suttonblog

Plucked From the Fire

2011-12-31T09:35:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!
The Suttonblog has changed it's name and domain to www.pluckedfromthefire.com!
Check it out!
Blessings to you and Happy New Year!
Ken

Thursday Stuff

2011-09-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! Here are a few things on my mind today...
- Fall ministries are ramping back up at CE. That means we have to turn the heat back on.
- Biteclub had 20 men on Tuesday! No Ding Dongs or Twinkies this year. The fruit platter has won out.
- Ever read a book of the Bible multiple times and realized that you were just scratching the surface in your understanding?
- I am preaching Ephesians while asking God to plant its truths deeper in my heart than ever before.
- Tuesday Ladies Virtue got off to a great start!
- The new Virtue Thursday night study has 15 women signed up so far! Come on out.
- We have pictures in the cafe now!
- Marriage Fellowship starts tomorrow at 7PM with Dean and Stacy Nakanishi. Childcare is provided!
- In Judges 1, Judah could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowlands because they had chariots of iron...even though God told Him he could.
- What chariots does our enemy utilize to place fear deep into our own lives?
- Worship on Sunday morning was like listening to the CE tabernacle choir...
- Should we start a new Calvary Bible study in Arlington?
- Ever heard a message or read a book that seemed to pick the lock on your heart? Everything said seemed to be reading your mind? I just experienced that and I am still pondering with wonder.
- We had our best turnout in months for our Sunday night study in Judges.
- We have a new little family room with live video of the service. Progress!
- This last weekend I had a wedding on Saturday, started Ephesians on Sunday AM and Judges in the PM. Yes!
- The Epoch Youth is outgrowing their room...we need to pray in a 28 by 10 mobile trailer.
- Much love to you all!
- City Harmonic at CC Lake Stevens on September 29th!!!

Ephesians starts this Sunday!

2011-09-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

We start a new series in Ephesians this Sunday Morning! We also start the book of Judges this Sunday night! See you there.
Let me leave you with some Spurgeon today:
Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou puttest thy full confidence in him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as he built the heavens and the earth, glorify himself in thy weakness, and magnify his might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give you to rest in Jesus.

Suttonblog September Kickstart...

2011-09-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

Some September thoughts:

- This summer was a work of the Almighty. Before we moved to North Broadway, I used to sit in the parking lot of our current building and ask God for fresh vision for our church. God doesn't lack vision for His church. Well, this summer God answered many prayers...

- Our VBS was very fruitful, not only with many children attending but even more with our team of ministers. Let me tell you, the servants attitudes were inspiring, I will leave it at that.

- Our Block Parties this summer were better attended than I thought they even would be. The setup team rocked it! Frank carved it and cooked it (600 steaks) The Face Painting team faithfully fought off carpal tunnel (they painted a lot faces!) all summer...and the ministry was wonderful. God bore fruit.

- Family Camp was simply awesome.

- 12 people were baptized at Family Camp this year!

- The singing on Sunday mornings has been very powerful at CE. God is moving and people are responding! Psalm 22:3.

- Please pray for the 3 people at CE who are battling cancer. Tony, Carol and Robin.

- We are doing Matt Maher's song "As it is in Heaven" this Sunday! Check out the video.

- We start Ephesians Chapter 1 this Sunday, I am so excited!

- All of our midweek ministries start next week. Virtue for the ladies and ISI/Bite Club for the men.

- Lynn told me that the Thursday night Virtue Study has already had 15 women sign up!

- Christians who think they can truly follow Jesus without being in a community of believers (fellowshipping, serving, praying, giving your life away, being accountable) will never become mature in their walk with Christ.

- As of today, we have had over 8000 page views in the last few years on the Suttonblog, from 10 different nations. Wow.

- Lynn and I turned off our Facebook accounts last night, we should be back in time to wish you a Merry Christmas!

- Our 8 week Marriage Fellowship starts next Friday at 7PM in the cafe!

- Our Upper Room prayer and worship nights have been picking up momentum and God is being glorified as His people CRY out to Him.

- Last Sunday we had our best turnout of the summer at our Sunday night service. The Belchers led worship and it was sweet.

- Judges starts this Sunday night!

- Cameron and Kelsy get married on Saturday and I get to wear a suit.

- I love our church.

Family Camp @ CE

2011-08-10T10:28:00.001-07:00

Family Camp is coming up August 18th!
Every Night at 6:30PM dinner will be served (free!)!
Campfire smores and worship starts at 8PM-ish (come on out!)!
CE BBQ and baptism is at 11AM on Sunday the 21st!
Address: 19528 Jordan Road, Arlington, Wa 98223

Why I have stopped blogging (for now)

2011-07-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

After 225 posts in two years of blogging, I gave up. The reason? A gnawing, creeping sense of "does this matter?". Actually, if you want to know my mindset, it is precisely summed up by another blogger named Matthew Redmond. Matthew points out the obvious about the inundation of information and opinions in the age we live in.

Podcasts, vodcasts, conferences, webzines, blogs, twitter, facebook and now Google+ - all of it is now a means of information about how to think, live and believe as a Christian. And these do not even take into account the weekly bible studies, accountability groups, prayer meetings, worship gatherings and Sunday services. It is all so much and coming at us 24/7 with unrelenting urgency. Most will not be able to keep up. They will give up because it is all too much. Less than an hour after your pastor's message, you will see a link to an interesting sermon from a pastor across the country and it will be in high-def video. As you go to tweet about it moments after it is over, you'll see a killer quote to retweet. And on and on and on...A deep, abiding thought will be almost impossible. And we will not rest in a Word.

Since I have joined Facebook, one thing has become clear and that is that I cannot keep up (and don't want to)! Everyday someone is pontificating about anything and everything. I read what people say and I think that it has all been said and frankly I don't want to be another voice cluttering up your brain waves, or be guilty of the same behavior I am lamenting. Having said that, to those who come to Calvary Everett, you can hear me pontificate and opine in a blustery way in person every week if you choose:)

Much love to you, I will be back to blogging one of these days. Until then, enjoy Jesus and keep listening to Him.

Easter Servant Sunday 2011

2011-04-26T12:36:00.001-07:00

What a great Easter Sunday at CE!
People began showing up before 8AM to cook and serve breakfast and God mercifully held back the rain, it was a beautiful Northwest Easter morning! I would estimate that by 8:30 AM we had 30 servants singing, cooking, cleaning and setting up, two hours before the service! The food was awesome and by 9AM we had almost 100 people in line to eat it! Thanks Breakfast Club team, lets do it again!

By 10:00 we had so many people sitting in the chapel that Rick grabbed a guitar and did some pre-worship, worship! The church was ready to sing! By 10:35 our chapel was full, or getting close to it, and it was great to look out and see so many new faces (like little Liam and his daddy) at church. Our coffee team and ushers did a great job...Our Sunday School teachers were a huge blessing...The worship team was used by the Lord. God came and ministered through His people and His Word.

This was our third Easter at CE and it was by far the most attended...With Kids and Adults we had about 225 this year and it was amazing that we crammed them all into our building! I want to thank all the servants of Jesus who came to bless the Lord and the people that He loves.

Of course the greatest servant at Easter is the suffering servant Jesus. He is the one who has suffered for our sin and conquered the grave. Jesus said...“See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” John 20:18-19. To Jesus be all the glory!

April Showers of Blessing...

2011-04-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

A few April thoughts...

- "I am the resurrection and the life"...Jesus.

-"Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"...Jesus.

- Easter is on April 24th this year...We are putting out 40 more chairs on Easter, so invite a friend!

- We need to acknowledge how wretched sin is in our lives in order to fully appropriate and enjoy amazing grace. You have heard people say that we are far worse sinners than we know and God's grace for us is far greater than we can imagine...I agree!

- The Street Team at CE is bearing serious fruit. I love these guys! They meet at CE the first Saturday of every month at 1PM and then they hit the streets with the life changing message of Jesus.

- I was going to be at the Romanian Transform conference in two weeks but my basement has flooded 3 times in the last week! Lynn doesn't want me gone if the 'big one" hits in the next month, so I am gladly staying home. Much love to my friends ministering on the front lines in Romania, I will miss you.

- Please intercede for those at CE who have cancer. We have some dear saints right now who need much prayer.

- We had over 40 adults at our last Upper Room prayer night! A Powerful time in the Lords presence praying for tens of thousands of people in Everett to come to Jesus.

- I will be at the Calvary Canadian Pastors conference later this month, eh.

- Our mens ministry at CE is drawing 25-30 men a week! Great men, great conversations.

- The CCCM mens retreat at Twin Peaks last week was wonderful.

- The ladies at CE are meeting tonight to do things that ladies do when they meet together. Cool! I am babysitting (my own kids)!

- Soul Surfer hits the theaters on Friday. Grace cant wait!

- Noah is taking Kung Fu lessons. I call him Fists of Fury Sutton. I have even made up a Fists of Fury theme song for him that I sing to him when I drive him to his class. There is nothing that makes a father more proud then watching his son utilize his nunchuk skills.

- Easter morning at CE will include a full breakfast at 9AM cooked by the Overbys. Come on out and be a part of our little family!

American Idol hears about the Lord...

2011-03-04T09:52:00.000-08:00

Sunday go to meeting.

2011-03-03T10:33:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday is in my rearview but I cannot help but think about why it was a completely unique day.

Sunday AM- We had a church meeting.
Church meetings in a Calvary Chapel? Yes! You know what else? We talked about fiscal issues. Anathema! Calvary doesn't talk about money, right? Well, yes and no. We don't hit people up for money, we don't make emotional appeals for special offerings every Sunday or ANY Sunday for that matter...We don't ask people to pledge, we don't have telethons. I love that aspect of Calvary Chapel! Yet, one thing that we should be doing is communicating openly with the congregation how God's money is being used. We should communicate how the accounting is accomplished and what systems we have in place for accountability. We did that on Sunday morning after the service, it took ten minutes and it was a great blessing.

Here is how the meeting was conducted. At CE, our accountant created a simple graph from Quickbooks which we handed out. The graph included total giving for 2010 and also a pie chart with a breakdown on what percentage of the giving went to salaries, insurance, outreach, supplies etc. You get the picture. We run down the list, explain what systems we have in place for accountability and then we shared about future needs regarding summer outreach. At the end we essentially closed by telling people that if they were a regular giver they could ask for an up to the minute report at any time from our deacon. Any questions? Come find me and ask! Let's pray! End of meeting.

If you are a Calvary Pastor let me encourage you to pray about doing this, the church will be built up and the bond of trust will be strengthened between the congregation and the leadership of the church. Will you have some people that will nitpick you on the church spending? Sure! It's all good as long as you have handled the finances in a way that pleases the Lord, right? If you have someone that really wants to be difficult with you then pray that the Lord will use a critic to keep you from doing something really dumb financially. Ultimately, keeping our books open and available to those who give will lead to God's blessing...

Seahawks Sunday @ 10AM

2011-01-14T18:54:00.003-08:00

The word on the street is that grace will be greatly utilized on Sunday during 10AM worship services throughout Washington state. That's right, people will be ditching church in droves in the age of DVR's and Tivos...to watch a losing team possibly win...LIVE!
The problem is that I as a pastor preach grace incessantly...I don't think that missing church once a year for a playoff game is going to make God love you any less and I don't think that choosing church this Sunday will make God love you more. Grace and Gods unwavering love for you is too good to pass up in the second round of the playoffs, especially if you are praying for a miracle. Knowing this, why not take advantage of grace and stay home to watch this all important game???
So, let me try a different tact.
What if God were to tell you that if you skip church to watch the Seahawks this weekend, He (God) will definitely make sure that the Seahawks lose (because He is the ultimate decision maker on the game). But, If you go to church, the Seahawks will definitely WIN!!! If God were to say that to you would you take one for the team? Would you go the extra mile for the Hawks this weekend and go to a worship service? Come on, put the team first people! All you have to do to ensure a win is go to church? No brainer! The Seahawks need all the help they can get from Christians around this great state.
Wait! What if God said that if every single person in Washington went to church this Sunday morning, the Seahawks would be assured of a win? Wouldn't we all go and boldly proclaim the precious playoff promises of God? Wouldn't we all be telling anyone that would listen that there is a future life to come in the third round? Of course we would, because we love the Seahawks and are motivated by our love for them.
Now, I'm not saying that God would do that but what if He did? What if there was even a remote possibility? If there was and you are a Seahawks fan, I wouldn't take any chances that's for sure, I would get to church and bring as many people with you as possible. See you Sunday but remember, we are only going to church for the Hawks and no one else.
Blessings:)
PK

First post of 2011

2011-01-04T15:13:00.000-08:00

Man, so much has been going on, who has the time to blog huh? As many of you know we have been going through some positive but challenging changes at CE these last few months. Of course the most challenging has been the renovation of a 6000 square foot strip mall into a church...and yet the Lord has greatly blessed. We called for a few different work parties among the mens ministries and the men showed up ready to work, they really hammered it out! We also had a number of men come in on a daily basis and take large portions of the projects on their backs...huge blessings to them also!

This last Sunday was our first service at 820 North Broadway and it was packed! Our head count came in at over 175 adults and children! Wow! God is good. The parking lot was full about an hour before the service began...People were so excited about the "reveal" of our extreme church makeover. It was an anointed day and the singing was loud!

One last thing, we are a new church. This coming Sunday will actually be our two year anniversary since we began Sunday morning services. As a new church, we did not have the budget to pull off a Crystal Cathedral style of renovation. We couldn't turn the place into the Taj Mahal. We couldn't afford the valet parking station or the amusement park rides for the children's ministry. We decided against the idea of placing a pledge thermometer in the chapel. We decided not to hold a praise-a-thon and tell people to go their phones, RIGHT NOW!!!! Yet, what the Lord provided with His budget was perfect. The place looks really, really nice and it is all to the glory of God! The best part is that we didn't have to twist an arm for the labor or the giving, it was all motivated by peoples love for Jesus.

Tonight starts a week of prayer at CE. Tuesday through Friday night from 7-8 PM in our cafe. We are going to thank the Lord and ask Him to do more than we could imagine in Everett.

By the way, Happy New year!!! Come visit us at CE in 2011!

Good News...

2010-10-21T11:23:00.000-07:00

This Sunday we start the book of Acts!!! This Sunday we also have an important update regarding our building situation at Calvary Everett...so don't miss it.
See you soon!

Autumn reflections!!!

2010-09-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

As I look back upon the last few weeks in September, they have been very eventful. Ramping back up in the Autumn is always exciting because we get to sit back and watch the Lord at work! Here are a few of the the highlights this Fall...
- Over the last couple of weeks I have been sharing some of the vision that God has placed on my heart for CE.
- God wants us to pray and then as we sense His leading we step forward in faith!
- If we are so afraid to fail that we never move forward then we will grow stagnant.
- A Pastor esteems and honors people when he encourages them to step out in faith and grow.
- On the other hand we can demean people and their gifting by never expecting much.
- Did I mention that God wants us to pray? Prayer at CE on Sundays at 9:30 AM and 5PM!
- It was great to see so many people breaking up into groups to pray for the Harvest Crusade on Sunday!
- Epoch Youth has been on fire on Sunday nights, check out their blog at calvaryeverett.com!
- Men's ministry at CE is wild right now...What's going on? Great turnouts, great trust being built, Great God!
- Virtue Ladies study is clicking on all cylinders.
- Marriage Toolbox is heading into week three this week.
- Last weeks best marriage quote from Tony Neal? Marriage wasn't designed to make us happy but to make us holy.
- We have been praying for a new facility, will you continue to pray until we have signed the lease on a new place to worship?

Have a great week everyone! Here is a song that we want to do at CE!

