We are so excited about Treasure cove. Take a look at this little video from the launch day!
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November 8, 2011
October 10, 2011
You Are the Fisherman
Recently, we were very grateful to have guest speaker Marty Gabler and his wife Kathy Gabler with us. If you were there Sunday, I’m sure you were very blessed by his encouragement and the prophetic words that went out.
One of the biggest things that I, personally, brought out of Marty’s message was this: God is not waiting for Benny Hinn or some Mega Preacher or Prophet to come to Durant. You’re here. God has a plan to use you in your community, in your workplace, and in your world.
A couple of weeks before, our church went down to One Cause church in McKinney, Tx to hear Duane Sheriff speak. Duane was there speaking about the great cause that God has called us to, to be fishers of men. He said that one of the greatest problems facing our church today is the false belief that only the Pastor of your church is called into the harvest. This goes back to the same thing that Marty said this Sunday. The Pastors and leaders of this church are not the only ones called to reach our community. You are! Everyday, you are in the mission field. You are walking in the fields and the harvest is ready. Don’t forget that you are a minister, a harvester, and a fisher of men.
When you come to church on Sunday, you are not just coming for yourself. You are getting your net repaired and cleaned so that you can get back to fishing.
- Have you ever thought of church like that – a place to prepare you for a mission field?
- When you are at church on Sundays or Wednesdays do you ever think about how you can take that word to the World?
- How does this affect your views?
Let us know! Leave a comment!
February 13, 2010
Sibboleth?
What is Shibboleth?
After a war with the Ephraimites (Judges 12) , the Gileadites set up guard at the river Jordan. The Ephraimites would come to the river and try to enter the land again. They would say that they were not Ephraimites. Well, the Gileadites had an easy way of testing this, because the Ephraimites could not pronounce the sh sound. They would tell them, “Say ’shibboleth’.” They would try, but they would fail, saying, “Sibboleth,” instead. That was probably the last word they ever said before the Gileadites killed them.
So why Shibboleth?
You’ve probably recognized the phenomenon before. Maybe you were working with the same person for months without bringing up the subject, but all along you were thinking, “This person has got to be a Christian.” Then one day, you ask and find out that you were right all along.
Well, it really shouldn’t be too surprising. Matthew 7:20 says that we should be known by our fruits. We should be recognizable as Christians. We shouldn’t have to write Jesus on our head before people see Who we belong to.
In modern language, a Shibboleth is a peculiarity of speech or behavior that sets one apart as an outsider.
As we’re following Christ, people should see our speech and behavior. They should recognize that we’re going in a different direction than the rest of the world.
The way we talk is even different! Remember when Peter was standing outside of Jesus’ trial? The guards recognized that he was a follower of Jesus just by the way he talked. To cover it up he had to start cursing along with his denial!
Be a Light
Jesus called us to be a light in the darkness. How can we light up the darkness if we’re as dark as it ourselves?
When Jesus, the light of life, comes to live inside of us, our lives begin to change. We are taken out of darkness and into His marvelous light. He is transforming us! God is working in you to make you like Him. What is God like? He is love.
Our desire is to let that love permeate our lives so that we can be a lighthouse on a dark sea.
January 9, 2010
The Heart
Of all the factors that can consistently affect our life negatively there is probably nothing more devastating than what the Bible calls a broken heart. The heart is the seat of who we are. It is the source of all abiding emotions. From the heart emerge all of life’s boundaries. It is the source of understanding. The heart determines the quality of our physical health. But most importantly, it is the place where God speaks to us. All of these aspects of our life are distorted and skewed by the condition of our heart.
The symptoms of a broken heart are endless. But the following are places that it becomes most obvious.
· Continuous negative emotions
· Codependent tendencies
· Difficulty understanding Spiritual reality
· Distorted view of life
· Feeling like a victim
· Repeated cycles of destructive behavior
· Unexplained failures
· Abusive relationships
· The inability to feel happy, fulfilled and loved
While we could have listed many more, these are the ones I see most often in counseling and personal ministry. But the area where a broken heart tends to affect us more than any other is in relationships. The heart is the seat of love. In the heart resides the capacity to feel, receive and give love. Since love is the deepest need of mankind, this very root factor alters our entire life experience!
