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The Great I Am
Below is a post written by my wife, Denise. It was a must share! Enjoy:
Sunday, after one of our services, I was talking to a mom and her 11 year-old daughter and the mom asked the daughter to share with me the question she had been asking her. I felt honored to be included in what sounded like a special mother and daughter moment. I quickly began thinking what the question might be about. Makeup, boys, school, friends, so many thing ran through my head. Then she said “I don’t get “The Great I AM?” What does it mean?” I have to say…that wasn’t what I was expecting!
Mom told me how earlier in the week they had heard the song on the radio and she had asked her mom the same question. Mom took the time to explain her thoughts about the song. Then, only as God would have it, we sang the song in our worship service. Mom glowed as she shared with me how her daughter looked up at her and said “Its that Great I am thing again!”
Now, posed with the question, I began thinking about our worship service and all that was said and sung. I realized, we had sung several songs, ALL about “The Great I AM!” Asking even myself, why does that very song bring tears to my eyes and give me chills? So, what did it mean and how do I explain it to an 11 year-old. I realized I had an opportunity in my hand. An opportunity to tell an11 year-old about who God is and what He does! My heart started beating faster as I talked about that many names scripture gives to God and how they all tell about Him, who He is and what He does! I told her how amazed I was at how she was asking the right questions and that by asking “Who” He is and “What” He does, she comes into a deeper understanding of and relationship with ”The Great I AM.” That her very question was the stuff of “life change!” It was an amazing conversation….hopefully I didn’t overwhelm her with my excitement.
But I haven’t stopped thinking about “The Great I AM.” Did you know that even the best scholars disagree over the actual meaning of these words? But the best I’ve found says that God meant, “I am whatever you need me to be!” How’s that for an explanation! In Exodus 3:14 we know that God declared himself to be “I AM” to Moses and in the NT Jesus, in the flesh, declares the same to us.
John 6:41 – I am the bread that came down from heaven
John 6:51 – I am the living bread
John 8:12 – I am the light of the world – light of life
John 10:7 – I am the door of the sheep
John 10:9 – I am the door
John 10:11-14 – I am the Good Shepherd
John 10:36 – I am the son of God
John 14:6 – I am the Way, the Truth and the Life
John 15:1 – I am the true vine
John 18:37 – I am a King
Revelation 1:18 – I am the first and last
Matthew 16:15-17 – I am the Christ, the Son the Living God
He is “The Great I AM” and that about sums it up! And you want to know the part that makes the hair stand up on my arms…”the mountains “know” and the devil and his demons “run and flea at the mention of His name!” We can’t even stand before the power and the presence of the Great I am! “ If that doesn’t give you chills, I don’t know what will!
Is He your “Great I AM?”
I wanna to be close close to your side, So heaven is real and death is a lie
I wanna hear voices of angels above,Singing as one
Hallelujah Holy Holy
God almighty Great I am
Who is worthy, None beside Thee
God Almighty, Great I Am
I wanna be near near to your heart, Loving the word hating the dark
I want to see dry bones living again, Singing as one
Hallelujah,Holy Holy
God almighty Great I am
Who is worthy, None beside Thee
God Almighty, Great I Am
He’s the Great I Am Great I Am
The mountains shake before Him, The demons run and flee
At the mention of the name, King of Majesty
There is no power in hell, Or any who can stand
Before the power and the presence of the Great I am
The Great I am The Great I am
The Great I am The Great I am The Great I am
Great I am
The Great I am The Great I am
The Great I am The Great I am The Great I am
The mountains shake before Him, The demons run and flee
At the mention of the name, King of Majesty
There is no power in hell, Or any who can stand
Before the power and the presence of the Great I am
The Great I am The Great I am
The Great I am The Great I am The Great I am
The Great I am
The Great I am The Great I am
The Great I am The Great I am The Great I am
Gospel notes
Below is most of my introduction from this past weekend. I share it primarily for the purpose of putting before us the definition of the gospel that we are using for this series. I think it is important to familiarize ourselves with the definition in order to further expand our understanding:
The gospel is the final answer to every issue and it is the solution to every problem.
The Gospel: Understanding that God is more holy than we can imagine and we are more sinful than we care to admit. Yet, God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to reconcile us to Himself. Christ’s love is beyond all comprehension and as a result He took our place on the cross and satisfied the wrath of God. Through the resurrection of Christ and by the grace of God, when we repent of our sin and make Jesus Lord and leader of our life, we inherit eternal life. As a result of our faith, we become ambassadors for Christ who proclaim and live out this gospel.
The Gospel is the Great Exchange
The gospel in short – Christ died in my place
Being able to define the gospel is one thing – having it captivate your soul and saturate your life is entirely different.
Christianity is not about receiving the gospel and then moving on from there. We receive the gospel and then we go deeper in the gospel.
