Category: Rambling

Monday Kfirst Kickstart: Guest John Opalewski #dANGERseries

Have you ever noticed a sign on a restaurant or store that isn’t working properly? Sometimes the whole sign is out. Most of the time, it’s only a letter or two that is missing causing the sign to read completely different than what the owners intend. And that’s what I see with the word “danger.” But it is the letter “d” that keeps flickering in and out of sight. So in essence, What reads “anger” on the surface, only reveals the “danger” in the warning trying to be conveyed. God created all of our emotions, including anger. However, there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to express anger. We must learn to deal with anger in a healthy way so that it won’t control us and be a DANGER to us and the relationships in our lives. Unchecked anger doesn’t produce anything good or change anything for good. It only creates opportunity for evil to rule over us. Join us as we enter into a series where we want to understand this emotional experience so that the Holy Spirit can teach us how to express our anger appropriately. Because without His help, there is always a DANGER to our ANGER.

Check out the service from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

  • If we don’t tell anger where to go, it will take us to places we don’t want go.
  • 4 Fundamentals:
    • Anger is part of the human experience.
    • Anger is the right response sometimes.
    • Anger often calls attention to root issues we need to address.
    • Unmanaged and unprocessed anger is a key contributor to major depression.
  • “To refuse to forgive is to choose to self-destruct. In the shadow of my hurt, forgiveness feels like a decision to reward my enemy. In the shadow of the cross, it’s merely a gift from one undeserving soul to another.” Andy Stanley

Love you all. Have a great week.

BTW: Here’s a great song for the week…

Monday Kfirst Kickstart: “Purposeful > Prominence” #dANGERseries

Have you ever noticed a sign on a restaurant or store that isn’t working properly? Sometimes the whole sign is out. Most of the time, it’s only a letter or two that is missing causing the sign to read completely different than what the owners intend. And that’s what I see with the word “danger.” But it is the letter “d” that keeps flickering in and out of sight. So in essence, What reads “anger” on the surface, only reveals the “danger” in the warning trying to be conveyed. God created all of our emotions, including anger. However, there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to express anger. We must learn to deal with anger in a healthy way so that it won’t control us and be a DANGER to us and the relationships in our lives. Unchecked anger doesn’t produce anything good or change anything for good. It only creates opportunity for evil to rule over us. Join us as we enter into a series where we want to understand this emotional experience so that the Holy Spirit can teach us how to express our anger appropriately. Because without His help, there is always a DANGER to our ANGER.

Check out the service yesterday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

  • Your RESPONSE (to anger) should be in alignment with your PURPOSE (in life).
  • God doesn’t stand in the way of joy; He’s the way to it. ‪He stands in the way of things that take your joy away.
  • Perhaps the presence of storms are only to remind you of what you ought to be trusting in.
  • When you build something out of anger, don’t be surprised when it becomes the instrument of your own destruction.
  • God does not save us for safety; He saves us that we might save others.
  • Your purpose is never anger; your purpose is to be the imago dei (image of God).

Love you all. Have a great week.

BTW: Here’s a great song for the week…

Monday Kfirst Kickstart: “Let it Settle” #dANGERseries

Have you ever noticed a sign on a restaurant or store that isn’t working properly? Sometimes the whole sign is out. Most of the time, it’s only a letter or two that is missing causing the sign to read completely different than what the owners intend. And that’s what I see with the word “danger.” But it is the letter “d” that keeps flickering in and out of sight. So in essence, What reads “anger” on the surface, only reveals the “danger” in the warning trying to be conveyed. God created all of our emotions, including anger. However, there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to express anger. We must learn to deal with anger in a healthy way so that it won’t control us and be a DANGER to us and the relationships in our lives. Unchecked anger doesn’t produce anything good or change anything for good. It only creates opportunity for evil to rule over us. Join us as we enter into a series where we want to understand this emotional experience so that the Holy Spirit can teach us how to express our anger appropriately. Because without His help, there is always a DANGER to our ANGER.

