Well, that was fun.
Last night was Immersion's first ever Miracle Night and, by the sounds of it, God showed up in some very cool, very tangible ways:
Spiritually
Emotionally
Physically
Financially
We want to capture some of the pictures of what God did and is continuing to do after last night.
That's why we'd like you to post your God stories in the comment section of this post. You can post anonymously if you'd like or you can tell us who you are - either way we just want to know what God did/is up to in your life after last night!
So come, share your stories... Tell one, tell all! Bless you...
"They triumphed... by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony!"
In the words of Mike & The Mechanics, "All I need is a miracle/All I need is you."
Immersion is having its first ever Miracle Night this coming Thursday. What's a Miracle Night? Well, we're going to ask God to show up and do... well... miracles.
Blind eyes would be opened.
The bondage of debt would be broken over the lives of young adults.
Depression and anxiety would be healed.
Unbelievers would become believers in and followers of Jesus Christ.
Those, good people of Des Moines, are miracles. Events that do not happen in our normal, everyday level of existence... But maybe could and should (and if we're real honest, we want to have happen in our lives on a regular basis).
Now, some of you might be conjuring pictures of a televangelist with cuff links and slicked back hair, placing his hand on the forehead of a poor, old woman in a wheelchair and saying something like, "and now, be healed in the name of Juh-hee-sus-uh! And for only a $1,000 love gift, you too can be healed in Jesus' Name! We now accept credit and debit cards!"
Oops. Did I step on anyone's toes?
Here's Reality #1 for you and me: God desires to move in your life in miraculous way. Whether it's fixing your finances, healing the scars of sexual abuse, healing your lower back problems, or changing the way that you see God (and, consequently, yourself and others), God wants to show up in your life.
Here's Reality #2: God will not force himself into our lives. "Jesus is a gentleman," I heard it said once. A gentleman is always invited in, he never forces his way in. God is the same way - he will not force himself into our lives, he must be invited. I truly believe there are mountains of exciting things God wants to do in our lives, we just need to ask. Matter of fact, let's look at what Jesus said:
“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."
I'd like to invite you to ask God for a miracle. Better yet, come and join us this Thursday at Immersion 7:37pm for Miracle Night. You don't even have to buy all this Jesus stuff, just give God a chance to show you how good he is.
May the Lord bless you and keep you on this Monday morning...
Justin
Something struck me as I was preparing for my message this week: Jesus thinks very highly of us.
Jesus thinks highly of us because he’s God. If Jesus is God and God is Jesus and Jesus not only loves us but actually likes us, then that would mean that God feels the same way about you and about me.
God honors you (Isaiah 43:4).
God calls you “very good” (Genesis 1:31).
God, in fact, loves you (1 John 4:9-11).
I think this struck me so hard because I wonder how many people really believe this? Christians included! Most of us - if only subconsciously - believe that God is mostly mad at us and is really disappointed with our lives. He’s standing in heaven with a long, flowing beard, checklist and clipboard and a sharpened #2 pencil in hand, constantly checking our behavior, scribbling on his checklist and clucking his tongue whenever we goof up.
My question is simply, “who would want to follow a God like that?”
Not me.
Luckily enough, that’s not the God of Scripture and it’s not God the Father of Jesus Christ. Even as I write these words, I can feel a weight being lifted off of my shoulders... God is not mad at me!
Would you take a moment during your day and ask yourself the question, “how do I think God sees me?” Then ask yourself a second question, “how do I see God?” Those two questions, G.K. Chesterton says, are “the most important beliefs” someone has.
God is good. Good is God. God says we’re “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Any questions?
I don't get why anyone would not like Jesus, but I can understand why people don't like Christians.
In the past few months, I think God has led me into experiences that have allowed me to see what non-Christians see. Whether it's money or judgmentalism or fundamentalism or bigotry (or worse), I can see the lineage of stereotypes that plague Christians and the Christian church.
