Post Sunday Feb 22 2009

Hello Everyone!

Nicole and I missed you all this past weekend, but how wonderful it has been to hear the word of a wonderful Sunday begin to trickle in! Our flight this morning from Dallas was cancelled and we were re-booked on the Red Eye, which we said ahhhhh, no thank you. So through the persistence of Carol DeNaro from this end and a few phone calls on our end we were able to get back at 8pm this evening instead of sometime in the wee hours of tomorrow morning! So….I’m catching up right now! Don’t forget this Wednesday at WNA we will be introducing the upcoming season of Lent in which we begin a new Lifessage series entitled “Things I Left Behind.” Lent is a season in which we prepare ourselves for the celebration of the resurrection, new life! And yes, we will still be in Philippians…..read Philippians 1:27 and it will better prepare you for what we’ll be learning on Wednesday night….

The conference was incredible! The theme this year was Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation…”

I know many of you ask me from time to time after Sunday service something like this: “Hey,Pastor E were you looking in through my windows this week, because the message…” Well, listening to the speakers this past week, I was asking them, “Hey have you’ve been looking through my window!” It was a very convicting few days and then to top it off the church we visited on Sunday pretty much heaped another dose of conviction upon both Nicole and I.

A lot of weight on the soul. Makes you think, well those aren’t very beautiful feet, bringing conviction and unrest to the soul. Or is it?

God’s desire for you and I is that we draw near to Him. That we put ourselves in situations in which we can hear His still small voice, to live in such a manner that promotes His love, not just speak it, but promotes it, passes it on. If there are such things in our lives that hinder either of these behaviors then it is not a good thing to be convicted about those things, but a great thing!

Those that were speaking at the conference this past week were not there to crush us or hinder us with heavy, soul shaking messages, but they spoke in such a manner for our “progress and joy” as Paul wrote in Philippians chapter 1. When our souls are shaken it is an opportunity to find out those things that are missing in our lives. In this case find out those things that keep us from experiencing God as God intended. Those things that hinder us from loving Him with all our souls, all our strength, all our minds and all our hearts. When those things are spoken and the Holy Spirit uses those spoken words to convict our hearts, it is not done to shame us, but rather to gather us up and deliver us into the very presence of God. Feet that sincerely desire us to be in God’s presence will speak the truth in love and allow us through a process of repentance and belief to once again be drawn into the Kingdom of God. What dwells in the Kingdom of God? Righteousness, peace and joy….(Romans 14:17). Feet that direct us there are some pretty beautiful feet!
Have beautiful feet this week and thank God for the beautiful feet that He sends stomping your way!

Questions to Ask Yourself:

1. What beautiful feet do you have to thank God for in your life?
2. What type of feet do you have?

pastor e