2 Weeks Ago

On Feb 15, I was asked to preach at our church, The Pointe. It was an honor to be asked, a privilege to preach, and I was stoked for the opportunity.

• We handed out prayer photos and letters with invitations to our commissioning service.
• I was able to talk about Denver but wanted to share most of that at the commissioning service. So I wanted to spend more time with one of the passions behind Element which is to bring to life biblical passages that have become dull with familiarity. Jesus used metaphors such as wind, fire, water, earth, to paint vivid pictures of what God is doing in this world. He used picturesque stories that brought life to spiritual truth. People constantly responded to Jesus by saying "no one teaches like this man!" I feel like we have lost much of the beauty of these truths by reducing them to steps and formulas. These truths are too free and wild to be forced into a certain formula, leashed to a denominational stance, or fenced in by tradition. I am not talking about changing the meaning of such truths but allowing them to run free so they can take us where they lead us and be the raw elements that make up our faith and life.
• I spoke from John 3 on what it means to be born again.
• I spoke of the wind of the Spirit. God is alive, near and on the move. He is not far away and trying to get us to where He is but He is close and wanting us to be involved in what He is doing here. We are children of the wind and we must go where the wind blows us.
• I spoke at both services. That is not an easy task. Its almost like speaking in an echo chamber. When I was speaking at the second service, I kept hearing what I said in the first and it wasn't coming out exactly the same. It was weird.
• Everyone was gracious and complimentary. Not really the goal of preaching but better than the alternative.
• It kind of put me in a funk for two days. Your adrenaline gets pumping when you preach and its easy to crash afterwords. That's why a lot of pastors write a resignation letter on Monday but tear it up by Wednesday. Preaching can be humbling, it can make you feel inadequate, and, according to scripture, even seem foolish but when you are called you can't help but want to do it again the next Sunday.
• I'll give you more tomorrow.