Well, today, is our first born daughter’s birthday!
19 years ago I first laid my eyes on our beautiful baby girl, Sarah Elizabeth Denham.
O’ man … how the years have flown by …
Sarah, we could not be more proud of you. Your Mother and I adore you. Your brothers love you and are so very protective of you. And, your baby sister sorely misses you.
Happy Birthday, Sarah!
“Strength and Honor are her clothing” Pr. 31:25
(Our latest picture of Sarah with our good friend pastor Greg Laurie)
Did you know that THIRTEEN chapters of the book of Genesis are devoted to the life of Joseph?
This means that the book of Genesis spends nearly as much time on the life of Joseph as Abraham himself!
Beginning this Sunday in our series, “Great Passages of the Bible” we now turn to Genesis 37-50 and begin to learn about one of the greatest men in history.
Joseph was a man who experienced horrible betrayal, and hardship, but kept his eyes on the Lord, and experienced the incredible favor of God. Joseph was able to say at the end of his life, “…you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good …” (Genesis 50:20)
I am looking forward to how the Lord will use this great passage of Scripture to encourage us during this unique season in our country and in our lives!
See YOU Sunday!
Greg 🙂
Hello to everyone!
Sunday morning we’re amidst a series entitled, “Majoring on the Almighty” and I am fired up about it!
In life there is not a more important subject than, Almighty God!
The reality is that your vision and understanding of God will have the greatest impact on your life. Believing in God may not change your circumstances but it will change your life!
So, we have been studying the first two verses of the Bible (Genesis 1:1-2) and are learning FIVE incredible realities of God: #1 God is eternal; #2 By nature He is a plurality but unity, God is triune in nature; and #3 He created the entire universe!
Tomorrow we learn two more great realities: #1 God is separate from creation but INVOLVED and even INITMATELY active as FATHER in the lives of those who are IN CHRIST! #2 that God is good!
I thought I would give a little snapshot into one of the ideas of tomorrows study, how “intimate” and involved the Lord is in our life.
Did you know that God actually thinks about you? It’s incredible.
King David wrote, “How precious are your thoughts toward me, O God!” This means that God has conscious moments, for which you are the subject. A thought is a conscious moment, coupled with an idea, a notion – it is intellectual activity!
You are the subject of a lot of intellectual activity of ALMIGHTY GOD!
And, the good news is, that the thoughts are really good toward you! Jeremiah 29:11 tells us “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Again, David wrote, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!” And, then, David gives perspective on the quantity of thoughts toward us saying, “If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand …” Psalm 139:17-18
Needless to say, this is mind-boggling. God’s thoughts (conscious moments) toward me are more than the sand of the sea. Can we even wrap our minds around this?
Interestingly, mathematicians at the University of Hawaii attempted to identify the number of grains of sand on the beaches of the world and what they came up with is 7.5 x 10 to the 18th power grains of sand, which means 7 quintillion, 5 quadrillion or 7.5 billion, billion. If you lived 80 years on planet earth that comes to some 2.5 billion seconds. If you divide that into 7.5 billion, billion you get nearly 3 billion conscious moments of intellectual activity of God, the content of which is, GOOD, toward you, per second, of your life.
There is more …
God actually had conscious moments of intellectual activity about you before time even existed, before you even existed, before even the universe existed!
Eph 1:3-4 tells us, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love …”
I hope that today you are enraptured by the wonder of our HEAVENLY FATHER
O’ HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!
Sunday night’s is “Thru the Bible” at Calvary. I had a great time teaching Joshua chapter 1 this last Sunday evening. I was encouraged …
Now, I would like to, enCOURAGE, you …
But, first, I want you to think about something in your life that would require courage on your part. Seriously, pause for a moment, and think of an area of your life that would require stepping out of your comfort zone. Is it speaking in front of people? Is it traveling overseas? Is it saying, “I’m sorry?” Personally, parachuting out of a plane does not excite me. I would need a huge shot of courage to do it!
You, see, the English word, “Courage”, comes from the French word “couer” which means “heart!” Courage, is determination. Courage is perseverance. As famed actor John Wayne said, “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway!”
Okay, so we have an idea of the nature of courage. Courage is heart. Courage is stepping out of your comfort zone. Courage is doing what’s necessary, and doing what is, right, anyway.
Did you know that the Lord told Joshua three times to be courageous before leading the children of Israel into the promise land? Why do you think? Joshua needed encouragement, even after knowing the Lord had given the land to Israel and the message was essentially, “just lay hold of it!”
Yet, for Joshua, courage would still be necessary?
Stepping out of the comfort zone would be necessary?
Perseverance would be necessary?