Check out the service yesterday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

  • Surrendering my angry reactions is a glorious way to live Christ out in my responses.
  • How we react to anger is a crucial gauge of what’s really going on inside our hearts.
  • Don’t be so reactionary with your anger that your response holds no redemptive value.
  • Refuse to sacrifice your identity in Christ on the altar of “what I feel someone deserves.”
  • An UNHEALED person can find offense in pretty much anything someone does. A HEALED person understands that the actions of others have very little to do with them.
    • Each day you get to decide which one you will be.

Love you all. Have a great week.

BTW: Here’s a great song for the week…

 

Monday Kfirst Kickstart: “Hug the Cactus” #dANGERseries

Have you ever noticed a sign on a restaurant or store that isn’t working properly? Sometimes the whole sign is out. Most of the time, it’s only a letter or two that is missing causing the sign to read completely different than what the owners intend. And that’s what I see with the word “danger.” But it is the letter “d” that keeps flickering in and out of sight. So in essence, What reads “anger” on the surface, only reveals the “danger” in the warning trying to be conveyed. God created all of our emotions, including anger. However, there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to express anger. We must learn to deal with anger in a healthy way so that it won’t control us and be a DANGER to us and the relationships in our lives. Unchecked anger doesn’t produce anything good or change anything for good. It only creates opportunity for evil to rule over us. Join us as we enter into a series where we want to understand this emotional experience so that the Holy Spirit can teach us how to express our anger appropriately. Because without His help, there is always a DANGER to our ANGER.

Check out the service yesterday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

  • God’s fingerprints should be evident upon our lives even when our words are silent.
  • Anger functions as either a stumbling block or a stepping stone; it can lead to bitter nights or better days.
  • Grace doesn’t justify someone else’s actions; it frees you to live and love like Jesus.
  • Every problem is a platform for God’s providence.
  • When a forgiving spirit is in you, anger loses its power over you.

BTW: Here’s the new song we did yesterday…

Monday Kfirst Kickstart: “Put On Your Glasses” #InterruptSeries

We all have a mode we get into when we are trying to accomplish something. You may put earbuds in to drown out noise. Maybe you find a place of solitude away from people and distractions. It is all about positioning yourself to be productive without anything or anyone interfering with your goals or train of thought. But I often wonder if we do that with God.

Without even thinking, we can get into a “mode” of life that we don’t wander from. There’s the weekly schedule, the daily grind, the monotony of a schedule, and the weight of responsibilities.  We can get so regimented in life we lose our sensitivity to where the Lord is leading us.

As a church community, we are embarking into a six-week series with one goal and one prayer encapsulated in one word: Interruption.

Interrupt our status quo.
Interrupt our bias of what we think of the Holy Spirit.
Interrupt our hate (of ourselves and others).
Interrupt our plans.
Interrupt the things we feel captive to.

Holy Spirit, interrupt us and show us Your glory.  

Check out the service yesterday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

  • To engage with the Holy Spirit is the beginning of a revelation of God’s mission over your life.
  • The Holy Spirit causes us to see, not the Jesus we think we know, but Jesus as we are supposed to know.
  • Knowing Jesus must be more than head knowledge but a heart encounter.
  • The way that we know that we need the Holy Spirit in our lives is how our attitude is to our “Samaria.”
  • Any presence of hate is an indication we need a greater revelation of Jesus.
  • When you have the Holy Spirit, you are not a witness of others, you are a witness of Him.
Holy Spirit, this is my testimony: You have changed me. You have made me new. You righted my life. And today, I go after You and seek You with everything I’ve got. Whatever it takes, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. Grow maturity in my life with the fruit of the Spirit and minister through me with the gifts of your Holy Spirit.
Empower my life for Your honor and for Your glory.
Amen

Love you all. Have an amazing week.

