New January business cards coming soon!

They should be here right in time for 2009! Don't forget - we order 1,000 of these each month and they're a great way to get the word out to your friends about what is up and coming in Velocity! So grab a handful next time you're at Velocity and make sure your friends know!






Here are some ones we've had in the past. Click on them to see them in detail.

Mercy in judgment

Ray led us in worship tonight right before we studied Revelation 7.
One of my favorite lines from on of the songs we sang tonight "Sweetly
Broken" talks about Jesus on the cross "bruised and crushed shows us
that God is love and that God is just." So good. That song went
perfectly with the message tonight entitled "A Breath of Fresh Air."
Revelation 7 is a break from God's judgment of the earth when He sets
His 144,000 sealed servants in motion and an innumerable amount of
people are saved from their sins and of course God's judgment. It was
a much-needed break as we were reminded to remember mercy in wrath
(Habakkuk 3:2). Even though people on the earth really deserved God's
judgment, He desires that none should perish and that all would come
to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). God is good and He worked tonight!

Merry Christmas!

Do something crazy in 2009!

The challenge is on to read the whole Bible through in 2009...but not how you may think. Instead of doing it in 365 days, the challenge is to do it in only 90 days! Sure, that's a big challenge, but think about it:

- Reading the Bible at a conversational rate only takes about 72 hours, so to read the whole thing in 90 days, you're looking at a commitment of a little less than an hour a day for 90 days

- It's a great way to get a good overview of the whole Bible and how it all fits together

- After reading your Bible for an hour every day for 90 days, think about what a great Bible study habit you will have developed!

Don't be scared - it will be worth the necessary sacrifices of your time. Find someone to do it with you and go for it! By the end of the first week, you'll have read all of Genesis and half of Exodus! Download bookmarks for January through March HERE!

With One Voice

We advertised that our worship night would be "a worship experience of
EPIC proportions." That it was. I taught for 20 minutes and the rest
was worship and communion. There were probably 250-300 people there
aged 10 to 96 (no kidding!)! That's about 5X as many people as normal!
The band was huge, the crowd was loud and God was very clearly
present. We'll have to do it again when we get to Revelation 21-22 and
everyone is in heaven!

The teaching will be up soon at velocityabq.org >> the truth. Enjoy!

"A Worship Experience of EPIC Proportions"

This Wednesday, Velocity is hosting a worship night we're calling "With One Voice." The idea is to pack the PLEX (hopefully to standing room only) full of people of all ages as we join together "With One Voice" to worship. It should be a great night. Richard will be quoting a Jimmy Needham poem off of his latest album, we'll have some Scripture readings, communion, a short devotion on worship, then all of our Velocity worship leaders will be rotating through.
I'm stoked about it, but one of the main reasons I'm writing this blog is to let you know that YOU'RE INVITED!!! We're inviting everyone from middle school age and up as we get a very small view of what heaven is all about.

Revelation 5:11-12
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice:
“ Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

I'm excited that both of my parents will be there. It should be a lot of fun, so please come! If you need more info, let me know. You can also read about it here on the Velocity website.

Such a cool weekend

It was Revelation 6 this weekend. I said this when I was teaching through Genesis too, but Revelation is officially my favorite book that I've ever taught through. I haven't made it anywhere close to teaching through the whole Bible, but I'd love to one day. Anyway, this weekend was Revelation 6 - the beginning of the end. Jesus, the Lamb who was slain, begins to open up the seven seals on the scroll that is the title deed to the earth. Each time a seal is broken, a new facet of God's judgment is poured out on those who have rejected Christ. It gets really bad. REALLY bad. I called the message "Why You Don't Want to be on God's Bad Side" and we looked at how God viewed sin. It was a bit of a heavy message as I talked about what would happen in the end - worldwide famine, disease, murder, earthquakes, meteorites, etc. That kind of stuff fascinates me. I even did a couple hours of research (I wish I would have had more time) on NASA's website and other scientific sites learning about the earth, meteorites, and what a large meteorite could do to the earth. I also talked to Gary Hook, a friend who works on the base testing weapons of mass destruction. I asked him what his job title was and he said "Deputy Director, Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction Test Division Defense Threat Reduction Agency." WHOA. I asked him about the possibility of annihilating 1/4 of the world's population as it talks about in Revelation 6:7-8. He named off about 7 countries (and there are more) that currently possess weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and he said there are currently enough weapons out there to annihilate ALL of the earth's population! Wow. I could go on and on about all of that - as you can probably tell - the scientific part of it really fascinates me. However, the highlight of the weekend had to be that 9 students accepted Christ! How cool. It always blows my mind and humbles me that God uses me to bring people into His kingdom! They will always look back on that one day, that one message, with that one tall guy as the the day they surrendered their life to Christ! How cool. It was a great weekend, thankfully Chapter 7 is a breath of fresh air from all the slaughtering when we see the 144,000 Jews who were sealed and the multitude of people who get saved even during the Tribulation!
If you're interested in hearing the message, go here. You can also subscribe to our audio podcast in iTunes or the video podcast.

