Category: Today @ The Gathering

Today @ The Gathering we dealt with the message “The Day God Screamed, ‘Lighten Up!’” The subtitle of this talk was “God came so that where there is night, there is light.”

We were encouraged today to “Lighten up.” Christmas means that light has come and the darkness can never put it out. No matter how bad things become, the light will prevail. God will prevail. This enduring rumor of hope called the gospel of Jesus Christ has been and will continue to be the light of the world as we move into the future.

If you read the headlines and listen to people about how we’re descending into moral, ethical, political, and national chaos, you might tend to believe that God is somehow finished with us. Either He is so disgusted with what we’ve done with His world that He is simply going to let us destroy ourselves, or He is incapable, or worse yet, He doesn’t care.

It is the message of Christmas that says God has invaded our world, never to leave. The light has come. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Those who follow me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” What a promise that Christmas makes!

We talked about the two myths of Christmas: Christmas is just for children. It is G-rated. And secondly, Christmas is just for decorating or for covering up. Neither of which is true. Christmas isn’t just a nice holiday about a baby in a manger, or a fat man in red clothes, or excuses to buy presents or to take off work.

This is really serious business. This is high-drama. This is life on the edge at its best. The ultimate insider – God – coming to be born as an ultimate outsider; outside the city, outside of culture, outside of privilege; no royal robes or castles, no armies, no overt exerting of power, no bombs bursting, no dead bodies strewn across in His Kingdom. It is a Kingdom of love.

This was a powerful and important message given today and would really be a great time to subscribe to the podcast so you can receive these weekly talks that we experience at The Gathering, delivered straight to your computer and downloaded to your iPod.

We were also reminded of our Christmas Eve services tomorrow night at 4:00 and 6:00 at The Embassy Suites Cool Springs 820 Crescent Centre Drive. This will be a celebration you won’t want to miss. So bring your friends and families for a perfect way to start your celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Today @ The Gathering we completed our current series, “Everything Begins With a Dream” with “Day 1+: The Day You Get Fired!”

During this talk we gained perspective on what happens when we achieve our goals or dreams. Oftentimes we stop right there, assuming that we’re done, failing to realize and utilize what our dreams have just taught us.

We used Jesus’ reference about new wine not being placed in old wineskins, that every good thing that God has done will come to an end and be replaced by a better thing. We learned that “At the end of every good thing is a better thing waiting to be born if you’re able to receive it.” (David Foster)

We learned about the four things we get from dreaming and achieving our dreams, and they’re not exactly what we might expect. We also learned about the three dangers that happen after you cross the goal line of a great achievement. They can blindside you if you’re not looking for them. We also talked about the three reasons dreamers always dream dreams and aspire to do great things even after significant achievements.

The conclusion of our message stressed the importance of setting goals, particularly this time of year. And the next Dave Rave will contain the 10 practical steps on how to set goals and go about achieving them.

It was announced that next Sunday at The Gathering we’ll be observing communion at both services and we were reminded of the new time change that will take effect January 6th from the current 8:30 and 10:00 service times to 9:00 and 10:30 as we move into the New Year.

We also talked about the special Christmas offering at our Christmas Eve services this year that will go to begin a facilities fund in order to prepare us for what God has for us in the future in terms of a location once we’ve maxed out our capacity here at the theatre.

Today @ The Gathering we completed Day 7 in the life of a big, scary, audacious dream with the message entitled, “The Day You Refuse to Quit.”

Quitting is epidemic in our culture. Our economy is based on it. It’s called planned obsolescence. We buy things, use them, and throw them away. And while that may work for things, it’s a terrible way to build a life and a rotten way to try to sustain relationships.

During this talk we dealt with the three measurements that will be applied to our lives. They’re not what you think. These measurements have nothing to do with achievements or the acquisition of goods, but something far more profound than that, as you’ll discover when you listen to this talk.

We were given four ways that we can get up in down times. A part of this list of practical spiritual disciplines was dealing with 2 Peter 1, where Peter told us to add to our faith so we wouldn’t become ineffective and unproductive in our knowledge of Christ. How many people simply name the name of Jesus, but there is no depth or content to that profession? There are no feet put to the actions and attitudes that they claim. Ultimately we have to prove to people that we know God by our actions and our attitudes.

