- Had a good day today!
- Ok any day where 6 people come into a relationship with Christ qualifies as not just a good day, but a great day!
- What a fun series as we look back at the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
- Again the band did a fantastic job of putting a medley together.
- That I got to help by rapping, Parent’s Just Don’t Understand was not only fun, but nerve-wracking.
- I didn’t have in-ear monitors, so I had to go off the sound from the house,
but you guys were cheering so loud that I couldn’t hear the beat…got off a
few times, but all in all it was fun to participate. - I’m thinking Andrea was born to do covers of other bands…she again
killed her parts! - Had two new people on the team today and for the first time out, we
threw a lot of stuff at them and they came through…thanks Dan and
Cressa! - I again think that the medley wound people up and by the worship set
you guys were raring to go. - I loved that during the 9:45, there was one point where all our vocalists
dropped out and for about 1 minute it was nothing but the sound of your
voices…and LOUD! - I thought Brian did an awesome job with the song, Everybody Hurts. What a great intro into the message.
- I know today’s message wasn’t all touchy-feely, but it was something we all need to be reminded of from time to time.
- If Jesus brand was “love” and “compassion”, what makes us think ours should be anything different?
- I’m really excited about the new You Matter ministry.
- If you want to practically apply today’s message by getting involved helping the hurting in our community, You Matter is definitely the ministry for you to get involved with.
- Big props to Scott McCurley for dressing in his best 1980’s costume…wow that was impressive. Don’t forget you can dress the part each week as well.
- Next week we’ll again look at the 80’s, this time with the song, Don’t Stop Believing.
- Almost hard to believe, but today marks the 1-year anniversary since we expanded to 2 Experiences.
- What’s amazing is that one year ago we were blown away by the attendance. In fact we set a record that day.
- Today even though we had higher attendance than 1 year ago, it felt like a let down because people are still in full vacation mode.
- I’m excited about this series, but can’t wait for the next one when everyone is back and in inviting mode and we see dozens come to Christ each week, not just 1/2 dozen.
- You say. “Gilbert can’t you just be content with what we’ve got”?
- And the answer is a big fat NO. As long as there are people in our community that don’t yet know Jesus, our mission is not complete.
- Join me in making a difference…you won’t regret it!
- Invite someone to church with you next week.
- Help “You Matter” to feed children in the Boys and Girls Club this week.
- Wear your “You Matter” wristband all week and use it to share the good news with others.
- YOU MATTER and you can make a difference!
God or Coincidence?
This past Sunday the Experiences switched to be 1/2 hour later than they used to be. On Thursday night the band worked really hard and really late to get the 1970’s medley ready for Sunday morning. As practice was wrapping up, they asked if on Sunday mornings we were now going to begin our practices 1/2 hour later than usual. I said yes eventually, but for this week let’s stay with the normal time so we can run through the medley a few more times.
Now Sunday rolls around and practice goes smoothly and wraps up 45 minutes before the 1st Experience is to start. What to do with my time? I figured well I can go down to my office and one more time look through my notes for that mornings sermon. Now realize this is something I’m never able to do on Sunday mornings…in other words to be sitting in my office on a Sunday morning is a rarity.
While there, the phone rings. Knowing I’m the only one in the office area, I answered it. On the other end was a guy who randomly called our church saying he was in need to speak with a pastor. I told him I and the other pastors were getting ready to conduct services, but that I’d be willing to meet with him at 12:30pm when we were done.
We did indeed meet and he was hurting in a lot of ways, but I was able to share the Gospel with and he prayed to ask Jesus for the forgiveness of his sins and to be the leader of his life. Here was a guy that had no church background and until I gave him a bible had not touched one in along time…in fact, I’m not sure he ever had. We met again on Monday and he had already read through most of the book of John. He’s still got a lot of pain and hurt to deal with but his hunger to have God direct his path from now on you can tell is very real.
Now some would say it was coincidence that I happened to be in my office at the right time on Sunday, but I believe that God’s hand has been orchestrating this for quite some time. Consider…
- We decided back in May of this year to do the REWIND series.
- It was in June then that we decided to kick it off with a medley of songs from the 70’s.
- Had it not been for the medley and the amount of time it took us on Thursday night to practice it, I would have allowed the team to come in 1/2 hour later on Sunday morning.
- If the team came in 1/2 hour later, I would have not been in my office to answer the call.
- Honestly I thought about just letting the phone ring, but then thought no maybe someone’s confused about the new times so I’d better answer to help with a simple question like that.
- Normally I would have insisted that he attend church and then we’d meet afterwards, but “for some reason” I felt not to ask him to do that.
- Now consider his life…for months, if not years now, the trouble in his life has been brewing to the point it all came to a raging boil this past week.
