Glow! Week 2

*The Creator versus the imitator (Satan)*

June 13th, 2010

For this week we read 1 John 2: 10-11; 15-17:

"10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes."

"15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

This week Joel talked about how we are not to be of the world. He said that there is the creator (which is God) and then there is the imitator (Satan), and so there are two plans on this earth: the creator's and the imitator's. In the beginning there was 1 plan: God's intent for us was to first love Him and then to love others. With the fall, in came into picture a second plan: Satan's plan, which was to love ourselves or to only focus on ourselves. The fundamental difference between these plans is that one involves living for and with others, while the second involves living only for oneself.

By stepping into a relationship with God, we take one more step into his plan for us. Joel here used a ladder to show how when we enter relationship with Jesus, we take the first step toward our heavenly father and his will. Once this occurs, we find that God starts to illuminate the darkness (sin) in our lives and as we are filtered of the things of this world and step away from the imitator's plan, we start to look more like Him. So, when we lose our sin we start to look like Him. It is here where we can start live our creator's plan of living for and loving others according to God's will.

I absolutely love how Joel gives this visualization of stepping into a relationship with Jesus with a ladder, which represents God's plan. Once we step onto the ladder we can never get off, but we can determine how high or how close we get to our father in heaven, until the day our bodies die and we are perfected. So, as we take more steps toward God the more he illuminates the darkness and rids of it and the closer we get to Jesus and God the father.

God tells us to not love the world nor the things of this world - this follows within the imitator's plan. By abiding in the father, we remain in his plan, in his will. We must see, sense, and say (bring to light) these things that are of the flesh and of the eyes and are of pride in possessions. John tells us not love the things/plan of the enemy. We must ask ourselves: Do I have the lust of the flesh, do I have the lust of the eyes, and do I boast of the prideful things in my life? It is here where God can reveal to us the things of the world in our lives. It is here where we can begin to see the darkness that needs to be brought to light and recognized God's plan and steer clear of the imitator's plan.

~ Kara

Glow! Week 1

*Everywhere you go gives you a chance to glow!*

June 6th, 2010

For the past two weeks at New Albany church, my pastor has been doing a series called Glow! I am just loving it so far. During the first week (2 Sundays ago from this day), he talked about when one steps into a relationship with God, therein begins joy. We then have light and because we have light, there is no room for darkness or sin, and because there is no room for darkness, we experience conflict. A war starts to stir where the light meets the darkness and exposes it. This is where we can come to confess the darkness with in us and if we continue to weed out the darkness, then all that is left is LIGHT! And so we GLOW, glow the light and love of Jesus. In order to expose and get rid of the darkness, there is a need for confession. I love the way that Joel defined confession. I think there is a lot of negative connotation for the word "Confession." I don't know about you, but confession is scary. To me it means, you reveal the sin in your life, what is bad to others. But Joel's definition of confession seemed a little less scary. He said, "Confession means to say the same thing that God says about your sin...It's speaking in unison about your sin with God. I don't know about you, but I love this, what is a new take for me on confession. It's coming to an agreement on what darkness is in your life. Many times we go walking around and don't realize the darkness that dwells within us, so it hides and oh does it hide well. By recognizing and revealing that darkness in agreement with God, we can then ask God to remove that darkness from our live. And you see, God hates sin/darkness, He detests it. You know why? Because it is not good and separates you from Him. God wants to be with you, to love you, to grow in you, to be loved and worshiped by you and for you to love others as he's loved you. I find this amazing. It's so simple, but so relevant. Sometimes as Christians grow and maybe become weary, they want something deeper, something more profound. It's like the simple known truth isn't good enough anymore. I love hearing new ways to learn about God and new perspectives on getting know him and how to grown in a relationship with him. It's humbling and creates a deeper understanding of God for me. I love taking somewhat "simple" messages and going deeper on my own. And that's what I'm doing here. The verse that we read from during this week was 1 John 1:1-10 and is as follows:

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life--the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us--that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his work is not in us."

I just challenge those who read this to meditate over this word and let the Lord speak to you on a personal level about what He wants you to take from this passage. As my boyfriend Branden would say, "Get out your Bible and read the physical words on the page that way you can underline and really take in the word." If you are lazy like me, feel free to just read it here, but there is something about taking out your Bible and reading it for yourself (I apologize for any typos).

My Oh My...

So...I haven't written a blog since the beginning of the year and my has time gone by. I survived 2 quarters and managed to not completely go insane. Recently I have been thinking of my negligence to my blog and have now decided, with more free time on my hands, to start it back up. I have been attending New Albany Church, a church that birth March 21st, 2010. This past Sunday, I felt that God was calling me back to this blog and use it for his glory and talk about the things that I learn Sunday morning through my lead pastor Joel Kovacs. His sermons, although somewhat basic, really speak to me and Joel speaks truth in a new, refreshing way and I have decided that I am going to blog about what I am learning through the leadership of my pastor Joel. I want what God is saying to surpass just those who attend church at NAC and share with my own community the way God is speaking through this young man and what he is teaching and growing in me at this new church. God has some things to say to His children in a new way and I want to share it with you all. I will continue this blog later in the week and tell you more! Get excited because I am!

Much love and God bless,

Kara