Holy crap… What a weekend! I have no idea how I’m supposed to sleep!! Can you believe what we just saw and experienced?! God justified us…and it’s ours for the asking! He brought such clarity to our moment of justification – the pivotal moment of our very lives. So many of you recognized that your moment was right in front of you and you went for it – trusting Jesus with your whole heart. I’m celebrating with all of heaven tonight.

I won’t recover any time soon! I hope you don’t either…

p.s. Wanna process this one a little bit more? Or see it for the first time? The whole service is available online here.

Those of you who saw the LOST premiere Tuesday night got to see the first glimpse of the new Quest commercial our video team put together. Pretty cool, huh? If you didn’t catch it (or if you just wanna see it again), here it is…

Quest Community Church from Quest Community Church on Vimeo.

Use the SHARE button below to share it with your friends & invite them to experience Quest for themselves.

The Votes are IN!!!

You may know we hosted a survey on my blog this week to help name our 1st Wednesday Worship Nights at Celebration. I hope you made it out last night to experience a remarkable night of worship in this community together. If you were there, you know we had an astonishing time drawing near to Jesus, experiencing His love in remarkable ways and lifting Him high. We worshiped with our hearts, our voices & our lives and we met Him at the table for communion in a unique and powerful way. I could feel the impact of Cracking the Code on our worship already.

It was a fitting night to unveil our new name for Quest’s monthly worship nights together…

I loved how you guys came out to vote on this one in full force. Let’s live this out loud…elevating the One who is worthy of all of our praise, drawing near to the One who loves to draw near to us. You make His heart soar!

I’ll see you this weekend for Cracking the Code and next month for Elevate…already looking forward to it!

Worship does something inexplicable in us…drawing us close to God, opening doors, reminding us that… it’s not about us.

We get so self-focused in the rest of our lives, with the world telling us to lift ourselves up, fight for our own rights, make a way for ourselves – there’s just something unique about spending focused time on the One who made us to love us. It’s in time spent with Him that we discover who we really are and what we were made for...as we worship Him for who He really is.

I can’t wait to worship with you tonight, Questers! I’ll see you tonight at 6:30 for an incredible night of worship.

p.s. If you haven’t voted on our new name for our monthly Worship Night at Celebration, cast your vote before noon today!

p.s. Don’t miss tonight’s BIG REVEAL!

Have you ever felt like you faced an ancient enemy…something kicking your tail…maybe something inherited? This weekend we spent time on something that threatens all of us – an ancient and lethal enemy – PRIDE. I watched so many of you doing real work to grapple with this topic, and I talked to many of you who recognized yourselves in one of the three areas of pride that Transformation Pastor, Helen Musick, highlighted this weekend:

1. “I’m better than you.”
2. “I can handle it myself.”
3. “It doesn’t apply to me.”

Don’t be surprised if the very area of pride you’re trying to tackle rises up to bite you in the days ahead. Pride doesn’t go down easy, but it doesn’t stand a chance against real humility. Let love do it’s work, friends!

Here’s a glimpse of the weekend from Helen’s perspective…

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My top 10 observations (Helen):

1. The old auditorium filled with people again… the weekend kicked off with our recovery and freedom ministry, The MAT, moving upstairs to Quest’s old auditorium.  Friday night over 400 people came out and the stories that were shared really had people walking away saying, “I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

2. DC talk and Quest… a great combination! Rob, Anyerin and Headley did a great updated version of a song that is our lives so much of the time…Hard Way.  Sometimes it’s the only way we learn things, isn’t it?

3. Three men, three stories, three miracles… their story this weekend lowered a hammer on the power of pride.

4. The “Pride Trailer” … when you see the consequences of how pride plays itself out in men’s lives and contrast it to a relentless love of a Savior who willing went to the cross, it brings tears to your eyes…or it should.

5. “The closer you are to the cross, the closer you should be to humility”… I said it and now I want to live it.

6. Toddlers and Tiaras… I hate to admit it [pride] but I know I’m guilty of a masked pride of wanting my own kids to succeed so it makes me look like a great parent.  I’m asking God to conquer that enemy in me!

7. “The fact that I’m an alcoholic is one of the greatest gifts of my life”… it’s the truth. It has been the catalyst for smashing pride in my life and releasing humility… the place where God’s grace is discovered.

8. The antidote to pride is humility… make sure you see pride as your greatest enemy and humility as your greatest friend.

9. Pride being shattered, literally… A glass was shattered, but in the spiritual realms more than that was happening.  I’m praying that what happened this weekend broke open a movement for the Holy Spirit for the next 4 weekend of Cracking the Code.  We’ll see…

10. Pastor Pete was in the house! Our Pastor is home after a time of being with CMA leaders from around the country.  Watch out church… he’ll be fired up this weekend!  Can’t wait to hear his message.

Tonight we celebrated a couple of leaders at Quest who’ve spent the last year saying yes to Jesus in a remarkable way. They’ve gone above and beyond the reasonable, diving into the relentless, and everyone who knows them has seen the evidence of their yeses to God. They are rare people who make Jesus shine.

They’re rare because mostly we say no to the opportunities God puts in front of us. It’s our learned response. From the time my kids were little, they learned the meaning and the power of the word no. They heard it, they practiced it…and they put it to good use. (Or so they thought.) The truth is they’re a lot like me and you.

