Thanks to Assistant Pastor Justin McCarty for bringing such a great message! Here are a few of Justin’s reflections on the weekend:

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I loved that our church is a place where we can talk about sex frankly and openly. If not the church, where else are people actually going to get God’s perspective and leadership as it relates to sex? This weekend proved to be another important week for hundreds of Questers. I’ve heard stories of so many people, especially married couples, that have had long overdue conversations about the state of their sex lives and are taking steps to follow God in what means to surrender and submit to his leadership about sex. I know there’s a general buzz around the topic of sex (especially when you say some of the words that I said in church today!) but there was more too it — God showed up in a powerful way in the 4th week of this seismic series.

Here are a few key lines and ringing thoughts that seem like invaluable takeaways:

- The Bible is unabashed in its celebration of sex! Sex was intended as a good gift from the God who created us. He is not squeamish or judgmental about our desire for sex. He created us that way and knows how sex works best!

- Sex is like gasoline. Outside its proper context, it’s explosively dangerous and volatile. But in its proper context (the commitment of marriage), it’s high octane fuel in the engine of our relationship.

- When we gave our lives to Christ, we surrendered “doing what is right in our own eyes.” No matter how good it feels, no matter how right it may seem to us – if it’s not right in God’s eyes, it’s not best for us.

- The picture of my little boy Wyatt crying at the gate of his bedroom proved to be a stunningly accurate picture of how we tend to relate to God’s leadership of our sex lives. We perceive punishment when He is actually protecting us from dangers that we don’t understand.

- One of my favorite lines from the whole talk: “No matter what you’ve done or how far you’ve gone, you are not disqualified from wholeness.” The cross of Jesus Christ offers us redemption and healing for our guilt and shame – we can trust Him to make all things new, even in our sex lives!

- I loved getting to point people to our freedom and recovery ministry, The Mat, that meets every Friday night. Just this past week, 471 people turned out for the annual Mat Chili Cook Off! If you need help, you are not alone! Hundreds are experiencing the freedom that God designed them for — if you need help, humble yourself and be there this Friday night! Find out more at questcommunity.com/ministries/the-mat

- Concluding the service with a clear word to married couples was another highlight: “A boring sex life does not honor God!” He designed us to serve and satisfy our spouse sexually – and it’s a good thing! Just in case you missed it, here was the key action step for husbands and wives:

Husbands: Create an environment where your wife can’t keep her hands off you by loving her singularly, romancing her and pursuing her!

Wives: Create an environment where sex is like a buffet – lots of variety and plenty of return trips!

I love our church! And I love that God is eager for us to experience the wholeness, healing and vitality that is meant to be a part of our sex lives. Here’s to all you married folks out there – enjoy the gift and live out an orthopraxy that’s beyond belief!!

Here’s a confession: I never knew it was possible. I came to Christ in a culture where churches were NOT advancing, where no one was finding hope in Christ and the idea that the capital “C” Church could be a redemptive force never crossed my mind. I just never knew it was possible. But then…thanks to the work of the Holy Spirit in my life and the influence of one of my mentors, I fell in love with the Acts 2 Church.

The revolution that happened through the local church 2,000 years ago is still possible today! It’s not only possible…it is actually happening. The picture of the Church we read about in the first pages of the book of Acts can come to life here and now. We CAN create loving cultures of redemption… It happened once. It’s happening again.

I cannot believe the church I get to be a part of…a church where the lonely are enfolded, the broken find hope, addicts find freedom, marriages are healed, and real people discover Jesus for who He really is. It is beautiful and messy and unbelievably breathtaking. The stories literally bring me to my knees. Doctors and homeless people serve side by side. Stay at home moms and those in the adult entertainment find healing at the foot of the cross together. Those who have been rescued, who find hope in Christ, become rescuers themselves. I just never knew His bride could be this beautiful.

When we launched as a church we would read the pages of Acts over and over again, camping out in the description of the church in Acts 2. I would read the last line of that chapter, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved,” and beg Jesus to make it so here. Now we live in that reality.

What God can do through really ordinary men and women is beyond anything we could hope or ask or imagine. 2,000 years ago Jesus launched something remarkable through a small, unimpressive group of people. They weren’t the smartest, the strongest or the most-educated…but they were people who had been with Jesus who lived with His heart beating in their chests.

God used them to launch a revolution. And He longs to do the same through us…in our churches, our communities, our world. He sends us out with the same mission today that He sent the disciples out with thousands of years ago…a simple, singular mission that captures His heart…to seek and save the lost.

The revolution that started 2,000 years ago is still alive today. Join me Thursday, April 19th in Lexington, KY for The Uprising. Come be reminded why you went into ministry in the first place. I can’t wait to partner with you!

• Register now for Super Early Bird rate: $59 (Only now through Feb 1st!)
• Church Planters: $59, Senior Pastor’s Spouse: FREE, Groups of 5 get 1 Ticket FREE!
• Speakers/Presenters include: Derwin Gray (“Evangelism Linebacker”, Transformation Church) and Dr. Gary Benedict (C&MA President)

Many of us look at our lives and see a lack of power, fruit, passion, victory…so we pray for God to do something, to fix the problem. This weekend was a reality check: breakthrough and blessing will come when submission and surrender take place. When Christ-followers give Jesus access, He transforms us in ways we could never have dreamed possible!

