The end of James

So this past Wednesday we looked at the final 4 verses of James. These verses break down into 2 parts, the example of Elijah, and the concern of a friend. We looked at the Old Testament story of Elijah, found in 1st Kings 17 of Elijah on Mt. Carmel and how when he prayed fire came from Heaven. After this he went and prayed again. He prayed that now God would bring forth water. It hadn't rained in 3 1/2 years and people were starving from no food and crops were dead and it needed to rain for the crops to grow again. So Elijah begins to pray and he sends his servant to check to see if any clounds are in the sky. The servant comes back, nothing, a 2nd time, still nothing. Elijah continues to pray without results for 6 times, then the 7th time the servant comes back and says there is a single cloud in the sky the size of his fist. Elijah knows this is a sign from God and has everyone leave the mountain before the downpour will get them stuck atop the mountain. "The prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective." We can see this in Elijah, but the next verse states "Elijah was a man just like us". We too should see to be righteous, like Elijah's example. James closes by telling us we need to care for brothers and sisters in Christ. If a friend of yours is making poor decisions, call them out on it. You could be saving them from some really really bad stuff in the future. Just make sure to do it in a loving way, otherwise you could really hurt them.

So i am really really pumped for Amped All Night. Sign up soon and get the sweet wrist band as seen to your right. These are your entrance tickets to the event, just walk right by the lines of paparazzi and those that didn't pre-register and show your green band with pride. Wear it at school and tell others of the awesomeness that will be Amped All Night. Invite as many friends as possible, share the fun, share the excitement, and share the Lord with them!

The Alpha and Omega

This is a message I gave for the college ministry at Ocean Hills this past week. It discusses life in perspective, the same topic we will be looking at when we study the book of Philippians. The message looks at the name of God, "I am the Alpha and the Omega". Looking at the beginning of the world, and the end of the world, we can see how God truely is the Beginning and the End. Rev 1:8

Return to Treasure Island

Today we helped the children's ministry as they took over the main sanctuary and relived thier Summer Spectacular "Son Treasure Island". So Amped Ministries got to run all video cameras, the soundboard, the webcast and screens, as well as park the cars. It was sweet! Click here to view the pics!

Lock-Ins and Ice Creams

Wow the World's Largest Ice Cream was a Blast. More Ice Cream flavors than I can imagine. A link to the photos is on the right. Also on the right is the info page for the upcoming Lock-In, Amped All Night. It is going to be awesome. If you have any questions, feel free to email me!

The World's Largest Ice Cream was so much fun. We had more than enough ice cream, with all the toppings imaginable. We also had a multitude of flavors. Especially during the guess the flavor contest. In case you forgot here were the 9 mystery flavors. 1) Banana 2) Mango 3)Crasins 4) Brownie 5) Coca-Cola 6) Kiwi 7) Brocoli and Carrots 8) Avacado 9) Ketchup and Mustard. Now to be honest I tried all the flavors to make sure that they weren't too disgusting. And to be honest i was quite suprised with some of them. The crasin flavor was amazingly good, like good enough to sell at the market. The true suprise was avacado. I had two other people try it and they too said they could go for some more. Coca-Cola tasted like vanilla with a sweet cola after taste. But the ketchup and mustard flavor was just bad. It had no redeeming qualities.

We also held an offical Smash Bros Melee Tournament. And when I say official it was legit. It was a winner take all 24 player tournament. The rules were stricter than ever before, players weren't even able to pause in the middle of the game. I went out in my 2nd match against Josh W. Matthew had been practicing with his new character Shiek, but Jimmy took him out with his classic young red link in the Semi-Final Round. The final match was between Jimmy and Josh and Jimmy emereged victorious. It was a great tournament.

Now thats a knife!

Have you ever thought to yourself, wow I have this swiss army knife and it has everything. Well apparently the people at Swiss thought, "We need 1 knife to rule them all." I have had many of swiss army knives in my life and they have come in handy quite often. But just imagine if Maguyver was sporting this 2 pound beast. With this tool you can clean the dirt out of your golf cleats, while repairing your bike chair, preparing to gut and clean a fish before you blind someone with the 300ft laser pointer, and then use the handy toothpick to clean your teeth. This gadget has 85 different tools (i can only think of 1 swiss item it is missing (USB)) and is going to be available soon. I'm just curious if the knife sharpener can sharpen the 7 different knifes in it. And in case you were wondering, the knife is 9 inches long! All i know for sure, is this bad boy would have most definetly been banned from the Balloon Fiesta. This is a balloon's absolute worse nightmare.

Encountering God

The podcast is up and running and here is the next available message. This is a message about a guy in the Old Testament named Naaman. You can subscribe to the podcast by clicking this link.

World's Largest Ice Cream Sundae

So this Friday is the World's Largest Ice Cream Sundae. And I was thinking there are probably a lot of things you don't know about Ice Cream, so we are going to play a little game. Question #1 what are the top 5 Ice Cream Flavors in America?
1. Vanilla
2. Chocolate
3. Butter Pecan
4. Strawberry
5. Neapolitan
to view the answers, highlight the white space above and they will magically appear.

