Video posted from 01.17.2012!
“So We Built A Wall”
Our very own Phil Smith gave us a message on the facets of intimacy a little while back. Be sure to give this video a watch!
Acts of Prayer
Coach has been teaching on prayer this semester so we want to give you a brief run down of what he’s been teaching. This is an easy to remember acronym for ACTS of PRAYER:
A Acknowledge
C Confessions
T Thanksgiving
S Supplication
OF
P Power Acts 16:25-26
R Righteousness Romans 3:21
A Attention Psalm 22:3
Y Yield Ephesians 5:18
E Encouragement Ephesians 6:10-13
R Rest Matthew 11:28-30
Every Tuesday night we worship with song and praise. This was this weeks playlist. Powerful music, powerful words, powerful voices… You see where this is going. Dunamis loves to worship the Lord.
Ryan Campbell brings a different spin on the Word on what the resurrection means for us as humans/Christians in this world, not just what it meant for Jesus. AWESOME Word. Listen to it.
Coach is back for the semester and he never lets us down. His messages are always powerful as he brings us the truth about the Word. Here he begins to help paint a picture of who God is. Make sure you give this one a listen!
Jeremiah 20:9
If I say: I won’t mention Him
or speak any longer in His name,
His message becomes a fire burning in my heart,
shut up in my bones.
I become tired of holding it in,
and I cannot prevail.
Just Keep Moving
We’re starting with a quote from Dillon the other day when playing disc golf. He was walking on a fallen tree and said, “It’s easier to balance when I keep moving.” He has no idea how profound that is, but it definitely carries a lot of weight. To get a mental image, think back to walking on something as a fallen tree or a plank from one board to the other. If you try and stand straight up on it, it’s much harder to balance on top of it. But, as long as you keep moving on it, you can keep your balance almost flawlessly. It brings back thoughts of much of the New Testament where the call is to walk worthy of the gospel or to walk out our calling or to walk in the light. So many times, the call is just to walk, keep moving, never stop moving. Just like on the balance beam, never stop moving. This is a principle to be held at all times but the context this really hit me in was that of the summer. For most people, the summer is a time of relaxation, slacking, and breaking of routines. This isn’t necessarily a problem except for the fact that it is easier to stop moving. Where we see this is in Exodus 32. Moses has been up on the mountain for 40 days hearing from the Lord. The people suspect he may never come back so they turn to Aaron and tell him to make a golden calf to worship. Already after 40 days they are turning their backs on the God that brought them out of Egypt. The Lord tells Moses to return to the people; Moses pleads on their behalf that He turn His wrath from them, and the Lord answers his request. The thing to take note of and apply is that these people had a man of God leading them, he left for a short time, and they fell in that span. The reason this applies to us today, especially for the summer, is because Coach leaves and Dunamis ends every summer. The question then falls on us, how will we react? Will we keep moving and growing in Christ or will we end up like the Israelites and fall when our leader leaves for a time?
What was the nature of their fall? Seems as if their walk was based on Moses, not God. Again we must ask ourselves a question: what is the foundation of my faith? Is my faith based on God’s faithfulness and trust or is it based on my leader’s flame? Anytime our faith is based on anyone other than God we are destined to fall. Eventually the flame will burn out, the free ride come to an end. If it’s a ministry we rely on to carry us, we will become stagnant when the summer break comes. If it’s a person we rely on to carry us, we’ll become stagnant when we leave the ministry/church, move to new cities, enter a break period, or the leader leaves the ministry/church, etc. This is why it’s so important to retain your own walk, your own fire, your own relationship throughout times such as the summer. If you don’t, you’ll end up like the Israelites and turn to a new god. The new god in your life could be television, video games, sleep and slumber, or even laziness. Whatever it is, it’s easy to fashion a golden calf out of what you’ve already got. The Israelites didn’t have to find a new god or learn of a new god. They just made one from what they already had. So what’s it gonna be? Fashion a new god in your life from your surroundings because of stagnation, or keep your feet moving and pursue the Lord as if nothing has changed? Own your relationship. Seek the Lord for your own reasons. Don’t seek the Lord to gain revelations to tell other people and seem more spiritual. Seek the Lord in a relationship as you would a relationship with a significant other. We understand to seek a significant other out simply to grow closer and get to know each other more, to pour out love on them. So, seek Jesus for that reason. Spend time with Him to love Him more and grow closer with Him, not so you can tell people that you did that, but for the sake of the relationship itself. If you do this, you won’t fall when the leader is spending time away because you’ll have a legitimate foundation to the relationship that is not based on other people. I encourage you to read Exodus 32-34 to see Moses’s heart for his people, how they fell, and how he reacted to their falling. Also, Phil 3 to see Paul’s heart for his own relationship with Jesus. He says that all things are rubbish except the excellency of knowing Jesus. Is the privilege of knowing Jesus excellent in your mind today?
Ryan
