Divine Burden

I have spoken in the past on the blessing of experiencing a “Divine Burden”. That is when you experience God putting a burden on your heart that He is challenging you to act on. So what is it for you? Feeding the hungry? Sheltering the homeless? Advocating for the vulnerable? Protecting the persecuted. Spending time with the elderly? Giving Christmas shoeboxes to children in third world countries? Helping college kids go on mission trips? Starting new churches to reach new believers?  

Whatever burden God has blessed you with, the upcoming 11th Annual Community Mission Auction is a way for you to act on it. Each year we raise thousands of dollars which we give away to worldwide missions like World Vision and Samaritans Purse as well as local need meeting ministries like First Call for Help and The Community Assistance Center.

This year’s Community Mission Auction Team can use more help in reaching out to those in our community to acquire the much needed goods and services we need to auction off to reach our goal. Please contact ericka@celebratejesus.org if you have an item to donate or want to serve on the Mission Auction Team.

SAVE THIS DATE !!!

Saturday, November 15th 6:30pm

Great Food---Great Music---Great Fun--- all for the GREATEST cause…

”Whatever you do for the least of these…you do for me” Matthew 25:40

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

Children’s Ministry Director DeLynn Rice is looking for some administrative office help for a couple of hours during the week. Want to serve? Contact delynn@celebratejesus.org

Maranatha

Something is happening right now which has only happened seven times since Jesus walked the earth.

The Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths and Sukkot, is the seventh and last feast that the Lord commanded Israel to observe and one of the three feasts that Jews were to observe each year. 

But this year the Feast is different. We are in the midst of a tetrad of Blood Moons – a series of four lunar eclipses from Passover to Tabernacles where the moon appears blood red. This morning there was a full lunar eclipse which reached its max at 5:55am. 

This natural phenomenon has affected God’s people in significant ways! Every tetrad has come with something huge for God’s people throughout history:

• The Crucifixion
• The establishment of Israel as a nation in 1948
• The miraculous Israeli victory in the 1967 Six-Day War!

And I believe this tetrad of blood-red moons has special significance for God’s people today.

The idea of a "blood moon" serving as an omen of the coming of the end times comes from the Book of Joel 2:31, where it is written "the sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. This phrase is again mentioned by Peter during Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2:20. 

Today, believers in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ live our lives in the light of the knowledge that He can come at any time. We are to be ready when the call comes. Every day we should expect Him to come, and every day we should long for Him to come. Maranatha is an Aramaic phrase which means “Come Lord Jesus”, and has long been used as a greeting to remind us to keep our eyes open for the return of Jesus.

Jesus himself tells us in Matthew 24:36that no one knows the day or hour of Christ’s return but scripture tells us we can know the season and we are to be prepared for it. Are you prepared?

Come Lord Jesus, Maranatha!

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

We Can’t Stay Here

Those of you who know me know that I believe that God has a purpose for everyone of our lives. You also know that I am convinced that He never meant for you to fulfill that purpose by yourself. We are to connect with God and one another to fulfill our purpose. The context for that to happen in is a community of faith called church. 

For the last 18 years God has been leading the people of Celebration Community Church to reach out and attract members, connect them in fellowship, grow then in their faith, empower them to use their gifts, encourage them to share their faith while always honoring God with their lives. This is the foundation we have built this church upon. But a church is only as strong as the people who live out their purpose. Beginning this Sunday we are beginning a new message series called “We Can’t Stay Here” and its purpose is to shake us up out of our complacency in order to do great things for God in these last days.  

I want to invite you to plan on being in church over the next 5 Sundays and to recommit yourself to God and to one another.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

Get small

Most people who have been a part of a small group in a church say the greatest benefit is the close relationships and friendships that develop. They will check in with each other or share an urgent prayer request or an exciting answer. 

When you are a part of a small group you’ll discover that your needs and problems are not unique ~ that we’re all in the same boat. It helps to know that others are facing the same difficulties, or have lived through them and learned spiritual principles in the process. 

Dozens of times in the New Testament the phrase "one another" is used to describe our relationship to other believers. We are instructed to love one another, encourage one another, pray for one another, accept one another, bear one another’s burdens, and build up one another. 

