Sunday Recap: Heaven Is For Real

This Sunday at Crosspoint, we had the priveledge of seeing Pete  interview Colten, and his dad, Todd Burpo about Colten’s journey to Heaven.

Colten went in for a surgery, and while he was in surgery he says he went to Heaven.  He relayed stories to his parents that there was no way for him to know unless he actually did go to Heaven.

He told his dad that he saw him praying in a room by himself and about how his mom was in another area calling friends and family asking for prayer.  He also told them all about Heaven; what and who he saw while he was there.

The Burpo family has written a book about Colten’s trip to Heaven.  The book is called Heaven is For Real.  It has been #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list for non fiction books for 19 weeks!

If you want to learn more about what Colten saw and learned in Heaven, get the book!

If you want to see the interview and Pete’s thoughts after the interview, click on the picture below and you can see for yourself.



I enjoyed hearing about Colten’s story and this book is being added to my “to read” list.  I hope you enjoy it too!

Have a great week!

Sunday Recap: Choosing Joy

This week, Pete finished the series on the Beatitudes.

In Matthew 5:10-12, Jesus says, “¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  ¹¹Blessed  are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  ¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

When you live your life like Jesus, you will be persecuted.  When you are poor in spirit, when you mourn, when you are meek, merciful, or are a peacemaker. 

However, rejoice and be glad, because God is with you.  Do the right things even though you know that you may be persecuted and be glad in the decisions.

Choose Joy!

If you would like to hear the entire message, click here and then click on Week 6: ABO: Choosing Joy.

Do you have a post discussing what you learned this past week in your place of worship?  Please link it up below so that we can all share in the process.

Sunday Recap: Are you a Peacemaker or Peacekeeper?

This week, Justin Davis continued our study of the Beatitudes and talked about Matthew 5:9, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Here is a little bit of what I learned…

Most people feel that peace is the absence of conflict.  So, to avoid conflict, frequently we will just say sorry when we don’t mean it to keep the peace.  Just saying sorry and keeping your mouth shut is not peacemaking.

It is important that when someone offends us or wrongs us that we tell them how we feel.  Yes, that will be uncomfortable.  Of course.  It could even cause an argument.  However, hopefully, after everything is out in the open, that relationship will be stronger due to your honesty.  The same holds true if you know you have wronged someone or offended them.  You need to apologize.  Let them know that you realize how you made them feel and that you are sorry.

This is peacemaking.

It is definitely easier to be a peacekeeper.

It is easier to avoid conflict.  Easier to just say sorry for whatever you have done, rather than have a discussion about it.  It is easier to ignore the fact that someone has made you feel inadequate and just go on your merry way, rather than tell them how they made you feel.

However, in Matthew 5:9, God says, Blessed are the peacemakers.

He wants us to pursue reconciliation in our relationships.  He knows this is how to have healthy relationships!

Let’s go out of our way to make things right with whoever we have offended or wronged.

This week, confess to someone that you know you have wronged.  Tell them how they wounded you.  Or, at the very least, at least confess it to God with the intentions of confessing it to the person at some point.

I know that is a hard challenge and is one that I will have to think long and hard on, as well.  But it is the path to being a peacemaker, instead of a peacekeeper.

Good luck to you all in your path to being peacemakers.

If you would like to hear the complete message, go here and click on Week 5: Fighting for Peace.

Do you have a post talking about what you learned this week?  Link it up below… I would love to read it and I’m sure others would too!

Bin Laden Repented Before He Was Killed! He is in Heaven!

How do those words make you feel inside?

Does it make you want to celebrate, because he realized the errors in his ways and asked for forgiveness?

Or does it make you cringe that you will have to one day spend eternity with him in Heaven?

Hopefully it is not the latter, but I’ll be honest with you… for me, in some ways it is the latter.  Granted, it didn’t actually happen (that we know of).  But I do feel that even if I heard that news, I would not necessarily be happy for him.  Well, I would be... but not quite as happy as I probably should be.  There is this bad person inside me that says he needs to pay. (No lectures, please.  I know this is not the way I should feel and I am sharing my heart.)

I do hope that I am wrong.  I hope that if I had heard that news, that I would have been able to be happy for him.  I would imagine all of his followers would be lead to do the same, too.  How great would that be?

