“I have come so that you may have life and have it to the full” Jesus says (John 10:10). Some people combine this verse with a few others in Scripture and conclude that, if we’re “faithful enough” or “religious enough,” God’s purpose for our lives will include riches, fame, and mountains of material blessings. Does God want to bless us materially at times so that we can be a blessing to others? Absolutely. But I am convinced that the “fullness” God has for us has nothing to do with “full” as this world sees it and everything to do with “life.”

The band “Fuller Still” is going to be at Immersion this week. They’ll be leading worship and then offering a mini-concert immediately following Immersion. Their name reminds us that, though this world can “fill” us with its material blessings, with the empty promises of wholeness that come from achievement, status, relationships, sex, and empty religious striving, only God offers us something that is “fuller still.”

See, God offers us not only forgiveness and heaven, which are definitely fuller than the world’s promises, but also an immediate life that every day can be “fuller still” than the day before.

Before seminary, I toured in the U.S. and East Africa with a band/ministry-team with two of the members of Fuller Still, Josh and Justin, so I’m personally excited to welcome this group to Immersion. Their hearts are for Jesus and for you to know Him more through their ministry and music. Invite your friends and we’ll see you at Immersion. May each day this week be “fuller still” with God’s life abundant.

Peace,
Pastor Molly

P.S. Thanks to those of you who submitted sermon-topic ideas for this week in the “You Pick the Sermon Topic” contest. We’ll finish up the “Sunday School” series with a good one. And to those of you who stuffed the box with urgent requests for me to preach on Deuteronomy 25:11, sorry, we’re PG-rated at Immersion so that one may be tricky.

"Where have all the cowboys gone?"

This question has been resonating in my mind for the last couple of weeks. It came after I woke up with the song with same title in my mind one morning. That happens every now and again - God speaks to me through random little tunes showing up in my mind in the morning. At any rate, a few weeks ago, it happened to be a Paula Cole song, where the chorus states over and over, "where have all the cowboys gone?"

Some lyrics from the song:

(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.

So, it's been awhile since I've touched base with a lot of you, so here goes...

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

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Life is an adventure. It's not the destination we reach that's most rewarding, it's the journey along the way." Barbara Morina.

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.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

How often do we try to find happiness, fulfillment, and satisfaction in things of this world when all we need to be complete is Christ? What would your life be like if you let God be in control? It sounds simple, but if we let God be God of our lives and do His job radical things will happen. He really is all we need, and only when we truly believe that will we start to see what He can do with our lives.

Prayer for the week: God, Thank you for being a big God, a mighty God, a God who sees the big picture but still cares about the little details of each of our lives. Help us surrender our will and our desires to you and let you take control of our lives, trusting that you have only good and loving things in store for us.

Have any of you made resolutions for 2007?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, "who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to make the glory of God that is within us. It's not in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others." Marianne Williamson, author (Source: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marianne_Williamson).

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.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face…." Paul the Apostle.

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.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "God doesn't let anything in the Universe distract Him from thinking about you." Bruce Bickel & Stan Jantz, authors.

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.

Hey errrbody. Some things I've been pondering this 13-days before Christmas:

theMILL: Last week with Mitch's talk was my first week back to Immersion after being gone for two weeks. Reason being? My wife and I, Christine and her husband, Michael (a.k.a. Megs) went to Colorado Springs, CO to check out New Life Church and their Immersion-like ministry, theMILL. Here's some pics:

The Wises' at Navigators Headquarters.

Flipping out in our ride for the weekend.

A sweet tree.

12 hours + 1 minivan + 6 people = this.

The burrito line at Chipotle.

It was a great time. We learned a lot of stuff, met a lot of great people, and are excited to being some GOD-breathed principles to Immersion. PS - you have GOT to check out what they do for announcements - "The Friday Night Show." They're produced by theMILL's creative pastor, Joe Kirkendall. He's a genius!

TV Shows: My wife and I don't have cable. I put up a little fuss when we first got married, but then I quickly acquiesced after seeing that I had 0% chance of convincing Kerry otherwise. Truthfully, it's been great. Aside from missing a few Hawkeye games (and with the way Tate was playing towards the end of the season, who cares?!) and not being able to watch the budgetary meeting of the Canadian national parliament on C-SPAN, I really haven't missed it. All that to say, we've found some pretty wicked shows to watch on iTunes & DVD. Lost, The Office, and coming in January, 24, are some of our favorites. Which, if you consider the argument made above, is pretty ironic since all of those shows are on one of the major netwrrrrks that you "don't gotta pay nothin'" for. What are some of the shows you all are caught up in?