Here are three critical questions we studied this weekend. Spend great time fleshing these out with Jesus:

Three Critical Questions:

1. Why does God want total access to my life?

• A. You are designed for it. God made u to love you, to be near Him. He wants to bless you, guide you, comfort you, and the way that works is for us to receive His love and grow in intimacy. That only happens if our lives are in proper order. Put simply: when we live recognizing that there is One God and One Lord, and We’re not Him. He doesn’t want to just be the Lord of all. He wants to be YOUR Lord.

• B. It’s best for you. You were made to rest in the leadership of another. Not only did God design us to follow Him, He crafted us so that in doing so we would be at our best by resting in His leadership and worshipping Him alone!  What that means is that when He’s at the center of your life with complete access and total freedom to lead, He has the power to move in and transform every area of your life! It’s acknowledging that He’s God, He knows what is best for you and you do not!

2. Why wouldn’t I want Him to have total access to my life?

• A. Pride – On some level most of us think we can handle life on our own, maybe in some ways even do a better job than God. From the earliest pages of the Bible and the story Adam until now, we nurture pride, we esteem self-reliance and independence. “I’ve got this…I can handle my life. I believe in God, sure…and I’ll take His help, but I’m good.” In the OT there is an indicting little phrase that was used to describe the tragic lives of those who worshipped pride and not God. It says they “Did what was right in their own eyes.” That doesn’t have to be you!

• B. Protection – We’ve been hurt, and in our pain we’ve learn patterns of protecting ourselves from pain, from people and from God. So, without ever saying it perhaps, we begin to pick and chose the areas we’ll place under the Lordship of Jesus. And in the others, we tell God KEEP OUT. But that leaves us trying to share the throne with God…with a divided, torn heart. We want God to hear and answer our prayers…and He longs to heal us, provide for us, protect us, bless us… but as C.S. Lewis once said, “He cannot bless us unless he has us. When we try to keep within us an area that is our own, we try to keep an area of death…There’s no bargaining with Him.” He always wants what’s best for you!

3. So How Can I be Whole Again?

• A.   Admit - Just like the 1^st step in AA, admit that you are powerless and your life has become unmanageable with you as your own lord. Admit that you need His help if you’re ever going to be whole again.
• B.   Humble yourself - Ask God to forgive you for rejecting His leadership in your life…for treating as common that which is priceless.
• C.   Surrender and submit to Him - DAILY. When you humble yourself, He doesn’t shame you, He embraces you…healing begins & breakthrough starts.

My good friend, Pastor Perry Noble of NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC, got to speak at the revival last night and spur Elevation on, honoring God and the work He’s doing through Pastor Steven and their great church. It was a rare moment. In the Bride of Christ, we’re called to spur each other on to good works, but all too often churches finds themselves fighting against each other instead. We should be THE most honoring, encouraging people on the planet!

Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. – Hebrews 10:24

Uprising pastors and leaders…when was the last time you spurred on what God was doing in another pastor, church or ministry? Go for it! Send them a text, tweet about them, write them a letter to cheer on God’s work in their life and community, commit to pray for an event on their behalf…invite them to The Uprising this April. It’s the whole reason we launched The Uprising to begin with…to spur on pastors and leaders, to help them accomplish all God is calling them to do in their communities!

You’re invited to join us Thursday, April 19 in Lexington for The Uprising. Bring your team (you won’t believe what it does in your church to have them with you!) Invite a pastor from another church. In fact…buy them a ticket. Invest in their ministry in a tangible way. Let God do a new thing in you as you invest in His Bride. (Tickets are available NOW for just two more weeks at our Super-Early Bird rate of just $59.)

It’s an honor to serve Jesus together in their great cause. Let’s spur each other on in new ways this week!

So many people are weighed down by worry when it doesn’t serve us at all! It can’t change what has happened in the past and it doesn’t predict what will happen in the future. It’s time to fight back! I love that over and over again in Jesus’ most famous sermon of all time, He tells us “do not worry!” It’s not a suggestion. It’s a command!

The reality is simply this: 1. Life is hard 2. Worry is suffocating…and 3. True faith can’t survive in the gap where worry thrives.

Jesus offers us unbelievable peace if we’ll choose to trust Him and actively leave our worries at the cross. The peace that Jesus gives – true peace that displaces worry in your heart – is of supernatural origin. It’s not a man-made peace that comes as the by-product of a problem free life. It’s the peace that ONLY Jesus gives and is only experienced IN HIM!

