Joshua,
I wanted to thank you for your ongoing encouragement to me it means so
much that we are having conversations of God moving in this community. I
am so excited about what the Lord is doing right now in your life.
There is a lot to communicate as we move forward and as the Lord gives
direction to this new work He is doing in the Pleasure Point area. I will do
my very best to communicate everything as it happens. Here are some
initial thoughts to communicate with you. Feel free to share this with
anyone who might be interested.
My communication style:
I love to communicate through email, I hope this is ok for you. I want to
make sure that everyone is on the same page in this critical season we are
all in right now with the life of this church community; emails help me to get
everything out in the open so it is clear. I pray that this form of
communication helps us move forward in a healthy way. If you are not an
“emailer” and have questions regarding this ministry then always feel free
to call me up and we can talk on the phone. My phone number is 831-4546485. I am glad to talk with you about any ministry concerns, ideas, rock
bands, or waves that you love to surf!! Don’t hesitate to reach out to me (or
anyone on the team) as we are in this formative season of ministry. Most
importantly have grace on this process as we work through what is
happening here. God is with us!
Prayer Ministry:
Every church that the Apostle Paul plants in the New Testament church is
called to prayer ministry; this is where the testimony of the church begins
as God responds to real needs in our community. Prayer ministry will take
us to depths that we never thought possible. There is power in prayer!! I
will be sending out prayer requests so you can partner with me in praying
over all the needs and requests that come in from our community. I literally
receive texts and emails nearly every day asking for prayer over so many
different issues. If they are asking for group prayer regarding these issues I
will include these on an email list that will go out weekly to every believer
who is a part of this ministry so you can pray with me. We are all called to
pray! Please send me any prayer requests that you get so we can add
them to this list. We will also start having prayer cards available so people
can fill these out on Sundays to receive prayer.
I will send this prayer list out on Mondays (starting next week) so we have
the whole week to pray over the things in our community.
Pleasure Point Community Church, and every church in America for that
matter, needs to be known as a place where prayer is central to
everything we do. Prayer is literally who we are! Prayer is not work, it is a
lifestyle. Our lives are prayer unto God. Living a life of prayer is critical to
tapping into the deep well of Gods Spirit for this community. If you want to
read a great book on prayer in the church that will blow your mind please
read Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala. Please also begin reading
the Psalms as they are prayers that King David prays to God. The Psalms
are critical to the church fully understanding who they are and how to
navigate life. I would love to discuss this with you as it really changed the
way I see how this all works together in the church body.
Public Ministry:
Jesus spends 30 years preparing for public ministry and he then spends
40 days fasting in the wilderness BEFORE public ministry happens for
him. Even Jesus needed to do things a certain way before “going public.”
The Lord has been showing me that we need to approach things in the
same way. It is totally cool to invite people who are trusted at this point but
we are going to need to work through so much stuff before “going public
with this ministry.” Invite trusted friends who want to be a part of a new
ministry developing, but let them know that we are working through so
many things right now as a core body of believers. We need to have grace
on this process and not rush things because we want something to
happen. Something is happening! God is on the move. Verna experienced
a powerful physical healing in her knee last Sunday that she shared as a
testimony last night. Praise God!
God is going to fill us, heal us, restore us, move upon us, give us ministry
direction, give us clarity on what we are to do, protect us, and so much as
we begin this ministry. But, the Lord is moving right now and that is so
exciting and awesome.
I would like all of us to begin really pressing into the Lord in times of prayer
and fasting for your own life, family, kids, and ministry over the next 4
weeks. How is God calling you to use your calling or Klesis for restoring
the community around you? Spend daily time in prayer, scripture study,
and fasting for clarity on your calling. What we sow right now in faith will
lay the future foundation for this church community.
Jesse and Amber:
Amber and I are committed with Pleasure Point Community Church for the
next 6 months in getting things moving forward. In August 2014 we will
assess things together and see where things are and what needs to
happen moving into the Fall 2014. We will actually be working strategically
on the Fall 2014 plans and should know by June what things are going to
look like for the Fall. But we are setting August 2014 as the time to
communicate everything to the community that is walking with us. This will
be a time to communicate all of the vision and direction that the Lord has
given us. Also, Amber and I will have clarity about the part that we play in
this community longer term. For now, we are here with this community so
please be praying for a mighty wind of the Spirit of God to move upon this
place.
Amber and I have the passion and calling to be church planting pastors
who help equip ministers of the Gospel to plant Spirit filled churches. Our
prayer is to see this church community come alive by the power of the Holy
Spirit and birth new works of community. We are asking our family, friends,
and community to partner with us for the next 6 months. Please consider
committing to praying with us and for us. If you feel called to serve
alongside us to see the Gospel go forward in this County please let me
know so we can start talking about what that looks like specifically. There
will be some great ways to get connected to what the Lord is doing here
but lets all first start in prayer on our knees.
