DAN GOULD

FROM THE INSIDE OUT

Author: dgould77

  • What a Week!!!

    It’s seems that the last two weeks have been crazy busy.  It has really impacted my blogging . . . I just haven’t had time to write so here is a highlight of the week looked like for us.

    Both boys have been sick.  Not running a fever sick but we took them both to the doctor on Monday to find out that Josiah had croup and Jackson was put on an antibiotic.  On Thursday, after the antibiotic seemed to be making no difference for Jackson and his congestion was causing him to throw up, we called the doctor and explained the symptoms and what we saw.  Based on our visit and the symptoms the doctor said he had a sinus infection and changed his medication.  Today he seems to be doing a little better.

    Josiah missed two days of school this week but wanted to make sure he didn’t miss his teachers B-day on Wednesday.  He made it on Wednesday and on our way to school we stopped to get her a little gift and Josiah picked out flowers.  He is going to be a Womanizer when he get older!

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    Stephanie has decided to turn our house in to Christmas wonderland over the last two days.  She called me scrooge earlier today because I was complaining about putting the lights on the tree. (FYI – I hate putting lights on a tree) What happened to Thanksgiving?

    Tonight we watched Kung Fu Panda.  It was really good!! Now Josiah runs around the house, like he didn’t before, karate chopping and kicking everything.  He reminds me of me when I was a kid.

    At small groups we made a music video and will show it Sunday during the Big Give.  Tomorrow I go play paintball with the 8th and 9th grade guys!  Should be fun I let you now how it goes tomorrow!

  • Acts 1:1-11

    “‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”  Acts 1:8

    This verses is used a lot when talking about missions, but Jesus intent in saying this is that we, the disciples then and now, will have the power needed, given by the Holy Spirit, to be representatives for Christ to this world . . . all of it.  We have a great responsibility to bring the Good News of Jesus to the world around us.  But we don’t have to do it in our own strength.

    In the book of Act, Luke continues the story he began in his Gospel, covering the 30 years after Jesus was taken into heaven.  During that short time the church was established, and the Good News of salvation was spread throughout the world, even to the capital of the Roman Empire.  Those preaching the Good News, though ordinary people with human frailties and limitations, were empowered by the Holy Spirit to take it all over the world.  In the book of Acts we learn about the nature of the church and how we, like these early believers, can turn our world around! – NLT Life Application Study Notes

    May we wait on the Lords timing, just as the Disciples were instructed to do, so we can move in the Power of the Holy Spirit, and not our own power!  Teach us Lord, Empower us Lord,  Impact the world around us Lord, not for our own kingdom, but for your Eternal Kingdom!


  • The Pulse – Fusion Weekly Update

    If you are a reader of this blog and would like to receive, The Pulse, our student ministry weekly e-mail update, please click here to sign up and it will be delivered to your e-mail address weekly!  Here is an excerpt from this week,

    The First to Know!!!

    We have been working hard on Summer Events.  Thank you for your input.  The general consensus was that cheaper was better.  Let me rephrase that, we are striving to provide the best camp experience for the least amount of cost!  Here is what we have decided.  This year Wild Week will actually take place in July at Camp WOW.  Camp WOW has a great facility that includes, water sports, blob, zip line, basketball, volleyball, ropes coarse and other activities.  Other Church’s in our area use Camp WOW also for summer camps.  I am excited about this opportunity and hope you will be apart of this great experience.  Ken Freeman, Kacy Benson, and Nick Thurmond will be back again this year to lead us!!!

    . . .

    If you would like to read more click here!

  • Matthew 28:16-20

    16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!

    18 Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,[a] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” v. 16-20

    When someone is dying or leaving us, his or her last words are very important.  Jesus left the disciples with these last words of instruction; They were under his authority; they were to make more disciples; they were to baptize and teach these new disciples to obey Christ; Christ would be with them always. – NLT Life Application Study Bible

    Jesus was sending the disciples to the entire world (aka all nations) not just a group of people.  However, this command was not just for the twelve and the people that were gathered there.  This command is for all who profess to be Christ Followers.  Meaning you have surrendered and committed your life to Christ.  We hold a high responsibility.  Jesus has no plan B.  We are the “A” team that God is using to tell others about Himself.