Invite: Kind of like the endless amounts of e-vites that seem to head our way this time of year, Jesus likes to be invited. As I'm going through my day, and after reading "Streams of Living Water" by Richard Foster for a class I'm in at Bethel, I find myself inviting the Spirit of Jesus into every moment I can. Eating a cookie, typing an e-mail, when I get anxious or depressed, I always try and ask Him in. It makes for quite the holy moment. Not fixed, not, what author Anne Lamott likes to call, "Okay," but holy. This should be our continuous mindset.

Okay gang, that's about all I got runnin' through my mind right now. What about you? What's God got boiling in your brain this season? Hopefully we'll get some snow soon. That always sets the holiday mood for me.

Justin

Ever get tired of the same old, same old? Not to mention that it seems to get earlier and earlier… AND you just HAVE to have the newest coolest thing like the Wii or the PS3 with the Bluewave technology that you can’t find if you want to, and would have to pay thousands of dollars on e-bay to acquire. (Hard not to covet things like that…) I can’t even convince my wife to let me have the PS2 let alone one of the new games. The fact that my boys are only two, rules out the “they need one” excuse, so I reside in the “it’s not about you anyway…” abyss. I look forward to socks, sweaters, and (insert your own Christmas cliché) Needless to say though, we go through this every year; and each year, I tell myself I am going to do things differently and not buy into the commercialism that clouds the season. Inevitably though, I give in and buy the fondue maker for the extended fam that at last count was still sitting on the pantry shelf.

Think about this… Christmas is completely centered on a Westernized tradition, loosely attached to a celebration surrounding a completely political event! Joseph and Mary were not going to Nazareth because they said, “hey Jesus should be born there and won’t it be cool that people will celebrate this birth for years to come!” They were required by Emperor’s decree to do so in order to be counted in the census for taxation purposes. And somewhere hidden in there is the birth of Christ! An afterthought to so many and yet the reason that we celebrate to begin with!

Before this turns into a down with commercialism, up with Jesus typical pastoral rant, let me throw you something that the Chicago Cubs pitchers were completely unable to throw last year; an effective curveball. Can we exist within both? Can we have Jesus and the fondue maker and not lose the reason for both? I think it is okay every year to bless the people we love in extraordinary ways, while at the same time, reminding them that every good and perfect gift comes from God anyway! We bless because we are truly blessed! That could change the entire spirit with which we give…

Mark

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Nothing is so much to be feared as fear." Henry David Thoreau

This really struck me. It made me think about all the things I fear. It also made me realize how much easier it can be to live in a place of fear rather than faith. To the degree we are living in fear, we are separated from the fullness of our Father's love. I don't want any of us to stay in that place.

Did you know the most repeated command in scripture is "Do not be afraid"? Check out Mark 5:36 for example.

I believe God wants us to get real with Him and lay out all of our fears before Him. And I mean all of them, even the little ones we think are petty. He longs to release us from our fears into a place of quiet confidence in His love.

Prayer for the week: Lord, we boldly ask you to meet us in the midst of the fears in our lives. We admit they exist and we want to move on from them. We desire the freedom that comes from placing all security and trust in you, mighty one. Thank you in advance for doing what only you can do. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Devotion written by Nicole Wendl

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Angels and archangels who are the King’s great officials, are gazing steadfastly upon you at the time of your prayer to see what petition you will make of their Master; and they are astonished and exultant whenever they behold one who is made of earth forsake his dunghill and ask for what is heavenly.” St. Isaac of Nineveh (St. Isaac the Syrian), 7th century.

That’s a good one, isn’t it? To be heavenly-minded, always asking GOD what He is wanting, what He is doing, what He’s thinking – this is the goal.

Heaven does truly gasp at the selflessness that comes from sinful humanity when we forsake our petty desires, selfishness, and hard-heartedness and ask GOD what He would have for us.

What if we truly did this? Spent an hour or day or week or month asking GOD continually, “What is Your Majesty’s desire?” I have a feeling our lives would change in ways we cannot even imagine. For it’s God speaking through His word when He says that, “No eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor mind has conceived what God was for those who love Him.” By asking GOD what He wants is the ultimate act of love – it is laying down your life for the sake of your Friend, the Friend who sticks closer than a brother.

So let’s spend a little less time this week telling God what we want and little more time asking Him what His desire for our lives and the lives of those around us is!

