{"id":664,"date":"2008-11-02T19:38:28","date_gmt":"2008-11-03T00:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.185.166.32\/~davidfoster\/?p=664"},"modified":"2009-10-16T19:40:07","modified_gmt":"2009-10-17T00:40:07","slug":"today-the-gathering-november-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/today-the-gathering-november-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Today @ The Gathering – November 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before I say anything about what happened today at The Gathering<\/a>, I\u2019ve got to stop and give a big shout out to all my Gathering brothers and sisters on our amazing baptism service last week.\u00a0 We went out and did exactly what I hoped we would do.\u00a0 And that is, we had a baptism right in the public square, the market place; a brand new fitness center called Prairie Life Fitness <\/a>here in Franklin.<\/p>\n

When we called and asked if we could use their pool to do a mass baptism, they weren\u2019t just ok with it, they were enthusiastic. When we got there, they were glad that we were there.\u00a0 They welcomed us in.\u00a0 What an exciting time!<\/p>\n

Right outside the pool there is a snack bar where we gathered and had food and talked and relaxed and had fellowship.\u00a0 And then going into the pool area, it was perfect.\u00a0 We cheered each and every person: young, teenager, grown-up, all being baptized.\u00a0 Men, women \u2013 it was an exciting time to see the tears, the joy, and the laughter.<\/p>\n

One guy who left said, \u201cThat is the most irreverent baptism I have ever been to,\u201d with a big smile.\u00a0 And I said \u201cAMEN!\u201d\u00a0 This is a time for rejoicing, not dry, dusty formalism.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure if you go to our Gathering web site, g3church.com, you can see some of the pictures.\u00a0 But I just have to say \u201cYea God\u201d for this baptismal service.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait until our next one.<\/p>\n

This weekend at The Gathering we continued in our series, \u201cMastering My Emotional Monsters\u201d<\/em> with the message \u201cWhat To Do When You Feel Depressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

We talked about the three things depression feels like:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Depression feels like a deep hole,<\/span> a place that you\u2019re never going to get out of, a place that you slipped into and there doesn\u2019t seem to be a bottom, or a ladder that you can get out on.
\n2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Depression feels like a dark place<\/span>.\u00a0 That\u2019s why depressed people like to sit in the dark.\u00a0 Remember that the dark is a place for hopelessness where shame and self-condemnation breed.
\n3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Depression feels like a permanent condition.<\/span> It seems like it\u2019s never going to be any better.\u00a0 You can\u2019t see that given your job, family, personal history, how anything\u2019s going to change.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s exactly what Satan wants you to feel, that you\u2019re in a deep, dark place that will last forever and you might as well just give up.<\/p>\n

We also talked about how you get depressed:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Internalize your hurts<\/span>.\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing when you talk to people how much of their present life is being controlled by something in the past.
\n2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Idolize glamour and glory<\/span>.\u00a0 Women go for glamour.\u00a0 Men go for glory.\u00a0 Bottom lion is they are both, even at their best, disappointments.
\n3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rationalize your choices<\/span>.\u00a0 How many times have we seen people do stuff that\u2019s really stupid, even scandalous and stand up and say, \u201cIt was a mistake\u201d?\u00a0 No it wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 It was a choice.\u00a0 You did it to yourself, and until you own up to your own behavior, you\u2019re never going to get past it.
\n4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Specialize in whining.<\/span> That\u2019s a great way to be depressed.\u00a0 Depressed people in public, whine.\u00a0 And in private, they sleep.<\/p>\n

We talked about the three ways to get up.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Connect<\/span> to God as a conscious person.
\n2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cultivate<\/span> below the surface.
\n3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Commit <\/span>to a noble cause that demands your all.<\/p>\n

Most people I\u2019ve met, not all, but most people I\u2019ve met who say they\u2019re depressed are basically bored.\u00a0 And life should be anything but boring.\u00a0 Remember the Scriptures when God throws down the gauntlet of the challenge and says, \u201cCall unto me and I will answer and show you great and mighty things which you don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before I say anything about what happened today at The Gathering, I\u2019ve got to stop and give a big shout out to all my Gathering brothers and sisters on our amazing baptism service last week.\u00a0 We went out and did exactly what I hoped we would do.\u00a0 And that is, we had a baptism right … Continue reading “Today @ The Gathering – November 2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"series":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}