Holy Spirit: Not Allowed

Dear Friends,

The other day my husband told me of a conversation he had with someone who had visited our church recently. This person mentioned how he was blessed by the presence of the Holy Spirit that he had felt during our service and how my husband had not been afraid to operate in the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues OUT LOUD during the course of the morning. (Imagine that!) This person went on to say how he had roots in a church like ours, but had been unable to find a Full Gospel one recently that would allow the moving of the Holy Spirit in their corporate setting.

That got me thinking...

The last time I read Acts , didn't they pray in tongues out loud when the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost?
Didn't Paul say in 1 Corinthians 12:1 that he did not want us to be ignorant concerning spiritual things?
Didn't he also say that we should covet, or earnestly desire, the gifts of the Spirit, one of which is tongues and interpretation? (1 Cor. 12:31)
I also remember reading that tongues are a sign to the unbeliever, (1 Cor. 14:22) and that we should "forbid not to speak with tongues." (1 Cor. 14:39)

It grieves me that many churches who call themselves Full Gospel, or even Word of Faith, are opting to quench the moving of the Spirit because they are more concerned about increasing their attendance than demonstrating the true power of God. It's like saying,"God the Father, we honor You for You greatness, and Jesus, we thank You for Your sacrifice, but Holy Spirit...You're not allowed, because the things you do might be too 'out there.'" Of course, we agree that all things should be done decently and in order. (1 Cor. 14:40) And yes, there may be times when a person's heart will not be open to speaking in tongues-the language of the Holy Spirit. But many others, who are hungry for the deeper things of God, will be drawn to Him through the utterance of this heavenly language. What gives us the right to pick and choose what parts of the Bible we think are "relevant" in our modern day society and leave out the rest?

I don't know about you, but I am a whole Bible kind of person. I don't want to be a people-pleaser; I want to be a God-pleaser. I also want our church to be known in this region as a place where hungry hearts can come and be filled with the Power and Presence of Almighty God. I don't want to shy back because I'm afraid that someone might be offended at the way God desires to demonstrate Himself. No, instead I want us to be a place where God is free to move however He pleases! Don't you?


Not ashamed of the Gospel,
Pastor Rebecca

Update on Velocity Student Ministries

Hello everyone!

Pastor asked me to write in order to give you an update of what has been going on recently in Velocity Student Ministries. It has been a great year for us so far, and we are expecting it to continue to get better and better!

We have added many kids to the youth services over the last few months. We tend to average about ten more per week compared to our numbers this time last year. God is doing amazing things in the students! We usually average about 5 rededications every Wednesday night and 3 salvations a month. Five have been filled with the Holy Spirit this year.

The students are getting more involved by taking ownership in their youth group. One of the areas of involvement is our greeters. We have a group of fifteen youth that rotate in on a weekly basis. Every Wednesday night a team of three greeters waits at the door with smiling faces and warm handshakes for every student who walks in the door. We also have a team of row hosts- what we’re calling our “point guard ministry.” They are looking for students to invite into their rows and in addition, are looking for students who did not attend that week so that they can contact them by phone. They also are asked to, in a friendly way, try to help keep the distractions to a minimum during worship and while I am preaching. They even bring gifts once a month to make sure the students know that they are highly valued. This is a ministry that the students enjoy. Only the ones who have proven themselves faithful and participate on a regular basis are asked to be involved in this area of ministry.

As well as continuing to cook meals and oversee the kitchen duties, Brandi is organizing what we are calling the guest reception. This is a time after the worship where new students are asked to be seated. We then all come around to shake their hands and let them know how glad we are to have them with us. Afterwards, we ask them to go into children’s church for a welcome party where they watch a DVD that talks about Velocity Student Ministries and answers some frequently asked questions.

We also have implemented a drama department. The drama skits that they have done have been a great help in getting the messages across to the students.

Our youth band is thriving and we have recently added several new youth to our worship team. They continue to grow in their ability to lead in worship each week.

