Gilbert, Author at Gilbert Thurston

Wow…Holy Cow…You’ve Got to Come Now

February 9, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Last night Lamont Monford gave an awesome sermon on temptation. The title for this post is in honor of him because like all good Baptist preachers he’s very fond of alliteration for the illustration of his communication.

Seriously if you missed it, you missed one heck of a message. Do whatever it takes to make sure you show up tonight through Wednesday at 7PM to hear him…you won’t regret it.

In the meantime, here are a few notes that I took last night…these can’t possibly give you the full effect of hearing it live though…Lamont is very funny and will make you laugh as you’re getting hit right between the eyes by God’s Spirit…again do whatever it takes to come hear him.

Live spelled backwards is evil. When you live you’re life backwards from God’s design it is evil.
In Matthew chapter 3 we read about the celebration, confirmation and affirmation of Jesus by God the Father.
In Matthew 4 we are told that Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the desert to be tempted by Satan.
This could have led to frustration because it would appear that there is collaboration between the Spirit and the devil.
We often feel he same things in our lives but…
The devil brings temptation to destroy us. The Spirit allows temptation to develop us. The devil bring temptation to kill you…the Spirit allows it to give you true life. The devil brings temptation to get you to look inward….the Spirit allows so you’ll look upward. The devil brings temptation to get you to quit…the Spirit allows to convince you to keep going.
The devil tempted Jesus in 3 ways by trying to get him to…be selfish, do the spectacular and to be subversive.
The devil doesn’t waster his bullets so he’ll shoot you in an area that he thinks will destroy you.
Temptation requires both desirability and availability.
We get in trouble when we try to please “them” instead of “him”.
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.
You don’t have to ask for what you already own.
Don’t wait to fast and pray until you are in trouble. Build up a reserve to draw from in bad times.
The devil constantly dangles a carrot in front of you to try to get you o ruin the real meal that God has already prepared for you.
The devil will always try to get you to deviate from God’s design.

Inside Today’s Experiences

February 8, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

As promised in today’s message, here are the Fasting Guidelines to help you in this spiritual discipline.
Another great day!
New attendance record!
It was great having the opportunity to briefly interview Lamont Monford at the start of each Experience.
Come on out each night starting tonight through Wednesday, at 7PM to hear him speak.
Wow…unbelivable that we had him on the “anniversary” of his mother’s murder.
God is doing some awesome things all around us including I know of at least 3 people that just annoucned pregnancies and a couple told me this morning that they got engaged last night!
Thought today was one of the better days we’ve had as far as each Experience being equally exciting.
Lots of days there is an obvious “better” one…but today I thought everything went great and the energy was equally high in both.
I know fasting is not a popular subject to talk on, but I felt good that I had delivered what God wanted people to hear…what they do with it is now between them and God.
I was so excited to annoucne the series that is coming up in mid-March called “You Asked For It”.
In case you missed it, we are going to take your questions and develop a series around what you want to know.
So if you’ve ever thought, “I wonder what the Bible has to say about ___________? Or if you’ve thought, “Is it ok for a Christian to ________? Let us know!
My e-mail address is gilbert@unitedworshipexperience.org. Trust me no question is too weird or strange so let me hear from you!
Got to get going, we’re taking Lamont out to The Orchards for lunch…mmmmm…can’t wait.