Heavenly

I don't know about you but I have loved Revelation 4-5 as we've
studied it over the last 2 weekends. It's been an indescribable view
into the future as John did his best to put it all into words. It's
also been refreshing after we studied about so many churches that
didn't have many people there living the true life of a Christian.
It's been great learning about this incredible worship, but now the
stage is set. The Lamb who was slain has taken the title deed to the
earth from the right hand of God and He is the only one worthy to open
its seals. Starting this weekend, God's wrath will be poured out on
the earth unlike any other time in history. It's about to get crazy as
we continue to study- don't miss out!

-Kevin

Sent from my iPhone

Heaven, here we come...

A lot of people have their own theories about what God looks like and what heaven is all about, like the stories below:



Endless artists have tried to portray the scene the John describes in Revelation 4. They say "a picture is worth a thousand words", but unfortunately, 1,000 words falls severely short of what is need to accurately describe heaven. John, one of the few people we know who has genuinely experienced a glimpse of heaven couldn't even find all the right words to describe God and our eternal home called "heaven." Join us this weekend as we look at "A World Beyond Words" in Revelation 4.

What a contrast!

Tonight in Velocity, we studied the last of the 7 churches - the Lukewarm church in Laodicea. We talked about what it means to be lukewarm and that it makes God sick. Check out the blog below ("Lukewarm Experiment") to see an example of how Kevin and Kourtney learned hands-on about how disgusting lukewarm can get.

What a contrast there was between the lukewarm church - a church full of people who thought they were Christians, but really were not - and the persecuted church, who we ended in prayer for. The end of the night was great. We got in small groups and cut out parachutes for Voice of the Martyrs. Those parachutes will have bags of Gospel tracts attached to them and then will be dropped out of airplanes of the jungles in Colombia! Missionaries have found this to be a killer way to reach the guerillas deep in the jungles. I'd say it's safe to estimate that there's 1,000 tracts per bag. We made 105 parachutes. Do the math, and that means we could be sending out 105,000 tracts! Awesome!

The Lukewarm Experiment

Kourtney & Kevin took a hands-on approach to the idea of being lukewarm in Revelation 3. The last and worst of the 7 churches in Revelation was the Lukewarm church in Laodicea. They were doing enough good things to feel good about themselves and shield themselves from feeling their need for God. This video gives you a good idea of how discgusting being lukewarm is (Revelation 3:15-16). Bon appetit!

Nat'l Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Services were a little different this weekend as we finished the last
of the 7 churches which was also the worst of the 7. It was "The
Lukewarm Church" in the city of Laodicea. They were doing just enough
"good" things to feel good about themselves and shield themselves from
feeling their need for Jesus. They were false Christians- the most
danger type. What a contrast it was as we studied a church that didn't
care what God said, then prayed for Christians around the world who
don't care what the world says! May God give them boldness and
perseverance as they stand up for Christ!

Make sure to join us next weekend as we start Revelation 4 and get a
glimpse into heaven after the church has been raptured and the Great
Tribulation has begun. It's going to get intense over the next few
weeks, so make sure to be there and invite your friends!

A rare day

Today is the one day of the year that you shouldn't be shocked if the
person driving next to you is all bloody or has fangs or is a witch,
although somehow it always catches me off guard. This morning at
Saxby's, a zombie made my coffee and a Ninja Turtle served it to me.
That's never happened before.

On a spiritual note- on Wednesday in Velocity, we talked about how
Satan is all about ruining our lives so I think we should set out to
ruin his. Since today is his holiday, I think we should try extra
hard. We talked about the weapon we have to ruin his day. We called it
our "Satan basher," but it's more commonly known as PRAYER! He hates
when we pray! Plus, on a day when people are consumed with death, it
can be a strategic time to talk to them about what happens after
death. That sure would ruin Satan's day if we used his special day to
bring even more people to his enemy's kingdom! I love ruining stuff
for him! And hey, while you're at it, ruining his day and all, turn to
Revelation 19 & 20 and remind him of his future!

Satan is real.

We talked about the reality of Satan and demons tonight. No need to be worried though. We are more than conquerors! Check the blog below or our youtube channel to see the Letter From Hell video that we played. The video podcast will be up in a few days as well!

Hell is real...

Here's a little preview of what's coming this Wednesday when we look at the spiritual battle going on for our souls: "You are wanted dead AND alive".

