Monthly Archives: March 2014
Meta Part 2
Metamorphosis
Pastor Steve Lummer
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2).
“metamorphosis” derives from Greek μεταμόρφωσις, “transformation, transforming”, from μετα- (meta-), “change” + μορφή (morphe), “form”.
DO YOU NEED A CHANGE?
It takes change to produce growth!
Uncontrolled change = CHAOS. Managed change = LEADERSHIP
HOW TO COOPERATE WITH GOD’S PROCESS OF CHANGE
Phase 1: Be Alert TO GOD’S VOICE
Job 33:13 19 (NIV) says, “For God does speak now one way, now another though man may not perceive it. In a dream . . . as they slumber . . . (or) he may speak in their ears . . . with warnings . . . Or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain with constant distress . . . .”
Phase 2: Accept GOD’S COMFORT.
When the crisis comes. Don’t run from Him, but run to Him. Isa. 42:3, “God will encourage the fainthearted, those tempted to despair.”
Ps. 31:7 (LB), “You (God) have listened to my troubles and have seen the crisis in my soul.”
Jonah 2:7 (LB), “When I had lost all hope, I turned my thoughts once more to the Lord.”
Phase 3: Ask God FOR COURAGE.
Isa. 43:2, “When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I (God) will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up . . . .”
Phase 4: Anticipate GOD’S HELP.Ps. 37:5 (LB), “Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him to help you do it, and he will.” change is not a matter of will power, it’s a matter of God’s power. He’ll help you.
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:52 (niv)
IneedCommUNITY
Just quoting 2AMAZING thinkers
“More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people,
enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as
someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice
this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems.
My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some
impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings,
conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the
streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent
cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I
wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to
eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them
know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but
truly love them.”
– Henri Nouwen
The Church is God’s Plan
In an essay he wrote fourteen years after his conversion, C.S. Lewis communicates the realization many of us go through:
I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and I wouldn’t go to the churches. . . But as I went on I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren’t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit.
Those dirty booted individuals often help remind us of how far we have to go. And maybe we can help them as well.
The church wasn’t an optional idea for a portion of Christians—it’s part of God’s plan for all believers.
I/we/Don need this community called church, even when we don’t know it.
ineedcommUNITY.
Steve
“The mountains are calling”
Anyone want to get back there 2015?
Just had to post this amaZING project. – A 200+ mile backpacking experience through Yosemite National Park captured by Colin Delehanty and Sheldon Neill. This project was filmed over the course of 10 months. We spent a combined 45 days in the park capturing the images in this video.
Discovery’s First Trip Around The Sun
Thanks to all who have supported and celebrated with us over the past year.
Many amazing people who had given up on “church” have joined in to become the church we have been looking for.
Thank you Jesse Quiroz for making our special day very special.
Pastor Steve and Brenda
The soul never thinks without a picture
Reposted from http://restoringeden.org/connect/CreationVoice/2011/june-2011/geography-affects-destiny
Have you ever been asked the question “What does God look like”?
I have been asked that question, and I have asked the question myself many times. I love the story of a first grade teacher who was observing her students while they were drawing pictures. She occasionally walked around the classroom to see each child’s artwork. As she got to one little girl who was working very diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The little girl replied, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” The teacher paused for a second and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.” Without missing a beat or even looking up from her drawing, the little girl replied, “THEY WILL IN A MINUTE.”
When you hear about Jesus’ promise of an abundant life, do you ever think, “I’m a Christian, but I don’t see God moving so abundantly in my life!” Have you ever wondered whether you have misconceptions about faith that could be blocking your view of God?
Could it be that we are our own worst enemy when it comes to realizing God’s abundant life? Maybe it’s time to change your spiritual perspective and experience God’s presence in your life like never before. Maybe God is calling you to get out of your routine and come outside to get a fresh view of just how amazingly creative God is and how amazingly hungry you are for him.
The soul never thinks without a picture
When I look around at many people of faith today, I see people who are satisfied with just wearing a T-shirt for an adventure they’ve missed out on.
