Monday, November 7, 2011
"A vision of revival in Laguna Beach" by Mark Ellis
In the process of my phone interviews with Jane Dobson, one of 10 people on a boat off the coast of Maine involved in the “Mysterious ‘Jesus Photo’” story (http://blog.godreports.com/2011/10/mysterious-%E2%80%98jesus-photo%E2%80%99-stirs-faith-brings-comfort-and-peace-to-many/), she told me about a striking vision she had for Laguna Beach, California, which seems to point toward a revival headed here. It’s not every day that a visitor from Owl’s Head, Maine has such an unusual revelation for a town thousands of miles from home.
Jane flew out to northern California on July 29, 2011 to spend time with friends. They made a road trip down the coast, and arrived in Laguna Beach during the first week of August. Jane visited the second service at Church by the Sea on August 7th. Pastor Jeff was talking about the doctrinal essentials of the Evangelical Free Church.
As Jane sat in the pew, God gave her a startling vision. She felt like she was outside the church in her spirit, where she saw cloven tongues of fire on the roof of the sanctuary. All the opaque glass windows covering the sides of the church were gone. In their place, huge black speakers pointed out toward the surrounding community. “I could see people all the way down to the water trying to get to Church by the Sea,” she says. “They were pressed together like sardines, pressing in like nothing I’ve ever seen trying to get into Church by the Sea. They were on rooftops, leaning out of buildings. It was a sea of people.”
“There was something huge drawing them – signs and wonders that were incredible.”
Jane shared her vision with Jeff after the service, and he was astonished. “Something massively huge is going to happen in Laguna Beach,” Jane says with conviction. “It will be signs and wonders such as we’ve never seen. The revival is going to be from coast to coast and will spread like Holy Ghost wildfire.”
“We will be stepping out like Mark 16,” she adds. “It will be beyond everyone’s imagination.” Jane says it will involve the restoration of minds and bodies, dramatic healings, restoration of limbs, even resurrections.“God is ready to unzip heaven.”
http://markellis4.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/a-vision-of-revival-in-laguna-beach/#more-233
Jane flew out to northern California on July 29, 2011 to spend time with friends. They made a road trip down the coast, and arrived in Laguna Beach during the first week of August. Jane visited the second service at Church by the Sea on August 7th. Pastor Jeff was talking about the doctrinal essentials of the Evangelical Free Church.
As Jane sat in the pew, God gave her a startling vision. She felt like she was outside the church in her spirit, where she saw cloven tongues of fire on the roof of the sanctuary. All the opaque glass windows covering the sides of the church were gone. In their place, huge black speakers pointed out toward the surrounding community. “I could see people all the way down to the water trying to get to Church by the Sea,” she says. “They were pressed together like sardines, pressing in like nothing I’ve ever seen trying to get into Church by the Sea. They were on rooftops, leaning out of buildings. It was a sea of people.”
“There was something huge drawing them – signs and wonders that were incredible.”
Jane shared her vision with Jeff after the service, and he was astonished. “Something massively huge is going to happen in Laguna Beach,” Jane says with conviction. “It will be signs and wonders such as we’ve never seen. The revival is going to be from coast to coast and will spread like Holy Ghost wildfire.”
“We will be stepping out like Mark 16,” she adds. “It will be beyond everyone’s imagination.” Jane says it will involve the restoration of minds and bodies, dramatic healings, restoration of limbs, even resurrections.“God is ready to unzip heaven.”
http://markellis4.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/a-vision-of-revival-in-laguna-beach/#more-233
Monday, June 6, 2011
A boy named Cody
Paul's words from the book of Philippians have been playing over and over again in the back of my head the past few days. "For to live is Christ and to die is gain." "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection." "I consider it all loss compared to knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."
This past weekend was very difficult on our church and the tight knit Laguna Beach community as we all mourned the loss of Cody Day. Cody was a 15 year old boy that had fought a battle with brain cancer for 6 years of his life. After years of fighting off 100's of brain tumors and the crippling effects of radiation on his body, last Wednesday night he left his parents arms and ran into Jesus' s.