Also this weekend it was announced that our year-end offering this year will go toward creating a facilities fund for The Gathering. As God continues to bless and more people continue to come, we’ll eventually outgrow the theatre in which we are meeting. Right now is the time to plan for that, so that when God opens up a warehouse, a storefront or some other venue, we’ll have some resources to help us seize the opportunities.

So if God has blessed you and you’re looking for a place to invest as this year comes to an end, consider giving generously at our Christmas Eve service to our new facilities fund.

Also, remember to make a point to attend The Gathering on December 23rd as we observe communion during both of our services.

Today @ The Gathering we continued the series entitled “Everything Begins With a Dream,” with “Day 5: The Day You Get Picky: How to find and form your own dream team.”

Here is the bottom line: Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future. You will eventually become like the people you hang around. You’ll rise no higher than the level of those around you. So it’s really important to get picky, especially when it comes to the people you hang around with; the people you share your deepest secrets with.

Think of it. Even Jesus, the Son of God, our Savior went out to a mountain to spend the night praying. What was he praying about? He was praying about the next day, when he would choose his inner circle of twelve, called his disciples. And even that circle of twelve was divided into three groups of four.

You cannot be fully human and fully spiritual without the involvement of the right kind of people in your life. Life is definitely not a solo sport. Nothing in life has meaning outside of relationships; no job, no work, no sacrifice, or no object of attainment ever comes without the meaning that’s attached to it through the powerful relationships of our lives.

Oftentimes we as Christians get confused just because Jesus said that we’re to love others as ourselves, and that we’re to never use any discrimination or judgment of whom we let into our inner circle.

There are those people out there who we deal with every day. They’re the people we are to love, believing that everyone we come into contact with is a person worthy of God’s love, and hurting somewhere.

There are also those who come a little closer to home; the people who are on our team. Those are the people we gather together with to achieve a task. Oftentimes as you know, we have little in common with these people except the task itself.

Then there is what I call our inner circle, our dream team: those few people we let into our personal lives. These are the people we need to choose very carefully.

Check out the three questions, we need to ask of those we choose to be in our inner circle. We also identified the 3 kinds of poisonous people we need to avoid.

If you feel dread about going to work tomorrow, it may not be the work, but the workers. To help change this, today, draw a distinction between those on your team (a task motivated group) and those in your inner circle.

Next week we continue with Day 6: The Day You Get Desperate.

Check out the pod cast and visit the web site everythingbeginswithadream.com to continue the learning experience.

Today @ The Gathering we continued the series entitled “Everything Begins With a Dream,” with “Day 4: The Day You Steal a Brain.”

In real life there are three ways that we learn and advance. We learn from our own mistakes, oftentimes we fail to learn from our mistakes, and then we can learn from the mistakes of others. That’s the day when we realize that we don’t have to have all the experiences, good or bad, in order to get smarter, stronger, and wiser.

Today we heard about the ten qualities of great dreamers through the ages, as contained in the pages of Scripture. We talked about things like faith, humility, integrity, courage, optimism, decisiveness, wisdom, passion, enthusiasm, and vision; all qualities of great dreamers. At the heart of the matter, God is more interested in the work He’s doing in us than the work He’s doing through us.

The question for each of us is, “How will we invest our time in the pursuit of something great and beyond our own talent? If all a relationship with Jesus Christ is, is getting a ticket punched to heaven and avoiding hell, then why do we live such long lives after the moments of our conversion?” It is because we’ve been put in the world to redeem and restore what has gone wrong with the world. We are the solution that we see.

So what dream are you pursuing that fills a need, lifts a load, rights a wrong; a dream that is beyond your ability, and will take God to show up in order to achieve? It’s your choice, whether you live a common, ordinary life as a victim, or an inspiring life of a great achiever, who is a victor in Christ.

Make sure, if you haven’t this week, to stop by everythingbeginswithadream.com and participate. You’ll be glad you did.

Today @ The Gathering we continued with the series entitled “Everything Begins With a Dream,” with installment “Day 3: The Day The Facts Don’t Matter.”

Today we dealt with how to guard your dream against good advice. At the end of the day, advice is a good thing, a very good thing. But it’s not always a God thing. Sometimes we listen to the wrong advisors; advisors who limit us and discourage us; who give us sometimes unethical advice, sometimes unqualified advice, and often at the worst times, unsolicited advice.

