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Category: Faith
Goin’ all the way – week 2
Sunday February 15, 2009 – Velocity Service || 6p
For a synopsis of week one, click here.
Series: Goin’ all the way
Talk: Love
Summary: John 15:13 and 1 John 3:16 lay it out there. [real] love is laying your life down for someone else. Jesus was the example. we are to follow. what does that look like for a high school student? putting ones own agenda aside for another person is certainly difficult, but it is what we are called to do…in every relationship, not just dating/marriage.
Bottom Line: Love is sacrifice
Creative Elements: we showed 2 videos. this one. and that one.
Song List: You’ll come, Lead me to the cross, Better is one day
weekend update
friday was another relaxing day. had the opportunity to go to the gym after work…which is pretty rare. I settled in at my favorite coffee establishment and read “tribes.”
saturday started with me sleeping in. awesome. I really enjoyed the down time. went to the gym again (trying to reach my goal). then settled in at the aforementioned coffee place to edit some videos and put some work into my talk for Velocity.
sunday is sunday. I get up. workout. coffee shop. church. home. sleep. routine is good, reliable, steady. I like routine.
book i’m in the midst of: still need to finish Tribes. started Crazy Love, which I’m excited about. also still reading The Blessed Life.
on my to-do-list this week: create the summer trips packet. continue to dream up our local mission trip. this is the first year Velocity will do something local instead of international. with the economy the way it is, I thought it wise to stay cheap…this way families will have one less “stresser” in their life…and hopefully more students will be involved.
how I feel about this week: I am speaking in RustProof this upcoming weekend, so I am excited for the opporunity. too often I don’t realize the impact of speaking in front students, which in turn doesn’t give me the drive I need to sit down and prepare the best talk possible. workin’ on it.
blogs i’ve recently started following:
- Jarrett Stevens (North Point Community Church)
- Rick W. Smith (great blog. website coming soon)
- John Saddington (Creative Web Director @ North Point)
currently stressed about: the “scroll up” function on my apple mouse ball does not work.
our blog is not our God
—————————————————————-
I am broken.
I care entirely too much about what you think of me.
And you care entirely too much about what I think of you.
The truth is we both suck.
So we admit things that suck about ourselves on our blogs and so that we get praised for admitting that we suck.
See how broken that is?
So in this brokenness of inward focused admittance of suckiness so that we don’t feel so sucky…
Remember…
“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” – Matthew 6:5
Just a reminder to confess before the Lord before we confess to one another.
Because in spite of what we may accidentally believe…
Our Blog is not our God.
Emerge 2009
We finally settled some details and are opening registration for our Spring Weekend Experience for Velocity. Below is the graphic (used for our Facebook Event).
Goin’ All The Way – week one
Sunday, February 8, 2009 – Velocity Service || 6p
Series: Goin’ all the way (a title we borrowed from lifechurch.tv)
Talk: Lust
Description: Lust, in it’s simplest form, is “unrestrained (sexual) desire.” In 2 Samuel 13, a story is told of Amnon and Tamar. Amnon was infatuated with Tamar (understatement!). However, Tamar was a virgin…and also Amnon’s sister (yuck). He did everything to get with her…she obviously didn’t like the idea. She was open to the idea of marriage, but Amnon wanted her right then. Because of Amnon’s unrestrained desire, he raped Tamar…ironically enough, afterwards Amnon hated Tamar…even more than he had loved her.
Bottom Line: Lust will always promise what it cannot deliver(true intimacy and love)
Application: What area of life do we have “unrestrained desire”? 1 Thess 4 teaches to “control our body…” in ways that are holy and honorable.
Creative Elements: We opened the service with this video. I also showed this video during my talk; to illustrate what “lack of self-control” looks like.
Song List: You Deserve, All because of Jesus, Break Free (note – mostly student led worship!)
Weekend Update
friday: After a long of work I was able to snag some much needed “thinking” time. I settled in at my favorite coffee establishment…read, blogged, thought, researched. It was a great evening.
saturdays are great because I can sleep in a bit (9a). I got a decent run in at the gym, worked on my message for Velocity, ate some lunch with some friends…then went to Huron Valley Hospital to celebrate the birth of Emery Daniella Collesano. Check out Josh Collesano’s blog for pics and updates.
sunday: Spent the morning putting final touches on my message. Saw my parents for all of 5 minutes. Went to church to start preparing for Velocity.
where I’m at: plymouth…that rarely changes.
books I’m reading: Tribes, The Blessed Life, (soon to be) Crazy Love
this week: i need to finalize our spring retreat cost…this is becoming more stressful than i originally anticipated
looking forward to: researching and creating a talk about Love.
a movie i just recently saw was “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.” I enjoy the comedy of Kevin James…from that perspective it was a good movie. The overall storyline was definitely predictable … but it’s hard to find a movie that isn’t.
basic algebra (as told by our sound engineer)
Sound sucks + God showing up = greatness
Sound working great + God showing up = more greatness
Sound working great + God not showing up = terrible
Sound sucks + God not showing up = even more terrible
Summation: Take “Sound” out of the equation and the constant remains. Namely … God.
How true is that? This conversation started with me (and my limited thinking) saying, “man I gotta get ready for my talk, it’s gotta be good!” My friend and co-worker gently reminded me of this basic algebraic equation. If God doesn’t show up when I’m speaking; if the Holy Spirit doesn’t move in the hearts of the teens I’m speaking to…it doesn’t matter how great my talk is.
now, this doesn’t give us youth pastors an excuse not to prep. My statement still stands that “I need to prepare.” But my goodness, all too often I forget to get on my face and beg God to show up through my words.
Proverbs 21:31 – The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD.
oh happy day…
my good friend and co-worker Josh Collesano (and his wife Rachel) welcomed their little girl, Emery Daniella Collesano, into the world today. check out Josh’s blog for more pics.
accountants get a bad rap
I will admit, the lyrics are a bit cheesy…but I admire the creativity.
Adam Mashni 