Tag: Life

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2008 Orange Conference Session 2

2008 Orange Conference by ReThink Group

Session 2

Francis Chan:

  • Is the success in churches from God and the Holy Spirit moving, or is it good marketing?
  • With the right team, Francis can build a Mormon church, a Jehovah’s church, maybe even a Baptist Church
  • Francis doesn’t want to preach another message, he wants to experience something supernatural…something God! – Acts was of God.
  • Does it bother us that we walk into our neighborhoods and the lost have more evidences of the fruits of the spirit than those in the church? Shouldn’t there be a difference between someone without the Spirit and the one who is the Temple of the Holy Spirit?
  • We can create church attenders and some disciplined people, but we cannot create Christ lovers, people filled with God’s spirit.
  • Is it God that we are experiencing in our ministries? Are we sure? Are we experiencing God because we know its God, or are we just excited because “we” pulled something off.
  • There is a huge difference in what the Bible says and what we see in the church – yet we are crippled to say anything because everyone seems so happy. So we do not even try to hold our churches to the Biblical standard. (Yep!)
  • **Francis: If Jesus planted a church in Semi Valley California, Francis’ church would be bigger, because people do not want to follow the standard that Jesus calls us to. (Lose our life for his sake, deny father and mother, sacrifice, death) Continue reading “2008 Orange Conference Session 2”
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Heaven Scary?

While I am on the road with my dad to pick up a baby grand piano in Ohio for my mom, I am not able to blog much. I have a couple of great items I am waiting to get on here, but until then, here is a little something I saw along the way:

“The Choice is Yours. Heaven or Hell. Scary Isn’t it?”

Since when is Heaven scary?

For some reason I always see signs like these in the mountains…that’s where this one was, on the top of a small mountain.

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Thoughts on Chapter 3 of Chasing Daylight (Part 1)

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Here are some quotes and thoughts from Chapter 3 of Chasing Daylight by Erwin McManus that stood out to me or spoke to me: Please share in the discussion!

The Chapter is about Uncertainty, and how as we move with God, we will face uncertainties. I am about a quarter of the way through the chapter and it’s really good!

  • We have no control over when we die or how we die. We must instead take responsibility for what we do have control over – how we choose to live.
  • Our wealth and abundance of human resources have positioned us to accept a paradigm that provision precedes vision. This has been the foundation of building no-risk faith. This is a tragedy when a part of the adventure is the discovery that vision always precedes provision.
  • If you wait for guarantees, the only thing that will be guaranteed is that you will miss endless divine opportunities – that you can know for certain.
  • [On Uncertain Faith] “By faith Abraham, when called [by God] to go to a place where he would later receive an inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Hebrews 11:8
  • Faith is all about character, trusting in the character of God, being certain in who God is and following Him into the unknown.
  • One of the wonders of uncertainty is that it is the environment in which God invites us to be creative.
  • First-dimension faith is about trusting the character of God – and transforming your character.
  • Much of first-dimension faith is about doing the right thing regardless of the circumstances or consequences. It is about having the faith that God will be with you when you do what is right.
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Conversations with a 5 Year Old

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Nicki was reading the Bible story of Jesus’ first miracle to Gavin out of his Bible story book. It got to the part where Mary told the disciples to do whatever her son told them to do. So I was trying to convey to Gavin that he could be a disciple of Jesus and part of that was doing whatever Jesus tells him to do…

Gavin: “I asked Jesus to come live in my heart, but I don’t know what he’s doing in there. I don’t know what he says, I won’t know what he says until I get to Heaven!”

I love the innocents of children. Everything is pure and simple to them. I was so excited that he was talking about asking Jesus into his heart…this was news to Nicki and me. Nicki talked about it with him about 6 months ago, but she did not know he asked Jesus in his heart or even remembered the conversation. We are continuing to talk to him about “asking Jesus into his heart,” as he had trouble remembering ‘why’ he did it.

We finished the night by talking about miracles. I told Gavin that a miracle would be like Jesus turning a cup of water into a cup of chocolate Milk (His favorite beverage of choice).

Gavin: “If I went to the store and bought a watch and prayed that Jesus turned it into an Omnitrix watch, that would be a miracle!” – [Yes! He understands miracles…]

Me: “Yes, that would be a miracle!”

Gavin: “Well at night and in the morning I prayed that Jesus would give me an Omnitrix watch, but I never got one!”

Me: “Well, Jesus doesn’t always give us what we want, but he promises to give us what we need. You can pray and ask Jesus for extra money so you can buy food and mosquito nets for children in Africa…” (We are trying to teach Gavin to help other people less fortunate than himself) “That would be a miracle for those little kids.”

Gavin: “Well I ‘need’ an Omnitrix watch because when mommy goes into the hospital to have Hailey, when someone comes here to watch us, I will need an Omnitrix watch to turn into an alien to beat up the bad guys if they break into the house.”

We still have a long way to go, but Gavin did agree to start sorting through his toys to give to less fortunate kids. We discussed him living outside and having to sleep in the grass. He didn’t like that, because bugs would bite him, so since he has been taught that bugs bite little boys and girls all the time who do not have a house to protect them from such things, he is going to bless them with his excess. Little by little, I hope we instill healthy lessons in our boys. It is tough!

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Final Thoughts on Chapter 2 Chasing Daylight

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Final Thoughts on Chapter 2 of Chasing Daylight by Erwin McManus:

  • Until our bodies return to dust, there will always be a voice crying out within us to move from existence to life.
  • The possibilities that await us in each moment are fueled by the potential God has placed with in us…Its about the kind of life you live as a result of the person you are becoming. The challenges you are willing to face will rise in proportion to the character you are willing to develop. With the depth of godly character comes an intensity of godly passion.
  • It is the process of transformation that we find the fuel to engage with confidence the opportunities placed before us.
  • For some strange reason many sincere followers of Christ have come to think that their passions are always in conflict with God’s purpose.
  • When we delight in God, we become anything but apathetic. In fact, we become intensely passionate. These desires of our hearts are born out of the heart of God.
  • The more passionate you are, the more proactive you will tend to be (even if you boldly do the wrong thing).