Isn't God good?
On Friday night we had youth service. This time, it was upstairs in the youth auditorium at the church, rather than in the chapel at the school (which is where we usually have service). The chapel was under construction, the gym floors were being stripped, scrubbed, resurfaced, and buffed, and a lot of cleaning was taking place. The youth auditorium was also under construction. We had to figure out where to have some church. (We don't like having youth service in the main auditorium if it is just youth because it is too spread out.) We decided to have church in the youth auditorium, in the midst of the chaos. We shoved the mess to the back of the now 1 room auditorium, vacuumed,set up chairs, a piano, a pitiful set of drums (I mean pitiful. I don't know where we found them, but we must've been really searching to find some with such...unique characteristics...). Along side our meager two piece band, we had two speakers, 3 mics (total), and a pulpit. To make the situation even better, for some reason, the air conditioner was not working.-Not a good thing here in Oklahoma right now! Especially when its upstairs with no air flow other than a small fan.
I got there a few minutes early to make sure everything had been cleaned up and was ready to go for service and when I saw the arrangements, I said "Well, the Lord is gonna have to do a work for us in here tonight!"
We ended up having to add four rows of chairs. We had at least 10 visitors and it was wonderful!
We got down to pray for pre-service prayer. BOOM. God moved. Without any prompting, without any music, one-by-one, we all stood to our feet and began to give God the worship that He is so worthy of. Then service began. God moved all throughout the worship service. There was such a spirit of worship that filled that messy, suffocatingly hot room. Bro. Rodgers got up to preach. He preached about getting under a burden. Somethings that he said really stood out to me.
1) In the story of the prodigal son, where was the older brother? Why did he run after his brother, pleading for him to not make the terrible mistake of leaving? What happened?
2) It is more than just having a burden for the lost. We need a burden for one another. We need to care enough about each other that we carry a burden and intercede for our brothers and sisters.
When altar service began, the Lord completed the work that he began at the beginning of the service. A backslider prayed through, another visitor was seeking God in the altars, and young people were getting burdens. It was amazing.
(It was also very hot.)
After service ended, we put everything away so the carpets could be shampooed, and we went on a journey...to Freddy's. YUM!-And definitely an improvement from Whataburger! Praise-allujah. ;)
Then on Sunday, God moved again. It wasn't a fast paced, super upbeat service. It was one of those times when everything is slow and sweet and worship just flows from the depth of your heart directly to the throne of God. The choir sang, the preacher preached, and another backslider prayed through. Several more visitors were in the altars seeking God, and a couple of them came very close to receiving the Holy Ghost.
I am so delighted to see how God is moving and working among His people! It is such a privilege and an excitement to be involved! I can't wait to see what else He is going to do!-Especially with ADMIT coming up.
Speaking of ADMIT...
Yesterday after church, some of the young people were going to go ride bike after church. Its becoming a tradition and I must say that I thoroughly enjoy it.
Anyway, we went out to eat at El Tequila. I got pollo flautas with rice, guacamole, and pico and some horchata. Yum. (It was quite the funny experience, using what little espanol I know with the waiter. Even though it was mostly 'gracias' and 'de nada' that was being passed between us. haha)
And, funny story:
I was doing my hair for church and I did my customary 'ask Trent what he thinks about it' move. So the conversation goes something like
"Hey Trent...does my hair look okay like this?"
"Yeah, it looks okay."
"Are you sure? I just generally don't do these curls like this..."
"Yeah, it looks okay."
Then THIS happened.
While we were waiting on our food, Brittany turned to me and asked if I knew that Trent didn't like my hair. I said no and told her our conversation from that morning.
Apparently Trent doesn't like it when we do our hair with curls 'everywhere' (I pulled a few curls from the front of my head back to my mass of curls in the back. Think Sis. Jones without that many curls going back.) and proceeded to tell Brittany, who also had her hair in similar fashion. Anyway, for the rest of the night Trent got to hear us say that things were 'okay' and then we would turn to the person next to us and state how much we disliked it. He is never going to live that down. haha
I digress.
While we were out, we were made aware of a need. The grout at the church and school needed to be scrubbed for ADMIT. We decided to go and help out, and then if we got done in time, we would still go ride bikes. (I have scrubbed the grout many a time and let me tell you, it is a j-o-b! Like a multiple person, multiple day kind of j-o-b. So from about 6:30 to 9:00 we scrubbed tile and grout. It is a seriously disgusting job.-the grout looks black...it is actually extremely dirty white grout. True story.
