March 10, 2010

Summit at the Plaza

Posted by Kristy-Lee

We are adding a new service time to Herndon campus’ Sunday mornings. It just won’t be in the building! The Plaza Theatre (425 North Bumby Avenue, Orlando) will be home to the new 11 a.m. service.

Summit at the Plaza begins Easter Sunday.

Is The Plaza a place you would like to attend? We hope so. With a spacious auditorium, a cozy café, a retro atmosphere, and only a short distance away from the Herndon building—The Plaza is a perfect location for our first video venue.

“What is a video venue,” you ask? “Is it just like our Waterford campus?” No and yes. There will be live worship, a live host, and a video sermon, but that’s where the similarities end. This is just a venue for an additional service, not a multi-site. Unlike the Waterford campus, there will be no Base Camp, no reGROUP, or Summit Students. All of the ministries and Summit events will still be at the Herndon campus for the attendees at The Plaza. Just think of Summit at the Plaza as an awesome overflow space!

Check out what The Plaza looks like inside!

March 5, 2010

Unveiled-Week 2

Posted by Communications

Learn. The Christology of Revelation in light of Judgment: The once, current, and future king…

//Revelation 15

Main Idea: We are worshipping God for his justice. His goodness is the foundation of his justice. Therefore, we can trust him to judge according to his goodness and his holiness. We serve a good God and a just God, so we can surrender our experiences of injustice to him, surrender our desire to exact revenge, trusting he will work out righteousness in the end.

What? There will come a reckoning, a setting the worlds to rights—to be on the wrong side of the judgment you need to ignore all the little reckonings along the way—what will bring you to your knees so you can stand?

So What? If you see wrath as opposed to God’s love instead of as a part of God’s love you will never know the full love of God—holiness is ultimately our shot at happiness.

Now What? My will be done? Thy will be done.

Discuss…
1. Where have you felt the pull of justice, the need for a reckoning? Have you ignored them? What can you do today to start making a reckoning to yourself, to others, and to God?

2. Where have you experienced God’s justice in your life or in the world around you?

3. What are some areas of injustice that you struggle to see God’s goodness and love? How can you begin to see, or trust, God’s goodness and love even in these circumstances?

4. Are there areas of your life where you are holding onto bitterness, treating someone poorly because they hurt you, allowing thoughts of revenge, or acts of vengeance? How can you begin to bring those under God’s perfect justice, trusting his judgement and action, not your own?

5. Do you need to confess any thoughts or actions where you have taken justice into your own hands?

6. What if God does not bring justice to your experiences in your life time? Do you trust him with judgement and justice eternally? Will you take a leap of faith, deciding to be patient and wait faithfully on the Lord’s timing?

Pray…
Take these discussion questions into your journal time. Spend time with God asking him to reveal your heart’s struggles with justice, judgement, or your trust in him in these areas. Confess to him, and also to an accountability partner or friend, how you have taken his place as King. Surrender to him, his justice, his work of righteousness and his timing. Seek his forgiveness. Ask him to remind you that he is the one King and Judge. Ask him to remind you of his goodness and holiness. Try to spend five minutes each day this week reflecting on his unchanging goodness and eternal holiness, and offer him praise and thanksgiving for being a Good and Just King.

CLICK HERE TO PRINT THE STUDY GUIDE

March 4, 2010

Malawi Team Departs

Posted by Communications

In service this Sunday, we will be commissioning the 11 Summit attendees who joined the March mission trip to Malawi, Africa. This team doesn’t know yet how God will use them, but we are confident that He will continue to be faithful and as a result there will be changes made that affect eternity through the service of this team.

Read what they will be doing during their week stay and how you can pray for them while they are away in the “Go To Africa” blog post: Malawi Team Departs

March 2, 2010

Unveiled Resources

Posted by Will

We have just started a new sermon series, Unveiled: Jesus in Revelation to take us through the Lenten season. To unpack the title a little bit, the messages will be focused on the person of Jesus as He is revealed in the book of Revelation. Revelation can be a confusing book of the Bible to read for many, and Isaac will help us sort through some of the confusing theology that exists in Revelation while not taking anything away from the mysterious workings of God. The sermons will be a bit more academic than the ones we heard in the Thrift series, and I am writing this blog for those who might be interested in further reading on the subjects that will be discussed in the coming Sundays.

