Seeds for a Purpose — Don’t Quit While You’re Ahead

I was back in SNR after a long SNS – Saturday Night Slumber. I was with Frederick, my brother, indecisive over going to SNR or taking my brother out to town. I didn’t want him to feel that I was saturating him with church, yet I was happy that he was enjoying it so much. He even asked me if there was a dream center in Pennsylvannia! The charm of the dream center is like a fast oncoming train — it hits you and runs over you hard. But because Christ is in it, you rise again. I felt a tug in my heart. I could not bear to be right next to Angelus Temple and not go. I had been “robbed” way too many times of this awesome weekend night service.

SNR – April 5 was about seeds. Seeds and Purpose.

Matthew 17:20
“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Pastor Brad Reed carries a container of sunflower seeds challenges the audience. Jesus does not use “seed” accidentally, because it is a pretty metaphor, or because he decided to be eco-friendly or reach out to the gardener market. Faith is akin to a seed because it is supposed to grow.

1 Peter 2:2
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.

We don’t get salvation like we get a precious diamond that is too expensive to use, locked away in a safe. We get saved, and then we grow, we mature, and we bear fruit. It was emphasized in the sermon that seeds are planted not to remain in the ground, but to be transferred to another pot and another pot. And finally, the tree can be planted on the ground. “The seed must be cracked to get the life out of it.”

The saddest part is that a lot of people pull out of the ground before the harvest. Stop crawling to the end of the tunnel just short of the light. Stop running the marathon 0.2 miles away shy of the finish line. Pastor Brad said emphatically — “if you don’t finish the marathon, you don’t get any credit!” This is perhaps the most poignant part of Pastor Brad’s sermon – at least for me — because his words hit home. I had gotten out of my comfort zone, stepped up to serve God, yet was giving the doubting and fearful voices in my head more attention than I should. I went through the motions of serving God, hanging by a thin thread.

It’s time to stop running away, and it’s time to face His hands. The hands that will take me gently from my pot and start planting me on the ground. Success, getting there, reaching a goal, scares more people than we realize. Sometimes the finish line is just as scary as the starting line. More than sometimes, we start more races than we finish. The race of our Christian life is a race that’s not negotiable in God’s eyes. We must long for his “well done, good and faithful servant,” the same way that a little girl longs for her mother’s approving smile. Contrary to the popular saying — “Don’t quit while you’re ahead.”

If a seed does not later on produce fruit — it does not fulfill its purpose. If salt loses its saltiness, and light is hidden……

Matthew 5:14-16

14“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

We are seeds meant to bear fruit. Salt meant to be salty. Light meant to shine. Go, fulfill your purpose.

Back from slumber

Hey dreamweavers! I haven’t posted in a long time due to some avoidable and unavoidable circumstances. God has sent me a new macbook to inspire me to post again.:) I’m fast becoming a mac geek — well I have an excuse to spend so much time on the computer, I work in web marketing. I’d like to congratulate Gigatt because our blog is now a PR 3! Wait, what’s a PR 3? We’re pagerank 3 now according to google — they rank as us 3 out of 10 in website importance. It just feels good, period. A lot of work is done to make that happen. I’d like to make it clear that Google, contrary to what most people think is not god — Jesus is Lord! All the time!

Gigatt has certainly come a long way since its conception. We’ve had good times and more good times. I even have a picture to prove it.:)  Just the lemons on the glasses of water is great proof  that we’re broke, but happy. (Wait, that sounds a little bit like Alanis Morisette).  Kidding aside, we were actually pretty blessed that night, that was the celebration of my and Lori’s birthday — we had a great chinese dinner. Awesome mongolian beef!

Readers, surfers, members, please feel free to leave comments. We’d love to have you.

It’s worth the wait

Two wrongs don’t make a right. Same principle rings true for relationships. In the last Saturday night service I attended before I left for the Philippines, Pastor Brad Reed speaks about the “unspeakable” – love, relationships, marriage. We’re all either in a relationship, getting out of one or looking for one. Why all this pressure to commit? I feel that the word “single” these days is almost a taboo, almost a bad word, a condition that’s treated like it’s some vinereal disease. Are we really that lonely? Or are we just trying to cover up deep-seated insecurities by being with someone?

