Sunday, September 19, 2010

Isaiah

PS. I did not forget about Andy Stanley's sermon. I just haven't gotten around to posting it yet. I will post it! I will also be posting about what I plan to do with each sermon :D It is yet to come.
I am currently working on finishing Isaiah. I am very behind on Isaiah, and having a lot of trouble with it because it is a lot of history. History, as I have posted about before, is my least favorite subject. I am working on overcoming that!My goal for this week is to finish Isaiah with at least a little bit of understanding. Today I read chapters 21 to 28.

Isaiah 22:11 - "You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago." Is there anything in your life that God has given you (which is everything...) that you have yet to thank Him for? Thank Him!

Isaiah 25:1 - They are praising God for his destruction. I can't imagine! The only thing I could relate to this is to when He tests me, and my obedience bring reward. I,then, thank Him for testing me.

Isaiah 25:3-12 is lovely. There are so many truths about our God. shelter from the storm, shade from heat...

Isaiah 26:12 - Lord, You establish peace for us, all that we have accomplished, You have done for us.

Isaiah 27:1 - Leviathan has been said to be a dinosaur or sea monster. I have a hard time believing in that. No matter how much science there is behind dinosaurs, something about be strongly believes that they did not exist, and we can debate and debate about it... It is what I believe :D

So, that is my post for the night. I hope everyone has an awesome week. I will be posting about Andy Stanley, and how the whole conference changed me, as well as the end of Isaiah later this week. :D

God Bless!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Pastor Steven Furtick

Pastor Steven Furtick is amazing! :-) He is the Lead Pastor of this really sweet church called Elevation. At the age of 16, he accepted Christ and God gave him the vision of Elevation. The mission statement of Elevation church is to reach people far from God and fill them with life in Christ. He just recently wrote a book called Sun Stand Still on Joshua 10. :-)

Pastor preached from John 2:1-5 and Mark 11:1-6. I do not know if he titled the sermon, but I would title it JUST DO IT

We must add the phrase "Jesus told me to" to our vocabulary. If no one has laughed at your vision lately - You are not dreaming big enough. In the passage from John, the wine symbolizes the Holy Spirit and the cerimony symbolizes the church. Immediant obedience is under rated God will put everything in your life to do just what He told you to do... in John 2 the colt was right there. Do it like it has already been done, becuase it has! His example for this was he was watching The Office one time, across the screen came a weather advisory for snow. He became so upset because numbers were going to drop that weekend at church. Then, he remembered that he was watching the show on DVR. IT HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE! It is all about our faithful God. He already did it. Jesus already rose from the grave! Build your faith on a faithful God. No matter how big or small "it" is, God told you to do it, so... DO IT!

It was really cool for me to hear Pastor speak somewhere besides Elevation. I needed that reminder about how priveledged I am to have the opportunity to serve and woship at his church. He is an amazing leader, and an increadible speaker. This sermon was another inspiring sermon for me! It was a reminder of why I went on to start an eGroup. :-)

Francis Chan

Francis Chan founded Cornerstone Church in Simi Valey. He has been there for 16 years, but recently felt as if God was calling him to step down from the church. Francis Chan has written several amazing books. (Crazy Love is increadible!)

The majority of Francis' sermon was him on his knees praying to God. It was so inpsiring for me to watch him do this. A few of the Bible verses that he spoke from were Jerimiah 9:23 (Let's boat and brag about having the opportunity to know Him.), Ephisians 6, Joshua 14:7, Philippians 1:27-28, James 5:15, 1 Peter 4:11 (Do not be surprised), Numbers 14:11, and Acts 4:13. It is all about knowing Jesus. When we were kids we left chuch knowing we can do anything with God. Why do we not believe that anymore? Following Jesus is goign to be hard, but we have to hold on to hope. God hears our prayers, we must know and rejoice in that!

I have to say for me, Francis' sermon was one of the most inspiring for me. I have a had time praying in public and out loud. I feel as if praying is a personal experience between God and I. Throught all of Francis' sermon I could tell that the Holy Spirit was inside of him, and was moving him in increadible ways. I love that!

Pastor Judah Smith

Pastor Judah Smith is the lead pastor at The City Church in Seattle, WA. He has come to Elevation before, and he just has an amazing way to combine humor and the Truth.

He preached from Mark 4:35-5:1 and Mark 6:45-53. His sermon was titled "Matters of the Meantime." He spoke on Are we there yet?

In these passages it says when and then. It does not say when when is - because nobody knows. What do you do when you are not where you used to be and not where you want to be? The "meantime" matters to God. It is impossible for us to get to the other side without Christ. The book of John says that in the storm they got 3 miles on an 8 mile river. They did not even get half way without God! ***Please read that again.*** The men were not even able to get half way without God! The first step to getting 'there' is admitting that you are not 'there' Some think that only the spiritual elite get o the other side (Mark 6:52). The only thing that these hard hearted men did was stay in the boat. STAY IN THE BOAT! Being delayed doesn't mean you have been denied. Read Galatians 6:9, praise God, and STAY IN THE BOAT.