Anyway, this past Sunday in church, our pastor, Pete, brought this up as part of his discussion on mercy. For those who have been reading my Sunday Recap posts, this is the continuation of the series that breaks down the Beatitudes in Matthew.

This week he was discussing Matthew 5:7, Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Dictionary.com defines mercy as, “compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence”.

Pete also defined it as, sacrificing your own honor or reputation to extend love, compassion and acceptance to someone who doesn’t deserve it and can’t pay you back.

Why are we so guarded when it comes to showing mercy?  A lack of mercy is about control.  In fact, it shows you don’t trust God.  You don’t trust He will ‘convict’ someone enough or that He will change their heart.

There is something important we need to remember here.  It is not our job to convict someone to our liking.  And we cannot change what is in their heart.  We cannot “fix” them, nor should we try.  What is our ‘job’, is to love them and show them mercy.

So, when you heard of Bin Laden’s death, were you filled with relief and maybe even joy?  What if he had repented?  Would your reaction had been the same?

What if my title had a different name in it?  What about Hitler?  Stalin?  Someone who has wronged you personally?  Is there someone in your personal life who you have not shown mercy?



Don't forget, if you want to hear the entire service from this past weekend, click here, then click on "Week 4 - Receiving What You Give".  My post here, is just a snippet of what was talked about and it was a great sermon!


Do you have a post regarding what you learned this past weekend in your place of worship?  Please link it up below so that others can read it too!

Sunday Recap:Take Time To Mourn

Blake Bergstrom gave the sermon this week.  He continued the study on the Beatitudes from Matthew.

The verse for this week was Matthew 5:4 – Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

This verse is not just talking about death.  It is speaking of any loss or rejection.  You need to acknowledge your loss and mourn it properly.  In today’s fast paced times, we tend to make ourselves ‘busy’ in times of loss.  We don’t take the time to grieve.

It is easy to grieve and leave our hearts wide open when we know that God is on our side.  He is there to comfort us.  And, he has placed people in our life that will comfort us as well!

He also wants us to mourn for others’ pain.  Mourn for the people in the world that are hungry, abused, and those that have suffered loss.  As Blake said, “Mourning elicits action and breeds courageous engagement.”

God not call us to wallow in pain and sadness.  Yes, take the time to mourn.  Then after that, do something!  If you are mourning others’ pain, let it move you to do something about it and help them.  If you are mourning your own loss, let it move you to learn something about yourself.

There will always be hurt in this world.  Let us mourn that pain and then let it move us to do good.

If you would like to hear the entire sermon, go here.

If you have your own Sunday Recap you would like to share, please leave it in the linky below.  I would love to read it!

Sunday Recap: Blessed Are The Meek

Last week, Pete began discussing the Beatitudes in Matthew, Chapter 5.  If you missed it, you can read about it here.

This week, he went on and talked about Matthew 5:5 - Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  What do you think of when you hear the word meek?  What kind of person?  Doormat… geek… weak?

Pete defines meek for us as strength under control.  Someone who is meek will always be angry at the right time and never be angry at the wrong time.  They know who they are.  The meek don’t always have to win or have their way.  They are inconceivable strong!

Okay, now that we understand what Jesus meant by meek, let’s talk about what he means by ‘inherit the earth’.  Basically, that just means who will ‘win in life’.  Who will have all the stuff?  All the nice clothes, the big house, the awesome job… You see, they were worried about that back then, just as we are now.  Sad, isn’t it? 

Another place where the meek were spoken about was in Psalm 37:1-11:
¹Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; ²for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. ³Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. ⁴Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. ⁵Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this; ⁶He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. ⁷Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. ⁸Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret – it leads only to evil. ⁹For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. ¹⁰A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. ¹¹But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.

There are a couple of things you can take away from these verses.

1. Do not fret – He says it 3 times.  I have to assume he says it 3 times because he really wants it to sink in.  He does not want us to worry about anything!  Don’t worry about the people that are doing wrong things and still coming out ahead.  Because…
2. The meek will inherit the earth.  All the people that are able to keep their anger in check and not concern themselves with the people who are doing wrong.  They will enjoy peace and prosperity!
3. Also, just as a side note, the people Jesus was speaking to here had just had their land taken from them by the Babylonians, so this was just what they needed to hear at the time.

