Green Way House Church http://www.the-journey-green.org A Journey House Church of East Central Mn. Thu, 28 Apr 2011 05:13:40 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Next Saturday http://www.the-journey-green.org/next-saturday http://www.the-journey-green.org/next-saturday#comments Thu, 28 Apr 2011 05:13:40 +0000 admin http://www.the-journey-green.org/?p=90 Next Saturday will be at Paul and Alisons house at five.

]]> http://www.the-journey-green.org/next-saturday/feed 0 December 18th, 2010 http://www.the-journey-green.org/december-18th-2010 http://www.the-journey-green.org/december-18th-2010#comments Tue, 21 Dec 2010 07:14:34 +0000 abiahjoshua http://www.the-journey-green.org/?p=81 Hey everyone!

 

So, we had house church this last Saturday at David and Laura's house.  Thanks guys for openeing up your home!  I had to work, so I got there late at around 6:00pm.  But that's ok.  There was an invite for everybody to go sledding at 4:00pm for anyone that wanted to come before house church, but not a lot of people showed up I heard.  That's ok.  Next time maybe!

 

So when I got there, I was asked to pray for the food and so I did, and then we all ate!  There was a variety of soups and chili and it was super good.  I love food!  We ate and hung out for a while until about 7pm and then I got out my guitar and we began to play some worship music.  I had David play the drum with me and also Alysha (I hope I spelt your name right!) accompanied me with her guitar as well!!  We played a number of worship songs that was really good.

 

We then went downstairs to watch the video on the Gospel of John for chapter 11.  The video was interesting and pretty good, but I personally didn't think it portrayed Jesus like I imagine Him in chapter 11.

 

Chapter 11 is the story of Lazarus.  It's such an interesting and powerful story!!  So, in chapter 10, after Jesus basically said to everyone in the temple that He is God, they all picked up stones and wanted to kill Him.  But Jesus got away.  He went somewhere else.  Now in chapter 11, Jesus hears that His friend Lazarus is dying.  So he stays where He is at for 2 days and then decides to go to where Lazarus is and resurect Him.  It's interesting that Jesus stayed for 2 days longer after hearing that Lazarus is dying.  I believe Jesus stayed there on purpose to wait until Lazarus actually died.  Jesus even says in verse 14 that He is glad that He wasn't there when Lazarus died so that Jesus could go there later and resurect Lazarus so that God can be glorified and the disciples believe.  This can be a controversial topic, but it appears that Jesus willed for Lazarus to die, so that He can resurect Him and God can be glorified.  He did the same thing a few chapters ago with the blind man.  It says that it was God's will for that man to be blind, so that Jesus could come and heal him so that God might be glorified.  So does God will for people to be sick?  Maybe, maybe not.  Who knows exactly what God's will is, but we do know that people do get sick, and that Jesus has commanded us (and given us the power and authority) to lay hands on the sick so that they may be healed so God can be glorified.

 

Anyway, like I said, in the previous chapter the jews just tried to kill Jesus.  Now when Jesus says he is going back there to raise Lazarus from the dead, His disciples think He is crazy because He is going back to the place where the jews just tried to kill Him.  Jesus' disciples think that He is walking to His death.  But here in verse 16, His disciples say "Let us also go, that we may die with him." (NIV).  Isn't that interesting?  Jesus' disciples think that Jesus is walking to His death, and their response is to follow Him anyway to His death.  It got me thinking, if we were following Jesus and then all of a sudden Jesus starts walking towards death, and we thought He was going to die, would our response be to keep followig Him?  A true disciple of Jesus would, I believe.  And Jesus does call us to follow Him and to die also.  He calls us to pick up our cross, the cross being a place of death, and to follow Him.  We are dying, dying to sin, so that we might come alive to Jesus and Life!!  It's painful though.  The cross is a painful place.

 

Now when Jesus gets close to the place where Lazarus dies, Mary comes out crying saying that Jesus should have come sooner to save Lazarus.  Jesus then basically asks her if she believes that He is the Christ and also asked her if she believe He can do anything.  Her response is yes, she believes.  This interesting though because then when Jesus actually gets to the tomb where Lazarus was laid and tells the people to remove the stone, Mary doubts again and tells Jesus that there would be a stench coming from the cave.  Jesus confronts her in verse 40 saying, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"  It's interesting how Mary said she believed and trusted Jesus, and then just a few minutes later didn't believe, but doubted.  It reminds me of us.  We often say we believe and trust, but do we really?  Sometimes it's really hard to trust in Jesus when it comes to impossible situations.  According to our minds, it should be impossible for someone that died to come back to life.  It's hard for us to really trust Jesus that that can happen.  So what are some things today that we have a hard time believing and trusting God for?  God help us to trust You more!!