When you were tired and had no strength, you're Father picked you up and put you where you needed to be

Pastor Judah's sermon was another very moving sermon for me. There have been moments when I wanted to get out of the boat. I wanted to tell God that He was crazy, and that I could not handle what He had told me to do. I am happy that I am in the boat.

Pastor Jud Wilhite

Pastor Jud Wilhite was the third amazing speaker of the day. He is the Senior Pastor of Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, NV. He has written several books. I had never heard of Pastor Jud before, but I will never forget him! He has an
amazing approach to bringing people to know Christ.

Put your hand to the plow and do not look back. Remember why you are heard and DO NOT look back!

He preached about the woman at the well.
Jesus saught this woman when no one was looking. He was not trying to get a reaction out of anyone. Jews should not have been speaking to a Samaritan woman. We must remember to continually seek the broken. Who is hurting that we can help? Who needs to be reached who isn't being reached? We should see restriction as an opportunity. We must fight th martyr mentality. Stop focusing on what we do not have and find the yes. Tell the truth in love

If we reach out to the hurting, we will always have an audience

I loved this sermon! It was amazing. Pastor Jud was a very great speaker. He was open about his church, things they have done that have failed, and learning to grow from that. He said that we must stop making things so complicated and just seek the broken. That is what we are in this business for :)

Pastor Mark Driscoll

Pastor Mark Driscoll was the second speaker. Pastor Mark started Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA. His church has a regular attendance of 6,000 members and has been open since 1996.

He spoke on suffering. For God to use you, you must be wounded deeply. Sufferings cause us so much pain, we must know how to use it to our advantage. His sermon was titled "The Six Benefits of Suffering"

1. Sanctification (vs.1) - Sufferings can hurt so deeply, We must think more deeply about it. Jesus suffered so we could become more like Him.
2. Stewardship (vs. 2-6) - Suffering reminds us that we are stewards of a great mystery. We know what the mystery is. We must make the mystery known!!
3. Serving comes from suffering (vs.7) - Jesus is our suffering servant. When we are weak, we are strong. This is something that is going to be very hard for us to wrap our head around. But, we are closest to God when we are weak and suffering. He makes us strong. We are able to serve others through our suffering, ie. Women who are raped can serve other women who have been raped.
4. Speaking comes from suffering (vs. 8-9) - Paul is preaching out of his losses of imperfections. You must talk about your pain and suffering.
5. Showing comes from suffering (vs.10-12) - Paul treasures nothing above Jesus. he has joy because no one can take away his most prized treasure. :-) The invisible God is made visible through the church.
6. Sustaining comes from suffering (vs.13) - Do not loose heart. We must learn how to suffer well.

How will you use your suffering to help and minister to others?


Point four is the hardest one for me to accept. I do not like talking about my pain. It is something that I am getting better at, but I have the hardest time talking about where I have come from and what I have been through. But, I did not get the opportunity to go to the conference to not take what I learned and use it to my advantage.

Pastor Perry Noble

Pastor Perry Noble was the first of seven amazing speakers. Pastor Perry founded and is the senior pastor of Newspring Church. I visited Newspring a few months ago. He is an amazing speaker.

Before God can do something great with you, He must do something great in you. I loved when he said this. God has got to move inside of you, before He can do anything great with you. God is doing something very great inside of me.

He preached from Joshua 5:13-6:5. He said that the man in this passage was an Old Testament sighting of Jesus. I never thought of that when I read through Joshua. He said you have to recognise the who, what and how. If you have not been, or are not willing to be, uncomfortable, you will end up unfaithful. If you haven't had an 'Oh Crap!' moment, you haven't heard from God. You don't have time not to get alone with God. You must listen to God and do (Joshua 5:15). Jesus was testing Joshua's obedience when he asked Joshua to take his shoes off. If Joshua had not been able to take his shoes off, then Jesus would not have been able to trust his obedience with the plan He had for him.

I loved what he said about having an 'Oh Crap!' moment. Because, when God told me I needed to start an eGroup, I definitely had an 'Oh Crap!' moment.

Rejoice in Him, not your activity. He brought you to where you are. Thank Him for that!

Friday, September 17, 2010

2 Peter

I love 2 Peter 3:8-9. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises... This means so much to me. The Lord has made a promise to me, and I need to rejoice in this passage. He is NOT slow. I strongly believe the Lord is waiting for me to stop being so impatient to fufill the promise that He has made me. Yesterday's conference revieled that to me. I am no longer worrying, or wondering "ARE WE THERE YET?" The Lord has made me a promise, and the Lord is not slow in keeping his promises.

2 Peter 3:11-15 is such a reminder of how we should live our lives and why .

And that is the end of 2 Peter

NLC

Tuesday, Kelly Draddy called me to invite me to the Newspring Leadership Conference on Thursday (today/tomorrow). Jennifer let me have the day off. (All the credit goes to God on that one).

