Brazil_Update_1

April 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Hey everyone!

We want to thank you for you prayers for our travel to Brazil!  We landed safely this morning in Rio at 8:22 am.  We had no complications and were able to get out of the airport quickly and get to the house that we are staying at.  It is such a beautiful place!  I will upload some pictures once I get a chance but I wanted to update everyone first.  We went to eat lunch at a steak house and let me just tell you, these people know how to eat!!  It was delicious.  Now we are back at the house resting up.  Please be in prayer for us tonight as Ryan and Pastor Efton are speaking at 7pm.  We are very excited to see all that God is going to do while we are here and are very thankful to be a part of it.  There will be more updates but for now this will have to do.  We need to get ready for tonight.  Please pray for people to respond to the Gospel and that God would really work in the lives of all us.  We love all of you and are so thankful for the prayers!  I’ll let you know when some pictures are up.

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Is Disobedience a Reflection of Faith?

February 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I have been thinking a lot about this idea of disobedience lately and really trying to pray and think through how it ties in with faith.

When I worked at Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters in the summer of 2008, our counselors had a little bit of trouble staying out of the refrigerator.  We were specifically instructed not to get milk at night although we could get other snacks.  However, each week we would be scolded because people were still going to get milk for a snack at night.  The year round staff eventually had to put a chain on the fridge and lock it.  I believe they labeled us (the counselors) that summer as “The Summer of Disobedience”.  We got a huge talk from Brody (head of the camp) about how disobedience ties in with faith. Although I wasn’t the one taking milk when instructed not to, I still took a lot away from that talk. I remember leaving there with this written on my arm: D=LOF    Which means disobedience = lack of faith.

 

Hebrews 3 & 4 talk about the disobedience of the Israelites in the wilderness.  In chapter 3 verses 15-18 we see that the writer is describing who it was that made God mad, who it was that sinned and who it was that disobeyed him.  So the people of Israel sinned against God and disobeyed him.  With all that in mind, look at what verse 19 says about why they did not enter God’s rest :

Hebrews 3:19

“So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.”    ~NLT

So in reality, the reason that the Israelites did not enter God’s rest is because of their unbelief.  The disobedience toward God comes from unbelief.  Even with the story of our counselor getting milk when told not to, the same thing applies.  The did not believe that were supposed to stay away from the milk.  Somewhere in that they were unbelieving in the sense that if they didn’t have the milk, that they would miss out.  They didn’t trust that the year round staff had their best interest in mind.

In the same way, our disobedience is not unrelated to our faith.  In life I have found that when I am disobedient toward God, it is directly related to my faith in that area.  No matter how small the area is, it is always related. If I believe that my tithes are not an option and in fact a blessing for me to be able to give back, then it will show in my obedience to give. If I don’t believe that, then I won’t be giving my tithes.  If I believe that the word of God can’t be replaced by anything else in this world, then God’s word will take priority over anything else that may distract me. If I don’t believe that, then His word will take the back seat until I’m reading to give something up.  If I believe that there is no greater joy than to see God’s kingdom grow, then they way that I live and serve will reflect that.  If I don’t truly believe that, then my unbelief will show in the way that I live and the way that I feel like I have to serve God.

 

The main thing is this, the disobedience is not the problem.  The root of disobedience comes from unbelief.  The lack of trust.  When you believe something, YOU WILL ACT ON IT.  If you are in a plane and don’t have a parachute, would you jump out?  No, because you believe that gravity will do what it always does.  So let’s stop trying to correct where we are disobedient and ask God to help us trust him in the areas of our lives where we disobey him.  When you believe him, you will not disobey him.  Disobedience is a direct reflection of unbelief.

 

~Ryan

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Provisions or the Provider

January 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A big question for us is “Do we love the provisions or do we love the provider?”

1Corinthians 13

Pauls is addressing this issue.  He is saying we can do a lot and accomplish a lot for the cause of Christ, but why we are doing it is what God is looking at.

He says that we can have all knowledge and do all sorts of things but without love toward our Father, we are like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  Our efforts don’t need to be done se we can get blessed.  They need to be done out of our LOVE toward God.

We can catch ourselves telling people that we need to give so we can be blessed.  We often hear people say that they give so that God will bless them more.  This is not completely wrong but if we give because of our LOVE for God, we will be blessed.

In conclusion, we need to “LOVE Him because He first LOVED US”.  Through the greatest commandment god gave us, we have the answer to all things.

So LOVE GOD the PROVIDER more than you love His Provisions.

 

~Pastor Keith

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Limiting God’s Grace

December 29, 2011 By 2 Comments

Ephesians 2:8-9

“For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

I am reminded when I read this, that my relationship with God through his Son Jesus, is a gift.  Sometimes the further we walk with the Lord and grow in maturity we can forget the start of that relationship and just how undeserving we were.  Remember when you realized that you were completely doomed and on your way to eternal separation from God with out His grace?  Remember when you realized that Christ paid your debt so that you might be able to enter a personal and intimate relationship with the God of the universe?  See that is the proper attitude for a person to be able to receive God’s grace.  Jesus said in Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven”, and even in verse 6 when He says “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”  Sometimes we (as Christians) limit God’s grace to people.  Not in a sense that we actually have the ability to limit His grace, but in the sense that we don’t open our mouth to some people and share the grace of God that is found in Christ.  Why is this?  The truth is that we (as Christians) can have a little pharisee in us.  We see people who are broken, sinful and rotten to core.  It can be easy for us to forget that we were right there with them apart from the grace of God.  In Luke 5:30-32 Jesus addresses a question from the pharisees.  They wanted to know why Jesus was eating with sinners.  His response?