CE @ 2

2010-09-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

This Sunday marks the 2nd birthday of our little church plant in Everett...It seems like yesterday that I was getting out our first two signs made in black and white and placing them outside Downtown Dennis. Lynn and I didn't have a clue what God was going to do, or if anyone was going to come...but that first night we had 30 or so people come on out! What a great night!
Now 2 years later we have grown to over a hundred adults attending CE with a bunch of kids in tow. It has been a great 2 years.
So, this week I will be sharing some of the things that I believe that the Lord has planned for us in our third year. Obviously, we want to take this next year to establish the ministries that God has already started here but I believe God has amazing things in store! I want to talk about a few of those things and call the church to prayer.
Let me ask you, as you read this...will you pray for CE? Will you pray for a powerful outpouring of God's Spirit? Will you pray for the Lord to do greater things than we can even imagine or have faith for? Will you ask the Lord to use CE to lead thousands of people to salvation in Jesus Christ? Will you cry out to the Lord with me? We desperately need a work of God in our church and in our city.
See you Sunday...By the way, heres a new song we will be singing this week.

Should we burn the Quran?

2010-09-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

No, we shouldn't.
Here are a few thoughts.
- Terry Jones isn't the pastor of a Bible teaching church, He is a cult leader.
- Someone let the media in on that fact.
- Jesus wouldn't burn a Quran, He would preach the good news.
- Jesus loves and died for Muslims...and everyone else for that matter.
- Having said that, a lot of very powerful people are very anxious about what one little cult may do.
- Think about it, a guy in Florida with a really bad handle bar mustache has the whole world on edge.
- I have to ask myself, would the same people be this anxious about anyone burning the Bible?
- CNN reported last year that our own U.S. Military burned Bibles in Afghanistan. Interesting story.
- http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/20/us.military.bibles.burned
- Now, the Massachusetts Bible Society is distributing another book. Strange but true.
- http://zoecity.com/articles/8971-they-burn-one-we-give-two-massachusetts-bible-society
- Needless to say, we will not be burning a Quran at Calvary Everett.
- The Bible burns in our hearts...so we will keep loving those who burn it.

Iron Sharpens Iron

2010-09-08T07:36:00.000-07:00

Last night was a great night for the mens ministry at Calvary Everett.
Let me give you some background.
Last September we launched Iron Sharpens Iron on a Tuesday night in a Russian cafe with 16 men. I remember watching a bunch of nervous looking men sitting in a circle drinking strong coffee and eating blintzes and Neapolitans. It was a great night but it had all the marks of a group who didn't know each other and didn't know what to expect.
Flash forward 12 months for the beginning of Iron Sharpens Iron year two and it was easy to see the difference that a year makes. We had a new facility...we switched from Russian food to Italian and Mexican...we had 26 men...What a great difference a year makes!
Last night as I looked around I made a few fascinating observations.
1. The guys interacted last night with each other like brothers that knew each other and loved each other.
2. Sharing our lives with each other came naturally this year.
3. Out of 26 men in attendance the vast majority serve in a ministry at CE.
4. The prayer at the end was full of men with their arms around each other interceding for each other...men eager to pray...

Now we have two weeks to read Joshua. Be strong and courageous. Cross over the Jordan. The walls of Jericho are coming down.

Sunday Goodness

2010-08-30T22:30:00.000-07:00

Great day on Sunday at CE...
Let me share a few highlights...
- Sunday we set a new record for the total amount of cards we sent out to first time visitors to CE!
- Worship was great! Both Sunday morning and evening, what a blessing to have the musicians we have.
- Calvary Kids had 16 kids in the worship! Brad Morin was leading a new generation into the Lord's presence.
- Over 25 total kids in Sunday school this last week! Wow!
- Joe Vasquez is teaching the Word this Sunday night! His message will be about hungering for God. Don't miss it!
- New graphics all over the place at CE this last week, fun stuff...
- New ministry names coming out of our ears! Ignite, Epoch Youth, Virtue...I love it!
- This Sunday mornings message should get some people thinking about cash in the attic!
- Met a great guy at church this week who told me that it was his first visit ever to an Evangelical church.
- Prayed with a brother just diagnosed with cancer, his surgery is today. Will you pray too?
- Kelley Taylor finished the Pentateuch...
- Our Marriage Toolbox series kicks off with Brett Williams on September 19th!!!
- Last weeks BBQ and baptism was very sweet. 130 pulled pork sandwiches served!
- Jason Moore lead worship last Sunday for his final time (atleast for a while), as he is moving to California. We will miss the Moore fam.
- Family Camp was a huge blessing!!! Thanks to the families who served selflessly.

That's it! An amazing summer of fellowship at CE. By the way, I love this song...enjoy the Lord this week!

Hudspeth Update

2010-08-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

Our good friends the Hudspeths are traveling and ministering in Brazil for a couple of weeks. Please keep them in prayer! Here is the itinerary they will be keeping...
14th through the 18th- Cidade de Deus (City of God) favela (slum) Rio de Janeiro- staying with Miriam who is very active in outreach. A powerful woman of God who is also well respected within her community. Pray for our protection and communication challenges (portuguese could be better). We will also be visiting an Acts 29 outreach in a favela called Sitio. The very building that the drug traffickers used for executions is now the outreach center for the children there.

19th & 20th- Sao Caetano- visiting Guilherme's family- I have had some incredible conversations with Guilherme's dad Aylton about our heart for the people in the favelas. Pray that the Lord would soften his heart. He's not a believer. It's been a great opportunity to share the Gospel with him.

21st through the 25th- Sao Vicente- reconnecting with Celso Nascimento, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Sao Vicente and visiting Mexico 70 a nearby slum that they do outreach in. This was the first church we visited in Brazil 4 years ago. Is the Lord calling us to serve there? If so then we both need to hear from Him.

26th through 29th Sao Paulo & Ilhabela visiting with Luiza and her family ( our first exchange student from Brazil 10 years ago). Unfortunately this portion of our trip may include sand, beach and hopefully sunshine time. Oh well...

30th-flying out of Sao Paulo heading home...

Heres the latest update from Facebook...Having a wonderful time. We were overwhelmed by the need in the City of God. At the same time so blessed by people that have so little to give in the way of resources. We will be heading to Sao Vicente Calvary Chapel on Saturday. Will be there for 5 days.

Family Camp and BBQ this Sunday!

2010-08-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone, CE Family Camp begins this Thursday out at Stilly Camp!
Every night we will be having bonfires at 7PM, so come on out to worship and eat smores!
Sunday we will be having a baptism at 11 AM and a BBQ at Noon...
All the food on Sunday is provided, so just bring a lawn chair!!!
The weatherman says that there will be only a 20% chance of rain on Sunday, I like those odds!
Actually, God in His providence has cooled the temp's down just in time for a perfect weekend of camping!
So, come on out and be blessed!
Here is the map to Stilly!

View Larger Map

CEBBQ Tonight!!

2010-08-11T09:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight is our final CEBBQ10 at American Legion Park in Everett @ 6PM!!! Hope to see you there!
Check out our website for more details www.calvaryeverett.com
Here is another new song that we will be playing at CE in the weeks ahead by Paul Baloche. Enjoy!

Monday reflections of wonderfulness

2010-08-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

Great day yesterday at CE...clearly in the wonderful category (they are all in this category!).
-Tadd Scheffer taught a great study, I was humbled and blessed.
-Worship glorified Jesus!
-The chapel was packed, great to see everyone together in one room.
-Our coffee and donut ministry is only rivaled by Dunkin Donuts.
-This Wednesday is our last midweek CEBBQ10 at Legion Park, let's blow the place out!
-Family Camp is coming on the 19th, come join us!
-Baptism and BBQ at Stilly on the 22nd at 11AM!!!
-Wednesday prayer this week at noon in the Annex.
-Heres a new song that we will be introducing at CE in the next week. Enjoy!

Corporate Worship at CE

2010-08-07T15:03:00.001-07:00

I have been doing something that I love to do (but am rusty at) these last few weeks at CE...and that is leading some worship with the band at CE. I have lead worship for many years and I love to do it...When I moved back to Washington to plant the church though I really wanted to see what kind of homegrown worship leading would be able to sprout out of the church, essentially I wanted to focus on teaching and loving the sheep. Yet, two events in my life lately have lead me back to having a desire to lead some corporate worship. The first event was the Transform Romania conference in April and the second was the CC senior pastors conference in June.

The Romanian conference left a big impression on me because the corporate worship there among the 100 or so participants was the most powerful, loving and Spirit filled I had experienced anywhere in years. Listen to me when I say this...the worship team had poor microphones (by our U.S. standards) and a little Fender passport system with no monitors to speak of. If we were using this system in the States we would be embarrassed!!! The musicians were lead by Florin Enescu (I absolutely love this brother, his family and his worship) but very few of them had time to practice because they were assembled from churches all around the country. The multimedia was simple but effective. Yet, the Holy Spirit came and none of us wanted to stop praising Jesus!

The second event that lead me back into leading worship was our Calvary Chapel pastors conference in June. On the first night of the conference we had a prayer meeting with worship which lasted hours! 800 men sang and we cried out to Jesus!!! We sang and we cried out to Jesus!!! We sang and cried out to Jesus!!! I heard Pete Jansen (a wonderful pastor and friend from Richmond, B.C.) begin to cry out "Jesus!!!" in such a way, from His heart, that it moved me to tears. It was pleading exaltation and completely purifying. My friends, I needed those times of worship like the proverbial man in the Sahara needs water. As I worshipped Jesus, I heard Him tell me to go back home and lead His people into corporate worship. I want us to see God move at CE (as do all of our worship team) and I felt as if the Lord was telling me to set the framework more thoroughly as the pastor...and I want to be obedient to that. Please pray as we wait upon the Lord and we enter into His presence that the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon us at CE.

As we introduce new songs, I will post them on the blog so you can get familiar with them...Be blessed!

August 4- CEBBQ10

2010-07-20T16:17:00.000-07:00

August 4th @ 6PM!
Bring a family sized dish to share and a friend!
Frank is grilling tri-tip and sirloin!

Christian Athiest- Craig Groeschel

2010-07-19T09:02:00.000-07:00

Charles Blondin was a world-renowned tightrope artist and acrobat. On June 30, 1859, before a stunned crowd of 100,000 excited onlookers, Blondin was the first person to cross Niagara Falls by tightrope. He crossed 1,100 feet on a single three-inch hemp cord, strung from 160 feet above the falls on one side to a spot 270 feet above the falls on the other. The breathless assembly watched him accomplish, step by slow step, a feat most believed impossible.
But Blondin was just getting started. In the years to come, the daring entertainer crossed again and again: on stilts, in a sack, even pushing a wheelbarrow! The story goes that an exuberant onlooker called out, "You could cross with a man in that wheelbarrow!" Blondin agreed and invited the man to climb in. The spectator nervously declined.
My dysfunctional relationship with God was often like that. I've always believed in God, just not enough to trust him with my whole life in his wheelbarrow. I knew God could fulfill his promises, but I was never sure he'd do it for me. My selfish Christian Atheist view was that God existed for me, rather than I for him. If he'd do what I thought he should, I'd trust him more. If he'd come through for me, I'd give him more of my life. If he made my life better and pain-free, I'd believe him more passionately. But anytime God didn't meet my expectations, we had a problem. God created me in his image. I returned the favor and created him in mine. The kind of God I wanted to believe in was this: if he's not what I want, then he can't have my whole life….
Every day, we'll choose to live out our belief in God instead of believing in the world or ourselves. When we truly know God, rather than living ashamed of our past of doubting God's love for us, we can daily enjoy his grace and unconditional love and acceptance. As our faith and prayer life grow, we'll see his goodness—even in our trials—and grow to forgive as he has freely forgiven us. Instead of believing we can never change, we can let his unlimited power transform us and lead us out of a life paralyzed by fear and worry. Because God isn't just someone we believe in but is our life, we won't seek security and happiness in the things of the world but will find them in his presence and will. As he consumes us, strengthened by his church, we'll seize opportunities to share his love with people daily. The choice is ours.

CEBBQ10!!!!! This Wednesday!

2010-07-13T07:35:00.000-07:00

4TH OF JULY BBQ!!!

2010-06-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

This Sunday @ Forest Park in Everett, 11AM!!!!
4th of July BBQ and Baptism.
Bring a friend and a family sized dish to share! See you there!!!!

Weak Men, Weak Excuses: Moses

2010-06-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been looking at this whole idea of how God wants to do wonderful things in and through all of our lives if we would only allow Him to do so! So often, we see our limitations and we make excuses to God when He comes to us with a new mission...and yet God has NO limitation, and He promises to provide His strength for the weak, therefore He will not allow us to make excuses. This blog post today says it better than I could say it, it is from Steven Furtick, pastor of Elevation church in Charlotte, NC. Be blessed!

Exodus 4:10-14

Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

The LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”

Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses.

There’s a saying that goes, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” Well apparently if you want to make God mad, tell him your limitations.

God had approached Moses with an assignment that was over his head. The Lord was going to take on the leader of the most powerful nation in the world at that time in order to free His people from slavery…and Moses was going to be his representative.

Moses’ initial response seemed to indicate a genuine humility: Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt (3:11)?

God simply responds with, “I will be with you.” No hint of anger whatsoever.

Moses continues to ask questions, all of them pretty legitimate. And every time God responds by giving him a game plan and telling him he’s got it covered. Once again, no anger.

But then Moses oversteps his bounds. He implies that his poor communication skills will undercut God’s intention to use him to speak on His behalf. We might be tempted to think that Moses is once again displaying humility.

In fact it’s just the opposite. It’s pride.

Moses’ problem isn’t that he’s too humble and doesn’t believe in himself. It’s that he’s prideful and thinks God’s capability rises and falls with his own inability.

We often think pride means overconfidence in our own abilities. Or possibly attributing the source of those abilities to ourselves rather than God. But there is another side to pride that is often overlooked. It can also mean that you believe your limitations are an unstoppable obstacle to God’s power and purposes in your life.

There’s nothing quite so prideful as thinking that you have the ability to single-handedly thwart what God wants to do in and through you.

This time God isn’t patient or nice to Moses. He doesn’t respond with a “you just need to believe in yourself, you’re better than you think you know,” motivational talk. He actually turns angry because Moses’ perspective is monumentally insulting to God. A God with limitless power and ability has no desire or time to hear about the limitations of the people he wants to use.

True humility doesn’t start with having an accurate view of ourselves. It starts with having an accurate view of God. And an accurate view of God will both shrink us down to size but also make us realize that God is big enough to use anybody of any size.

This includes you.

Maybe you think you’re doomed to be a miserable parent because you had miserable parents. Maybe you think your lack of an education will keep you from making a significant impact for God’s Kingdom. Maybe you believe your friend’s response to Jesus is based solely on the excellence of your gospel presentation. Maybe…

You’re not that big. God knew your limitations long before you were ever even aware of them. Don’t stop selling yourself short. Stop selling God short. He used a stuttering, murdering, shepherd to set a whole nation free.

Imagine what He could do with you.

Belated Sunday deep thoughts

2010-06-03T10:56:00.001-07:00

Memorial Sunday was memorable to say the least...besides remembering those who have given their lives for our country and also those who have served...we had a wonderful time reflecting on what Jesus has done and is still doing.
Let me give you some highlights:
-8 men on the men's worship team? Yes!
-What a great day of worship with the bro's. Let me tell you, we have stumbled upon a great worship team at CE!
-People were ready to praise God on Sunday! I could hear people singing at the top of their lungs. God truly inhabited our praise to Him.
-Incredible turnout for a Memorial day weekend, I was actually kind of shocked!
-2 chapters in Revelation, we are starting to move at an accelerated pace!
-Teaching Revelation makes you acutely aware of prophetic events and current events...Like volcanoes blowing up in Iceland and blacking out the sun. Like oil slicks in the gulf that cannot be stopped. Like the UN condemning Israel's skirmish with a flotilla where 9 people were killed. Wild stuff.
-Hey, Kandi is leading a street team ministry on Saturday at 1PM at the Annex, come join her and reach out to the city!
-We had nearly 20 men at Iron Sharpens Iron on Tuesday night!
-We had 5 prayer warriors at the new Wednesday noon prayer meeting!!! Send me your prayer requests!
-See you Sunday for Revelation and Leviticus.