The gospel is not the diving board we jump off of into the pool of Christianity – it is the pool itself.
Grasping the gospel and living by the gospel is not about saying the sinner’s prayer and learning some new principles and keeping some new rules – when we live gospel saturated lives we are allowing the gospel to become the filter of our mind, the lens of our eyes, the gate of our heart and the attitude of our actions.
Implications of the Gospel
Why do you need to do everything that you can to get to church this weekend? Because The Gospel changes absolutely everything!
Many churches teach that The Gospel is where you find faith and then you move on from there. I don’t believe that! I will challenge our thinking and I will call many to perhaps a new understanding of The Gospel. The Gospel is not as simple as A-B-C; we will see that it is A to Z. It is The Gospel that should change our life, our relationships, our habits, our perspective and every single way we live our lives – and the beauty of all this is that it is grace based!! The Gospel is not about what you are doing but it is actually based on what has already been done.
This series has the potential to revolutionize our church and every single person in our church!
Valentine Banquet
At Parkview we have made it an annual event to celebrate Valentines Day with our Prime Time Group (55+). Each year (this is our second:)) our staff serves the group a nice lunch, we have some special guests (one serious and one very non-serious) and just enjoy spending some time together.
In honor of gracefully aging I post this link for all my prime time friends. If you are planning on living past 65 this is a great read for you also! Please click here for a really good article and brief video clip.
Parkview Plants in Phnom Penh
Below is an email that I received from Roger Akers. Parkview supports Roger and Tammy as they serve the Lord in Manila, Philippines. Several months ago the Akers visited with Parkview and shared what God was doing in their ministry. In addition to active ministry in Manila, part of their strategy involves planting churches in the major cities of Southeast Asia.
Attached are some pics from the first gathering of the NFD (non-facility driven) church plant sponsored by Parkview. The lead pastor is a man named Rev. Francis Velasco (whose wife is expecting their first child in March) and they minister in Phnom Pehn.
Working in an area in the city they have sought to gain momentum for this gathering; forming a core team, discipleship and small groups is the primary focus here. A “gathering” is planned in this process every 4-5 weeks to facilitate vision casting for the new church and for the new team to make contacts and/or converts of the people.
The first few gatherings are about vision; while the small groups meet and grow on a weekly basis.
The goal of this first gathering was 50 new people – they had 77 attend on Saturday, January 21 – 63 adults and 14 children. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!
Please pray for Pastor Francis, the team of Community Baptist Church, and the outreach to lost people Phnom Pehn.
More pics after the jump.
Mixing Seasons
This past weekend launched our new series, Soul Life and we began the series by talking about the seasons of our soul. Philosophers, poets and theologians have all compared the seasons of nature to the seasons of our soul. In the weekend sermon we broke it out as follows:
- Fall is a season of transition.
- Winter is a season of loss
- Spring is a season of new beginnings
- Summer is a season of abundance
As the week has progressed and I have had a couple conversations around the sermon, one thing has come up a couple times and it is not something I hit on in the weekend. What I have discussed with some people is how at times we might be experiencing multiple seasons at the same time. I believe that one season will always be predominant but others may be sharing their ripples. For example, you might be in Winter at work and in Spring in a relationship; you might me in Summer spiritually and in Fall economically. Life is way to real and way to messy to only and always be in one season at a time. That is where choosing to trust God and His sovereignty once again becomes a key factor.
True spirituality does not escape reality but rather embraces reality.
Discover that He is a God of all seasons.
An Incredible Tool
At Parkview our mission is to guide people to Life Change in Jesus Christ
Life change does not happen in our lives apart from the Gospel. The Gospel is what changes us. Our salvation has been accomplished by what God alone has done, not by what we have done. From cover to cover, the Bible is all about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the Gospel that shapes everything about us, producing life change. We cannot know God or His Gospel without knowing His Word. As we understand and embrace God’s Word, we find it so dynamic that is begins to define us, sanctify us and motivate us. This is why one of our values at Parkview is:
Fueled by God’s Word We believe God’s Word has the answer to all of life’s questions, and therefore, we surrender willingly to its timeless truths. 2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. (NKJV)
In order for each of us to experience life change we must be people of God’s Word. This means we need to know how to study it and do what it says. As James 1 tells us we must not only be a hearer of the Word but also a doer of the Word.
At Parkview, we have incredible pastors, teachers and leaders, and we desire to help you grow in your faith and in the knowledge of God’s Word. But more importantly than that, our heart is for you to discover God’s Word for yourself. We believe God’s Word holds the answers for all of life problems and we know that it brings purpose and meaning to our lives. God created us for relationship with Him and in His Word is where you will find that relationship. He made us to respond to Him and it is in the truth of His Word where we are able to respond in obedience by His Grace.
