiences He has brought me through. And then even more the past year and a half.

Since that morning I got filled in my bedroom back in the Baytown house, I feel like He has turned my life upside down and set me on fire. All in a good way, of course. And to think, that the next twenty years will be even more fruitful. How terribly exciting!!

I met Ardell at a minister's meeting two weeks ago. The wives gathered together to share and encourage one another and it was just an awesome time of testimony. Ardell shared about her recent loss of her husband and the love and pain in her story tugged hard at my heartstrings. She adored her husband (I can relate!) and they did ministry hand in hand for over fifty years. I said a little prayer right then and there that Rob and I would have fifty years. Listening to her grief over the loss of her best friend just really got me, I can't imagine losing Rob and we've only been married thirteen years at this point. Anyway, she went on to share about her involvement in Teen Challenge ministries. Janet shared about what Rob and I are doing with the youth here at ct and with credentialing.

After our meeting Ardell approached me to ask if I would speak at Teen Challenge. I accepted, of course, what an opportunity!! And we emailed back and forth and set up a lunch for today. What a blessing that was. She is wise. She is humble. She is in love with Jesus. And after she prayed for me, I prayed for her. We were both blessed.

And now I am just thinking about what God is going to do next in me. In Rob. In us. Makes me so excited!!

Please remember to pray for me on Monday at 2:20pm. I will be in my credentialing interview with the sectional presbytery. I'm nervous, excited, prayed up, and ready for it to be 3pm that day for it to be a done deal! At this point, God has done so much in my heart to prepare me for ministry (especially with preaching weekly now) that this just feels like a formality, although I am very aware of the responsibility of what I am taking on. I'm humbled and blessed and in awe that God wants to use me.

Anyway, time to finish up my shiftAM lesson and get back to preparing the shiftJV message for Wednesday night.. Thanks for your prayers, I covet them!

Early Riser

So, I've been a little grumpy in the morning with the kids. Got pretty convicted about it yesterday and decided that I'm really no good before my quiet time. Plotted to wake up at 5:30 daily instead of 6am. Starting that on a Wednesday was not my wisest moment. By about 2 this afternoon I was yawning. :) Oh well, can't wait to preach!!

and here is the recipe for sheet cake. oh, it's so yummy. I think I need to make some for the weekend since Bart and Jen are coming. Yay!! I can scarcely believe that I don't have to go anywhere this weekend. That's huge considering that I've been in Houston the past four weekends. I'm so ready to be home! And to spend it with amazing people, yay! We are doing their family photos, which officially kicks off the Christmas photo season for me. woohoo!

Sheet Cake and other Spiritual Truths

So last night I scurried home from Accelerated Ministers Training. After 8 hours in intense classes I drove the four hours (250) miles home and realized that I needed to make a dessert for this afternoon's youth leadership meeting. So after changing out of my heels and snappy sweater to a much more forgiving set of worn jammies, I set about the business of fixing a Texas Sheet Cake, one of my favorite and most popular desserts.

Rob sat in the kitchen with me while we post processed the past few days. As we chatted, I worked on the cake. If you've ever made Texas Sheet Cake you'll realized it's a bit of an edeavor - not completely complicated, but definitely one that requires full attention. Rob and I discussed, and I stirred, heated, poured. Finally as I was whipping up the icing, the timer dinged and I pulled my greatly-anticipated cake from the oven to add the final delectable layer and I knew in a second that something had gone terribly ary. The cake, which should be fluffy and moist, was instead the consistency of a tortillia. Somewhere in my fervancy, I had missed a step. It is amazing how crucial the baking soda is in a rising cake recipe.

Sadly, I had wasted an hour of my time. I'd dirtied dishes, (quite a few, it's an involved recipe), trashed the kitchen, wasted ingredients (the butter alone was about $3 worth), heated the oven, and it was all for naught. I can't serve this cake, no one would eat it!!

