When Heaven and Earth Collide

God is always amongst us. The Holy Spirit lives within each of us who believe, so we know He is always near. However, there are moments when heaven itself seems to invade earth in such a way that you are very aware God has just stepped into the room in a powerful way.

Sunday was such a time. God began working the night before as Pastor Kurt barely slept and prayed most of the night. God was tangibly working as we sang and worshipped and prayed for one another. It's these times that we drink deep of His Presence and are revived and renewed to journey on in our lives as believers. Many were prayed for that were sick, in need in finances and relationships, struggling with depression, or just needing a fresh filling of God's Spirit. He is faithful to meet us right where we are and He did just that Sunday.

No matter where you are, what weight or pain you carry, God is ready and willing to invade your situation. His Presence can heal and restore. At the very whisper of His Name, He is there. Call out to him today.

Unlearning

In the process of facing our fears, there are areas of our lives we need to unlearn some responses and perspective. As Pastor Kurt preached Sunday, half of learning is learning and the other half of learning is unlearning. We often learn things about life that are off balance, based on pain or fear, or steeped in tradition. We need to unlearn those things and allow the Word of God to renew our minds to the proper perspective.

We have many conditioned responses. Peter is the ultimate example of this as Pastor taught us. As Jesus foretold, Peter denied he knew Jesus three times before the rooster crowed the night Jesus was arrested. The account in Luke gives us a chilling detail the other gospels leave out. When Peter denied Jesus for the third time, even cursing as he denied Him, Luke records that Jesus looked hard at Peter. Peter then ran away weeping bitterly. This Jesus that Peter had just cut the ear of the soldier off to protect, he was now denying out of fear. He wasn't willing to face the fear of rejection in that moment.

Can you imagine the conditioned response that Peter now developed? Every time he heard a rooster crow, his heart would break, his stomach turn, as he recalled the moment Jesus had looked directly at him knowing he had just denied he ever knew him. The pain of failure caused that conditioned response each time.

Jesus, being the Restorer that He was and is, changed that conditioned response in Peter's life. After the resurrection, at the beginning of the day ( the time the rooster would crow), Jesus asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" When Peter would respond each time with "Yes, Lord, you know I love you." Jesus would say "Feed my sheep". Jesus reinstated Peter to the ministry in those moments, forgiving him for denying him. He brought healing to his heart as He questioned Him three times about His love and calling him to preach the gospel to the world. When Peter would hear the rooster crow from now on, he would most likely respond with warmth and love for God as he recalled the moment Jesus restored him back to his place in the Kingdom.

What conditioned responses do you need God to change and restore? Perhaps every time an opportunity to step out and share your faith comes, you are conditioned to recoil remembering the first time you shared and someone ridiculed you. Perhaps a smell or a sound or a taste brings back memories of painful childhood experiences. Jesus wants to change and heal those responses. When the enemy wants to remind you of your failures, God wants to recondition that guilt into grace. He wants to recondition our fear with faith.

Whether there are areas you need to unlearn or areas you need God to recondition your responses, face your fears today! Don't let fear paralyze your life anymore. Chase that lion today and walk in faith!

From Pastor's Pulpit

Are you ready to give chase yet? Pastor has talked about chasing lions. He has challenged us to take risks and to seize opportunities. Sunday, he urged us to face our fears. Benaiah faced his fears as he chased that lion into a pit on a snowy day! A lion's roar can be heard over 20 miles...can you imagine the power and the volume of that roar in a pit?

God wants you to stand in the face of fear and chase that lion! Don't let the fear of failure or rejection stop you from seizing the opportunities God sets before you.

When we walk in courage and face our fears, we live our lives in such a way that it's worth telling stories about! Can you imagine the stories Benaiah told his children and grandchildren? The life God has planned for you is full of adventure and risk! He desires to use you to advance the Kingdom of God. He wants to work in you and through you in ways that you can't imagine! Take a risk, seize that opportunity, and face your fears!

