KEVIN ELWORTH LIVE

Another week come to a close. Hope you all had a fabulous thanksgiving and ate way to much food. Above all that you realize just how blessed you are to not only be an American but be a Christian and have an extravagant relationship with Jesus Christ. Cris and I thought through our year and had an abundance to be thankful for. Aside from the obvious huge things, like being the parents of an amazing little boy, being able to spend our lifetime together, and being missionaries in Mexico, we are also extremely grateful that my parents opened their home to us during these hard months for us medically. It would have been a lot for us to be able to find our own place to stay while here in the states while still paying rent on our home in Mexico as well. We’re also very grateful that we had some great opportunities this year to watch God at work. I would have given a lot to be able to see Him do so much more, but actually we are watching Him work from a different angle. I’m thankful that we were able to do our VBS event back in July and be able to see 8 people accept Christ. I’m thankful to have so many wonderful supporting churches on our team that believe in us and stand behind us. Most of all I’m thankful for God’s work in my life and for constantly showing us His grace, faithfulness, and abundance.

So now back to the week. Not much to report from this week. Cris did a lot of recovery, Austin and I spent a lot of time hanging, but the highlight of our week was last night because Cris and I got to go out on a date and it’s been a LONG time since we’ve had opportunity to go on a date just the two of us. We went to Sbux and talked for like an hour, then went to the theater where we were going to watch a movie, found they were sold out, went to another theater-same story, finally third theater had tickets. Movie was over at 10 and we went to dinner at the Robin after, just about the latest dinner we’ve ever gone to. We saw The Blind Side and I would recommend it to all, in fact it’s a buy in our minds. Cris and I both walked away thinking how could we change the way we live to be able to include more opportunity to reach those around us that are hopeless. If you’ll remember and have been with us that long, we started this year talking about being alive in the moment based on Eph 5:15-17- what will you to with the opportunities that God gives you? I know there are moments this year that we’ve had opportunities to show Christ to people more than by just preaching at them but by loving them, caring for them, and in some instances providing for their needs. And I know sometimes we recognized the opportunity and aced it, but I also know that there were others that we completely failed. Man there’s a world out there that is DYING and going to HELL and with some of them it’s going to take more than just handing them a track or asking if they want a Bible study. It’s going to take getting dirty, opening your home or God forbid OPENING YOUR WALLET! Besides a few days from now (hypothetically speaking) what’s in your wallet won’t matter anyway.

So I’ve been reading Mark Batterson’s book, Wild Goose Chase. So far a very good book. He talks about the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives and how we should seek after that. I’m anxious to see where he takes it from here and finishes out his thoughts, but one thing I read last night that struck me in my thinking was about the Bible and our belief of the entirely of the Words of Christ. Most of us are familiar with the caution written by John in the Revelation 22:19 if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. Now I hardly think that any of us would dare do as Thomas Jefferson did and literally take a pair of scissors and cutout the parts of the Bible that could not be explained like all of Jesus miracles. This lead to the Jefferson Bible which I hope none of you take to church on Sunday. He conveniently titled it The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazarath. What in the world was he thinking? I couldn’t even imagine having the Bible without the unexplainable parts. Why is it so hard to believe that Jesus actually did walk on water? Or that the water was really turned into real wine? That they weren’t pulling a fast switch when Lazarus walked out of the grave?

I take Marks position on the thought and agree that none of us would ever cut out parts of the Bible that we can’t explain, but I wonder how many of us do this without thinking we do. Maybe you’ve never taken an X-Acto knife to your Bible but why can’t you literally believe that Christ will do greater things in your life that you can imagine as mentioned in John 14:12? Isn’t that the same thing?

I’m just saying- it’s something to think about!

Often in times of our greatest desperation is when God steps in and shows up. Maybe not in a huge way, but just to say, Hey I’m here don’t be afraid as He did so many times in the Bible like here, here, here, and here and these are just a few occurrences. I think if we were to look at all of them we’d find a significant thing- THAT GOD DOESN’T WANT US TO BE AFRAID!