- Even though he’s got friends and family he could turn to, he instead decided to pick up the phone and call a church of all places to ask for help.
- He “just so happens” to call our church, where I’m “unexpectedly” sitting in my office and decide to answer the phone.
Now I truly believe he could have called other churches and gotten just as good of help, but there is a part of me that wonders did God think…”I’m sending him to Gilbert because I know Gilbert won’t try to solve his surface problems but will get right to the heart of the issue ,which is his sin problem, and will share my Gospel message.
I guess what I’m getting at is we are all players in a much bigger master plan than what we can possibly comprehend. So it’s neat when you can look back like in a situation like this to see the hand of God each and every step of the way nudging things towards the ultimate conclusion He wants for all of us, which is the forgiveness of our sins and an eternal relationship with Him!
So be as faithful as you can be today…you never know what chain of events you’re setting off that down the road will help bring soomeone to Christ!
Inside Today’s Experiences
- What a great day!
- I promised an unforgettable opener to the Experience and I don’t think the team disappointed.
- The 9:45 crowd was about to explode our of their seats…the energy was incredible.
- If you missed it, you definitely missed something special.
- One of our core values is that…”Excellence honors God and inspires people”.
- Even the midst of the band covering 70’s music, I couldn’t help but get a little choked up as I saw the team giving their all to God in the hopes that something like that would prepare hearts for what was yet to come.
- The band worked incredibly hard and the video plus medley was the perfect start to the series.
- Great job by Brian in coming up with the arrangement and I thought Andrea knocked her parts out of the park.
- Brian and the stage team did an awesome job creating a new set…definitely one of my favorites.
- I think the new times periods worked out great.
- I felt so goofy in my 70’s garb and wig, but I was pleased that the fu-manchu grew in.
- Gayle as well did a great job in covering “Imagine”…such a beautiful song, too bad as we saw in the message that the lyrics are so unrealistic.
- Thankfully though Jesus has a better way…”Love your enemies and pray for those the persecute you”.
- I’m also still amazed at how seriously Jesus takes the whole forgiveness thing…in essence…if you don’t forgive others, God will not forgive you.
- The energy at 11:15 was completely different…however still a good day!
- Right before the first Experience I was in my office and the phone rang. I answered and it was a man (not from the church) asking if he could meet with me ASAP.
- I told him I could meet at 12:30 and he said that was fine.
- When I met with him you could tell he was broken and struggling.
- To make a long story short, after a few hours and many tears, he prayed to ask Jesus for His forgiveness and to be the leader of his life.
- I’m not going to mention the man’s name or his struggles, but if you could generically pray for him and his family this week, God knows who it is you’re praying for.
- I told you this story because again there is nothing else in life like helping people discover Jesus.
- Yes we had 2 great Experiences and yes I got to be up front doing my thing…but sitting with someone in my office and leading them into a relationship with Christ was by far the highlight of my day!
- So who are you inviting next week…again we’ll be doing something special as we look at the 1980’s and I’ll be preaching a message based off the song, “Everybody Hurts”.
Happy Spiritual Birthday to Me!
Today marks 16 years since I became a follower of Christ! Does this mean I can drive the church van now? In all seriousness, it is the best decision I ever made. I was doing well in business at the time, but ever since I met Lisa, I had felt that there was something missing in my life…there was definelty something she had that I didn’t. There was something about her life and church that was nothing like mine.
About 7pm that night there was a knock at my door and it was 2 guys I had met from Lisa’s church. While I knew Keith and Marvin were good guys, I didn’t invite them in, but instead offered to sit with them out on the front porch. After a bit of conversation, they asked me two questions that forever changed my life.
“Gilbert do you know for certain that if you were to die today that you would go to heaven?” I quickly responded, “Of course I would”. Then they asked, “If you were to die today and stand before God and He were to say to you, ‘Gilbert, why should I let you into my heaven’, what would you say?” Again I was quick with an answer, “Well I go to church and I try to do the best that I can. I know I haven’t been perfect, but I definelty try to do more good than bad”.
What they shared next with me, shocked me in some ways, but at the same time revealed that missing piece I was searching for. Over the next 20-30 minutes they shared with me the Gospel. For the first time it made sense! Why had I never heard this growing up in church?
Marvin and Keith shared that…God wants to give us heaven as an absolutely free gift and there is nothing we can do to earn that gift, nor do we even deserve it. The problem for us though is our sin. Even just 3 sins a day adds up to tens of thousands over the course of a lifetime. Are we really going to be able to stand before God and say how “good” we were? I had to agree that “no, I sin a lot more than 3 times in a day”. I was starting to getting a sinking feeling…maybe I was too quick to assume that I was going to heaven when I died.
