Overflow 2 song list

For those that asked, here is a list of the songs we did at Overflow in February as well as the verses we put up for them. I'll list the song and then an artist that sings it (if there is one) in case you want to download it.

Overflow Feb 17:

Psalm 100:1-5
1. Prince of Peace
2. Our God is Greater (Christ Tomlin, but Shane & Shane's is better)
3. I Stand Amazed (Christ Tomlin, live off the album Passion: Everything Glorious)
*Verse was Matthew 26: 63b-64
4. All Creatures of Our God and King (David Crowder Band)
5. Better is One Day/I Could Sing of Your Love Forever
6. Father (Hillsong United off the album "aftermath")
*Verse was Philippians 2: 7,8, 10-11
7. Come Ye Sinners (Robbie Seay Band)
8. Here I am to Worship (Hillsong)
*Verse was Matthew 27:27-31
9. All Who are Thirsty (Cody Clausen)
*at the end of this song, we sang the bridge from "Beautiful Exchange" by Hillsong

Love

Each store front changed it’s red and green adornments to pink and white soon after the New Year. Florists are reminding their hopeful customers to place their flower orders soon for their special someone. Today is the day that people all over share cards, flowers, chocolates, and oversized teddy bears with their loved ones. Many dread this very holiday –renaming February 14th “Singles Awareness Day” – the pain of seeing happy couples around, or the giant stuffed animals with the I LUV U hearts are just another reminder of loneliness. Whether one looks at this day with happy hearts, and googly eyes for their special somebody or begrudgingly– I think most would readily associate the word Love with this holiday more than any other…

How can we best love? How would the bible teach us to love? Paul’s words to the church of Corinth in 1 Corinthians 13 read –

If I speak the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong, or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have and, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Can you imagine if all that was implied within a bear’s I LUV U heart message? Can one honestly say with a dozen roses that their love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things? The message of love from God’s Word is the perfect picture of Christ. He was the one, the example – the picture of selflessness. He was the one that laid down his life, picking up the cross and bearing God’s wrath and punishment of sin for humanity. What a perfect picture of love.

Scripture also says in Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. There isn’t anything that we can do to earn this love. He gives his love freely –

So whether you find describe yourself in “puppy love” or beyond annoyed about another flower delivery to your school that’s not intended for you… Remember this – Jesus loves you and the depth of that love is described in Romans 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come nor powers, or height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”

…His love is real. He lived it out. And it’s the same for you 365 days of the year – forever. If you ask me -that’s better than the world’s supply of chocolate covered strawberries. – Consider God’s scripture the most beautiful poem ever written… and better yet – It’s true. Be filled with that truth forever. And know that you’re loved by the One who created you.

From Where Does Your Joy Come?

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.
John 15:9-17 (NIV)

The word Joy is mentioned previously in the Gospel of John only once – in John 3:29, When John voices his joy being his, and complete – because he is tending to the Bridegroom, Christ.

So what does it mean to have joy? How do we attain it? What does it look like?

I once met a very uniquely, successful, loving man. His name is Hunter “Patch” Adams. I knew him only by Robin Williams portrayal of him in the 1998 movie titled “Patch Adams.” He was a clown doctor who loved patients and wanted to provide affordable – even free treatment, to those who were in need.

Early in the Spring semester in the Grand Market Place (our dining hall) at the University of South Carolina, My friends spotted the real Patch Adams, and suggested that I meet him. As an audacious Sophomore, I was up for the meeting. I boldly introduced myself “ Hello, Patch! I’m Diana Carey, I thought you’d want to meet me.” – Who was I? After an unredeemable introduction, Patch and I started into a great conversation, which led him to ask me. – “Diana, where does your joy come from?” Rarely does such an opportunity present itself in this manner. I began to tell him all about my relationship with Jesus. Mind you, the Lord had revealed himself to me just 2 years earlier. I told him that I had joy because it was the joy of the Lord, in me. – And his response I’ll never forget. He said, it makes sense that people who know the Lord would have true joy. “After all,” he said “You claim to know God, so shouldn’t you possess such joy?” – The answer – YES! – In knowing the Living God, Jesus Christ, my Savior, my Lord, I have everlasting joy which no earthly circumstance could rob from me.

