Kayaking: pt. 2

As you can see, kayaking is restful and relaxing. Any kayaking enthusiasts out there? There is nothing to worry about!

WebWord for July 3oth, 2009

On the one-year anniversary of his son’s death, Greg Laurie wrote a very powerful blog entry about the truth that his son was still alive in heaven. I thought you would be blessed from it as our WEBWORD for this week...

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Christopher David Laurie is Alive!

You may have read that headline and thought, “Poor Greg has become delusional! Doesn’t he realize that Friday, July 24, 2009, is the anniversary of his son Christopher’s death?”Yes, I am more aware of that than you will ever know. I think about it every day, every hour, sometimes every few minutes. It never escapes me nor does the painful grief that accompanies it.Grief is like a blanket that covers everything in your life when a loved one has died. Nothing is the same, everything is different.I have plumbed the depths of the pain of sorrow, and have doubled over in pain from the power and reality of it more times then I can count.So, as you can see, I am very aware that my son is gone. I am also aware that his body is in a grave.

However . . .

The Lord is there

Having said all of this, I must also testify to the grace of God in such circumstances.When Paul complained of his “thorn in the flesh,” which was some kind of physical malady aggravated by the devil, God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you.” In effect, Jesus was saying, “Paul, you have me. I am there with you” (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-9).And the Lord has been there for me as well. He has also been here for our family, bringing His peace and calm in the midst of this deep valley we have been walking through. As David said, “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me” (Psalm 23:4 AMPLIFIED).We are not alone, as I have heard from so very many who have also lost loved ones, including children, since Christopher’s passing. More importantly, the Lord Himself has been there with us each step of the way.

A choice

When a loved one dies, especially your child, it is absolutely devastating. They were such a vital part of your life. You depended on them, and they on you. So when they are suddenly gone, it’s like part of you is gone as well.The fact is, I would trade places with Christopher without hesitation and leave him here on this earth to love his wife, mom, brother, and, of course, his beloved daughters.That choice has not been given to me. But another choice has—the choice of how I am going to react to this.Will I merely react emotionally to it, and live permanently under the cloud of grief, pain, and sometimes even despair? Or will I listen to what the Bible says about this and perhaps gain a new perspective?Though I have spent plenty of time with the former, I work at living by the latter.

My son is alive

How could that be? Let me state it another way . . . my son is alive in another place.It’s not that he merely “was,” but he is! He is more alive than he has ever been, in the presence of Jesus Christ in heaven.Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26 NKJV).Jesus then said “Do you believe this?” Not everyone does, of course.Did you know that this statement was made in front of a tomb? You can have no harsher reality than that. Nothing could be more real than the death of Lazarus.Jesus was saying Lazarus was alive, not just because he would be raised from the dead momentarily, but because death for the believer is not the end. It is just a change of residence.

He is the God of the living

One day, a group of religious leaders, called the Sadducees, came to Jesus with a trick question.The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. In other words, they did not believe in life beyond the grave.Maybe that’s where they got the name Sadducee. They were “Sad, you see?”They challenged the idea of the dead living and Jesus responded:

But now, as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead haven’t you ever read about this in the Scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” So he is the God of the living, not the dead. (Matthew 22:31-32 NLT)

When someone dies, we often speak of them in the past tense—“Christopher was my son”—and that is true. But when someone is still alive, you speak of them in the present-tense—“Christopher is my son.”God said, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” not “I was God of Abraham, etc.” That is because when Jesus said that, He knew that these great patriarchs were still alive, not on Earth but in heaven.

Therefore, we can and should speak of our loved ones who have gone to heaven in the present tense, because they are very much alive.No, I cannot speak to my son right now, nor can he speak to me, but I will soon enough. I cannot hug him or tell him I love him or remind him to do something like I could when he walked with us here in life on earth.

But one day I will see him again. I don’t just feel it. I know it.

Christopher David Laurie is my son, and he is alive.

And so are your loved ones who put their faith in Christ and have gone before you. You have God’s word on it.

STEP AWAY FROM THE TWINKIES!

For those of you who know me, (and even those who see me from a distance) I need to lose a few (30?) pounds. I have tried the gym, running, walking, (which led to crawling) and I even bought a really nice treadmill (which I am willing to give to a good home).