Prayer for the week: God of all time, teach us to number our days so that we may live in a way that completely pleases You! Teach us to be heavenly-minded, to have the “mind of Christ,” whatever that looks like. We confess that way too often our minds get filled with worthless worries, time-consuming tantrums, and me-centered mumblings – we want what You want, no matter the cost. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Hey, everyone! Have you recovered from Thanksgiving?

I feasted with family on Thursday AND Saturday and now my stomach is grumbling. Ever notice how hungry we feel for a few days after Thanksgiving. It's like our stomachs are asking, "Hey, where's the love?"

So, Justin (and his beautiful wife) and I (and my hunky husband and adorable children) are headed to Colorado Springs on Thursday. We're combining a ministry trip with a fun trip.

On the ministry side, we'll be visiting New Life Church's version of Immersion called, The Mill. The Mill is a ministry to college-aged and 20-something adults. They draw nearly 1000 worshippers weekly and offer small groups, mentoring and internships. The staff at Immersion likes what we see happening at The Mill, so we decided to meet with their staff and visit their weekly service. Should be great to see how God is moving in the hearts of other radical young adults and how He is raising up an abandoned generation for Him.

The fun side of the trip includes hanging for 20-24 hours in the car with the Wises - we'll either love or hate each other when it's done. It also includes seeing the places and the friends I loved when I lived in Colorado Springs. I haven't been back to Co Springs since the summer of 2002, so many of my friends have never met either of our kids. How wonderful it will be to see everyone again.

But, it's gotten me thinking....how do we return to our old stompin' grounds as new creations? How do we re-engage with old relationships when, by God's grace, we're no longer the same people.

I think it's hard. Maybe some of you experienced that last week as you returned home for Thanksgiving. How easily we jump right back into old patterns of behavior with family and hometown friends. And the whole time, we're thinking to ourselves, "Why are you acting like this?....this isn't even who you are anymore."

I find myself worrying about what my old friends will think of me now. Will they like my husband and kids? Will they think I'm a good wife and mother? Will they think I'm still young and hip and beautiful? Will they see how much God has healed and changed me? Will they see His passionate love flowing through me?

In second Corinthians, Paul writes, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he/she is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come." The caterpillar has turned into a butterfly.

I'm banking on this truth. I'm counting on the new creation within me coming forth. Certainly not perfect - but renewed. Made to be whom He intended from the beginning. And I'm asking God to keep me in "His perfect peace" as I rest in Him.

We'll keep you updated on how the trip goes. In the meantime, can anyone else relate?

Blessings - Christine

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body, you were called to peace. And be thankful." Colossians 3:15

Being thankful. Do you ever just sit and think of all you have to be thankful for? For starters, how about the fact we're alive and we've been chosen by our Creator to live eternal life, not to mention His unconditional love and grace to cover our imperfection.
Or what about the warm bed you woke up in this morning, the food you have to eat, the clothes on your back, shoes on your feet, the job you have to go to that provides a paycheck to purchase those things and the car you have that takes you there.

And how about your friends and family that surround you, the laughter, love and joy that comes from being in relationship with them – the changing seasons, sunrise and sunset, the freedom we have in this country, our health, talents, abilities, passions...the list is endless.
Let's make it a point this Thanksgiving week to thank God for His countless blessings and thank the people in our lives for being who they are and for everything they do for us.

Prayer for the week: God, you are good! Thank you, thank you, thank you for your grace and mercy, your kindness, peace, joy, compassion, provision and unconditional love. Keep reminding us daily of all we have to be thankful for. Bless the body of Immersion this week as we felllowship with family and friends. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The average listener in the evangelical church is not excited about the truth, he’s embalmed by it.” Howard Hendricks

Is this statement true of your attitude toward church? Take a minute to examine your heart. When you come to Immersion what is your motive? Do you come to sit and listen to the message and accept everything that is presented to you or do you actually engage with the topics that are presented and ask questions? I think as Christians, we are sometimes afraid to question what the church says, so we passively sit back, waiting for all the answers to be spoon-fed to us. The Bible challenges us to actively taking part in our faith and one way of doing that is by questioning answers and starting discussions within our Christian community. Immersion offers you a community of believers who welcome your questions. Take advantage of this and don’t be afraid to ask your question, whatever it may be.

Prayer for the week: Dear Lord, I pray that you would give us at Immersion to have discerning hearts and minds to the questions and answers we will hear this week. We want to know you more and understand your word and your plan for our lives, and not take your truth for granted. Thank you that you challenge us to dig deeper and that you make yourself known to us in ways that we can understand. Amen

…so I’ve been thinking.
I’ve been reading a lot of books, talking with a bunch of people, and even gone to a conference. And everywhere I go God just keeps messing with my head.