Throughout our recent months of hard times we’ve learned a lot about sticking with it because at some points through all of this we’ve really wanted to give up. LOTS of times. Today I got a phone call from a friend of mine with our mission agency. Being the week of Thanksgiving he decided to call the people who have made an impact in his life and thank them for what they have done, so naturally I’m wondering why he’s calling me!? He called me to thank ME for the impact on his life. He said that we have been a testimony to him with zeal, “stick-to-it-ed-ness” and a passion for Christ. I don’t know of any other way to encourage someone better that something like that right there! Wow! I think I have what I need for the day to go on a little bit more. Thank you God

The end of a good week, or maybe it’s the beginning of another week. Either case, I have some good things to write about tonight. First it’s been awesome watching God at work in our lives this week. It’s amazing how at times He’ll use the most everyday things to challenge our thinking about serving Him and what we can do better. This week Cris and I watched the movie Faith Like Potatoes and I have to admit I was really challenged both in my faith and in my witness. When it was over Cris and I begged God to use us in a greater capacity and really strive for greater things from Him in accordance with John 14:12.

Speaking of John 14:12 I’ve been humbled by this verse all week long. If you’ve never taken a look at it, please do so and really think about what in the world Jesus is saying in those few words. Could it really possibly be that He is going to do greater things in and through our lives than what He accomplished in His three year ministry? I guess the sky is the limit with what we challenge ourselves to do with that verse!

Today I received an email from our sending church NewSpring, they are in fact the best sending church a missionary could ever have. If you are looking for a church to attend, whether you’re in Wichita or not they are one of the best and they have an online service.  They are passionate about preaching Jesus and reaching people. So the email I received mentioned that they are going to seriously help us out with our medical need right now and they are blowing my mind with it. Their help is far beyond what I expected it would be and I am so thankful that they not only stick behind us in their word but now have done so in deed as well.

Check out what this church did this weekend to help hurting people in their community- It will change the way you think about what church should be!

Yesterday the little family and I decided we were going out. Cris wanted to get a new mattress for Austin before we head back to Mexico knowing it would be easier to find a cheaper one here in the States than in Mex. So we did, made a new friend at a small mattress shop, and got a great deal. That put her in the furniture shopping mood, so she asked if we could go to “Furniture Row” and see if she could find any ideas for decorating. She ended up finding a buffet table that she’s been wanting for our house, the only problem was that this one looked like it had been dropped off the truck and run over! So I bought it. It was only $50 down from a costly eye staggering $500, but the good news is that it is very repairable. SWEET

Final Sunday thought. Glory Glory Glory To the one who saved my soul. Glory Glory Glory To the Everlasting Lord. Glory Glory Glory To the King who sits enthroned. Our God- Steve Fee  “Grace will by my song”

Sovereignty, a topic frequently talked about in churches today. As Christians we all consider it. We talk about it when we consider the “will of God” for our lives and churches. Most believe that God is sovereign over all, but I’m sure that some don’t (obviously the ones that don’t read the Bible a whole lot) But I’ve been thinking about God’s sovereignty a lot lately, some because He’s been opening my eyes to occurrences in the Bible and some because of the situation we are in right now.
I read the other day from John 11 where Jesus raised Lazuraus from the dead. We’ve all read this story before or at least heard about it, but a few things really struck me the other day as I read it again.

Jesus waited until He was ready to preform the miracle. He waited two days after hearing of the problem to even think about dealing with it, and the reason being that He had greater things in mind. We have to remember that our lives are about Him and pointing glory and honor to Him, so often times when we think He should rush in and save the days it’s not time yet- He has a greater purpose in mind.

Time doesn’t hinder Christ’s work. When He has purpose in mind and something great to accomplish He can and will without the consideration of time. Notice when He arrived in Bethany Lazarus had been dead 4 days and HE STANK! There are some obvious considerations here. He had been brain dead for 4 days, there was no physical or possible way that he would remember anything after such a time, but Christ restored Him to the same person he was. That’s pretty amazing.

He used this act of greatness to bring people to Himself. Chapter 12:9 Says that the people tried to even kill Lazarus because of what Jesus had done. The reason being because so many people had sought out Laz to see in person what Jesus had done. Many people were coming and believing in Christ because of this. Sometimes Jesus performs acts true greatness like this for the specific purpose of pointing to Himself glory and honor and majesty that He deserves every day of our lives!

I don’t know about you but this is really encouraging to me because I know that He can use everything that happens in my day for His glory and honor. What do you have that He can use?