Heartbreak is like a self-replicating computer virus. Once it gets into the inner working of your computer there is no end to the chaos and confusion it causes. Heartbreak always starts in some aspect of relationship. And it is in relationships that it replicates, multiplies and duplicates.
The good news is, Jesus came to heal the broken hearted! In fact, the very first work of the Holy Spirit in your life is to make you whole. God wants to have a loving, trusting relationship with you. The quality of our relationships can never exceed our personal wholeness. Before becoming a servant, before diving into any of the deeper aspects of God, the starting place is wholeness. Apart from wholeness, everything you do as a believer will be tainted by insecurity and feelings of inadequacy!
In Luke 4:18-20, Jesus made this bold proclamation! “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” In the context of this Scripture Jesus is talking about the emotional effects of a person who has a broken heart.
There are plenty of Scriptures that address these individual issues in a different context. For example, there are multiple Scriptures about opening physically blind eyes or getting deliverance from demonic influence. But in this passage, that is not the meaning of these references.
The poor, in this passage, are those who feel destitute. They have an abiding sense of lack! They are not in touch with God’s love. They feel inadequate and ill-equipped for life. They have no sense of God’s promises being sure. The awareness of their needs is far greater than the awareness of His provision. That abiding sense of lack is the result of a broken heart.
It is the sense of lack that is responsible for every temptation, every sin and every destructive behavior. The original temptation occurred only after Satan undermined Eve’s confidence in God. Once she bought into the idea and feeling of lack, she began to search outside of God to get her needs met!
Captivity is a description of the circumstances of life that overtake us when we feel destitute. It is a deception that our circumstances have the power to hold us. We feel that we have no choices. Our life seems limited.
Isaiah 42:7 shows us that captives sit in the prison houses because they have no light. They do not see things as they really are. Darkness occurs in the absence of light. When people do not know and believe the truth they are in captivity, not because the enemy is powerful, but because they do not see things as they really are.
The phrase recovering sight to the blind is such a wonderful concept! People become blinded by the darkness. Their circumstances dictate their sense of reality. They need to recover sight! They need to see things from God’s perspective. In Mark 6 we have the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes with five loaves and two fish. In this story we see the true meaning of recovering sight!
Jesus, as a man tempted in all ways like we are tempted, had to have been momentarily blinded by the circumstances. He looked at His resources and He looked at the incredible demand and based on a natural view, it looked hopeless. But He modeled what we should do when circumstances begin to overtake our life view.
In Mark 6:41 it says, and when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves… In the Greek the phrase here is the same as the phrase in Luke 4. It actually says, “He recovered sight.” Instead of being blinded by the circumstance, He turned to God and recovered sight from God’s perspective. The moment He recovered sight He was able to bless (speak favorably) over the circumstances, thus creating the desired end.
Then it says He wants to set at liberty the oppressed or bruised. Every “hit” we take has the potential to leave a bruise, a place that restricts freedom of movement. In fact, a bruise restricts the life-giving flow of blood that brings about healing.
In psychological terms this would be a “stuck state.” A stuck state occurs when we experience an irresolvable emotional trauma. Many of life’s major hurts occur at a time that we are emotionally or intellectually incapable of dealing with the pain. When this happens we tend to “stuff the pain,” we never resolve it. Even though we may bury that pain so deeply that we never think of it, it still affects our life.
If a child is molested and that pain/bruise is never resolved, it will cause difficulty in that area of their life forever. They may grow academically, socially and in all other areas, but every time there is an opportunity for intimacy we revert back to the influence of that trauma. Many times we find ourselves dealing with unbearable pain with the emotional resources of a ten-year- old or whatever age the trauma occurred.
