Ok...I'll be honest...I'm a little pumped about the upcoming baptism service on Sunday, December 7th, at Gateway Community Church. Why?? What's the big deal?
As I've been explaining to everyone who has two legs (I haven't seen too many people without 2 legs - but I'd tell them too), this is one of the most exciting services a church can host.
This act of getting fully immersed (baptized) in water, is a powerful and dramatic spiritual act that shows a person has decided to follow Jesus.
*Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 28:18-20 "Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." There is no question, the church is supposed to baptize people who are following him. Once they believe, they should be baptized!
So often, we are willing to wear the colors of our favourite team, or designer, but here's an public display where someone is identifying themself with Jesus. Going down under the water, represents how they are dying to their sins, just as Christ died for our sins, and the coming out of the water, reveals how they are going to be raised from the dead (because God raised Jesus from the dead).
It will be very moving to hear adults share why they decided to follow Jesus. I'm sure we have all heard of the show, "Biggest Loser." These people enter a work-out program and diet plan to see their life change. Throughout the show, they share what they used to look like, feel like, and now....what they weight, act like and feel.
So...what does this TV show have to do with Baptism....on Sunday, people will share the changes Jesus has made in their life! They'll share what their life was like before (ie. worried about life, unsure about their purpose, scared about their marriage, and after meeting Jesus --- they have peace, their is hope about their future, they can trust God to lead them in raising their children).
*So watch out Satan....God is moving people to stand up for him. It's going to be a celebration in heaven and in Port Alberni on Sunday!!
Come out....everyone is invited!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
The toughest prayer...what could it be
As the title says...yes, I'm still preaching on prayer. As we go through the Lord's Prayer, this series has really challenged me to do a number of things:
1. Prayer is a really tough practice - but over and over Jesus encourages us, the Bible shares stories of why to do it and the difference it makes on our perspective.
2. When we pray, we need to believe we aren't coming to the back door of a grocery store to see what scraps are thrown out, but we are approaching the king of kings. This is the King of the Universe who is able to give us much more than we "ask or imagine."
3. Prayer is certainly mysterious in when God gives us what we want, but more often he is pleased that we are communicating with him and desire to understand and live out his will more fully.
4. I like to pray, but often I have many excuses why I don't pray (ie. tired, doubt, unsure if God cares).
5. God's will and kingdom is for us to discover through prayer and reading His Word.
What do you think of prayer?
Do you have any big questions that you think I really need to discuss as we end this series in the next couple weeks. (Please realize there are some questions I don't know the answer to).
....have a great weekend and believe that God can hear you!
1. Prayer is a really tough practice - but over and over Jesus encourages us, the Bible shares stories of why to do it and the difference it makes on our perspective.
2. When we pray, we need to believe we aren't coming to the back door of a grocery store to see what scraps are thrown out, but we are approaching the king of kings. This is the King of the Universe who is able to give us much more than we "ask or imagine."
3. Prayer is certainly mysterious in when God gives us what we want, but more often he is pleased that we are communicating with him and desire to understand and live out his will more fully.
4. I like to pray, but often I have many excuses why I don't pray (ie. tired, doubt, unsure if God cares).
5. God's will and kingdom is for us to discover through prayer and reading His Word.
What do you think of prayer?
Do you have any big questions that you think I really need to discuss as we end this series in the next couple weeks. (Please realize there are some questions I don't know the answer to).
....have a great weekend and believe that God can hear you!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Prayer...what's up...or just do it
So hear's the deal....with Thanksgiving approaching (Oct. 13), I begin to wonder - What am I thankful for? And even beyond that, who will I direct my thanksgiving to? Very often I am not content with the status quo. But I should be examining, am I thankful to God for what he gives me?
Reading this story this past week from Luke 17:15-18 - where Jesus heals 10 men with leprosy, but only one comes back and thanks Jesus for the healing he receives. What audacity to forget to thank the one who had healed them! Do you ever get that way? I can say my kids forget to thank me when I give them a snack or buy them a new toy, but do I forget to thank God for all the great things (house, job, wife, children, clothes, car) he has given me?