 

So then Jesus calls out to Lazarus and commands him to come forth, and he does!  And he's alive, but still bound by the grave cloths.  This whole thing of Lazarus dying and then Jesus calling him forth from death into life is symbolic.  It represents Jesus saving us, people.  He is calling each of out of death, and into Life, into a relationship with Him.  Paul talks about how we all at one point in life where living in darkness and death, but when we accepted Jesus and He entered our heart, that's when we left the grave and became alive.  And it's not for just when we recieved salvation the first time, but I believe that Jesus is always calling our name, calling us from death and darkness into Life, even if we have been a Christian our whole life.  No one person is perfect.  Jesus said that He has begun a good work in us and will continue to cultivate that good work in us and we will not be completely good and perfect until we are with Him.  So He's always changing us, healing us, making us better, making us more like Him.  He's calling us out of different area's of darkness and death into Life.  So, are you paying attention?  Are you listening for Jesus calling your name?  Where is He calling you to step out of darkness and death and into Life?

 

So that was the study.  It was pretty good I say.  We then had men go with men and women with women and had our ministry time of sharing how our weeks went and praying for ourselves and one another.

 

Overall it was a really good house church night!  It always is!  Next week is Christmas, so we will not be having house church that night.  Merry Christmas!!  And then the week after, which is January 1st, we are having The Gathering!  There will be more posted soon about the Gathering.

 

Ok that's it!!  Have a great whatevertimeofdayitiswhenyoureadthis!!!

 

Your servant in Christ,

Joshua

]]> http://www.the-journey-green.org/december-18th-2010/feed 0 Saturday, December 4th http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-december-4th http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-december-4th#comments Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:58:21 +0000 abiahjoshua http://www.the-journey-green.org/?p=73 Hello everybody!!

 

Hey! So, this is Joshua Davis.  I am one of the Green Way House Church leaders, and I am now going to be the blogger for the group!  So this is my first blog entry.  It is getting out a little bit later than I intended it to, but that's ok.  :)

 

So last week we had church at Scott and Tammie's house again.  I got there late, around 6pm but I believe that everyone else got there on time, at 5:30pm.  We began as usual with just eating a meal together and chatting/hanging out/fellowshipping.  It was all good.  We had soup (thanks Tammie!)  and some other goodies.

 

At the moment my guitar is in the guitar shop getting fixed (it has a hole in the side) so I didn't have my guitar that day.  Sow e played iWorship dvd's instead which was still good.

 

After worship we watched a ton of the movie The Gospel of John.  It had been a while since we watched it so we had a lot of catching up to do!  Watching the movie is quite interesting, as it gives different perspectives of the gospel of John that we reading.  We studied John chapter 10.

 

Some of the things that we discussed in this chapter was about hearing God's voice and being in-tune with God.  We also talked about what verse 34 might mean when Jesus said, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'?"

 

Overall, I thought that is was a very relaxing church night.  It was smaller than usual, but that's ok.  It was a good night.  :)

 

Oh, and I also apologize if this blog entry is not as detailed as you might want.  I have kinda forgotten what we all talked about at the last house church, so I need to pay attention better and also blog sooner!  Hopefully the next weeks will be better!  :)