In the midst of years in the hospital and countless setbacks, a wondering world questioned "How can God stand by and let this horrible thing happen to such an innocent young boy." "Where is God." "Is God that cruel that He would not intervene?" Everyone that is, except for Cody.
At his memorial service on Saturday night, it was very evident that Cody lived life to the fullest. He ran the race. He never stopped believing in Jesus up until he took his last breathe. In fact, the very last time I prayed beside his bed, all he could make out were countless "Amens" and a hum along with our worship songs.
How? Why? It doesn't make any sense. A boy on his death bed in his state, one would argue, should be cursing God or better yet, denying God's existence.
The boy that could bring Jim Carrey to tears at a CHOC hospital fundraiser a few years ago and could even walk toe-to-toe with him in a comedy routine, knew his Maker. He knew that God was the master potter and we are but pieces of clay in the hands of the Almighty(Rom 9:21). God used all 15 years of Cody's life to the fullest to bring Himself the most glory. It was beautiful. It was magnificent. His life shouted God's love, it magnified Christ's sovereignty and it encapsulated grace and hope. Hope that one day we too will run into Jesus's arms and He will whisper to us, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Only God could turn a terrible disease into a beautiful expression of Christ conquering death.
After all, isn't that what life on Earth is all about. It's about God's story, not our story. It's about bringing God glory, not our own. It's about trusting in a God that is a solid rock for us to stand even through those storms will hit. Cody Day's life made those witnessing it, position our hearts and minds towards Christ to proclaim "For to live is CHRIST and to die is gain(Phil 1:21)" for "we will not fear though the Earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea(Psalm 46:2)." -Sam Ellis, 6/6/11
This past weekend was very difficult on our church and the tight knit Laguna Beach community as we all mourned the loss of Cody Day. Cody was a 15 year old boy that had fought a battle with brain cancer for 6 years of his life. After years of fighting off 100's of brain tumors and the crippling effects of radiation on his body, last Wednesday night he left his parents arms and ran into Jesus' s.
In the midst of years in the hospital and countless setbacks, a wondering world questioned "How can God stand by and let this horrible thing happen to such an innocent young boy." "Where is God." "Is God that cruel that He would not intervene?" Everyone that is, except for Cody.
At his memorial service on Saturday night, it was very evident that Cody lived life to the fullest. He ran the race. He never stopped believing in Jesus up until he took his last breathe. In fact, the very last time I prayed beside his bed, all he could make out were countless "Amens" and a hum along with our worship songs.
How? Why? It doesn't make any sense. A boy on his death bed in his state, one would argue, should be cursing God or better yet, denying God's existence.
The boy that could bring Jim Carrey to tears at a CHOC hospital fundraiser a few years ago and could even walk toe-to-toe with him in a comedy routine, knew his Maker. He knew that God was the master potter and we are but pieces of clay in the hands of the Almighty(Rom 9:21). God used all 15 years of Cody's life to the fullest to bring Himself the most glory. It was beautiful. It was magnificent. His life shouted God's love, it magnified Christ's sovereignty and it encapsulated grace and hope. Hope that one day we too will run into Jesus's arms and He will whisper to us, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Only God could turn a terrible disease into a beautiful expression of Christ conquering death.
