Showing posts with label Elemental. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elemental. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
AC3 VB191 Elemental For Gods Glory
Monday, October 22, 2018
Water Gifts-Elemental-Week 4
Drip, Drop, Roar!
It starts as just a droplet, then another, then another, each drop joining its kind to first become a puddle. Then it continues with each drop becoming bigger, more, larger; the puddle becomes a pond or a small flood. It keeps growing with each drop; lakes, rivers, oceans all are formed with the same beginning…one little drop. This is the force of water, one of the prime elements; often overlooked and underestimated, yet life cannot exist without it.
Like the element, so are the spiritual gifts which fall under its domain. Each gift builds upon itself; first with small seemingly insignificant acts, often not even seen or perceived, BUT no less powerful. These small acts begin to build upon one another until they are as strong as waves as the tide rushes in. The Water gifts include Faith, Encouragement, Hospitality, Mercy, and Words of Wisdom. Each of these gifts can seem small, insignificant, and without pizzazz, but sit back and watch closely and you can see they are just as great as the God who blesses them upon us.
Paul urges Timothy “Do not neglect your gift…” (1 Timothy 4:14) yet when your gift is one without the “Wow” factor, it really seems hard not to at times. What does one do with a gifting in Faith? Or the gift of Encouragement may seem like, “Oh great I missed my calling as a cheerleader”. God, however, uses each attribute wonderfully and often without you knowing it.
Jesus tells us that with the faith the size of a mustard seed we can command the mountain to throw itself into the sea (Matthew 21:21). There is no weakness in the faith gifting; without those who have unwavering faith who will be the rock and mortar that keeps the rest of us going, even in the darkest hour of our lives? Without encouragement who is to stop us from giving up and giving in when times are hard? Hospitality is what keeps us together and mercy never leaves anyone behind. And those of us with the gifting of Word(s) of Wisdom, let them speak when the spirit is moving in them and clarity will abound.
If you are like me, a Water element with spiritual giftings like faith, encouragement, hospitality, mercy, and word of wisdom; don’t sell it short. God has great things in store for you. As for you others who might look down upon the water gifts, or even those who look at them with complacency; watch out the water is rising and we can have all the power of the Tsunami, but with the subtlety of a single drop.
~Written by Christian Love, Elder at AC3
Monday, October 15, 2018
Earth Gifts-Elemental-Week 3
Craftsmanship is one my giftings.
I remember many years ago about the time that the first Matrix movie came out, Dan Hazen taught a class about how to measure what your God-given giftings are, and how to apply them to serve the church. Through that class, I learned my top gift was craftsmanship. At that time we had just finished remodeling the church, so that builder side of me was all done and hungry for something else... But now what?
After taking the class, like I said, I found that my highest scoring gift was craftsmanship, but somehow that didn't surprise me. I thought it might be that, anyway. After the class, I asked Dan how I can get my craftsmanship gifts in the game and his answer would change the direction of my life for the next 10 plus years.
Dan told me to check with Johnna and see if she needed a hand with the drama side of the props or drama sets. When I checked with her, she said, " I need the Nebuchadnezzar built for a fight scene". I asked her, "the what?" She told me to rent the movie The Matrix and watch it. I had a hard time finding it, but after 10 days of waiting for it to show up at the Hollywood Video store I watched it and got busy. I have made many things since that day. Hundreds of different sets. Using wood, styrofoam, sheetrock, siding, plaster, paint, hot glue, rubber cement, plastic pipes, thousands of screws, bolts, chain and wires, and gallons and gallons of paint. It has been very rewarding and very sacrificing. I took it to a new level a few times, it was challenging but it was NEVER too hard to do because God gave me what I needed to do it all. All I needed to do was manage my time, and be willing to serve. And pray for His guidance and empowerment.
There was a time or two where I tried to do it all by my own strength and abilities only to come to my senses by hearing the words of my coffee bearing friend the next morning after pulling an all-nighter. "How's it going?" he would say. I'd answer him "Can't you tell?" He asked me, "please tell me you prayed first" and I would stop dead in my tracks and just stare at him tired and with a sense of defeat, I would reply "uhhmmm no I did not." We would stop and sit quietly and my friend Joe would pray for me. And almost instantly my giftings would come alive. And the project would prevail.
I have taken a 5-year break from most of the stage creations, but the fire has returned and I hope to be busy at it again soon. There's nothing quite as satisfying as accomplishing something God made you to do. My hope is that God is glorified by the efforts spent serving his Bride, the Church. So take the test, find your giftings, then find some time and get involved, it's a wonderful experience when you're doing it with Him at your side.