The Moral Vision of the New Testament by Richard Hays gives an excellent overview of the different ways Revelation can be read and understood, and is also a great source for further information on the themes we will be discussing: Jesus as Lord over everything in creation; the justice of God; Jesus as the only way to salvation; the redemption of creation; and Jesus in relation to the Jewish sacrificial system. This work and Jesus and the Victory of God by N.T. Wright are both very in-depth and comprehensive in their discussion of these themes. While they are excellent sources, not everyone will be interested in that level of detail.

N.T. Wright has two other volumes that discuss on a lesser scale some of the themes from Jesus and the Victory of God. They are Simply Christian and The Challenge of Jesus. Simply Christian paints a beautiful picture of God’s original design of justice, relationship with Him and others, and beauty in creation, and explains His efforts to restore it through the person of Jesus. The Challenge of Jesus gives us a realistic portrayal of who Jesus was in the context of history, and how his life, death, resurrection, and second coming make sense in the context of the Jewish scriptures.

Philip Yancey also deals with the person of Jesus and takes the reader along on the journey of discovering who Jesus was as a first-Century Jewish rabbi, and who He is as Lord of the Universe and our only true hope for salvation.

C.S. Lewis, in his classic Mere Christianity, presents in his description of the Christian faith the question that must be answered by each of us: Is Jesus really who he said he was, and who the Scriptures proclaim him to be? Either way, as Isaac likes to remind us, our answer to that question has major repercussions on how we will and should live our lives.

We have each of these books available in the Resource Center. They are on display in the middle of the Resource Center for easy access.

February 28, 2010

Unveiled-Week 1

Posted by Communications

UNVEILED: JESUS IN REVELATION // Week 1

Listen to Week 1 of Unveiled.

Learn. Who is the Lord?
// Revelation 1 – 2

Main Idea: We are worshipping God as our hope in times of trouble, our strong fortress in times of suffering. We do this, not because we just need something to hold onto, but because Jesus is Lord. He is the only thing we can hold onto. The overarching message of the apocalypse is this: Jesus is Lord. Anyone who denies this and thinks that they, themselves, are Lord, can either live in the true reality of Jesus’ lordship—or they can go to hell. Jesus doesn’t desire that they do, but they could.

What: Jesus is Lord.

So What: No matter how your life looks right now, the greatest thing you can do with it is surrender it to the Lord.

Now what: Who or what wars for your attention? Figure out how to lay it on the altar.

Discuss…
1. Take a look at your google calendar, your outlook calendar, or your iCal. Think back on what you did today, this week, this month. What does this say about the things that are most important to you?
2. Do any of these things, at times, seem more important or urgent than your submission to Jesus, your pursuit of him, and your call to bring the good news of him to others?
3. What seems like it’s the lord of your time right now?
4. Does serving these little “lords” benefit you? How, and for how long?
5. How might serving Jesus as Lord, first and foremost, affect you? How might it affect these other things that compete for your time and attention?
6. How can you surrender these things to God—that is, understand and act out of the knowledge that these things are less important than Jesus.

LENT
Lent is the season on the liturgical calendar that precedes Easter and has historically been used by the church to prepare for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. One of the common elements of Lenten “celebration” has been the practice of fasting.

There is no biblical command to fast a certain amount of days or from a certain sort of thing. There are just examples of Godly people doing it, including but not limited to, God Himself in the person of Jesus.

When we fast, we intentionally focus on God as the center. We strip away non-necessities on which we’ve become unconsciously dependent to lean into what is necessary. We take away things that often provide easy escapes so we can remember what it means to seek refuge. And you don’t have to fast from food—it’s the removal of any norm in your life to concentrate more fully on God. (Like Facebook, sweets, TV, etc…)

Here’s the one thing about this… if you don’t feel led to fast as you pray about fasting, don’t do it. Let God lead you. He will if you ask Him.

Pray…
This week, pray that God would reveal to you a distraction that he would have you surrender for this season. (If Lent has already begun when you are reading this, you should still pray this prayer and fast from something during Lent, even though it already started. Missing the deadline won’t keep you from reaping the benefits of starting now.)
Get a journal. It can be a small journal. Even if you don’t like journaling. If you’ve chosen to surrender a distraction during this Lenten season, journal about your experience—every day if you can. Obedience precedes epiphany—and God will be faithful to stretch you and reveal truth to you through your surrender. This will help you to remember his truth, and look back to it when you need to be reminded.

Click here to print the study guide