After all, isn't that what life on Earth is all about. It's about God's story, not our story. It's about bringing God glory, not our own. It's about trusting in a God that is a solid rock for us to stand even through those storms will hit. Cody Day's life made those witnessing it, position our hearts and minds towards Christ to proclaim "For to live is CHRIST and to die is gain(Phil 1:21)" for "we will not fear though the Earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea(Psalm 46:2)." -Sam Ellis, 6/6/11
Monday, May 16, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Nehemiah
"It was a difficult task which he had before him, but he was not discouraged. That is what makes character. Men who can go into a hard field and succeed, they are the men we want. Any quantity of men are looking for easy places, but the world will never hear of them. We want men who are looking for hard places, who are willing to go into the darkest corners of the earth, and make those dark places bloom like gardens. They can do it if the Lord is with them." -Dwight moody, "Men of the Bible," on his chapter on Nehemiah
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
God's Redemption Started in the Garden
"We start out saying, 'If God were really a good God, He would not keep from me the things I want.' So we go on our own way to get those things and get hurt in the process. Then we blame God for the pain and in our anger we lash out at Him, 'Why did God let this happen to me?' It all starts with a question: 'Why won't God give me this?' And it ends with a question: 'Why did let this happen to me?' These are the effects of the fall of man.
God did not intend to leave man lost and hopeless. From the very beginning He had a plan. His first revelation of that plan is in Genesis 3:14-15. "And the Lord God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, And dust shall you eat all the days of your life; And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel."
This is the first promise of the Savior, the Messiah. What the Lord God describes here is the work of the cross, where Satan would bruise the heel of Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ would smash the head of the serpent. Sin is the barrier between God and man. At the cross, Jesus Christ would remove the barrier and open the door to God so that anyone could have freedom to approach God by faith in Him. The rest of the of the Bible is an account of God keeping the promise He makes here.
"And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them." (Gen. 3:21)
God's clothing of Adam and Eve is the first Biblical picture of redemption. A guiltless animal is sacrificed to provide a covering for sinful man. In accepting the covering, Adam and Eve acknowledge that they are helpless to bridge the spiritual separation from God that their sin has brought into the world.
Though they are helpless, they are still free, and they exercise their freedom this time by choosing to look forward in faith to the coming of the promised Redeemer." -Exert taken from "The Basics," by Gene Cunningham
God did not intend to leave man lost and hopeless. From the very beginning He had a plan. His first revelation of that plan is in Genesis 3:14-15. "And the Lord God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, And dust shall you eat all the days of your life; And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel."
This is the first promise of the Savior, the Messiah. What the Lord God describes here is the work of the cross, where Satan would bruise the heel of Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ would smash the head of the serpent. Sin is the barrier between God and man. At the cross, Jesus Christ would remove the barrier and open the door to God so that anyone could have freedom to approach God by faith in Him. The rest of the of the Bible is an account of God keeping the promise He makes here.
"And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them." (Gen. 3:21)
God's clothing of Adam and Eve is the first Biblical picture of redemption. A guiltless animal is sacrificed to provide a covering for sinful man. In accepting the covering, Adam and Eve acknowledge that they are helpless to bridge the spiritual separation from God that their sin has brought into the world.
Though they are helpless, they are still free, and they exercise their freedom this time by choosing to look forward in faith to the coming of the promised Redeemer." -Exert taken from "The Basics," by Gene Cunningham
Friday, February 4, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Making Sense of Your Life
Francis Chan returns to Cornerstone Church after doing mission work in China and India. Powerful testimony of what God is doing around the world. Also, if we believe the Bible, what should our lives look like?
Monday, January 24, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Vision and Darkness- My Utmost for His Highest
"When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him" —Genesis 15:12
Whenever God gives a vision to a Christian, it is as if He puts him in “the shadow of His hand” (Isaiah 49:2). The saint’s duty is to be still and listen. There is a “darkness” that comes from too much light-that is the time to listen. The story of Abram and Hagar in Genesis 16 is an excellent example of listening to so-called good advice during a time of darkness, rather than waiting for God to send the light. When God gives you a vision and darkness follows, wait. God will bring the vision He has given you to reality in your life if you will wait on His timing. Never try to help God fulfill His word. Abram went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all of his self-sufficiency was destroyed. He grew past the point of relying on his own common sense. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not a period of God’s displeasure. There is never any need to pretend that your life is filled with joy and confidence; just wait upon God and be grounded in Him (see Isaiah 50:10-11).