]]> http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-december-4th/feed 1 Saturday, October 16th http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-october-16th http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-october-16th#comments Wed, 20 Oct 2010 20:24:30 +0000 Laura http://www.the-journey-green.org/?p=67 We had a very large group this past week! 28 people all together! Including gobs of kids.:-) Scott & Tammie’s house was quite crowded, it was great.:-)
David and I were welcomed with bunches of gifts for our precious new arrival.:-) Baby Jeremiah was born on October 7th, weighing 9lbs. 9oz.! Thanks to all of you! Our church family is a great blessing to us.
Tammie made a delicious pot of soup and a wonderful chocolate fudge cake! We are so spoiled.:-) Happy Birthday was sang for both Tammie and I.:-)
We were graced again by the musical talent of Joshua and David for our worship time- you guys are awesome! They were also accompanied by one of the children learning to play guitar. (Great leadership, Joshua!)
After watching the video portion for John chapter 8, we broke into several groups for our study. Since it is such a long and loaded chapter, we decided to focus on just the first half this week. (verses 1-30)
One through 11 is the story of the woman caught in adultery. The scribes and pharisees brought her to Jesus and told Him of her sin. (trying to tempt Him in order to accuse Him) Jesus makes quite a point when He says in verse 7, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” One by one, all the people walked away, leaving only the woman with Jesus. He says to her, “Where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?” She said, no. And He responds, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
To me, this is what the Journey is all about- “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” What a lesson for us! So common, yet so hard to apply to everyday life. God give us that love.
Verses 12-30 is kindof a blur for me as my little Isaac decided he was hungry when we got to that point. But it contains a very important message, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
Jesus talks with the Pharisees about who He is and the truth of His judgement, that He bears witness of His Father and is not of this world. Verse 28 forshadows his crucifixion and how all will know then that He truly is the Son of God. He was sent to earth to do the will of His Father.
I believe we will be meeting at Scott and Tammie’s again next week? After that, we’ll see you at the Gathering @ Corner Cup in Cambridge!:-)

]]> http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-october-16th/feed 0 Saturday, October 2nd http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-october-2nd http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-october-2nd#comments Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:22:05 +0000 Laura http://www.the-journey-green.org/?p=65 On this beautiful fall evening we gathered at Mark’s apartment for church. (Thanks, Mark, we appreciate you opening your home!) He made us spaghetti.:-) It was just a small group this time- six young people. The evening overall was very relaxing. It was simple, smooth and we even finished early.
The two little boys played cars and marbles together on the floor in the middle of us, it was sweet to watch them so focused and enjoying their games.:-)
After supper we sang some worship songs accompanied by our talented Joshua and David.:-) Our study was from John chapter 7. We took turns reading sections at a time and discussing our thoughts and insights. One insight was inspired by verse 7- “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” So many hated Jesus because He spoke truth and conviction. How often are we upset when others point out our faults or convict us? Yet it says in Proverbs15 that “he that regardeth reproof is prudent,” “he that hateth reproof shall die,”and “the ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul; but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.” It is a wise thing to accept reproof and correction. Yet how much easier is it for us to see faults in others rather than ourselves?
-Laura

]]> http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-october-2nd/feed 0 Saturday, September 11th, 2010 http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-september-11th-2010 http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-september-11th-2010#comments Sun, 12 Sep 2010 16:53:09 +0000 Laura http://www.the-journey-green.org/?p=63 We gathered again at Scott & Tammie’s on Saturday. Though the house was Scott, Mikey, & Molly-less. (they were off camping- gotta get those last trips in before it gets too cold!)
We enjoyed visiting for a while and sharing Tammie’s yummy Spaghetti and Amanda’s delicious wraps! Thanks gals! I also enjoyed that Isaac did a very good job of not getting spaghetti all over the couch.:-)
We worshiped together using the WOW Worship dvd’s. It was simply peaceful to sing to our Savior and praise His awesomeness!
Tammie and Mark shared some things with the group about their walk. Announcements included the “needs” and “skills” list that the groups are putting together, as well as the ladies retreat coming up in October. (contact Tammie for more info)
We looked at John 6 this week. A long- but loaded chapter. We read through it together and then broke into two groups after deciding to focus on just the first 21 verses this time and finish the chapter next week.
The other group looked at the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 in verses 1-14. My group took verses 15-21, in which Christ walks on water.
We discussed these sections in our groups and then came back together to share what we found. Group 1 noted that the 5,000 was 5,000 men, not including women & children. Meaning there could have been upwards of a million people present there! Jesus performed this great miracle of feeding all of them with just five loaves and two fishes! Then, to really make His point- he had his disciples gather the leftovers which amounted to 12 baskets full! Christ is our provider!
There was also discussion on whether or not the fish was cooked? But we decided that was unimportant.:-)
My group discovered that Jesus spent a lot of time off alone, praying to His Father- a great example for us! We also talked about how scary it must have been for the disciples to see this figure walking on the water toward them in the middle of the night, just as a great wind came and caused the sea to “arise.” Jesus told them “It is I,” and they received him into the ship, at which time, the ship was immediately “at the land wither they went.” (another miracle in itself)
Next week we plan to finish the chapter and take part in communion.
The evening ended after we finished prayer/ministry time and the guys finished their arm wrestling competitions.:-)