Random Friday Thoughts

February 6, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

For a supposed day off…I’m certainly doing a lot of work. :(
No one’s fault but my own though.
Technology is both a blessing and a curse.
Been having a chance recently to catch-up with some old friends…nice to re-make some connections and be reminded of great memories.
I’m getting excited about this weekend…the topic is one you don’t hear a lot about in churches, but is something Jesus assumed that we’d all do.
Don’t know that it will be the most downloaded message ever, but my job is to preach the Word…what you do with it from that point is between you and God.
I’m also getting excited about some of our up-coming series.
This weekend you will find out about one that’s coming in a few months and I think you’re going to be stoked!
Have a feeling it will be our most popular series ever…
Got you wondering now don’t I…you’ll have to show up this weekend to find out what it is.
CAYA (our young adult ministry) is having dinner tonight at the Mill’s house. Always great to eat some of Kim’s home-cooking and I understand that Cindy Long (of Cindy’s Sweets fame) is providing her apple pie.
If you want to know what food will taste like in heaven, have any of her desserts…however the apple pie is my favorite…might just have to start with that to make sure I get a piece.
Finished up my reading through the New Testament in 30 days at the beginning of the week.
I was officially 2 days behind, but as the old saying goes, “It’s better to get the Bible all the way through you than for you to get all the way through the Bible”.
Now I still believe that we need to read the bible cover-to-cover (after all it’s hard to say you believe in something if you’ve never read it) but rushing through reading just for the sake of saying you’ve done it is never a good thing.
I’d rather you read one verse per day and apply it to your life than read a few chapters everyday and forget about it the moment you sit your bible down.
Speaking of reading, I’m almost done reading Tribes by Seth Godin.
He talks about how all great movements and organziations start with someone challenging the staus quo and saying hey there has to be a better way to do this than just the way it’s always been done.
Hmmm…sound like anyone you know?
Ok, things seem to have settled down a bit…off to enjoy my day off…the big question is what do I do…read, play a game, take a nap, run some errands…

6 Habits of Highly Defective People

February 3, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

One of the best books I ever read was The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. John Maxwell has come up with the opposite…the 6 Habits of Highly Defective People…enjoy.

• They have a losing attitude: People generally get whatever they expect out of life. Expect the worst, and that’s what you’ll get.

• They quit growing. People are what they are, and they are where they are because of what has gone into their minds.

• They have no game plan for life. As William Feather, author of The Business of Life says, “There are two kinds of failures: Those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought.”

• They are unwilling to change. Some people would rather cling to what they have rather than embrace what might be better because they are afraid of getting something worse.

• They fail in relationships with others. People who cannot get along with others will never get ahead in life.

• They are not willing to pay the price for success. The road to success is uphill all the way. Anyone who wants to accomplish much must sacrifice

Super Bowl Thoughts

February 2, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Here are a couple of thoughts on the game and a few spiritual insights gleaned as well:

What a great game…maybe one of the best ever.
I was surprised the Cardinals did as well as they did.
In fact they really dominated the game in many aspects and deserved to win just as much as the Steelers did.
However, the final score said Steelers 27- Cardinals 23 and that’s what matters most, so congratulations to them and all you Steelers fans.
Which brings me to my first point…it’s all about the final score. No matter the methods you use or how much the other team may have seemed to dominate it’s what shows up on the scoreboard in the end that matters most. It’s the same with churches…in the end it won’t be about how we did it, or how much more “spiritual” others may seem to have been, but rather how many people did we help come into a true, life transforming relationship with Jesus.
Second lesson learned is that it’s all or nothing…because time is going to run out. At the end of the first half James Harrison picked off a pass from Kurt Warner and started rumbling towards the end zone. Time expired and so if he got tackled the half was over. Instead he determinedly kept going, breaking tackles, giving it his all until he finally just barely fell into the end zone for a touchdown…which as it turned out was greatly needed. Our lives are the same way…time is running out…we need to give it our all if we want to “score” or as the bible says “produce fruit” with our lives.
Last lesson is that the games outcome was determined by a matter of inches. Both Harrison’s touchdown and Santonio Holmes touchdown with less than a minute to go in the game had to be verified by instant replay because they were that were so close to being ruled the other way. In both cases instant replay confirmed that they had just barely scored. In other words, the difference between winning the Super Bowl and losing it was literally a combined 2 or 3 inches. Two months of training camp, 16 regular season games and 4 play-off games later…a champion was crowned because of…inches. Life is the same way…all of our hard work will come down to just the little things that we do or don’t do…the difference between ordinary and extraordinary someone once said is that little word “extra”. So how about it for you? What’s the little extra you need to do to go from a runner-up whom history will forget, to being a champion?