What are you celebrating?

"Hey! Great party! What's the occasion?"

That would be a great idea for a youth function. Have a "celebration time" at your house and invite all sorts of people and withhold the purpose of the party. When the people get there and enjoy the cake and ice cream, tell them why they have gathered.

1. What is there in your life that you can celebrate?

2. Are the things that you are celebrating eternal or temporary? Will that make a difference in the way that you "party"?

3. Do you find that this has been a season of lots of parties in your life or a fairly lean time in your life? Have you remembered to celebrate God and your relationship with Him even in the lean times?

Hope that you are partying this week! Don't forget to invite me!! :)

Got my party hat on already,

Pastor Mike

Down on Your LIfe

Depression happens! It usually occurs when I fail to process (well) the stuff that life throws at me. The Bible is filled with antidotes to depression. It usually centers around getting our heads right, focusing our minds on what is right rather than letting our emotions drive the bus!

Here's one thing (not the only thing) that Mrs. Mitzel made me think about on Wednesday (last):
"The 'that would be nice' stuff in our eyes is not always equal to God's plan."

That is a rough paraphrase -- since she talks so fast, and I listen so slow, and scribble slower! :) Remember that the Father's plan has dates and times and places that we don't always have when we want them. We often have to wait like the disciples did in Acts 1. BUT, the encouragement comes that God has promised us Power, our Assignment, and our Location ahead of time. That we know already. We are just waiting for timing.

1. What "major thing" has life thrown you recently that you need to realign your thinking on?
Confess the stress and avoid the mess!
2. How long is too long for God? Are you content to wait for the timing to become clear?
It's great to wait; He's never late!
3. Who is in my Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and uttermost that God is prepping for an unleashing of power through me?
Start today to pray for "they" (need to see God's power, need to hear the good news, need to have their sins forgiven, etc.)!

Help me fine tune those statements! They are cheezy, but you just might remember them! :)

Nice and easy, oh so cheezy,
PM

Here's Something to Chew On

"Some people have felt that if people can know God, it would have to be by a fundamentally different kind of knowing from the ordinary, workaday, know-your-mechanic kind of knowing. The ultimate things of life, including something so superior as God, simply can't be captured in words and by reason. To try and talk about God, to express him in propositions, is not to know him. He simply surpasses words. We cannot exhaust his reality in a neatly deduced human system."

Longing to Know, p.41

What would you say to a person like this if you met them on the street? How would you interact with their philosophy of knowing God (epistemology/theology)? Are they right? What are the ramifications of your choice here?

This paragraph is from a book that I am reading right now. It is a philosophy book written by Mrs. Paris' aunt Esther! It has repercussions on evangelism, discipleship, and youth group.

checking to see if you are still thinkinabout anything,
Pastor Mike