I was at a concert that was put on by Christians that had significantly less people in attendance than the promoters had bargained for. Less people = less money. I found my jaw on the floor when one of the promoters interrupted the concert to take them mic and ask the audience, "what would Jesus want you to do? We need $150,000 to break even at this concert and we want you to pray about giving sacrificially in order to help us get out of the hole financially." Then he ended in prayer. I was appalled. Jesus reserved the harshest of reprimands for religious leaders who use guilt to meet their own personal needs. (Luke 20:45-47, 21:1-4)I was in a conversation with an agnostic and another Christian. The Christian insisted on calling the agnostic a "heathen", even after the agnostic asked him not to. What was worse was the Christian had no idea that what he was saying was highly offensive to the agnostic (and to me, nonetheless). God says that human beings - all human beings - are created in his image. In the image of God he created us. (Genesis 1:27)
I hear multiple stories of how people left the church of their youth because they were constantly threatened with the fires of hell and damnation - essentially petrified to step foot in the church ever again for fear of being struck down by lightning. Their image of God is not a loving Father, but a detached, crotchety, old miser who desires nothing more than to smite them and send them packing to the lake of fire and burning sulfur. God is not willing that any should die in their sins, but that everyone would come to a saving knowledge of who he is (2 Peter 3:2). Guilt and fear are not God's primary motivator (1 John 4:18), but it is his kindness that leads people to follow him through a relationship with Jesus Christ (Romans 2:4).All that to say this: Jesus is good. God is good. The Holy Spirit is good. We, as the Church, sometimes really screw it up.
There, I said it.In the pages of Scripture, I have met a Jesus who loves sinners - who loves to be with those who have no pretense about them. He loves to meet people and change their lives - it's what he's really, really good at.
As a pastor, it's my job to try and introduce people to Jesus while scooping the piles of religious elephant poop out of the way to give them a place to do so. If you have struggled with some of the poo-filled scenarios I listed above - or worse - know that Christians (most all of them) really do have the best intentions at heart. But, as they say, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."If you've been burned one too many times by the Church or by religious people, will you take one more chance to believe? Believe that Jesus is all that he says he is and none of what well-intentioned-but-destructive Christians sometimes make him out to be?
Peace to you this day...Justin
Immersion Staff UPDATE: Quantum Physics.
0 responses Posted by Justin Wise Transmission Timesamp: 7:33 AMThis was a post from the Juice Faith Blog that I write with a few other young pastors in town. I wanted to re-post it here to see what you all think of this topic.
Wow. Talk about a mind-blowing experience.
I spent the last few weeks in class at Bethel Seminary learning about God and the sub-atomic world. Isaac Newton's Principia pretty much set the standard for modern science, but as people like Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr emerged onto the scene things began to change.
Einstein took us deeper into the realm of the atomic and sub-atomic levels. Simply put, Einstein (and many others) gave us eyes to see what goes on at the most minute level of existence.
The study of this is called quantum physics.
Quantum physics tells us that there are smaller pieces of existence than previously thought. Seems as though the protons, neutrons, and electrons that you and I learned about in science class are made up of even smaller parts called quarks. Quarks, by and large, are a mystery to scientists. They behave erratically and seem to change their make-up depending on whether they are being observed or not.
Did you catch that?
They change their "shape" depending on whether or not they are being watched. In some weird, mysterious way, the sub-atomic world has a sort of "self-awareness". That's some really freaky stuff.
What does this all have to do with faith? Read the words of physicist Stephen Hawking, "the odds against a universe like ours emerging out of something like the Big Bang are enormous. I think there are clearly religious implications."
As we delve further and further into the strands and fibers of the make-up of our universe, we become more and more vexed as to just how all this stuff works. The deeper we dive, the more questions we have. The deeper we dive, the more we see that things, in fact, are not an accident. The universe is calibrated with such intricacy, that to change the gravitational pull of the earth even one thousand million millionth would either send us hurling through space or smash us right into the sun. Fascinating.