I only have one picture on my phone from it and unfortunately, I can't show it to you. Kristen disapproved.
Anyway, we managed to get most of the ladies bathroom done. And it'll have to be gone over again. But we are making progress so I guess that is good news.
After we left, we went to Sonic to get ice cream. Or what started out as ice cream but ended in chili cheese coneys, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and tater tots. What can I say? We are apostolic...
I must say that I am so glad that I am surrounded with young people that are interested in the work of God and will work for Him, even when it isn't convenient or 'fun'.-though we generally end up having a blast, Seriously. If you don't enjoy working for the Lord, come visit the TLC young people for a while. We always have fun. :)
On another, somewhat (very) similar note, I am so excited for ADMIT!! God always does wonderful things for His people and it is such a blessing to be a part of. I can honestly say that I get so much out of it every year, even though I don't get to attend all of the sessions.
This was post was full of ramblings and my sincerest apologies to you if you actually read all of this. Maybe I'll actually get some interesting content out soon. Maybe. ;)
Peace be with you and your mashed potatoes...or whatever.
Ciao!
Lauren Bundy
Showing posts with label YFT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YFT. Show all posts
Monday, July 27, 2015
Friday, July 24, 2015
Changing the 'Norm'
Our world is changing, no doubt about it. Unfortunately, we can't honestly claim that it is getting better. Every day, new battles are arising and the new generations of Pentecost have more challenges being presented to them. I am in a battle with the norm.-with the norm of the world and even with the norm of the church.
The world says that gay is normal. The world says that violence is normal. The world says that many things that go completely against the word of God are normal. It has turned an ear of ignorance to so many important and dangerous issues, deeming them 'normal' when they are actually incredibly far from any such thing.
The church says that backsliding is normal. (It happens, you know? Natural processes.) The church says that sin is normal. (Everyone does it, right?) The church declares many things to be normal that should never be in the first place.
I say that revival should be normal. Sinners and backsliders running to altars of repentance during preaching should be normal. Saints fighting in the Spirit and being used in the Kingdom should be normal. Churches sending out missionaries, evangelists, pastors, and teachers should be normal. The Body of Christ rallying together in warfare and in prayer should be normal. The use of the Gifts of the Spirit should be normal.
Why isn't it?
Rather than it being a competition, rather than focusing on what society is currently accepting, rather than trying to ensure that we are 'politically correct', why don't we make a new normal? Why can't we raise the bar? Why can't we have a more powerful experience than they did in the book of Acts?
What is holding us back?
Normal.
Everyone wants to be normal. Everyone wants to fit in and go unnoticed by the mockers and naysayers.
Why are we allowing a few people to decide what is normal for the world? I want to decide the normal.
I want the normal to be moves of God sweeping through so powerfully that our mere mortal bodies can barely stand in the presence of Jehovah. I want normal to be people getting the Holy Ghost at a turnpike toll booth because a van of young people are having a prayer meeting that is so explosive, no man can deny it. I want the new normal to be people being healed on outreach because a few saints had enough faith to pray for someone that was sick and needed a healing.
I want a new normal.
Do you? What can you envision in your new normal?
Let's make it happen.
The world says that gay is normal. The world says that violence is normal. The world says that many things that go completely against the word of God are normal. It has turned an ear of ignorance to so many important and dangerous issues, deeming them 'normal' when they are actually incredibly far from any such thing.
The church says that backsliding is normal. (It happens, you know? Natural processes.) The church says that sin is normal. (Everyone does it, right?) The church declares many things to be normal that should never be in the first place.
I say that revival should be normal. Sinners and backsliders running to altars of repentance during preaching should be normal. Saints fighting in the Spirit and being used in the Kingdom should be normal. Churches sending out missionaries, evangelists, pastors, and teachers should be normal. The Body of Christ rallying together in warfare and in prayer should be normal. The use of the Gifts of the Spirit should be normal.
Why isn't it?
Rather than it being a competition, rather than focusing on what society is currently accepting, rather than trying to ensure that we are 'politically correct', why don't we make a new normal? Why can't we raise the bar? Why can't we have a more powerful experience than they did in the book of Acts?
What is holding us back?
Normal.
Everyone wants to be normal. Everyone wants to fit in and go unnoticed by the mockers and naysayers.
Why are we allowing a few people to decide what is normal for the world? I want to decide the normal.
