Gotta Have More

Last Sunday, Gregg continued our Hostage series by talking about addiction. God desires for us to break free from things that hold us hostage and addiction is something that destroys our relationships and our lives. Did you know that Hawaii is the worst crystal meth abuser in the nation?

Gregg shared that the downward spiral towards addiction begins when we replace God with something else. We underestimate the power of sin and the desire of our soul. If God is not at the center of your life, something else will be.

One man in our church shared about the high price that his addiction cost him. Bill was addicted to gambling. His gambling addiction forced him into bankrupty more than 40 years ago. Not knowing what to do, he abruptly left his wife and their seven children for three years. Thankfully, Bill surrendered his life to Jesus several years ago. You can listen to the message and the rest of Bill’s sobering story here.   

Only God can break the power of addiction over our lives and satisfy the longing in our soul. The path to freedom begins when we take our addiction to God, take it public and take it down—fighting for our freedom.

Our amazing youth leaders put together a powerful drama portraying the effects of addiction and the freedom found in Christ. You can watch it here. Warning: I’ve yet to watch it with dry eyes!

Transformation!

Yesterday, we wrapped up our first Women’s Transformations weekend! While preparing for our two days together, I’m always amazed as I reflect on the dramatic transformation that God has done in my life over the years. Having experienced this transformation firsthand makes me desire even more strongly to see other women experience it in their lives.

God desires to take you from where you are and bring you to where He wants you to be. We come to God one way and He progressively changes us, liberates us and makes us into something new.

God takes us just the way we are—junk and all; He doesn’t expect us to get all our stuff together first. He takes us the way we are, but doesn’t want us to stay that way. He wants to transform our lives from the inside out, by first changing our hearts.

An important part of transformation comes when we allow what God says about us to begin to shape what we believe about ourselves. Over years of living our lives apart from God, our image of God can become deeply scarred. Through the pain, hurt and difficulties of life, we fail to see ourselves as God truly sees us.

In surrendering to God the brokenness of our lives, He begins to heal us; He begins to repair, restore and transform our lives.

As John Ortberg writes, “The good news that Jesus preached is that it is now possible for ordinary men and women to live in the presence and power of God. It’s not about minimal entrance requirements for getting into heaven, but it’s about the glorious redemption of human life—your life.”

The Possibilities are Endless

The dust is finally beginning to settle after hosting Justin’s 10^th birthday party. This afternoon, we had all of the boys in his class over after school for swimming and a movie.

Unfortunately, our swim party happened to fall on what was probably the coldest day of the year—rainy, windy—I don’t think the temperature even broke 70º! (My sister in Minnesota is probably calling me a wimp right now.) Even all of the boys, who usually don’t care how cold it is, only lasted about 15 minutes outside.

One of the highlights of the party was getting to know Justin’s friend, Nikki. Nikki was born blind. Becca spent a large part of the party talking with him and when he left she commented on how much she learned from him because he is so happy and grateful.

He doesn’t let his circumstances affect his attitude; his focus isn’t on the challenges he faces, but instead looks to the possibilities.

As he was leaving, Becca said, “Let’s go hang out sometime.” Nikki turned to his dad and said, “Is this my first date with a girl?”

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine . . . (Ephesians 3:20)

A Poisonous Fruit

Yesterday, we began a new series, Hostage. While God created us to live in freedom (Galatians 5:1), there are many things that seek to hold us captive. God desires for us to break free from these deadly things that hold us hostage and hinder us from living the life that God created us to enjoy.

Bitterness is one of them. Bitterness has a dangerous root that starts and grows within the soil of a wounded heart when hurt and offense haven’t been properly dealt with. It is a poisonous fruit that can destroy our relationships and our lives. 

From my own experience, I know that when I’ve been hurt, there is that sense that something has been taken from me. Bitterness says, “You owe me!”

The only way bitterness can be killed in our hearts is by processing our hurt, releasing it and making a choice to forgive. Forgiveness says, “You don’t owe me anymore!”

We had hurt and offended God. We owed him a debt that we could never repay. On the cross, Jesus canceled our debt and said, “You don’t owe me anymore.” He now asks for us to forgive others as He forgave us.

Louis Smedes, in The Art of Forgiving, wrote, “When we forgive, we set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner we set free is us.”

Holding on to our bitterness and anger doesn’t affect the person who hurt us, but it will hold us hostage and destroy our life. The shrapnel from our anger and bitterness will eventually seep out and wound those we love the most.

We find strength to forgive when we shift our focus from what others have done to us to what Christ has done for us.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32)

Happy Easter!

This morning, the Honolulu Advertiser posted a front-page article about the importance of Easter to the Christian faith. 


Gregg was one of the pastor's they interviewed. Here's the link to the article.


Happy Easter!


God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)

This is Real Love

The word love can be used in a lot of different ways—we love ice cream, our job, or our favorite sports team. Here’s how some children described love as they see it: 

•       “Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” Chrissy, age 6

•       “Love is when mommy sees daddy in the bathroom and she doesn’t think its gross.” Mark, age 6

•       “When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” Karen, age 7

•       “I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” Lauren, age 4

•       “I let my big sister pick on me because my Mom says she only picks on me because she loves me. So I pick on my baby sister because I love her.” Bethany, age 4

Real love, however, not an emotion or a feeling. It is demonstrated in God’s love towards us. God loved us so much that He sent his Son, Jesus, into the world to live among us and to model for us how we are to live. Jesus died on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin. He rose from the dead so that we may experience new life—a life of hope, a life of healing and a life of wholeness.

Jesus willingly laid down his life to show us real love. To demonstrate his unfailing love towards us. The message of Easter is that because of God’s unfailing love, we can have hope and experience a new beginning through Jesus Christ. Happy Easter!

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4:9-10 NLT)