]]> http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-september-11th-2010/feed 0 Saturday, August 21st 2010 http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-august-21st-2010 http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-august-21st-2010#comments Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:57:30 +0000 Laura http://www.the-journey-green.org/?p=61 We did things a little differently at church last Saturday.
Summer is wrapping up and our brains haven’t much felt like working heavily I guess. We decided to do church a bit lighter. After our meal and visiting together, we gathered for worship with Josh and David in the Elliot’s nice cool livingroom.
We shared how God has been working in our lives over the past week, then we continued with our study of John- looking at chapter 5. We watched the next portion of video about John following along in our Bibles.
Instead of breaking off into small groups for disscussion, we decided to all stay together and talk about what each of us found in the chapter. There was mention of this being Jesus’ first real public coming out of who He is. There was a connection made about the bond between Jesus and God the Father, which lead to a discussion about how we father our children here on earth- How we need to be a true example for our children.
We broke into our prayer groups- men and women, then came back together and then finished the last hour or so with game night!
Next Saturday- See you all at the Cambridge City Park for the Gathering!
-Laura

]]> http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-august-21st-2010/feed 0 Saturday, July 24th- Fun Nite! http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-july-24th-fun-nite http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-july-24th-fun-nite#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:01:53 +0000 Laura http://www.the-journey-green.org/?p=56 Last Saturday was the Green Way fun nite! We got together at Fish Lake for some food and fun! Scott had his boat out on the lake and gave rides on the innertube. A couple fellows were quite sore in the next few days from hanging on so tight, determined not to be thrown off the tube! We also had a guest family that brought their boat and tube as well.
We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and ate under a big pavillion. We spent time down at the lake swimming too. After supper, there was a big game of volleyball on the beach!
We all had a lot of fun just spending time playing and visiting together. It was a beautiful evening, although we did have a short rain, which ended with a gorgeous rainbow! Thank you God, for the reminder of Your promise! What a sight to behold!
We wrapped up the evening with a campfire until we were urged out by the park ranger right at closing time.:-)
See you all next Saturday at the Gathering at Mattson Park!
-Laura

]]> http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-july-24th-fun-nite/feed 0 Saturday, July 17th http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-july-17th http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-july-17th#comments Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:16:29 +0000 Laura http://www.the-journey-green.org/?p=57 Okay, so it’s already Tuesday, I waited too long to update the blog and now I’m drawing blanks…

Let me think. Yes, last Saturday we met at Scott & Tammie’s again, that much I am sure of. We arrived to find Mikey putting his lego creation back together after it apparently had come apart when he was trying to show it to Mark. We greeted and visited while Tammie prepared food and I tried to keep Isaac from snatching Mikey’s legos. I don’t even know what happened to David and Scott, as I remember, I think they disappeared for a while? Hmmm. (sorry guys, seriously, absentmindedness is a symptom of pregnancy, I can’t help it:-)

People arrived and we had a short, before-church meeting and prayer on the deck in the beautiful sunshine! Which, as we will find out later, did not last… And then came one of our favorite parts of the evening, well- mine, and I’m pretty sure most others, though I can’t speak for them for sure- food! Our meal included Maki’s homemade wontons, and an awesome salad by Tammie! Oh, and yes! of course! TWO birthday cakes! Happy birthdays to Brian, Josh and Michelle! How could I forget that?! We sang “Happy Birthday” to them, it was fun.

Worship began by our Josh on the guitar of course- rock on man! And… Isaac on the drum. (Daddy David forgot his, but not little Isaac! He was ready to roll!) After we sang the first worship song, which, not surprisingly, I can’t remember what it was; Scott had a great word about it, which- you guessed it, I can’t remember what it was! arg! (Scott- are you sure you want me to keep doing this blog?:-) (I think I need to start taking notes during church, the experience is really being lost in my hands…)

Okay, announcements came next: next week- FUN NIGHT! yeah! Then we shared how God has been moving in our lives over the past week. We watched the next section of movie clip from the “Book Of John” and then broke off into our study groups. We looked at John chapter 2- Jesus’ first miracle- turning water into wine. David, Muriel and I formed a group. We asked the question, “Why, after Jesus said in verse 4: “Woman, what does your concern have to do with me? Mine hour is not yet come.” did Jesus still go on the perform the miracle?” The answer we came to was because of the faith his mother had in Him, and also so that his dicples would believe in Him, as stated in verse 11. Jesus was just beginning to develop a relationship with His new dicples. This brings us back to our findings from last week- that the purpose for the writing of the book of John is so that we might believe! (John 20:31) And yet, though He did all these amazing miracles when He was here on earth, He still “did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men. And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.” John 2:24-25 This is God- He knows what’s in our hearts.