Luke 5:31-32

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

This was an amazing answer!  We know that there is no one righteous.  Some may think that they are good, but what Jesus is interested in, is those who know that they are broken, rotten and sinful. He is interested in those who are poor in spirit and those who hunger and thirst for Him.  That is when God’s grace can step in and redeem a person.

So the challenge for all of us, is to simply remember where you were and where you would be without the grace of God.  Understand that Jesus is interested in those who are broken.  Don’t limit God’s grace by closing your mouth and not speaking the Gospel.  Know that we are the instrument He has chosen to use in bringing the Gospel to the world.  There is NOTHIG that God’s grace cannot completely forgive.   In the words of Louie Giglio, “The ocean of Grace is deep enough for those who need it, to dive in.”

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

 

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For us or for God?

December 23, 2011 By 4 Comments

Are church services for us, or for God?

If we look at Acts 2 we see a lot about the church.  We that it was established on Salvation through the death and Resurrection of Jesus. It shows of a time for preaching the Gospel and people being saved.  It shows us how people are saved, through the blood of Jesus and by the Holy Spirit coming to live in us.

The biggest thing I see is that it’s about God way more than it’s ever about us.  It is about bringing Him praise and not ourselves.  It’s about bringing Him Glory and Honor, not ourselves. When these things are accomplished, we have communion with God and that relationship He wants with us is in full harmony.

So the next time we got to a church service, let’s make sure it’ more about HIm than ourselves.  Focus all attention on Him.

Acts 2:47 “praising God and having favor with all people.  And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

 

God Bless,

~Pastor Keith

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Good News

December 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In Luke 2:10 when the angels appeared to the shepherds, this is how they introduced the purpose of their visit, “I bring you good news”.  Good news in hard times is so refreshing.  The good news was the Christ child was born. It’s recorded n Matthew 1:21 “and he will save his people from their sins”.  Now that’s good news!  May we all be reminded there is still forgiveness for sin because of Christ.  Maybe during this Christmas season you needed to be reminded of that.  God, through Christ made a way for you to be forgiven.  God wants your fellowship, don’t let sin keep you from that.  1John 1:9

 

God bless,

~Pastor Efton

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Passion 2012

December 21, 2011 By 1 Comment

Hey guys! I am getting really pumped about all that God is going to do in our lives at Passion 2012! I hope that you are preparing your hearts for an amazing encounter with the God of the universe.  No doubt that we all know there will be great music and great speakers, but at the heart of all of it, Jesus Christ is the focus.  We want to lift His name higher than anything.  The passion 2012 crew has started a live scrolling of the word of God on their website that will lead up to January 2nd as we go into the Dome. You can go to anytime where ever you are and read the word of God with people all over the world.  It’s pretty neat, they show you on a map where people are that are currently reading with you. Check it out here,    http://268generation.com/acclimate/

It is interesting to think about the word acclimate.  The definition is really a great fit for what we will be doing when we go.  We are entering a period of time where we are worshiping with literally thousands of people, listening to speakers that are GIANTS in the faith and devoting 4 days to completely seek God in a place that is so to speak, cultivated for that very purpose.  So needless to say, that is not our average day.  It’s like climbing up mt. Everest.  You can not go from bottom to top in a couple minutes.  You would literally die.  Your body cannot handle the change.  Spiritually speaking, sometimes we go to these events and leading up to it, we have not prepared ourselves for the amazing spiritual transformation that God wants to do in us.  So when that happens, we don’t “die”, but instead it may take a while for us to acclimate to that place.  In other words acclimate means :to adapt to a new temperature, altitude, climate, environment, or situation.  So begin now preparing for mountain top experience so that you don’t find yourself there and not able to soak in all that God wants to do in you.  A good way to prepare is to join in on the live reading of God’s word everyday and to pray over our time that we will have with each other and our God.

 

Now, with all that said, let’s talk about what you need to bring:

1)We need $100 from everyone by Sunday Jan. 1st 2012.  You can bring it to the church or even pay online through egive and mark it for “passion hotel”.  If you don’t have an account with them, its free and easy to set up.  Just click herehttps://www.egive-usa.com/account/login/   and search for Calvary Baptist Church.

2) We have an adult sunday school class that is going to get food for our breakfast everyday before we leave the hotel so don’t worry about $ for food. However, we will need to have money to eat each night at the GA Dome since we will be there until maybe 10 or so each night. I would have about $45 since food can get expensive sometimes. Lunch will be provided Tuesday and Wednesday from the Passion crew and the church will pay for your lunch on the way home Thursday.