Joy comes only from the Lord. It is an everlasting quality. We can have joy because when redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ we know our future is secure in Him for eternity. There are many moments that make us happy in life. This happiness is as a result of something bringing temporary delight. With the Lord’s promised seal of salvation for those who believe in Him, joy is not temporary, but a forever blessing!

And what an encouragement to be reminded that for Christ, it was a joy to endure the cross – Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

It was through a life of steadfast righteousness that our King attained his joy and dominion. Can we also conclude that we can share His experiences by that same means? May you be blessed and filled with joy in the knowledge and reality that Jesus Christ loves you and has filled you with His joy in order that we may love Him and others until we are reunited with Him. Let that be your joy!

Whose birthday is it really?

As we rapidly get deeper and deeper into the Christmas season, many of our actions are guided by plans to be with family and the presents we will get them. If your family is anything like mine was growing up, the greatest day of my life was Christmas morning with bundles and bundles of presents all with my name on them. It's funny now because many of those things I received are gone or forgotten about. Our culture has done such a great job of marketing Christmas as a time for merchandise and materialism making it even harder to remember why the celebration of this day even happened in the first place. As we sit with our families on Christmas morning looking at the tree surrounded by all the boxes with our names on them, is there a present for Jesus?? After all is it not HIS birthday that we are celebrating??? How would it look if at your birthday party everyone brought gifts for everyone else but you?

Christ said in Matthew 25, "... that whenever we give to the least we are giving to Him." We want to encourage you to give this Christmas, but give to whom the celebration belongs. If we totaled up all of our expenses for Christmas, what a difference we make in peoples lives. So, the challenge has been issued give gifts to Jesus this Christmas after all it is HIs birthday.

Suggested ideas if you can't think of anything on your own
*www.charitywater.org/
*www.aglimmerofhope.org
*www.hopeinternational.org
* www.worldvision.org

Answering the hard ones

Sometimes as Christians we are asked or presented with tough questions about our faith and how it all works. When we are confronted with these situations 1 of 3 things happens; we either give an answer grounded in Scripture, we make something up that sounds good to us and mark it as truth, or we just plain admit we don't know. If you are anything like myself you may doubt some things when asked a tough question, but instead of letting ourselves be beaten down by our lack of knowledge we must seize it as an opportunity to pursue the Lord in a way that we may have never done before. If we claim to love and follow Jesus then we hold what He has said to be true, and it is true. That is why as it says in 1 Peter 3, "... be ready to give a reason for the hope you have in you." We have to be prepared to give not just good answers, but true answers to those who wonder about why we submit our lives to someone we cannot even see. Being able to answer tough questions such as, 'why does God allow bad things to happen', 'how old is the earth', 'do we become angels after we die' can a lot of times be so crucial to our growth and believe in Jesus. The more we pursue him with our mind, and not just with our heart, the closer we can draw to him. So, if you are faced with a question that you don't know the answer to, pursue the Truth; take it to Scripture, outside reliable sources, or people who you know have been trained in the Word of God. Also, as we pursue answers don't take what you want to be true and make it work with scripture, Make Scripture what is True to you. These anwers seem hard and take effort to pursue, but it will be worth it.

World Religions

I have often been asked the question of what to make of the different religions of the world in light of the truth of Christianity. It would seem that if we believe salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone, then we are arrogantly claiming that we are “right” and all other faiths are “wrong”. In fact, it is this issue that turns many seekers off to Christianity. If there are so many people in the world with so many different systems of belief, how can there be ONE way? How can Christianity claim to have the corner on the market when it comes to truth of salvation?