I have so much I want to say about this experience, but I am going to make this post brief because it is late, and I need sleep...

Today was incredible. God rocked me world. We heard from Pastor Perry Noble, Pastor Mark Driscoll, Pastor Jud Wilhite, Pastor Judah Smith, Francis Chan, Pastor Steven Furtick, and Pastor Andy Stanley. I would have to say that each speaker rocked my world in a different way. They all brought amazing messages.

It was such an honor to set with some of the best leaders at Elevation Church. That was an amazing experience in itself.

I am praising God tonight for such an amazing experience. I am thanking Him for His plan always being the highest. :D


PS. I do have an updated blog on my reading ready to be typed. That will be up on Saturday.
Also, Saturday... I will be posting my take on each Pastor's sermon and how it rocked my world, as well as what I plan to do after hearing their sermon!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Mark

Hey. I will be starting in Mark 6 and finishing Mark!

When reading Mark 6, I ran across the story of John the Baptist being beheaded on King Herod's birthday. I do not know if I had not yet talked to Cameca about why she does not celebrate birthdays, because I do not remember reading that in Matthew. This is the second (and last) recorded birthday celebration in the Bible, and someone died at both!

I will never get tired of reading about Jesus going away to pray. In Mark 6:46, Jesus goes away to pray. What a true example of 1 Thessalonians 5:17 this is. If Jesus needed to take time away form healing the sick and preaching the Word of God, then... we all probably needed to take a minute at least a minute and pray.

A co-worker was telling me about her husband. God has done everything except physically slap him in the face. She told me three times that God has been trying to speak to him. He still doubts, and finds it hard to believe in someone/something you can't see. I read Mark 6:50 and thought about him. It says, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately He spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." Jesus is telling him not to be afraid! There is no reason to be afraid of the unseen.

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? -Mark 8:34-36

And he said to them, "I tell you the truth, some who ares tanding here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power. -Mark 9:1

In Mark 11:13-14 Jesus curses a fig tree because it has leaves but no figs. I thought this was really weird. I read the notes in the margin of my Bible. It says this is a metaphor for people who make promises to God but do not fulfill them. I found this very interesting. The fig tree was "out of season", but had leaves and no figs. If it was not season for the fig tree to be growing, the leaves would have been dead, too. But, the fig tree had leaves and no figs.... food for thought

I love Mark 11:22-26. "Have faith in God." Jesus answered. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

As I have said before. It is from Deut. 6:4-5 but, I love it. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30-31

In Mark 14:32, there is just another example of how Jesus needed time alone to pray. There is no doubt that we need time alone, as well.

Mark 14:72 had to be such a real moment for Peter. Jesus had told Peter what would happen. Peter denied it, then it happened. Peter disowned Jesus. In verse 72, Peter feels the weight of his actions. This happens to all of us. We think we could never deny Jesus. We all fall short to sin. Then, feel terrible in the moment that we realize the significance of our actions.

I read Mark 15:13 where the people shout to crucify Jesus over Barabbas. Barabbas was a murderer. These people had been so brainwashed by the Roman leaders. They were al threatened by Jesus. Reading this just breaks my heart because they wanted to kill Jesus over a murderer.

Mark 15:31 kills me. Jesus is my Savior, (and yours, too!) These people mocked him. The line "He saved others, but can't save himself" is so awful. I can't even begin to imagine what it was like to be on that cross.

Mark 15:8 is such a symbol of the life change that w are able to experience through Jesus' death. The curtain was what separated people from the presence of God. God tore that curtain as Jesus died on the cross. We are no longer separated from God.

Reading the story of Jesus' crucifixion is so hard. But, it is something that we all need to know as Christians. I never, not for one day, what to take my salvation for granite.


Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Enjoy time with your family. I will be enjoying a lovely weekend with my brothers. I can't wait for this weekends "Concert with a Cause" at Elevation.

Good Morning!

Good Morning!

I hope that you are doing well. I am doing great! I was wrestling with the idea of starting my own eGroup. I did not know why God put that on my heart. I am an eTeam leader, juggle school and work, and try to have a social life. So, as a way to meet my needs and God's needs, I searched The City for an eGroup that I could join. I emailed five eGroup leaders of groups in my area that seemed interesting to me. NONE OF THE GROUPS MET ON DAYS OR TIMES THAT I COULD. So, basically God slapped me in my face. He said "Keirstin, I told you I want you to start a group. Not join a group. You can reach more people by starting one. This is late one night this week. I message Jay Rabon, the eGroup guy. He sets me up on The City. All I had to do was enter the details of the group! I am a little nervous... But, very very excited about what God is going to do through me with this group!

I am way behind on my reading. I hope to find some time this weekend to get back on track. I finished Mark this week!

Have a lovely Labor Day weekend.