We've been discussing the Sermon on the Mount at His Place...and the conversations have been amazing. As we start, and/or continue to agree with what the Spirit is doing we are going to see God do some awesome stuff.
Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said: Father, it's time. Display the bright splendor of your Son so the Son in turn may show your bright splendor. You put him in charge of everything human so he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge. And this is the real and eternal life: That they know you, the one and only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. I glorified you on earth by completing down to the last detail what you assigned me to do. And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor, the very splendor I had in your presence before there was a world.
If you're married, or in a relationship, you probably love looking at the other person...you behold them. Sometimes, not even saying anything.
As we see God for who He is, we can't help but behold Him...to be amazed...
But, if we're not seeing God for who He is, as shown to us in the word & by His Spirit, then there won't be much to behold...and we will be rather unimpressed and unmoved. We won't be enamoured by Him and beholding Him will become a chore or a dry ritual...
If Jesus is who He says He is, and I believe He is, why don't we 'see' more of the supernatural in our Sunday morning meetings? If the Holy Spirit is in us, why don't we experience the gifts of the Spirit? If the Father is who He says He is, then why do so many feel they are without a father? Why don't we see more healing? Why don't we experience deeper intimacy with Him? Why don't we see deliverance and people being set free?
I'm not saying that these things are not happening at all at HPC. Signs and wonders are not the end goal...the end goal is Jesus...the Father...the Spirit...signs and wonders are an evidence of sorts of His power and reality. The Word says that the Spirit points us to Jesus...and Jesus reveals the Father.
I get scared because I feel so comfortable...that all we do is so planned out that we make this thing about a system, rather than God...who He is, what He did and what He does...
I've been thinking a lot about how much God loves Himself. Think about it...if God loved someone more than Himself...then He wouldn't be God...because there would be something/someone greater than Him worth loving.
And then I think of the relationship God shares with Himself...Father, Son & Spirit. The Son and the Father share intimate relationship with each other...and Jesus constantly talked about how He came to show us the Father...and that They are one.
I really believe we present an incomplete gospel at times. We leave the thought at, 'Jesus saved us so we wouldn't go to hell.' True...but we need to follow that thought further...doing that will lead us to the very heart and nature of God.
Since God loves Himself...He loves to behold Himself. Man is made in God's image. We chose something other than God to give ourselves to. God desires the relationship with us to be reconciled. He sends Himself to do what only He could do, and in doing so, makes a way once more for us to be together...sharing in the same intimacy He shares with Himself.
I absolutely love this thought.
Heather and I like being married. We like it so much that we do something super cool every anniversary. Well...this year, it just happens that U2 is on tour and will be playing the day of our 4 year...in New York.
The only reasonable thing to do was to join their fan club, get in on their special pre-sale and snag a couple of tickets! We also found a super cheap flight on JetBlue.
What could make all of this better, you ask? Muse is opening.
This is gonna be amazing...
Awesome Is The Lord Most High (Able/Tomlin)
Unchanging (Tomlin)
From The Inside Out (Houston)
Holy God (Doerksen)
Take My Life (Underwood)
Refiner's Fire (Doerksen)
Man...this morning Doug, lead pastor at HPC, brought it big time. We were continuing our series in 1 Thessalonians and we were talking about sanctification, holiness and sexual integrity. You could have heard a pin drop as he talked about what so many in the church don't like/are uncomfortable talking about...sex.
He did a killer job communicating the truth w/o laying on guilt...cause if as a Christian you've wrestled with sexual sin...you know there is enough guilt from everywhere & everyone else.
It was an incredible morning...and there is hope!
So we've been looking at houses the last few days and will be going out again on Friday. There's one house we really like...being 2 blocks from the lake & less than a mile from downtown CDA would be quite fun.
The place is smaller than what I was originally thinking of...but the more houses I see...the more I like this one.
We've had some cool conversations about what we need...the place will fit us perfectly, but we'd have to get rid of some 'stuff'. It's a funny thought to buy a bigger place so we can fit all of our things in it.
It's a super cool little bungalow that was remodeled 3 years ago.
Hmmm...