God has left you on this planet for a reason; to fill a need, right a wrong, heal a hurt, to advance the good, and to bring Him honor. Maybe it’s to start a company, to invent something, write a book, write a strategy, write a song, or write a symphony; to do something that promotes truth, beauty, love, and honor. There are challenges around us every day. The question is which one will you pick up?

We talked about Gideon, the youngest guy of the smallest family of the smallest tribe of Israel. Bottom line, a nobody. During a time of national crisis, God appeared to Gideon. And in that moment Gideon let out all of his frustration. If God was good and He was with them, how could He allow all the bad things to happen? Not unlike the questions we ask today.

God’s response was not what Gideon wanted or what we want to hear. God looked at Gideon and said, “Go in your own strength, save your country, and I’ll be with you.” In other words, Gideon was the solution. What an audacious thing to think; that whatever God does in the world, He does in partnership with ordinary, average, broken, wounded, weak men and women.

How about you? What dream are you dreaming? What are you committed to that’s so large that if God doesn’t show up, you’re doomed for failure? Make sure you listen to the podcast. This is one you don’t want to miss.

Also go to everythingbeginswithadream.com and read the dreams and excuses, and make a contribution yourself. Remember all the entries are anonymous.

Today @ The Gathering we began a brand new series entitled “Everything Begins With a Dream.”

During this 8-part series we’ll be talking about the 7 days in the life of a big, scary, audacious dream; the 7 days that can take your life from boring to amazing, realizing that God placed you here for a purpose, and wants you to pursue and achieve great things.

Today we talked about “Day 1: The Day You Burn the Lazyboy.”

We talked about the three options you have in life:

1. You can be drowned by your dreads.
2. You can be driven by your schemes.
3. You can be drawn by your dreams.

How sad it is that often the older we get, the less we dream; the more we hope or aspire. But remember dreaming, achieving great things for God, has nothing to do with age. You’re never too old to dream a new dream. You’re never too young to begin. Remember, getting older is a privilege. Getting old is a choice.

We also defined what kind of dreams we’re talking about; not just any type of dream that we might think about. For example dreaming is not about new cars or new houses or material things. It’s about something much, much bigger than that.

So here is what we mean by big, scary, audacious dreams. There are three qualifications:

1. The big, scary, audacious dream is far bigger than me and my resources at this moment.
2. It is doomed for failure without divine favor.
3. A big, scary, audacious dream dares to change the status quo. It’s the kind of dream that finds a need and fills it, finds a wrong and rights it, and sees a hurt and heals it. It changes things. It advances the good. Its results are all out of proportion to its initial beginnings.

Remember, everything begins. Every business, every product; countries, nations rise and fall on the dreams of those who initiate: the founders the pioneers. You could be one. Make sure you join us for each of these 7-day installments. And be sure to visit everythingbeginswithadream.com and list your own dreams and regrets.

Today @ The Gathering we completed our series “7 Lies of Organized Religion,” with the last installment entitled, “God does mean well, but it’s really all up to you.”

Of all the religious lies, this one is the most deceptive and ultimately devastating. And it questions whether God is good or great or both by refusing to accept the fact that He has a purpose for everything, even suffering.

We dealt with the reasons that God allows us to suffer in a straight-forward way by first of all making two absolute statements that you can get up and go to bed with every single day. They are:

1. God never betrays a trust.
2. God never breaks a promise.

If God is a promise-making God and a promise-keeping God, and if God promises that if we trust Him, we will never be put to shame, that He will never fail us; then circumstances always are interpreted in light of those two great promises.

Of the nine reasons we dealt with today, two of the most powerful were, number one, suffering is indeed a downside of God’s gift of choice. God has given each one of us the gift of choice and if we use that gift well, good things happen. But if we don’t we can be devastated.

That having been said, the real question is, do other people’s stupid choices diminish my life? And the answer is absolutely not. God is so big and so good, that He is able to give each one of us freedom to make choices; choices that can have a direct impact on us. Choices like, to get a divorce, to break a contract, to not honor an agreement. And yet even in those reversals and betrayals, God protects us. Other people’s sin does not have to diminish our own life.