It’s all about heaven. Like many of you I was raised to believe that heaven was this place that dead people went to (at least dead Christians). True enough. When I die the Bible tells me that the next thing I see is Jesus—face to face. And most likely I’ll totally lose it. I won’t know what to do. I’ll act like a total idiot (nothing new) and he’ll have to calm me down and tell me it’s ok. I’m in heaven.

But I think there’s much more to it. When Jesus was on this earth, what he told everybody was to turn around and take a look: heaven was right in front of them. You didn’t have to wait for it. In fact, to make the point, he gathered a little band of followers and showed them how to act as if they were really in heaven—because they were. They were in the presence of the God who made everything and loved everything. What could be better than that? That’s heaven.

And, yes, he also told them that heaven was this kingdom that would last forever. But he always reminded them that it was right in front of them, because he was right in front of them.

And there’s where it really messes me up.

Because most of the time I don’t act like I’m in heaven (so where do I think I am?). I guess that means that most of the time I’m not sure if Jesus is really right in front of me. And all that’s really in front of me is whatever’s coming at me. Time for the bullet-proof vest. Time to hide.

But there’s this promise of Jesus that keeps running through my head, that he’d be with me forever. That he wasn’t going anywhere no matter what happened or what I did. And then he dares me to act as if that’s really true. To act like he taught he followers to act. To do what he did.

What if all this stuff is true?

In the last blog I wrote about this little band of Jesus-followers in San Francisco that did this thing called “Have 2 Give 1.” That’s where they followed Jesus teaching that if you have two coats to give one to someone who has none. They also did that with their CD’s bikes, shoes, appliances, whatever they had too much of. And they didn’t just give their throwaways either.

You see, this wasn’t just about “doing the right thing.” These people in San Francisco were really trying to act as if all this Jesus-stuff is really true. That life does go better (and is way more fun) if you do what Jesus did.

This “Have 2 Give 1” thing—we’re going to try this at Immersion in a few weeks. I’ll talk about how this will all work on Thanksgiving Eve and the next week following we’ll all give stuff away. More details to come.

Blessings on the Way!

Pastor Richard

NOTE: Before we get rockin' and rollin' with today's devotion, we want you to go and vote! This is a civic liberty, neigh, duty that we're called to as citizens of this nation. If you don't like any of the candidates, aren't informed, etc., ask God who He would have you vote for (and that doesn't necessarily mean Republican or Democrat only!). He's full of wisdom, even when you aren't - so He can let you know who to vote for!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Wherever you find yourself, do not easily leave." Abba Anthony, contemplative and desert father.

This piece of advice was part of a response to the question, “what must one do to please God?” Surprising, huh?

I don't know about you, but I know for me it's easy to fall into the mindset that when things get hard, it must be time to move on. When my job is frustrating and nothing seems to be going right, then maybe it's time to switch jobs or to move away. When my closest friendships get hard, maybe we don't have as much in common as I thought. When I'm not feeling connected in community, this probably isn't where God wants me. Giving up and moving on seems like a much better solution than facing the battles.

God sees it much differently though. He blesses those who persevere, especially through trials (James 1:12). Growth comes when we seek to remain faithful in situations and relationships that we don't understand and might not like. We begin to realize through difficult circumstances that we are not alone...that the Lord is with us always and more than likely right where we are is right where we ought to be.
Prayer for the week: Lord, would You reveal to us this week the areas in our lives where we find it easier to give up than to keep going? Show us how You might be challenging us to grow in these areas and give us the strength to persevere knowing the reward is so worth it. Thank you Father, we love you. Amen.

God's really been frying my face lately. Or, as Tim Denner calls it, God's been "giving me a face-melter."

As we've been walking through this Malachi series, I've really been burdened with the fact that a lot of times, my life doesn't really look all that different from someone who doesn't follow Jesus. I want you to know something - the stuff we talk about from up front, we're not worth our salt if it doesn't, at one point or another, affect us in some way, shape, or Form. That'd be what we call "hypocrisy," and, frankly, there's been enough of that in the Body of Christ. I'm sick of blending in with the world when all I want to do is live a life that reflects Jesus in every way. Contrast that with the fact that I don't want to be so irrelevant to those around me that the love of Jesus gets lost in the simple fact that I'm... well... weird to everyone else. Simply put, I've divorced my "normal" life (i.e. 9-5 life) from my "Jesus" life. Those are two things that ought not be separated, and I want to let Jesus piece them back together again.

I was overwhelmed with how many of you felt like you had divorced things in your life that belonged together. Here is what some of you said last Thursday night: