The Day after Sunday

So I missed last week....  

Park was sick all week and was diagnosed with Pneumonia on Thursday.  Rough week but he's finally feeling better!


This week was the final week in our Getting Past Your Past series at Elevate.  My husband talked to us about what's next...  after we leave our past behind - then what?  How many times have you wondered what God's will for your life was?  A lot of times we want to open up the Bible and be able to find an exact, clear, and concise answer to all our questions.  But let's be honest - that doesn't always happen.  It doesn't even USUALLY happen.

 However, God doesn't just want to provide us with answers but he wants to be our guide...  to go along with us on the journey and not for us to just grab an answer from him and then go on our way.

Here are some reasons we don't follow the Guide:
1) We live by sight and not by faith.
2) We have a fear of failure.
3) We don't really trust God with our future.

Our next step in following the Guide will require action.  In Genesis 12:1-4 God gives Abraham one thing to do ....  GO!  Abraham had to take action, he had to go on faith without knowing what exactly would come next. 

So what is God whispering to you?  Go?  Stay?  Forgive?  Believe? 

Take action!  Do that next right thing and then stay close to the Guide!

The Day after Sunday

Yesterday at Elevate my husband spoke on restoring relationships.  Who among us has never had to do that?!  It was an amazing message - practical and full of hope!

Matthew 5:23-24 says "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift."

Go back and look at the words...  first go.  God doesn't tell us to go reconcile after you come and worship him - it's one time where he tells us that restoring relationships comes before worshiping him.  FIRST GO!

So how do we do that?  How do we apologize with integrity?
1)  Get specific in your apology.
2)  Don't make excuses.
3)  Accept the consequences.
4)  Change the behavior.
5)  Ask for forgiveness. 

At the close of the message 11 people made the decision to begin a new life in Christ!!  Celebrating awesome news like that will never get old!!!

All messages can be listened to online at http://www.elevateerie.tv/.

 

The Day after Sunday

Yesterday was our 2nd worship experience at Elevate Church!  We learned a lot from our first Sunday, met as a team during the week to work some things out, and this Sunday we killed it :) 

We have such an AMAZING group of individuals who serve on our Dream Team!  Set-up, Hospitality, Connection Tent, Greets, Ushers, Parking lot, Children's Check-in, Nursery, Elevate Jr, Elevate Kids, Worship team, Tech team, Tear-down, Trailers.....  the people that God has brought together to serve at Elevate Church are sold out to our calling to reach the unchurched and the spiritually restless in Erie with the life-giving message of Jesus.  THEY ARE INCREDIBLE!!!

Each Sunday, one hour before the worship experience starts, everyone on the Dream Team meets together in the lobby for our "Huddle."  The main purpose of the Huddle is to celebrate the wins with our team.  It is one of my favorite parts of Sunday morning!!

Yesterday, Pastor Colby preached an awesome message on forgiveness.  We are currently in our 2nd week in "Getting Past your Past." 

He talked about the two reasons why we should forgive:  because unforgiveness hurts me (Hebr.12:15) and I'll need forgiven again (Matt:6-14,15.)  Just like the error message that PC's users get when something goes wrong *Click ignore the problem or Report the problem* we have that same option in our own lives!  We were challenged to not always want to go report the problem but instead forgive and let it go.

He then walked us through how we forgive.  This for me is the hardest part...  I know I should forgive but doing it can sometimes be almost impossible. 
1)  Pray for those who hurt you. Most of the time we wait for an emotion to generate a response.  But in praying for those who hurt us we don't usually have that emotion - you might have to MAKE yourself pray!  And it's okay for those prayers to start out small.
2)  Forgive as you have been forgiven.  Col. 3:13 says, "Bear with each other and forgive one another.... forgive as the Lord forgave you."  It's might not be easy - bear with each other!!

We'd love to have you join us next week at Elevate as we continue in this series.

The Day after Sunday

Yesterday was the launch of Elevate Church!

It was an incredibly amazing day.  We saw around 560 people walk through the doors of Harding School.  And the absolute best news on the planet is that 38 of them began a new life in Christ!!

Our current series is entitled "Getting Past Your Past."  My husband led us through these three points:

1) God will give you a new name...  Anyone who belongs to Christ is new person.  2 Cor. 5:17  God will give us a new name (transformed, healed, overcomer) and he will help us grow into that name!

2) God will give you a new purpose....  Out of our greatest weakness can grow our greatest strength.

3) God will give you a new future!  Don't dare insult God with faithlessness about our future. 

God's power is bigger than our past.  What an awesome message for our first Sunday!!  If you'd like to listen online just click here.

We'd love to have you join us next week for the second message in this series.