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...

You Miss a LOT if You Miss Bible Study!

Pastor Gene has been known to say things without thinking, and if you are really lucky and very quick, you can play a joke on him using his own words.Case in point: At Bible study on 7-1-09, Pastor Gene told a story about receiving a money tree for his 50th birthday that contained 80 one dollar bills. When he went to purchase something at JC Penney's and pulled out a stack of ones, the sales clerk asked which restaurant he worked at. Gene, being very quick witted, responded that he wasn't a waiter, but an exotic dancer. At this point the sales clerk and all the other customers burst out laughing! Now this story had nothing to do with Bible study, but Pastor Gene told it anyway. He closed Bible study by saying, "Next week, everyone remember your dollar bills."

We couldn't let the remark go by unchallanged could we? So last night, without Pastor Gene knowing, everyone at Bible study was given a dollar bill with the instructions to give it to Pastor Gene as if he were a male dancer. After Pastor Lana's prayer, she started by tucking a dollar into Pastor Gene's shirt pocket.

Thanks everyone.
Annie

P.S. All monies collected were given to the Helping Hands fund.

WWJWD (On dollar bill) = What Would John Wayne Do?

WebWord for Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

WHAT MAKES GOD SMILE?

The ninety-fifth Psalm is one of a series of psalms which the Israelites sang together as they went up to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. The series begins with the ninety-fifth Psalm and concludes with the one hundredth Psalm. 5 songs that they would sing…(Sing go to next song) Each of these is a demonstration on how to worship. They are not only magnificent poetry but they are also instructions on what worship is and how it is to be done.

The most fundamental question you can ask in life is, Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? The Bible is very, very clear about this. It tells us in Revelation 4:11 why God made us. “You (God) created everything, and it is for Your pleasure that they exist and were created!" Circle “for your pleasure”. You were made for the pleasure of God. You were created to bring God pleasure. If you want to know why you’re here on this earth, if you want to know why you’re alive, if you want to know why you take the next breath that you take it’s because God made you to enjoy you. Not for your benefit – for His benefit. You were made to bring pleasure to God. That’s why you’re here. Until you understand that, you don’t understand life.

The Bible says in Psalm 149:4 “The Lord takes pleasure in His people.” Those of you who are parents, when you watch your children do you ever get pleasure by watching them. Sometimes. And the same is true of your heavenly Father. God says, I made them and I enjoy them. You were made to bring pleasure to God. That is your number one purpose in life – to get God's smile. He created you for His own benefit.

There’s a word that God uses that describes when we bring pleasure to God. That word is one of the most misunderstood and misused words in the human vocabulary. In fact, I guarantee you, everyone here, including me, has misused this word. It is the word “worship”. When we bring pleasure to God, we worship God.

Psalm 95:1 says “Come let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and praise Him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great king above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth and the mountain peaks belong to Him. The sea is His for He made it and His hands formed the dry lands. Come let us bow down in worship. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. He is our God. And we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.”

Let me give you a definition of worship. Worship is living a life pleasing to God.

I got this card: “Dear Pastor Gene, I loved the worship today. I got a lot out of it.” I hate to tell you this but worship isn’t for your benefit. It’s not for you anyway. It’s for God. When we worship we’re bringing pleasure to God not bringing pleasure to ourselves. So if you came and said, “I didn’t get anything out of worship today,” you came for the wrong reason in the first place. Worship isn’t for you. It’s your first priority and we do it for God to bring Him pleasure.

I’ve got to learn what do I do first. When I learn that, then worship always gets off on the right foot. Psalm 95:2 says “Let us come before Him with thanksgiving.” The big idea here is you start to worship as you and I start our meal. You start your worship by offering thanks. That’s where it begins.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s plenty in life that’s tough. I’m not saying that when you come to worship you pretend that nothing’s wrong in your life. But what I’m saying is there’s never a moment in our lives when we don’t have something to thank God for. Our salvation, forgiveness, heaven, the fact that He sent His Son. What He’s done in the past, what He’s doing in the present, what He’s certainly going to do in the future. There’s never moment when we don’t have something to thank Him for.

Four ways you can make God smile:

1. We bring pleasure to God when we love Him above everything else.
Psalm 95 at the end of the Psalm the psalmist says, “Today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts."

When you come to God and say, “God, I’m not coming to You because I’m in a crisis and I need You to bail me out. I’m not coming to You because I’ve got this big request or I want You to make me a millionaire or super successful. I’m just coming to You because You made me. And I want to get to know You and I want to love You.” That thrills the heart of God. When you come running into His arms and you delight in the fact that God made you and loves you, that brings God great pleasure. That makes God smile. When was the last time you did that?
Psalm 99:5 Exalt the Lord our God!
Bow low before his feet, for he is holy!

2. We bring pleasure to God when we trust Him completely.
Psalm 147:11 says “The Lord takes pleasure in those that honor Him and trust in His constant love.” It’s in trusting God you bring God pleasure.

Noah trusted God completely. He had incredible faith. “By faith Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn’t see and he acted on something he was told and his act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God.”