Question #2 America makes enough Ice Cream every year so that every man, woman and child could eat how many scoops?
184!!!

Question #3 What is the weirdest flavor of Ice Cream you have ever had? Now check the list below to see if it considered one of the Top Ten Strangest Flavors. Also note that everything on the list is an actual flavor!
Ten Weirdest Ice Cream Flavors

1. Mashed potato and bacon
2. Tuna fish
3. Fried Pork Rind
4. Chili con Carne
5. Garlic
6. Sauerkraut
7. Horseradish
8. Mustard
9. Dill Pickle
10. Ketchup

Make sure to join us this Friday night at 6pm in the chapel. If you haven't pre-registered, no problem, just arrive and we will have a sign-up table. There will be more Ice Cream than you can eat, we will watch the Chronicles of Narnia, and have a video game tournament. It will be great. Any questions feel free to email me or call the church 949-496-7411

Song Of Solomon

This past Sunday we looked at the book "Song of Solomon". It marks the 3rd and final book of Solomon as well as the 5th and final book of poetry. Solomon recounts the story of his marriage as well as him meeting his Beloved, their dating, and their engagement period. The story found in the book of "Song of Solomon" is a romantic story filled with verses of love and romance. You can see from Solomon and his wife's words that they deeply loved each other.
Don't Forget, this Friday at 6pm is the World's Largest Ice Cream Sundae. It will be awesome and amazing, and then more awesome again. If you havent pre-registered, don't worry about it, we take sign-ups at the door and everyone is welcome.

Evidence of Christianity

From time to time people ask me if I have messages available to download and listen to off the internet. The answer is yes, and no. Currently we are unable to record messages in the Junior High room, (but soon we will be able to) so my messages are scattered on different websites or on random CDs in my office. So periodically I will add messages, to listen, simply click on the title of the message and it will start playing. Or you can right-click and save the link to your computer for later listening of putting it on an Ipod or Zune.

Sad? Pray. Happy? Pray.

In James 5:13-16 James talks about prayer. We looked at when we should pray, and we saw that we should pray all the time, in the sad times and in the happy times. We also looked at 4 different types of prayer: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. Next week we will be looking at the final verses of James. Exciting times.

So as I scoured the internet I saw this neat little gizmo. Afraid your dog can't do the doggie paddle? Then buy a floatable collar. This way if Fido goes for a dip that he can't handle, he will be just alright! And in case you are wondering, yes this is real, and yes you can buy it!

Philippians

Many people have been asking me, what series are you doing after James? Excellent Question, we are looking at the book of Philippians. The next series is called "Life in Perspective" as we continue from our James series titled "Life in Motion". An over-arching concept of James is to have Joy and to Rejoice in times of trial and circumstances. Sometimes we miss that in life, we view life in such a bad life and whine about circumstances, but in this letter by Paul we will study what it means to be joyful in times of heartache.

Ecclesiastes

Wow, I have been working all day on the secret event for next month. It's going to be awesome. We are going to anounce all the information soon, but not just yet... But get ready, it will be announced at the World's Largest Ice Cream Sundae event, so make sure to come and fill up on some ice cream and hear whats coming up!

This past Sunday we talked about the book of Ecclesiastes. Meaningless, Meaningless, Meaningless. Solomon says this word a bunch. Solomon tells us that with his life he sought after money and wisdom and power and when he reached the end of his life, it was meaningless, that when you are dead you can't take it with you. Kinda like the saying, "He who dies with the most stuff still dies". So Solomon shares his life experience with us and tells us that we shouldn't live for wordly things, as they will pass, but in our youth we should worship God. That is the only thing we are taking to Heaven, our relationship with Him. So take Solomon's wisdom and focus on God.

World's Largest Balloon Fiesta

Awesome awesome event. Make sure to check out the photos!

Patience

So last night we looked at James 5 verses 7-12. We saw how we should patiently be waiting for Jesus' return. I shared how much i hate waiting in line. To be honest i have thought about auditioning for American Idol. I can't sing at all, I'm pretty out of tune, cracks in my voice, and sound worse than a latenight cat, but I am the only person I know that knows the lyrics to "Its the End of the World" by REM. So i figured i would sing that just for fun. But i won't for a few reasons, but mainly because i would never wait in the line. The photo to the left is part of the line for American Idol. But James calls us to wait patiently for Jesus' return. Just as the farmer is patient for his crops, we need to be patient. We also sw how we shouldn't grumble against people or point fingers and say, "He did it" or "Not my fault!" Because God is the final Judge and He has all knowledge and we can't trick Him. So whenever we do something, we should know that no part of it will be hidden, even our thoughts, because God will judge for all actions and thoughts. So as we wait for Him we should live upright lives and be excited when He comes to judge. If we have been living upright lives, then judgement is a good thing.