We came back together as a large group to share our findings- but that was accomplished slowly because of the impending storm! The sky had turned a wicked green and huge, dark, thick, rolling clouds were moving toward us! And here were all of us, out standing on the deck watching funnel clouds form above our heads! Um, everyone kept standing there staring up at this amazing happening, as it moved closer and got stronger and more threatening, and um, everyone kept standing outside watching, um…

Well, the sirens never did come on- surprisingly, and everyone did come back inside- eventually, just as it started to pour down rain and the wind starting whipping like crazy! Poor Tammie was so worried about her trees! The Lord let them stand.:-) And we got to see beautiful pink skies peak through at the end.

Back to our discussion- Another group had gotten into a conversation about whether or not the wine Jesus had made was fermented wine or not? It became a somewhat interesting debate, but we came back to the real purpose of the story- that we might believe.  How could we not?! How else could we explain those amazing storm clouds? or that Spirit that we know lives within us, guiding us and keeping us at every moment of each new day? What an awesome God!

Well, wisely, the men did not end up in the pool this time… infact, I don’t recall that they did anything all that strange at all this night?…. huh, how strange…We shall see what happens at the lake next Saturday!

-Laura

]]> http://www.the-journey-green.org/saturday-july-17th/feed 1 John 1 http://www.the-journey-green.org/john-1 http://www.the-journey-green.org/john-1#comments Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:15:35 +0000 admin http://www.the-journey-green.org/?p=54 Our last meeting was just as interesting as usual. When we arrived at Scott & Tammie’s house, we were presented with eleven-year-old, Mikey’s, lego creation- quite impressive, he’d been working on it all week! Oh, and not to mention, as usual, we were also greeted by Molly, the golden retriever- the highlight for our toddler, Isaac.

As everyone arrived, we enjoyed visiting and snitching from the selection of foods brought together, including Tammie’s yummy homemade salsa! We caught up and joked around and eventually moved into worship lead by Joshua on guitar and David on his drum. A talented couple of young men with great hearts!

Announcements were announced with a wonderful intro from Josh on guitar.:-) Then shared were testimonies about people’s weeks and how God had presented Himself and blessed them.  Can’t really give any details cause I had to go change a diaper and missed a lot of what was said. Our blog may always be a bit spotty for reasons such as these! This is real life.

We decided at our last meeting that we were going to get back into studying the book of John. We began in chapter one- a logical place to start. Scott presented us with a clip from the movie “The Book of John” that covered chapter one. It was quite interesting and helped give us a good picture of what really took place when John the Baptist was doing his thing.

We broke off into smaller groups to maximize our studying potential. I ended up with three other ladies. We went down into the basement and sat on the comfy couches while the little one played. We took the first chapter and answered the “five W’s” about it: What is the chapter about? Our answer- John prophesying the Messiah; Who are the main characters? John and Jesus, later joined by the priests, levites, and then the first disciples; When does this event take place? Around 80AD according to Alyson’s introduction to the book of John; Where did this happen? In Ephesus (a city in today’s Turkey); and Why is this being done or said? To lay the foundation for what is to come, and to teach us who Jesus is so that we may believe. Shenae also made a connection with John 20:30-31, key verses in the book of John. The whole reason the book was written was so that we might believe!

All the groups then came back together in the living room to share our findings and insights. I missed most of it again because I was slightly distracted by Isaac’s business, as well as my unborn son kicking around trying to expand his uterine fortress. I caught something about baptism and then Zacharias?… (someone else who was there, feel free to fill in…)

We broke off once again into our prayer groups- guys went outside and girls relaxed inside, and shared our ministry and prayer needs. By the time we were finishing we were made aware of a commotion outside- men yelling and laughing quite loudly! Upon investigating, we found our men in the pool having chicken fights, fully clothed!…. As I said before, there is no lack of entertainment with a group of goofy husbands together! J What’ll they end up doing next week?….

~Laura

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