In the next 2 months at Gateway Community Church, we are going to be looking at the tough questions surrounding prayer. Topics like - "Why do we thank God? Why do we talk to him? Does he hear us? Why doesn't he always answer the way we want?
I think for some of us - we know the power of prayer, but forget to utilize this incredible gift God has given us. On the other hand, perhaps we have seen prayers go "unanswered" (when a family member dies or we lose our job or our marriage falls apart) so our belief in prayer is shaken.
Will you join us in a journey as we look at what Jesus says about prayer. Why pray the Lord's prayer? Does it have any significance today? Strap on your seat belts and be prepared to see God come alive!
Reading this story this past week from Luke 17:15-18 - where Jesus heals 10 men with leprosy, but only one comes back and thanks Jesus for the healing he receives. What audacity to forget to thank the one who had healed them! Do you ever get that way? I can say my kids forget to thank me when I give them a snack or buy them a new toy, but do I forget to thank God for all the great things (house, job, wife, children, clothes, car) he has given me?
In the next 2 months at Gateway Community Church, we are going to be looking at the tough questions surrounding prayer. Topics like - "Why do we thank God? Why do we talk to him? Does he hear us? Why doesn't he always answer the way we want?
I think for some of us - we know the power of prayer, but forget to utilize this incredible gift God has given us. On the other hand, perhaps we have seen prayers go "unanswered" (when a family member dies or we lose our job or our marriage falls apart) so our belief in prayer is shaken.
Will you join us in a journey as we look at what Jesus says about prayer. Why pray the Lord's prayer? Does it have any significance today? Strap on your seat belts and be prepared to see God come alive!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Search for Truth
Another weekly installment as I prepare my sermon. God is sure providing some unique connections to the search for truth. Check out this excerpt from this article below as scientists in Switzerland try to duplicate the “Big Bang.” You can read more on the link below or search “Particle Accelerator Switzerland”
“GENEVA (AP) Whatever the case, the most powerful atom-smasher ever built comes online Wednesday, eagerly anticipated by scientists worldwide who have awaited this moment for two decades.The multibillion-dollar Large Hadron Collider will explore the tiniest particles and come ever closer to re-enacting the big bang, the theory that a colossal explosion created the universe.The machine at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, promises scientists a closer look at the makeup of matter, filling in gaps in knowledge or possibly reshaping theories.The first beams of protons will be fired around the 17-mile tunnel to test the controlling strength of the world's largest superconducting magnets. It will still be about a month before beams traveling in opposite directions are brought together in collisions that some skeptics fear could create micro "black holes" and endanger the planet.The project has attracted researchers of 80 nationalities, some 1,200 of them from the United States, which contributed $531 million of the project's price tag of nearly $4 billion.”
http://www.2news.tv/news/tech/27972319.html
What does this have to do with Gateway Community Church or Port Alberni…a lot! This Sunday, we investigate how there could be only one truth (the way to be saved). He said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Isn’t it interesting, some 2000 years after Jesus was around, people are still trying to simulate what only God could do – create life? 4 Billion dollars has been spent on this machine in Switzerland – what will happen – perhaps Switzerland and the earth is sucked into a black hole?? I don’t know – but what I do know is people want to know the truth!
