Man vs. God

In our reading for today (Isaiah 31:1-7) it is hard to miss the heart of God.  His desire is that He would be first above everything else in the heart of His people and to not trust in the things of man but to instead trust in Him alone.

What a challenging way to live.  Thank you God for chasing after us and reminding us of your heart for us.

One Proud Pappa

I was so encouraged last night as I read my kids' testimonies that they had prepared for the outreach this coming Saturday evening. They were all so awesome!

To be honest I was not all that excited about Saturday night until I read their testimonies. But now I'm excited to see what God is going to do through a bunch of families aligning themselves with God. Next on the agenda is to come up with our presentation part what else do we want to give along with the testimonies, what do we say, how will it work and what is our presentation? I'm thinking a little about a "care package" sort of thing that is from our family as a whole but not entirely sure yet.

So get your testimonies put together and be prepared in prayer and we'll see you at 5:00pm at the OneLife Center this Saturday. Remember that you can download the testimony template - just Click Here

First Things First II - Think It Through

HERE is the Think It Through for part 2 of First Things First (10/25/2009)

Fearing God

Being in a place of reverent fear of God is a good place to be. We can get so comfortable hearing about the love of God, which is absolutely true, that we forget that God is mighty and all powerful and that He is also justice. God is worthy of our fear.

Jeremiah 2:19 (ESV)
Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts.

S.A.L.T. Testimony Reminder

Have you started writing your testimony yet for the S.A.L.T. outreach on Oct. 30th? Make sure to download the template to get you started.

First Things First: Next Steps

How's it going at putting God first in your life this week? I don't know about for you, but for me, that is a constant challenge. But we need to be reminded of the need and we need to be challenged to actually do it. So in that vain, have you taken your "NEXT STEPS" yet this week?

NEXT STEPS:

1. Get intentional about putting God FIRST.
2. If you have not yet given your life to Christ, either consider doing so or seeking some more information – check the box on the bulletin tear-off and someone will contact you.
3. Find something in your life that you are putting above God (an idol) and then do whatever it takes to smash the power of it in your life. Tell God about it and someone else if appropriate (bring it into the light), stop putting yourself in a place you can be tempted by it, choose to do the next right thing that will elevate God in your life …

Any stories out there? Share them as an an encouragement to the rest of us by posting a comment.

Think It Through - Oct. 18th

Download the Think It Through for Sunday, Oct. 18.

Men's Prayer Breakfast

We had a great time at the Men's Prayer Breakfast this morning. The OneLife Kitchen was in full operation at 5am this morning. We ate and then we were blessed by Jason B. and Carl E. sharing with us about a little about how God has spiritually blessed them in their work life and then we prayed a little. Good stuff.

A few of my note points:

• Work unto the Lord (Col 3:23)
• People notice how we live our lives
• Being faithful is about being where we are supposed to be - doing what we are supposed to be doing - when we are supposed to be doing it
• A bond servant is someone who only and always does the will of his Master - our Master is Christ
• Live your life like everybody is watching
• Put God first and fruit will come
• Be like Christ in what you think and do
• God speaks - listen and do

A few pics:

Volunteer Opportunity

We need your help in cleaning the OneLife Center.

Our specific need is for one or two people (or families) come in on a Monday between 9am and 2pm (any time that works for you) to clean for an hour or so. The cleaning needs will change depending on what needs to be prepared for in the coming week and what was done the week before. It could include cleaning bathrooms, dusting, washing windows, vacuuming, mopping, take out trash, etc. Just kinda like at your own house! Each time you come in we will let you know what needs doing.

To help us coordinate this opportunity, we’re going to try something new called VolunteerSpot (an online sign-up and reminder tool). Here’s how it works in 3 easy steps:

1) Click this link to go to our invitation page on VolunteerSpot:

http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/45-624283378112

2) Enter your email address. VolunteerSpot will then send you a PERSONAL sign-up invitation coded to your email address.

3) Go to your email inbox and open the invitation from VolunteerSpot – click the link to choose your spots. (If you don’t get the link within a few minutes, please check your spam/junk folder). Clicking the link in your email will take you to a web page where you can sign-up for specific Mondays. Hopefully from there it will be pretty self explanatory. If you have questions or any problems contact me at chrissheets@summitviewcc.com.

We'll start with the remaining Mondays in October and see how that goes and then go from there. Thanks for your willingness to help out.

Think It Through for Oct 11

Download this week's Think It Through

10 Reasons To Join a Community Group

1. John 13:34-35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
2. Romans 15:7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
3. Romans 15:14 I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.
4. 1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
5. Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
6. Ephesians 5:21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
7. Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
8. Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
9. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
10. Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

2009 Fall/Winter Community Group Catalog Connect NOW!

Upcoming Events

Don't forget about the Ladies Bible Study starting next Monday and the Men's Prayer Breakfast next Thursday. You can now see the next 5 events that are coming up over in the right sidebar area of this blog or go to the Events Calendar for a full view.

Why Pray?

I read the following this morning during my time with God:

Henry Blackaby - "Prayer is not designed to change God; it is designed to change us. Prayer is not calling God in to bless our activities. Rather, prayer takes us into God's presence, shows us His will, and prepares us to obey Him."

Caused me to reflect on the question, "Why am I praying?" Good question. Why are you praying?

Are You A Spiritual Optimist?

If you have faith and you exercise your faith then you are a "spiritual optimist."

I don't know about you, but I needed yesterday's message on faith . It takes faith to believe that God is God and that the sun rose this morning because God is still God and He deemed it so. And the same will be true tomorrow only if it's His will.

I watched a movie Friday night called "Faith Like Potatoes." It was a good movie, although there was one scene that I would caution parents about if you have younger children - it was a scene about the death of a little boy - tragic and troubling - and there may have been a little rough language here and there (I don't really remember) but the message was crystal clear. It takes faith to walk with God and at the same time God has faith in us that He can use us for His purposes.

David was an optimist:
1 Samuel 17:45-46 (NIV)
David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

David was an optimist because he had faith. Henry Blackaby puts it this way, "A pessimist focuses on the problems, concentrating on the reasons something cannot be done. An optimist sees those same problems, but he sees them from the perspective of God's presence. Optimists do not ignore the difficulties; they are keenly aware of them. But the knowledge of God's presence prevents them from becoming discouraged or giving up. It is impossible to stand in the presence of God and be a pessimist!"

Are you a "spiritual optimist?"

Community Groups Launch

Join us as we launch our "Summitview Community Groups" this fall. Be praying about which group you would like to be a part of. Being in community with one another is a central part of what it means to be a Christ-follower.

You can download the fall/winter Community Group catalog and then sign-up online to connect with a group.

Think It Through - Oct. 4th

The Think It Through for Sunday, Oct. 4th is available for DOWNLOAD.

1:22 Gathering Video

Check out the video from the 1:22 Gathering - especially if you were unable to be there on Thursday evening.

Summitview 1:22 Gathering (Oct. 1, 2009).

Rock Retreat - Still Time

The deadline to sign-up for the College Rock Retreat is TODAY!

You can download a registration form HERE!

Thanks for 1:22 Gathering

Thanks for coming out to the 1:22 Gathering. We hope it was encouraging for you.