So far, there has been nothing that has stuck (unlike the globs of fat around my stomach area). But, just wait...I have discovered Kayaking. No, stop laughing, really! Here is a photo of my "Pelican 100" kayak as I was getting ready to launch at Rookery Bay (which was really cool even if I did get lost and ended up kayaking for over 4 hours!). Any more kayakers out there? I would love to hear from you .... genescott@hotmail.com or leave a comment below.

Pastor Gene

Don't Get in a Hurry by Rick Warren

As you grow to spiritual maturity, there are several ways to cooperate with God in the process:

Believe God is working in your life even when you don’t feel it. Spiritual growth is sometimes tedious work, one small step at a time. Expect gradual improvement. The Bible says, “Everything on earth has its own time and its own season” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 CEV).

There are seasons in your spiritual life, too. Sometimes you will have a short, intense burst of growth (springtime) followed by a period of stabilizing and testing (fall and winter).

What about those problems, habits, and hurts you would like miraculously removed? It’s fine to pray for a miracle, but don’t be disappointed if the answer comes through a gradual change. Over time, a slow, steady stream of water will erode the hardest rock and turn giant boulders into pebbles. Over time, a little sprout can turn into a giant redwood tree towering 350 feet tall.

Cancelled!

Sometimes we have to say no to things that are good so that we can say yes to things that are better. So, I am no longer doing the podcast 'Ramblings from 'Paradise' so that I can keep the blog and WEBWORD current. Thanks for understanding. (But the message and music podcast will still be available each week.)

What is Coming up at Celebration?

Hi everyone,

I have been out of town this week to just get away and work on some new message and Bible study ideas. Here are some things I have been working on. I finally finished the bible study you asked for on intercessory prayer. "How To Pray Where Other People Get The Blessing" (even if they never pray).How many of you would say that you have been blessed by the prayers of others? That other people prayed for you and it’s helped? Well guess what? You can learn to pray that way. This Wednesday you will learn how. You will also learn about five 'prayer-busters' that will keep your prayers from having all the power they can and I have been playing around with a bible study on a book everyone has been talking about called "The Shack." Interested? In August Bible study will revolve around CONFRONTING THE JESUS I KNOW

I feel closer to Jesus than to my wife, family or friends. It is a special relationship that I can only have with someone who loves me so completely. But yet, I still have questions. If Jesus was 100% God as well as a man, why couldn’t he have just prayed to Himself? Is Jesus the only way to Heaven? What would have happened if Judas had not betrayed Jesus? What would have happened if Jesus had sinned? Did Jesus have a secret, shadow mission? I invite you to join me every Wednesday in August at 7 pm as I share with you the Jesus that I know. That takes care of Bible Study.

Message topics are:

AUGUST:

NATIONAL LAMPOONS CELEBRATION SUMMER VACATION!

Picnics and pools, fireworks and hotdogs, vacations and baseball, golf and the beach. There’s nothing like summer weekends to rejuvenate the soul.We all enjoy summer and God uses recreation and activity and beauty to bring us closer to Him. You voted as the five top activities of summer...road trip, reading, family time, sunsets and the beach. We will have fun looking at how God uses these activities to bring balance into our lives. So join us, every Sunday in August for "National Lampoons Celebration Summer Vacation!"

SEPTEMBER:

KEEP CELEBRATION GREEN

Why Do we meet outdoors every Sunday in the Park? We will take a good look at "Worship When It Doesn't Make Sense" How To Worship When You're Worried"

"Worship When It Always Doesn't Make Sense" "How To Worship When You Are Wounded"

OCTOBER:

GOD HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

During this month we will look at the purpose Of Celebration

What Drives Your Church?

The Foundation for a Healthy Church

Reaching Out to Your Community

Who Is Your Target?

Knowing Whom You Can Best Reach

Bringing In a Crowd

How Jesus Attracted Crowds

WebWord for Wednesday 7/15

HOW GOD SPEAKS TO US

"LOGOS and "RHEMA"

PART ONE...

Most men do not want greeting cards ladies mainly because you give us cards with these long passages written on them. It’s like homework. But you are standing there, waiting for our heartfelt reaction, so we pretend to read and finally give the head nod. Oh yeah. However, what we are really doing is silently going one Mississippi, two Mississippi.