The second point made during this message that really stood out in people’s minds was that suffering is the way we grow. We don’t grow in a vacuum. We don’t learn things just by studying a book, or a sheet of notes, or sitting in a Sunday school class. We have to live it every single day, to put it into practice.

It was really great to see all the new faces today and prepare for next week as we begin our brand new series, “Everything Begins With A Dream.” Make sure you grab someone and bring them with you next week for the start of this brand new series. We’ll be talking about the seven days in the life of a big, audacious, scary dream.

Today @ The Gathering we continued in our current series “7 Lies of Organized Religion,” with installment #6 entitled, “The Bible was OK then, but we know better now.”

We talked about three current views of Scripture.

1. Some people view the Bible as an outdated book of rules. Who can blame them when you think of all the negative stuff that comes from religious people bent on having their own way? The Bible has been used to prove or disprove religious opinion over the century and it has come to be looked at as negative and out of date.

2. Some view the Bible as a composite of biased opinions. People who interpret Scripture do so oftentimes for their own self-justification or self-serving ideas. So people assume the idea that Scriptures just must be whatever you think they are and how you want to interpret them in your context.

3. Some people view the Bible as a religious artifact. In other words, just information about what happened long ago that really has no relative connection to my life here and now. And yet the Scriptures themselves claim to be able to change the heart of those who really embrace and engage its truth.

We took a 22-step journey as a rational reason to believe that the Bible is indeed God’s word. It would be worth listening to in the podcast.

We finished with the six reasons why we can trust the Scripture in our lives everyday. At the end of the day, that’s really the litmus test; does it say anything to modern life? It was Solomon who said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” And truly the plight and blights of humanity are all covered in the Scripture. There is nothing new under the sun. As Malcom Muggeridge, the British journalist said, “News is old things happening to new people.”

If you are looking for reasons to trust the Scriptures as a foundation on which to build your life; then make sure you listen to today’s talk.

The 7 Lies series comes to a close next week when we begin talking about suffering and how we explain why bad things happen to good people for no apparent reason.

Our new series, “Everything Begins With A Dream” begins on October 28. This will a life-changing series as we learn about the 7 days in the life of a big, scary, audacious dream.

Today @ The Gathering we continued in our current series “7 Lies of Organized Religion,” with installment #5 which says, “As long as you’re sincere, all roads lead to God.”

One of the major problems people have with Christianity is its exclusive claim, its truth-claim that Jesus Christ is indeed the way, the truth, and the life, as He claimed. People believe that this seems too narrow and contradictory.

So in order to avoid facing the reality, we’ve invented new realities which religion has embraced and expressed in sayings like, “It doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere.” Or, “If you go to church as much as you can, be as good as you can, you might have a decent shot at heaven.” Or, “If your good outweighs your bad, you’re in.” Issues of eternity are way too important to be left up to these irrational, religious excuses to avoid the truth.

Today we talked about the three reasons why what we believe really matters.

1. There’s such a thing as truth and non-truth. This introduces us to the law of non-contradiction. A thing can’t be true and not true at the same time. If you ask a woman, “Are you pregnant?” she’s either pregnant or not. You either are or you’re not. You’re not just a little bit.

2. There’s such a thing as trust and non-trust. Trust is built on truth. If there is no truth, then there can be no trust.

3. There’s such a thing as love and non-love. A thing is either loving or non-loving. Love can’t exist where there is no trust. And trust can’t exist where there is no truth. So you can understand why truth is so important to building an inner life.

4. Maybe the most important, there is such a thing as eternal life and judgment. No matter how much we try to avoid it, all of us face the end of our lives. At the end of a long road, there is a debt that we all have to pay; the debt of dying a physical death. And yet even Jesus said that the gift of God is eternal life.

We also dealt with the 4 Freedoms: the freedom from the fear of death, judgment, being abandoned, and being forgotten.

This is an exciting series. If you’ve missed any of the 4 parts leading up to today, check out the podcast and get caught up. Next week will be an exciting week as we turn to Lie # 6. You won’t want to miss it.

Invite a friend to come and be a part!

Today @ The Gathering we continued in our series “7 Lies of Organized Religion,” with installment #4 entitled, “Bottom line: we’re in this mess because of women.”

