Gilbert Thurston

Random Thoughts About Life, Ministry and Whatever Else Happens to be on my Mind

Hockey Theology

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Rock the Red

As I promised the other day in this blog, I got a lot more out of Monday’s night’s hockey game than just a good time.  Here’s a couple of thoughts God dropped in my head while there…

  • Everyone rooting for the Caps was easy to distinguish because we were all wearing red.  It should be the same way with followers of Christ…it should be easy to distinguish who’s for us and who’s against us…not because of the clothes we wear but by the fruit of our conduct.
  • You’ve heard this from me before, but why is it that the loudest and rowdiest crowds are at sporting events.  Don’t we realize that Jesus won a much more important victory for us than any athletic team ever will?  Church should be full of rowdy, loud, passionate people on Sunday mornings…shouting, clapping and jumping up and down because unlike sports, we know we’re on the winning side.
  • Every time the Caps scored, not only did Andy and I high five each other, but we also high fived complete strangers sitting around us.  Again we we’re able to distinguish those who were for us by the red they were wearing.  It’s the same with churches…if another church around us is leading people to Christ and helping them to grow in their faith, we should celebrate with them…not tear them down which is so common nowadays.
  • One of our core values at United is that…”Excellence honors God and inspires people”.  Seeing Ovechkin and Crosby at their absolute best was quite awe-inspiring.  We need to make sure that in the same way they play all out to the best of their abilities, we do our very best to honor God with the gifts He’s given us.
  • The hockey game was quite an Experience but the excitement carried on beyond the end of the game and even went outside of the arena.  Even blocks away as we were walking to the metro, people were still excited…and that excitement got picked up by people who weren’t even there.   It should be the same for us…our faith and excitment can’t just be on Sunday mornings…it’s got to carry outside of the doors and make an impact on people whom haven’t even attended yet.

Things I’m Excited About…

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  • Going to the Caps game tonight with Andy.
  • That God has promised never again to flood the entire earth (it’s pouring rain outside as I type this).
  • That I’ve had about a half-dozen couples approach me during the Re:married series saying they want to get married instead of continuing to live together in sin.
  • That other testimonies are coming in of broken marriages being restored.
  • That Lisa and I practice what I preach.  :)
  • That John Winebrenner, the founder of our denomination and whom I’m reading about in a biography right now, was such a rebel.  He was criticized for his methods but yet he was passionate about reaching people for Christ no matter what, even when it meant he got kicked out of his church.
  • That the same Holy Spirit who inspired such faith in men like Winebrenner resides in us.
  • That even more of the questions you wanted answers to about marriage, dating, relationships and sex will be answered this week as we wrap up our Re:married series.
  • That our next series, entitled, HOSTAGE will most likely be one of the most life-changing series that we’ve done yet.
  • That vacation is now less than 1 month away!
  • That I get to pastor such an awesome group of people who are more concerned with making a difference for eternity than money and material possessions!

    • Sex, Sex, Sex

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    Mmmm…got your attention didn’t it?  Just even seeing the word sex so intrigues us.  In fact, I’m guessing that some of you are reading this that don’t normally read my stuff…why is that?  Well it’s simple, God put a desire in each of us to not only love and be loved, but to also express that love to another through the gift of sex. This weekend at the United Worship Experience that is going to be our topic.  Now let me give a couple of disclaimers:

    • If you’re are highly offendable, don’t show up. 
    • We are going to take a humorous, thought provoking, biblical look at what God says about intimacy.
    • I’ve given PG-13 warnings before, but this will be about as close to an R-rated message and Experience that you can get, so if you have children, make sure they are in children’s church, or make sure you are ready to process this information with them afterwards. 
    • Let’s face it, your 10 year olds and up are hearing about sex from their friends and Hollywood already, so hearing about it from their pastor can only be a good thing if you’re prepared to talk to them about it afterwards.
    • Alright with those warnings out of the way, let me encourage you to not only be there but to invite your friends with you as well. 
    • In fact, you probably don’t even have to ask them to come, you could probably just say, “I can’t wait for this Sunday, my pastor is going to be preaching about sex and he’s promised that they are going to some wild and crazy stuff”.
    • At this point you can shut up and they will probably beg you to tell them where there is a church where the pastor isn’t afraid to talk about sex.
    • In case your reading this and wondering will this really live up to the hype, here is a sneak peek at words that I guarantee will show up in the Experience through either the spoken word, video or song. 
    • Sex.  Masturbation.  Adultery.  Lust.  Pornography.  Ecstasy.  Oral sex.  Cleavage.  Homosexuality.  Condom.  Lap Dance.  Aborton.  Foreplay.

    I truly believe that God is going to use this message to challenge your thinking in some areas and to ensure that going forward you have the red hot sex life that not only you want, but that He desires for you as well.

    See you Sunday!

    Random Wednesday Thoughts

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  • My talk went well yesterday…thanks for the prayers.
  • Had about 50 pastors and leaders attend and even though I had some tough things for them to hear, I think it was received well.
  • The AC wasn’t working in the room I was in so I was roasting by the time we were done.
  • It was great to have our own Adam Swisher there assisting me with the tech side of things for my presentation.
  • Adam and a few other of the guys from church are actually running all the tech for this conference and using alot of CFCOG’s equipment to do it.
  • This is the 3rd year I’ve been there and it’s by far the best it’s ever looked…not that I’m biased or anything.
  • Funniest thing was right before my breakout and lunch was a talk to the entire group from our keynote speaker, Craig Sider. 
  • Craig kept on giving the same quotes, scriptures and illustrations that I was planning on giving in my breakout…it was like we had the same notes.
  • To top it all off was when he showed a picture of himself skydiving from last year…well guess who else had in his presentation a picture of himself skydiving last year…yep that would be me for those of you playing along at home.
  • Eventually I realized that wait…maybe God is in this and some people that would be attending my breakout needed to hear these truths two times instead of one so I kept it all in.
  • When I got home I spent some QT with Lisa and then watched game 7 of the Caps vs. Rangers.
  • Didn’t have a good feeling all night about the game…they played terrible…but yet they pulled it out in the end.
  • Not only does this mean they advance to the next round, but it also means at least another week and a half of Andy growing his play-off beard.
  • I was supposed to be doing it as well, but one thing after another kept me from letting it grow so now I have to keep shaving because it would be unlucky now to start…not that I’m superstitious or anything.

    • Inside Today’s Experiences

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    Co-habitation Ceremony

  • Another fun day!
  • I’m really enjoying this series.
  • Wow something happened to the air conditioner so it was HOT!
  • Of all days that I needed a jacket as a prop!
  • Oh well it was worth it!
  • I could tell a lot of people thought it was the real deal…suprise, surprise, surprise.
  • Many thanks to Dan and Sherri Bogle as real life married couple for playing the part.
  • An even bigger thanks to Sherri’s dad for showing up to walk her down the aisle.
  • It’s amazing how humor like the “co-habitation ceremony” can drive home the point.
  • Wow look how short I am as compared to Dan and Sherri in the picture….eeeshhh.
  • The 10:45 was really into things today…
  • I first noticed it during the worship time and then during the message you guys were responding great.
  • Keep it up…I love when you give verbal feedback like that!
  • Had a lot of guests at the reception today…so great to meet so many new people and hear their stories.
  • With the weather getting nicer, United t-shirts are back in high demand.  To get yours, click here.
  • Had a great afternoon and evening…the Caps won their game and we had ribs with friends tonight for dinner.
  • I’ve got a busy week coming up…I’ll hopefully fill you in tomorrow.