In the Beginning...Excuses.

2010-05-25T19:41:00.001-07:00

Last week I posted on weak men, weak excuses...That was just the first post of a few that I will be doing on the same subject. This week my blog post is entitled, as you can see, In the Beginning...Excuses.

You may be thinking that I am making a literal mountain out of a molehill with this subject matter. Whats the problem, you may be asking...Why are you zeroing in on the men? Well, first of all much is at stake! God desires to do so much through so many and yet the enemy wins when men of God start to "excuse" themselves from the Kingdom of God. The enemy loves it when he can convince a man to stop doing what God has called him to do, or never start at all. The enemy always points out the obvious "You're too weak!!!" and we willingly concur. Now, the opposite of this is when the enemy says "Youre strong!!!" but that brings up a whole other set of issues, that we aren't dealing with here. Let me ask you, have you ever noticed that one of the first things recorded in the Bible out of the mouth of a man was an excuse?

Think about it...The first thing that Adam said in the Bible was in regards to how wonderful His wife was (off to a good start)...The next set of statements recorded by Adam were in response to God's question "Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” That's when Adam passed the buck, he shifted the blame, he brought out the first excuse of mankind (a wimpy one at that) when he said "the woman that you gave me, made me do it".

The woman that you gave me! How many times has that been repeated through history? "No God, it's not my fault it is the woman that you gave me"! "No, it's actually your fault God, You gave her to me"! Adam wasn't content to just blame Eve, he went after God too! That took guts and let me make it clear, all excuses that we throw back at God do...because ultimately we are telling the creator of the universe that He is wrong.

Operative definition of an excuse? Telling God He doesn't know what He is doing. Ouch.

Adam sinned. All men sin. Adam made excuses. All men make excuses. What's my excuse? Adam! Let's see how far that get's me.

Yet, the buck doesn't stop back there in the garden. How many other great men throughout the Bible were given the clear will of God for their lives (by God Himself) and made an excuse? The Bible contains a top ten list of excuses. An excuse Hall of Fame...and on that list are names like Adam, Jeremiah, Moses, Gideon, Samson, Israel (the nation), Jonah, Elijah, Zechariah and Peter. People greatly used of God...and yet all of their stories contain a twist in the plot-line as all of them courageously overcame their excuses.

As I said, Adam's excuse opened the door to a long history of excuse making. What is played out multiple times in Scripture is the scenario where God comes to a man (oftentimes an obscure individual) and tells him that He has a mission to fulfill. The man will then think through God's call to action, immediately size himself up for the task at hand, and then the man will give God the best reason(s) why God cannot use him. Between the call of God and the eventual act of God, a man can find that He is actually making a strong case against himself.

Why does God record all these excuses in the Bible? What is the purpose of showing us the weakness of the men He greatly used? Well of course the answer is that God only uses weak men and all weak men have weak excuses. The only way that God can be glorified is through weak men and so often, as we will see, the excuse we use is often a clear statement of weakness. In other words, God purposefully came to men who were out of their depth and they knew it and they said so.

So, you may be asking...if a man is self aware and he has a decent understanding of his limitations is that really an excuse? The answer to that is yes and no and it all comes down to the desired end result. Regarding the aforementioned men who told God that they could not fulfill the call that He had on their lives...all of them would have gladly walked away had God said "you have a good point, I don't know what I was thinking". If God would have let them walk, do you really believe that they would not have walked? If they would have walked, it would not be because of meekness or humility but because they resorted to excuses.

It is an irony that the longer a man walks with Jesus the more He sees His inability to serve God without God's help. You would think that the opposite would be true. Yet as we become more spiritually mature, men clearly see that they are less bullet proof and far more vulnerable. As we walk in the light of Jesus we see our flaws very clearly and this is where the temptation to make excuses becomes even greater. When we have stumbled and seen our weakness or when we have tried spectacularly and failed enough times...that is when we are most likely to tell God "I can't" and let it stop there.

And yet God never let's it stop there. He is a master at dealing with the art of the excuse. He has heard them all. He can overcome them all. I believe that is why he allows us to relate to the excuses that the men we most respect in the Bible have used. He wants us to know that even though we lack the skill, He has the ability. Even though we have failed miserably in the past, He has a future for the repentant. Even though we are weak, He is omnipotent. The Lord wants us to know the difference between humbly understanding our limitations and making excuses for them. Let me take this a step further...The Lord is actually looking for men to acknowledge their weakness (and failure) and still move forward into the call that He has on their lives! You may be tempted to make excuses like never before but you may actually be more equipped now to fulfill God's call on your life than ever before! He is looking for men like Moses...remember him? He was greatly used of the Lord but he had plenty of excuses.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10...And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Next...Weak Men, Weak Excuses: Moses.

Finally, a good church sign!

2010-05-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

I have never seen a church sign with a pithy saying on it that I liked very much but this one is pretty great!

Some new Growtivation for CE??

2010-05-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Ron Belcher Memorial service

2010-04-14T13:42:00.000-07:00

Psalm 116:15- Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Our friend Ron Belcher went home to be with the Lord this weekend...There will be a memorial service for Ron Belcher this Saturday, April 17 at 1PM at Cedar Park Church in Bothell...and all those who attend CE are invited.

Please continue to keep Elaine, Joel, Samantha and the rest of the family in your prayers.

Transform Day 2

2010-04-08T04:47:00.000-07:00

This years conference is being held outside of Oradea, Romania in a town called 1 Mai...or the first of May. This place is full of underground hot springs, so the whole village has little hotels and bed and breakfasts with thermal pools, giving it a reputation as a "spa" destination. Frankly, I think it has a Romanian meets Austrian Alps vibe!!! Very cool.

The Hotel Perla where we are having the conference this year is awesome...the hotel has about 5 different pools, a 150 seat dining room, a 180 seat conference theater and it also has breakout rooms for children's ministry. The food has also been off the charts. Every meal we are being served soup followed by half a side of beef or pork with a bushel of potatoes. Unreal...Then they bring out the dessert! Can you imagine 4 days and three nights of eating like this? Here's the kicker, they provide the rooms, the conference space and all the meals for $100 an adult! What a blessing!

I know, I know...You're thinking, who cares about the schnitzel and mashed potatoes...we want to hear about the spiritual food!!! Amen!!!

Well, as you know Bill Galatin is this years main evening speaker (our daily schedule at this years conference is 2 sessions every morning and one session in the evening, with family free-time in the afternoons). Bill has been concentrating this year on how the Lord enlarges us through our trials and failures...His examples? Two of my favorites, Peter and Elijah. Each night Bill essentially reminds everyone that the trials of the ministry and missions work are tailor made by God to enlarge us and never to destroy us. Over and again Bill has reminded us that God is in control and that He is very gracious and loving in His dealings with us. Bill is incredibly encouraging and has the ability to encourage even the most discouraged.

More later...

Transform 2010 begins!

2010-04-06T11:32:00.000-07:00

The team has arrived...
The teaching schedule has been made...
The rooms are filled (116 beds!)...
The conference room has the sound system setup...
The scriptures and Hershey's kisses have been laid out...
The free massage signup list (for women only!) has been set out...
The free hair cuts signup list (for women only!) has been set out too...
The children's ministry schedule has been filled up...
The ladies tea has been scheduled for tomorrow...
The worship band has started to play...
People are raising holy hands to the Lord as they sing...
Bill Gallatin has taught our first session...
The Lord has just greatly encouraged a group of faithful but weary missionaries...
Bill is praying with a couple who just lost their son...
Men are in the corner of the room praying with each other...
People are hugging and crying...
Transform 2010 has just begun...

EASTERn EUROPE

2010-03-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

This Sunday is Resurrection Sunday! We have a great service planned for the church and I wanted to share a few highlights with you and ask you to keep the day in prayer.

This year we have a missions trip coinciding with the Easter season to Romania to help facilitate the Romanian missions conference...so that means that I am going to be out of the country on the most visited Sunday of the year! So, as we sought the Lord as to whether we should bring in a guest speaker or not, I felt as if the Lord was leading us to film the message in Europe! So, on Wednesday and Thursday of this week we will be filming a video in Budapest, Hungary for the Sunday AM service at Calvary Everett. We are going to film the 30 minute video in a few different locations throughout the city...One of the locations will be at Calvary Chapel in Budapest (this church is on fire!), the other will be at Memento Park (the park where they relocated all the statues of Lenin and Marx) and Castle Hill in Buda, overlooking Pest and the Danube river.

As I said, we will be filming the video on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, After we are done filming we will take the video and place it in a "dropbox" on my computer and overnight it will upload to Jeff Johnson's computer here in Marysville, Washington! Presto! Jeff will then take the video and use his production skills to create, what we hope will be an inspiring tool to encourage all the folks at CE...I am assured that Jeff has the capability to make me look 30lbs. lighter and I have also been told that he will film a great action scene to insert somewhere in the video. Apparently, I will be doing something in the video that would make MacGuyver jealous...We'll see.

I would like to ask you to keep a few matters in prayer...
The first is for our team, we have 13 people total coming to Romania including my 1 year old daughter Emily. Pray for us to be used mightily of the Lord and to be kept safe as we travel.
Second, please pray for our Easter service this year at CE, that the Lord will use it to encourage, educate and exhort the body of Christ. I also ask that you pray for all the non believers that will be coming, that they will come to know Christ and be touched by Him.
Third, can you pray for all the people who will be leading worship, teaching Sunday School, ushering and ministering behind the scenes at CE for Easter morning...The enemy loves to disrupt on Easter, so please pray as we engage in the battle!
Fourth, please pray for the Romanian "Transform 2010" conference in Oradea. we have 120 people signed up this year and we are excited! Calvary Everett has helped to raise about $10,000 to underwrite the cost with the help of some other churches...and we expect the time with the missionaries to be very encouraging!
Fifth, pray for unity! Pray for unity at CE and pray for unity among our team. Missions trips are thrilling but they can also be stretching times for all who travel overseas. Pray for great unity and cohesion among the team and also pray the same for the Calvary Everett. The Prince of peace is alive!

I will be blogging over the next two weeks, so check back often! Blessings!

This Sunday...the power of the Resurrection!

2010-03-27T08:45:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow!!!
I will be teaching on the power of the resurrection of Jesus and many of the blessings that come through His life! Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the LIFE!!"...Come on out and join us at 10:30 at Calvary Everett.
Many of you have been asking when our team is leaving for Romania...and what our itinerary is, so you can pray for us. Well, first of all I want to thank you in advance for praying and secondly I will be blogging the whole trip...so check back with us on Monday for more details!
See you tomorrow!

The Legacy of Lenin...

2010-03-26T09:42:00.001-07:00

Sometimes - history needs a push.

The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency.

The government is tottering. We must deal it the death blow an any cost. To delay action is the same as death.

The press should be not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, but also a collective organizer of the masses.

The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.

There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience. A scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a scoundrel.

Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.

It is true that liberty is precious; so precious that it must be carefully rationed.

A lie told often enough becomes the truth.

-Vladimir Lenin

Sunday!!!

2010-03-23T21:28:00.001-07:00

Hey, I just want to get one thing out of the way before I blog on Sundays services...I am teaching on the power of the resurrection this Sunday morning at CE, the single greatest event in human history. The resurrection has amazing implications for anyone who places their faith in the risen Christ! Come on out on Sunday morning to hear about them.

Last Sunday- 5 blessings that come through the blood of Jesus Christ and placing our faith in Him alone.
1. Because Christ shed His blood for us...we will not incur the wrath of God (Romans 3:25)!
2. Because Christ shed His blood for us...we are totally forgiven of all of our sin (Ephesians 1:7). All means all.
3. Because Christ shed His blood for us...we are justified (Romans 5:9) and declared perfectly righteous before God.
4. Because Christ shed His blood for us...we have access to our Father in heaven 24/7 (Hebrews 10:19)!
5. Because Christ shed His blood for us...we are secure (much better than insecure, so keep abiding in His love!) in our relationship with Him! We are a purchased people (Acts 20:28)!

Romans 3:21-25 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all[h] who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Lindsy Morton- This Sunday

2010-03-18T08:32:00.000-07:00

I just got an email from our friend Lindsy Morton and she is going to be performing a few songs at CE this Sunday morning from her new CD! If you don't know about Lindsy, checkout her website at www.lindsymorton.com! Lindsy is awesome and she writes great music, so come on out and be blessed!

Rip City Alright!!!!!

2010-03-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

People ask me what I do for a hobby or to relax. Well, besides hanging out with Lynn, Grace, Noah and Emily, I have a few other interests. I love music, I love to hang out with my friends (usually other pastors) and drink coffee, I have been hitting the treadmill...but there is one other thing that I love to do...and have loved doing it for over 35 years.
I love rooting for the Portland Trailblazers.

Back in 1974, when I attended Mabel Rush elementary school, I was given my first Portland Trailblazer coloring book. I was 8 years old at the time and Geoff Petrie was their star. As a kid, my brother and I used to go to our bedroom at night and listen to Bill Schonely (the Schonze) as he did the play by play on our transistor radio. We had a huge Blazer mural painted on our bedroom wall in those days and we would lay in our beds and listen to "The Schonze" call the game while Lionel Hollins, Dave Twardzik, Bill Walton, Larry Steele and Maurice Lucas put on a clinic against their opponents. Whenever the Blazers were on a roll the Schonze would yell out loud "Rip City, Alrighttttttttt"!!!!! Every kid in my school used to say "Rip City" at least ten times a day. Back in the 70's the Blazers were so popular that every game was sold out but my dad always seemed to get us a few tickets every year. If we couldn't get to Memorial Coliseum we would get tickets to watch the live feed on the big screen at Fox Theater (in those days we used to watch the game on a movie screen!). Dr. Jack Ramsay was the coach in the 70's and he was known for wearing the wildest patterned pants you have ever seen. At the games, my dad loved to shout at the players and at the refs. He only did it a few times a game but when he hated the call he would spontaneously scream "Cmon Ref, call the game!!!!!". Dad always brought a big bag of Hoody peanuts to every game (in the shell), I loved that part of my childhood and I loved going to those games with my dad.

In 1976 the Blazers won the NBA Championship against the Philadelphia 76ers and Julius Erving. That was one of the greatest days of my early life. I still remember what I was doing at the time and who was calling the game (Brent Musberger)...

As the years went by the Blazers made another run at the championship. In the late 80's and early 90's they assembled a phenomenal amount of talent which included "Clyde the Glide" Drexler, Terry Porter, Buck Williams, Jerome Kersey and Kevin Duckworth. It was a heartbreak to see my Blazers get schooled by Jordan and the Bulls and the Detroit "Bad Boys" and lose two opportunities for a ring in three years. Devastating.

That leads me to today (I won't even mention Bob Whitsitt and the Jail Blazer era). Today my Blazers are sitting at 37 and 28 in a fierce Western conference. They are currently the 8th seed in the West with a lock on a playoff appearance but their season has been ravaged with injuries. Bill Schonely still works for the Blazers but he has been replaced by Brian Wheeler, every year though they ask him to sing "God Bless America" before a game. The Schonze has a great voice. The star of the Blazers today? B-Roy of course! My prediction? 50 wins...2nd round and out.

As I am writing this, the Blazer game is on (Blazers leading the Kings). Noah isn't as big a fan as I was at his age but when I ask him who his favorite team is he always puts his arms in the air and says "Trail Blazers!!!". One of these days I will take him to his first game, we will make a road trip to the Rose Garden in Portland. As we drive down I will have to explain to him the importance of the phrase "Rip City Alright!!!!!" and when to use it after a huge rim ringing dunk. I will also teach him how to skillfully heckle the refs after a miserable call and then sometime during the first quarter I will pull out a bag of Hoody peanuts...just like my dad did with me.