But last of all, Jesus said He wanted to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. All scholars agree this is referring to the year of jubilee, the year all debts are cancelled. In the Old Testament the year of jubilee was when all financial debts were cancelled. It didn’t matter how you got the debts, whether they were from mishandling money or circumstances beyond your control, they were cancelled.
Jesus wants to free you from your emotional debt. You may deserve the pain you feel. You may have been the cause. That doesn’t matter. God wants you whole and you cannot experience wholeness with a lifetime of emotional debt. This is why it is so important that you allow the WORD to be implanted in your heart not just your head. Jesus came to heal the broken hearted not to establish intellect
Free to serve,
Pastor Curtis
December 27, 2009
29 Tweets from 2009
With 2010 approaching, I’d love to give you the top 2009 Tweets of 2009, but considering we’ve only had the website going for a few months and have less than 200 tweets so far, that’s not going to happen. Let’s be honest, though. I don’t have time to go through thousands of notes myself, and you wouldn’t take time to read 2009 notes, either. However, if we just leave off the zeroes… Here are 29 of my favorite tweets from this year. Enjoy the notes, and have a Happy New Year!
- Israel
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A lot of Christians spend their lives trying to be something they already are. -Curtis
To fulfill the Word of God in your life you will need the Holy Spirit. -Curtis
You need to see yourself the way that God sees you. -Curtis
What’s normal to God is not normal to us. What’s normal to us is not normal to God. -Curtis
Does the way you live reflect the gift of God in your life? – Noe
God has offered us the gift of eternal life and salvation. All we have to do is accept the gift. -Noe
Jesus is a gift that you’ll never have to return to the store. – Noe
God is more interested in the growth of the individual, than the ministry the individual is called to. – Frank Fietz
God allows things to happen in our lives… And he uses these things to grow us in maturity. – Frank Fietz
We cannot afford to lose warriors of God. We should not shoot our wounded. Pick them up! -Johnny
Warriors Ethos: I will never accept defeat from the enemy. -Johnny
To be a “Doer of the Word” means to implement and apply the Word of God to our lives. -Johnny
We need to be Christ-like in Character to achieve our destiny. – Johnny
We need to know our culture so that we can plan to reach them. -Johnny
For lack of knowledge/vision my people perish. We need to catch God’s vision of us… Know how He sees us. -Curtis
As a man thinks in His heart, so is he. Start seeing yourself the way God sees you. -Curtis
Have your value established by what Jesus did, and how He sees you, rather than by what you do. -Curtis
What you do doesn’t determine who you are. Who you are should determine what you do. – Curtis
What’s natural for a sinner to do? Sin. What’s natural for the righteous? Righteousness. You have a new nature. -Curtis
We are children of God, not because of what we do… it’s who we are. -Curtis
In the same way, we are tempted to doubt our position in Christ, or to try to prove or earn that position with works… – Curtis
God rewards those who diligently seek Him… so if you want an experience with God, seek Him, trust Him, and don’t give up!
Believing and Knowing are different. You don’t JUST believe that 1+1=2. You know it.
Is it possible that we are saved not just FROM hell… #CC
…but saved FOR a purpose! #CC
But Jesus died and set us free from sin… John 8:36 ‘Free from’ meaning we are no longer slaves but have a choice.
In the same way, we often do not understand the commands that God has given us, but if we follow them, God will give us Victory in our lives
When you lift God up in your trial, others will have a breakthrough because of your praises!
Will you be tenacious in pursuing God’s purpose for your life?
December 15, 2009
Food Drive
Once again the community did an outstanding job with donations for the Food Drive. We would like to thank everyone who participated in the event. The total collection brought in over 15,000 lbs. of food to help supplement the meals of many families in our area. In addition to the food collected, Red River Ford donated a portion of their vehicle sales to the event and a cash collection from their employees. We would like to say a special thank you to the Top Food Drive Supporters: Cardinal Glass with 3,680 lbs, PRC with 2,940 lbs and Durant Intermediate School with 1,820 lbs.
We would like to thank Red River Ford and United Way for including our church food pantry in this annual event.