3. We bring pleasure to God when we obey Him wholeheartedly.

Again, Noah is an extremely great example of wholehearted obedience. Hebrews 11:7 says “Noah obeyed and built a boat when God told him to do it.” Genesis 6:22 “Noah did everything exactly as God commanded him.” Circle “everything”. What is included in the word “everything”? Everything! All. In other words, when God said I want you to do this, Noah didn’t just build any boat. He built it to the exact specifications. And they’re quite long. They’re in the Bible there in Genesis. God says I want you to built it this wide and this deep and this high and here’s how I want you to put the door and all that kind of stuff. And Noah followed it to a T. He followed God, he obeyed God wholeheartedly.

It’s the attitude of David. “Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it, Lord. As long as I live I'll wholeheartedly obey."

Actually, going through life, if you want to know God's will you can usually figure out “what would I normally do in this situation?” Figure out the exact opposite and that’s God's will. Because it’s natural for me to think about me, not you. It’s normal, it’s natural, it’s human nature for me to be self-centered and not care how it’s going to affect anybody else. And God says I don’t want you to think that way.

I must obey Him completely. That brings the smile of God.

4. We bring pleasure to God when we fulfill His purposes.

God smiles on our lives when we fulfill the purposes that He put us on earth to fulfill. In Genesis 9:1 after the flood is over and the ark has landed and they’re getting out of the boat, here’s what God says, “Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said...” I want you to go to church every day of your life and I want you to pray ten times a day and I want you to talk in spiritual terms and say Jesus and be really spiritual and let everybody know it. That’s not what He said. “Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them be fruitful and multiply [translated have sex] and replenish the earth.” Ok, God! Now, this I can get a handle on. God says, “Here’s what I want you to do now. I want you to go make love with your spouse, raise families and do the things I created humans to do. Be human! This is what I made you to be. God has given you certain abilities, capacities, as a human being and God takes pleasure in watching you be a human and do human kind of stuff.

This is very, very important. Because a lot of you think that the only time God is smiling on your life is when you’re doing something religious. That only when you’re doing something spiritual is God really pleased. For instance, right now God is pleased because you’re sitting in bible study. But when you go over the Chili’s and order nachos for lunch, He’s frowning. No. God smiles when you order nachos. He told me that! God takes pleasure in watching you enjoy. Who do you think gave you your taste buds? He gave you the ability to enjoy. In 2 Timothy it says “God has graciously given us all things for our enjoyment.”

It’s like that Olympic runner Eric Little, they made that movie about him years ago, Chariots of Fire. He said “When I run I feel God's pleasure.” Well duh! If God's wired you to be a runner, God takes enjoyment in watching you be what He made you to be. Of course He takes pleasure in watching you run if you’ve got an ability to run because He gave you that ability.

What I’m saying is everything in life can be done as an act of worship, everything in life can be done to bring glory to God, and everything in life can be done for God's pleasure if you do it with the right attitude. If you say, God, today I want to live for Your pleasure. You can wash dishes for the glory of God. You can mow the lawn for the glory of God. You can close a deal for the glory of God. You can play golf for the glory of God. Everything you do in life can be done to bring God pleasure if you’ve got the right attitude saying God, You gave me this ability and I want to please You with it. You can please in the kitchen and you can please God at work and you can please God wherever you are. If you live for His pleasure.

Psalm 37:23 “The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives.” Circle “every detail of their lives”. God delights in every detail of your life. If you like to sell, God enjoys watching you sell. Who do you think gave you that interest, that ability, that desire? It’s all for His pleasure in watching you be you. Every detail of your life. Whenever you use any talent or any ability that God gave you and you do it for God's glory that’s an act of worship.

Psalm 14:2 “The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who are wise. [And who are wise people?] Who want to please God.”

Will you be that person? Will you be that person?I invite you to live your life for the pleasure of God. I’m going to and I invite you to join me in Psalm 100.

Psalm 100
A psalm of thanksgiving.
1 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

(With thanks to author Rick Warren of "The Purpose Driven Church")

The Beach Church

Hi everyone,

First of all, there WILL be a WEBWORD for this Wednesday...just catching up from vacation. And now, the top reasons that you know you attend the beach church!!!

• If baptisms have to be canceled due to high waves, you attend the beach church.


• If the song played by the band at church is the same song you heard played last night at Jim’s Tiki lounge, you attend the beach church.


• If the pastor is dressed in such a way that you think he might come up to you and ask for any spare change, you attend the beach church.


• If you are dressed in such a way that people think you might ask them for any spare change, you attend the beach church.


• If your seating options include sunshine or shade, you attend the beach church.
  If your dog is more excited about going to church on Sunday than you are, you attend the beach church.


• If you stand in line for coffee and it is already 90 degrees in the shade, you attend the beach church.


• If you buy your church shirts at larrys beach shack or alvin’s island you attend the beach church. (mention my name and they will politely escort you out).


• If every sunday you have to decide, socks or no socks
  you tell the cashier at publix ‘you look marvelous’


• the bald spot on your pastor's head is the color of freshly picked strawberries!


• the last three sermon illustrations had to do with bbq!


• you're not sure, but you think it was the beach boys version of "nothing but the blood" that you heard during church!


• you think that mackerals are a praise band


• you belong to the weather channel ministry


• your church also offers tourist information


• you think wearing sunglasses at church is really cool


• And if somebody, with a smile, tells you that you look marvelous! You attend the beach church.