Month: November 2004

What a neat time we had in Communion together on Sunday. I was overwhelmed again by Jesus’ great love for us. It certainly caused my heart to be THANKFUL. That’s the right thing for this season!

Sometimes we people are talking about Communion, the word “Eucharist” comes up. Eucharist became the word the early church used for the bread and the cup. One of the neat things I’ve learned in the last year of is that the word “Eucharist” means “give thanks” or “thankful.” more here

It’s obvious that we have alot to be thankful for from Jesus…who gave his BODY and his BLOOD so that we could have a relationship with God. I trust that you will take time to remember…and be THANKFUL to Jesus for what He has done and for who He is this weekend.

And I have to leave you with a song. This song is one that the Israelites sang about our God when they were very Thankful. Its actually called a song of Thanksgiving:

A psalm of thanksgiving.

Shout with joy to the LORD, O 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 bless his name.

5

For the LORD is good.

His unfailing love continues forever,

and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

(Psalm 100 NLT)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

I’ve been reading Revelation for my Life Transformation Group. Wild stuff going on in that book. The thing that continues to jump off at me is the war between the Evil One and God. There is this battle raging…it hasn’t just started…but has been ongoing for millennia.

I guess it is coming off the pages at me because I’m seeing the war in my own life too. The battle is raging on me and all around me. There are physical things happening and spiritual things happening. They are connected you know! We’ve been discussing this in the INSTITUTE and this battle is the reality. The Bible makes it pretty clear:

A final word: Be strong with the Lord’s mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. Use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm. (Ephesians 6:10-13 NLT)

My encouragement comes as the Bible tells me what will happen “after the battle.” I’m in the middle of it…and you are too. But stare into these promises which will happen in the future:

“The whole world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.” (11:15 NLT)

“Fear God,” he [the angel] shouted. “Give glory to him. For the time has come when he will sit as judge. Worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all the springs of water.” (14:7 NLT)

“They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them because he is Lord over all lords and King over all kings, and his people are the called and chosen and faithful ones.” (17:14 NLT)

And don’t miss this one…

And from the throne came a voice that said, “Praise our God, all his servants, from the least to the greatest, all who fear him.” Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a huge crowd, or the roar of mighty ocean waves, or the crash of loud thunder: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and honor him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She is permitted to wear the finest white linen.” (Fine linen represents the good deeds done by the people of God.) And the angel said, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.” (19:5-9 NLT)

I look forward to that feast. When God is the Victor and we sit down to eat with Him! What an unbelievable moment that will be. I long for it….

That’s why I enjoy the way we celebrate communion so much–> we eat together to celebrate that feast–The Wedding Feast of Jesus. We know the battles aren’t over, but we sure need the encouragement to keep fighting. So we sorta eat a victory meal…even before the war is over. And we do so because of our confidence in the King. We know the WAR WILL BE WON!

I hope you’ll join us this Sunday morning as we celebrate our Jesus and communion together. I need the encouragement…and I bet you do to.

Sorry that I have been out of touch for quite some time. Mindi and I have had significant computer challenges over the last month. I’m actually typing this on Mindi’s machine because mine is still at the shop.

Lot’s has happened in the last month for us as well as for you. As I was looking back to last year I realized that it would be a good idea to re-send something I sent this week last year. So here you go:

“You guys are so busy!” they say as they stand in our dining room when the doorbell rings again. When people make that comment, I have often replied, “Yes, we have people in our home everyday—people from thequest, from the neighborhood, new people, whoever. We have someone in our home everyday.” Then the reply is normally, “I don’t know how you can do that…”

For more click here:

On Sunday night, Mindi’s cousin and I were walking down to Donatos to pick up some pizza for supper together with him, his wife and their baby. As we were walking a group of four teenagers crossed our path and they jumped us. They physically punched both of us. Just a facial cut and black eye for me and a sore jaw for him. No other damage really…except the intimidation factor.

As I was processing through the event, I believe that it was a scare tactic of the enemy. We were talking about seeing the world holistically…spiritual and physical together. I saw it manifest on Sunday night. No matter what the rationale of that group of kids was, I believe that it was a spiritual attack as well. The evil one and his band see me and our community as a threat. We are the enemy.

I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that you have been attacked in ways also over the last two days. It could be apathy, your pet sin issue or something even physical like mine.