This tough question leads many to what I like to call the “mountaintop” view. This view puts the faith journey in terms of a mountain. “God” is at the top. However there are many different roads that lead to the top. Christianity might be one while Hinduism or Buddhism might be another. Really, as long as your road gets you to the top, it doesn’t really matter which one you take. You go ahead and believe whatever works for you. This is a nice thought. Tolerance is, after all, a good thing. It really would be nice if this analogy worked. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. Not in any way. In fact, I highly doubt that there is any serious follower of a mainstream faith that would concede to this model of viewing world religions.

What’s the problem? All people have an internal sense that something is not right with the world. We seek reconciliation and peace from the evil that we see in ourselves and in the world around us. In some way or another, this is the root goal of all religions and philosophies. However, not all religions agree on what is on top of the mountain. For Christians, the top of our mountain is a God who loves us and desires to know us personally. For Muslims, the God at the top of the mountain seems similar to ours, but is one who is inaccessible in the personal sense that our faith teaches. In reality, the Christian and Muslim Gods are very different. If you are Hindu, not one god is atop the mountain but hundreds. Only by conquering the cycle of reincarnation can one achieve oneness with Brahman. For Buddhists, there is nothing on top of the mountain. By controlling one’s Karma, one can break the cyclical reincarnation and achieve Moksha, or final release from the suffering of life. For secular humanism, the top of the mountain is reaching personal completion and fulfillment through ethics, philosophy, and introspection.

Obviously, these belief systems cannot all be leading to the same place, as they all disagree on the place they are leading to. So what sets Christianity apart as truth? As Christians, we are not saying that there is no value in other faiths. In fact, there is much value in the teachings of other religions. All espouse ethical living and personal betterment. However, Christianity does claim to have the monopoly on truth when it comes to salvation. This is because of all the religions and belief systems on earth Christianity makes a unique claim. Other religions say to “do this” or “follow this” rule or teaching and you will achieve salvation or completion or release. Only Christianity says to TRUST in the One who has already done it for us. This is a claim unlike any other! Our God doesn’t ask us to find A WAY through learning or rules. He claims that He Himself is THE WAY: John 14:6, and that salvation is of Him alone: Ephesians 2:8-9.

So is it arrogant or boastful of us to claim that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation? Many think so. However, if I were to tell you that 2+2=4, and that it could only ever equal 4, you wouldn’t say I was being arrogant. And why not? Because it is true. And the same is true with our faith. It is not arrogant for us to claim to be true what we in fact know to be true. So therefore we should be all the more motivated to speak the truth in love to others about the grace of God available through Jesus Christ. We don’t claim other faiths and beliefs to be of no value, but we also don’t shy away from the truth of salvation as revealed to us in God’s Word.

Share the News

Every time something great happens in our lives it seems like we can never wait to share that excitement with others. Unfortunately we never seem to feel the same way about the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Paul clearly shows his feelings about this in his letter to the church in Rome. "I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to anyone who believes" Paul's excitement and passion about this truth drove him to devote his entire life to sharing it and equipping others to do the same.

Its then interesting to look at our lives and see how little the gospel drives our conversations and interactions with people. In fact many times we are 'ashamed of the gospel' maybe not in what we say, but in we don't say to others. If we truly believed this message of Jesus Christ was the greatest news ever (which it is), than we would not be able to contain it with anyone. Just in the same way if you won a game in the closing seconds, got a promotion at work, or even won the lottery we should not be able to hold in the great news that God has for us and others. The prophet Jeremiah writes of the LORD "But if I say, I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name, then in my heart becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in , and in fact I cannot endure it."

As believers in Christ we are called to share the message of salvation with our words and our lives. It should be something that we can't contain or hold back from doing. We must change our mindset of fear to one of power and victory, because every time we proclaim the name of Jesus to others it is a WIN! Regardless of others response to the gospel we are sonly called to share it and the Holy Spirit takes it from there. Imagine if no one had every shared this great message with you......