This Sunday we are starting the series “God at the Box Office” – In each message we will explore the spiritual themes in some of the summer’s biggest blockbuster movies. We are going to take these movies to the next level by enjoying the message behind these movies.
I am excited for this Sunday since Chris will be preaching. It is always great to hear someone else preaching once in a while. Invite your friends if you live around Miami, this will be a series that will rock your world.
July 1st Spiderman – The Battle Within
July 8th Evan Almighty – God’s Plan Vs. Our Plan
July 15th Transformers – Transform or be Destroyed
July 22nd Live Free or Die hard – Freedom Vs. Slavery
Isn’t it funny how we can read and study something and all of a sudden there is an insight that just pops up. I have read and preached many times from 1 Kings 18:16-45 , this passage tells us the story about Elijah and the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel. Elijah has some fun with the prophets as they could not get the result they wanted and when it is his turn he poured twelve large jars with water over the sacrifice.
What I never thought about is the fact that there had been a drought for the previous 3 years. These twelve large jars of water must have been extremely precious, perhaps the differance between life and death for a whole family.
When we give of what is valuable to us, when we give of what’s almost impossible, there is a special blessing. I believe that when we do things that really stretch us, things that’s hard for us to do, things that we can’t really do on our own, that is when God’s presence is stronger than ever.
Fidel, Chris and I are headed to Orlando with two vans full of teenagers. Islands of Adventure is one of my favorite parks so, I know that we are going to have a blast. We are back on Tuesday night, right in time for prayer. I will post more on Wednesday.
I am currently leading a study about the book of Revelation and I thought that it might be a good idea to post something about it. In my mind this is the most misunderstood book of the entire Bible. This is also the book that attract all kinds of wacko people with every weird interpretation available. Here are some thoughts about the book:
God is in total control, not Satan.
As believers we should look for the coming of the lamb, not the beast.
What is past for the author is also our past.
What is present for the author is also our past.
The authors future can be our past, present or future.
We should learn to worship no matter what happens or what may come our way.
A major theme is correct worship versus false and incorrect worship.
When in doubt worship. That is your most powerful weapon.
Events on earth are triggered by worship around the throne.
Martyrdom is a major theme of this book.
In my mind most of the book that are available to read on this subject are majoring on the minors. Yes, Revelation deals with the Antichrist, sea beast, land beast, 666, the battle of Armageddon, etc., but that is not the major focus of this book. As believers we should focus on the coming of Christ, the fact that God is way more powerful, that we are very valuable to God. As believers we should understand that correct worship is very important and that we should learn to worship no matter what is going on. To point out the fact that Revelation really puts a high emphasis on martyrdom is not something that will sell millions of book, but in my mind that is the ultuimate form of worship.
Revelation 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the lamb; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
1. United States 2. Who knows I guess that our software can’t detect you? 3. European Union. This could be one out of 27 member states. Click here for a full list 4. Sweden. What can I say “Is this Vision colors?” 5. Canada. 6. Great Britain. 7. Dominican Republic. I am so excited to go back this July. See you soon! 8. Mongolia. All I can say is ?. Email, I would like to hear from you! 9. Mexico. 10. Australia. One of these days I will come to a Hillsong Conferance.
I shared some statistics with our church on Sunday about our church website. It is interesting to see what nations are represented on the top 10 list. Some make sense, but the one that still baffles me is Mongolia?
Anyways, we actually had more visitors during the month of May than the entire last year combined. I am not sure why we generate all that traffic, but it is really cool. If you were wondering what other countries that also made the list I will give you the next 10 countries, here they are: Italy, Germany, South Africa, Guatemala, Bahamas, Switzerland, Bermuda, Peru, Norway, France.
As you might have heard or seen we are in a season of change. We had a great meeting with our pastoral staff Sunday, where we talked and discussed many aspects of what we are doing and where we are going. Here are a few of the things:
I will decrease my preaching schedule to about 43 times. This will give me a break now and then from preaching and it will also give more chances for Chris and William to preach. You can actually get to a point where you feel burnt out and you loose your focus, I need to slow down a little bit.
We are stepping up our preparation and planning for upcoming sermon series. This will help with several areas. The sermons will even be better. We will put more thought, planning and money into stage design, props, etc. It will also give Fidel and I more creative input on the sermons. We are so blessed to have both Chris and William on our team.
Fidel will predominately preach the 2nd service.
As you might have heard on Sunday, we are improving and reshaping all of our environments. Children, Welcome & Resource Center, and Coffee areas etc. The auditorium will have all new lighting and seating in just a few weeks. (The school is paying for that…this is one of the beautiful things about renting)
We plan to update both our audio and video capabilities, in fact, the new audio stuff should be up and running next Sunday. Theses are just a few ares that we are reshaping and improving.
We are praying and thinking about a few other changes that we might be implementing as soon as July. I will let you know as soon as we make a decision about those changes.
Please keep us in prayer so that we do what God leads us to and not just what seams good to us.
Overall, I am really excited about where we are at and where we are going. There is nothing else that I would like to do than what I am doing right now.
As part of the many changes that we are working on right now we have updated the website intro. Nathan and team at DirectTech Web Solutions did a great job as always. If you need some work done, contact them and you will not regret it.
Sunday was really great. I was not sure how everything would work out with our set up in the cafeteria, but everyone worked hard, and it ended up awesome.
I can’t wait so see what the auditorium will look like with the new seats and lighting.
We had a great crowd, keep inviting your friends to this series.
I am pumped about the “No perfect people allowed” series. I was really touched seeing how people responded to the the message. Remember that God values you like nothing else.
We had a great meeting with the Pastoral staff after the 2nd service. I will post some information of some things that will affect Vision Church soon.
It was with both joy and sadness that we said farewell to Joshua. He is such a blessing. He has been, and will be a great friend and I am so excited for what God will continue to do in his life. If you are interested in what he will be doing look at yesterdays post. He will surely be blessed.
Again a great thank you to everyone that made Sunday flow so great. Thank you!
This weekend I get to hang out with Yoshua Hariyanto as he stays with my family a few days before he returns to Indonesia. He just graduated from UM with a Masters Degree in Music Business & Entertainment Industries.
I know that those of you from Vision Church are probably wondering what he will be doing in Indonesia when he leaves our church.
He will work as a liaison between EMI CMG and True Worshippers. If you are interested in where he will attend church here is a link to their website. (It is a small church of 10,000). There are actually a few churches in Indonesia that have around 100,000 members. This surprised me because Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world. I pray that God will use Yoshua in ways that he could never imagine, hope, or dream for.
If you are interested in some great worship from True Worshippers, I will post a video.
Posted by Mathias Grehn 