“GENEVA (AP) Whatever the case, the most powerful atom-smasher ever built comes online Wednesday, eagerly anticipated by scientists worldwide who have awaited this moment for two decades.The multibillion-dollar Large Hadron Collider will explore the tiniest particles and come ever closer to re-enacting the big bang, the theory that a colossal explosion created the universe.The machine at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, promises scientists a closer look at the makeup of matter, filling in gaps in knowledge or possibly reshaping theories.The first beams of protons will be fired around the 17-mile tunnel to test the controlling strength of the world's largest superconducting magnets. It will still be about a month before beams traveling in opposite directions are brought together in collisions that some skeptics fear could create micro "black holes" and endanger the planet.The project has attracted researchers of 80 nationalities, some 1,200 of them from the United States, which contributed $531 million of the project's price tag of nearly $4 billion.”
http://www.2news.tv/news/tech/27972319.html
What does this have to do with Gateway Community Church or Port Alberni…a lot! This Sunday, we investigate how there could be only one truth (the way to be saved). He said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Isn’t it interesting, some 2000 years after Jesus was around, people are still trying to simulate what only God could do – create life? 4 Billion dollars has been spent on this machine in Switzerland – what will happen – perhaps Switzerland and the earth is sucked into a black hole?? I don’t know – but what I do know is people want to know the truth!
How does your faith in Jesus give you hope? Why?
What do you think about these scientists attempts?
How hard do you search for truth?
What do you think about these scientists attempts?
How hard do you search for truth?
Post a response...I dare you!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Enjoying Creation
I thought I needed to share about our kayaking trip to the Broken Islands. Now being a
pastor (for those of you who didn't know) at Gateway Community Church - it's great to have some experiences that can be used as learning times (ie. times to really pray).
Let me explain, our trip was supposed to be pretty laid back, but it ended up being quite an adventure. On the second day of kayaking we arrived back to our camp at Hand Island, but soon after, the wind and heavy rain picked up. Now a little rain, anyone can handle, but winds over 40km/hr is a bit different - especially when our tent was leaking for some reason. After eating supper under a tarp that was flapping in the wind like a sail, it was time to hunker down in a more "protected" area. Unfortunately when you lie in a tent and trees are flinging their limbs around in gusts of winds, you really start to pray.
I have to admit I prayed quite a bit that night...and thankfully God answered my prayers and no trees fell on our tent.
Overall our trip was fun. Sure we came home a day early, but I would certainly paddle out there again. The area is spectacular. There is so much to see and I really like what God has done with the place :)
Monday, August 11, 2008
Our God is so or TOO BIG!
Here's a quote from a new book I just found out about called the "Wild Goose Chase" - by Mark Batterson.
"In the beginning, God made man in His Image.
Man has been making God in his image ever since.
Call it naturalism. Call it anthropomorphism. Call it idolatry. Call it what you will. The end result of this spiritual inversion is a god that is about our size and looks an awful lot like us. And most of our spiritual shortcomings stem from this fundamental mistake: thinking about God in human terms. We make God in our image and what we’re left with is a God who can never surprise us, never astonish us, never overwhelm us, never transcend us.
Thomas Jefferson loved the teachings of Jesus. In fact, the author of the Declaration of Independence once called them the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. But Jefferson was also a child of the Enlightenment. He didn’t have a cognitive category for miracles so Jefferson literally took a pair of scissors and cut them out of his King James Bible. It took him two or three nights. And by the time he was done, he had cut out the virgin birth; cut out the angels; and cut out the resurrection. Jefferson extracted every miracle and the end result was a book titled the Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth or what is commonly referred to as the Jefferson Bible.
Hard to imagine isn’t it? And something rises up within those of us that believe the Bible is divinely inspired by God. Part of us scoffs or scolds Jefferson. You can’t pick-and-choose. You can’t cut-and-paste. You can’t do that to the Bible. But here’s the honest truth: while most of us can’t imagine taking a pair of scissors to the Bible and physically cutting verses out, we do exactly what Jefferson did. We ignore verses we cannot comprehend. We avoid verses we do not like. And we rationalize verses that are too radical. And we may not cut them out with a pair of scissors, but the end result is the same. We are trapped by our own logic. Our lives are limited to those things we can comprehend with our cerebral cortex. And we end up in the cage of our own assumptions. And the more assumptions we make, the smaller our cage becomes."