Again, in Matthew 5:38-42, having control over your emotions, or meek, is talked about:
³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’   ³⁹ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.  If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. ⁴¹ If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.  ⁴² Give to the one who asks you, and do turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."

Why should I give them my coat?  Why should I walk 2 miles instead of one?  Because you would be exhibiting strength under control.  You know that you don’t always have to win.

Some might say, “But wait, what if they do win?”  That’s okay, because Jesus says, ‘Blesses are the meek.’ 

We try to overcompensate when we don’t think we are getting what we deserve in life, because we think the disciplined, organized, put together people will inherit the earth.  The ones with the nice cars, nice house and nice job.  The most important thing to remember is that God orders the world differently than people order the world.  The people we think will win in life aren’t necessarily the one that will win.

The one major thing I got out of this service was to always try to keep my anger in check and not worry about what others are ‘getting’ in life.

Go here if you would like to hear the entire message.

If you have a Sunday Recap post, leave on Mister Linky below!

Sunday Recap : The Modern Beatitudes

This week started a new series at Crosspoint called 'Anything But Ordinary' where Pete Wilson started discussing the Beatitudes in Matthew, Chapter 5.

For those that don’t know, the Beatitudes are:

• Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
• Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
• Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
• Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.
• Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

This week, Pete concentrated on the first Beatitude; Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

First of all, what does it mean to be ‘blessed’?  It means God is on your side.  He is divinely with you.  If you know even a little bit about the Bible, you know that people definitely thought that only certain people were blessed.  God was only on the side of certain people.

Well, what does it mean to be ‘poor in spirit’?  According to Pete, that terminology back then, meant that you were pathetic.  A loser.  Morally empty.  And, of course, by the standards back then, someone who is a pathetic, morally empty, loser, surely would not have God’s graces!

When Jesus stood up and announced to the crowd of people that those who are poor in spirit are blessed… well, I would imagine they were all fairly shocked!  Those type of people should not be blessed!  They don’t deserve God’s love!  Well, Jesus says that they DO deserve and in fact, receive God’s love!

How can we apply the 1st Beatitude in our own life?  Here are Pete’s suggestions:

1. If you ‘have it all together’… be careful.  You may convince yourself this first Beatitude isn’t for you and become complacent.
2. If you don’t feel you ‘have it all together’… remember… blessed are the poor in spirit.  God IS with you.  You ARE blessed.  You deserve love.

Pete also shared with us what Joe Abbey-Colborne wrote about how we live by a different set of values in this modern world:

• Blessed are the well off and those with ready answers for every spiritual question; they have it all.
• Blessed are the comfortable; they shall avoid grief.
• Blessed are the self-sufficient; they wait for nothing, they have everything they want, and they have it now.
• Blessed are those who are not troubled by the injustice experienced by others; they are content with realistic expectations.
• Blessed are the ones who gain the upper hand; they take full advantage of their advantages.
• Blessed are those with a solid public image and a well hidden agenda; they are never exposed and see people in a way that suits their purposes.
• Blessed are those who can point to someone else who is a worse person than they are, they will always look good by comparison.
  Blessed are you when people praise you, give you preferential treatment, and flatter you because they think you’re so great. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, because it doesn’t get any better than this.

Isn’t this how we really see the world?  Let us strive to live our life based on the original Beatitudes and not these new ones.

If you would like to hear this sermon in its entirety, click here and see the link for ABO: Spiritually Bankrupt.  It is week one in the Anything But Ordinary Series.

See you next week when we will continue the discussion on the Beatitudes.

Join in on the Sunday Recap linky below and read others.

Sunday Recap

The Sunday Recap is a place for us to share what we learned on Sunday in all our churches/places of worship.  Please join me by linking up your Sunday Recap post.
How?  It’s easy!  Here is what you do:

1. Write a recap post about what you learned Sunday at your place of worship (if your place of worship is your living room, by yourself, that’s okay too!)
2. Link it up on the current week’s Sunday Recap linky.
3. At the top of your post, put the Sunday Recap button and link it back to that week’s post on Some Call It Natural so that your readers can see everyone’s Sunday Recap post.
4. Have fun reading everyone's post!

That’s it!  If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment on this post or send me an email.