Give chase today!! Be a lion chaser!!

From Sunday's Sermon

What a great series as Pastor Kurt has challenged us to be lion chasers! Last Sunday, he talked about seizing opportunities. Spiritual maturity is when we can see and seize an opportunity before the window closes.

What opportunities has God placed before you that you have watched pass you by? What often times looks like problems, inconvenience, or irritations are actually opportunities in disguise. Living your life in prayer mode causes us to be able to see those problems as the opportunities that they are. You are struggling in a job that makes you unhappy, but God has an opportunity for you to move into a new line of work or to grow and learn as you work through the stress. You have a difficult person in your life causes you grief, but truly God wants to love this person through you. Your bank account is low and bills are due, but God wants you to seize the opportunity to actually give what you do have to someone in need so He can bless you and provide miraculously. You got the very teacher you were praying you would not get and she just doesn't like you, but God wants you to take that opportunity to love the unlovely and shine His light into her life. Problems are opportunities. Seize them!

Start with your prayer life, don't stay in survival mode, but THRIVE! Be ever tuned into the Holy Spirit and find those opportunities! You must lift your expectations higher! God wants to do unimaginable in and through your life! Seize the opportunity today!!

Click on the picture to view a slideshow from Peter and Amy's wedding!


The Wedding of Peter and Amy Ayo

The Sins of Commission and Omission

Most Christians can pinpoint areas of their lives they are missing the mark, falling short of God's glory, struggling with sin. We talk often about these sins, lying, lust, gossip, dishonest gain, watching things on tv and the movie screen we shouldn't watch, hurting others with our words...on and on the list goes. In any given day, we may struggle with various sins we are committing.

These are absolutely 'fleshly' things we need to pray about and remove from our daily lives. We know we are forgiven as believers and so we may approach the throne of God boldly in asking for forgiveness and cleansing from these sins.

We often don't focus as much on the sins of omission, however. As Pastor Kurt spoke about on Sunday, these are the sins that cause the most regret. It is those things we should have done and neglected to follow through on. These sins of omission are just as costly to our spiritual lives. Even more devastating, they cause us to miss out on the most amazing moments with God.

What are examples of sins of omission?

• God asks you to apologize to your child for yelling and you refuse.
• You know you are to give to the needy family down the street, but your bank account seems too low this week and you push it aside.
• The church is in need of workers for the ministry and you feel God nudging you to serve, but you allow fear to stop you.
• God nudges you to stop eating that hot fudge sundae, but the craving for sweets wins out.
• You know you should take a step of courage during a time of worship and lift your hands, pray out loud, or dance, but it's just too uncomfortable.
• You see a student in the hall being mistreated and bullied and you know you should say something or befriend this student, but you walk away.
• God has done so much in your life, but you don't share it with anyone.
• You have an opportunity to go to another country on a missions trip, but you pass it up.
• You see a teenager that seems sad and alone and you know you should encourage him/her, but the generational gap causes you to back off.
• God asks you to give extra in your church offering, but you had plans for it this week and keep it for yourself.
• You have had a dream to start a business for years, but don't take action toward seeing that happen.

These opportunities to DO something, act on what God is speaking to you to do, make a difference in someones life may never be regained. When we know we are to do something and do not respond, we are living in sin of omission. As Pastor Kurt said, these sins of omission are those we suffer the most regret from later on.

Don't live in regret and inaction! Rid your life of the sins of commission and then say YES to God every time He speaks to you! Keep your ears open to God's Spirit today and hear what He wants to say to you! Then... DO IT!! Take a risk and begin to live a life of obedience! The rewards stretch beyond your wildest imagination!!

More From Sunday's Sermon!

In Sunday's message, Pastor Kurt challenged us to play offense. So many exist just allowing life to happen. There is no intentionality, no living on purpose; life puts us in a posture of playing defense. God intends for us to live playing offense. There is nothing defensive about chasing a lion into a pit, but that is the example of a mighty warrior we see in 2 Samuel. Benaiah chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day! The lion didn't chase him causing him to play defense. Benaiah was on the offense and chased that lion!