These are some of my thoughts on these questions. Number one, the degneration of identity. The world is so cluttered – literally and figuratively that we can barely see ourselves anymore. Our ears are connected to ipods, our eyes glued to computer screens, our noses pierced and covered with adornments, and our natural skin covered with tattooes. We see ourselves in connection to something else all the time. When asked that very direct, yet vaguely difficult question – Who are you? We usually speak about something that is in connection with us – what we do, whose daughter we are, where we’re from, etc. etc. And for a lot of young people, we see our identities in who we’re with romantically. If you are someone when you are with someone, who are you when you’re not? Nobody? The holy rebellion that we must start against this is to find our identities in Christ, to see ourselves as he sees us, to be whole, perfect, pure and capable because Christ loves us. We are somebody because Christ died on the cross and redeemed us. This is the only relationship that should determine who we are – our relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Second thing that it brings attention to is the unspeakable loneliness that pervades young people today. There’s that void that must be filled and that love that must be received. As the cliche goes — we look for love on the wrong places. And as the Christian cliche goes — we have a God shaped hole that guess who can fill? Only God. And when you’ve looked and looked in every nook and cranny of this limited earth for joy — you come up the same way you started — hands empty, heart even emptier. Relationships that are not right in the eyes of God, even though they seem oh-so-right when we’re in it, can only be detours that take us away from walking on the path that God has meant for us.

The main point — wait. “Good things come to those who wait.” Wait on God and prioritize your relationship with Him. Let him fill your void — only He can. That person you’ve been longing for is walking on the path that God has him/her — and your paths will intersect — in God’s time.

A Live Post from G.i.g.a.t.t.s Spoken Word Night 02/08

Thanks for inviting Hope for Homeless Youth………  It was amazing God is great the reunion that happened tonight is unexspresable.  THANKS ONCE AGAIN AND GOD BLESS!!!!

Freedom Redefined

 The Saturday Night Redefined service at Angelus Temple lingers in my head. Master’s Commission Los Angeles — a group of God-hungry young people who have committed two years of their life to knowing the Lord — made a presentation about freedom. There was a dance, a shadow play, a testimony-slash-monologue, and more. It was a call to freedom, a perfect foreshadowing of Martin Luther King Day that would occur that following Monday.  The first question that occurred to me was, wait a minute – freedom from what? The answer came a few minutes later. It was freedom from the cult of cool. A rebellion against rebellion. We have been fooled by invented and imagined norms (most of which are perpetuated in the media) about what freedom is – it is doing what you want, being what you want, when you want. It is running through a crowd-filled concrete road half naked, adorned with multi-colored shiny necklaces at Mardi Gras, it is the freedom to drink as much as you want on a Friday night, and the freedom to roll out cuss words the way a coin machine rolls out quarters. Yet in Saturday Night Redefined, freedom is redefined. We can only really be free of we walk in obedience – unfettered by bondages and addictions that pull us down, desperate only for The Father’s approval, and wanting to be “cool” only in the eyes of Our Savior.

Definitions. We don’t really give much thought to them — unless, probably we’re about to take a test. Academics make us care about them but unfortunately, life doesn’t.  After SNR, I began to think of my own definitions. How do I  define love? How do I define happiness? Sometimes when asked questions like, when was the last time you had a boyfriend,  some women jokingly say, “well, what’s your definition of boyfriend?” We stop to think first.  But when something of a more serious nature comes along, like a profession of love  from someone whose trustworthiness is questionable,  we don’t even stop to ask ourselves,  “what is this person’s definition of love?”  Once, in the process of writing  a short story that  told the story of a  certain kind of love,  I ask one of my good guy friends — what is your definition of love?  He unhesitatingly tells me that  physical attraction, and attention, to him is love. I really  am not surprised — this is the world’s standards — it just reminded me of how much we have been deceived. The bible says in 1 Corinthians 13 that Love is patient and kind, does not keep a record of wrongs and rejoices in truth — in a nutshell.