I continually meet people who look at the miracles of the Bible and what Jesus did and dismiss what they can't comprehend. Ok, I must be honest - I do the same thing too. How often do I read that Jesus fed the five thousand or walked on water and thought - that can't happen now --- but then where is my faith?
How much faith do you really have? Do you really believe all the miracles of Jesus? Careful if you read this and say - oh yes!
What about this verse..."When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick." New International Version. (Lk 9:1-2).
Can you believe God has called us to live in this way of faith? Or would rather form God into our own image?
"In the beginning, God made man in His Image.
Man has been making God in his image ever since.
Call it naturalism. Call it anthropomorphism. Call it idolatry. Call it what you will. The end result of this spiritual inversion is a god that is about our size and looks an awful lot like us. And most of our spiritual shortcomings stem from this fundamental mistake: thinking about God in human terms. We make God in our image and what we’re left with is a God who can never surprise us, never astonish us, never overwhelm us, never transcend us.
Thomas Jefferson loved the teachings of Jesus. In fact, the author of the Declaration of Independence once called them the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. But Jefferson was also a child of the Enlightenment. He didn’t have a cognitive category for miracles so Jefferson literally took a pair of scissors and cut them out of his King James Bible. It took him two or three nights. And by the time he was done, he had cut out the virgin birth; cut out the angels; and cut out the resurrection. Jefferson extracted every miracle and the end result was a book titled the Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth or what is commonly referred to as the Jefferson Bible.
Hard to imagine isn’t it? And something rises up within those of us that believe the Bible is divinely inspired by God. Part of us scoffs or scolds Jefferson. You can’t pick-and-choose. You can’t cut-and-paste. You can’t do that to the Bible. But here’s the honest truth: while most of us can’t imagine taking a pair of scissors to the Bible and physically cutting verses out, we do exactly what Jefferson did. We ignore verses we cannot comprehend. We avoid verses we do not like. And we rationalize verses that are too radical. And we may not cut them out with a pair of scissors, but the end result is the same. We are trapped by our own logic. Our lives are limited to those things we can comprehend with our cerebral cortex. And we end up in the cage of our own assumptions. And the more assumptions we make, the smaller our cage becomes."
I continually meet people who look at the miracles of the Bible and what Jesus did and dismiss what they can't comprehend. Ok, I must be honest - I do the same thing too. How often do I read that Jesus fed the five thousand or walked on water and thought - that can't happen now --- but then where is my faith?
How much faith do you really have? Do you really believe all the miracles of Jesus? Careful if you read this and say - oh yes!
What about this verse..."When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick." New International Version. (Lk 9:1-2).
Can you believe God has called us to live in this way of faith? Or would rather form God into our own image?
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Captivated...longing for a....
What do you long for? What's on your mind? What do really hope for?
This past week, I started a new sermon series from Psalm 1 which talked about a person who received a blessing from God when they "delighted in the law of the Lord." Psalm 1:3
I asked myself this past week, whether I really love God's word? Do I read it because it's just part of my job, or do I hunger to read it?
I felt convicted as too often I hunger for a holiday or can't wait to go fishing, but must desire God's word in order to be truly happy.
There is so much desire to be happy...perhaps longing for more pay, longer vacation, bigger house, or better position...but true happiness is found in the word of God.
Do you believe it? If you haven't picked up God's word for awhile, He is waiting to speak to you!
This past week, I started a new sermon series from Psalm 1 which talked about a person who received a blessing from God when they "delighted in the law of the Lord." Psalm 1:3
I asked myself this past week, whether I really love God's word? Do I read it because it's just part of my job, or do I hunger to read it?
I felt convicted as too often I hunger for a holiday or can't wait to go fishing, but must desire God's word in order to be truly happy.
There is so much desire to be happy...perhaps longing for more pay, longer vacation, bigger house, or better position...but true happiness is found in the word of God.
Do you believe it? If you haven't picked up God's word for awhile, He is waiting to speak to you!
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