This was an incredibly important talk, because historically women have not fared very well in religious terms. There are many religions that believe that women are inferior to men and really only find their identity in men. There are certain religions, even popular ones among us, that teach that cannot enter into heaven other than under the approval and authority of a man.

It really is a shame how women have been treated and how religious bullies have twisted the truth in order to make women feel inferior. It certainly has to have some expression in our modern culture where women basically are viewed as things. This is not so with God.

The message today was broken down into two different sections: How it’s Been, and How it Is. How it’s been begins with a lie that says women are spiritually inferior and must bow to the authority of men. So under the influence of religion women have been viewed as inferior to men, and in some cases, actually the property of men. Women are only good for having children and staying home and serving their men.

Now I would never discount the importance of children. And I certainly applaud women who make the choice to stay home to raise their children. What a great calling and a great task! But I also know there are many women who don’t have that privilege, either the financial where-with-all, or the support it would take.

So which is more important for a woman to do? Have children, stay home, and raise them? Or have children and push ahead in their career? Or not have children? To get married? Stay single? All these issues call for balance and right interpretation. And that is exactly what has not happened when it comes to religion and women.

This is an important talk and it would be worth it, if you haven’t subscribed to the podcast, to download it and have discussion among your friends, family members, or study group.

Today at The Gathering we covered part 2 of our series, “7 Lies of Organized Religion.” I talked on the subject, “The worse you feel, the godlier you are,” the shocking truth about God that religion wants to hide from you.

It’s really sad that people of faith feel so miserable, depressed, disconnected, and oftentimes disappointed with God. Why is this? The truth is, religion teaches us that God is huge, unapproachable, and that He wants us to struggle and live in guilt. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Here is the central truth. Tell me what you think about God, and I can predict for you the kind of life you’re going to have. So today we talked about the 10 erroneous views of God and exposed why each one of them leads us to a life of guilt and shame.

In contrast to these 10 lies about who God really is, we talked about a story Jesus told that we call “The Prodigal Son.” It tells us two things. One, that God’s most favorite name and position is “Father,” and two, that The Father’s love for His children is inexhaustible and oftentimes unexplainable. The fact that God loves us, that He cares about us is “off the charts” good news; not the kind of good news that religion often tells.

The shortest verse in the Bible is also the most overwhelming, “Jesus wept.” Think about it. The God of the Universe, God’s Son, the One Who is full divinity and full humanity, The One Who suffered and died, wept. The One around Whom all of heaven revolves, The One Who can lead legions of angels wept. Why? He wept over us. He wept over you.

What an amazing thought to think, that when God is thinking He is thinking about you; loving thoughts, generous thoughts, good thoughts, thoughts of grace, thoughts of faith, thoughts that tell us we have a plan and a future, thoughts that tell us we’re free; always to come home, always to repent, always to receive the loving grace of our Heavenly Father.

You won’t find that in religion.

What a great day at The Gathering to see all the exciting people and what God is doing. The stories are amazing!

Today at The Gathering we started a brand new series entitled “7 Lies of Organized Religion; Exposing the subtle deceptions of dead religion.”

We began the series today with the message, “Obey us or we’ll cut you off.”

In this talk we learned about the radical differences between religion and Jesus. In days past, religion was kind of a harmless thing. It was a good thing to do, like going for your yearly check-up or keeping new tires on your car. But today, that harmless, nice activity called “religion” has turned into something deadly. We now know that religion can harbor evil, ill will, dissension, and death.

So it’s more important than ever, for those who are followers of Jesus, to make a distinction between what is merely religious and what is truly the outgrowth of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Because, let’s face it, even though we live in a brave new world, we’re still trying to avoid the God answers. But no matter how many books are published about God being dead or irrelevant to our culture, we’re still hopelessly religious.

Our longing for God is burnt deep down in our soul. We can’t get away from it by simply ignoring it. It was the great missionary, Paul, on his trip to Athens speaking to a gathering of people searching for truth, who said, “I see that you have an altar with the inscription to an unknown God. Now what you worship is something unknown, I’m going to proclaim to you.”

The only way he could proclaim it is that he had been given that message. God had truly revealed Himself. And that’s what we have in Christianity, as a revealed faith from God; something God told us we couldn’t have deduced or assumed on our own.