I'll sum up this post with the words of Ian Barbour, "this fine tuning [of the universe] could be taken as an argument for the existence of a designer, perhaps a God with an interest in conscious life."
Peace to you on this Monday morning...
Justin
I think we’re coming to a place in human history where, “that’s the way we’ve always done it” isn’t going to quite cut it any longer.
If you pay attention to the statistics, people (specifically young adults) aren’t coming to church anymore. They cite boredom and irrelevancy to their everyday lives as reasons for not coming. “The way we’ve always done it” is not working any longer, and I could not be more pleased. You see, we are in a time when God is doing something fresh and new – something that looks very different from “the way things have always been done.” God will no longer allow political or denominational lines to form a box around his beauty and majesty. Those lines, that box – the “box” of religion – is beginning to be dismantled by the gracious hand of God.
What are we, as Immersion, going to do with that? God is such that he does not reside only in a temple “built by human hands.” What are we going to do with this knowledge? How are we going to respond to a God who “desires mercy, not sacrifice?” Meaning – God desires a “repentant and contrite heart” over you coming to church on Thursdays or Sundays. What are we going to do when the walls of religion come tumbling down in the church of America? Will we be ready…?
Prayer for the week: Father of Lights, the Fragrant One, break us out of the boxes that we spend so much of our time in. The boxes of religion, of “the way things have always been done,” these boxes of fear and apathy, of doing things by rote and uncreatively. You are the one who is constant but always changing. Teach us to be constant in our devotion and love to you but open to change everywhere else. In Yeshua’s Name, Amen.
(Note: Due to technical difficulties, i.e. Al Gore's internet, we're posting the entire beimmersed.com e-mail to the blog this week to make sure everyone can read it. If you aren't getting this weekly update, go to beimmersed.com and sign up already! -End note-)
You are invited to Immersion: Thursday 8:30 p.m. @ Lutheran Church of Hope, 925 Jordan Creek Parkway, West Des Moines.
THIS WEEK AT IMMERSION:
TOPIC: Sunday School – The Rest of the Story: Jonah and the Whale
SPEAKER: Pastor Richard Webb
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I am dark but lovely.” Shulamite Bride, Song of Solomon 1:5.
Many sincere believers in the church today struggle with how God views them in their sin and weaknesses. We think of God as being constantly disappointed with us and in His growing frustrations he is almost on the verge of squashing us! We agree with the statement “I am dark” but struggle to say, “I am lovely” when we come before him. Today more than ever, we the Bride of Christ need to understand our loveliness before the Lord and His passionate fiery affections for us. How we feel before the Lord will dictate how we live before the Lord.
We must remember that God is gentle with us in our weakness and completely enjoys us in our weaknesses and sins. God loves everyone, but he enjoys his Church with a ravished heart. He is gentle and tender with us in our spiritual immaturity. Is God angry with rebellion? Definitely. But guess what? In his eyes, you are not rebellious anymore...that was your old life...you are now a sincere lover of God who just happens to struggle with sin (instead of vice versa), so He is tender, slow to anger, and full of compassion towards you. We must grasp this if we are to walk in purity and righteousness because those who feel dirty before the Lord will live dirty before the Lord.
It seems odd, but that's because we don't understand how much He loves us. Jesus is a passionate lover. He is filled with fiery affections for you. He is jealous and zealous because love is not passive. In his fiery zeal for your heart he will remove all that hinders the free flow of his love. He will not just have a portion of your heart, He wants it all. He will continue to pursue every aspect of your life until you are fully His. Out of his zealous love comes his judgments, which destroy all that opposes love and all that injures His Church.
Love is a greater motivator than fear. If you feel shameful before the Lord, you will live shameful before the Lord. It seems backwards, but that's because of our humanness and our small understanding. He designed his Kingdom to operate this way!
Prayer for the week: Teach us how to wait, O God, on the wings of Your Spirit! In Jesus’ Name, Amen!