    We are to go, whether it is next door or to another country, and make disciples.  It is not an option but a command to all who call Jesus “Lord”.   We are not all evangelist in the formal sense, but we have all recieved gifts that we can use to help fulfill the great commission.  As we obey, we have comfort in the knowledge that Jesus is always with us. – NLT Life Application Study Bible

  • Weekend Review

    What a bust week into a busy weekend.  However, I feel like we have made some great progress in a short amount of time.  Last week I e-mailed every students that attended our weekend service and filled out a communication card, to let them know I am praying for there request and to follow up on some decisions they were making.  Several of our Students indicated that they wanted to grow spiritually but admitted that they didn’t necessarily have a plan to accomplish that.  Here is what I sent them,

    1.    Find a consistent time and place to meet with Him. I spend time with God early in the morning, but I used to spend time with God late at night before I went to bed.  The time doesn’t matter, what matters is that you find/make the time.
    2.    Read the Bible and Pray. When you read the Bible God speaks to you, when you pray, you speak to God.  Many times the question is where do I start, and how much do I read.  Even if you don’t like to read (I don’t like to read) its important, so start small.  Here is what I encourage:

    o    Pray – Ask God to forgive you of sin and to guide you as read His Word.
    o    Read a Bible you understand – NIV or NLT are great translations.
    o    Read 1 Chapter a day – A great place to start is in 1, 2, 3 John, James, or the Gospel of John, from there you may have developed a stronger habit and can pick a book from the Bible you would like to read.
    o    Highlight verses that impact you or seem to jump out at you.
    o    Think about what you read.
    o    Pray – Ask God for help, thank Him for the things in your life and lift up concerns to Him.
    o    Think about what you read throughout the day and begin to apply it to your life.

    3. Don’t Give Up! – If you miss a day, it’s going to be ok, just pick up where you missed and start there.  It will take a while for this to become a habit.  There will be days that you forget, or even days that you don’t want to read.  In those days still try to read but admit to God that you are tired, or feeling lazy, or stressed and ask Him to give you the strength you need to meet with Him.  It’s ok to be honest with God!  This will get easier the more you begin to have consistency, I promise!

    The services this weekend were awesome.  Great worship, the talk seemed to connect on personal levels and the Illustration about the family really allowed us to see the way it was supposed to be, and James a 9th graders shared his story and brought it all together.  It was so powerful.  Following the services we went to celebrate baptisms with three families.  It was awesome seeing Dads baptize their kids.

    Last night I was able to connect with Connor and Nick at Chili’s.  I learned a lot about them and had a great time hanging out.   Dash from “The Incredibles” (AKA Josiah) was there also!

  • John 21:15-25

    “After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?[a]‘

    ‘Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.’

    ‘Then feed my lambs,’ Jesus told him.

    16 Jesus repeated the question: ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’

    ‘Yes, Lord,’ Peter said, ‘you know I love you.’

    ‘Then take care of my sheep,’ Jesus said.

    17 A third time he asked him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’

    Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, ‘Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.’

    Jesus said, ‘Then feed my sheep.’

    18 ‘I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others[b] will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.’ 19 Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, ‘Follow me.’” v. 15-19

    I still remember the first time I heard this passage.  I was in college and a senior had asked a couple of us freshman if we wanted to do a Bible Study.  To be honest, we weren’t vary faithful to Experiencing God, the discipleship stuff we were using but I will never forget this passage that John shared with us.  When he read it, it was like no big deal really but as he started to explain the Greek, I was blown away.  Jesus has such High expectations for us and the requires everything we are, but many times our response is one of affection instead of dedication.  Here are the application notes to this passage today from the NLT Life Application Study Bible,

    Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him.  The first time Jesus said, “Do you love (Greek agape: volitional, self-sacrificial love) me more than these?” The second time, Jesus focused on Peter alone and still used the word translated into the Greek, agape.  The third time, Jesus used the  word translated into Greek, phileo (signifying affection, affinity, or brotherly love) and asked, in effect, “Are you even my friend?” Each time Peter responded with the word translated into the Greek as phileo.

