love Archives - Gilbert Thurston

Here’s My Chance…

August 6, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

In this past week’s message, Imagine, I encouraged everyone to all week long remind yourselves when confronted with a tough situation or a person that you didn’t want to deal with or who had angered you in some way, to just simply say, “Here’s My Chance”. My chance to love the way God would want me to. To forgive in the same way Jesus has forgiven me. To prove to Jesus that I care more for others than I do for myself.

Monday I had my first opportunity to remind myself…”Here’s my chance”…and wow am I glad I followed through by “inconvenicing” myself to help someone else. Through e-mails, this blog and Facebook others have also shared some of their “Here’s My Chance” moments.

So how about you? Are you reminding yourself of this? If so, please share with everyone what happened so we can all be encouraged that it can be done.

Can You Top This?

August 3, 2009 by Gilbert 4 Comments

We had a great day at United yesterday…the energy was high, the creative elements were incredible, the band rocked and based off of some of the comments and e-mails I’ve gotten so far, the message was challenging. Now here comes the reality I and the team face every Sunday afternoon…”That was great but in another 160 hours or so, we’ve got to do it all over again and it has to be just as good if not better and it has to be completely different from the week before”.

To be honest, that kind of “can you top this’ pressure can be overwhelming at times. This isn’t major league baseball where having a hit 3 out of every 10 times will land you in the hall of fame…NO…people’s spiritual lives and eternities hang in the balance. So that’s why we work so hard and try to do everything with excellence.

However here’s the flip side. It’s also possible to hinge your entire relationship with God on what’s happening. In other words, if it’s a good day, you feel good about yourself and where you’re at with God. If it’s a bad day, you feel worthless and like you let God down.

Your saying “Ok Gilbert that’s great, but what does that have to do with me”? Well my fear is that too many of you don’t realize that God will never love you any more or less than He does right now! There’s nothing that you can say or do that would change His mind…He is 100% head over heels in love with you! Now that’s not to say that He’s not pleased with our obedience or grieved by our disobedience, but when it comes to your worth in His eyes, that is unchanging.

So today live without the pressure of having to “top your yesterday” and just live in His love!

Inside Today’s Experiences

August 2, 2009 by Gilbert 1 Comment

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”.

Psalm 119:97-128

July 16, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

I challenged everyone in the Textually Active message to read through Psalm 119 this week so here are some of my thoughts on each 8 verse section and then an application point for myself for the day. Feel free to read along and share your thoughts as well.

Psalm 119:97-104: Vs. 104 tells us to hate wrong paths. I once read that FBI agents never touch a counterfeit bill until many times months into their training. Instead the study and handle a real bill so much, that when they finally encounter a fake one it is obvious. In the same way, we should be so familiar with God and His Word that it’s easy to discern the counterfeit pleasures satan tries to lure us with.

Psalm 119:105-112: Vs. 105 is one of the most popular ones in the entire Bible, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”. Think about that for a second…when you’re on a dark path in the forest, a lamp only gives you enough light for the next few steps. God’s word is the same way…too many people want relevation for months and years down the road when God wants to give you just enough light to take the next step. I believe He does this because if He gave us more light on our future, we might get scared of some of the obstacles we see down the road and freeze in our tracks, thus not getting where God wants us to be. Also real quick, vs. 112 would make a great prayer for you to pray.

Psalm 119:113-120: Vs. 120, “My flesh trembles in fear of you, I stand in awe of your laws”. One of the great things about reading scripture over and over again is that you begin to create a mental concordance to help you understand other verses. That’s what happened as I read this verse, immediately that Holy Spirit reminded me that, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding”. (Proverbs 9:10)

Psalm 119:121-128: I love verse 124. As I’ve been reading this morning I have felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit about some things in my life, but this verse reminds me that God will judge me according to His love (re: Jesus dying for my sins) and not on my ability or in this case inability to keep all of the law. So the question for some might then be, “Then why do we try to obey God’s Word”? The answer is simple…You don’t do good works because you’re trying to be saved, rather out of gratitude that you are saved”.

3 Marriage Books

February 10, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

With Valentine’s Day coming up here are 3 marriage resources you may want to consider…

I Do Again:
With their professional success and adorable twin daughters, Jeff and Cheryl Scruggs looked like the perfect couple. But their polished facade concealed a widening chasm between two people unable to connect on an intimate, soul-deep level. After years of frustration, Cheryl’s desire for emotional fulfillment led to an affair and, finally, divorce. Yet, incredibly, seven years later, Jeff and Cheryl once again stood at the altar, promising to “love, honor, and cherish” one another. A new and vibrant love had risen out of the ashes of this family’s pain. I Do Again details the fascinating real-life story of a couple whose relationship seemed shattered beyond all hope until a spiritual awakening led them to reconsider their definitions of “happily ever after.” A riveting account of the power of prayer and redemption, this remarkable book offers renewed hope for even the most troubled marriages—and reveals why the rewards of restoration are well worth the wait.

Love As A Way Of Life Devotional:
In his book Love As a Way of Life, best-selling author Gary Chapman shows readers how to cultivate a new lifestyle built around the seven characteristics of authentic love. Now in a companion devotional, he provides ninety inspirational readings to help Christians consistently live out the characteristics of love in every relationship. Each devotional entry showcases biblical truths that guide a life of love, offering fresh insight and practical guidance in how to make love a lasting habit. Over the course of three months, readers will learn to follow God’s lead as they practice the characteristics of a loving person: kindness, patience, forgiveness, courtesy, humility, generosity, and honesty.

For Couples Only Box Set:
Since their debut, these revolutionary guides have sold well over a million copies, been translated into fifteen languages, and sparked much fascinating water-cooler conversation around the country. Now together in the For Couples Only boxed set, these books provide the perfect resource to help you understand what you never knew about the woman or man in your life. Each volume is based on input from more than a thousand members of the opposite sex—including an unprecedented nationwide survey and hundreds of personal interviews. This innovative approach yields candid and surprising answers about everything you don’t “get” about your significant other—even what that person deeply wishes you knew. It also produces simple but groundbreaking awareness of how you can best love and support the one who is most important to you. So whether you are newly dating or have been married fifty years, get ready to know each other in a whole new way. The adventure is just beginning!