Brandon Watkiss and Going to Belize

Today was a great day at Life Church. God's presence was so real. It was awesome meeting a new friend today as well. Brandon Watkiss of Partnership International came and did a great job of sharing at our church and we are super excited about going to Belize this summer with him.

God's Presence

The last few weeks we've been having fantastic services. God's presence has definitely been tangeable and life changing. The word of God, the worship of God's people, and the presence of God as people are seeking God in the altars are all so special. My prayer is that God continues to pour out His Spirit on us and that people continue to come to know the Lord.

64 Salvations in 2010

For over 15 years Life Church has posted around 25 salvations each year. This past year God brought 64 people to Himself. Of those 64 people, 41 of them were first-time salvations, 23 of which are attending our church and growing. Thank God for His awesome power to bring people to Himself. :)

Marriage Series

The past couple of weeks we've been taking a look at some marriages in the Old Testament and how they can benefit our lives today. Week one we looked at Jacob and Leah and saw what happens when people think that marriage is the answer. Week two we looked at Ahab and Jezebel's relationship and we saw what happens when men don't lead and women won't let them. This next week we're going to be taking a look at Abraham and Sarah's relationship and how sometimes things in a marriage relationship don't always go as planned.

God has done some really neat things these past 2 weeks. God has used these messages to bring 3 people to Christ. There have been marriages restored, sin exposed in extramarital relationships, and supernatural direction given in people's lives over these past weeks. God is so awesome! :)

Christmas Play 2010

Great job Team Life. Great job Pastor Chris, who worked very hard to make the Christmas Production a huge success this year. Great job goes out to the entire cast for working tirelessly and making "All I Want For Christmas" come to life. Great job goes out to all the behind the scenes help as well. You helped make things seemless. Great job goes out to all the people who helped decorate and built the sets. Also, great job goes out to the band who played and sang to God's glory. The church was packed and people are still talking about the great job done. Great effort goes out to the entire team and God was glorified by 3 people giving their hearts to Christ.

Expansion

I praise God for the 34 salvations in the last 10 weeks. I believe that kingdom growth comes by people who were "formerly" not following God, "but now" living lives to the fullest, just like Onesimus in the book of Philemon.
Many Christ-followers, when good begins to happen, they back off, thinking that this just happens because God is doing it. While I believe in sovereign moves of God, I also believe fully in the Biblical idea of sowing and reaping. One of the warriors of old said it this way..."the purpose of war is victory, and the purpose of victory is occupation." In the kingdom, we should add one more step to the process. The purpose of occupation is expansion.
If you study the children of Israel and the occupation of the promised land, God didn't give the land to them all at once. He only gave them the amount of land they could occupy at one particular time, positioning them for expansion. Expansion is vital to advancing the kingdom of heaven. The man who was given the one talent and only occupied and protected, ended up devastated because he did not take what he had been given and positioned it for increase. (Matt 25:15-28).
It's important that we begin to be people who live our lives with forward motion in mind. Expansion. It's not healthy just to find a place, get comfortable, and then occupy. The moment you find a leveling off place is the moment you begin backsliding.
When your passion begins to go down hill...you are on the decline. Continue to walk in decline and that's called backsliding. Elisha came to the king and said, "Please strike the ground with these arrows." And he struck the ground 3 times. The prophet got upset at the king and then said, "If only you had struck the ground 5 or 6 times you would have killed the enemy, but now you're only going to have 3 temporary victories." This story points out the importance of passion. He couldn't carry out the anointing God wanted to give Him because when you lack passion you won't go very far.
Now...passion and anointing go together. They kind of run in parallel. A person with passion will take necessary risks. And everything the kingdom demands is found through this veil of difficulty that is found through stepping into the realm of inconvenience. You don't get it by coasting on yesterday's breakthrough (34 salvations in 10 weeks).
But WE WERE BORN FOR EXPANSION!

Power of the Holy Spirit

In 8 weeks, 30 people have either given their heart to Christ for the first time or rededicated their lives to Christ. It is so exciting to see the power of God at work at Life Church. I know many of you are seeking the gift of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Keep seeking...God says those who seek Him will find Him! :)