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PASTORS SHAUN & AMY GUSTAFSON
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DEC. 24 | 9 & 11 AM
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DEC. 9 | 4 & 6 PM
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JAN. 3 | 6:30 PM
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DEC. 2 | 9:00 AM
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JAN. 6 | 9 AM
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FROM THE BLOG
Insight and wisdom from High Point Leadership
The Power of Praise
We can learn so much about having an effective marriage and family from observing Christ’s relationship with the church and the church’s relationship with Christ. In the Book of Acts, Chapter 16, we find the account of Paul and Silas being thrown into prison. It tells us in verses 25-26,
But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
At this point of great trial and affliction, Paul and Silas chose to respond through prayer and praise! This was truly what Psalm 116:17 calls offering to God “…the sacrifice of thanksgiving.” It isn’t that God needs our praise at times of trial and despair in our life. We need to praise Him in order to get our mind off our circumstances and on God’s ability to show up on our behalf. When Paul and Silas did this, they were not only loosed from their chains and jail cell, but all of the prisoners were loosed also! This shows a very important spiritual point; our praise has the ability to not only set us free from the power of darkness, but others as well.
We find another account of the power of praise in 2 Chronicles 20:21-22:
And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went our before the army and were saying: ‘Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever,’ Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.
Praise is powerful! Praise breaks the strongholds of the enemy. God was able to move on His people’s behalf to defeat their enemies because they put their faith and trust in Him through praise! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He will show Himself strong on our behalf just as powerfully today when we praise Him and even more so now because we have a covenant though Jesus.
When we are in a difficult situation, whether it be marriage, children, or anything else, we can praise Him because He is faithful! We can praise Him because Hid mercy endures forever! After we pray faith-filled and Holy-Spirit-led prayers over our situation, we can praise and thank Him that He is going to to take what the devil intended for our harm and turn it around for our good and His glory (see Romans 8:28). We can believe God that when the dust settles, we will still be standing and we will be all the stronger in our walk with God and in our relationships.
David was called a man after God’s own heart, and we see why in the book of Psalms. He was constantly praising God. In fact, Psalm 119:164 tells us that he praise the Lord seven times a day! If something bad happened, He praised God for being faithful and merciful. If something good happened, he praised Him for the good.
No matter what, David was always praising! He even said when he was going through a great trial of affliction, “But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more” (Psalm 71:14). In other words, the devil just couldn’t shut him up. He was determined to praise no matter what! You know, you just can’t keep a man like that down. One way or another he is going to rise to the top because God inhabits the praises of His people. God will do the same thing for us. Our praise to God has the ability to completely turn a situation around. As Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.“
Praying abundant blessings over you,
Shaun & Amy
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Don’t Build a Case Against Yourself
The most important battles we will ever face in life are within. One of the greatest of those, is what you decide to believe about yourself. God has already decided what He believes about you. Jeremiah 29:11 tells you: “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Many people go through life thinking defeated thoughts about themselves. They build a case against themselves in their own mind of reasons why they can’t succeed. This mindset holds them in a prison that only they can make the choice to unlock and be freed from. Don’t allow yourself to hold a magnifying glass up to the problems you see within, while looking through a microscope at your gifts and strengths.
What you currently have become, good or bad, is largely due to what you have believed about yourself and the world around you. Don’t think about all the reasons you can’t do something that’s in your heart to do; instead find the reason why you can. Great things are achieved by people who believe that God is bigger than their current circumstances.
What you focus on will direct your outcomes in life. That’s why God wants us to have vision and put it in writing. Then keep that vision before you daily. As Zig Ziglar once said, “You can’t consistently perform in a manner that is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.”
Through Jesus, God’s Word, and His Holy Spirit, the Father has freely given us every tool we need to be a success in life. Now we just need to believe it, receive it, and daily learn walk it out. Do you believe what God says? If so, then you must also choose to believe what He says about you. “Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world” 1 John 4:4.
God does have a good plan for your life. We challenge you to write down three of the God-given dreams He has put in your heart, as well as scriptures you can meditate with them. Then read these dreams and scriptures aloud each morning. When you go to sleep at night, picture them happening. Start believing that you can because God is bigger than any obstacle you face. When you pursue His plan for your life, He delights in helping you!
May 2018 be a year of great completion and manifestation of dreams for you! Remember as you go throughout this year, both faith and fear will try to sail into your harbor, but only allow faith to be the one to drop anchor! We are excited to hear about the great things God does in and through you this year!