Jim Cymbala on faith and prayer

2010-03-05T07:51:00.001-08:00

A conversation on Facebook...

2010-03-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

This is a conversation I have been having with a friend on FB. This friend has five children, she is a homeschool mom and she was a missionary with Calvary Chapel for years. She has a very keen intellect. Over the years though it would seem as if she and I have had a serious divergence in opinions about the Bible and theology. After asking her permission, I am posting this as food for thought and removing her name...I will call her FB friend.

FB friend original Post:
Sin is not an issue for God, so why is it an issue for us? Thanks to unconditional love, we are even free to remove "sin" from our vocabulary. =)

Ken Sutton:
FB Friend, are you joking? Was that what the church was doing in 1 Corinthians 5, removing "sin" from their vocabulary?
...
3 hours ago

FB Friend:
Sure, sin will cause problems and heartache, but there is a divine purpose behind "problems." We need them to grow into something far better. Do not look at the world in terms of good and evil but in terms of good and potential for even more good. Love dispels all fear while the focus on sin only creates fear and, ironically, more problems in which to grow.
...
3 hours ago

FB Friend:
Also, maybe this will help since I know you're a proponent of the new covenant. Sin is only important under the old covenant and the Bible is full of old covenant theology which can be interpreted in light of unconditional grace, which changes everything. So sin is only significant if we do not know the love of God. Once we *believe* then sin is no longer an issue is what the faith is all about. Regarding the Corinthian church and expelling the brother, the Bible also says do not judge, so we've got an inconsistency there that we need to figure out.
...
2 hours ago

Ken Sutton:
FB Friend, there is no inconsistency. We are told to judge for identification throughout the NT...If someone is a swine, I shouldn't be casting pearls to them. On the other hand, I cannot and should not judge them for condemnation...only God can do that.
Paul is clearly telling the church in Corinth to do something...what is it?
...
2 hours ago ·

FB Friend:
Okay Ken, I think I understand where you're coming from, but correct me if I'm wrong....

Let's go back to a very basic principle about law and grace. All of the shoulds and should nots in the Bible represent the law, which is meant to lead us to grace. Grace says that God loves you no matter how much we obey, and even if we do not obey at all. That's what the law is meant to get us to see.

For example, we *should not* cast our pearls before swine. We eventually realize that we are all swine and God certainly cast his pearls before us. So, in light of that fact, we no longer have to worry about casting our pearls before swine. Christ on the cross makes that command obsolete, although when we unconditionally love others, our "pearls" change the swineness in people so we would be obeying that command anyway (although I don't think that is a correct interpretation of that phrase, but I thought it was a good example.)...It sounds like you are talking more about discernment. When we understand that unconditional love, then we recognize what is the truth and what is a lie. The lie in the 1 Cor 5 issue is that we need to cast sinners out of the church. The truth would be something along the lines of... "let's help this guy overcome his idea of sin through our love for him." Didn't Paul say later that they needed to welcome him back into the flock? There might be some translational mistakes in that passage, and also the first apostles, even Paul, were wrestling with the law and grace issue themselves, which doesn't help us much...

But that's where the discernment comes in.... Discernment conveys the idea a lot better, I think, as much as it leaves out the judging for condemning.

Well, that is what I think at least, and I don't feel like I'm really able to explain this very well.
about an hour ago

Ken Sutton
Thanks for the thoughtful reply FB Friend.
About the law and grace. The law is a schoolmaster to lead us to Jesus, yes. God loves everyone but that doesn't mean that we are all saved...we have to access grace by faith in Christ and His redemptive sacrifice. If you don't come to Christ by faith do you experience unconditional love? No.
Yes, we are all swine. Thanks for making the identification and proving my point. Using your logic, are we all wolves in sheep's clothing? Are we also all false prophets? Can we discern the difference between the two? Yes.That is called judging.
How do we judge? By using the Word of God. Which brings us to your third point. You seem to enjoy tossing out bits of the Bible and discounting apostolic authority on a whim. It is impossible to make any judgement as long as we continue to say things like "There might be some translational mistakes in that passage, and also the first apostles, even Paul, were wrestling with the law and grace issue themselves, which doesn't help us much..." The words "might be" when it comes to alleged mistakes is completely discounted as an argument. I can not argue against "might be". You are comfortable basing your life on "might be" and I am not.To me, that is shifting sand. So...
About expelling sinners...Paul was protecting the body in Corinth, it is called grace! He had grace for the whole body. He wasn't struggling with grace and law. He was demonstrating grace for the body of Christ. Sin, as we all know isn't an arbitrary thing. God calls certain things sin because He knows that they destroy people. If I steal all your money and you cannot pay rent and feed your kids, then that is very harmful to you and your kids. Stealing is harmful, that is why it is a sin. So, Paul was gracious with the church and said "no more stealing another mans wife, it is harmful to the kids...so remove him from the kids"...That is called grace, it is grace for the body.
God doesn't arbitrarily kick sinners out of church either, even Jezebel was given the opportunity to repent...if people habitually and purposefully harm the church though, God reserves the right to say "Repent". If people do not repent then
He reserves the right to say "I am killing her children"...as He does in Revelation 2. This statement was made after His resurrection by the way...so, I don't see how you can use the obsolete, pre- cross, argument on that one.
Just a few thoughts...Blessings to you FB Friend.

More to come...

Identity in Christ: Are you who you think you are?

2010-03-02T14:40:00.000-08:00

Iron Sharpens Iron, Tonight at 7pm!!!
The men's ministry at CE is reading through the letters of Paul together and tonight we are in Ephesians. So many men identify themselves by what they do for a living...or how society defines them. The world can lay some pretty heavy labels on people can't it? A lifetime of hearing insults and painful comments can severely skew the perspective of our worth. Yet, God calls his people beloved saints! Self esteem is pretty shaky at best...it can change from day to day. Yet, how God esteems you never changes. Let me ask you, as a Christian are you who you think you are?
Ephesians sets the record straight as to how a man of God (and woman of God) is seen in the eyes of God. Our identity in Christ is laid out clearly in the first chapters of Ephesians and they are non-negotiable! Regardless of how we feel or even behave, the following is the truth about you and me as we abide in Christ. Check out the following truths about your identity in Christ from the writings of Paul and as you read these, rejoice! God has made you a new creation, so now by the power of the Holy Spirit walk in a manner worthy of your high calling (your identity and mission). Be Blessed!

Romans 5:1 I have been justified.
1 Corinthians 6:17 I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 I have been bought with a price and I belong to God.
1 Corinthians 12:27 I am a member of Christ's body.
Ephesians 1:3-8 I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child.
Colossians 1:13-14 I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins.
Colossians 2:9-10 I am complete in Christ.
Hebrews 4:14-16 I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:1-2 I am free from condemnation.
Romans 8:28 I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances.
Romans 8:31-39 I am free from any condemnation brought against me and I cannot be separated from the love of God.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 I have been established, anointed and sealed by God.
Colossians 3:1-4 I am hidden with Christ in God.
Philippians 1:6 I am confident that God will complete the good work He started in me.
Philippians 3:20 I am a citizen of heaven.
2 Timothy 1:7 I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.
1 Corinthians 3:16 I am God's temple.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 I am a minister of reconciliation for God.
Ephesians 2:6 I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm.
Ephesians 2:10 I am God's workmanship.
Ephesians 3:12 I may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

The 1904 Welsh Revival

2010-02-26T07:34:00.000-08:00

The Welsh Revival-
In 1904 the Lord brought revival to Wales...He used a young 26 year old man named Evan Roberts to reach the whole country with the gospel. Within six months, 100,000 souls were converted in Wales. Social impact was similarly reported. Judges were presented with white gloves signifying no cases to be tried. Alcoholism was halved. At times hundreds of people would stand to declare their surrender to Christ as Lord. Restitution was made, gamblers and others normally untouched by the ministry of the church came to Christ. In fact, esteemed G. Campbell Morgan recalled a conversation with a mine manager about profanity. The manager told him, "The haulers are some of the very lowest. They have driven their horses by obscenity and kicks. Now they can hardly persuade their horses to start working, because they have no obscenity and kicks." by Dr. Alvin L. Reid

Summing up Evan Roberts primary message concerning revival in 4 parts...
1. Confess all known sin
2. Deal with and get rid of anything ‘doubtful’ (any habit or behavior) in your life
3. Be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly
4. Confess Christ publicly

Brian responds...

2010-02-25T09:33:00.000-08:00

The Heart of Jesus- Brian Brodersen

A few months ago on our radio broadcast, “Pastor’s Perspective,” I made the comment that Calvinism seems to me to be Christianity without Jesus. That comment led to all kinds of speculation about my knowledge and acceptance of Scripture. It was suggested that I must be one of those who reject Paul’s writings and only believe the “red letters” to be inspired.

I clarified my statement the other day, saying that Calvinism (pure Calvinism, or what some would call hard Calvinism or hyper-Calvinism) lacks the heart of Jesus in as much as it seems to miss the love, grace, mercy, longsuffering, and compassion that Jesus demonstrated toward all sinners while He was here on earth.

In response to that clarification, a “Reformed” apologist accused me of not understanding what the Bible says about the heart of Jesus and insisting that I have invented a sentimental Jesus who wants to save everybody but can’t. He also accused me of being a syncretist (one who seeks to blend different religions or philosophies); of being entangled in tradition; of refusing to allow all of Scripture to speak; of misquoting and misinterpreting Scripture; and essentially of being unbiblical because, according to him, only Calvinism has the true biblical understanding of who Jesus is, what He did, and what His purposes are.

Now, according to this apologist, Jesus does not want to save everybody. He never intended to save everybody, and I am greatly misrepresenting Him by suggesting He does. He only ever intended to save the elect. Therefore, He only died for the elect, and at the end of the day those who are in heaven are there because they were predestined to be there, and those who are in hell are there because they were predestined to be there. End of discussion!!! He’s a rather dogmatic fellow.

He went on to propose a series of questions to me that I would like to respond to, not because I think that my answers will have any effect on him, but because I believe it’s important to show that the Calvinists are guilty of the very things they accuse others of doing i.e. imposing their unbiblical theological views on Scripture, and conveniently ignoring or spinning biblical texts that don’t fit their theology.

The first question posed had to do with how I could reconcile my view of the heart of Jesus (a heart of love, grace, mercy, longsuffering and compassion toward all sinners) with Matthew 11:25-27 that says, “At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

In Luke’s account we are told that Jesus rejoiced in his spirit and said, I thank you, Father…

The emphasis of this apologist was on Jesus rejoicing that God had hidden these thing from the wise and the prudent, implying that Jesus took special delight that God had Himself prevented these men from receiving His message and being saved.

Thus proving, at least from his point of view, that Jesus not only doesn’t want to save everybody, He delights in damning certain people.

I find that interpretation difficult to accept in light of verses like Ezekiel 33:11, where the Lord declares that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, or Hosea 11:8, where the Lord cries, “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? My heart churns with in Me; My sympathy is stirred. That hardly sounds to me like one rejoicing over judgment.

It seems to me that Jesus is simply thanking God that in His wisdom He has resisted the proud and given grace to the humble.

I don’t deny that what is being described here is a judicial blindness upon the “wise and prudent” but the bigger question is why were they blinded? Was it the result of the decree of God in eternity past or was it the result of their refusal to receive the one who came to save them? I believe it to be the latter.

Who were the wise and prudent that Jesus described in this text? Undoubtedly, they were the religious leaders who opposed Jesus throughout His ministry. These are the ones who would prove not to be His sheep and therefore not drawn to Jesus by the Father. But again, the question arises, why were they not His sheep? Was it because they were decreed by God not to be His sheep or was it because they were unwilling to believe and thus not be counted among His sheep? Again I believe it to be the latter.

My apologist friend referred to several verses from John’s Gospel, particularly verses from chapters 6, 8, and 10, to support his view that Jesus did not want to save these men who were rejecting Him; but statements in chapters 5, 7, 9, and 10, which were made to the very same group, state that He did want to save them.

“You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you might be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John’s for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:33-40).

Here in verses 34 and 40, we see that Jesus wanted to save these men and that it was their unwillingness to come to Him that kept them from salvation, not an eternal decree by God that they should be damned.

We have a similar reference to the will being the determining factor in a man’s salvation in John 7:17: “And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” And Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority” (John 7:15-17).

Again in chapter 9 Jesus put the blame for the Pharisees spiritual blindness back on their own shoulders. “And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains” (John 9:39-41).

Again, their inability to “see” and thus be saved was due to their unwillingness to humble themselves, not to God having eternally decreed their spiritual blindness.

One last passage from John 10, that great chapter on the Shepherd giving eternal life to His sheep: “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” (John 10:37-38).

Contrary to the view of my apologist friend, Jesus was clearly seeking to persuade men to believe in Him, which leads to the logical and obvious conclusion that He wanted to save people who, in the end, would not be saved because they were not willing.

After having supposedly proved his point from verses 25 and 26 he went on to give his take on verse 27 where Jesus says, “no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” His argument suggests that there are some sinners to whom Jesus does not reveal the Father, rather, Jesus chooses to reveal Him only to the elect. This is not what the passage is saying or teaching. In fact, the passage never says that Jesus only wants to reveal the Father to some sinners. Rather than Jesus taking delight in hiding the Father from sinners, a better approach sees Jesus seeking their salvific good when in this very context he invites His listeners to “come unto Me” and “take My yoke upon you” (vv. 28-29). That is to say, a balanced perspective of Scripture understands the passage in the sense that Jesus only reveals himself personally to the willing among sinners. This is what Jesus meant in John 7:17 when he says “If anyone wills (chooses) to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God. This in no way removes God’s choice to reveal Himself to sinners since man is dependent upon the sovereign act of God to initiate a revelation of Himself. That is, we would have no revelation of the Father unless Christ first chooses to reveal Him. Therefore, verse 27 would be more appropriately speaking of the sovereign act of God to reveal Himself and not a statement about hiding himself from sinners apart from the sinners’ own willful disobedience and refusal to receive Christ’s revelation.

I have no doubt that this apologist will have some spin on all the verses to which I’ve just referred. And in seeking to spin them in favor of his position, he will only prove to be guilty of the very thing he is accusing me and all those others who disagree with his theological views of, namely, refusing to allow all of Scriptures to speak.

His next question was basically this: did Jesus want to save the poor Amorites but found Himself in conflict with His Father who ordered Joshua to destroy them?

Obviously, this is a ridiculous question but the point that this apologist was driving at is that God didn’t want to save the Canaanites; He wanted to eternally damn them, and that Jesus was, of course, in harmony with God and thus the heart of Jesus was actually to damn not to save.

The problem in this view lies in a false assumption and the confused notion that the Canaanites all went off into an eternal state of punishment. God ordered Joshua to destroy them but the Scriptures say nothing about the state of their souls eternally. To assume God’s destruction of persons equates eternal perdition is shortsighted (cf. Lev 10:1-3 Nadab and Abihu, Acts 5:1-10 Ananias and Sapphira) and places words in God’s mouth that are simply not there. Therefore, to assume that they all, children included, perished eternally is to see God in a light that I don’t think He revealed himself in, in the Scriptures. This is a misrepresentation of God that is so often presented by Calvinism. Didn’t God express concern for the inhabitants of Nineveh (surely as wicked as the Amorites) who did not know their right hand from their left? Actually, Jonah acted a lot like some of our Calvinist friends who are seemingly upset that we would suggest God’s heart toward all sinners is one of mercy and compassion, and His desire is that they would turn from sin and receive His salvation.