The Dead Church

This weekend in Velocity we learned about the Dead church in Revelation 3:1-6. There were 5 commands in this passage that the Lord can use in your life if you feel like you're relationship with the Lord is dying out.
1. Be watchful. If you are living every day in anticipation that the Lord could return at any moment, you will grow in your walk with the Lord!
2. Strengthen the things which remain. Think of an area in your life that you aren't struggling with like going to church, hanging out with Christian friends, or respecting your spiritual leaders. Start getting more involved in church or ask your Christian friends and your spiritual leaders to hold you accountable in your weak areas. The more you surround yourself with things of the Lord, the less you will be tempted in those areas.
3. Remember. Remember when you first gave your heart to the Lord. Think about the excitement and realization that God, the creator of the universe, died for you! Think about how he made a sinful, dead you into a new person! You are freed from the power of sin in your life! Each day remember something that the Lord has done for you. Make a list. How could you ever want to go back to that place of death when God has given you so much life!
4. Hold fast. Hold on to the Lord even when times are hard. (And they will be.) Stay in the Word, prayer and in fellowship.
5. Repent. Pray daily and ask the Lord to help you turn away from those things that cause you to fall away from Him. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Signing the Book of Life

Make sure to sign the Book of Life in service!

Video is up!!

FINALLY, the video from our persecuted church night is available at
velocityabq.org >> the truth OR on our video podcast (which you should subscribe to if you haven't already). Go to velocityabq.org/podcasts if you need help subscribing.

-Kevin

Sent from my iPhone

Last Wednesday Recap - Compromise

Last Wednesday we studied Revelation 2:12-17, the Compromising Church. We saw that there are several different ways that can hinder our walks with the Lord. First, stumbling blocks can get in our way and cause our focus to be taken off the Lord. A stumbling block is anything that trips us up on our journey on the narrow path that God has called us to walk. Usually, these are things that start of small and if we get our focus back on Jesus we can quickly conquer these things. If we don't take care of business right away when those stumbling blocks creep into our lives, they can turn into an idol. Remember Mandy's story about her addiction to Myspace? There is nothing wrong with Myspace, but when it (or anything else) becomes something we can't live without, it becomes an idol. Anything is an idol if we put before our relationship with God. The first two ways of compromise mostly deal with ourselves, but the third ALWAYS has effects on ourselves and others. Sexual immorality, or sexual sin, is possibly one of the most consuming sins you could deal with. The Bible says, "Flee sexual immorality." Remember the story of Joseph? He was in charge of Potiphar's house and Potiphar was a very weathly man in Egypt. As Joseph was doing his daily tasks around the house one day, Potiphar's wife approached Joseph and tried to seduce him. Since Potiphar was a very wealthly and powerful man, his wife must have been very beautiful. This wasn't the first time she had flirted with Joseph. Instead of giving in to temptation (which could have been hard for Joseph) he chose to be obedient to God and he ran from her! Each one of you will face the same temptations in your life. Remember Joseph's story and the command of the Lord to flee! Sin starts out small in our lives in the form of a stumbling block that trips us up, then if we don't watch out it becomes and obsession or an idol. Finally, sexual sins have very deep emotional effects on ourselves and others.

Last Night!

We want to hear some feedback from you guys on what you thought of last night! Wasn't it amazing!?!?! Sometimes it is so hard to realize that there are people who go through terrible persecution everyday. What about you? Can you tell us about a time when you were made fun for your belief in Jesus? How has being a Christian affected how you live your life? Is there anything in your life that you are going to change as a result of what you learned about last night? Maybe you'll start praying for the people in those countries, maybe you'll write to a Christian prisoner (see previous blog), maybe you'll start thinking about being a missionary to those people when you get older.

Don't Miss It!

If you're being sneaky at school and checking the Velocity Revelation Blog, remember to invite all of your friends tonight! Why not invite people who aren't your friends? It's gonna be amazing and you don't want to miss it! See ya there!

Bored?

Let's face it, we've all had a boring day and we whine about how there's nothing to do. Here's a great idea to cure that boredom: Go to www.prisoneralert.com and write to a Christian who is in prison for his or her faith. Help give them hope and encouragement while they are really suffering for Jesus.

How Far Would You Go?

Check out this blog at www.undergroundreality.com It's about 8 teenagers who smuggled Bibles into Vietnam. Watch the video, it's incredible! Maybe the Lord will call some of you to go boldly to share the gospel someday! Have any of you ever thought about being a missionary?

Hardcore Christianity

Just one story...

See more HERE!

Remember Joer!

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Benediction

This weekend we studied Revelation 2:1-7 - the church h in Ephesus
that was busy doing lots of great things, but had gotten so busy that
they had lost their first love. We talked about how, without love, no
matter what you're doing, it's meaningless. At the end, Richard came
up and recited a poem by Jimmy Needham off of his first CD, "Speak."
Its called "Benediction" and it talks all about what Jesus' love looks
like for us. He did an awesome job and it was really powerful. Next
weekend is the persecuted church in Smyrna.

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