That is just a micro case study. Love. What about happiness? How do we define that? What thoughts do you have about peace, fairness, justice, and hope?

Definitions are the framework from which we act — the template that houses our decisions. Do you need to redefine your definitions?

The Small Group Emporium :)

Today was the first ever Small Group Festival – a convergence of all the 60 or so small groups of Angelus Temple. Finally, the small group ministry gets the right amount of attention that it deserves. Small groups are definitely the arms of the body of Christ – reaching out to people in deeper ways, and getting them plugged in. Angelus Temple calls itself the church that never sleeps, and rightfully so. A small group goes past the sunday sermon and forms relationships, encourages involvement, and ultimately the use of one’s god’s given gifts.

The Creative Arts group was not without pressure to create the best group board. Duh, we’re supposed to be THE creative people of the ministry! It would just be a funny (for them, not for us) oxymoron if the creative small group had an uncreative booth. We worked our butt off and started cutting out the sun (whose rays would splash out the different creative arts) on Saturday, continued the creative work on Tuesday, and brought out our baking bowls yesterday. The presentation was a creation story inspired masterpiece — with the sun as the center, some soil and rocks showing the earth, a couple of easels holding up painted masterpieces from prior events, a booklet of the writing we created together, a powerpoint presentation showing the creative small group at various poses in various events, and of course, the star of the feast — the caramel bars that are literally to DIE for. We were right next to the culinary group — which, in all fairness, got a lot of attention. We competed well – it’s hard to compete with food!

We landed third place for presentation. I was cheering my heart out — there were about sixty groups there, and third place is better than no place in my opinion. Our dear leader, Quoleshna wasn’t so happy with the results. After all, we are creativity. We should have won top 1 for creativity!  Everybody’s a winner though — our sign up sheet was full, with a promise of more members and more participation.  Surprisingly, our famous caramel bars did not win the recognition of best dessert.   (Some people simply don’t know what they’ve tasted.) These bars have a rich history of tastiness and a throng of satisfied followers. Why it didn’t win? I don’t understand.

It was a big small group festival — great food, great fun, a great chance to be creative, tons of people and a worthwhile time.  Hopefully, we’ll see new members and amazing upheavals of talent this year.

My Anchor Verse.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV • Read this chapter (NIV)
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

This Sunday our Pastor asked a good question:

 Q: Do we really want growth?  To live the most fulfilling and meaningful life that I can?  

A: Sure! 

As for myself, I claim it all the time, I pray for it.  But, am I willing to pay for it?  Am I willing to sacrifice my pride, my insecurities, my comforts, my plans, my money, my time?  Not really.  I like shortcuts, to be honest.  But, I’m thinkin’ I’d've missed a few key lessons had I been aware of how preferable was the path of least resistence.

 Which is probably one good reason for me to not see the whole picture beforehand.   

And, since I never do, I have to trust that when I put my foot forward, that God has already made provision for that step.  And, that He’ll do the same for the next.

Of course, just when I’m feelin’ real sure of myself in that area of my life, God throws me another ringer.

Say it with me, now:  Eating crow sucks.

Even now, I feel lead to conquer areas of my life that challenge all that good growth I thought I had.  And, again, I find myself clinging onto that anchor verse.

 What’s your anchor verse?

Called to write

What are we without God? Nothing. And a Christian writer without God is but another talent in the sea of talents with pen and paper but no clear purpose. That’s why we have our writer’s focus group every third Sunday of the month, to keep us, mighty writers for God, focused on the Word, and pumping ourselves up with God’s inspiration!

The writers small group had their first official bible study at the Family Center at room 203 lead by Abby, with participants Quoleshna, Lori, Jason, Dan and John. Writers’ bible studies will be held every third sunday of the month, 1:30 pm at room 203, at Angelus Temple. It was a pretty good attendance for our first focus group. The following is the gist of the message shared. Our reference is “Called to Write” by Marlene Bagnull, which I recommend to all writers who are seeking God’s direction in their writing.

THE CALL

Do you believe in the concept of being called?

In the bible, we read several stories about God calling his people to accomplish things for his kingdom. Abraham was called to be the father of all nations, Saul was called to be Paul, the twelve disciples were called to follow Jesus.