Wayne Clinton
Elder at AC3
I remember many years ago about the time that the first Matrix movie came out, Dan Hazen taught a class about how to measure what your God-given giftings are, and how to apply them to serve the church. Through that class, I learned my top gift was craftsmanship. At that time we had just finished remodeling the church, so that builder side of me was all done and hungry for something else... But now what?
After taking the class, like I said, I found that my highest scoring gift was craftsmanship, but somehow that didn't surprise me. I thought it might be that, anyway. After the class, I asked Dan how I can get my craftsmanship gifts in the game and his answer would change the direction of my life for the next 10 plus years.
Dan told me to check with Johnna and see if she needed a hand with the drama side of the props or drama sets. When I checked with her, she said, " I need the Nebuchadnezzar built for a fight scene". I asked her, "the what?" She told me to rent the movie The Matrix and watch it. I had a hard time finding it, but after 10 days of waiting for it to show up at the Hollywood Video store I watched it and got busy. I have made many things since that day. Hundreds of different sets. Using wood, styrofoam, sheetrock, siding, plaster, paint, hot glue, rubber cement, plastic pipes, thousands of screws, bolts, chain and wires, and gallons and gallons of paint. It has been very rewarding and very sacrificing. I took it to a new level a few times, it was challenging but it was NEVER too hard to do because God gave me what I needed to do it all. All I needed to do was manage my time, and be willing to serve. And pray for His guidance and empowerment.
There was a time or two where I tried to do it all by my own strength and abilities only to come to my senses by hearing the words of my coffee bearing friend the next morning after pulling an all-nighter. "How's it going?" he would say. I'd answer him "Can't you tell?" He asked me, "please tell me you prayed first" and I would stop dead in my tracks and just stare at him tired and with a sense of defeat, I would reply "uhhmmm no I did not." We would stop and sit quietly and my friend Joe would pray for me. And almost instantly my giftings would come alive. And the project would prevail.
I have taken a 5-year break from most of the stage creations, but the fire has returned and I hope to be busy at it again soon. There's nothing quite as satisfying as accomplishing something God made you to do. My hope is that God is glorified by the efforts spent serving his Bride, the Church. So take the test, find your giftings, then find some time and get involved, it's a wonderful experience when you're doing it with Him at your side.
Wayne Clinton
Elder at AC3
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
AC3 VB190 Elemental "Win"
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Fire Gifts-Elemental-Week 2
Fire! (an inner monologue)
Fire! the readout said moments after I clicked for My Result. The giftings I have received from the Holy Spirit are represented by fire - at least according to the automated assessment of a hundred answered questions. Fire hardly seems like it would fit my character - I am an introvert after all, I don't really like public speaking and I'm certainly never going to form my own cult of personality. Yet I do like to think deeply on the things of God, and I do like to encourage others to do the same - sometimes even to their aggravation with me. And what good would that be to anyone in the church? I think maybe I should run through the spiritual gifts survey one more time - just to get a second opinion… ya know...
Fire! again. Oh, bother.
The readout gives some example giftings:
Teaching, evangelism, prophecy, pastor, leadership, discernment.
So what does that mean I'm supposed to do? I've never really seen myself as a Teacher, I don't really feel confident enough to expect others will even listen to me. Am I supposed to mimic what Rick does up on stage? Maybe I can just teach a small group bible study instead? Or maybe I can just write up a lesson for the church newsletter every now and again?
Yikes! Evangelism is one of the fire gifts... that scares my shoelaces off. How can an introvert like me take on something so big, so important, so... frightening? Maybe I should take the survey test just one more time...
Fire! again... dang.
And what's this? Prophecy? Does that mean I'm going to have to get in people’s faces about their sin like Jeremiah and Isaiah did? Oh, I couldn't do that - that is even scarier than evangelism (although maybe in a way they are the same thing? I'll have to think on that some more...)
The Fire gifts also include leadership and pastoring... does that mean I'm being called into full-time ministry? I'm not so sure I want that... in fact, I'm quite confident I don't want that. Does my resistance to becoming a church pastor mean I'm going to be out of God's will?
The last one on the list of giftings is Discernment. Finally, a description I am comfortable with. I mean... certainly I could develop discernment a great deal more, but I feel no resistance to this either - after all, who doesn't want to be discerning. It seems that not being discerning would mean being easily deceived - clearly something to avoid I would think. But if this is a gift empowered by the Holy Spirit Himself, perhaps there is more to it than just my own personal development skills... Surely there must be something spiritual about it all right?