I want the normal to be moves of God sweeping through so powerfully that our mere mortal bodies can barely stand in the presence of Jehovah. I want normal to be people getting the Holy Ghost at a turnpike toll booth because a van of young people are having a prayer meeting that is so explosive, no man can deny it. I want the new normal to be people being healed on outreach because a few saints had enough faith to pray for someone that was sick and needed a healing.
I want a new normal.
Do you? What can you envision in your new normal?
Let's make it happen.
Romans 8:31
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Just Some Thoughts on Waiting
Earlier today, I was thinking back to a conversation that I had with two of our young ladies following youth camp. It was one of those conversations that are wholesome and bring you closer to one another. I love those conversations.
It began with one of the young ladies talking about a recent trial that she has been dealing with and how God is getting her through it. She spoke of how she knew that she was in the will of God and that she trusted that He was going to work it out for her good. The conversation slowly moved and evolved, changing to where all of us could effectively add to the conversation with our own experiences and struggles.
Then we began to talk about the goodness of God, which happens to be one of my favorite topics. I mean, how could I not talk about it when God is so good to me all the time?! We told stories of the things that God has done for us, the prayers that He has answered, and all the times He has been there for us. If you know anything about us or TLC, you know that we have been blessed beyond measure with so many things: ministries, a wonderful heritage, incredible moves of God, being involved in the work of God all over the world; We have so many things to be thankful for! That being said, conversations like this one generally don't end very quickly!
I began to talk about how awesome it is that God cares for each and every one of us. He listens to us, He hears our prayers. He works on our behalf and will go out of His way to reach us. He is such a good God!
Then the other young lady began sharing a story from camp. She talked about the storm we had Friday afternoon at camp and how she didn't want to get wet. She needed to go do her hair for church but didn't really want to get out of the dorm because it was raining so hard (I had an umbrella and was dripping from head to toe. No lie.). She casually prayed and asked God to make it stop raining because she didn't want to get wet. She then went outside and trekked to the bath house so that she could do her hair. By the time that she got there, she was soaked and decided to just take a shower because she was dripping wet. A few minutes later, she was doing her hair and another young lady walked in. As she came in the door, she commented on how weird the weather was and proceeded to tell about how, even though it was an incredibly heavy downpour moments ago, it had stopped raining and the sun was out and shining brightly. The young lady that had wanted to badly to not get wet began to think about this development. She finished getting ready and continued to ponder. She told us, "What would have happened if I had just trusted God and waited on Him? I wouldn't have gotten soaked and had to deal with the mess. It would've been a lot easier on me if I had just let God work before trying to go and do what I wanted to do.".
This stuck with me all these weeks. To some, it may seem trivial, but I believe that there is a lesson to be learned here. Perhaps God desires to do something for you, You've prayed about it and asked Him, but you don't see any differences and you're about to give up on waiting. Through the Bible, we know that good things come to those that wait upon the Lord and His timing. When you do, you won't have to 'deal with the mess' of doing it on your time.
I know, that whatever my walk with God brings me, wherever it leads me, and whatever He has me to do, I want to wait on His perfect timing so that I don't make a mess of things!
It began with one of the young ladies talking about a recent trial that she has been dealing with and how God is getting her through it. She spoke of how she knew that she was in the will of God and that she trusted that He was going to work it out for her good. The conversation slowly moved and evolved, changing to where all of us could effectively add to the conversation with our own experiences and struggles.
Then we began to talk about the goodness of God, which happens to be one of my favorite topics. I mean, how could I not talk about it when God is so good to me all the time?! We told stories of the things that God has done for us, the prayers that He has answered, and all the times He has been there for us. If you know anything about us or TLC, you know that we have been blessed beyond measure with so many things: ministries, a wonderful heritage, incredible moves of God, being involved in the work of God all over the world; We have so many things to be thankful for! That being said, conversations like this one generally don't end very quickly!
I began to talk about how awesome it is that God cares for each and every one of us. He listens to us, He hears our prayers. He works on our behalf and will go out of His way to reach us. He is such a good God!
Then the other young lady began sharing a story from camp. She talked about the storm we had Friday afternoon at camp and how she didn't want to get wet. She needed to go do her hair for church but didn't really want to get out of the dorm because it was raining so hard (I had an umbrella and was dripping from head to toe. No lie.). She casually prayed and asked God to make it stop raining because she didn't want to get wet. She then went outside and trekked to the bath house so that she could do her hair. By the time that she got there, she was soaked and decided to just take a shower because she was dripping wet. A few minutes later, she was doing her hair and another young lady walked in. As she came in the door, she commented on how weird the weather was and proceeded to tell about how, even though it was an incredibly heavy downpour moments ago, it had stopped raining and the sun was out and shining brightly. The young lady that had wanted to badly to not get wet began to think about this development. She finished getting ready and continued to ponder. She told us, "What would have happened if I had just trusted God and waited on Him? I wouldn't have gotten soaked and had to deal with the mess. It would've been a lot easier on me if I had just let God work before trying to go and do what I wanted to do.".