The next challenge was to explain, in light of my claim that the heart of Jesus is to save all people, why in John 17, when Jesus was praying, did He specifically say that He wasn’t praying for the world? “I pray for them [His followers]. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me …” (John 17:9). How anyone could draw from that statement that Jesus did not want to save the whole world is a mystery to me. He was simply stating that His focus in prayer was for those who had believed in Him. He didn’t say, I’m not praying for the world because I don’t want to save the world, or, I’m not praying for the world because they are not part of the elect, and My Father and I have decreed from eternity past their condemnation for good and wise reasons known only to ourselves. He simply noted that His prayer was specifically for those who had received Him. Besides, Jesus didn’t come to pray for the world but to die for the world! Yet in fact, Christ did pray for sinners on other occasions (Lk 23:34, “Father, forgive them [his crucifiers] for they know not what they do”). In addition, Jesus wanted his followers to pray the Lord send more laborers into the harvest (Lk 10:2) though He knew not all would be saved. Even if it could be proven that Scripture does not record Christ praying for the non-elect, it does not mean He did not love sinners nor die for them. A limited view of Christ’s love and atonement for all sinners does not fit well with Paul’s statements as well. Paul’s mission and passion and prayer was for God to save Israel (Rom 10:1) yet he knew only the “remnant” would be saved (Rom 11:1-5).

Finally, I was accused of misquoting and misinterpreting Matthew 23:37:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”

I will admit that I might have paraphrased it and so perhaps that is why I’m being accused of misquoting it.

As far as misinterpreting it, I didn’t do that. It says what it says no matter how hard some Calvinists try to spin it. What does it say? It says the reason the inhabitants of Jerusalem were not saved is because they were unwilling to come to Christ, since the text plainly states that Jesus “wanted” and “longed” for Jerusalem to be gathered together. It says nothing more or nothing less than that. Any interpretation that denies that the passage teaches (albeit indirectly) that man’s will plays a role in his unmerited receiving of salvation is misinterpreting the passage.

One other thought comes to mind in regard to the heart of Jesus in relation to Jerusalem. Luke 19:41 tells us that Jesus “wept” over the city. Now I would interpret the weeping to be a sign of the heart brokenness of Jesus over the coming destruction of Jerusalem and I think most people would understand it that way. But if you follow the logic of the hard Calvinistic view, rather than Jesus weeping over Jerusalem he should have been rejoicing over its coming destruction. After all, wasn’t the sinful lost state, and eternal damnation of the majority of the population of Israel decreed by God from all eternity for good and wise purposes known only to himself? Why is Jesus weeping if he in the counsels of eternity along with the Father and the Spirit had already determined the eternal destiny of the non-elect? Did Jesus get a little sentimental and momentarily break ranks with his Father? Is he only pretending to be sorrowful? According to the hard Calvinism espoused by this apologist, there can be no room in the heart of Jesus for weeping over lost damned sinners, because they are damned by his eternal decree for his eternal glory and not loved in a salvific way by God. This is a confused, distorted and unbiblical view of God. It is not the person who believes that “God desires all men to be saved” that is unbiblical, but the person who rejects that “God desires all men to be saved” that is unbiblical! If God does not desire all sinners to be saved, He cannot be all-loving, at least in a salvific way, since He does not love all sinners enough to save them even though He could if He wanted to. It seems the hard Calvinist must now choose whether they want to maintain God’s all-loving nature, or their current position on God’s relationship to sinners and limited atonement. The Calvinist position on God’s love to some sinners appears to be contrary to Christ’s clear teaching that we should follow God’s example of perfect love as entailing the love of sinners (Mt 5:43-45). Besides, if Christ loves some sinners, why is it not possible to love all sinners equally? To reply that God does love all sinners equally but does not save all sinners implies God does not love all sinners in an equally salvific way, which is not really “equal” divine love. The best explanation of why only some are saved while God loves all equally in a salvific way is to understand that sinners are not willing to receive the free gift of salvation. In this sense then God can remain all-loving, and sinners are responsible for their own responses to the conviction of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Unfortunately, the phrase “for good and wise purposes known only to himself” that I’ve employed on a couple of occasions is the Calvinistic panacea, the magic formula that takes every extreme Calvinistic absurdity and makes it one of the glorious mysteries of God’s sovereignty.

If anyone is guilty of syncretism I would have to say that it is the Calvinists who seek to force the Scriptures into their 5-point system and in the process ignore, disregard or alter the plain and obvious meaning of the text.

Now, I do want to retract something I originally said, because I generalized and I don’t want to do that. I said something like, Calvinists miss or don’t really understand the heart of Jesus. I should have said, some Calvinists.

Having said all I’ve said, I am not an anti-Calvinist per se if we are talking about Calvinists’ like Henry, Whitefield, Spurgeon, Machen, Lloyd-Jones, Packer, Carson, Keller, Grudem, and others like them who, I believe, held or hold a more balanced position, and haven’t let their theological views divide and polarize the body of Christ. The problem to me is the extreme position taken by some Calvinist, my accuser being one of them. I think Lloyd-Jones understood this issue and therefore made it a point to refer to himself as a Biblical Calvinist. He let the Bible interpret Calvinism rather than Calvinism interpret the Bible. May I suggest my reformed friend seek to be more like Lloyd-Jones and less like John Gerstner.

BB

P.S. To the Heart of Jesus
It was brought to my attention by someone who read the previous post that I had said that my accuser referred to me as being a “syncretist,” when in fact he accused me of being a “synergist,” which I think was actually the case. So, what is a “synergist”? In this context, it would be a person who believes that salvation is a cooperative effort between God and man, i.e., God provides salvation, but man must exercise his will in order to receive that salvation. The opposite of a synergist would be a monergist, or one who believes that salvation is dependent on God alone, i.e., God decrees, God elects, God regenerates, God imparts faith, man is saved. Well, given those two positions, I would have to say that I hold to the former rather than the latter position. But I would disagree with the Calvinists’ accusation that in holding to that view, I am denying that salvation is entirely of the Lord.

I don’t deny that at all. I thoroughly believe that the decision to save men from sin and subsequent damnation originated in God Himself without any consideration of any other factor, meaning, God did not base His decision to save because He knew that there would be some who would respond to His offer of salvation. This position would have man being the impetus behind salvation, and we know from Paul’s statement in Romans 9:16 that the impetus of salvation is not man but God alone. “It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” So when it comes to the possibility of salvation, the fact that there is an alternative to damnation, God alone is responsible for that possibility. But when it comes to whether or not I benefit from that offer of salvation or perish eternally, I make the choice.

Things I wish I had said to the dude sitting next to my table at the Mexican restaurant two nights ago...but didn't.

2010-02-24T14:07:00.000-08:00

So, the Suttonfam tried out a new Mexican place the other night...the kind with authentic hand carved benches and a waiter that speaks perfect spanish. We sat down, got our chips and salsa and began to eat when I heard the phrase "I can't help it if I got word's of knowledge for all these people in the church", coming from the table next door. Needless to say my ears perked up and then my head popped up to see the man with the spiritual insight sitting one table over.

The guy was sitting behind Lynn and Grace and I had a perfect view between them both, so I just kept listening. Actually, I had no choice but to listen considering how loud he was talking...picture in your mind a smaller version of Larry the cable guy. You know, Towmater! I was legitimately intrigued by the theological implications of His conversation. What kind of church does he go to, I wondered. Is he from a charismatic church, a pentecostal church, a Calvary Chapel? What did this man think that a word of knowledge is? Then, as He discussed his strong need to exercise his particular gift of the Spirit in His church, He began to take a u-turn. His conversation shifted gears from his personal ministry to the pastors shortcomings. He began to tell his friend how un-spiritual the pastor was and alleged that the pastor only cared about his "freakin" self and was full of (starts with an s). Yeah, this man actually used that word, not once but twice, to describe his pastors lack of spiritual maturity...and my kids heard it.

Now, that's spiritual!!!

Well, if any of you know me at all...you can imagine how badly I wanted to push my enchiladas to the side and have a seat at my neighbors table. I wanted to give him a word of knowledge, really bad. There was something inside me that wanted to defend His pastor (even though I do not know him from Adam) from the drubbing that he was taking at El Mexicano. I was so close!!!It was then that I looked at my kids and thought...the last thing they need tonight is to see their dad arguing with Larry the cable guy. So, I put my head down and said...nothing. And that was hard.

Why was it hard?
Because even though I may not know this particular mans pastor, I do know a lot of the men who serve in Snohomish County. I have met Nate at New Life, I have had lunch with Brian from First Baptist, I have had coffee with Wes at Bethel and have fellowshipped with at least a dozen more. I have sat down and prayed with pastors in town who are Calvinist and pastors who are Arminian. There is no such thing as a perfect pastor (just look at me!)but I can say that every single one of the evangelical pastors that I have met here are men who love Jesus. All the men I have met love the sheep and they serve the sheep. We at Calvary Everett pray for many of these men by name every week. We want to see them blessed, not cursed! Are there some bad ones out there? Sure, but I haven't met them.

Obviously my nacho eating brother in Christ thinks that His pastor is one of the "freakin" bad ones...but there is something in me that just doesn't believe that it is true...what did this pastor do to deserve a public grilling in a Mexican restaurant that would have made a carne asada jealous? Maybe his great sin was that he upset the guy in His church who was giving the four letter words of knowledge...That is what I wish I would have said to the dude sitting next to my table at the mexican restaurant two nights ago...but didn't.

How to know you are under spiritual attack and what to do about it.

2010-02-23T19:21:00.000-08:00

I know that I have been away...or barely here the last two months. Calvary Everett is going through a busy spurt and I have been focused on just about anything other than social networking or blogging. That's good isn't it?

For now though...a few other quick thoughts about Spiritual warfare.
1. If you're getting beat up in the battle against the devil...wakeup and and get prayed for!
2. If you're dealing with crazy temptation, vain imaginations, doubt and fear...you're most likely experiencing spiritual warfare.
3. If you are feeling hopeless and in despair over issues in your life, go to point four.
4. Read the end of first Peter.
5. Men, you need to stop trying to deal with your spiritual battles on your own. Get accountable.
6. Also, read the end of Ephesians.
7. Have faith in Jesus and battle the enemy like He did. Use the sword of the Spirit! It is written!!!
8. If you have stepped out in faith in a new ministry...then get your armor on! The Enemy wants to rob you of peace!
9. Remember: The battle belongs to the Lord. Be strong in the Lord and the power of HIS might.
10. Lastly, spiritual warfare is an indication that God is using you. Rejoice!

CE Philosophy of ministry...

2010-02-02T13:26:00.000-08:00

Every church has core beliefs in the Bible and a unique philosophy of ministry. Here are some of Calvary Everett's...
1. We believe in the inerrancy of Scripture...Therefore we teach it like we believe it.
2. We believe that Jesus is everything to us, our Savior and our King...Therefore we taught John as our first book at CE.
3. We believe that God's grace is revolutionary...Therefore Romans was the second book we taught.
4. We believe in God's sovereignty and man's free will...Therefore we attempt to keep a theological balance.
5. We believe that musical worship was created by God...Therefore we place a priority on passionate, joyful praise to Jesus.
6. We believe that love is proof of being born again...Therefore we encourage people to abide in the love of Christ.
7. We believe that Jesus was our greatest example of selfless servanthood...Therefore we encourage people to be like Him.
8. We believe in the Almighty power of the Holy Spirit...Therefore we are open to the leading and anointing of the Holy Spirit.
9. We believe that Pastors should not be hirelings...Therefore a pastor is responsible for doing what Jesus tells Him to do.
10. We believe that Church government includes elders and deacons...Therefore we test, develop and appoint male leadership.
11. We believe that people should give as led by Jesus...Therefore we do not ask for money and we are accountable for its use.
12. We believe that His house is a house of prayer...Therefore we seek God's will and pray in faith that Gods will be done..

Here are the twelve corresponding alternatives!
1. We throw out entire portions of Scripture because some theology scholar at Princeton tells us that Jesus could not have been born of a virgin. After all, if he has a PHD he must be right!
2. We believe that all faiths are equal and that Oprah is enlightened when she says that Jesus can not possibly be the only way...
3. We believe in man's works and not God's grace for salvation, rendering Christianity unique-less and making us like every other religion on earth.
4. We stop praying because God is a divine "Christof" and we are all on the Truman show...or to the other extreme we believe that the Alpha and Omega is just making educated guesses.
5. We all start wearing black and singing like we are in a funeral procession for Jesus Himself.
6. We become a hard hearted, self righteous bunch of religious snobs.
7. Our favorite hymn is "It's all about me, Jesus"...
8. We actually start teaching people that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today...now that we've had greater success than the first century church, we just don't need them anymore.
9. The pastor is a desperate and defeated human punching bag...who is always looking for the newest fad to grow the church, so that he can keep his job.
10. We concur that the Apostle Paul was an ignorant male chauvinist who ministered in a less enlightened time.
11. We manipulate people for money because the pastor needs some new hair.
12. We stop praying and write a check.

Big Old Jet Airliner!!!

2010-01-26T14:14:00.000-08:00

Church plants are like airplanes...
A year ago we were in a "taxi down the runway" phase...We were waiting to take off as we rolled down the tarmac. I remember that last January was an absolute venture of faith for me and our new little church...I wondered if we could pick up enough speed to get in the air! All within two weeks we had to deal with signing a complicated lease, cleaning out 5000 square feet of church space, spending thousands of dollars, kick starting a new Sunday School, incorporating our non profit status and setting up sound and audio visual, etc. etc....all during intermittent snow storms! What a season that was and looking back at it, by God's grace, we saw the plane achieve liftoff...

Now it is one year later and the church has grown not only numerically but in every possible way! We have started new ministries, we have added one communion tray, 140 donated chairs, we have three times the amount of people serving, 2000 more square feet of office space, 2 new 60 cup coffee makers, one more Sunday School room and we have acquired two more worship teams. God has moved in our midst! It is His church and His work and we praise Him!

If we achieved flight a year ago, I would say that this season of our church life could be called "fasten your seat belts"...We are moving into a new stage and we are having to adapt. People are checking in their bag's (we never charge for extra baggage, we all have some) and asking for some peanuts. One thing is for sure, as a church grows and as the Lord blesses, it experiences turbulence on many different levels. How do you deal with turbulence?

Prayer. We have to pray. Let me ask those of you that have flown a few times a question...What do you do the moment that your flight gets hit with turbulence? You always pray! Turbulence is great for your prayer life! It is the same with the church! Even though Calvary Everett is not dealing with out of the ordinary turbulence, we always have spiritual opportunities to fasten the seat belt and pray. God brings turbulence to keep us dependent upon Him and then He takes us to new heights. Let me take this opportunity to plug our Wednesday night prayer meeting at 7PM. It is prayer at 30,000 feet!!!

Another thing you do is prayerfully prepare. Prepare for outreach, prepare for greater discipleship and prepare for better administration. As a ministry develops and matures, the infrastructure has to be put in place to handle development. We need to lay the groundwork and make Spirit lead choices. A 767 can hold a church, a Cessna can only hold a family of six. How we pray and how we prepare can make all the difference in regards to the plane we are flying in and how far it can travel.

Why do I have this strong compulsion right now to sing "I'm leaving on a jet plane"??? I love airplane metaphors!

What am I getting at? This Sunday at CE we are having our first members meeting (directly following our AM service) and I want to encourage you to attend. We are going to discuss the 2009 financial statement, appoint two deacons and discuss the possibility of taking some steps of faith as a body. The meeting will be no longer than one half hour (12:00 to 12:30), so we hope that all those who consider Calvary Everett to be their home church to come!!! My hope is that as we discuss what God is doing we will feel compelled to pray for our church and prepare for whatever God has in store...See you Sunday!

Week in review!!!

