ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!

GOD’S DREAM FOR YOU IS THE ENEMY’S NIGHTMARE!  Someone said that at the Women of Faith Conference this past weekend.  That statement was just one of many shared throughout the course of the sessions, and God’s Word burned powerfully within us as our group of ladies was challenged and prodded, nudged and encouraged by the Holy Spirit!  We all witnessed and experienced the same worship music and heard and soaked in the same God-anointed messages from various appointed speakers.  Yet we were each ministered to in very specific, personal ways and came away changed individually by the Spirit of God!  Hooray for His tender love … and for His cutting and carving ways that bring out the best in us!  And one more thing:  none of us will ever be the same again!  God brought us back from a power-packed weekend in the midst of over 10,000 women – and placed us smack-dab in the middle of the real world where our changes would be tested at the on-set of our arrival back home – or the next day – or the day after that.  I think God likes to do a few practice runs with what we’ve learned ~ just so we can see that His changes are for real and He means for them to be lasting.  Richard Stearns with World Vision reminded us that God intends to use the ordinary to change the world – and that it is never too late to be what God wants us to be!  He likened our God-given roles in life to dominoes and their chain reactions.  So, too, we are placed like a domino in a specific place at a specific time by God for a spiritual chain reaction.  We each have a place in the chain for the reaction to work!  Asking us to guess who the greatest evangelist is who ever lived, he offered the name of Ed Kimball, who most likely none of us had heard of.  Then he went on to relate the story of Mr. Kimball, an ordinary Sunday School teacher who felt led to share Jesus with a teen-age boy who worked in a shoe store.  Not sure what he should even say, but very sure that he should share something about Jesus, Ed said just a few words.  And … that young boy accepted Christ as his personal Savior that day.  Who was that boy?  None other than Dwight L. Moody, who became a renowned evangelist in the latter decades of the 1800’s.  The domino reaction tipped in towards another young man who heard Moody preach the gospel, and soon that young man known as Billy Sunday was preaching revivals wherever God opened doors.  Some years later at one of Sunday’s large crusades in England, a young teenage boy with blonde, tousled hair was drawn to the site of the crowd and stood there listening to the salvation message preached simply – and yet it gripped him to the point of walking forward and giving his life to Christ.  And so the call of Billy Graham began that day … and through the years his faithfulness to preach God’s Word in a clear, riveting manner has drawn people all over the world to make their own decision.  Billy Graham has led the most people of anyone, anywhere to the Lord.  But look who it started with … an ordinary, unassuming Sunday School teacher who just obeyed the Lord that day!  Look what happens when we “lean in and fall forward”!  How will you take your place in the chain reaction of life?  Another speaker, Patsy Clairmont, spoke to us in her humorous style about change, and how that many times the change we need is out of our own issues and messes and cracked pots!  Have you noticed that when God works in us, it is usually not convenient or easy!  We must act first in obedience – and the love will come later.  Change is NOT easy!  But be obedient and you’ll find courage.  You see, change comes in increments, and we must remind ourselves that emotions do not have brains.  We are more than we know, but we have to take risks sometimes, speaking things into place out of our present vulnerability.  We have to love ourselves better – in order to love others better.  And we can do that because Jesus first loved us perfectly better!  Can we get past ourselves?  It takes bravery, but it’s so worth it!  Let’s grow up in all aspects in the Lord Jesus Christ, dear people.  Becoming more mature in Christ will cause our God-given dreams to give Satan his worst nightmares ever!!  And I think … that sounds like a plan!  Part of God’s plan to make His Kingdom more effective!  (This blog-report has just scratched the surface of all that God has burned into our hearts ~ stay tuned for more!)

WHAT'S HAPPENING THIS WEEK . . .


THIS SUNDAY, OCT 27:
10:00 A.M. - PRAISE & WORSHIP
10:30 A.M. - KIDZONE CHURCH

WED, OCT 30:  BIBLE "DOING" / 7:00 P.M.
WED - In the book of Hebrews at the church
THU - No Bible "Doing" this Thursday at 905 El Dorado Street SE

SAT, NOV 2:  
Be sure to turn your clocks BACK one hour when you go to bed for the
Daylight Savings Time change so you can arrive at church at the right
time!

ELEVATION NORTH SPOTLIGHT!

God is bringing changes to Elevation North as He grows us!  We are experiencing exciting days in the life of our church!  Our growth has brought about the need for more chairs … and they have arrived and are here – ready for more people to come and experience God’s love and salvation!  Our growth has led us to expand our rented space for more classrooms for our nursery, children, and youth!  Please pray how you can be a part of helping fund this Kingdom growth!

REMEMBER . . . “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are – no more, no less.  That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.” ~ Matthew 5:5

Serving Christ Joyfully . . .

Pastor Doug and Debbie