Faith that produces work would be necessary?
Absolutely!
In keeping with those thoughts, it is important to understand the distinction between salvation and discipleship.
Salvation is a gift. It was purchased by Jesus on the cross. It was purchased with His life, and death, and resurrection! This means that the cancelation of the debt of our sin before God — our ticket to heaven — and every blessing that we will ever know — was purchased by the Lord Jesus and is offered to us as a gift to be received by faith. When we receive this gift, it is a miracle, the miracle of the moment that impacts our eternity.
In a similar way, Israel was miraculously delivered from Egypt. However, they would need to make right choices that would require courage to lay hold of experiencing God’s promise which was the land itself!
You, see, discipleship for a Christian is pressing into experiencing God’s best for our life. His will. His promise’s. Salvation is a gift that is received by faith but discipleship is a choice to live out God’s will according to His Word! Like Joshua who was told that laying hold of the promise land would require courage, living life as God INTENDED requires HEART — it WILL require COURAGE!
Will forgiveness require courage? Yes!
Will sharing the faith with your loved one require courage? Yes!
Will standing in the strength of the Lord amidst temptation require courage? Yes!
Will stepping out in obedience to God’s call in your life require courage? Yes!
Will honoring your vows in marriage require courage? Yes!
Will finishing well require courage? Yes!
Will trusting the Lord amidst challenging times require courage? Yes!
Again, living life as God intended requires, heart, courage, and, yes, stepping out of the comfort zone. Understand however, that the Lord will never ask you to do something that He has not given you the grace to accomplish. The Lord is with you as you go!
Joshua chapter 1:
Vs. 5 “…so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.”
Vs. 6 “Be strong and of good courage …”
Vs. 7 “Only be strong and very courageous …”
Vs. 7 “…observe to do according to all the law … that you may prosper wherever you go.”
Vs. 9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
I love what president Theodore Roosevelt said years ago:
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
I enCOURAGE you .. be strong and courageous … live out COURAGE to the glory of God!
“Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” Psalm 27:14
Recently we had a great evening at the church hosting Hall of Fame football player Jim Otto of the Oakland Raiders.
It was an evening we called “Celebrating Excellence!”
So, it got me thinking about … Excellence!
Is excellence just for the uniquely gifted? Those who have gifts of creativity or athleticism etc. You, know, those who make the “Hall of Fame?”
The answer is, no!
Excellence is a character issue. Character is the sum of our choices. It has to do with the choice of what effort I am going to give. It has to do with utilizing what God has given me. He gave us — life — and what excellence, is — is giving our best back to Him in the maximizing of our potential.
It’s as if when we were born God gave us a bag and inside are gifts, and opportunities, and potential. Excellence is doing something with what has been given to us. It’s maximizing our potential by giving the best effort possible. Too often people spend their time looking into other people’s “bags” rather then developing what has been given to them.
Excellence involves the lil things/ the “small choices!”
When Jesus fed the 5,000, we’re told it all began with 2 fish and 2 loafs of bread. A young boy was identified by Andrew who offered the food. What it tells us is that the Lord can use something small in a great way.
Phillips Brooks “Character may be manifested in the great Moments, but it is made in the SMALL ONES.”
The world champion boxer Joe Frazer said, “You camp out a fight plan or a life plan. But when the action starts, you’re down to your reflexes. That’s where your road work shows. If you cheated on that in the dark of the morning, you’re getting found out now under the bright lights.”
Excellence is different than “SUCCESS!”
Brian Harbour identifies this in his book Rising Above the Crowd. “Success means being the best. Excellence means being your best. Success, to many, means being better than everyone else. Excellence means being better tomorrow than you were yesterday. Success means exceeding the achievements of other people. Excellence means matching your practice with your potential.”
Excellence is playing to a different scoreboard. It’s the scoreboard that measures effort.The scoreboard that identifies if I have done my best. It’s the scoreboard that God see’s!
Excellence distinguishes between what you CAN CONTROL Vs. WHAT YOU CAN”T CONTROL
I can control my thoughts
I can control my decisions
I can control my priorities
I can control whether I prepare, whether I play with a big heart, whether I finish well
VERSUS
I can’t control the scoreboard
I can’t control what others think of me
Famed UCLA basketball coach John Wooden,
“My thoughts were directed toward preparation, our journey, not the results of the effort (such as winning national championships). That would simply have shifted my attention to the wrong area, hoping for something out of my control.”
Live EXCELLENCE — to the glory of GOD!
2 Corinthians 8:7 read, “But as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and in all eagerness and in the love from us that is in you-make sure that you excel in this act of kindness too.”
Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, verily, do it with all your might…”