2010-01-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

Fun, crazy, busy kind of new year at CE! Here is a rundown of the last 4 days at CE!
Sunday- one of the greatest new years services ever at CE even though we have only had two so far! We had a new Sunday school layout for the kids, with a new preschool room and a new kids worship room...progress in the new year is a huge blessing from the Lord! We also had our largest turnout at CE in a Sunday morning service, what a way to start the year! Thankyou to all who served!
Monday- we bought new carpet for the new CE annex and office space (across the street from Trinity Lutheran College) and had it installed by 1:30 PM. Thanks to Dave, Clay, Mickey and Frank for being such servants! The new Annex is looking good and it is already being put to good use!
Tuesday AM- At Walmart by 8AM with a list of stuff to buy in preparation for the ladies Bible Study at 10AM...If you need to know what aisle the disinfectant wipes are on just ask me! It was worth the effort though because the ladies had 24 in attendance at the study! Great time of fellowship from what I hear!
Tuesday PM- Iron sharpens Iron was kicked off on in high gear later on Tuesday night, with 20 men attending! What a great group of men we have at CE! One of the best attributes of our mens ministry is how transparent the men are with what they need prayer for...it has been a highlight of my ministry here so far to get to know these guys. Over the next few months we are reading through many of the Pauline epistles in a hope to help jumpstart a year of devotion to our Lord. Hey guys, don't forget to read 1 Corinthians in the next two weeks!
Wednesday- Great prayer meeting with the Gregersons in our new annex! We need some more prayer warriors to join our prayer team on Wednesday nights so come on out! So much is going on at CE, so many people need prayer!

The week is only half over!!! Communion and Romans 15 are coming up on Sunday...are you excited yet to see what God will do?

Listen to Brit part 2!

2010-01-05T07:36:00.000-08:00

Listen to Brit Hume...

2010-01-03T15:04:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!!

2009-12-31T08:53:00.000-08:00

A great Scripture for the New Year! May 2010 be a year when you are revived, restored and renewed by the Lord.

Joel 2:12-14, 25-26 and 28-29

12 “ Now, therefore,” says the LORD,
“ Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
13 So rend your heart, and not your garments;
Return to the LORD your God,
For He is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm.
14 Who knows if He will turn and relent,
And leave a blessing behind Him—

25 “ So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,
The crawling locust,
The consuming locust,
And the chewing locust,[e]
My great army which I sent among you.
26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
And praise the name of the LORD your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
And My people shall never be put to shame.

28 “ And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.
29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

Christmas Party this Sunday night!!!

2009-12-17T09:50:00.000-08:00

This Sunday night at 6pm is our church Christmas party at CE!
Wear your favorite Christmas sweater!!!
CE will provide the spiral cut ham, rolls, eggnog, coffee etc....
Bring a dessert, cookies or an appetizer to share. Or if you have run out of ideas on what to bring then feel free to bring pigs in a blanket! As always we ask that you refrain from bringing green jello...Thankyou!
You won't want to miss it!!! See you there!

Sunday Late edition

2009-12-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

Banner day at Calvary Everett.
-Communion at CE is truly turning into an Upper Room service.
-Watching people worship Jesus and praying for one another during communion never gets old!
-Experiencing what the Lord is doing in our communion services has been one of the greatest blessings so far in my 16 years of ministry...I am humbled by God's grace to our fellowship.
-Sunday night, on the other hand, was a little surreal in a wonderful way.
-The 3 Wisemen came to CE and put on an encore performance!
-We started with 125 chairs in the chapel but 30 minutes before the concert we were already filling up!
-As I stood by I began to watch men walk into the back to grab more chairs and more chairs and more chairs...what a great sight. Thanks guys!
-By the end of the night we counted over 200 people crammed into the fifth floor chapel at CE...all in all it was a fire hazard but we had a great evening!
-Thanks to all the ushers, elevator ministers, hospitality team members, sound mixers, food bringers and everyone else for lending a hand and serving Jesus.

Three Wisemen this Sunday!!!

2009-12-08T16:52:00.000-08:00

This Sunday night at CE at 6PM!!! Bring a buddy and let's pack out the place! Free Admission for the entire family.

Christmas schedule changes!!!

2009-12-02T16:50:00.000-08:00

Hey, last night we had 20 guys at Iron sharpens Iron!!! Awesome!

I wanted to remind you of our schedule changes for the Christmas season at CE...Here goes!

December 12th- No House to House Fellowships this month due to the concert on the 13th.

December 13th- The 3 Wisemen are coming!!! 6 PM at Calvary Everett, free admission for the entire family! Invite a friend, neighbor, stranger...

December 20th- CE Christmas party at 6PM!!! Celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We will have spiral cut ham, cookies, desserts and Christmas carols. We invite you to wear your favorite Christmas sweater (we especially like the really cool ones with embossed snowflakes) and I have heard that we may even have some Christmas karaoke.

Testimonies of Thankfulness!!!

2009-11-30T14:44:00.000-08:00

I am really into exhorting the body of Christ to be what God has called them to be. Infact it is a passion of mine to see people that the world has given up on being used for the Kingdom of God. Every Christian in a pew is called. Every Christian has a ministry, has a story, has a testimony, has a gifting and every Christian has fresh power every day from God to do what He has called them to do. I am convinced that God wants to greatly bless each person at CE and use them to be a blessing to many also.

Having said that, this last Sunday I was out of town for Thanksgiving but the pulpit wasn't empty! This last weekend was entitled "Testimonies of Thankfulness" and I invited 5 different people who attend CE to share their inspiring life stories. All five of these "testifiers" (Bernie, Kandi, Jason, Rick and Bob) have one thing in common, they are currently serving at Calvary Everett or they have been involved heavily in mercy ministries of some sort. From what I heard, the Lord moved powerfully on Sunday through their stories of hope!

In the evening service we invited Brad and Ashlyn Morin to come share about a ministry that is very important to them...The Morin's attend Calvary Everett and they also speak at various churches throughout the year asking people to pray and support Far Reaching Ministries at www.farreachingministries.org. Brad and Ashlyn also lead worship in the evening service and I heard that it was awesome!

Why have all these different people share on a Sunday? Because God is at work! He is working every day through the body at Calvary Everett. People are stepping out in faith and taking risks for the Kingdom. They have seen God move in their lives and they desire to see other people say "God is able!!!". We need the word of God at Calvary Everett to equip people to be what God has called them to be...but we also need the testimonies of God's faithfulness to remind us that God has the power today to touch anyones heart, no matter how hopeless it may seem. Thanks to everyone who shared!

Iron Sharpens Iron This Tuesday!

2009-11-29T17:55:00.001-08:00

Iron Sharpens Iron is on for this Tuesday (December 1st) at CE at 7PM! Sorry about the confusion, I just thought it would be fun to re-schedule everything in the month of December and make things as confusing as possible! Pass the word on will you?

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2009-11-26T09:15:00.000-08:00

Anyone else raised with the Andy Williams Christmas album? Andy is my absolute Christmas favorite. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sunday and Schedule Change!

2009-11-24T09:30:00.000-08:00

Last week was an amazing week at CE...
-Tuesday night the men met together for Iron sharpens Iron...20 men, 4 small groups, great fellowship!
-Thursday night the women had a spa night at the Sutton house...30 women, 3 masseuses, 30 deserts, 30 gallons of earl grey!
-Sunday was a wonderful day of worship and communion...
-If you were at the AM service, I want to let you know that you are free to eat ham.
-If you were at the PM service then you got to hear Jason lead worship in his Hard Rock Cafe T-Shirt.
-What does Ham and Hard Rock have to do with anything? Check out our newly updated podcasts to find out!

Schedule Change!!!!!
-The Three Wisemen concert has been changed to December 13th!!! They double booked and had to switch dates.
-That means that the House to House fellowships for December 12th will be canceled for the month. They will resume again in January!
-We will still have a church Christmas party on December 20th though!
-Blessed are the flexible and blessed are you! Have a great Thansgiving!

I am getting in the Christmas Spirit!

2009-11-20T15:12:00.000-08:00

My favorite Christmas song sung by Martina McBride...

Sproul: Does God desire all to be saved?

2009-11-18T08:30:00.000-08:00

RC Sproul is a man that I respect (Mark Driscoll too) yet when I watch this video the content underlines serious differences of theology within the Body of Christ. The question asked of Mr. Sproul is "Does God desire all to be saved?" from 1 Timothy 2:3-4..."For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

After watching the video my first thought was, does He ever answer the question? He talks about God's grief (Driscoll's word) over sending people to hell but does he really answer the question regarding God's desire that all men be saved? Then another question comes to mind, "does God send people to hell by His sovereign decree or dignify man's choice to go to hell?". Lastly, if you do believe that God sends people to hell then can you really believe that God desires all to be saved? I don't want an angry debate (I love my Calvinist peeps) but I would like to hear your thoughts...

For what it's worth, here is the apostle Peter's take on the question..2 Peter 3:9 says "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."

Sunday Election...

2009-11-16T09:21:00.000-08:00

A few thoughts on a great Sunday at CE.
1. Yesterday we were packed out! It is exciting to see so many new faces and familiar faces coming every week to fellowship at CE!
2. The worship team was incredibly passionate. To be honest, they sounded like every song could be their final song on earth and it inspired me and many others to worship Jesus.
3. Had some dear people poke their heads back in the church on Sunday night...it is good to get hugs from friends you haven't seen in a while.
4. House to House fellowships rocked on Saturday night...I have heard some great stories already. Blessings to the host families who served Jesus and His body! Blessings to the Waagens for organizing all of this for us!
5. Sunday AM in Romans 9. Just the thought of teaching all of Romans 9 on a Sunday morning to a vibrant, excited congregation warms the heart of a church planting pastor!
6. When you teach verse by verse through the Bible, it really stretches you! You cannot dodge the topics you do not like and you must teach the full counsel of God, even if the passage is ultra weighty! It's a great calling!
7. Talking about being "called". Yesterday we spent the morning talking about calling or "election"...Isn't it amazing how wide the disparity is in the church on this one topic?
8. Having said that I am overwhelmed at the thought that I am the elect according to the foreknowledge of God, who wouldn't be?
9. Romans 9-11 is primarily about one topic, God has a plan for Israel (the church has not replaced Israel) but right now they have been set aside for a time...while God has elected another people for His purposes...the Gentiles.
10. Lastly, if you attend CE and you cannot afford to have a Thanksgiving dinner for your family this year...we want to provide a turkey (and all the trimmings) for your family. Just email me at calvaryeverett@gmail.com. Blessings!

Prayer Tonight @ 7PM!

2009-11-11T09:31:00.000-08:00

“The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history.” Andrew Murray

You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed." A.J. Gordon

"Prayer strikes the winning blow; service is simply picking up the pieces." S.D. Gordon

"One should never initiate anything that he cannot saturate with prayer." S.D. Gordon

"The most important thing a born again Christian can do is to pray." Chuck Smith

"Prayer does not change the purpose of God. But prayer does change the action of God." Chuck Smith

"Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers." Sidlow Baxter

"The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God's standing challenge, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!'" (J. Hudson Taylor)

"No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack." E.M. Bounds

"Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees." William Cowper

"If the church wants a better pastor, it only needs to pray for the one it has." William Cowper

"Prayer is the real work, Evangelism is just the mopping up." William Cowper

"He who has learned to pray has learned the greatest secret of a holy and happy life." William Law

"Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness." Martin Luther.

"There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God." Brother Lawrence

“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.” Samuel Chadwick

“I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.” Charles Spurgeon

Sunday thoughts...

2009-11-09T10:24:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a weekend!
- We had a wonderful communion service yesterday...The Lord is moving among His people!
- Exodus in the PM is really ramping up, last night was an amazing text...The Passover!
- The Hebrews were told to choose a lamb on the 10th of Nisan.
- They were told to inspect the lamb until the 14th of Nisan, when they would kill it.
- The lamb had to be perfect and without blemish!
- The blood from the lamb was placed on the lintel and doorposts of the home of each Hebrew family...
- If the blood of the lamb was on the doorpost, then the Angel would passover that home and the family would be safe.
- Jesus is our blameless Passover Lamb...1 Corinthians 5:7!
- Jesus came into Jerusalem (the triumphal entry) on the 10th of Nisan!
- Jesus was crucified on the Passover on the 14th of Nisan!
- Jesus was also buried on the 15th of Nisan, the feast of Unleavened bread!
- Jesus was resurrected on the 17th day of Nisan, the feast of first fruits!!!
- Don't you want to drop to your knees in awe of Jesus after reading this?
- Have a great week everyone!

Sunday on my mind...

2009-11-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

We were in Romans 8 this Sunday AM at CE...Here are a few thoughts...
- When I teach on the battlefield of the mind the enemy loves to take the battle to my mind! Wow.
- Romans 6 says that the old man is dead...So why does it seem like we hear it's tyrannical "voice" from beyond the grave?
- John Nash, the Nobel winner in Mathematics overcame his paranoid schizophrenia by choosing not to listen to the "voices".
- The flesh and the devil have no real control over us anymore...but they have a loud "voice" and they love to lie and deceive!
- We have to overcome the "voices" of the flesh, the world and the enemy by choosing not to listen to them and obey them.
- How can we discern when the voices are deceptive and manipulative?
- Romans 12:2- "Be transformed by the renewing of your MIND!"...with the Word of God!!!
- Paul says that we have to "reckon" the old man dead...and you have to do that with the mind...
- Of course, Paul makes it clear that the Holy Spirit gives us the power to reckon! We cannot reckon in the power of the flesh.
- So, what does being a son of God, a joint heir with Jesus have to do with the battle field of the mind?
- Paul wants us to think and behave like a child of God! We have blessings, benefits and privileges as an heir.
- When we understand sonship and the intimacy that comes with being a child of God...it changes everything! Abba Father!
- We are not condemned, all things work together for good for those that love God and nothing will separate us from His love!
- Take those thoughts into the battlefield!!!
- So much is at stake in the battle and the war...We cannot be ignorant in our mind of what the Father has done for us!
- Next week we will see that we are more than conquerors in Christ...
- If God is for us, who can be against us??? More thoughts for the battlefield of the mind next week!

Yugo's, legalism and liberty

2009-10-29T14:41:00.001-07:00

This last Sunday we discussed the believers relationship with the law as outlined in Romans 7...We also talked about legalism and living life by the letter as opposed to living in the newness of the Spirit. While ministering on the subject of legalism I made the comment that "I want Calvary Everett to be known for what it is for and not what it is against"...Let me explain.

Through my many years of ministry I cannot say that was always the case. I have spent way too many messages pontificating on matters of personal conscience as if I had the answer for people and not the Holy Spirit. No, I am not talking about matters of clear cut sin but matters of personal liberty. Let me give you an example. Once, I got up in the pulpit and railed against Christians who drive expensive cars and all the while people are starving in Africa. Or what about the time I disparaged the church down the street for having a Super Bowl party instead of teaching the "pure word of God"...What I said may have had an element of truth but in reality my religious machismo was a disguise for legalistic pride. Now, don't get me wrong, I have never been a true pharisee but my pronouncements were a way to make myself look better than those other "carnal Christians" who drove fancy cars to church super bowl parties.

Yet, what if the church down the street used the Superbowl as a way to meet many unchurched men and therefore was able to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them? See, the more that a church accumulates teaching and practices in the "Against" column (in the area of personal conscience) the less they can be "For" the newness of the Spirit. I mean, do I want to pastor a church with only inexpensive Yugo's in the parking lot? Is a Yugo owner more spiritual than an Infiniti owner? No, Yugo's are not necessarily more spiritual and they are a whole lot less safe for your family...Yugo's don't have airbags. Imagine if the Duggar family went to my church, they would have to drive in 5 separate Yugo's! According to my teaching our church bumper sticker could have read...
"I GO to the YU-GO church and that makes me slower but holier than you".

A great example of the issue at hand is Calvary Chapel...We started as a movement that was "For" the teaching of the Word and the preaching of the gospel through relevant means. Of course the relevant means were considered to be very worldly (even scandalous) to many back in the early 70's. Chuck Smith allowed strangely dressed hippies to sing love songs to Jesus in the church, He even allowed drum solos. Now tell me, how spiritual is a 6 minute drum solo by a freaky looking hippy? At Calvary drum solos were very spiritual and very fruitful because the gospel was preached and the yoke of legalistic bondage was broken for a generation of new believers. Chuck Smith was clearly "For" a new work of God even though many pastors and churches were "Against" it initially for many of the same reasons I attacked Super Bowl parties.