How to Play Offense With Your Life

• Talk to someone about your faith.
• Ask your spouse deliberate questions.
• Pray with your spouse and children.
• Take your 12 year old son on a weekend to bond.
• Write your parents a thank you card.
• Turn the tv off and sit with your daughter in deep conversation.
• Send your resume to that job you never thought you could get.
• Offer to serve in a new position in the church.
• Pay for the next person's groceries in line.
• Tithe faithfully to God even when you don't think you have enough.
• Compliment a difficult teacher and thank them for their investment in your life.
• Start a new hobby.
• Join the gym and actually GO!
• Apologize to a friend even though you think they were wrong.
• Get to know an older person in your community or invest in the life of a child.
• Make friends with someone completely different from you.
• Read your Bible every day.

Play offense with your life! Be deliberate about your relationships with God and others! Take a risk and define your life by action!

From Pastor's Pulpit

Are you a lion chaser? The new sermon series Pastor Kurt has started will challenge you not to run from life, but to chase after it. Sunday, Pastor talked about taking risk. Risk brings about great reward. Benaiah was a risk taker from 2 Samuel. He chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day and killed him! He killed two Moabites and overtook an armed Egyptian and killed him with his own spear. Benaiah was known as one of the mightiest of David's warriors.

Risk is faithfulness. Faithfulness is not the maintenance, status quo we often attribute it to. Seeing faithfulness in this light...as risk taking...how faithful are you? How many Spirit-led risks have you taken in your life recently? In your career, at school, with a relationship, in your finances, with your talents and gifts, and most importantly in your relationship with Christ, risk taking catapults you into the adventure God intended your life to be!

Pastor Kurt encouraged us to play offense with our lives. Be initiators, dreamers, creators, doers. The Christian walk is active and requires risk! At end of our lives, we are not concerned so much with those things we did that we shouldn't have, but those things we should have done and passed by. The sins of commission, such as lying and gossip, adultery and stealing are important to remove from our lives. We then must fill those places of our lives with doing good things. When we do nothing, when we live life in fear and discouragement, allowing opportunities pass us by, we are committing sins of omission. These are the most devastating of regrets we live with. It puts us into a lifestyle of always wishing we 'would have', 'should have'. I wish I would have spent more time with my children. I wish I would have taken that opportunity to do something new for God. I wish I had gone on that missions trip. I wish I had taken that new job. All of these areas of our lives require risk in order to adventure into the life that God has waiting for you. It's the small acts of courage that can change history!! Take a risk today!

Be sure and be in church next week as Pastor challenges us again to Chase a Lion!

Springs Life Groups Launching!

• We are excited about our new Springs Life Groups launching this fall! Groups will begin the week of October 1st in various homes and at various times. Sign up Sunday will be September 21st. Detailed descriptions of each group coming this week!

• Adults, please sign up for the Christmas service. We are doing just seven songs for a Sunday morning time of celebration. Please sign up and get a practice cd at the church.

• The Youth and Children's Christmas service will be the evening of December 7th. The children will be doing "The First Leon"...a cute, humorous musical. Please sign up your children and get a practice cd. Youth, contact Pastor Justin or Beth to sign up for "hands" practice.

• We are in real need of Plunge Children's Church workers. Elizabeth Vagher has committed to leading the children once a month and we need at least three more people to commit to the same. We don't want those who teach children on Wednesdays or for Sunday school to have to also teach Plunge. Remember Pastor's sermon on risk and begin to use your abilities and gifts for the Kingdom of God. Children's ministry can be challenging, but so rewarding and so important to God. Thank you for praying about this ministry and letting us know if God is speaking to you. We are always needing nursery workers as well. Please listen for the voice of God and do the work of the ministry where God leads.