First Night

6 07 2008

Hey Element Church!  Thanks to those of you who caught my blog and prayed for me.  The first night went REALLY well.  As a pastor, you never really know if people are just saying “Great sermon” or if they mean “Great sermon”.  I mean, I’ve never had ANYONE say “That really was sub-par Jeff.  I expected more.”  Or “Hey, that was really average, thanks!”  People only say “Great sermon” or they say nothing.  Anyway, it’s hard for me to tell if it was good.  HOWEVER, we had a FULL altar which is a sign that even if the sermon sucked, God STILL moved.  Which I know is the case with MANY of my sermons.  lol

I spoke to the teens on giving their ALL OR NOTHING to Jesus.  Used the parable of the sower.  I remember camp when I was a teen that the last night was always reserved for the night that “God would move”.  The speaker always pulled out the “in your face” message for that night.  Well, I hated that because on the night where the speaker brought his A game and kids decided to get real with Jesus we went home the next day and didn’t have a chance to work on their relationship through the week where there are no distractions and you got the atmosphere to really grow!  Anyway, whenever I speak at camp, I usually bring the heat on the first night.  No sense wasting the week.  The God can work on their softened and attentive heart while they are here.

Tomorrow night I’ll be talking about the devils game plan when it comes to our lives.  I get to tell my favorite sermon story tomorrow.  I’ve NEVER shared it with Element.  Saving it for a special day.  I’ll tell you this, it was a night I’ll never forget.  I wore orange coveralls and my bed had a view through some metal bars.  Figure it out!

I’ll blog some more tomorrow.  Got something cool to share about a conversation I had tonight.  Got to talk church planting with someone.  Love doing that.

Preaching,

Jeff


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Glory, Glory Hallelujah!

6 07 2008

Ok, maybe this doesn’t deserve that much of an exclamation.  I HAVE INTERNET ACCESS AT CAMP!  Thursday my family and I headed up to Casper to take part in our family reunion.  We stayed at my Aunt and Uncles ranch which is AWESOME but I about go into hyperventilation without internet.  I know, I’m sick.  I did have some internet access on my phone but I couldn’t blog.  I think I have a problem.

WOW did I miss Element today!  I heard church in the park was great.  Props to the team for making sure everything went smooth.  I didn’t call anyone this morning and no one called me so that is always a great thing.

I’m speaking at a youth camp in Oklahoma this week.  The first session begins in 3 minutes.  lol  Please pray for me.  I have 4 of the 5 messages nailed down and really am not sure of where God is leading on the 5th.  Folks, this generation can stinkin’ CHANGE OUR WORLD!  I LOVE preaching and I LOVE preaching to teens.

The doors are open and teens are pouring in.  I got goosebumps.  This stuff messes me up man.  The responsibility of declaring God’s Word to people blows my mind.  Alright, pray for me this week.  Keep up with One Prayer!  Excited to be back at Element this weekend.

Nervous,

Jeff


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One Prayer (Day 7)

6 07 2008

Hey Element Church!  Today is day 7 in our One Prayer journey.  The prayer for today is “Lord make us dreamers!”  Man, I want to dream big for Element Church.  I want God to plant BIG dreams in my heart that only HE can think of.  Please pray for the churches listed as well.  Today we’re reading Acts 7.  You can read it online HERE.

Acts 7:1-50  Basically most of the chapter is an impromptu sermon.  I am jealous of the knowledge of Stephen to rattle off all this history and detail from the top of his head.  He basically uses the Old Testament (What those leaders would have been VERY familiar with) to reveal Jesus Christ to them.  Extremely smart move on his part.  He was being relevant.  hmmm

Acts 7:44 — The very first portable church.  lol  They carried the Tabernacle with them through the wilderness.

Acts 7:51-53  — He lays it all out here doesn’t he?  Again, NO FEAR!  “You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth.”  He reveals to them here how they are actually the ones disobeying God’s laws by missing the promised Messiah.  He even pins his death on them.

Acts 7:54-56 — Stephens gaze was fixed on Jesus.  Sound familiar?  Read THIS.

Acts 7:58  — Unbelievable the marvelous grace of God isn’t it?  Here, the man approving ALL of this is Saul, whom we later know as Paul.  Here God allows a seemingly HORRIBLE event to happen (the stoning of Stephen) because He knows that through this He will ransom a man who would become the greatest apostle of all time.  Let us be reminded of this:  That is the APPARENT inactivity of God, there is ALWAYS a plan.  God is NEVER inactive.  The disciples must of thought “Why didn’t God save Stephen?”  Without Paul we wouldn’t have most of our New Testament.  Most of the early churches were founded by Paul.  I wonder how much Paul thought of this moment through His life?  How much it played into his conversion?  Hmm, God is NEVER inactive, even when it looks like He is.  We need to hear that sometimes when we face hard times and think God isn’t there.  He IS, we just don’t see what He’s up to all the time.

Trusting,

Jeff


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