We practice saying no all the time…but what if 2010 was marked as the year we said yes? What if as leaders, seekers and Christ-followers we decided in advance to say YES to Jesus no matter what?

Do you have any idea what could happen?

I’ve watched the power of a seeker’s yes take them from a stalled-out journey into a relationship with the One they seek. I’ve seen the power of a Christ-follower’s yes to reach their friends with a simple invitation. And I’ve witnessed the power of a leader’s yes that can change the trajectory of hundreds of thousands of lives.

So what about it? Are you game? Just say YES. It’s still January…and THAT’s a New Year’s Resolution worth keeping!

How are you doing letting Jesus crack your code during this series?  He knows you and actually knows the combination to your heart…pretty remarkable! Justin gave a great talk this weekend highlighting the very real barrier sin creates in our lives…(thanks, Justin!). As you face what’s being stirred up in you, don’t forget…He made you to love you. That is His biggest goal for your whole life! Here’s a glimpse of what Justin saw this weekend:

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After 4 years, it’s so incredible to be back in Cracking the Code. The last time we did this series, I (Justin) was sitting in the seats just drinking it in like everyone else. I can’t believe that now…4 years later…I got to be the one tackling the barrier of sin as we brought “Paying the Price” back to the stage in the new 2010 version. Here’s a few of the things that rang out to me…

1. Everything shifted the moment people realized that our drama was the development of an affair right in front of our eyes. We downshifted into real and raw territory right out of the gates. It was uncomfortable and shocking — and it got people ready to deal honestly with sin. Thanks to Amber & Slim for portraying these characters — God really used you to help us see the “series of small missteps” that leads to a great fall.

2. Little by little we give sin the combination to our hearts and then are shocked when we find ourselves locked inside the vault with it. God helped us see that its sin’s place in our hearts that keeps us from experiencing His love. The place intended for the love of God becomes occupied with another lover.

3. Hardly anyone thinks of the sin they are committing as the development of a relationship with sin. The drama left us with an unforgettable picture of the seduction of sin, and gave us the question: “What sin has been your mistress?“

4. I’ll never forget watching people’s faces as I told the story of how Eskimos hunted for wolves. It was a gruesome and accurate picture of the destruction we bring on ourselves when we crave sin… it just leaves us lying dead in the snow. I don’t think anyone will forget that one for a long time!

5. Bringing Part 2 of the drama into the middle of the talk and watching the unfolding brokenness of a relationship with sin was haunting. I couldn’t get over the reality of how we drag innocent people along with us into our relationship with sin, wrecking everything we hold dear. The legacy of sin will not relent.

6. The reality is we can choose — no matter how far gone we think we are. We can break up with the sin in our life. We can leave our mistress (whatever sin it is) lying crumpled on the floor and walk out the door. We can choose a relationship with God over a relationship with sin.

7. The contrast of sin as a “pathetic mistress and cruel master” with the picture of Jesus as “Faithful and True,” “Friend of Sinners,” and the Good Shepherd (from John 10) who wants to lead us into a “rich and satisfying life.” He is the One who bled Himself out in our place, dying on the cross to pay the price so we don’t have to anymore.

8. I think a lot of times we get sidetracked with the fallout of sin in our own hearts and in the lives of people around us, missing that God is the primary person we’ve sinned against. When we’ll acknowledge our sin against Him, we can experience the freedom from guilt that we long for!

9. The simple 3 steps of breaking up with sin:

1. Stop right now: it will never get easier than it is right now.

2. Turn the other direction: Put distance between you and the thing putting distance between you and God. Lean into community!

3. Step toward Jesus: What step can you take to draw closer to Jesus and develop a relationship with Him?

10. So many people were doing real work with the barrier of sin…and they’re letting God set them free. I could see it in our faces, hear it in our worship, and I’ve heard some great things from LifeGroups already. Keep letting the Holy Spirit demolish this barrier in your lives! Jesus didn’t die so you could keep a mistress on the side — He wants your whole heart because only He can truly fill it up!

P.S. I encourage you to consider attending the Mat this Friday for the Chili Cookoff and Open Meeting. Many of you will need the community and structured approach to turn away from the sin in your life. You will find friends that will care for and encourage you as you choose a relationship with Jesus over the sin in your life. You can choose this — just don’t go it alone!

What’s the sin that has your number? The one that tries to crack your code for itself? Is it sexual sin, greed, insecurity, an addiction, pride, self-pity? Sin always promises what it cannot deliver…and it takes you places you do not want to go.

No one starts out planning to be entrapped by sin…no one flirts with the idea of an affair planning to let it ruin their lives and the lives of their children…no one gives into self-pity thinking it will leave them small and embittered.

Whatever the voice of sin is promising you…it is ALWAYS lying. The fun or comfort of the moment will open the door to a trail of pain and brokenness you cannot anticipate. You are not the exception, friend.

Praying for you today – that instead of choosing the sin that knocks at your door, you’ll respond instead to the Voice of the Good Shepherd who always leads you to freedom and life. Let Jesus crack your code…not the enemy.

p.s. Need help tackling this one? Watch Justin’s great talk from this weekend on Paying the Price for sin here.