Another interesting point is that Paul attributed to what these people were doing as worship. Isn’t it interesting that worship isn’t just something we do on Sunday? Worship is what we are. It’s what we do, what we were made to do. And the truth of the matter is, our lives will be defined by what we worship.

Next weekend we’ll be dealing with Lie #2, “The worse you feel, the godlier you are; The shocking truth about God they’re hiding from you.”

It was great to see all the new faces this week, and all the volunteers, and of course Brittini Black and Sandra Lee leading worship. I can’t wait until next week!

Join us this weekend at The Gathering when we’ll complete our current series “The 4 Laws of Water-skiing.”

This weekend we’ll deal with Law #4: The Law of Letting Go.” and talk about the 4 Great Fears all people face; fears that debilitate us and slow us down. If you don’t think fear is a really huge problem in America, go check out Phobialist.com and see just how many fears there really are.

In contrast to those 4 Great Fears are the 5 Promises of God. I will be helping you understand how to not just know the promises of God, but to actually live on them. And then the 3 No Needs, that come from really embracing and living in an incarnational way, the 5 Promises.

On July 8th, we will begin a brand new series entitled, “The 31 Words That Will Save Your Life.” During this 8-week series we will learn practical truths to help us understand that it’s not what we say or do, it’s what we say THEN do with the power of our words.

The average person speaks between 25,000 and 35, 000 words per day. And each one of those words matter. Each one carries weight. Each one has a landing point. You’re creating the life you have now by the words you are using. And if you want to create a better, healthier result, you’re going to have to choose better, healthier words.

During this 8-part series we’re going to learn how to say the right thing at all times, no matter the situation. We’ll learn how to use our words to bring out the very best in the people around us. We’ll learn how to motivate people to do their best by the use of our words. We’ll learn how to create intimacy and closeness by using the right words.

Of all the words available to us, there are only 31 words that really help us create the life God intended. Join us for this 8-part series.

July 08, 2007 Words Rule The World
(Sticks & stones may break my bones, but words can break my heart)

July 15, 2007 The 3 Best Words Ever
(The one thing you can never say too much or hear too often)

July 22, 2007 Pass The Blessing Please
(How to save a ton of money on rehab, and divorce lawyers)

July 29, 2007 Praising People Pays Off
(How to motivate people to be and do their best)

August 05, 2007 Unappreciated People Break
(How to give to others the very thing you want for yourself)

August 12, 2007 What To Say After Stupid
(How to know what to say in every situation)

August 19, 2007 The Saving Power Of Tough Love
(Who loves you enough to tell you the truth?)

August 26, 2007 Using The Words @ Work
(Everything is personal; especially business)

This week at The Gathering I continued our series “The 4 Laws of Waterskiing” with the second law, which is the “Law of Leaning.” The Law of Leaning states, “Hold onto the rope, lean back, and let the boat do the lifting.”

We desperately need to understand that Christianity is not a man-centered, works-oriented way to do life and prepare for eternity. It is at its heart, a love relationship with God. It is God’s willingness to take the first move to enter into a relationship with us and make promises. For example, the promise in Psalm 37 is “Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him and he will act.”

That’s what the second law of waterskiing is all a bout, isn’t it? Hold onto the rope – that’s commitment. Lean back – that’s trust. Let God do the heavy lifting – that’s allowing God to act.

The challenge to that is God doesn’t always act when and in the ways I expect or even demand. Committing your way to God and trusting Him is not for the faint of heart.

How futile it is to join the millions of other weary souls on the “try harder treadmill.” This kind of try harder mentality is at odds with commit and trust. Try harder is a self-centered, self-help way of living; so ingrained in our culture that we’ve come up with cliché’s to back it up. I’ll talk more about those in the Dave Rave this week.

In this talk I spoke about the importance of rest; that to commit your way to God and trust Him is to rest. I used “REST” as an acronym. “R” stands for Relax, “E” stands for Enjoy, “S” stands for Savor, and “T” stands for Trust. I relax knowing everything is covered by the power of God. I enjoy the journey in this give-and-take of try and trust. I savor the seasons rather than wanting life to be something other than it is, embracing it knowing God is at work. And I trust God’s motives and methods.

This is a great talk. Make sure you listen to Law #1 so that Law #2 will make sense