COMING SOON! XCLAMATE/UNDERGROUND VALENTINE’S DINNER:
The men of Immersion will be putting on an all-out, no-stops, barn burner of a Valentine’s Day dinner for the women of Immersion on February 16th at the Embassy Suites in downtown Des Moines. Social hour starts at 6:15pm, followed by dinner and a program. Any men interested in serving should contact Mike Jackson at jackson.mike@gmail.com. Any women interested in attending, keep an eye out at Immersion for sign-ups or contact Christine Meggison at christine.meggison@hopewdm.org!
THIS WEEK! IMMERSION WINTER BLITZ:
It’s not too late to join the Blitz. This week Justin Wise will be taking us through 1 John 2. You don’t want to miss this and neither do your friends – so bring them because it’s not too late to sign-up! We start at 6:15 pm with dinner (free will offering) followed by study and discussion groups in Room 101. Questions? Contact Justin Wise at justin.wise@hopewdm.org or 222.1520 x111.
UPDATED! IMMERSION BLOG:
Miss us through the week? Then make sure you check out the Immersion blog at beimmersed.blogspot.com. We’ll post the weekly devotion as well as updates from the Immersion staff—so make sure you log on and keep up to date with all the goings on at Immersion.
HELP NEEDED! COMMUNION SUPPORT OPPORTUNITIES!
Communion support for Immersion needs your help! Four groups of 1, 2, or 3 people are needed to wash up after the service—10-15 minutes total. Grab your friends and sign up as a team that serves one Thursday a month plus one 5th Thursday a year. To help, contact Sheri Hersom and sh.church@flynnwright.com if you’d like to get rolling!
FUSION MISSIONS TRIP TO MEXICO CITY:
Immersion alum Jonathan Mikes is heading a mission’s trip to Mexico City for Immersion young adults March 17–24. It’ll be fun—we’ll go teach children English, play soccer, and reach out in a relevant way to a cultural that is not our own! If you are interested in this or would like more information, check out www.fusionmexico.org or get a hold of Brad Krehlik, missions director at Lutheran Church of Hope @ brad.krehlik@hopewdm.org. Of course, you could always check out Jonathan’s blog at www.jmikes.blogspot.com and keep in touch with him that way!
WEBSITE PRAYER REQUESTS:
Did you know you have people that would love to pray for you, your family, your friends, your coworkers, acquaintances and so on?? ....no matter how big or small...praise or burden....and that it is confidential...and it's easy to submit too!
Go to the Immersion website www.beimmersed.com to submit as many prayer requests as you like. In the main menu there is a link “prayer requests” that will take you directly there. Enter in your request and click on “submit prayer request.” There are people who have a desire to pray for you in this way. Prayer is POWERFUL.
SERVE ON THE PRAYER TEAM:
The Immersion prayer team follows Paul’s words in Colossians 1:9-14 we are available to assist in the continuous transformation of old and new believers as the Body steps into a deeper, stronger, more fruit-bearing relationship with Christ. Prayer Teams focus on 4 areas: corporate, healing, opening and website prayer.
If you're still getting comfortable with prayer or if you've been praying since you gasped for your first breath, there is a place for YOU on this team! Take a leap of faith and contact Jenn Hohrmann, norsesb25@yahoo.com or Deborah Douglas, Deborah.k.douglas@juno.com to get involved!
FIND YOUR PLACE AT IMMERSION:
Are you coming to Immersion and looking for more community or wanting to join a small group? If so, contact:
MEN:
Justin Wise
Justin.Wise@hopewdm.org
515-222-1520 (x319)
WOMEN:
Christine Meggison
christine.meggison@hopewdm.org
515-222-1520 (x323)
For prayer requests during the week, please submit your request online at www.beimmersed.com.
If you would like to get this weekly email please go to www.beimmersed.com to sign up. All talks are available on the website to download.
