Quotable

Hello again friends!! I am just getting around to writing this--as I was supposed to do it Sunday!! We have heard so much revelation in the past 3 messages, I have not known where to begin to be honest!! In the meantime, Karis turned 2 last weekend. We had a little party with a few little friends and some cake:) It was a Pooh party of course! Thank you so much to all of you who sent packages to Karis for her birthday! You are all such a blessing!

We are all doing well...just trying to use this time to soak up Jesus! I am going to get the CD's from the last 2 services, and I'll come back and fill you all in on that word, but for now I am just going to give you some stuff from last nights message, at the Pastors Conference. It's so hard to pick and choose what to write, as so much of what Damon said is quotable. These messages have been such an encouragement and a push to push in deeper. I love that!

Last night we were in John 20...The Discovery of the Empty Tomb. I want to give you a quote from a book that Damon quoted, before I go into the rest of the message....or maybe thats all you'll get today:) It's pretty long...so we'll see! This is a quote from a sermon of a Pastor who is getting ready to resign from his church, back in the days of Jonathan Edwards (google him if you don't know who he is). Here it goes...

"At this point in the sermon, Parhurst addressed the text. He described how the Isrealites had turned from God, allowing themselves to be seduced by the ways of the wicked king Ahab and his queen, Jezebel, and how Jezebel killed off the prophets of God, and how Elijah retaliated by shutting up the heavens so it didn't rain. He described the incident in which Elijeh presented himself to Ahab and how the king greeted the prophet saying, " Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" Then Parkhurst described how Elijah called for a showdown, in which he would stand against the 450 prophets of the pagan god Baal in a contest of deities upon the summit of Mount Caramel. The rules of the challenge were laid down. Two altars would be built- one to Baal and one to God. No fire would be used to ignite the offering. In turn, the prophets would call to their respective gods and the deity who supplied the fire for the offering would once and for all prove himself to be Israel's God. The day for the contest arrived. And from morning to evening the 450 prophets of Baal danced and cried out and cut themselves, calling out to their god. Only noone answered. No one paid attention. Then Elijah prepared an altar to God. He placed an offering on it and ordered a trench dug around it. He commanded that 4 large jars of water be poured atop the pffering, then insisted it be done a second time...and a third time, so the altar was drowned in water. Elijah prayed and fire fell. The sacrifice was consumed, and the water in the trench was licked up. All the people fell prostrate and cried, 'The Lord , he is the God! The Lord, He is the God!' "
"From this dramatic account, several things have become clear to me. First, like the people of Israel, we have followed after other gods and allowed a distant king and his prophets of wealth to seduce us from the things of God. Second, I have noticed that when we do call out to God, we more resemble the prophets of Baal than the prophet of God. We stir up the dust with activity and then congratulate oursleves on the show. But where is the fire? Where is the fire"
" What will it take for the fire to fall? We need a troubler. Someone who will make us uncomfortable. Someone who will scoff at our pretense when we claim to be Gods people but don't live like it. We need a John the Baptist. Someone who is not afraid to look at our smug righteousness and say, 'O generation of vipers!" We need a prophet withthe spirit of Jesus. Someone not afraid to liken us to whitewashed tombs, pleasant to look at on the outside, but a rotting stench on the inside! We need a troubler. We need an Elijah. Someone willing to call us out and challenge us to our face: 'How long will you go limping after other gods? How long will you serve the guys of mercantile wealth? How long will you worship the gods of ease and comfort? If the Lord be God then follow him! But if Baal be god then follow him all the way to hell! Have i stated the argumetn to strongly? Have I offended you? I fear that I have not offended you enough. I fear that my greatest sin as you pastor is that I have at times cared more what you think of me than what God thinks of me. God in heaven send us a troubler!"

Thats it for now....just let that all soak in. God send us a troubler...

More to come on "Where is Jesus...He's not where he's suposed to be."