Monday Morning Thoughts

I thought yesterday was my best sermon ever.  However, I may be biased. :)  Some people from Sunday may be thinking, "What?!  I thought it was horrible."   Ahhh.. the joys of our uniqueness and diversity.

The reason I thought it was my best, wasn't because I delivered it well (in fact, I am an amateur orator), but I thought it was the most prophetic sermon God has ever graced me with.  Not prophetic in the sense of telling the future or concerning the future, but prophetic in the sense that Scripture and the human experience/reality were lined up against each other in a very clear way.  In other words, God's Spirit enabled me to take the lens prescription of Scripture to bring greater clarity to the vision of our present situation.

My hope is that people heard what God impressed upon my heart, because I believe those words will be one of the most impacting and relevant words our Church will ever hear for the season that we live in (before Christ's return).  The core issue of this message addresses the reality we face every day.  Realities, like how do I raise my kids in such a corrupt and fallen world?  Or... I hate how our country allows abortion, how do I save those lives?  It's ultimately a question of light and darkness... how are we to advance the Kingdom of God in a world that seeks to aggressively extinguish our light?  Yesterday we talked how the flesh advances the light (through motives of fear and how fear is rendered in many different faces/strategies).  Next week, we will talk about how the Spirit advances light!

If you want to listen, click here: http://www.missionfoursquare.com/index.php/resources/sermons.html.  The sermon doesn't begin until 10 minutes in, but I encourage you to pray along with the prayer at the beginning so that you can join with our Church in praying for the things we prayed for.

In other news... we had a good weekend.  Saturday was busy and good... although the power went out again at 6:30... what's up with all the power outages?  We've had three in the last two weeks.

After our gathering on Sunday, Ruby and I went to A&W with a few others and enjoyed our mama and teen burgers.  They were short staffed and so the average order was about 15 minutes.  Other patrons were verbally aggressive in their impatience.  We were able to put the Spirit to work and exercise patience and extend grace to the stressed/overworked staff.  It was good to catch up with Josh P. at lunch... he's been studying/commuting to BCIT for the last two years.  He and Renee's determination and perseverance to get through this season of life is nothing short of amazing.

Sunday afternoon we did some yard work.  Angela and Ruby planted their vegetable seeds and then vacuumed 5 pounds of raisins and cheerios from the car.  I got to mow the lawn and wash the car.

On Sunday night we had some friends over for a wiener roast in the backyard.  It was a good time of relaxing and chatting.  You can see the last bit of smoke in the photo above.

This week I get to work at the College, attend a few meetings, and cheer on the Canucks.  I hope you have a great week.  "This is the [week] the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps. 118:24 NIV)
  
  

Prayer Focus This Week

Church Family

• Shaela Warkentin (that her sight would be renewed and she would adjust well to being at home)
• Zain Krikau (improved Health)
• A friend of someone in our Church that is fighting leukemia
• A friend of someone in our Church that has an undiagnosed lump.
• Jim Moses (recovering, but still in need of a lot of healing especially in his leg/foot, heart, and lungs)
• Two families outside of our Church that are facing marital separation.
• Mike K. (neck injury)

Foursquare Family

• Northgate Foursquare Church (Gold River, BC); Campus Pastor Sam Alescio.
• Barry Buzza (President of Foursquare Canada)

Other Churches

• Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church (Mission, BC)

Our Community & World

• Mayor James Atebe & Council
• Slave Lake residents and town
• Flood and tornado areas in US and Canada
• BC & Canada
• Vancouver Canucks :)
• Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, China

Road Rally & Garage Sale

Wow! What a day.  We had a ton of stuff to sell this morning at the garage sale and then a ton of fun at the Road Rally.  The Clark's did a great job as always organizing the sale!

Nelson Nation (Me, Ruby, Silas, and Christian) came 9th (out of 10 teams).  We got bombarded twice by hooligans loaded with toilet paper, silly string, dish soap, toothpaste, and bubble gum ice cream.

Below are some photos from the day...

Will Someone Please Stand Up

Explore More
What Now? A Study in Acts (Pt. 4)
Will Someone Please Stand Up (Acts 2:14)
May 29 - June 4, 2011 
 
PRAY
Before you begin reading, reflecting, discussing, and applying, begin by opening your heart up to our Creator and Sustainer.  Praise Him and ask Him to incline your heart to His.

STUDY
Read Acts 2.  Continue to read Acts to get more comfortable with this part of our history.  We encourage you to make time to sit down and read all of Acts in one sitting at some point... the context of everything really hits home then.

DISCUSS
How do you respond to people that mock you and your faith?  Have you ever experienced mocking... why or why not?  What are the qualities of Peter’s speach that turn mockers into believers?  How can you apply Peter’s example to your life  and in our current setting?

LIVE
Take time this week to ask yourself... Ask yourself what part of your life you need to get more mature in: 1) integrity/conviction; 2) submitting and fellowshipping with the Church; or 3) operating in the power of the Spirit instead of my flesh.  The Holy Spirit will reveal what you need to do... follow His leading and empowering.

 

Friday Mashup

Funerals always get me pumped!  Yesterday, I attended Don Mundy's (Lynn Beisel's dad) memorial service.  I had never met the man, but I left inspired, challenged, humbled, and focused.  He was a great man because of the way Jesus had changed his life and the way in which he then followed Jesus into his family, friends, and community.  I heard the descriptive phrase, "He gave to a fault" four times during the service... yet, I bet if we had the chance to ask him now from his clearer view of Jesus, Don would have even given more!  It makes me ask the question, am I living with the temporary in focus or eternity?

After the funeral I returned to the Church office and saw Mr. & Mrs. Deer (see above). My first thought was, "mmmmm..... deer sausage!"

Last night I met with some of our ministry leaders and was encouraged with their updates.  Our Church is blessed to have men and women who sincerely love Jesus and then give of their talents and time to lead others back to the treasure they have found in Christ.  We spent some time debriefing on past events, planning for the Summer, and praying for one another and our Church.

Today, I'll be attending a couple meetings, studying for Sunday, praying for the Skatin team (Calvin Williams and crew are doing a weekend trip), and then preparing mentally for tomorrow's Road Rally.

Tomorrow, I'll pop by the Garage Sale to bless someone with my junk from our garage.  Then it's off to compete in the Road Rally.

This Sunday we continue in Acts... every week I get more and more pumped to study Acts and share it with our Church family.   I'm also pretty excited to see this Sunday's Newsletter... it's a good blue colour and features a picture of our latest missions team who recently returned from their ministry in the slums of BC. :)

Have a great weekend and I hope to see you Saturday and Sunday!