We have also implemented a discipleship program called Turn Life, which is a program we adopted from Oneighty in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The students sign up for an eight week course that deals with several topics including salvation, the Word of God, operating in the overflow, the power of our words, authority, and witnessing. After service, they come into children’s church for twenty minutes and are taught a short and powerful illustrated lesson. Then the students take home a CD and corresponding workbook. Every week they get a new CD. After they complete the course, we will have a graduation where the students will take a zero pledge that states that they promise to abstain from drugs, alcohol and sexual relations until they are married. Our first graduation is scheduled for the first week in April.

Our recent trip to Acquire The Fire was incredible. We packed the bus with 41 students and seven adults. Everyone got involved and all were inspired to live radically for Jesus.
We are looking forward to this summer and a lot of the kids are already excited for summer camp. As you can see, we’re touching hearts and changing lives in our ever increasing and thriving youth department. Thank you for your prayers and support!

Sincerely,
Pastor Dave

Pursuing Passionate Living

Dear Church Family,

Greetings in Jesus' Name! If you attended our men's and women's Bible studies last week, you heard Pastor Jeff and myself teach on the topic of pursuing passionate living. I received this short devotional by Pastor Joel Osteen that is a wonderful follow-up to what we discussed.

Don't settle for less than God's best in any area of your life-whether it be your marriage, your job, your finances, your health, or your relationships with God and other people. Vision for the God-kind of life comes from meditating in His Word, and passion to attain that kind of life is stirred up in prayer. Sever the chains of bondage to an average, mundane existence! Be passionate about loving God, loving life, and loving people!


With love,

Pastor Rebecca



Staying Alive Your Whole Life by Joel Osteen

Are you living every day filled with hope and expectancy? Are you living life to the fullest? So many people today have simply lost their enthusiasm for life. At one time, they were excited about their future. They were pursuing their dream, but along the way, they hit some roadblocks. Things didn’t work out, and now they’re just going through the motions of life. They quit dreaming. They quit pursuing their goals. They lost their purpose. Don’t let that be you! Make the choice to stay alive your whole life by keeping your dreams in front of you. Remember, you have a purpose. You have a destiny. You didn’t just accidentally show up on planet Earth. God knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb, and He has an assignment for you. You were created to make a difference—to impact our society—to make this world a better place.

On the inside of you right now, there are dreams and desires put there by the Creator of the universe. Don’t let the pressures of life push those dreams down. Stir up those dreams. Stir up those gifts. Shake off every disappointment and press forward. This is a new day. Get a new vision. Make up your mind that no matter what comes your way, you’re going to keep pressing forward. You’re going to keep growing. You’re going to keep learning. You’re going to stay active. If you will stay passionate about life, knowing what your purpose is and being your best every day, God will pour out His blessings and favor on you, and you will live the life of victory He has in store!

Puppy Love

This blog is humorous but brings across a very real verse of truth from the Word of God. First Peter 4:8 says, “Love covers a multitude of sins.” For about the last year our family has been dealing with a new addition to our family—a puppy that is half Labrador Retriever and half Golden Retriever. We got him as a baby a couple of days before the big blizzard at the beginning of March last year. We learned very quickly that he was going to be a lot of work—we just didn’t know how much work/trouble he would be!

Blacky has done everything from tearing up flowers to digging down to the sewer line to ripping up the kids’ inflatable pool to destroying shoes, and about anything else he can get his paws, or should we say, teeth, on. We, along with some great help from Jock Gettys, installed an underground fencing system to keep him from killing the neighbor’s chickens and tearing clothes off their clothesline.

The first day we got the underground fencing installed he got shocked. We heard him yelp and thought he ran away. We spent hours driving around looking for him and asking neighbors if they had seen him. We looked all over but couldn’t find him anywhere. We went to bed that night thinking he might be gone forever. As much of a pain as he had been, we were still sad. (Pastor Rebecca even prayed and used her faith so that he would come home.) We were excited to find out the next morning that he had run into the garage and had been hiding under the van all afternoon and night. (At first Pastor Rebecca thought that surely the Lord had performed a miracle by translating him back from wherever he was lost into our garage. Then we just discovered he had gotten stuck under our vehicle.)