That brings me back to Romans 7, the law and legalism. Clearly, there are matters within a church that we must draw a line on. We are not free to come into a church and spread heresy or engage ourselves in unchecked destructive sin. On the other hand we are not called to legislate matters of personal conscience within a church. Your convictions may not be mine and frankly you don't want me to try to convince you all day long why you must drive a Yugo. See, legalism elevates matters of personal conscience to a place of Biblical importance and it has a way of using fear to manipulate others into spiritual bondage. Is that what Christ intended? Or did Jesus intend something alot more free?

So, let me ask you where do we draw the line when it comes to this "scandalous freedom" that we possess in Christ? How free can we be? When does freedom turn back into bondage? How can liberty violate the law of love? Does God require perfect theological congruency in the church? I would love to hear your feedback. One more thing, to all those who drive a Yugo today because of my past teachings...I want to let you know that I am sorry and it is OK now to drive a nicer car. Get a Kia.

Sunday!

2009-10-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

Had a great Sunday at CE! Here are a few of the highlights...
-Worship team was a blessing as usual on Sunday...on fire actually!
-Moving our Upper room services to Sunday AM has had a wonderful effect on our church!
-In the morning we spoke about how Christians are dead to the law!
-Does that make the law sinful or bad? Certainly not.
-Yet, living a law centered life cannot produce holiness and obedience in a Christian, infact all it can produce is defeat!
-Romans 7 says that we are married to Jesus and holiness is now a by-product of love!!!
-I want CE to be a place that is known for what it is FOR (The Word of God, the Holy Spirit, love etc.) and not for what it is AGAINST...We are not going to focus on minor differences of theology and practice between CE and other churches.
-What is the difference between a minor difference and a major difference in theology and practice? Stay tuned for a blog entry on that topic later this week.
-60 people are already signed up for the House to House fellowship on November 14th!
-We had acapella worship in the PM, first time at CE!!! It was a sweet night!
-The plagues are the topic of discussion on Sunday night...the thought of those coming again upon the whole earth is not science fiction but reality.
-On that fun note, have a great week and remember that the fields are white.

Transform 2010

2009-10-16T10:44:00.001-07:00

Calvary Everett's first foray into international missions will be a short term missions trip to Oradea, Romania from April 2-11, 2010. We will be taking a team of servants to help facilitate the Transform 2010 Conference for Romanian missionaries, pastors, aid workers and ministers. Over the next 6 months we plan on having a fundraiser or two to help offset the costs for all those who are currently serving in Romania. So, to help facilitate prayer, communication and support we have created a Transform 2010 blog where you can get some regular updates. Check it out and start to pray!!!

Sunday Communion!

2009-10-13T10:34:00.000-07:00

We have started serving communion in the morning services at Calvary Everett and it is blessing so many...When we serve communion we begin the service with 15 minutes of worship and then I go right into the teaching and then at the end of the message we have 30 minutes of worship. All in all, it is a great time in the Lord's presence. Let me share with you why the Lord is leading us to serve communion more often at CE in the mornings...
-I have noticed that we have not had the opportunities in the morning to pray for each other like we have had in the evening.
-The morning services were lacking "body life", where people could really pray for each other and minister to one another.
-Because of the layout of our chapel, it is hard to pray with people after the service (due to noise after the service etc.)...Yet with 25 minutes of worship at the end of the message I can pray with many in a quiet setting.
-We have a greater opportunity to anoint the sick with oil.
-I can share the good news and give people an immediate opportunity to receive Christ during communion.
-With communion at the end of the service we can call people to return to the Lord if that is what they need to do.
-We can have a ladies prayer team in the back of the chapel to pray with other women.
-Communion literally means community and union with Jesus and each other...How is that not always good?
-Communion at the end of the morning service allows people to respond to the message much more thoroughly.
-We believe that communion helps us keep closer accounts in our relationship and fellowship with Jesus and each other.
-Lastly it keeps us focused on Jesus and His horrific death on the cross for our sin. His shed blood and broken body. Jesus is our life and without His sacrifice and love for us where would we be?

So let me ask you...What is the Lord doing in your life during communion at CE? I would love to hear.

PK Songs

2009-10-08T11:51:00.000-07:00

I told you a week or two ago that one of my hobbies is to write songs...So I thought I would post a few that I have written and produced through the years. This one is called Almighty, Worthy, Eternal and it is about 8-9 years old now...It is sounding pretty dated! I like this song for a few reasons...One, my son called it Almighty Murphy for many years because he couldn't pronounce "Worthy". Two, we created a little choir at the end of the song (listen for it!) with just 4 of us singing and quad tracking voices. It turned out pretty good. Third, it was featured on the 25 songs of Calvary Chapel album a few years ago, which was really cool.
Hope you enjoy my first Irish worship song...Almighty Murphy...just click the picture below to play!

Romania Prayer Tonight!

2009-10-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight at Calvary Everett we are having a prayer meeting for Romania with our special guests the Quarles family. The Quarles minister in Ploieste, Romania and have been there for many years planting churches...So come on out tonight at 7PM and hear their story! We will be praying also for our Romania Outreach to Oradea in April 2010!

Sunday Praise Report

2009-10-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

Great day on Sunday!
-5 people in my office praying at 9:30am!
-Travis did a great job leading worship in the PM!
-I am excited about the new street team ministry starting on October 24th!
-Great worship in the AM with Todd and the band.
-Hannah rocked the House to House fellowship ministry, great job!
-I have talked to 2 people who are interested in helping lead kids worship in the AM!
-Ran out of bulletins for the first time since January 11th!
-The donuts and coffee were depleted in record time this last week!
-Nick Greenlee is doing a new powerpoint presentation for announcements...coming soon!
-Iron sharpens Iron starts tonight at 7pm!!!!!!
-I have been married to the same Godly and gorgeous woman today for 18 short years!
-Chris Landon our phenom greeter is getting married this Saturday!
-Rick Depriests bladder cancer test came back negative!!!
-Our first House to House fellowship is this Saturday! Over 30 families signed up to host or attend. WOW.
-Had a number of first time visitors this last week!
-Romans 4 and Exodus 4 next Sunday!!!

Why last Sunday was amazing...

2009-10-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

No church should ever take things for granted that God is doing in their midst. We should never have a ho-hum attitude about how God is moving should we? I have attended churches where the Holy Spirit seems to have departed for various reasons...haven't we all?

If you are at a church though where new people are coming and the church is growing then enjoy the company! If the worship team is prepared and skilled and they are on fire every week, then sing with all your might. If the Bible is being taught, then apply it to your life. If the Gospel is being preached then bring a friend! If pastors or prayer teams are willing to pray with you after the service then get prayed for. If your church has opportunities to fellowship then go make a few friends. If Communion is being served than confess sin and accept the lavish mercy that God has for you...

Last Sunday at Calvary Everett was amazing.
I met some new people who joined the church.
I heard the congregation singing (loud) with passion.
We had many people come and ask for prayer during communion.
Many came with their Bibles ready to hear from God.
The fellowship went on for an hour or so after the service.
The Lord ministered to us in a powerful way.
Joy was in the room.
Marriages were restored at the communion table.
Jesus healed people.
People sang HALLELUJAH!!!
God is doing something sweet at CE, lets enjoy every minute of it and take none of it for granted.
God is good.

Olivia Sutton

2009-09-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

8 years ago today Olivia passed from this earth to be present with the Lord. We miss her and love her deeply.
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.

Paul vs. Christopher

2009-09-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

Romans 3 This Sunday!!! So who is right? Paul or Hitchens?
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

Songwriting...

2009-09-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

I get asked what I like to do as a hobby and when I reply that I like to write songs...people are a little shocked! I don't blame them, I would be shocked too. Years ago (at University of Oregon) I actually cut my teeth in ministry by being the lead singer in a band called the Brethren. We sang all over the Northwest and we were actually pretty good. Am I re-living my glory days or what???
Anyways...I thought I would post some songs I have written and produced for other singers on the blog over the next few weeks...This one is called "Fly" and I wrote it for a group in Lynden called Glo...Glo had amazing three part harmonies and I wrote the song to especially reflect that...it is a simple song based on the love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13...Just click the worshipsong.com link below and it will automatically play. Enjoy.

Vision Sunday...

2009-09-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was our one year anniversary at CE, can you believe it?
I took the opportunity last week to share some vision that the Lord had given me and others regarding what the second year will hold for those of us at CE...Regardless to say I am excited about anything that the Lord is leading us to do! Here are five ministries God is calling us into over the next 12 months...
1. Sunday AM Upper Room services. We at CE partake of communion twice a month on Sunday evenings during a service that we call the Upper Room. We wait upon the Lord in worship after the study for a half hour or so and have communion available with people standing nearby ready to pray for anyone who needs it. We also have oil to anoint the sick. Starting this weekend we are starting to phase communion into our morning services.
2. House to House Fellowships. This last summer we had 5 summer BBQ's which were very well attended and it showed me just how wise the early church was to make fellowship a priority! So, starting on October 10th we are starting rotating dinner fellowships throughout Snohomish County. BTW- After only one week we have had 17 families signup to attend or host a fellowship...wow.
3. Iron Sharpens Iron. Men's ministry begins at 7PM October 6th...Every other Tuesday night we will be meeting to study, pray and have small groups.
4. Romania 2010. Our first short term mission will be to Oradea, Romania in April 2010! Calvary Everett will be taking a team to the Romanian Ministry conference to help facilitate, organize and minister in any way needed. If you would like to come then an initial interest signup will be on the info table this Sunday.
5. Engage 2010. This is what I am calling (what I hope to be) our first major outreach to the community. I am calling it "Engage 2010" because our hope is to engage the culture with the Gospel in a way that will be relevant and effective. My hope is to bring in well known athiests to debate well known Christians in a civil manner. Please pray for this, that we will be lead by the Spirit on all these plans.

So, that's it. Five major things to pray about...Talking about prayer, we have 3 more opportunities to pray this week at CE in our week of prayer. Tonight we will be at CE at 7pm as usual and then Thursday and Friday morning at 7AM. Hope to see you there!

Week of Prayer!

2009-09-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

To kick off our second year at CE we are having a week of prayer! We started last night during our Sunday night service and it was a huge blessing. We worshipped, read scriptures to each other, laid hands on those who were sick, broke into small prayer groups and then we worshipped some more. All in all it was a powerful night of seeking the Lord...one of the best nights I have ever had at CE.
This morning, we got back up at 7AM for prayer again at the church and I was actually pleasantly shocked by the large turnout for such an early time. We had 7 prayer warriors ready to intercede on behalf of the city and the church. This morning it was as if the Lord decided to bring the most amazing sunrise right up to the windows of the fifth floor where we meet...so we pulled up the chairs to catch the view and it was amazing. God is good and His mercies are new every morning!
All week, for the next four days we will be at church at 7AM for prayer so feel free to come out and join us before you go to work. If you can't make it then please pray through this partial list of requests for our city and our church. God is moving powerfully and He has great things in store for those who seek Him and cry out to Him in simple faith. Starting tomorrow I will be blogging about some of the new ministries we are launching in the next few months. Stay Tuned.
Children's Ministry- Godly Children, Godly teachers
YAC- Belchers, Revival among the youth
Worship Ministry- Anointing, Unity
Greeter/Ushers- Joy and helps
Hospitality- gift of helps
Pastor Ken and Lynn- Strong family, protection
Nick and Cherie Childers- Deacon
Revival for Everett and Snohomish County
Outreach to Romania in April- a good team, finances
Home fellowships- Hospitality and fellowship
Women's Ministry- healing, encouragement, friendship
Men's Ministry- Godly men, accountability
Internet ministry- podcasts, the gospel

Vision Sunday...This Sunday.

2009-09-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

At Calvary Everett we do our best to follow the model that the early church exemplified in Acts 2:42 "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers."
Later in Acts 2 it is mentioned that they praised God together and that they ate together from house to house...These simple priorities caused the church to grow. Why? Because people invariably couldn't shutup when their friends asked them what had happened in their lives.
So, at Calvary we follow the Acts 2 model.
-We teach the New testament on Sunday mornings verse by verse.
-We teach the Old Testament on Sunday nights verse by verse.
-We have prayer meetings twice a week to cry out to God for His will.
-We have communion twice a month.
-We fellowship together.
On a regular basis I come to the Lord and say "Lord, what would you have us do as a church that we are not doing"? In essence I am asking the Lord for His vision for our church...Proverbs 29:18 says "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he". I have to come to the Lord and ask Him if there is something that we could be doing better or more thoroughly. I don't want to start new ministries just to start them, I want the Lord to uniquely guide our church. To take this one step further, it is also the responsibility of everyone who attends a church to cry out to God for a fresh vision to serve. There is nothing more exciting than to have a passion from God to step out and take a venture of faith!
This weekend, I will be sharing about three ministries that the Lord is calling us to undertake at Calvary Everett for year two in the life of our church. I will lead one of these ministries and the other two will be facilitated primarily by servant ministers in the church. Needless to say, I am UBER-EXCITED about all three. One of the ministries will be a great encouragement for many people that minister overseas...the other two will be a blessing to the body of Christ at CE.
What are they? You have to come on Sunday morning and find out.
One more thing...What vision has God been giving you? Think about it. See you on Sunday!

CE a year of firsts...

2009-09-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

CE turns one year old on Sunday.
Looking back on the last year it is easy to forget how far the Lord has brought us in only 12 short months. The Lord has done so much in such a short time span. Starting a new church is a little like getting a plane off the ground...it takes alot of momentum that only the Lord can give. Once you are in the air though turbulence hits and you begin to wonder if the plane is going to stay in the air!!! Yet God allows turbulence to keep us trusting in Him and seeking Him. It is precisely when the warfare is ramped up and the giants in the land seem huge that I have to be reminded by the Lord that this is His church and His work! So for my benefit...let me be reminded today of the great works that the Lord has done.
August 1, 2009- First website launched 2 months before our first study.
September 21, 2008- First study at Downtown Dennis in Everett with 30 people...
December 14, 2008- First Outreach at CE with the 3 Wisemen!
December 2008- Anonymous donor meets me at Costco with $10,000 gift to help the church move to new facility.
January 2009- First Outreach spots begin on ESPN radio to the city of Everett.
January 11, 2009- First Sunday on the fifth floor at Trinity Lutheran...First Sunday School with three classes!
April 12, 2009- First Easter with over 100 adults in attendance!
May 2009- First YAC (Youth at Calvary) event at CE!
July 2009- CEBBQ09 summer barbecues at American Legion Park...
August 14, 2009- First Family Camp at Lake Riley!
August 16, 2009- First Baptism at CE!

God is good and He is worthy to be praised. Tomorrow, I will be blogging on the year ahead.

Sunday Servants.

2009-09-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

- We had a great morning on Sunday in the AM...Romans Chapter 2!
- Great worship band on Sunday, Sylvia knows how to play that rainmaker!
- Great worship band in the PM too...Have we ever had this many people lead worship at CE on a Sunday? I don't think so.
- We had over 20 children in the Sunday School this week! The Sunday School teachers are stepping into the gap.
- Trevor was in early getting the coffee setup for the church...considering that Trevor is 14, I would say he is fast tracking himself into ministry.
- 5 ladies in the family room with their kids on Sunday AM...a new record?
- YAC was on fire Sunday night at Brooklyn Pizza...
- Joel helped lead worship, then taught Sunday School and then lead YAC in the PM. Dude, you're my hero.
- We were missing our deacon Nick on Sunday...Do you ever really know how important a selfless servant is until they are gone? I don't think so.
- 5 people in my office at 9:30 AM praying...there were some serious prayers in that room and the Lord is really blessing that prayer meeting.
- Sunday PM is turning into dessert central. Two of our families own CC's Cafe in Everett and in the PM they bring boxes of bread pudding, bundt cakes, brownies, cookies, carrot cake...Unbelievable!
- Jim Turner ably stepped into Nick's shoes at the last minute...
- Lynn had 12 kids in the PM Sunday School...wow! I love my wife.
- and to all the other servants, blessings to you for serving Jesus.

