*and when the Spirit comes on you...*
i love my church. anytime that more than a few of us get together, it's chaos. so beautiful. some of the events which has led me to conclude that we have an absolutely crazy-for-God church... we have been running an alpha course for the past 5 weeks. to begin with we host it at an italian restaurant. most churches that run the alpha course have it at their church. we have a buffet, eat like pigs and talk God. kinda interesting since i think it was my church in vancouver who pioneered the "alpha-at-a-cafe" trend... and now i'm here in HK, doing the same thing.
this past weekend was the 'retreat' weekend, aka Holy Spirit weekend. we went out to lantau island, stayed at the silvermine beach hotel, and again ate like pigs. but i think i can safely say that everyone also got pretty full on the bread of life as well. several people ended up committing their lives to God, and i just have to mention one person in particular, because he reminded me of why we (the church, christians, etc) do anything of this at all. camillo is an old friend of matt's, and through the years he had gotten involved with drugs and became a heroin addict. he had gone for rehab, gotten better, but then had a relapse and ended up hurting his arm. this was abpout the time when most of us met him. i'm sure matt had been sharing the gospel with cam for a long time, and he's been pretty open to coming to alpha and hanging out with us. at the weekend, after the 2nd talk, when we had invited the Holy Spirit to come and do his thang, cam was totally blasted, he gave his life to God, and was filled with the holy spirit.
i talked to him afterwards... it's just so amazing how God changes lives. cam told me he just felt this immense sense of guilt for all the things he had done, and he knew how much it had hurt God. that was when he repented, but then he said he also felt an incredible sense of peace come over him, and he knew how much God loved him. i'm excited to see what God does with cam over the next few weeks. it's been awesome seeing others lately who have been growing tremendously in christ. back in sunday school this sunday (i teach the 11-13 year old class), we were also talking about the holy spirit, and i was explaining to them that when we accept God into our lives, it's like water being poured into a glass. that water will never go away. it can, however, become stagnant, if it's never used or refilled. nasty grime and algae can build up to a point where the water is no longer recognizable. but, when we continually humble ourselves, confess our sins, ask for forgiveness, God fills us more and more with his spirit. he fills us to fullness. to be FILLED with the holy spirit is to fill that glass up until it overflows. THAT'S when all that is inside us starts to come out. what is inside us that should come out? but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience goodness kindness gentleness and self-control. against such things there is no law. (galatians 5:22) that's the difference people see when they say "you seem different these days..." i see that in gabby, and i know we will see that in camillo.
isn't God so good?? the grande finale to the weekend: feast at the 'king of kings' dimsum restaurant. no joke. this restaurant is made for us. what church do you know goes out for dimsum as a WHOLE CHURCH? we are crazy. that's all i can say.
crazy for God.
i love my church. anytime that more than a few of us get together, it's chaos. so beautiful. some of the events which has led me to conclude that we have an absolutely crazy-for-God church... we have been running an alpha course for the past 5 weeks. to begin with we host it at an italian restaurant. most churches that run the alpha course have it at their church. we have a buffet, eat like pigs and talk God. kinda interesting since i think it was my church in vancouver who pioneered the "alpha-at-a-cafe" trend... and now i'm here in HK, doing the same thing.
this past weekend was the 'retreat' weekend, aka Holy Spirit weekend. we went out to lantau island, stayed at the silvermine beach hotel, and again ate like pigs. but i think i can safely say that everyone also got pretty full on the bread of life as well. several people ended up committing their lives to God, and i just have to mention one person in particular, because he reminded me of why we (the church, christians, etc) do anything of this at all. camillo is an old friend of matt's, and through the years he had gotten involved with drugs and became a heroin addict. he had gone for rehab, gotten better, but then had a relapse and ended up hurting his arm. this was abpout the time when most of us met him. i'm sure matt had been sharing the gospel with cam for a long time, and he's been pretty open to coming to alpha and hanging out with us. at the weekend, after the 2nd talk, when we had invited the Holy Spirit to come and do his thang, cam was totally blasted, he gave his life to God, and was filled with the holy spirit.
i talked to him afterwards... it's just so amazing how God changes lives. cam told me he just felt this immense sense of guilt for all the things he had done, and he knew how much it had hurt God. that was when he repented, but then he said he also felt an incredible sense of peace come over him, and he knew how much God loved him. i'm excited to see what God does with cam over the next few weeks. it's been awesome seeing others lately who have been growing tremendously in christ. back in sunday school this sunday (i teach the 11-13 year old class), we were also talking about the holy spirit, and i was explaining to them that when we accept God into our lives, it's like water being poured into a glass. that water will never go away. it can, however, become stagnant, if it's never used or refilled. nasty grime and algae can build up to a point where the water is no longer recognizable. but, when we continually humble ourselves, confess our sins, ask for forgiveness, God fills us more and more with his spirit. he fills us to fullness. to be FILLED with the holy spirit is to fill that glass up until it overflows. THAT'S when all that is inside us starts to come out. what is inside us that should come out? but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience goodness kindness gentleness and self-control. against such things there is no law. (galatians 5:22) that's the difference people see when they say "you seem different these days..." i see that in gabby, and i know we will see that in camillo.
isn't God so good?? the grande finale to the weekend: feast at the 'king of kings' dimsum restaurant. no joke. this restaurant is made for us. what church do you know goes out for dimsum as a WHOLE CHURCH? we are crazy. that's all i can say.
crazy for God.
posted by jana* at 11:15 AM