Listen to these great verses:

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the Peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” – John 14:27

“I have told you all this so that you may have Peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

• Worry says, “You’re all alone with no one to help. You are on your own.” Jesus says, “I am the maker of heaven and earth, and I am watching over you.” (Read Psalm 121 again as a reminder!)
• “Worry does not empty tomorrow of it’s sorrow, it empties today of it’s strength.” – Corrie Ten Boom
• Worry will take as much rope as you give it & before long, you’ll be tied in knots with the rope you supplied.
• We don’t introduce ourselves and say, “I’m a liar…I’m a thief…or I’m a big-time luster,” but for some reason we act like it’s okay to identify ourselves as “a worrier.”
• Worry is the opponent of trust!
• When we listen to worry, we don’t listen to Jesus who alone can give supernatural peace!

There’s a universal sense that people want a better year than last year…even if last year was good. Everyone wants an advancing year. And I love this series, “I Believe in God, But…”, because we all want to be single-minded, with what we say and what we do going together.

While we’re quick to spot hypocrisy in others, when we’re honest, we recognize it in ourselves too. This series will deal with the gap, the discrepancy between what we believe and the way we live. Don’t you want that? I do! I love that we’re all going to see the hypocrisy gap closed in our lives!

Here are some of the ringing lines from the weekend…

• God will not bless the life of casual belief that is meant to be authentic faith where He changes you to be like Him from the inside out.
• God never wanted to be a checkmark on a list. He never campaigned for your vote.
• Jesus Christ died on the cross to win your heart. He gave up His own life to become the Ruler of yours!
• God loves us too much to bless a check-mark, impostor-style belief in Him.
• The world doesn’t need to see perfect people but people that mean it!

LOVED Vision Weekend at Quest Saturday & Sunday! WOW! God is up to something BIG! Can you feel it? Here’s just a small sampling of the buzz flying around the web…

I love having Kenny and Jess on board at Quest Frankfort. The passion God has placed in Kenny to be ALL IN is who God has hard-wired us to be as a community. It’s who He wired me to be…and I believe it’s how we’ll live out the plans and dreams God has for us individually and as a church. We’re meant to be people who live with audacious faith!

I tweeted this great verse yesterday…a verse I believe to my core:

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him. – 1 Corinthians 2:9

Get ready for our best year yet, Questers. Go ALL IN with Jesus. I can’t wait for what He’s got in store.

p.s. Here’s a glimpse of what Kenny had to say about this great community and his experience teaching this weekend…let’s follow his lead and go ALL IN in 2012!

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The saying goes “Time flies when you are having fun.” If that is true, then this has to have been the most fun I have ever had. It was just 7 months ago when Jess and I moved our family to Frankfort, KY. We had no idea what to expect when Jesus called us to be part of the Quest Community family. All we knew for sure was that He had our “yes” in advance.

Now, in retrospect, I see more clearly the gift he was offering us…

• I see the 72 lives that have been changed in Frankfort since May.
• I see more than 1,000 eternities forever altered in the U.S. alone.
• I see friends we have made that it seems like we have known forever.
• I see ministries exploding in Lexington and Frankfort that are transforming unconvinced people into whole-hearted followers of Jesus.
• I am living out Ephesians 3:20.

I would not have even known to ask Jesus for this beautiful community, and yet it was His plan all along. It makes me believe more for you and for the people I love than ever before.

Pastor Pete on Being Christmas Offering from Quest Community Church on Vimeo.

There is still time to make your gift count toward the Being Christmas Offering and our goal of $579,750! Together we are giving to fully resource the mission to serve the people of Lexington, Frankfort & beyond!

We can do this together! Here are 3 simple ways to give.

1. Worship Experience Giving 

Bring your gift to any of the weekend services (remember we have special times this weekend– see below!) and drop it in the offering.

2. Mailed In Giving 

Make sure it is postmarked today, December 31! Just send it to: 410 Sporting Court, Lexington, KY 40503

3. Online Giving 

Give online anytime using your debit or credit card. Click here to go to the giving page.

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Special Weekend Service Times this Weekend!
Dec 31 & Jan 1

Lexington Campus: Saturday at 5:55pm, Sunday 11:30am ONLY
Frankfort Campus: Sunday 11:30am ONLY

Find out more at www.questcommunity.com

I loved celebrating with Questers and our guests last Friday and Saturday in our seven Christmas Eve Services over two campuses! If you were one of our guests, please know that we were so honored that you joined us. There’s nothing like this remarkable community. Over 3600 people got to be encouraged with the truth that God is indeed with us…a reality that changes everything. And He will be our light…a light the darkness can never extinguish.

We were all reminded of His great love for us, 100s and 1000s were exposed to the truth of Christ, and dozens placed their trust in Him. The question I asked at all of our services rings out, where do you look for hope?

The only indestructible hope in the world is found in Christ! And His light has dawned.

Listen to my favorite new Christmas verse of the year, Luke 1:78-79…

“Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”

How about THAT as a promise?

When the real world turns back on after Christmas, remember Jesus will guide you on the path of peace. For all who find themeselves in dark places…and for those who struggle in the shadows, the morning light of heaven is HERE. The encounter you had with Him at Christmas isn’t meant to stop there. He will always be a light in the darkness. And His peace can rule your hearts and minds always.

I love you, Quest. And I’m so grateful to be your pastor. Have an amazing time with family and friends this week, and draw close to the One who moved heaven and earth just to be with you!