One of the things that have helped me to be able to study the Bible has been Inductive Bible Study. This is simply a method of study that opens Scripture up to us so that we can discern what God is saying to us as individuals. Because we believe that it is God’s Word that changes lives and that God longs to meet you in the pages of His love letter to you, on February 16-18 we are bringing a Precept Inductive Bible Study Training Workshop to Parkview. My wife, Denise, and several of our women leaders have attended this training over the last several years and have grown from the principles and study habits they have learned. I will be attending this workshop and am looking forward to growing in discovering God’s Word for myself as well.
Click here to find out more information about learning the Inductive Study Method. I want to encourage you to take a look at the information and giving prayerful consideration to attending. You may attend only one day or all three, but to receive a 25% discount, you need to register before January 23! I know it will be life changing! If you have any questions in regards to this great training opportunity, please contact Sylvia Shows at (386) 586-2291 she will be glad to help you in any way she can.
Join me as we learn how to effectively study God’s Word and experience life change together!
Weekend Wrap Up
- What a thrill it was to be back at Parkview this weekend!
- What a thrill it was to be back in the US!
- What a thrill it is to be healthy!
- What a thrill it will be when my body gets adjusted to the current time zone!
- I always love preaching at Parkview.
- Love both our mission and values and it was great talking about them this weekend.
- I appreciated Steve’s help with the hand motions
- Seeing our new piano was a thrill to my heart – still amazed over what God did in that situation!!!
- Always great to meet guests.
- So many people have become a part of our church in the last few months.
- Can’t wait to meet all the new people at Get Connected this coming weekend.
- Group Life is going to be AWESOME this Spring. If you are not in a group already be sure to click here and take your life to a whole new level!
- Excited to raise $2,000 to provide 20 beds for students in our student center in Cambodia! If you want to participate just mark your contribution BEDS. If we raise in excess of our goal all the additional funds will go towards the student center.
- I am privileged to serve with such a wonderful staff and the best church family in the whole world!!
- I CAN’T WAIT for our new sermon series that begins this weekend – Soul Life.
- WOW – God is good!!
2011 Reflection
Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think…”. As a church family we have been an eyewitness to God’s abundance is 2011! As I spend this closing day of 2011 reflecting I do so with absolute amazement.
I think back over the year and there is so much to be thankful for – we have seen so much Life Change!! We have seen a great number of people trust Christ and follow Him in baptism. In fact, I remember one Sunday when a mother was baptized and the daughter came to me after the service and said, “I need to be saved”. The number of young men who have been baptized in 2011 was also a thrill to see.
We witnessed an unprecedented number of people helped through our benevolence ministry and our food pantry. We are averaging approximately 25 families each time our food pantry is open. Our church family responded with tremendous generosity for our Thanksgiving outreach. Then through the Wise Men Gift Exchange we helped 380 children receive Christmas gifts – that is a staggering number!
On a couple of occasions I have said publicly that what has thrilled me more than anything this year was the number of students we were seeing attend Christian Universities. I just saw yesterday on Facebook that one of our students was sharing how excited they were to begin their college career at Palm Beach Atlantic in just a couple days. We have also had a few already register for the Fall. Next year we will probably have at least 12 of our students in Christian Universities. Also, we have a number of outstanding young people shining the light of Christ on the campuses of public universities. The words I have just shared thrill me beyond description!!!
My heart is full of gratitude as I think about how our church has invested their financial resources for the furtherance of the kingdom. It is a very difficult economy in Palm Coast and yet our people give with incredible generosity. The last few years the economy has declined and yet our giving as a church has increased each year. The final numbers are not in but it appears that we have surpassed our Christmas offering goal by about $5,000. This will allow us to to have our newly donated baby grand piano delivered and tuned in the next couple weeks. I am still amazed at the piano donation – I can’t wait for us to worship with our new addition.
I have only scratched the surface of God’s blessings! Let me add just a few quick hits on some other blessings: We are blessed with some incredible leaders – I watched them lead through difficulty and seek to honor God in all we do. Our staff give 110% and continue to empower others to reach their God-potential. Many of our volunteers serve with such love and faithfulness! Our auditorium expansion was a massive blessing and one of the reasons that we have added so any people in recent months.
Please join me in giving God the glory for all He has done! I take you back to the passage that I opened this letter with and remind us that it is He who has done exceedingly abundantly! Please take a moment right now in prayer and give God the glory!
One last thing before I close – it is going to be a tremendous weekend at Parkview!! We have a couple of very special people who are going to be sharing in the services. I mentioned them earlier in this email and you won’t want to miss hearing from them!
Just a reminder to enjoy your New Years Eve and don’t forget that tomorrow we will have our regularly scheduled services at 9:30 & 11am.
What I Am Reading
