Category: God

1.  We were locked out of the movie theatre for about 20 minutes bright and early on this glorious Sunday morning, but then Pastor Travis suddenly disappeared and then reappeared – inside the main lobby. He let us in, and then we went to work to set up everything.

2.  At its peak we had up to 8 guys on the Hospitality staff greeting our church family at the front door. That’s right around our running average over the past few months. One dude arrived and ran through the ‘welcome line’ like a football player on a Sunday afternoon emerging from the tunnel.

3.  Phil J. substituted for the vacationing Jesse as the leader of ‘Praise & Worship’ this morning. He had us rockin’ and clappin’ hard with one of my new favourite worship songs “One Way Jesus”. (He is the only one that I could live for.) We also sang another favourite of mine “You Are My King (Amazing Love)”. CHURCH ROCKS !

4.  Pastor Travis closed out our 11-week likeus.tv message series. It’s not about success in life. It’s not about being great. It’s about our grasp and perseverance in faith. It’s about following Jesus. We are not promised perfect lives. We are saved because we persevere in His grace. It’s His grace that saves us. Persevering in the Kingdom is receiving the grace of Jesus and following Him.

5.  Ela Ortega was up on ‘the big screen’ with her life story. I’ve been anxiously waiting over two months to see her video, and it was so well worth the wait. I sat there in my comfortable theatre seat during the 10:30 AM service so totally amazed, encouraged, and inspired at what I was seeing and hearing from Ela. My eyes were all watery as well, as tears of joy flowed freely from them. She is what it is all about. She is the ‘real deal’. She is persevering in God’s Kingdom !

1.  The Information Booth was up and looking nice (as usual), but the ‘small screen’ was dark due to a glitch with Pastor Paul‘s laptop. We couldn’t get the image of the laptop screen to appear on the monitor. Next week the Information Booth itself will take a one-week hiatus, but have no fear for it shall return triumphantly for our first Sunday morning services of 2008.

2.  The hot new Life Pointe Church tee-shirts are in, and they look fantastic !  Look for me to appear LIVE and in living colour in my new ‘CHURCH ROCKS !‘ tee-shirt next Sunday morning !

3.  I read the Advent message on stage at both services this morning. It’s the 4TH Sunday of Advent, and today we lit the candle for Love. God’s Love has gotten Him into a lot of trouble. His passion for Israel has led Him to make promises to them that will cost Him dearly. They are about to get a sign from Him that they weren’t even asking for – the birth of God Himself among them. Jesus’ nickname is Immanuel – a Hebrew way of saying ‘God is with us’. Even in a manger. Even in a ministry marked by rejection. Even on a cross. His Love has brought Him down. Down to us. We have found that this act of God in Love for Israel was also a sign of His love for the whole world. He came down to raise up all of us.

4.  Pastor Paul did this week’s teaching. It was all about ‘Leaving The Good For The Best’. Getting to the best requires obedience. It also requires leaving what is comfortable. If you are comfortable then you are simply not living the Life that God wants you to live. The Holy Spirit gives us the best chance of making it in Life. Jesus had to leave in order to give us the best. Jesus died for us. He made us, and then He paid for us on that bloody cross. He died so that we can live.

5.  Los Santoyos – Jesse, Reina, y Diego – were the subjects of this week’s likeus.tv message series video on the ‘big screen’. Jesse led his family from their comfortable Life in Chicagoland, and he brought them to us here in Homestead Florida. We are so glad that Los Santoyos are part of our loving Life Pointe Church family !