Sometimes we connect. Sometimes we don’t. One of the ways that I try to connect with people is through humor. Obviously, it doesn’t always happen. A few months ago I told what, according to this British scientific organization was the funniest joke in the world. And after church, several of you came up to me and said, it wasn’t really all that funny. And then you asked me what I had ever said that had gotten the biggest laugh? This is an easy one. Last year, Larry & Claudia gave me a surprise 50th birthday party. And at this party was a dollar tree. Do you know what that is? People just stick dollar bills to it and when I counted it all up later that night I had a roll of about 80 one dollar bills. So the next day, I went to the mall to buy me something and when I pulled out this huge roll of dollar bills, the clerked said, you must work in a restaurant as a server. I said, no, I am an exotic dancer. I thought they would hurt themselves in Penny’s from laughing so hard. By the way, I wasn’t the first person to use that line, but I bet I got the biggest response. Sometimes we connect. Sometimes we don’t. Now 91% of you out there are trying to connect with someone. And it’s Not your spouse, friend, parrot, or computer. But you are trying to connect with God. An article in Tuesday’s USA Today called A Closer Look At Prayer looked at a Baylor study that found that 91% of Americans believe in God and 83% of us pray…the question is. Everyone prays (the study found that even among those who don’t believe in God, one out of three atheists have prayed). Everyone prays. Is someone listening? And that is the question we are going to look at over the next several weeks.

Jesus made an incredible promise in John 15:7 about being connected to Him. “If you stay joined to Me [connected] and My words remain in you, you may ask any request you like and it will be granted.” That is an incredible verse. That is like a blank check, like God giving you unlimited credit.

But how do you do that first part? How do you stay joined to God? How do you stay connected?

All over the world people want to get connected to God. in the Orient People use rituals and all kinds of lights and incense, putting their body in certain movements, they sell gongs. So you can wake up God.” When you have a prayer you had to get God’s attention (God’s a busy guy) you had to beat the gong to get God’s attention. It’s kind of like the dial tone and then you can get connected to God.

In Matthew 6:7-8 in The Message paraphrase He says, “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. (In other words, like treating God like a genie.) Don’t fall for that nonsense.” That was said over 2000 years ago and it’s still relevant today because there are many books, magazines, seminars, self-help books that teach you if you just pray a certain way or you chant a certain thing or you do so many of these rituals, you’ll get on God’s good side and you’ll get whatever you want from God.

I saw in a super market tabloid: “Bible prayers to flush out body fat.” Now, this is worth reading! I didn’t buy it, my wife did. I would never buy these kind of magazines! It said, “You can lose 10, 20, 30 pounds or more with Bible prayers that are guaranteed to flush out body fat… for eternity!” Not just one time but for eternity. It talks about that you can rest assured that the flab you lose will stay lost. You don’t have to eat any special diet. You can eat anything you want. Exercise? No! All you have to do is pray these special prayers. On Monday you pray, “Man does not live by bread alone.” On Tuesday you pray “I am the bread of life.”

There’s a different prayer for each day.

When I saw that I thought that’s what Jesus was talking about when He said “They’re full of programs and formulas and advise, peddling techniques of getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense.”

I have a book called “Praying The Promises Of God.” It pretty much says, pray this promise and it will happen? And to be honest with you, this is how I was brought up how to pray.
I was reading about a man who was a diabetic and he read the verse, "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." John 14:14. So he said, "God, I'm going to ask that You cure me of diabetes," and he threw away his insulin and three days later he died. What happened? God promised. Why didn't it work?

The fact of the matter is there's a misconception people have about the promises of God. It's this: You cannot automatically claim a promise that's been given to somebody else in the Bible unless the Holy Spirit gives it to you. Now next week we will look at the difference between a general word from God and a specific word of God to you...

Singles Pool Party

A fun time was had by all at Friday's singles pool part at the church campus. Over 30 were in attendance to hear Dr. Judy Laird speak on relationships.

Another singles gathering will be Saturday (18th) for the Jazz festival at the Naples Beach hotel.

A heads up, Dr. Judy Laird will be speaking Sunday (19th) back at the church campus for married couples (6:30 pm). Check with Rebecca 239.842.0347 for more details...