For much of our lives we’re missing the journey. We’re stuck in the same dull routine. We’re missing out on the joy, fear, laughter, doubt, mystery and confusion of following the adventurous life with God that would take us out of our synthetic virtual worlds.
Author of Wild Goose Chase, Pastor and Adventurer Mark Batterson reminds us of this very thing when he points us to Genesis 15 where we see an amazing illustration of God’s desire to get us “out there”.
God took Abraham outdoors to look up into the nighttime sky. He told him that his offspring would outnumber the stars in the sky. What God did may be just as significant as what He said. He led Abraham outside for an object lesson that he would never forget. He would never see the stars in the sky the same way again. Every time he looked into the nighttime sky, he “remembered the promises of God.”
Why did God take him outside? Because held up inside the tent, Abraham’s vision of God and God’s amazing future for him was limited. He could not see the potential of God’s promises. God wanted him to get a glimpse of just how big a God He was. Taking him outside was God’s way of telling Abraham not to put limits and ceilings on what He wanted to do through him and for him.
We are so much like Abraham. We assume what God can do and what He can’t. These assumptions become our tent of blindness which seriously blocks our ability to see and fulfill our God-given potential. When we take a moment to get out there, we are actually taking time to hear the future God has for us if we will just listen, look, and learn.
Getting outside gives you a new view of the inside, and Abraham, the father of faith, walked into an amazing new future.
Aristotle said, “The soul never thinks without a picture.” Wow. What are you looking at the gives your soul bigger, grander thoughts?
He determined the exact place where you should live
I believe where you live determines how you live. Yes, geography does effect your destiny, and what you see everyday defines your outlook and outcome.
I have always enjoyed the outdoors, the woods and streams. To this day it seems whenever we are on a trip or going from one place to another and we pass over a river or go through a forest, I have an urge to stop everything and take the time to explore the place.
Any place I have had opportunity to travel, whether it was South America, Mexico, Canada, Alaska, or my own backyard I have been curious about the habitat.
Here is a picture of a place I would spend hours at a time as a boy growing up in eastern Iowa.
I knew it as “the swamp” next to my first job at the Scott County Sportsman Club. Now it is known as Nahant Marsh.
What a great place to grow up as a child. Little did I realize at the time, but that place of adventure and exploring was a set up by God.
I found an amazing passage this morning out of Acts 17:26-27 that explains why we live where we do and why we live when we do.
According to Acts 17, God places us in certain geographical locations at certain times in history for a real specific reason. “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him.”
Pretty cool stuff! From this perspective, I conclude that where we live has a lot to do with how we live.
Here’s a little post script: About a mile away from Nahant Marsh is a church that was very instrumental in my pursuit and search for a real relationship with the Creator.
When I come to the understanding that God places me in an exact geographical location so that I might seek him and get to know him, I really get in a hurry to get off this computer and get out there and invest some energy and time with an amazing artist and creator God with every hike, bike trio, or view of a glimmering river.
Steve Lummer
Prescott, Arizona
Reposted from
http://restoringeden.org/connect/CreationVoice/2011/june-2011/geography-affects-destiny
Three ways to contribute to Discovery Church
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been encouraging people to give online or visit our giving kiosk at our welcome center and I wanted to THANK YOU for taking this important step. I hope you’ll see that online giving is safe and easy, and a great way to be intentional about being generous.
I encourage you to visit http://www.discoveryprescott.com to continue to give online as well as set up an automated giving process.
We’re so grateful that you’ve chosen to partner with us. If you ever have any questions, just let me know.
Blessings!
Steve
Here is a quick video explaining how our giving kiosk works.
A Stress LESS Church
STRESS – LESS PART 3
How To Have A Stress LESS Church
Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox. -Proverbs 14:4
Philippians 4:5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
PRAY – THINK – LIVE
#1. RIGHT PRAYING
Vs 6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything but in everything, by prayer
1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
#2 . RIGHT THINKING.
-vs. 8 whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
# 3 RIGHT LIVING.
9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
2 Timothy 4:5 Do the work of an evangelist,
Phil. 2:14 Do everything without complaining or arguing,
John 9:4 As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me
John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
stevelummer.com 