Outside

What a fun time it was last night, outside, beautiful worship and a fantastic message from Kevin.  I am very excited for this series Kevin is kicking off starting last night.  God has some wonderful plans for Depth coming up, I have an exciting meeting this week to discuss all the stuff in the new series, Life in Eternity, an in-depth look at the book of Revelation.

Jacob and Laban

Last Sunday we saw the relationship between Jacob and Laban.  we saw Laban's deceit, lies, and various ways he took advantage of Jacob.  I do not know whether or not Laban trained a duck to steal money from Jacob, but if he did it would be sweet! But our response is this, there will be people in our lives that will try to take advantage of us, we need to stand firm on our foundation of Jesus Christ.  Some of the best times to set an example is when we are in difficult circumstances!

Unique Wedding Reception

So last Sunday I talked about a very unique wedding, where the groom married the wrong bride...  Then I came across this video that was released today.  A random couple was chosen in New York City who was going to simply be married at the court house, but a group of random strangers threw them a wedding reception.  Check it out...

Thisty Camels

I have actually had the privilege of riding a camel. It was many years ago in Israel, I named the camel Leroy.  I did only ride him in a circle a few times at a tourist trap of a city, but it was worth every penny I paid.  As I write this post the simple question I want to ask is how do you view your hospitality.  We see Rebekah, with no agenda, no secret motives she serves a stranger.  It would have taken a large chunk out of her day, it would have taken a lot of strength and exhausted her.  But she did it.  This is what a kingdom mentality is.  We serve people, because God calls us to serve people.  To Love God and Love People.  We believe this so strongly at Ocean Hills that it is the foundation we our built upon, Love God, Love People, Live Psalm One.  

The Akedah

I feel I have to apologize for the picture I selected, but after seeing it I felt I just had to choose it.

I had so much fun Sunday night discussing the near sacrifice of Isaac.  I have to admit it was a difficult topic.  Earlier in that day it was the first time I have ever felt my unborn baby girl kick, and then in the evening discussing child sacrifice made it a little more personal for me.  But we can see so much from Abraham's faith.  If you missed the message, it's a good one, so check it out!

Famine, Flocks, and Fights

I have always loved this little paradox of a picture.  Think about it for a while and see if it makes your head spin.  Since last week we were on the topic of lying, I thought I would share this paradox.  But as we look at Abram's life we have to ask ourselves many questions.  How did God view the choices Abram and his wife made?  Many of the choices were poor choices, choices that called God to intervene to rectify those choices.

Pinocchio had a very significant visual repercussion when he lied.  Abram did not.  What are our repercussions when we lie.  Also is there such thing as a "white lie" or a lie devised to "protect someone" or is deceiving someone okay, because we technically didn't lie. Check out the podcast for the answers to all of these questions.

Rainbows aren't just for little girls

Ah, a message entitled "Rainbows and Unicorns".  I must admit I was quite excited when i realized that this is what I was going to entitle my message.  But hopefully I gave the entire story of Noah complete justice.  So if you missed the message click this blog title and you can watch the service from this past Wednesday.  But just remember as we are in the rainy season and there are bound to be rainbows, remember the Covenant (Berith) and ponder what God has promised He will do, what He is doing, and what we faithfully know He will continue to do.

East of Eden

So this past week we looked at the life of Cain.  What intrigues me most about the story of Cain and Abel is not the details of the story, but rather Cain's response to the events.  His first response is to kill his brother.  Then when question by God he chooses to lie and attempt to cover up his previous sin.  Then after God's punishment, Cain shows no remorse, but instead focuses on his own self-pity.  In looking at this story we see mankind moving further and further from their Creator.  We're only in the 4th chapter of the Bible and the beginnings of the flood start in chapter 6.

The question that I spent most time pondering was "Why do we do this".  Why do we have the opportunity to have the greatest thing ever, a relationship with our Creator and why do we choose to put things between us and God?  I would say the central application is two-fold.  Firstly, what are you putting between your relationship with God?  Is it a relationship with someone else, is it money, is it mistrust, is it greed or glory, what do you place more important than God?  And secondly, why do you do that?  Is it a lack of faith, is it we feel God cannot provide so we must do it enough.  The beauty of the question is this, there is no acceptable answer to Why.  There is no answer we can say that will ever justify us putting stuff between us and God, but sometimes by understanding why we make these choices we can prevent ourselves from doing it in the future.

Madam, I'm Adam

That tree in the center of the garden.  To the right is a mango tree, because as I stated I love mango trees.  But God places this tree in His perfect garden that gives mankind the opportunity to sin.  This wasn't God's way of setting Adam up for failure, but it was God's way of giving Adam the choice to worship God.  Worship has always been a choice.  God doesn't force mankind to love Him, to follow Him, to worship Him, He gives us a choice.  Everyday we face choices where we can choose to worship God or choose to not worship God.    When we choose to not worship God this is when we sin.  Every time we sin we are separating ourselves from our Creator, we put things between our relationship with Him.  I don't know about you, but I don't want anything between me and God, so it kills me when I put things there.  This is one of the biggest goals of not sinning in my opinion.   First off we shouldn't sin because God commands us not to, but I also don't want to sin because it affects my relationship with Him.

In The Beginning

Last night was such a lovely evening, I had such a great time.  I wanted to comment on something amazing God did in my life this morning.  In the beginning of the message I shared my daily commute and how I get to drive on PCH but sometimes I take the freeway instead to shave off a few minutes from my commute.  Well I kid you not I was at the freeway entrance this morning and said to myself, I have to take the coast today.  So I turned around and took PCH.  For the first time in my 5 years of driving this road almost daily I saw Catalina.  It was amazing.  It was such a great way for my day to start.

On another note, the messages will all be uploaded and are available in Itunes.  Being that this is the first one it might take a day or so for it to go live, but from then on messages should be up the following day.  I pray everyone had a great time last night and I hope to see you this Sunday as we look at Genesis 2-3

update: The Vet called, Mango (our little dog) is doing fine his bloodwork came up clean.  Thank you for all your prayers and words of encouragement.