Things I learned in Europe...

2009-09-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

I have had a couple of days to reflect about my trip to Europe since I have been home...Here are a few things that the Lord showed me on this last trip...
- I am not feeling a call back to live in Romania anytime in the near future...my friend Ed Hickey kept whispering in my ear on this trip "You're coming back someday"...that may be true but maybe when I am 60, not 40.
- Romania has completely changed (malls everywhere) and the days of being young newlyweds ministering in Cluj are from half my life ago. When I walk the streets of Cluj today, I yearn for the way things were but I may be being selfish.
- The churches in Eastern Europe are keeping their main thing the main thing. Being together as a church and fellowshipping, doing outreach, praying and sitting under God's Word. They don't seem to care so much about the appearance of the church...but about the function of the church.
- CE needs to be involved in missions and Romania has the door wide open to us saying, "Come".
- The food is better in Hungary than Romania...I'm just keeping it real folks.
- I wonder sometimes if Lynn and I had stayed in Cluj all these years what the church would look like today? Hmmm.
- This trip was fruitful...I hope that it laid some groundwork for years to come in regards to CE and our ability to encourage missionaries and pastors throughout Eastern Europe. Time will tell.

Oradea!

2009-09-01T12:51:00.000-07:00

We have made it to Oradea safely and have started the pastors conference in Romania! Thanks everyone for praying. This year there are about 40 people here with pastors from every church but one...
Tonight I spoke on the baptism with the Holy Spirit and we spent some time in prayer before and after the message. All in all it was a wonderful start to what I hope will be a great three days. Tomorrow I will be speaking on Joshua and how he was trained up as a leader of the people of Israel...I will be doing the first two morning sessions and then my friend Ed Hickey will be teaching the final two sessions. Please keep us in prayer! Here are a few requests.
1. Pray that the pastors and missionaries will be encouraged and built up.
2. Pray that each person at the conference will be baptized mightily in the Holy Spirit.
3. Pray for Ed and I as we teach.
4. Pray for all the men who are traveling with me, Ed, Mickey and Trevor. We need traveling mercies!
5. Pray for revival to come to Romania.
Thanks, I will let you know how things are going tomorrow...more to come!

Debrecen!

2009-08-29T08:28:00.001-07:00

We arrived in Debrecen, Hungary esterday at three PM safely, so thanks everyone for praying.
As soon as we arrived at the ministry house we were greeted by a bunch of college students on their way out to a nearby village for a gypsy outreach...which we promptly invited ourselves to, so by 5:30 we were on the road again. The church where the outreach was located was packed out with about 100 people listening to a live band...many testimonies were given and then pastor Bodi got up to preach...about midway through his message a drunk man in the front row got up and challenged him..."If God cares, then why dont I have a new car?"...Bodi did a good job of answering his questions and then the guy finally sat down.
After the message three gypsy ladies were baptized in a wading pool...it was the highlight of my trip so far to see each woman come out of the water and be embraced by what appeared to be one of the older, more mature ladies in the church...the joy on their faces was wonderful. I wish you could have been there with us.
Tomorrow I will be teaching at Calvary Debrecen, please pray for me and our group of men who are traveling with me...then it is on to Oradea, Romania in the afternoon. God bless and sorry for the typos, I am at a McDonalds using a public computer!!!

Budapest!

2009-08-26T06:31:00.000-07:00

We have arrived safely in Budapest and are dealing with the jetlag! Tonight we will be at Calvary Chapel Budapest, worshipping (worship is lead by my friend Mike Payne, happy Bday Mike!)with hundreds of Hungarians. Calvary Budapest is one of the largest Evangelical churches in all of Hungary...it has been growing so large that they now have 4 Sunday services and two Wednesday night services to accomodate the crowds! I absolutely love the church and love the friends that I have made there through the years. Calvary Budapest is pastored by my friend Phil Metzger and was planted by Greg Opean, two men that I hold in the highest regard. It is going to be a great night of worship and fellowship! Over the next few days I will try to get a post up on the blog and on my facebook page. Thanks for all the prayers and for all the notes, we really appreciate you!
Today was spent walking, we walked about 5 miles around the city...with regular espresso breaks! Someone wake me up! As a team we will be studying 1st Timothy together at night for some discipleship...I am looking forward to it!
Prayer requests: Pray for my personal revival in the Lord and His Word! Also the same for the other three brothers on the trip. Also for traveling mercies as well as an anointing of the Lord to teach and encourage all the pastors and missionaries at the Romanian conference. Thanks again, more to come!

"Looking" forward to Sunday!

2009-08-21T18:58:00.001-07:00

We had a great BBQ last Sunday at Lake Riley but it will be great to be back ay CE this Sunday! I will be in Romans 1 this week and I am looking forward to being back in the Word with all of you! On a side note...have you ever had to spend almost an entire day at the eye doctors office? Today I saw 4, yes 4 eye doctors which is a new record for even me!
I woke up yesterday with a large opaque floater in my left eye...unfortunately I can only see out of my left eye due to blindness in my right eye. Yes, you can call me Cyclops. So, after seeing my optometrist at 8 am this morning, I was then seen by another optometrist who wanted me to go to an ophthalmologist. So, by 10 am I was getting my second set of drops for dilation and my third scope. Wow. After I saw the ophthalmologist, he told me that I needed to go to a specialist at 2:20 PM and get further testing.
So, in the afternoon I got dilated again, got scoped a few times and then got photos taken of my retina...When the doctor took a look at the retinal photos he told me that I needed an IV with dye injected into my bloodstream so that he could get a better look at my retina. So, at 4 PM I got an IV of purplish dye (that makes your skin look tan he said) and more intense flashes of light sent into my eye while the doctor held my eyelids open. Intense. I felt like I was being chased by paparazzi!
The verdict? Little aneurisms around my retina. He ruled out the stroke possibility and the diabetes possibility, which I was thankful for. I have another round of tests in 8 weeks! Can't wait!
So, let me say it again, I am looking forward to Sunday when I get to see all of you at CE! Have a great weekend.

Family Camp Sunday

2009-08-18T08:46:00.001-07:00

I love this church.
I also love what God is doing at CE.
This last weekend we had our family Camp and a church BBQ at Lake Riley and I was completely blessed.
I think that this years Family Camp is a great example of how church ministries function at their best...from the ground up, not from the top down. Let me explain.
A few months ago, Nathan and Hannah Waagen came to me and said that they would like to organize a Family Camp for the end of summer. Now, this is the first key to getting anything done in a church context...Nathan and Hannah are trustworthy people who have no other agenda except serving people. They are faithful servants who wanted to serve within the framework of the church. So, knowing their hearts, I said "Let's go for it".
So, Nathan and Hannah did it. I mean they pretty much took the whole camp and ran with it. They made the fliers, did the announcements, rented the camp, made the menu, collected the money, put together a team (thankyou Sally, Trevor and Alisha and others), made the schedule of events, did the shopping, cooked the food, served the food, did the cleaning, put up many tents, cut the firewood...you get the picture.
Here is the second key to all of this...They took ownership but they never became possessive or difficult to work with. In fact they were a joy to work with. I never had to think about what was getting done, how it was getting done or why it was getting done. These people would wash feet if needed. When people are serving selflessly in the church, you know what happens? It is contagious. Every morning, afternoon and evening we had multiple helpers in the kitchen who just wanted to bless people! We had different people cooking, making espressos, cleaning etc. It was amazing and it all was motivated by love. People just wanted to love each other with the love that they had received from Jesus. Hey, I know that this sounds cliche but there is no other way to explain it. This weekend, was a blessing because Jesus was working through His body.
Churches always function at their best when God gives faithful servants vision from on high. Effective ministries are birthed in the pews when people respond to the teaching from the pulpit. I really believe that. I know that their are many new ministries ready to be started at CE as people respond to the nudging of the Spirit of God and then take a step of faith with the encouragement and covering of the church. This weekend was a beautiful picture of how God moves in the body.
One more thing... A shout goes out to the Overbys for the awesome pulled pork, slaw and lemonade on Sunday. What a huge gastronomical blessing. I thought I was on man vs. food!

Family Camp Weather- Sun!

2009-08-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend is the beginning of a new tradition at CE...our first Family Camp! The weather man says that Saturday and Sunday are going to be beautiful, so start making plans to come out for some grub, fellowship and swimming. Even if you haven't signed up, come on out and have a meal or hang out with us for the day.
Nathan and Hannah Waaggen have assembled a crack team of family camp operatives who will be cooking, ministering, serving and loving all those who come out for the weekend. They have children s ministry planned, games for the whole family and we even have some time set aside for men and women's ministry (men will be hunting in the woods with our bare hands). The Waagens have hit a home run in the planning department.
If you scroll down the blog a couple of posts ago you can get the directions to Lake Riley...
Here is the schedule of events for the weekend for those who want to be in the know. See you at Lake Riley!

Thursday-
6:30PM- Dinner, smores, campfire, games

Friday and Saturday-
7:30AM- Breakfast
11:00AM- Kids, Mens and Womens ministry
1:00PM- Lunch
Afternoon- swimming, hiking, games, fellowship
5:00PM- Family activity
6:30PM- Dinner
Nightime- fireside, worship, smores, fellowship

Sunday-
7:30AM- Breakfast
11:00AM- Baptism and Worship
12:30PM- BBQ Lunch and fellowship!

Prayer at CE tonight!

2009-08-12T12:37:00.001-07:00

We are back to our normal midweek schedule which means that we will be meeting for prayer tonight at 7pm at CE. We would love to have you come and intercede for the body of Christ, the city of Everett and for the various ministries at CE. If you have any prayer requests then send me an email at calvaryeverett@gmail.com!
Blessings to all of you and let me leave you with a great quote from E.M. Bounds- "The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men…Men (and women)of prayer."
See you tonight.

This Sunday- Church BBQ!

2009-08-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend we are shutting down the sanctuary in downtown Everett and we are heading out to our church BBQ and baptism at Lake Riley!
So, if you come to CE on Sunday morning or Sunday evening you will be left behind...and that would not be good!
So, why not take a beautiful drive out side of Arlington and come out for a free BBQ and an amazing day of swimming, hiking, fellowship and everything else??? It's going to be great. We start at 11am with the baptism and we start eating at 12:30, I look forward to seeing you there! Here are the directions.

I-5 North or South- toward Arlington

Exit 208- right onto Hwy 530

Left onto HWY 530/ Hwy 9

Right at W. Burke Ave/530E (4.4 miles)

Right at Jim Creek Rd (5.9 miles)

Left on Lake Riley Rd (1.8 miles)

Right At the lake/ T in the road

Enter the Sons of Norway Campground

I'm Back!

2009-08-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, good to be back after a few days off with the fam!
Our Sunday was great, so let me give you the highlights.
-I have never seen so many greeters and ushers down stairs in my life! Thanks to the crew!
-Great summer turnout for an August weekend. Each weekend we seem to have new people coming out!
-I had my second week in Romans...Amazing grace. Restorative grace.
-In the morning we spoke about the great exchange...All our sin in exchange for His perfect righteousness...wow. Now, by faith God sees me robed in Christ's righteousness!
-Last night I spoke about the 6 marks of Jacobs renewal. It seems to me that from Beersheba to Goshen, the last 17 years of Jacob's life he really became Israel.
-We had a new family on Sunday who immediately signed up for our family camp this weekend! I love that!
-The congregational singing on Sunday was awesome...the place was filled with praise.
-This is going to be a great week. Our first family camp, our first baptism...I can hardly wait. Hey let me know if you or anyone in your family wants to be baptized!
Have a blessed day!

Ready for Romans?

2009-07-31T15:53:00.000-07:00

We start the book of Romans this Sunday at CE!!!
About the Book of Romans it has been said...
“This epistle is the chief book of the New Testament, the purest Gospel. It deserves not only to be known word for word, by every Christian, but to be the subject of his meditation day by day, the daily bread of his soul; the more time one spends in it the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes.” Martin Luther

“the first great work of Christian theology. I would go even farther. It’s not only the first, but also the greatest work of Christian theology. No one in 2,000 years has written anything to match it.” CH Dodd

“I have taught Romans more than eighty times and the pastures are still green.” William Newell

What have you got to say about Romans? I would love to quote you.

Family Camp is coming!

2009-07-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

We had a great CEBBQ09 this year! What a great time we had last night! Hundreds of water balloons and dozens of rootbeer floats were served along with some great food and steaks. What a blessing! Thanks to all who served selflessly (you know who you are!!!) and to all who brought great food and to all who attended. I am looking forward to next years CEBBQ10.
That brings me to Family Camp 09-August 13 to 16th!
We have about 7 or 8 campsites left for those who want to come and camp out with the fam...so signup at church on Sunday. Besides the over night camping we have all kinds of activities for the kids and families on Friday, Saturday and Sunday...So come on out and swim, eat great food and let the kids have a blast!!!
If you have any questions email Nathan and Hannah Waagen at hnwaagen@yahoo.com

CEBBQ09 in Palm Springs???

2009-07-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

CEBBQ09 is a go for tonight! Our final BBQ in the month of July is tonight at 6PM, so come on out and eat a steak, see your friends and enjoy the Palm Springs weather! We are bringing out extra water tonight to keep you all hydrated! We are going to keep the tables in the shade and if you want to bring out a popup tent, then feel free.
One more thing, tonight Craig is making home made ice-cream and root beer floats...so he may need some volunteers to keep the crank going on the bucket! See you tonight.

Prayer for my sister...

2009-07-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, in lieu of my normal Sunday Reflections...I need to ask for prayer for my sister Kelli. As many of you know she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Lymphoma over a year ago...She went through a year of treatment and has been declared cancer free in the last few months...We praise God for her healing!
Yet, over the last few months she has suffered some serious complications. After she finished her chemo, she developed a numbness in her legs which has made it difficult for her to walk and the doctors don't know how to treat it. Then two months ago she contracted a horrible case of shingles which put her in the hospital for a week...Which brings me to yesterday when she slipped in the bathroom and broke her ankle in two places.
She is recovering from surgery right now (yes, it is requiring two separate operations) and she is scheduled for a second surgery next week. Needless to say she is feeling frustrated and more than a little upset over her recent health issues. Kelli has been an employee for Nike for 30 years...she really wants to get back to work after a year off but now she has to be off her feet for at least three months!
So, will you pray for my only sister Kelli? She knows Jesus and loves Him but I know she is feeling like Job right now. Thanks for praying!

Sunday- Forgiving from the heart...

2009-07-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

Last year I received an email when I was drinking my morning coffee that almost made me drop my mug...It was an email I never expected from a source that literally floored me... What was it? It was an apology. The author (who is a friend) apologized over a thorny and years old issue. Needless to say, the apology opened up some doors of goodwill and fellowship between us but it also helped our mutual relationships with others to relax a little more. With one simple but heartfelt email...fellowship was restored. Don't you wish it was always so easy?
This Sunday I am teaching on how to forgive from the heart...Every single Christian has had to forgive someone who has hurt them and we all know that it is not easy to do! I have hurt others and I have been hurt. Sometimes though, it feels like we need a pack of mules to drag our heart away from bitterness. This weekend I will be speaking on how to forgive, who to forgive and I will tackle the issue of forgiveness and trust...Did you know that you can forgive someone but you may not be wise to trust them again for a very long time? I will cover all these issues on Sunday...which I hope will be a very uplifting time in the Word.
Blessings to you and I will see you on Sunday!

CEBBQ09 Tonight!!!

2009-07-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

Only two more CEBBQ09 evenings left! The first two BBQ's in July were awesome and the great thing about them is how many people are really getting to know each other...Tonight the weather is going to be great, the Tri-tip will be rocking the BBQ (Chicken too) and the fellowship will be sweet. So bring your family out and also a family sized dish to share...and we will see you tonight at 6pm!