We have this blog to kind of act as a link between "us" (the staff) and "them" (the people of Immersion, namely you.) Like I said last week at the service, we're all going through this together, so that eliminates the "us" and "them" language and replaces it with "we" language. We are GOD's masterpiece. We are GOD's children. We all exist to live in relationship with GOD and with each other. We.
Speaking of "we," I touched on something in the Adam and Eve messages a few weeks ago that really seems to ruffle some feathers - the "I don't need anything but God" fallacy that pervades Christians sometimes. I know where people's hearts are when they say that, but it actually isn't true. It's actually the complete opposite to what God Himself says in Genesis at the creation of Adam, "It is not good for man (Adam, Eve, you, me) to be alone!" I know that language, the "don't need no one but God" language, sounds good and sounds holy and sounds valiant, and has even eked its way into our theology and worship songs, but it's simply not true - it's false. Do you believe that? It's false to believe that God is all we need as if we can hole up in a cave somewhere with a Bible and a loaf of bread and expect to mature and grow into the person God has intended for us to be!
I think this rings so true for me because I've seen what happens when people falsely believe that "God is all they need." They become angry, shriveled-up, crotchety old misers who are bitter and self-righteous because, after all, God is all they need and, seemingly, God is all they have.
I want Immersion to be a community that's okay with saying, "I need GOD to take my next breath, to have my next heartbeat in my chest, but I also need people too." We think that sounds non-Christian or unholy and almost feel guilty for saying it, "I need God and I need the people He's placed in my life too!" That's okay to say. In fact, it's the Biblical thing to say!
So let's start needing each other. Especially in Immersion. Let's start depending on one another. Let's be agents of change in each other's lives. Let's let God work through us to touch our brothers and sisters in ways that they could never be affected alone. This is God's heart, this is His desire - so it must be our desire. No more "Lone Rangers." No more "cliques." No more factions or divisions. Immersion will be a place where people who aren't Christian can come and "know we are Christians by our love" for one another!
So that's that. It's good to see you all every week - it's better to hear from you. Let us know what your thoughts are...
Peace to you....
JMW
Immersion Devotion: Week of 01.15.07
0 responses Posted by Justin Wise Transmission Timesamp: 1:55 PM
Have you ever gone on a road trip? If you have, I'm willing to bet the best memories you have aren't necessarily what you did when you got there but instead what you experienced in getting there. The conversations, laughs and detours you had to take all drew you closer to the people you were with whether you realized it at the time or not.
This is much like our walk with God. He gives us desires and dreams to pursue and while reaching them is great, what we learn and experience as we get to know Him better during the journey is most rewarding. We should cherish all of the challenges, joys and breakthroughs we encounter in our walk, knowing they are what makes getting to the final destination so sweet.
Prayer for the week: Holy Spirit, remind us this week to savor every moment of the journey we are on. Allow us to see everything we face, the good and the bad, through your eyes knowing it all draws us nearer to you. Thank you for making life an adventure that is meant to be lived. We love you. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Immersion Staff UPDATE: New Year's Resolutions
0 responses Posted by The Meggisons Transmission Timesamp: 8:00 AM
Have any of you made resolutions for 2007?
I'm realizing that resolutions tend to self-improvement. WE want to "lose weight, read more books for fun, spend time with family, travel, exercise more, be on time, be generous, etc." WE decide we're going to do these things and set out boldly on Jan. 1st only to give up, fail or fall over from exhaustion after two weeks.
I'm wondering if our whole perspective on resolutions needs a shift.
What if we let God decide what to "change" in us? What if we let Him do the work?
It seems that a God-change would be more tailored to our personality (how can a person lacking attention to detail suddenly become hyper-organized?) and tailored to our season of life (how can we vow to spend more time with family if they all live more than 500 miles away?).
It also seems that a God-change would be more sustaining. I know I can set off to exercise every day and eat right and do that for awhile. But I, in my own strength, can't endure. I need Christ to give me strength (Phil. 4:13). He needs to motivate me and give me cravings for fruits and vegetables. If it were left up to me, I'd eat pizza every day.
