Interesting weekend...

so Corrie couldn't stop coughing last week. So I laid hands on her and she finally slept through the night & is on the road for recovery. Then, when we were praying for Zeke to get better, I kept getting a crazy pain in a certain part of my lung. Then, when he went to the Dr's and they found the pneumonia, he had a black mass of infection in the exact spot where my pain was. Then, at bootcamp we prayed lots for people and saw God move people to new horizons and many to tears. Next, we went to baptisms at the Danville campus and one of the girls who we were laying hands on afterwards (FYI-like 6 people were immersed during first service we were at and they had MORE second service. Praise God!) totally got shaken by God. Here joy was so apparent and she was so filled that the tears and laughter completely were incredible to watch. God's gonna turn that girl into a huge light for her college campus. So, when we got home after 3 days away at bootcamp, we were not ready for spiritual warfare... though we should've been.

The kids were cranky, but Zeke was almost unbearable. I had to carry him to the car screaming. We just chalked it up to 3 straight days at gma's and angry at parents. When he didn't stop screaming for half an hour, Corrie was like this is inhuman. Sam and Ethne seemed a bit freaked out by his behavior. When we got home, I took him straight to his room and closed the door. NOTE: we have not been yelling but have talked calmly with him the whole time. I asked him to take off his shoes and coat, which he refused to do, yelling as loud as he could in a voice I didn't recognize. I removed his shoes and hung up his jacket, then began to pray. The screaming got louder. I asked Zeke to tell me his name, at which point he yelled louder and said, "NO." Then, I asked him "in the name of Jesus" to tell me his name. He then screamed louder and said "get away from me." Then, I began to pray in tongues and asked the Spirit to come, which really agitated him. When, I place right hand on his forhead and my left on his heart and prayed "in the name of Jesus", he screamed 3-4 times, "I WILL NOT LET HIM GO!" in another voice and began to punch me 12-15 times in the face screaming "I WILL NOT LET GO!" several more times. After 10-15 minutes of prayer like this, he calmed some and I embraced him and once again began to pray in tongues over him. He got violent for about 30 seconds, then the Spirit broke through and I began to weep. After this, I began to ask him his name several more times. At about the fifth time, Zeke finally answered and said his name. He told me he was tired and very hungry... to quote the scriptures "he was sitting and in his right mind. (Mark 6)".
So now, I am tired and thinking a nap is in order, but not without leaving you with one more note. After all of this happened and Zeke was "himself" again. I began to wonder where the demon might have gone. So, I prayed against it bothering the rest of the house and agaist it bothering Corrie, me, Sam or Ethne. Then, on a whim, I prayed it wouldn't bother the dogs (see pigs in Mark 6). Upon the moment of me praying this, Bart (our younger-larger black lab) vommitted imediately under the table, ran into Zeke's room and vommitted again, then ran to the back door and puked once more before going outside...

Let me know your thoughts.

And please pray for us. Apparently we're in the right spot with God, because Satan doesn't attack non-threats to his earthly kingdom.

Come Jesus. Come Spirit and fill us up with new strength.

Blessings,
Adam

VOTSinger #6

Psalm 89
July 12, 2009
with Adam Waters

Corrie and I spent all day yesterday making supper. We smoked a porkloin, made homemade stuffing and more. In all, I'd say it was the best thing that we have ever made. Better than the chickens we smoked for our flock-feast. Better than thanksgiving dinner. What are some things you use to measure things by?
 Comparisons: my dad is bigger, he’s faster than, our food last night was better than…

o Who is Ethan the Ezrahite?
 1Kings – Solomon even smarter than this guy... in essence he was the 2nd smartest guy to ever live!
 Father of singers, in the line of kings, etc.
o READ: Psalm 89
o God is unfailing.
o God is bigger than anything we can imagine.
o God is planning for an amazing Kingdom (ends v.29)
o God is sometimes forced to withdraw from us (30-51).


Three Truths from this Text
1. We serve a God who’s love will endure forever!
Ethan’s wisdom from God’s spirit made this the central message of his psalm.
 NO MATTER what our lives or our church is going thru, God’s love for us is constant and will not fail.

2. We serve a God who’s ways, both his power and his plans, are bigger than we could ever imagine.
Ethan could not have known his words was going to be fulfilled in Jesus.
 For us today, a lot of what is going on in our church is hard to understand, but God is in control.

3. We serve a God who doesn’t change in spite of how our world seems to be in a constant state of change.
Ethan would have witnessed the split of the Kingdom of David at the end of Solomon’s reign.
 CHANGE IS A COMIN’ Oh Yeah! But God is constant… thru all of our trials and tribulations, be they home, work, school, finances, children, addictions… thru our brokenness our FATHER is patient and enduring.

VOTSinger #5

Psalm 100-101
July 5, 2009
with Adam Waters

INTRO
Holy sanctuary: a place where God appears and causes His name to dwell.

Exodus 25 – God is the first one to request the building of a sanctuary within his tabernacle: within there was to be the Ark of the Covenant (I will speak from there), the Table of His Presence (I will receive your offerings/sacrifices there), and a Lampstand (fire always represents God’s holiness and our purification).

About 1/3 of the 137 references in our Bibles refer to this Tent the Lord had Israel build. The second 1/3 refers to the inner holy place of the Temple of Solomon. The 22 references in Psalms refer either to the physical tent/tabernacle, but they all point to a place where God HIMSELF dwells in his fullest presence. God Himself refers to His presence dwelling in the temple throughout the OT, especially in the prophets. The NT still refers to God’s presence dwelling in the rebuilt temple sanctuary.

Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us that the temple curtain was ripped open by God himself!

BACKGROUND:
BOTH~ Yahweh: the proper name of God… his holiness, his stamp, the God of A, I, J… not even spoke
100~ A song of praise… A call to worship… A song arranged to set apart a Holy day.
101~ Not written by David (72:20), but rather a song written in honor of or inspired by David. Traditionally, it is attributed as one of 3 written for Solomon’s coronation and probably read at the time of Josiah’s recommitment of the Temple. Ultimately a hymn for any who would be making a public commitment to follow the Father.

100 - WHAT INSPIRES OUR PRAISES?
o He is our Maker/Creator...
o His love is without bounds…
o Remember PSALM 15: the pure life we lead prepares us to thank our faithful Father
o When we encounter our Holy YHWH, what else can we do but shout out to him?!

101 - HOW SHOULD WE BE CHANGED BY THE HOLY SANCTUARY WITH GOD?
o PSALM 15: the pure life we lead prepares us to praise… but praise also prepares us to live!
o THE CELTIC KNOT
o Interaction with YHWH should set our moral standard… AND for leaders in God’s Kingdom the way they shepherd YHWH’s church (beyond themselves).
o THE Wick and the WAX: building a candle… every time you worship/enter the holy sanctuary of God, you should grow fatter.
o I will live differently…

CLOSING~ Hebrews 6
16 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. 17 God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. 18 So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. 19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. 20 Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

We are going to close our service with communion… it’s time for that public committal to YHWH, our Father God. Time to no longer be a useless wick that will burn up quickly, but a candle fat with a commitment to burn for Jesus.

HEADS UP!

Hey everybody...
If you are planning on attending this Sunday's worship service at the Orchard Church, we've got a heads-up for you. We'd like for you to prepare in the following ways:
1) please where WHITE shirts (and pants if you want)
2) please bring a CANDLE
3) where SHOES that are easy to take off
4) don't forget to READ Psalm 100-101

Email me with questions:)
Adam