They continued on by sharing that while God loves us and doesn’t want to punish us, He is also just and fair and must punish our sin. In my mind I swore…I dropped a couple of “F” bombs as I thought about how messed up I was…not even realizing at the time that I was compounding my problem. “How in the world am I ever going to me good enough to repay God for all this,” I thought.
What they shared next answered that for me…I wasn’t ever going to be good enough. “Well then we’re all just going to hell then,” I asked. “No,” they said. “Well then what’s the solution?’ They asked me who I thought Jesus was. “Well he was the Son of God, he was a good teacher, he did some miracles, he taught us how to live”. “Yes, that’s true” they replied, but “Who is Jesus?” “My goodness taking the SAT’s was easier than the questions these guys are throwing at me,” I thought. “I don’t know…please tell me”.
What they shared next literally has changed my life forever. “Jesus was actually God Himself, who took on human flesh and blood and lived the perfect and sinless life that you and I can never live and then died on the cross so that all of our sins can be forgiven”. In other words, someone needs to pay the penalty for your sins…either it will be you standing before God claiming that you were perfect, or you’ll allow Jesus to pay it for you.
I remember starting to well up with tears as I realized that God loved me so much that He had come to die for my sins. Marvin and Keith shared some other things with me, but I just couldn’t escape the realization that if I continued down the path I was on, I deserved eternal punishment in hell and I recognized that I actually deserved it. But then also realizing that Jesus made a way possible for my sins to be forgiven…even remembered no more…gave me a sense of peace and hope.
When they were done talking they asked if everything had made sense and if i was ready to ask Jesus for His forgiveness and leadership in my life? Years later Marvin told me, “We didn’t really have to ask you that question…you could see it on your face that you had just had an encounter with Jesus and that you were ready to put Him first in your life”.
So right there on my front porch, on July 27, 1993, I prayed and asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and help me down a new path in life. From day 1 then I realized that you don’t do good things in order to be saved, but as proof that you are saved. Jesus said, “By their fruit you will recognize them”. My fear is that too many people claim they love Jesus with their mouths, but yet their hearts are far from him. In other words, Jesus said, “If you love me, then you will obey my commands”. Again not because you’re trying to earn God’s favor, but rather out of gratitude for what He did for you. Here’s another way to think of it…Jesus gave up His life for you and now He wants you to give your whole life (time, money, actions, words, thoughts) back to Him.
So here we are 16 years later. Have I been perfect…no far from it…but I am perfectly forgiven and to the best of my abilities as the Spirit of God which lives inside of me directs me, I try to follow His every prompting. I often say that, “God wants and has a better plan for your life than you even have for your life”. I can say that with confidence because for 16 years now I’ve seen it played out in my own life.
I’ll wrap up with this…”If you were to die today and stand before God and He were to say, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven’, what would you say?” If the answer has anything to do with anything other than Jesus, then review what I wrote above and pray and ask for His forgiveness and leadership, then commit to following Him for the rest of your life. What’s cool is if you do that today…you and I will share a spiritual birthday…so happy birthday to me and happy birthday to you!
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Sitting in my office getting ready for our staff picnic.
- Had a great day!
- Couple of minor glitches in the set-up portion and the keyboard died in the 10:45 (RIP), but other than that we couldn’t have asked for a smoother day.
- First, any day when people come into a relationship with Christ, it’s awesome…4 more today…God is so good!
- I’m really loving the new song “Yours Forever” that the team has done the past few weeks…great stuff!
- I also liked the new song today called “Ready Now”. It was cool to intro it at the beginning of the Experience and then use it as a response song to the message.
- I love doing vision messages. Nothing gets me fired up more than reminding people why we’re doing what we’re doing.
- The response so far to the message has been incredible…the real test will be in actually applying it…hope for a lot of new faces next week!
- The bumper video that Aaron put together was awesome. What’s funny though is it took he, Brian and I almost 2 hours to record the voice overs. For some reason we couldn’t get the equipment to record it right…so we did it again…and again…and on a different machine…and again…and on a different machine…and…
- It’s a shame some of them didn’t come out…Brian and I were having a lot of fun coming up with different things to say.
- The two videos I used today I thought were powerful as well. Here are the links. Pauline Jacobi getting robbed. Penn Gets a Bible.
- I love that line…”How much do you have to hate someone to believe that there is a heaven and hell yet not tell someone how to escape it”. (paraphrase)
- Again it amazes me that an atheist understands that better than many people in churches.
- So one more time…Do whatever you can to invite people next week as we begin the REWIND series, by looking at the decade of the 70’s and specifically John Lennon’s, “Imagine”.
- Also be sure to check out the new web-site and join the United Worship Experience fan page on facebook.