This winter we have felt sorry for him being out in the cold so we have let him come in the basement into the laundry room to warm up for a little bit if we are going to be downstairs. Last night I decided to tie him up by the basement door and just let him lie on the rug and warm up for awhile since it was so cold. In the few minutes he was there he chewed a hole in the rug and broke his leash. He then came running upstairs all excited to surprise everyone. If any of you have ever owned a puppy before you can probably relate at least a little bit! (I have had other puppies, but I don’t ever remember them being this much work or causing this many problems). I have thought several times over the last year about the verse at the top, “…love will cover a multitude of sins”. Because we love him we have chosen not to stay angry with him for the things he has done wrong. Although the application of this verse may be funny in this story, it is something we can all certainly apply in our Christian walk toward others every single day. If we can overlook the annoying habits of a puppy, we should surely be able to overlook the faults of our brothers and sisters and continue to love them as well. God bless.

Pastor Jeff

FOR HIS GLORY

Greetings!
I have recently been meditating on Ephesians 2:10 which says that "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them". You and I are God's workmanship, His own handiwork. He molds and shapes us to be vessels of glory to be used for His purposes in the earth. This verse also says that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. When you and I confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are born again and are now created in Christ Jesus after God's own likeness. We are born of the Spirit of God. God comes to live in these earthen vessels. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new". You and I are created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of doing good works. We are to glorify God with our thoughts, words, and actions--with all of our hearts. When we do this God is glorified and His plan is carried out on the earth through the body of Christ.

So does this mean that we become robots when we get saved and are just created to work, work, work for God and never enjoy life? No, it's quite the opposite, as a matter of fact. That's the glory of the New Testament and the ministry of the Spirit through us. He gives us the desire to live for God and to serve God and the grace to do it. He also reminds us that ultimately a reward is laid up for each of us in eternity when we live for His glory. That should inspire each of us and give us a sense of destiny and purpose as well as joy for the journey. Not only that, but He helps us to enjoy our families and friends and to live a balanced life. Anyone who has done much for God knows that to continue to be used of God one must continually draw from the the rivers of living water and let his or her soul be refreshed in the Lord.

The last part of Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that God has already prepared ahead of time that we should fulfill these good works. I don't know about you but I'm not living just for life on this earth at this present time. I believe that God has had a plan for my life and for yours from the beginning of time and that He is counting on us to live out that plan. I believe He wants to use us in a mighty way. I believe that there is only one chance to get it right. There is no second time around on this earth. I want to do as much good as I can right now. I want to affect as many people as I can right now. I want to win as many people to the Lord as I can right now. I want to bring us much glory to God as I can right now. It's what I was created for. It's what you were created for. Will you accept the challenge, or will you miss out on the wonderful blessing of living a life for God's purpose? Whenever you choose God's way you are choosing the way of life! God bless each of you as you follow after God with all of your heart. There are always going to be opportunities to get distracted, discouraged, and sidetracked. But know that you serve a BIG God and that He is BIG in you!

Sincerely,
Pastor Jeff

A Scary Thought

Hello, everyone! Today is the day that the world celebrates Halloween-the Day of the Dead-and glorifies things that are frightening, dark, and grotesque. Of course, we don't participate in the "festivities" because our God is a God of Peace and Light and His Word warns us to flee from evil, no matter how harmless it may seem. However, I want to draw your attention to a topic that, if you think about it enough, can put the good kind of fear into you-godly fear.