Do I trust at all in the flesh? Or have I learned to go beyond all confidence in myself and other people of God? Do I trust in books and prayers or other joys in my life? Or have I placed my confidence in God Himself, not in His blessings? “I am Almighty God . . .”— El-Shaddai, the All-Powerful God (Genesis 17:1). The reason we are all being disciplined is that we will know God is real. As soon as God becomes real to us, people pale by comparison, becoming shadows of reality. Nothing that other saints do or say can ever upset the one who is built on God. -My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers
Whenever God gives a vision to a Christian, it is as if He puts him in “the shadow of His hand” (Isaiah 49:2). The saint’s duty is to be still and listen. There is a “darkness” that comes from too much light-that is the time to listen. The story of Abram and Hagar in Genesis 16 is an excellent example of listening to so-called good advice during a time of darkness, rather than waiting for God to send the light. When God gives you a vision and darkness follows, wait. God will bring the vision He has given you to reality in your life if you will wait on His timing. Never try to help God fulfill His word. Abram went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all of his self-sufficiency was destroyed. He grew past the point of relying on his own common sense. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not a period of God’s displeasure. There is never any need to pretend that your life is filled with joy and confidence; just wait upon God and be grounded in Him (see Isaiah 50:10-11).
Do I trust at all in the flesh? Or have I learned to go beyond all confidence in myself and other people of God? Do I trust in books and prayers or other joys in my life? Or have I placed my confidence in God Himself, not in His blessings? “I am Almighty God . . .”— El-Shaddai, the All-Powerful God (Genesis 17:1). The reason we are all being disciplined is that we will know God is real. As soon as God becomes real to us, people pale by comparison, becoming shadows of reality. Nothing that other saints do or say can ever upset the one who is built on God. -My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Christian Classic Library
This is an excellent resource if you would like to read Christian Classic Literature.
http://www.ccel.org/
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Franciscan Prayer
"May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done." -Franciscan Prayer
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Suffering and Joy for the Christian
"God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering."-Saint Augustine
"One of the greatest evidences of God’s love to those that love him is, to send them afflictions, with grace to bear them." -John Wesley
Facts:
18 times in the New Testament, joy and suffering are linked together.
Old Testament, over 23 Hebrew words for joy
"One of the greatest evidences of God’s love to those that love him is, to send them afflictions, with grace to bear them." -John Wesley
Facts:
18 times in the New Testament, joy and suffering are linked together.
Old Testament, over 23 Hebrew words for joy
Monday, December 27, 2010
"Where the battle is won or lost"
’If you will return, O Israel,’says the Lord . .
-Jeremiah 4:1
Our battles are first won or lost in the secret places of our will in God’s presence, never in full view of the world. The Spirit of God seizes me and I am compelled to get alone with God and fight the battle before Him. Until I do this, I will lose every time. The battle may take one minute or one year, but that will depend on me, not God. However long it takes, I must wrestle with it alone before God, and I must resolve to go through the hell of renunciation or rejection before Him. Nothing has any power over someone who has fought the battle before God and won there.
I should never say, “I will wait until I get into difficult circumstances and then I’ll put God to the test.” Trying to do that will not work. I must first get the issue settled between God and myself in the secret places of my soul, where no one else can interfere. Then I can go ahead, knowing with certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity, disaster, and defeat before the world are as sure as the laws of God. The reason the battle is lost is that I fight it first in the external world. Get alone with God, do battle before Him, and settle the matter once and for all.
In dealing with other people, our stance should always be to drive them toward making a decision of their will. That is how surrendering to God begins. Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point— a great crossroads in our life. From that point we either go toward a more and more slow, lazy, and useless Christian life, or we become more and more on fire, giving our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory. -Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest"
Our battles are first won or lost in the secret places of our will in God’s presence, never in full view of the world. The Spirit of God seizes me and I am compelled to get alone with God and fight the battle before Him. Until I do this, I will lose every time. The battle may take one minute or one year, but that will depend on me, not God. However long it takes, I must wrestle with it alone before God, and I must resolve to go through the hell of renunciation or rejection before Him. Nothing has any power over someone who has fought the battle before God and won there.
