Friday, April 30, 2010

let's worship...w/deluge band.

songs 11-13 (last 3 song stretch) on deluge "unshakable" album are ridiculous...schedule your own presence of God, personal blowout. here's the first of those 3 songs.


Wednesday, April 28, 2010

love completely.

04-25-10 - Love Completely - Joshua Finley from EGC on Vimeo.

Monday, April 26, 2010

turn on a dime.

"turn on a dime": to have a small turning radius; to change direction very quickly.

Being able to turn on a dime is a great thing for a sports car but
a scary thing when it comes to the human heart. Many times in life, in our faith, in our relationships we can tend to turn on a dime.

Acts 14:18-19. In one verse a whole city's hearts turned on a dime. They crowd went from having to be restrained from worshiping and offering sacrifices in honor of Paul and Barnabas to actually stoning Paul.
Paul went from hero to zero. They turned on a dime.

Acts 28:4-6.
The apostle Paul survives a shipwreck, only to be washed up on the shore of Malta. Once on land he is bit by a deadly viper and the natives think he must be a murderer receiving justice for his ills. Moments later when they see that he hasn't dropped dead from the venomous bite, they turn on a dime and deduct that this man "must be a god."


Now, Paul goes from zero to hero. They turned on a dime.


The Son of God was no stranger to this kind of treatment.

Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem on a Sunday. The crowds are shouting His praise only to turn on a dime and begin yelling "Crucify Him!" "Crucify Him!" five days later.

Jesus went from triumphal entry to torture and execution.
They turned on a dime.

God knows our hearts can be extremely fickle. Any measure of faithfulness in our lives is a direct by-product of the grace of God.

It's not a bad idea to pray something like this on a fairly regular basis, "Lord hold my heart steadfast because we both know I'm so prone to wonder and turn on a dime at any moment."

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

the attitude of gratitude.

Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation. -John Ortberg

James Dobson wrote a very moving book called Final Rounds, about the final months of his father's life. They were both avid golfers, and when his father had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, James took him to Scotland so they could play golf together at some of the world's most celebrated courses. At one point, James's dad asked him about his marriage and family. James's answer was evasive; he was so consumed by his work that there was little time left over.

These were the words of a dying father to his son:
"I wish I could slow you both down....The danger of great ambition is that you'll work so hard, you may someday wake up and find that the things you really wanted were the things you had all along."

(excerpt from p. 151 When the Game is Over it all Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg..great book.)

Friday, April 16, 2010

why do we do what we do?

C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity:

“It is easy to think that the Church has a lot of different objects – education, buildings, missions, holding services…[But]
the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them into little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose. It says in the Bible that the whole universe was made for Christ and that everything is to be gathered together in Him.”

Elim Gospel Church exists to help one another experience Christ's transforming love so that we can love Him, ourselves, our families, our church, and our world. Period.

What a great privilege, what a great assignment, what a great message...what a GREAT GOD!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

numbering our days.

04-11-10 1M2L Number Your Days - Joshua Finley from EGC on Vimeo.

Monday, April 12, 2010

clovers.

Last week my son Judah gave me a three leaf clover.

He then told me that I need to keep this special clover as a reminder of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He told me I should bring it to church with me to hold in my hands as I lift them up in worship.

What a cool kid. So awesome to see Kingdom seeds growing in the heart of a 4 1/2 year old.

He's going to change the world!

Friday, April 9, 2010

take the 1month2live challenge!

If you only had one month to live what would you change??

This Sunday @ EGC is our kick-off service and Groups Fair.

Invite a friend and join a community group for this six week series!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Easter pics of the fam.

What can I say...life is good.

Easter Sunday we had 999 in attendance and God's loving presence was felt throughout the place.

My wife loves Jesus and is still John-blazin' gorgeous.

And my boys....well, my boys are still as crazy as ever (you may notice Jesse's red rosy left cheek..he decided to jump off my chair and hit the end table in my office before sitting down for this picture:) and I'm still a proud papa.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

this is love. Easter 2010


04-04-10 This Is Love - Easter Service - Joshua Finley from EGC on Vimeo.

Monday, April 5, 2010

b.a.s.i.c. conference


I'm looking forward to speaking at the B.A.S.I.C. conference this Saturday.

There will be hundreds of college students from all over the Northeast there.

Say a quick prayer for all of the sessions to be blow-out and that my sessions on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and authentic community help to stimulate some real life change in the students!

If you haven't heard about this dynamic college ministry check out their website.

Or become their friend on facebook.

What a privilege to help light revival fires all over the North East!

Friday, April 2, 2010

Was 3 hours of suffering enough?





Take a look at this powerful answer to such a great question. This excerpt is taken from John Piper's blog. He's one of my favorite theologians.

If our sins are punished by eternal separation from God, why did Jesus only have to suffer momentary separation?


That's a good question, and I think there's a pretty clear answer.

Another question would be, How can one man suffer when millions should've suffered? Same kind of issue. How does one suffering become the suffering of millions?
The math doesn't work! How does suffering for 3 hours on a cross correspond to delivering people from eternity in hell? All those kinds of questions apply here.

The answer is that the degree of suffering, indignity, reproach, degradation, and fall that Jesus endured is not simply determined temporally. And it's not simply determined by the exquisiteness of the pain of a nail cutting through a nerve in your wrist.

It's determined by the difference between the glory that he had with the Father in heaven and the ignominy that he suffered, naked and hanging like a piece of meat as the Son of God on the cross. It's that distance that is the magnitude that provides the scope needed in his suffering to cover an eternity in hell and to cover the sins of millions of people.

The way to think about it is that we commit a greater indignity against God, not just in accord with how many sins we commit or how bad they are, but in accord with how great he is. Therefore our sins are infinitely great because they're against an infinite person and deserve an infinite punishment.

Christ, being an infinite person, became so low that that drop in suffering, that drop in indignity was such a huge drop—it was an infinite drop—that it suffices to cover the sins of millions and to cover the entire length of eternity that we deserve to be in hell.

He is a great Savior.