This stuck with me all these weeks. To some, it may seem trivial, but I believe that there is a lesson to be learned here. Perhaps God desires to do something for you, You've prayed about it and asked Him, but you don't see any differences and you're about to give up on waiting. Through the Bible, we know that good things come to those that wait upon the Lord and His timing. When you do, you won't have to 'deal with the mess' of doing it on your time.
I know, that whatever my walk with God brings me, wherever it leads me, and whatever He has me to do, I want to wait on His perfect timing so that I don't make a mess of things!
Isaiah 40:31
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Monday, July 20, 2015
Threescore and Ten Pt. 1
Summer Heritage was amazing this year. Its always amazing, but this year? I honestly believe that it was vital to the growth and continuation of the church in America as well as in other parts of the world. Why? Because we are now carrying the torch.
Every minister that preached at the conference had to be at least 70 years old (hence the 'Threescore and Ten' theme that was used there). They came burdened, passionate, and anointed and we left that way. In every service, we discovered that we have power, that God is our strength, that He is everything that we need, that he'll take care of us, and also that we must carry the torch. We were challenged to trust him and follow him without hesitation. I know I will.
Here is the line-up/service schedule:
Wednesday Night:
Eld. Tommy Jackson - "Who's Going to Tell It When We're Gone?"
Thursday Morning:
Eld. Allen Picklesimer - "Sardis; The Church that Used to Be"
Eld. Morton -"Oh Taste and See"
Thursday Night:
Eld Johnny Godair - "The Rod of God"
Friday Morning:
Eld Moody - "Don't Throw Away Your Future Thinking About Your Past"
Friday Night:
Eld. Morton - "Are You Going to be a Wise Man or a Fool?"
God called and anointed us. He challenged us. He gave us strength and faith. God moved.
While we were gone, we had at least 5 healings in our youth group alone. At church yesterday, we had another one.
We discovered the power that we have through Jesus. No devil scares me. No spirit frightens me. No type of fear can claim me. I have the power of the name that is above every name.
Another thing that happened: God brought someone into my life that I needed right at that moment. I knew this young man for about 24 hours before God used him to talk to my heart and challenge me to be stronger and better. He talked with me and cried with me and gave me so much. I definitely wouldn't have gotten everything that I did if he hadn't shared his burden with me. I am so thankful that God blesses His people with fellowship and relationships that can bring them closer to Him! God is good to us, isn't he?
I'll be posting more soon, along with some pictures. Check back soon!
Every minister that preached at the conference had to be at least 70 years old (hence the 'Threescore and Ten' theme that was used there). They came burdened, passionate, and anointed and we left that way. In every service, we discovered that we have power, that God is our strength, that He is everything that we need, that he'll take care of us, and also that we must carry the torch. We were challenged to trust him and follow him without hesitation. I know I will.
Here is the line-up/service schedule:
Wednesday Night:
Eld. Tommy Jackson - "Who's Going to Tell It When We're Gone?"
Thursday Morning:
Eld. Allen Picklesimer - "Sardis; The Church that Used to Be"
Eld. Morton -"Oh Taste and See"
Thursday Night:
Eld Johnny Godair - "The Rod of God"
Friday Morning:
Eld Moody - "Don't Throw Away Your Future Thinking About Your Past"
Friday Night:
Eld. Morton - "Are You Going to be a Wise Man or a Fool?"
God called and anointed us. He challenged us. He gave us strength and faith. God moved.
While we were gone, we had at least 5 healings in our youth group alone. At church yesterday, we had another one.
We discovered the power that we have through Jesus. No devil scares me. No spirit frightens me. No type of fear can claim me. I have the power of the name that is above every name.
Another thing that happened: God brought someone into my life that I needed right at that moment. I knew this young man for about 24 hours before God used him to talk to my heart and challenge me to be stronger and better. He talked with me and cried with me and gave me so much. I definitely wouldn't have gotten everything that I did if he hadn't shared his burden with me. I am so thankful that God blesses His people with fellowship and relationships that can bring them closer to Him! God is good to us, isn't he?
I'll be posting more soon, along with some pictures. Check back soon!
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