So this morning, as I am cleaning my kitchen (before I prepare for church, cleaning your kitchen in church clothes is a whole other lesson in itself) as I washed the pieces of cake down the disposal I realized there had to be a lesson in this failure. It's come to my attention repeatedly lately that God always uses failure as teaching opportunities. So what was the lesson in my failed sheet cake?

I had forgotten the baking soda. I'd busied myself with preparations, getting out the ingredients, prepping the pan, pre-heating the oven. I knew the plan, I was focusing on the end goal, but I'd forgotten the power of the baking soda to allow the cake to rise to it's full potential.

It's just like the church and Holy Spirit. We can busy ourselves with Sunday School programs and bulletin covers, making sure the power point is just so. We can have committees and volunteers and take large offerings. We can preach sermons and fill pews. But without the Holy Spirit, without Pentecost, we will never rise to the full potential God has called the church to. We will always wind up with some weak imitation that people will just bearly tolerate, a poor representative of what God has truly called us to be.

So this morning, as you take your shower, primp your hair, polish off your church clothes, don't forget to invite the Holy Spirit to church with you. And if you are leadership, in all your fervored plans and efforts, remember to seek His support, leading and guidance. Remember, without it, all your best laid plans will fall flat. Blessings this morning!

Lately I feel like I'm on that old tv show "This is Your Life." Things are just so crazy and amazing. I haven't been posting because it seems like I've spent about half of September in Houston thus far. With District School of Ministry starting back up and Accelerated Minister's Training, that isn't too much of an exaggeration. But more exciting than that, we just started doing two services in youth; a jr varsity and a varsity service. Last week was a rocky start, but I think things will tweak out as we get a groove going. Last week I preached the varsity service, and this week I will preach JV. I've loved it!! I totally see why God called me to pursue ordination. His timing is so perfectly perfect, I am amazed.

Ok, just wanted to check in. I'll be back! (said in my best Arnold voice)

Who Are You??

(last week's senior high message, first in the Identity series)

What do you see when you look in the mirror?

I know for girls, we tend to be hard on ourselves. Freckles, awkward features, disproportionate or unhappy about color, shape and size. Boys mostly see awesome. :)

Have you ever wondered what does God see when He looks at you??

The Word, which is the only truth you can build your life on, says this about you.

Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

You may think that was about Adam and Eve, but you were created in His image too.

Let your brain sink into that for a moment, made in the image of God. To be like Him, not to replace Him. We were created to be companions with God, to have relationship with Him.

You all know the story of Adam and Eve. And you probably know about their great fall. Let me refresh your memory.

Genesis 3:1-7 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

So thus, Adam and Eve lost right relationship with God and opened themselves up to sin and sickness and ultimately death.

Fast forward 4000+ years and enter you.

You were born into sin. Hate to say it, but that’s just the way the world works. Want to challenge me on that? Have you ever taken something that wasn’t yours? (stealing) Ever wanted something that belonged to someone else? (envy) Ever stretched the truth a bit? (lying) Ever thought you were better than someone else? (pride)

You see, thanks to Adam and Eve, we are all sinners. Don’t get too upset, you probably would have made the same choice. In fact, at first opportunity, you did. The first time you wanted a cookie and your mom said no and you threw a fit, you entered into sin all on your own.

Now let me share the good news. Even on that day, way back 4000 years ago, God knew we’d choose sin. And He had a contingency plan all along. Genesis 3:15 is His first reference to His salvation plan. Jesus came and lived a perfect life free from the entanglements of sin. And He died on a cross in our place, paying our cost for sin, for all mankind.

See, you were so valuable that God was willing to pay anything to restore relationship with you. Jesus was His most valuable asset.

Even when you didn’t know who God was, He knew about you. While you were living it up in sin, doing whatever you wanted whenever you wanted, He had His eye on you.

It’s kind of hard to picture it.

Let me share a clip with you from a favorite movie of mine.

(set up, Jean Valjean is a broke prisoner who has served his time. The bishop opens his home to Jean, and during the night Jean steals his silverware and runs off. He is found the next day and this is the bishops reaction.)

See, we were liars, thieves, idolaters and haters before we met God. And He loved us anyway. He loved us so much that He bought us with a price. A tremendous price. A price that could only be paid in blood. Just like Jean Valjean, you have been given a new future. It is your choice what to do with that future.

“You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” 1 Corinthians 6:20

Remember that a very high price was paid for your life. Honor God with your life in response to that sacrifice.

(Pass out silver forks with ‘paid in full’ tags on them.)

Altar: There are two kinds of people in this room right now.

1.) Maybe you are listening to this and thinking “this is all new!” or “man, I didn’t think of this in this way before.” Maybe you are at a place of making a decision to accept the price Jesus paid for you tonight and move forward in your life with Him. I want to give you that chance now. If your heart is pounding in your chest and you feel like you might want to run out the door and throw up, there’s a good chance God is dealing with you about your salvation. This is your moment. Make a decision now that will affect your eternity, just as much as the silver affected Jean ValJean’s. See, he went on to live a full life, impacting many people around him with love and compassion.

2.) The second group of students in this room have forgotten the price God paid for your soul.. Or cheapened it. You know what Jesus did, but you have let the message of the world sneak in the cracks. You have stopped at salvation and never moved forward to lordship. We need to walk in the light of our salvation every day. Responding to God’s love and mercy, sharing our life with God, allowing Him to lead us, and sharing our story with the people around us. Remember the high cost God paid for you. You need to start living like Jean Valjean, passing out compassion and love to the people around you. Declaring Jesus Lord of your life. Living your paid for life to the fullest, and enjoying relationship with the creator.

Second and Fifth

wha! Where does the time go? We were excited to send them off to school today, especially to the new school, but of course, missed them by the end of the day! They both had a great first day, love their teachers. Yay!! And tomorrow, I launch back into the world of full-time employment. crazy. I am officially excited to do my job better, with more enthusiasm and lengthier hours. I am very nervous about keeping up with the house and the kids and the eternal laundry. But Claire Huxtible could do it, so can I! BTW - we've been on a big Cosby Show kick at our house and loving it lately.

New Music

It's been a bit since a new Christian artist really got my attention. The kids and I have been really into this song. I'll be interested to hear the rest of hr album when it releases in September. :)

Sarah's Birthday Bash

Oh, it was a party! We'd been scheming for weeks now, especially fueled by my recent addiction to pinterest.com. We found lots of owl inspiration. It all started with the cake. At a doctor appointment in May we noticed this cake in Family Fun magazine and Sarah said she wanted to do an owl birthday party this year.

I may have gone overboard a bit. Turns out, it's really easy to draw owls and I'm pretty good at it. So we had owl everything...

balloons.

Crafts.

gift bags.

Magnets to go home with the kiddos. (they were especially hard to part with)

cups for the kiddos to use and keep.

owl sandwhiches.

and a one of a kind tshirt for the birthday girl..

This is what the living room looked like.

we had four guests.

and made wishes.

and opened gifts.

This was Sarah's big gift. I'd hunted on Craigslist for three months and then one day Rob's mom called and said she'd like to help with it. yay!! So we wound up purchasing a brand new one for a great price on Barnes and Noble.com It literally came in at 2:45 on the day of the party. Rob went into covert operations and had it put together before her friends arrived at 4pm. She was more than a little excited!

New Family Photos

So a few weeks back, close family friends and fellow photographer, Shane and Becca Monohan came for a quick weekend with us. Wow, we had a busy weekend and a blast. The best part was that we exchanged services. This was an incredible blessing for me because Shane is extremely talented. It was so fun to have someone crawl around and shoot my family the way I do so many other families. His work is fantastic and I know I will treasure these pictures for years and years to come. Thank you Shane, you have given us an incredible gift and we are unbelievably grateful. Here are a few of my favorite shots.








To see more of Shane's work, or to book him for a session, find his info here...


(he's located in Sioux City, IA)