OK Guys, now I start my work weekend to attempt to encourage people in God’s amaZing love.
I will attempt to create a space for people to recognize how much they are loved by a God that created them for a purpose.
My job description can be defined in the following terms.
ambassador, advocate, administrator, baptizer, building usage consultant,

confidante, confronter, community builder, discussion leader, encourager, emotional baggage handler, (did I mention emotional baggage handler?) funeral companion, grace giver, grounds inspector, historian, interpreter, justice seeker, knowledge dispenser, latent gift discoverer, mediator, missionary, nurturer, connector,organizer, opportunity spotter, public speaker,

problem solver, questioner, quarterback, reviewer, spokesperson, spiritual director, teacher, trainer, unifier, utility player, volunteer coordinator,vision caster, wedding ceremony presider, explorer, discoverer,planner, map reader, mountain biker,

photgrapher,designer,lover, friend, father,X-traordinary ingenuity with limited resources (like figuring out a way to use the letter X), youth advocate, yule celebrator, tribal elder,fundraiser,soul winner,prayer warrior,zeal stoker, zoo keeper (okay, so it just seems that way).

Pray for me and the other 10,000 pastors in our amazing America.
I want to do a good job and be faithful to my first calling.
I love you guys.
Pastor Steve

Here are a few scribbles and notes from today’s challenge at Discovery Church.

Here is a brief clip and outline of the message.

Romans
Living Life At A Totally New Level – Part two
EXCHANGING THE TAPES

We are telling ourselves our own story everyday.

The night Lincoln was murdered at Ford’s Theater, he was carrying in his pockets to following items;

a pair of small spectacles folded into a silver case,
a pair of reading glasses,
a small velvet eyeglass cleaner
an ivory pocketknife trimmed with silver,
a large linen handkerchief with “A. Lincoln” stitched in red,
a tiny pencil
a brass sleeve button,
a fancy watch fob
a brown leather wallet lined with purple silk. It contained a Confederate five-dollar bill bearing the likeness of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and
8 newspaper clippings Lincoln had cut out and saved. All of the clippings praised him.

The voices we hear in our heads
THE EGO – THE SLAVE DRIVER – THE RUT – THE MISER
“Pride” “never good enough” “Nothin’s gonna change” – “not worthy”

“Speak to yourselves ……..in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;” – Ephesians 5:19
Proverbs, chapter 23:7: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”.

What If What We Are Speaking To Ourselves is A Lie?
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie. Romans 1:25
Devil speech= “Has God Said?” Genesis 3:1 & “If you are the Son of God” Matthew 4:3
HOW TO CHANGE THE TAPES THAT PLAY IN YOUR HEAD

 
1. I NEEDED A DOCTOR WHO WAS THERE.
WHAT IF YOU ARE THE DOCTOR?
THINK OF HOW YOU WANT THE ONES YOU LOVE TO THINK ABOUT THEMSELVES AND THEM DO THE SAME TO YOURSELF.
Mark 12:31 ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
2. TWO SCRAPS OF PAPER IN MY POCKET
“I am dust” – “God made this just for me”

3. I AM A STUDENT
Proverbs 24:16 “though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.
4. CHANGING THE CONVERSATION IN YOUR HEAD
2 Corinthians 10:4,5 – “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”
A WOMAN WHO TALKS TO HER SELF
Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Matthew 9:20-22

SHE SAID TO HERSELF!
“She said to herself”…..If I can just get to Jesus”

Everyone is speaking to themselves.

It’s not really about what people say ABOUT us it’s what we say INSIDE of us.

“I’m not gonna make it …My life is a wreck …I’ve been stuck in this for 12 years ….I’m broke.”

Whatever you say inside yourself will move you closer to or further away from Jesus.
Our life is always moving in the direction of our self talk.
Her feet moved in the direction of her mouth.

What would you look like if you would EXCHANGE the lies for the TRUTH OF GOD?

Past pains can be rewritten as battles won, not scars collected. Nostalgia can be enjoyed without giving up anticipation of the future. Maybe if we can outgrow the stories we’ve told ourselves, we can become something different.

Here are a few scribbles and notes I put together for a talk called Faces In The Fire at Discovery Church

FACES IN THE FIRE
Finding Your Story In God’s Story
Acts part 5

“We soon learned that we were on the island of Malta. The people of the island were very kind to us, building a bonfire on the beach to welcome and warm us in the rain and cold. – Acts 28:1-2 (TLB)

I. IT IS VERY NATURAL TO BE COLD.

Vs. 2 “the rain and cold.”

John 18:18 Now the servants and officers who had made a fire of coals stood there, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself.

Malta, Melivth / Melit in Greek, is an island
some 60 miles south of Sicily and about 180 miles east of Tunisia, Africa. It is
relatively small being only about 18 miles long and 8 miles wide. It had been
settled by the Phoenicians and its name means “place of refuge” and it certainly

English word sincere comes from two Latin words: sine (without) and cera (wax). In the ancient world, dishonest merchants would use wax to hide defects, such as cracks, in their pottery so that they could sell their merchandise at a higher price. More reputable merchants would hang a sign over their pottery — sine cera (without wax) — to inform customers that their merchandise was genuine

“In the last days….the love of many shall wax cold.” – Matthew 24

2. THERE ARE WAYS OF GETTING WARM AND GIVING WARMTH.
“While I was musing the fire burned” – Ps. 39:3.
“Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way?” – Luke 24:32.

3. WE SHOULD KINDLE FIRES FOR OTHERS.
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. – Matthew 5:15

Our Fire – His Fire
pura –a fire, a pile of burning fuel Greek – “pur” – cleansing/ lightning
The church’s call today :
is not to be a COUNTER CULTURE but to ENCOUNTER CULTURE.
a fine line between trying to be RELEVANT and trying to be REVERENT.
BEING HIP and BEING HOLY

Our Island needs a good fire

Gather the Tinder.
kin·dling – easily combustible small sticks or twigs used for starting a fire.
“kindred spirit” – Philippians 2:20
Be careful when you gather tinder – vs.3 Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand.

Strike a match.
I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn. – John Wesley
Fan the flame.
“fan into flame the gift of God.” – 2 Timothy 1:6

Save the goals. – “Our God is a consuming fire” Hebrews 12:29

Relevance to our culture and reverence for God are not optional.

Stay together and stay warm

The German philosopher Schopenhauer compared the human race to a bunch of porcupines huddling together on a cold winter’s night. He said, “The colder it gets outside, the more we huddle together for warmth; but the closer we get to one another, the more we hurt one another with our sharp quills. And in the lonely night of earth’s winter eventually we begin to drift apart and wander out on our own and freeze to death in our loneliness.” Christ has given us an alternative-to forgive each other for the pokes we receive. That allows us to stay together and stay warm.

Gather and stay warm my friends.

Steve