4-Square Church
I am working on getting my pastoral license through the 4-square church
right now to get ordained and will simultaneously be serving the community
at Pleasure Point Church. I have been connected to the 4-square church
for about 12 years now and have some really strong connections to church
planters and pastors who are trusted and gifted friends. These connections
will help in moving this ministry forward and lend training, expertise,
support, and encouragement to what we are doing. I have been meeting
with 4-square pastors who have planted tons of churches and have seen
those churches produce lots of fruit. I am getting ordained through 4square because I believe that this is what the Lord has been asking me to
do for a long time. The 4-Square Church will not be involved in the
Pleasure Point Church on a denominational level but will mainly be a
support to me personally and help in training and pastoral development.
Pleasure Point is still an Advent Church. I will be coming in as a 4-square
pastor to assist this P.P.C.C. ministry.
Board Meeting Last week:
We had a meeting with the Board of Directors 2 Sundays ago and talked
about specifics regarding doctrine and future ministry. During this meeting
the Lord gave everyone major peace as the Holy Spirit moved upon the
meeting. Questions and issues were answered and there was major
peace. We need the peace of the Lord so that we can move forward in
confidence and mobilize this ministry for future impact in this County.
More to come on the outcome of this meeting... it truly was the moving
power of God we experienced in this meeting was what gave us clarity and
peace to move forward together.
Childcare Ministry:
In order to meet effectively we NEED help in the Children's ministry. We
literally have 15 or so kids that will be coming with their parents if they all
came right on the same night. PPCC has a budget to hire babysitters from
4:45-7pm on Sunday nights going forward. Does you know anyone that we
can hire immediately to help so we can start to meet and pray together and
the little kiddos are taken care of? If you joined us the last 2 weeks you got
to see how much we need childcare right now. God is moving! Please let
me know if you know any college students that might want to jump in and
help out. $10 per hour for this until we develop the ministry and decide how
to move forward longer term.
Church meeting time:
We are going to be meeting at 5pm but are talking about shifting to Sunday
mornings in the near future. We will keep you all in the loop as times shift.
2-23-2014 Sermon Notes
Ephesians 1:17-23
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ephesians 1 Verse 17
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,
may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know
him better.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Spirit = Pneuma: wind: breath: Holy Spirit: 3rd person in the trinity
Why do believers fast and pray? To receive wisdom and revelation from
God.
Why are we fasting and praying over this church right now? To receive
wisdom and revelation from God.
We have access to the presence of God when we seek Him in our
personal times of prayer and devotion.
Eph 1:17 modified
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,
may give you wisdom and revelation through the Holy Spirit so that you
may know him better.
You cannot in your intellectual quest come to an understanding of God. It
takes a revelation by the Spirit of God. No man can come to the Father
except when the Spirit draws him. No man can even understand the
Father, the natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit, neither
can he know them, they are spiritually discerned. God is a Spirit, they that
worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and truth.
It is so easy to never engage with God and just be an intellectual student
of the Bible. This however is NOT New Testament Christianity. Jesus died
so that we would have direct contact with the Father in heaven -that every
one would have relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The
Bible is our right as believers to share in the revelation of Gods power,
authority, and sovereignty on this earth. We are meant to use the Bible as
a way to connect not just to the words, but to the Spirit found in the words
of the Bible. This is HUGE. The words are beautiful BUT if we never go
deeper into what the words point us to then we are not engaging in the full
revelation of Gods Spirit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ephesians 1 Verse 18
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may
know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious
inheritance in his holy people,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Call = Greek word is Klesis: Vocatio or vocation was taken in the basic NT
sense of the special divine calling of a man who becomes a Christian)
Paul was a church-planter but also a tentmaker by trade -he was not just a
pastor but he also had a working financial vocation.
The word “Klesis” was a word interpreted by the Catholics that only the
elect or 1st class Christian citizen was actually considered “called ones”
who became pastors or priests. This produced a false interpretation
ultimately creating a manufactured or works based faith in the church.
Everyone else (non-vocational ministers) were considered second-class
Christian and had no real “Klesis” or calling. This is not the correct
interpretation.
Martin Luther taught (in part through the Reformation of the church) that
every believer is divinely called in his or her own vocation and more
importantly has DIRECT access to God through the Holy Spirit (or
Pneuma) and do not need a priest or pastor to be the only person with
direct access and communication with God. We ALL have access to God
RIGHT NOW!!
If we are believers in Jesus and have been transformed by His power then
we are all pastors. You are a pastor because your heart has been
transformed by the Holy Spirits power!
In other words, God calls all believers in Christ and gives divine
appointments everywhere we go… at work, in school, with the kids, with
the family, in church ministry; “calling” is not only reserved to church
ministry work because everything we do as we walk in the Spirit is holy
and connected to our personal individual ministries. This would be the
proper interpretation of the Greek word “Klesis” or calling that Paul uses
here in Ephesians 1:18.
Klesis interpreted properly shows us that we are all called to do the will of
God wherever we are and wherever we go because all flesh has been
freed from sin and has direct access to the Father through the Jesus
Christ. This is such important stuff for us to understand as w get started
here at PPCC. You are just as important in this work manifesting as I am
because we all have access to the same Spirit.
I did not have time to exegete the following scriptures. But read the
following verses and be encouraged by the Apostle Paul’s words to this
new church plant in Ephesus.
Verse 19
and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the
same as the mighty strength
Verse 20
he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right
hand in the heavenly realms,
Verse 21
far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that
is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
Verse 22
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head
over everything for the church,
Verse 23
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.