Do you ever feel that you have been called to do something? Have you ever felt a tug in your heart, an irrevocable passion to do something? In the book, “Write His Answer,” Marlene Bagnull writes about how she witnessed of violence and chaos in her neighborhood. This impacted her with a strong sense of responsibility, and eventually lead her to proclaim God’s truth in her writing. She felt an unshakable itch to do something about those things, and that itch was to WRITE.

As she sought God’s will in her calling, God revealed this verse to her:

“Write my answer on a billboard, large and clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance and rush to tell the others.” Habakkuk 2:2

Questions to consider:

Do you believe that God has called you to “write his answer?” (source: Called to Write) Tell us about the time you realized this. If not, what do you believe God has called you to do?

Can you recall any verse that God has revealed to you that tells you what he has called you to do?

God has a special and unique purpose and calling for your life.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

THE RESPONSE

When we were little kids, we’d be called by name by our parents. What would be your usual response? You would either a) say yes and acknowledge it, b) pretend you don’t hear it, or c) say no, you can’t come. In the same way we respond to God, our father in different ways, when he calls us. We do not always respond positively.

We might respond in:

a) Fear

We fear the unknown. We ask God, why are you calling me? Is it really me? How do I do it? I’ve commonly asked myself the question of what should I write? Where should I start? Where do I get money for writing classes? We fear that we may not be able to get to the destination where God wants to take us. We have worry and unbelief. Worry is merely unbelief in disguise.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

b) Doubt

We ask ourselves, am I really being called? Can I do it? If you have doubts about where God is calling you to, the best thing to do is to pray about it. One of my friends at church told me of a time that he felt so confused about the direction of his life. He had been jumping from one job to another, not finding any fulfillment. Finally, in his exhaustion, he surrendered his career direction to God. He waited on God’s answer. God finally opened the door to the job that he now excels in, and loves. He is glorifying God in his work.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

“Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fail.” 2 Peter 1:10

c) Denial

Evident in procrastination, arguing with God, having more “important things to do.” I have experienced this time and again, acting also in fear and doubt, denying God’s calling. I have had the passion to write ever since I was a child, writing in small pieces of paper, hoping to form a word before I could even spell. Yet sometimes I have thought of pursuing an alternate career, because I fear that writing may not bring the financial stability that I want for myself. Do I not believe that God put this desire in my heart for a reason? That my passions and my dreams are inextricably connected? Do I not believe that as I pursue my dream, God will provide?

I encourage all those who are creatively inclined, seek God’s direction in your life, and take the leap. God will catch you.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

d) Self reliance

We do not surrender our talent to God, leaning on our own understanding. We write for our self-glorification and not for the advancement of God’s kingdom. This does not literally translate to having Bible themed writing all the time, but we must ask ourselves, what is the purpose of our writing? Is it consistent with God’s plan for us?

We must keep our eyes on Jesus.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will makes your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Let us base our response on His character, not our own.

We usually don’t hesitate when we know the voice of the person calling us. How different would your response be if you were called by a stranger? As we seek to know God more, we recognize his voice when he calls us. We can trust in His calling.

“The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” John 10:3-5

Challenge question:

Can you recall a specific person in the bible who was called by God? What was his/her response?

What is your response to God’s call?

(note: feel free to respond to questions through the comments box.)

If God has called you, he will equip you. We are able to respond in courage because God enables us.

 

 

 

Holla Creative Ones

Hi! This is Abby Copuyoc, and most of you know me, and some of you won’t. I am a proud member of the Creative Small Group ministry, lead by the great Quoleshna Elbert and leader of the growing sub-group of writers, dreamweavers – ) This is the official online journal/blog/diary/newsletter, whatever you want to call it of the creative small group.  Stay tuned for announcements, updates, member works, and group events. (Yes, we will have pictures. After all, what is a blog without pictures?) Members are free to submit contributions. Please email me at abbycopuyoc@yahoo.com. Only two requirements, number one, must pass our quality guidelines, and number two, must pass, HIS quality guidelines. In this case, the second commandment is greater than the first. Him before us.:)