    Jesus doesn’t settle for quick superficial answers.  He has a way of getting to the heart of the matter.  Peter had to face his true feelings and motives when Jesus confronted him.  How would you respond if Jesus asked you, “Do you love me? Do you really love me? Are you even my friend?”

    Today, how will you answer these last three questions?  May our desires and our actions collide so Jesus can be ultimately glorified!

  • Friday Night Lights – Plano Football

    After fighting the wind, making a wrong turn, and major traffic, Josiah and I along with Hunter, made it to Texas stadium to watch the Plano Wildcats beat the Duncanville Panthers.

    The Game was pretty close in the first, but after half-time Plano came out in a big way, beating Duncanville 42 to 15.

    Even though it was cold, we had a lot of fun, saw a lot of our students.  The Football team played well, the Band sounded awesome, and the the Dancers performed really well.

    Josiah really had fun!  He now wants to play for the red team (he can’t say maroon) and he thinks every game is played at Texas Stadium.

  • Once on This ISLAND jr – Fowler MS Musical

    Last night Josiah and I attended the Musical at Fowler Middle School.  We had several of our students from Fusion in the musical.  I must admit I was excited to go, but in the back of my head my expectations were not that high.  When we walked in we were greeted quickly by some of our 8th graders and told we came in the wrong door and had to go around the other way.  So we did as we were told.  As we entered the Cafeteria we began seeing parents and other students form the church that weren’t in the play as well as some Small Group Leaders.  It is always nice to see students and parents outside of the church, and it is awesome seeing Small Group leaders attend events that students are involved in!  Way to go Jenn and Jon!!!!

    We took our seats for the opening act and WOW, this didn’t seem like a MS production at all.  It was so fun watching the students I know, and those I don’t, perform.  You could tell that there was a lot of practice that went in to this performance.  They did such a great job, that it even held Josiah’s attention, which at 4 years old, says a lot!  Here are three pics that were taken last night, I tried to use my phone to capture some pics but as you can see on the first picture the lighting bleached out everyone.  But the other two are after the performance with some of our student’s that stared in the show . . . I should have gotten autographs for when they are famous one day!  I love the pic of Ashley giving her older sister bunny ears!!!!

    Tonight we are off to Texas Stadium to watch Plano Football and see the band, dancers, and cheerleaders perform.  Josiah and I are going to hang out with Hunter one of our 7th grade students!!!!  It’s going to be so much fun.  Can’t wait to see Plano win!

  • Luke 24

    “The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, ‘Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man[b] must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.’” v.5-7

    The Importance of the Resurrection taken from the Life Application Study Bible notes:

    The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the central fact of Christian history.  On it, the church is built; without it, there would be no Christian Church today.  Jesus’ resurrection is unique.  Other religions have strong ethical systems, concepts about paradise and the afterlife, and various holy scriptures.  Only Christianity has a God who became human, literally died for his people, and was raised again in power and glory to rule his church forever.

    Why is the Resurrection so important?

    1. Because Christ was raised from the dead, we know that the kingdom of Heaven has broken into earth’s history.  Our world is now headed for redemption, not disaster.  Gods mighty power is at work destroying sin, creating new lives, and preparing us for Jesus’ second coming.
    2. Because of the Resurrection, we know that the death has been conquered and we, too, will be raised from the dead to live forever with Christ.
    3. The Resurrection gives authority to the church’s witness in the world.  Look at the apostles’ most important message was the proclamation that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead!
    4. The Resurrection gives meaning to the church’s sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
    5. The Resurrection helps us find meaning even in great tragedy.  No matter what happens to us as we walk with the Lord, the Resurrection gives us hope for the future.
    6. The Resurrection assures us that Christ is alive and Ruling his Kingdom.  He is not a legend;He is alive and real.
    7. God’s power that brought Jesus back from the dead is available to us so that we can live for him in an evil world.

    Christians can look very different from one another, and they can widely varying beliefs about politics, lifestyle, and even theology.  But one central belief unites and inspires all true Christians: Jesus Christ rose from the dead!

  • The Senior Choir Remix

    This video is making it’s rounds in the blog world.  Starts a little ruff but gets better, I promise!

    What do you think?  Could you see your senior adult choir doing something like this . . . or have they?