Change

Our latest sermon series is titled "Upgrade to You 2.0" and  has been about change. The only One who can change us is the One who does not change. The changeless one becomes the changemaker in our lives. The pastor has been talking about bringing our sin out of the dark and into the light.Whatever we leave in the darkness, the devil owns. He has used this statement several times: What you cover God uncovers, and what you uncover, God covers (i.e.with His blood). "He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy." Proverbs 28:13

This past weekend's service was so moving! It was the last message in the series on change. We noticed that there were some pieces of cardboard on the seats. At the end of the message, the pastor picked up a large cardboard sign that said "Drug Abuser, Dealer, Selfish" on one side. Then he turned it over and it said something about freedom in Christ and living for Him. One by one, or sometimes two people at once, people  came out with a sign.  They all conveyed a way in which they had been living their life before turning it over to Jesus. Incurable blood disease/ believing God will heal me. Best friend died in Nov. '08/ God has a reason for everything. Scared pregnant teenager/ blessed mom of three. Abandoned by parents/ adopted into the family of God and have a family of my own. Infidility & broken marriage/ marriage restored.  There were so many different issues: non-tither, insecurity, low self-esteem, worry, disabled child, loss of parents, partying, using singing talent in bars, and so on. I was thinking about how vulnerable they all were standing there in front of hundreds of people with their past issues on full display, yet they weren't vulnerable now. They were freed in giving it over to Jesus and living for Him.   "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32.  We were encouraged to write our sin on one side of the piece of cardboard on our seat and then on the other side, how we were living now in Christ. I have many things I have done in the past that I am not proud of, and I acknowledge that I have certainly made some mistakes. I still have a hard time bringing those out into the open in front of everyone. God and I have dealt with them in private, but I guess that's something I need to keep working on. Pastor Chris has always been very open about his past drug abuse, but God has used that to reach so many people. I just need to keep allowing God, the changeless one to change me.

Change---> Conflict---> Growth---> Change

Note: To see this concept in a similar way, watch Brandon Heath's video for "I'm Not Who I Was."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrGfA6y9fNI

(Added on Feb. 6, 2009):   I just found a video of this part of our service on a staff member's blog. Go to: http://www.kylesrandom.com/ to the Feb. 1st entry titled "Cardboard Testimonies" and you will get a little glimpse of  FPC.

First Wednesday that was the Second Wednesday

Our church (www.faithpromise.org)  has a First Wednesday service every month with lots of exceptionally good worship and praise music, a short message, introduction of new members, and communion. I look forward to it sooo much every month! Our worship team is so talented and that is one of my favorite parts of any service. For some reason, this month First Wed. was Second Wed. Maybe everyone's schedules worked out better that way because they did the Top 10  worship songs of 2008 as voted on by the congregation. And they recorded a live CD! The atmosphere of First Wed. is usually  super-charged and spirit-filled, but this was amazing!! There were over 1300 people singing along, praising, clapping, and worshipping. It was all very exciting and the anticipation was intense. Before the service and recording began, the pastor focused our attention on God. He said it wasn't about the choir, the band, the CD, or us--it was about giving God the glory. When the singing was all finished, again the worship leader reminded us that we were there to give God the glory.

We have two people on our worship team who have their own CD's: Holly Alejo and Michael Wayne Smith. So besides the Top Ten, they each sang one of their own original songs. Also, a song called The Journey, written by Holly, Justin, and Michelle was sung. (We are just beginning a building campaign called The Journey.)

We had all of the choir, praise band, and lead singers up there at once. The drummers and bass players changed out very frequently and the lead singers switched out a couple of times. All of the transitions were so smooth, we didn't even notice some of them at first. They also had a saxophone, flute, and harmonica for certain songs. We are blessed with so much talent in our church and it was really, incredibly good! We don't know what the top ten songs are until the service, so that adds to the anticipation.

The Top Ten Worship Songs of 2008 at FPC were:

10. Say So

9. I Am Free

8. The Glory of it All

7. Mighty to Save

6. Hosanna

5. How Great Is Our God

4. Blessed Be Your Name

3. The Revelation Song

2. My Savior, My God

1. With Everything

Mr. Artie

At our preschool, we are extremely blessed to have Mr. Artie come teach our kids science. He is a retired, brilliant scientist with 14 patents and is a wonderful Christian friend. He has Parkinson's disease and sometimes we have to help him set up his equipment, or do little fine motor things to help him. The kids (and teachers) adore him. Not everyone would give up their free time to drag tons of equipment to a preschool to talk to little kids. His equipment, samples, and things he has set up are amazing. From rocks (with expensive petrified wood samples he borrowed from a friend) to microscopes (with water samples and fossils from around the world) to inclined planes, volcanos, magnetism, pulleys, etc. he has covered a lot of cool material. I have even learned things like what sublimation is and fancy words like foraminifera. My favorite quote from Mr. Artie was when he was showing the kids how the earth's temperature changes depending on how close or far away it is from the sun. He said, " The earth is tilted at a 30 degree angle. Why? I don't know. That's just how God made it."

This past school year Mr. Artie became familiar with Louie Giglio through a DVD that his Sunday school class watched, and from there, besides really liking Louie, he became a fan of Chris Tomlin. I have seen both of them together on two tours: Indescribable and How Great Is Our God. We have had fun discussing how great those shows were and Artie has been watching for Chris Tomlin to come near here again.  

 Mr. Artie loves  Disney World. He makes at least one or two trips a year there. Tonight is Night of Joy at Disney!!  After much planning and anticipation, he is there to see Chris Tomlin live for the first time. Also playing tonight are the ROF guys so Artie stopped by before he left to pick up some goodies and a card I am sending down to them. He just called me a little bit ago and I heard them singing We All. I love it!  They were going to be playing at 10:45 and midnight. I can't wait to hear all about his trip.