So what am I supposed to do with all this? How does my own personality and identity match up with the expectations that seem to come along with the Fire giftings? I know... I will talk to Rick or Dan about it. Or maybe the elders can help me sort this out. They will probably tell me I should spend some time in prayer about it – and obviously, they would not be wrong. I can't be the only person in this church feeling overwhelmed by this... so maybe I should connect with some other people who also have Fire giftings, maybe study scripture together a bit and perhaps even pray together about how our unique sort of giftings should build up and bless our church family. Yeah yeah... that is exactly what I'm gonna do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wrote the above initially as an exercise to get me started on this writing thingy. I wanted to try to figure out what was important to say to Christians just learning about their spiritual gifts. I think the first thing I want to say is that, even though the giftings have names and fit into a few category boxes, each of us are unique, each Christian has a unique relationship with the Holy Spirit within them, and also a unique relationship with the humans around them - this means that the gift of teaching, for example, will find its expression in unique ways and circumstances.
Life with God is a dynamic thing. We spend energy to systematize it and categorize “The Christian Life”, but in any given moment the only thing that really has any value is relationship with God and others. Our systems may indeed help prepare us to engage in these moments, but they can also result in us getting trapped in the systems if we are not careful.
Where shall I "land the plane" (as Rick likes to say)? It is here - spiritual gifts are entirely relational (Love God, Love People). Do not try to figure out your giftings, or what they mean for your life path, in isolation from others. The categories we place these giftings in are meant only to be a help - not a nine-lock-box to get trapped in. There are others around you finding themselves in the same place of wonder and confusion - this is a blessing – a part of being the church - so go be confused together... go wonder in love.
~Written by Shea Caperoon
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
AC3 VB189 Elemental
Monday, October 1, 2018
Miracle Gifts--Elemental-Week 1
I became a Christian at 15. And almost instantly it seemed, I started looking differently at that institution which was simultaneously, the bane of my existence, the dominant feature of my WHOLE way of life, the source of my pride and joy all rolled into one – my HIGH SCHOOL.
My High School suddenly became an arena for MISSION. I stopped seeing it only as classes and friends, teachers and grades and getting ready for college – and a place to be rejected by females. It was still all that, but now it was something more. I had read these words of Jesus a million times, but suddenly reborn, I realized they applied to ME.
Matt 5:13-15 - "You are the salt of the earth. …"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Accordingly, I began to see my high school through Jesus' eyes, as a dark place that needed some light. I saw it as a rotting place and I was the salt called to rub in there and keep it from decay. I saw it as a foreign country and I was an ambassador to it.
So I started to look for opportunities for conversations, relationships, and good deeds I could engage in to direct people to the God who had bought me and loved me.
The way I saw my High School is how I think Christians ought to see the world. The world is the Titanic Sinking, in two ways:
On one hand, it is a disaster from which I must flee: Its values, its habits, its thinking were a threat to my very soul and I needed to separate myself. On the other hand, it was an opportunity; a tragedy which called out for action and intervention.
If I had fled by getting in the Lifeboat, others were still floating in the water, lost and in need. So now it was my duty to go back in. Being pulled into the Lifeboat, immediately puts me on a Mission back to the disaster from whence I came.
Now, some of you maybe have been cowed into thinking that it’s presumptuous of you to think you could be on a mission from God; to think God could USE you. And maybe on your own, the mysterious life change that God has in mind for lost humanity would be impossible to realize. But what if I told you, God has rigged the game? What if I told you, God had accounted for you limitations when he called you the salt and light of the World?
In fact, the recurring teaching of the New Testament is that every follower of Jesus whom he commissions as his Ambassadors also has been divinely enabled by his Spirit to follow that commission. In October, we’ll look at all those divine enablements, and we’ll categorize them into four groupings in four weeks. And you will find yourself in at least one group and realize that you – yes you! – have been equipped for your part in the rescue operation.
The first week we’ll deal with “Wind” gifts – the miracle gifts that Christians often debate about their validity and operation. But it’s a good place to start a series on gifting because, in some sense, EVERY gift is a miracle gift! Because every gift comes from the Holy Spirit inside, who energizes you and brings disproportionate (read: a miraculous amount of) fruit out of a particular service you render.
This miraculous quality of the gifts applies not just to the superstar gifts that everyone sees – leadership, teaching, evangelism. It applies to everyone because we ALL are gifted to serve the great Mission.