The other day I happened to read an article on the Internet about the recently deceased Steve Irwin (the famous "Crocodile Hunter") and the wife and children he left behind. I was sharing the information I had learned with my 8-year-old, Gloryana, who is an avid animal lover herself. She asked me if I thought Mr. Irwin went to heaven, and I told her I didn't know for sure, but that it didn't seem like they were followers of Christ from some of the comments that his wife had made in the article. She proceeded to ask me in her childlike way if people in hell could see what was happening up in the earth. I answered "no" and began to think about how utterly hopeless a soul in hell must feel. For a moment, it was as if the Lord let me glimpse at the despair of someone, perhaps someone who accomplished much during their earthly life, who upon expiration of their physical body, finds themselves escorted down to a place filled with darkness, death, and worst of all-NO HOPE. No hope that they will ever see the light of day. No hope that they will ever be re-united with the ones they loved and see what they accomplished with their lives. No hope that they could ever warn them not to come there. No hope that they will ever feel peace, love, joy, or security again. No hope of escape. NONE.

What a tragic eternal existence! Hell was not a place created for humans, but for the devil and his demons. (Matt. 25:41) But untold multitudes descend there every day because either they have not been told the Truth, or because they have rejected the Truth. If thinking about that for awhile doesn't make you want to go out and evangelize, I don't know what does!

We have the ability to prevent this terrible scenario from happening to those who are around us. All we have to do is open our mouths and tell them the Truth! When we do this, one of three things will happen: 1)They will accept Christ; 2)A seed will be planted, of which a harvest could be reaped at a later time; 3)They will reject our message, but we will get rewards in Heaven because of our faithfulness to tell them (see Luke 6:22-23). Evangelism is a win-win-win situation! You cannot lose!

I pray that as a church, our lives will be consumed with the heartbeat of Heaven-winning souls and discipling believers. Think about Eternity today.

Love In Christ,
Pastor Rebecca

Forward Moving Faith

Dear Church Family,

Grace and peace! Time has slipped away from us, and I recently realized that it has been quite awhile since we've written to you. It seems like the summer flew by, and now the beautiful fall season is upon us. With fall, and the return of children to school, many of us begin again in our daily schedules and routines, which are sometimes a refreshing change after the busy-ness of summer. I have always enjoyed structure, so getting back into the "routine of things" has been welcomed at my house! I find that as I re-focus on my normal daily disciplines, I take time to analyze my spiritual life as well to make sure that it, too, is sharp and focused. I want to know that I am continually gaining ground and not back-tracking in all areas-spirit, soul, and body.

This type of living-continually analyzing our lives for the purpose of bringing about growth and improvement-is one way to live our lives seeing through the eye of faith. We believe that God always has good plans for our future, so we strive to do TODAY the things that will cause us to prosper TOMORROW.

The New Testament Greek word for faith is pistis. The very nature of this word denotes a force that is forward-directed and aggressive-never passive or backward-reaching, but always reaching forward to obtain or achieve a specific target or goal. Let's look at this definition a little more closely:

"A force that is forward-directed"- If we are walking in the Spirit, we should never be going backward in our Christian walk, or even staying the same! We should always be taking new ground. We don't have the power to continually think like this on our own. The only force that could enable us to live at all times with a forward-directed mentality is the Force of the Holy Spirit working on the inside of us.

"Aggressive-never passive"- Human nature invites us to "coast" when things are going okay and to "ride" on the waves of yesterday's move of God in our life or our church. However, yesterday's move is not good enough for today! God wants us to seek Him aggressively, with passion in our hearts, each and every day. Remember: "The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." (Matthew 11:12)

"Always reaching forward to obtain or achieve a specific target or goal"- Always means always! There's no time to take a break in our faith walk. We must have our eyes set on the goal and be ever reaching forward from deep within our spirits to achieve whatever that goal may be. Whether it's your job, a relationship, your family life, your spiritual growth, or the ministry that God has called you to, don't lose your faith focus.

The Holy Spirit is on the move at Abundant Life Church! Pastor and I are striving to live in the very essence of this definition of faith each day for ourselves, for you, and for this ministry. We are believing God for increase in every area of our church. We appreciate your prayers and the spiritual supply that you bring! May each of you continue to grow and be strengthened in your walk with the Lord!

For the Kingdom,
Pastor Rebecca