BTW: Here’s the new song we did yesterday…

 

 

Monday Kfirst Kickstart: “The End of Ten” #InterruptSeries

We all have a mode we get into when we are trying to accomplish something. You may put earbuds in to drown out noise. Maybe you find a place of solitude away from people and distractions. It is all about positioning yourself to be productive without anything or anyone interfering with your goals or train of thought. But I often wonder if we do that with God.

Without even thinking, we can get into a “mode” of life that we don’t wander from. There’s the weekly schedule, the daily grind, the monotony of a schedule, and the weight of responsibilities.  We can get so regimented in life we lose our sensitivity to where the Lord is leading us.

As a church community, we are embarking into a six-week series with one goal and one prayer encapsulated in one word: Interruption.

Interrupt our status quo.
Interrupt our bias of what we think of the Holy Spirit.
Interrupt our hate (of ourselves and others).
Interrupt our plans.
Interrupt the things we feel captive to.

Holy Spirit, interrupt us and show us Your glory.  

Check out the service yesterday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

  • Every ending sets the stage for a new beginning.
  • Stop wearing the old “you” around a new heart.
  • It’s one thing to want a new life, it’s another thing to decide to live that new life.
  • You can go through difficulty without setting up camp there.
  • Church shouldn’t be a museum of what God did but a display of what God is doing.
  • Worship will not be just a song we sing but a life we life.
  • New anointing comes from new acts of obedience.
Holy Spirit, this is my testimony: You have changed me. You have made me new. You righted my life. And today, I go after You and seek You with everything I’ve got. Whatever it takes, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. Grow maturity in my life with the fruit of the Spirit and minister through me with the gifts of your Holy Spirit.
Empower my life for Your honor and for Your glory.
Amen

Love you all. Have an amazing week.

BTW: Here’s a song for the week…

Monday Kfirst Kickstart: “Perfect Gifts; Flawed Vessels part 2” #InterruptSeries

We all have a mode we get into when we are trying to accomplish something. You may put earbuds in to drown out noise. Maybe you find a place of solitude away from people and distractions. It is all about positioning yourself to be productive without anything or anyone interfering with your goals or train of thought. But I often wonder if we do that with God.

Without even thinking, we can get into a “mode” of life that we don’t wander from. There’s the weekly schedule, the daily grind, the monotony of a schedule, and the weight of responsibilities.  We can get so regimented in life we lose our sensitivity to where the Lord is leading us.

As a church community, we are embarking into a six-week series with one goal and one prayer encapsulated in one word: Interruption.

Interrupt our status quo.
Interrupt our bias of what we think of the Holy Spirit.
Interrupt our hate (of ourselves and others).
Interrupt our plans.
Interrupt the things we feel captive to.

Holy Spirit, interrupt us and show us Your glory.  

Check out the service yesterday from the website or from the Facebook livestream. 

Other thoughts from the Youversion notes from Sunday:

  • The Holy Spirit is not an experience to be had but a person to have a relationship with.
  • The fruit of the Spirit shows how God has grown you (maturity); The gifts of the Holy Spirit show how God is using you (ministry).
  • Gifts of the Spirit NEVER replace the fruit of the Spirit. It doesn’t matter how powerfully you are gifted if you still act like a jerk.
  • Gifts
    • 1 – Motivational Gifts – Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:28
    • 2 – Ministerial Gifts– Ephesians 4:11-13
    • 3 – Manifestational Gifts – 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
  • The devil can’t take your gifts, but he’ll try to keep you from using them.
  • Don’t waste your gifts by wishing for someone else’s.
  • When we operate in the gifts of the Spirit, we impact the Kingdom of God. When we don’t, it equally impacts the Kingdom of God.

Holy Spirit, this is my testimony: You have changed me. You have made me new. You righted my life. And today, I go after You and seek You with everything I’ve got. Whatever it takes, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. Grow maturity in my life with the fruit of the Spirit and minister through me with the gifts of your Holy Spirit.
Empower my life for Your honor and for Your glory.
Amen

Love you all. Have an amazing week.

BTW: Here’s a song for the week…