So you might ask, "Christine, I have to do SOMETHING! What's my part?"
I believe, as in all things, God doesn't look for ability. He wants availability. All He asks is for us to open ourselves up to His change. It sounds simple enough, but it can be a tough decision when His changes start to bump up against what WE want to do or what WE want to eat or what WE want to keep holding on to. That's when OUR part kicks in - surrender.
And this might need to happen every day. Or every hour. Or minute.
But, I'm guessing that God-changes will be the kind that last. They'll be the ones that make a difference in our lives and the lives of others. And, they'll probably be the ones that happen without our noticing. We look back at the end of 2007 and realize some of the cool things God has done in us.
Immersion Devotion: Week of 01.01.07
0 responses Posted by Justin Wise Transmission Timesamp: 11:48 AM
This quote pretty much speaks for itself. Most of us have no idea of the power of God that lies within us as believers. God longs to display that power through us but first we have to realize our worth to Him. He created us so he can manifest himself through us. If that's not a high calling I don't know what is! He gave us each unique talents, skills, passions and dreams to discover so that in the journey of discovery he could make himself known.
As we begin a new year, ask yourself where the hidden places are within that he is calling you to let your light shine.
Prayer for the week: Holy Spirit, reveal to us the immense power we behold as believers. Strip our fears and the lies of the world that entangle us so we'd be free to walk in the light as children of God. Show us how you want to make that power known to others through us so they'd be set free on their own journey of discovery. We seek to make your glory within us shine in this new year. We love you and praise you! In Jesus' name, Amen.
Immersion Devotion: Week of 12.25.06
1 responses Posted by Justin Wise Transmission Timesamp: 9:47 AM
We are a capturing people—trapping moments in time like little photographers of life. Our minds possessing point-in-time memories of things realized, viewed, experienced, etc. What we capture, we often remember.
But God, who is outside of time, sees everything as one big eternal “now.” From his eternal Alpha and Omega vantage point, He has given us some point-in-time snapshots also, only of the future, not to remember but to hope in, one of these being the promise of meeting Him face to face! In theological terms, this is referred to as the Beatific Vision, the life altering moment when the Creator of the universe looks upon us, his creation, as we peer into Him. What does this moment look like to you? How does it feel? Take a moment to capture in your imagination the Beatific Vision.
For me the Vision is the treasure, the moment I long for. How do I describe such anticipation? Everyday I wait and everyday I get closer. I am anxious to meet my maker. My maker is my lover. My lover is God who I have known and adored and served and shared life with since the moment He silenced the noises of the world and spoke to me about a relationship with Himself. He is the One who has left me love messages in sunsets and massages in the sounds of waves crashing into the shore. He is the One who sat with me, held my hand, and placed His hand on my shoulder as I cried through the pains in my soul. In this moment, the culmination of my God-story meets the author and face-to-face He looks upon me with eyes I have never seen before, with eyes for which my memories have no familiarity, no prior experience, because I have gazed upon the beauty of the Lord. I have looked into eyes of pure love. I am eternally changed and desire to sin no more.
Prayer for the week: God of Love, create in us a clean heart and renew a right and steadfast spirit within us at Immersion that we may engage in our eternal love song with You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Immersion Devotion: Week of 12.18.06
0 responses Posted by Justin Wise Transmission Timesamp: 8:06 AM
Wow. To think we are always on the mind of the God of the Universe is astounding. Really; stop and think about it: He is the Creator of everything and is always at work yet He never is too busy that He stops thinking about us. That's pretty cool. Let's make it a point during this busy holiday season to stop in the midst of our chaotic schedules and turn our thoughts to God, because He is most certainly thinking about us!
Prayer for the week: God, you're amazing. Thanks for always having us on your mind because you care so deeply for us. Remind us to slow down and focus our thoughts on you this week as we approach the birthday of your son, our wonderful savior. You are the reason we live, we love you! In Jesus' Name, Amen.