The only way you can obey these commands is in a small group! We really do need each other. God never meant for you to go it alone in the Christian life. If you are in need of a closer relationship with God and with others (WHO ISN”T?) the answer to your problem is to get in a small group. If you are interested in finding a group you can fit into contact alicia@celebratejesus.org

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

The Gift of the Goose

This week I was watching a news feature about snow geese getting ready to fly south for the winter.

It reminded me of a book I read some time ago called “Gung Ho!” 

In the book, authors Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles write about the “gift of the goose”.  

The gift of the goose is the power of encouragement or cheering each other on.  Geese in a group are always “honking” at one another and telling each other that things are not just good but great. Confidence is conveyed when others around you are honking for you.  

Unfortunately, jealousy, envy, pride, comparisons, unforgiveness, and bitterness get in the way and encouraging honks rarely come from our beaks replaced often unfortunately with gossip and negative talk.

The Apostle Paul writing to the church at Ephesus says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29-32  Are you letting ANY unwholesome talk come out of your mouth? Are you ONLY speaking encouraging words?  Practice having the “gift of the goose”?

Be an encourager today with your family. Be an encourager today at your workplace. Be an encourager today online in your posts.  Be an encourager this Sunday as you gather with your church family.

Hopefully these daily honks I post each weekday are an encouragement to you.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

• Roger Cooper will be speaking/singing this Sunday in our Worship Center Services at 8:30am & 10am

Remembering Rick

Today I am remembering our friend Rick Bauer on this the 11th anniversary of his passing on to heaven. Rick was among the finest men I have ever known. 

Rick was a loving husband, devoted father, loyal family member, compassionate physician, gifted athlete, talented drummer, encouraging friend and a faithful follower of Christ.

He is well remembered and is greatly missed.  

I read that C. S. Lewis, the popular author of the Chronicles of Narnia series said that while on this earth we are "on the wrong side of the door." But he added, "All the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor it will not always be so."

Jesus doesn't leave us "on the wrong side of the door." It is because of Him that we anticipate what’s on the other side; heaven. The hope He gives us is not due to our good character or selfless service, nor because we have earned the right to enter heaven by any of our own efforts. No, we will see our Savior only because of our faith in His supreme sacrifice on the cross for our sins.

When we reach heaven, we'll understand the far-reaching implications of the Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 2:9, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."   

Rick lived each day preaching, not with words but rather with  modeling the life of the One who stands at the door of our lives and knocks. Invite him in.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle

Congratulations to Justin and Jenna Braun on the birth of their son Jase Spencer. 7 lbs 14 oz 19’’ long born Oct 1.

It's All About The "RE"

As a church pastor, disciplining a staff member for inappropriate and immoral behavior has been some of the most challenging times for me in ministry. As difficult as that is, I am bolstered by the words of the glorified Jesus who says to the church at Laodecia,

“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent” Revelation 3:19

The Laodecian church was rebuked and labeled lukewarm because it allowed sinful behavior to go on without the consequences of discipline. Like a child who is warned again and again not to get close to a hot stove, there will be consequences to their action; and if they repeatedly ignore the warnings, they will get burned.

We all know that as a loving parent we don’t want our children to continue to hurt themselves and others so out of love, we discipline our children in order for them to learn life’s lessons. The key to reconciliation of the relationship is repentance. “RE” like rewind or return. “PENT” like a penthouse which is the highest place in a building . Jesus says we are to go from the lower ways that we have been sucked down into by the evil one, and return to the higher ways of God.  Repent.  

I read of Pastor Craig Groeschel who found all these different “re” words, and put them together in one sentence. He calls it,  It’s all about the “Re.”

It’s all about the “re.”  When you rebuke the enemy, and return to God by repenting of your sins and receiving Christ, your spirit will be reborn, your mind renewed, your life will be rebuilt.  You will be reconciled by the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, and while you rejoice, you will reap the rewards of a relationship with Jesus, causing real revival to break free.  It’s all about the “re,” And it starts with repenting from our sins.

What do you need to be earnest about and repent of?

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.1John 1:9

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle