fresh start for Fall

After yesterday's amazing Fall Kickoff service, it's exciting to see more and more people wanting to see how God can speak into their life in 2010. For all the people I meet, it's great to see how God calls people, over and over, he calls them to follow him.

2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

The patience of God with me, in all the areas I mess up is incredible. I'm thankful that God is waiting for us to turn to him and love him. I want to continue to keep my heart in check that I love him more than anything.

a lot of ....gods

As I start this new series, "Gods that Fail," I see more and more gods around us (things that are good things made into ultimate things). Case in point, as I sit in a coffee shop, and see many people longing for their cup of brew to get them through the day. What does it mean to be "addicted" to coffee....or any other good thing? It's a reality that our heart gets twisted and naturally turns away from God.

“These men have set up idols in their hearts.” Ezekiel 14:3

or Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

This is a tough series to preach (not sure which one is an easy one, as the Holy Spirit is always convicting us of sin and causes us to see Jesus and His love for us, and His hate for sin).

May God, the God and creator, be the one we worship above everything else.

moving forward....by holding onto God

Right now, things in the life of Gateway Community Church seem to be flying. God is moving in a way...bringing new people to the church, (people looking for a church that is on mission, looking for a healthy church, looking for a church that accepts them but calls them to change because of Jesus). Again I say, God is moving! I have conversations with people and they say, "God stirred in my heart to come to Gateway." And I say, "Wow!"

I am humbled and grateful to God that he has placed me in this incredible role....to serve, and encourage, and empower, and shepherd HIS people!

I came across this youtube video which really challenged me to again aim higher and ask God for His will and His ways to be done in me and in those around me.

back at er'

Wow! I just looked at my blog....and yes, there is a blog, but I sure have been neglecting it! We were away on holidays for a couple weeks...and now it's great to be back. God has continued to work while I was gone (always awesome to know God is never on vacation -never leaves us or forsakes us).

Just yesterday I was able to preach about the story of the sower and the seed. This farmer who throws out seed (Luke 8:1-15) and Jesus shares in this parable how not all the seed grows. The seed represents the word of God and the soil, a person's heart. He shares the reasons people don't follow Jesus. It's amazing how many reasons there are why people turn away from the good news of Jesus: the devil, life's worries, riches & pleasures, & tests. All of these things really should challenge us to pray for those who are trying to follow Jesus. We all will face tests. We all will be tempted by the "good things" that can become ultimate things. We all will be invited by Satan to believe that living for ourself is better than living for God.

I am thankful for the grace of God that He has allowed me to follow Him. I am encouraged to share the word of God and pray that he grows his word in their hearts.
Jesus is the one who calls us to share His words to a lost world.

love your....

The past couple weeks I have been preaching through the book of Luke. Now this book comes from the life, and words of Jesus. I'm not sure which are more difficult to follow -the life or the words (a bit of both -for sure). I see Jesus calling us to such a radical way of living. One author calls living a new way, part of an "upside-down kingdom." One week ago, I had to preach about loving our enemies. Now, for a lot of us we don't have enemies, but we have people who really annoy us (or bug us so much we don't want to even be near them). Jesus comes along and tells people to "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you." (Luke 6:37). Man, these verses sure challenged me to live and think a different about those people that I love to avoid (ok, yes I have those people in my life too).
Jesus continues to call us to live for His desires. Jesus calls us to live to make him famous and not ourselves. Oh, God, please help us in this radical way to live for you.

Celebrating the.....

Well, this past weekend was an incredible time....not because it was the long weekend, but for the first time in about 35 years, I was really able to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. So often I have been part of really good churches, which have valued the authority of the Bible; however, for some reason there has been an absence of celebrating Pentecost (the day on the Christian calendar that the Holy Spirit comes to the dwell in believers of Jesus).
Check this passage out from Acts 2:1-4:
"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. "They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues.
There was a huge party, as finally, the promised Holy Spirit showed up. As I reflected this past week, throughout the book of Acts, we see that the Holy Spirit is experienced - and in a variety of ways. I want to strive to be grounded in the Word of God and also believe in the experience of the Holy Spirit, (with all his gifts he offers). I want to expect much of the Holy Spirit, not for my sake, but so God is made more famous! The wonderful part of the Holy Spirit, is that he wants all the credit to go to Jesus.
What would our communities look like if we lived each day by being attentive and listening to the Holy Spirit? Would a lot more people skeptical of the church, see that the church is being active and loving because the Holy Spirit is leading us in radical ways?

I'm sure glad that the Holy Spirit has come!

First things first

During these past couple weeks we have been going through a series called, MARGIN at Gateway Community Church. The first week talking about financial margin, and this past week moral margin - for sure has stirred some engaging discussion. The Bible is so packed with words that apply clearly to our lives, even in 2010. Yes, people struggled with how to be content with the amount of money they earned. A quote which really challenged me came from, "Contentment makes a poor man rich, and discontent makes a rich man poor."

In the other area of moral margin, there are way too many ways that we succumb to temptation and we come a lot closer to areas of harm than we ever could've imagined or planned. Thankfully God in his grace wants to help us start new and seek him first.

Remember and live by these words, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33