I should never say, “I will wait until I get into difficult circumstances and then I’ll put God to the test.” Trying to do that will not work. I must first get the issue settled between God and myself in the secret places of my soul, where no one else can interfere. Then I can go ahead, knowing with certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity, disaster, and defeat before the world are as sure as the laws of God. The reason the battle is lost is that I fight it first in the external world. Get alone with God, do battle before Him, and settle the matter once and for all.
In dealing with other people, our stance should always be to drive them toward making a decision of their will. That is how surrendering to God begins. Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point— a great crossroads in our life. From that point we either go toward a more and more slow, lazy, and useless Christian life, or we become more and more on fire, giving our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory. -Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest"
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Prayer
“It is necessary that we should be subject, from first to last, to the scourges of God, in order that we may from the heart call on him; for our hearts are enfeebled by prosperity, so that we cannot make the effort to pray.” John Calvin
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Responsibility of a Christian
"If we have no sense of responsibility for the condition of humanity at this moment, then there is only one thing to say- if we are Christians at all, we are very poor ones. If we are only concerned about ourselves and our own happiness, and if the moral condition of society and the tragedy of the whole world does not grieve us, if we are not disturbed at the way in which men blaspheme the name of God and all the arrogance of sin- well, what can be said about us?" -Joy Unspeakable
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
The Importance of Hell by Tim Keller
"There are plenty of people today who don't believe in the Bible's teaching on everlasting punishment, even those who do find it an unreal and a remote concept.
In 2003 a research group discovered 64% of Americans expect to go to heaven when they die, but less than 1% think they might go to hell. Not only are there plenty of people today who don't believe in the Bible's teaching on everlasting punishment, even those who do find it an unreal and a remote concept. Nevertheless, it is a very important part of the Christian faith, for several reasons.
1. It is important because Jesus taught about it more than all other Biblical authors put together. Jesus speaks of "eternal fire and punishment" as the final abode of the angels and human beings who have rejected God (Matthew 25:41,46) He says that those who give into sin will be in danger of the "fire of hell" (Matthew 5:22; 18:8-9.) The word Jesus uses for 'hell' is Gehenna, a valley in which piles of garbage were daily burned as well as the corpses of those without families who could bury them. In Mark 9:43 Jesus speaks of a person going to "hell [gehenna], where 'their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.' " Jesus is referring to the maggots that live in the corpses on the garbage heap. When all the flesh is consumed, the maggots die. Jesus is saying, however, that the spiritual decomposition of hell never ends, and that is why 'their worm does not die.'
Read the rest at: http://redeemer.com/news_and_events/articles/the_importance_of_hell.html
In 2003 a research group discovered 64% of Americans expect to go to heaven when they die, but less than 1% think they might go to hell. Not only are there plenty of people today who don't believe in the Bible's teaching on everlasting punishment, even those who do find it an unreal and a remote concept. Nevertheless, it is a very important part of the Christian faith, for several reasons.
1. It is important because Jesus taught about it more than all other Biblical authors put together. Jesus speaks of "eternal fire and punishment" as the final abode of the angels and human beings who have rejected God (Matthew 25:41,46) He says that those who give into sin will be in danger of the "fire of hell" (Matthew 5:22; 18:8-9.) The word Jesus uses for 'hell' is Gehenna, a valley in which piles of garbage were daily burned as well as the corpses of those without families who could bury them. In Mark 9:43 Jesus speaks of a person going to "hell [gehenna], where 'their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.' " Jesus is referring to the maggots that live in the corpses on the garbage heap. When all the flesh is consumed, the maggots die. Jesus is saying, however, that the spiritual decomposition of hell never ends, and that is why 'their worm does not die.'
Read the rest at: http://redeemer.com/news_and_events/articles/the_importance_of_hell.html
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
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