3)We will leave from the church @ 11am Monday morning (January 2nd 2012) so be there @ 10:30 so we can pack up and be ready to go. Also, eat an early lunch or late breakfast so we don’t have to stop on the way there.

4)Bring $20 for a 4 day pass for the MARTA.  We will be riding the MARTA each day to and from the DOME. Bring a back pack or something to keep whatever you want to take with you.  Don’t bring something you don’t want to lose or have stolen.

5)Bring you some snacks, drinks, etc to keep in the room.  Bring your bible, notebook and pen so that you can keep a notebook of all that God is teaching you.  Or if you are Jeremy Achenbach, you can take notes on your iPad! Ha

That’s all I can think of right now so I will let you know more if I need to.  If you have any questions you can always call me, text me or Facebook/twitter.

Hope you guys have a blessed week and a great CHRISTmas.  Remember who it is all about and remember to keep acclimating so that this time will be as amazing as God desires it to be. Can’t wait!!!

Here is a link to the Schedule:

http://268generation.com/passion2012/#!/about/schedule/

Here is a link to who will be there:

http://268generation.com/passion2012/#!/about/who/

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What CHRISTmas is all about

December 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

How amazing is God?  While reading 2 Samuel 7, I was able to see how God promised David that his throne would be established forever.  In doing this, God promised that Jesus, His Son, would be on the throne forever.  First, Jesus had to be born.  This is what Christmas is all about.  Then He had to die to satisfy the wrath of God.  This was all done for us, so that we could have eternal life.  So to ever think that Christ could be removed from Christmas, when He is what Christmas is made of, is irrelevant.  So do as David did in 2 Samuel 7:22 “Therefore you are great, O Lord God.  For there is none like you, nor is there any God besides you”.

 

Dance before God with Joy and Gladness because He is AMAZING  beyond what we can imagine!

 

~Pastor Keith

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When we pray today

December 9, 2011 By 1 Comment

When we pray today, let us think of all that Christ has done for us to make that possible.  He brought the veil down and gave us access into the Most Holy Place that we may have complete and full access to the God of the universe.  When Christ died for us the veil was torn top to bottom according Matthew 27:49. Ephesians 3:9 says that we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him.  In the inner most part of the tabernacle, was the Most Holy Place.  This was where God’s glory rested.  His Shekinah Glory.  This was God’s light that rested above the ark of the covenant.  Due to the construction of the Tabernacle, no light would enter this room from the outside or even from the room next to it.  There was no natural light.  The only light, was provided by God’s presence.  This is where Moses would come to get commands for God’s people and also where Aaron would go on the Day of Atonement.  So, stop and think for just a moment.  We now have access to God through faith in Christ.  So today, when we pray, let’s be a little more conscious of the precious gift of entering God’s presence and speaking with Him.  May you be blessed today as you live for His Glory!

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Pay attention and act carefully

December 7, 2011 By 1 Comment

Sometimes we can get caught up in the routine of things or even allow the situations around us to cause us to act carelessly.  In studying Moses we can see that he clearly makes a mistake when God told him to speak to the rock in the wilderness. This wasn’t the first time that God wanted him to do something and it also wasn’t the first time that God wanted him to bring water from the rock for the people.  As we look a little closer in Numbers 20, we can see that Moses just lost his sister and the people were grumbling once again.  They accused Moses and Aaron of bringing them out to the wilderness to die.  This wasn’t a new thing for them.  The people of Israel grumbled, complained and accused them often.  Aaron and Moses did exactly what they needed to.  They fell on their face before God and sought His counsel.  God spoke to Moses and told him what to do in Numbers 20:8.  He told him to take the staff, assemble the people, and for Aaron and himself to speak to the rock for it to yield it’s water.  God gave clear instructions as to what they needed to do.  You know sometimes we don’t have clear instructions on what God wants us to do and in those situations I have always remembered advice from a good friend of mine, “Do what you know to do from scripture, until God shows you His plan”.  Here we see that Moses had specific instructions, so why did he mess up?Verse 11 tells us that Moses STRUCK the rock instead of speaking to it.

Was it out of anger because of the people?  Was it out of anger of losing his sister?  It could have been a combination of both or even knowing that last time he brought water out of the rock for the people, he struck.  Any way that we try to make sense of this, we can clearly see that Moses had a moment where he simply did not pay attention and act carefully.  There will always be distractions in our life like Moses had.  People close to us will die, there will be those in our life that grumble and complain even when we are trying to help them and we will always have periods in our life where we think that we know what to do simply because we have done it before.  In reality, every situation is different and we would be wise to pay attention and act carefully in moments like these.  You may not be bringing forth water from a rock for close to 2 million people in the wilderness, but you may be teaching a passage of scripture that is familiar and think that there is not much need for studying it.  There may be a time when you lose someone close to you or they are sick and we may miss a chance to be a blessing to someone or witness to someone because we aren’t paying attention and acting carefully.  Even anger can play a part in all of this.  We see that Moses was pretty angry with these people to call them rebels in verse 10.

So let’s pay attention and act carefully today as we go about.  Remember, it may be the little things that we have a chance to obey in.  The Lord is more than able to help us focus in on the tasks at hand and help us to do with a joyful heart.

 

God bless you guys!

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