Look at the early church. Aside from the likes of Peter and Paul we have Dorcas, a humble old lady known for her part in the Mission: “She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.”
Transformed people in the early church lived out their gifting so effectively, they turned the Roman Empire upside down in 300 years. One church father quoted outsiders looking in saying: "See, how they love one another!”
They fed orphans and took in abandoned babies. Women streamed into the early church because it was a haven from Roman misogyny, that used them as sex objects, got them married by age 13 and left them to starve after they were widowed. While plagues were causing Romans to toss even their own family members into the street, or leave town, Christians serving with their gifts, were found moving in to care for the sick and take them in.
Jesus one time said we followers would do “greater things”. How could that be, when Jesus did some pretty great things? But what if he didn’t mean greater physical miracles, but greater spiritual fruit? While Jesus had done amazing things, in 300 years, his followers had turned an entire Pagan Empire, Christian.
It is your destiny to serve the Great Mission, and your gifts are the miraculous provision God has given you to participate in it!
~Written by Rick Thiessen
My High School suddenly became an arena for MISSION. I stopped seeing it only as classes and friends, teachers and grades and getting ready for college – and a place to be rejected by females. It was still all that, but now it was something more. I had read these words of Jesus a million times, but suddenly reborn, I realized they applied to ME.
Matt 5:13-15 - "You are the salt of the earth. …"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Accordingly, I began to see my high school through Jesus' eyes, as a dark place that needed some light. I saw it as a rotting place and I was the salt called to rub in there and keep it from decay. I saw it as a foreign country and I was an ambassador to it.
So I started to look for opportunities for conversations, relationships, and good deeds I could engage in to direct people to the God who had bought me and loved me.
The way I saw my High School is how I think Christians ought to see the world. The world is the Titanic Sinking, in two ways:
On one hand, it is a disaster from which I must flee: Its values, its habits, its thinking were a threat to my very soul and I needed to separate myself. On the other hand, it was an opportunity; a tragedy which called out for action and intervention.
If I had fled by getting in the Lifeboat, others were still floating in the water, lost and in need. So now it was my duty to go back in. Being pulled into the Lifeboat, immediately puts me on a Mission back to the disaster from whence I came.
Now, some of you maybe have been cowed into thinking that it’s presumptuous of you to think you could be on a mission from God; to think God could USE you. And maybe on your own, the mysterious life change that God has in mind for lost humanity would be impossible to realize. But what if I told you, God has rigged the game? What if I told you, God had accounted for you limitations when he called you the salt and light of the World?
In fact, the recurring teaching of the New Testament is that every follower of Jesus whom he commissions as his Ambassadors also has been divinely enabled by his Spirit to follow that commission. In October, we’ll look at all those divine enablements, and we’ll categorize them into four groupings in four weeks. And you will find yourself in at least one group and realize that you – yes you! – have been equipped for your part in the rescue operation.
The first week we’ll deal with “Wind” gifts – the miracle gifts that Christians often debate about their validity and operation. But it’s a good place to start a series on gifting because, in some sense, EVERY gift is a miracle gift! Because every gift comes from the Holy Spirit inside, who energizes you and brings disproportionate (read: a miraculous amount of) fruit out of a particular service you render.
This miraculous quality of the gifts applies not just to the superstar gifts that everyone sees – leadership, teaching, evangelism. It applies to everyone because we ALL are gifted to serve the great Mission.
Look at the early church. Aside from the likes of Peter and Paul we have Dorcas, a humble old lady known for her part in the Mission: “She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.”
Transformed people in the early church lived out their gifting so effectively, they turned the Roman Empire upside down in 300 years. One church father quoted outsiders looking in saying: "See, how they love one another!”
They fed orphans and took in abandoned babies. Women streamed into the early church because it was a haven from Roman misogyny, that used them as sex objects, got them married by age 13 and left them to starve after they were widowed. While plagues were causing Romans to toss even their own family members into the street, or leave town, Christians serving with their gifts, were found moving in to care for the sick and take them in.
Jesus one time said we followers would do “greater things”. How could that be, when Jesus did some pretty great things? But what if he didn’t mean greater physical miracles, but greater spiritual fruit? While Jesus had done amazing things, in 300 years, his followers had turned an entire Pagan Empire, Christian.
It is your destiny to serve the Great Mission, and your gifts are the miraculous provision God has given you to participate in it!
~Written by Rick Thiessen
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