Shaun & Amy
Many people go through life thinking defeated thoughts about themselves. They build a case against themselves in their own mind of reasons why they can’t succeed. This mindset holds them in a prison that only they can make the choice to unlock and be freed from. Don’t allow yourself to hold a magnifying glass up to the problems you see within, while looking through a microscope at your gifts and strengths.
What you currently have become, good or bad, is largely due to what you have believed about yourself and the world around you. Don’t think about all the reasons you can’t do something that’s in your heart to do; instead find the reason why you can. Great things are achieved by people who believe that God is bigger than their current circumstances.
What you focus on will direct your outcomes in life. That’s why God wants us to have vision and put it in writing. Then keep that vision before you daily. As Zig Ziglar once said, “You can’t consistently perform in a manner that is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.”
Through Jesus, God’s Word, and His Holy Spirit, the Father has freely given us every tool we need to be a success in life. Now we just need to believe it, receive it, and daily learn walk it out. Do you believe what God says? If so, then you must also choose to believe what He says about you. “Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world” 1 John 4:4.
God does have a good plan for your life. We challenge you to write down three of the God-given dreams He has put in your heart, as well as scriptures you can meditate with them. Then read these dreams and scriptures aloud each morning. When you go to sleep at night, picture them happening. Start believing that you can because God is bigger than any obstacle you face. When you pursue His plan for your life, He delights in helping you!
May 2018 be a year of great completion and manifestation of dreams for you! Remember as you go throughout this year, both faith and fear will try to sail into your harbor, but only allow faith to be the one to drop anchor! We are excited to hear about the great things God does in and through you this year!
Shaun & Amy
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It’s Pronounced /yes/
Before I became the Youth Director at High Point Church, one of my dreams was to someday be an English professor at a private university. I adore words — how they sound, how they change meaning within varied settings, and how linguistics across cultures affect our understanding of the world around us. Helping people understand words is my passion, from ironing out their pronunciation to conveying their consequences across contexts.
Amidst words like Worcestershire, colonel, and defibrillator, I find that one of the hardest words to say in the English language is one of the shortest. Similar to war, forgive, love, and mercy this word bears considerable consequences:
Y – E – S
So short yet often so far from our first response. Challenging yes, there is an even shorter word in English that is very easy to say:
N – O
Physically, NO is much easier to say than YES. The soft consonant /n/ literally requires less work than the the palatal /y/ and hard consonant /s/. This is the reason why no finds its way into the most-frequently-used-words list of many toddlers’ vocabularies, even before other simple words like dog and ball. No is simply easier.
There are plenty of instances in the Bible where people found no easier to say than yes. After studying several of these instances, I narrowed down three approaches that we take to the word no, some of which are quite subtle:
- No (Jonah 1:3)
- I’ll do it later (Luke 9:61)
- I’ll do it, but in my own way (Numbers 20:7-12)
Note that the 2nd and 3rd phrases do not include the word no — at least not spelled out. Without the direct word no, we can fool ourselves into thinking that later or yes, but in a different way are actually variations of the word yes. “Well, I told God that I would do it, just not now” or “just not the way he suggested.” It’s not a suggestion. God does not need your advice on timing or style. He knows what he asks for, when and how it needs to be done, and why.
Sociologists tell us that even the most introverted people will influence over 10,000 people in their lifetime. That’s likely around 9,000 more people than each of us know by name. The reason we can each influence so many people is chain reactions. What you say or do to one person influences how they act towards the next person, and how that person acts towards the next, on and on through a seemingly endless chain of people.
Who could possibly track all of the changes your present actions will have on the last person on the chain? I could maybe guess how what I say and do will influence the person next to me, but only God can comprehend the whole picture. That is why it is vital that we respond obediently to God’s direction.
Unlike the word no, with its manifold methods of delivery, there is only one way to say “yes” to God. Y-E-S. There is no qualifier, excuse, or adjustment. He knows the timing, the style, and the effects. All you need to know is how the word is pronounced.
If you ever feel an urge to do something beyond your comfort zone, and you are confident that the urge is from God (and consistent with His Biblical standards), remember Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Don’t let your limited vision for the outcome prevent you from obedience. There is a PLAN in His request, for your good and for the good of those you will influence.
If saying “yes” is ever so difficult for you that you cannot get it past your lips, here are some Bible verses that you can study to help get the words out. I encourage you to dig into the testimonies behind them and the outcomes of each instance of submission to see what kinds of incredible things happened as a result of YES.
- I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands (Psalm 119:60 NIV)
- Then Mary said, “I am willing to be used of the Lord. Let it happen to me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38 NLV)
- Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. (Luke 22:42 NIV)
-Catherine Lexvold
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