Tory Farina

Whats your Top 3?...

I got an email from a buddy at High Point giving me his Top 3 series of all time (since he has been coming to High Point...) It was fun for me to see what he thought was really challenging and helpful. So here are mine.

1) Face the Music... (I don't have an image for this) It was a while back but I Had a blast with it and love talking about the souls longing in Music and what how gods word answers it.
2) God of this City... It is the essence of my calling. It is why High Point exists. It is the Why behind the What and the How. It is Gods prophetic drawing for us as a Church.
3)The Shack... I feel like this one is drawing us to a deeper place. It is like that honest conversation you have with someone you love that makes the relationship really strong and life long. Evey week we are hitting the hard stuff and every week you and I are meeting God. We as people and as a church will never be the same.

What 3 was it for you? Why? This is the time to say what God did in you. Testimony time. I can not wait to read what you say.

DAVID- Mentored by a KING...

Starting this Sunday join us as we are mentored by a KING. David was a poet, warrior, shepherd, King, outcast, and hero. Their is a lot we can learn from him. Week one... Take Heart!

Sunday Is never canceled...

Every week God moves on peoples heart to give him and church one more shot. I meet people every week... "I left church for a while and am now back" ... "I have been meaning to come for months but this the first weekend I have had off work" ... "I went to a movie last week and decided I am coming to church this week." Every week is someones "that week".

Every Sunday come rain, sleet, snow, Ice, or sickness... HIGH POINT will be holding service. It may just be me in a candle lite lobby but I am ready to give what God is wanting to tell us.

It is snowing right now and I am thinking we will have lite attendance. I understand. The last thing I want is someone to get hurt because they came to church on a snowy day. But Peoples eternities are at stake and I am convinced that Sunday someone will choose Jesus. Someone tomorrow will be set free of their sin and shame and guilt and be given the gift of JOY!

Ill be their, will you? Bring someone new an we will all enjoy the warm theatre together.

Christmas Essentials!...

Christmas Essentials from Courtney Feia on Vimeo.
Starts this Sunday. PEACE!

Words...

I said a lot this morning on a lot of things. I am not sure what got into me ;) I was nervous about all that I had on my heart to say. As a pastor their are weeks like last week when you preach as if you are in a zone and wonder if you will ever be as good and then weeks like today that you have a strong message to unfold. I keep running through this message and here are my thoughts.

• I went to long. I never go this long but I had a lot on my heart.
• I pray that people got the heart of what I was trying to say and not focus on the things that can distract them.
• I wish I could have given it a test run... maybe I should have. But it is also fun to preach it with initial in the moment passion. When we do a second service this will give me a chance to rework it between services.
• Alcohol is not the problem... lack of self control is.
• I am concerned that we may have people not come back because of it. I suppose that people have not come back for less important reasons. 
• Next week we will move on to something totally different but I think I could do a whole series on the role of responsibility we all have, the way we discern our actions for ourselves after reading scripture and What happens when we mess up.
• We are to live by faith. Faith that the Holy Spirit will do his part to lead us into right living.
• I got a lot of positive feedback. One guy said... "He preached the truth not opinion." I like that.
• Create in us a clean heart o God and restore in us the Joy of your salvation.

Study Time...

Drew and I at the Black Sheep studying.

Start your morning off right

This is what I am reading this morning.

Luke 15
 11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.

 13"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

 17"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20So he got up and went to his father.
      "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

 21"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.^[b]'

 22"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

 25"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'

 28"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

 31" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

Pump Up the Jam!

"Pump up the jam while your feet are jumpin..."

I felt like that after Sunday. I don't know why anyone would not want to be apart of HPC... the band was Smoken... E had a great thought to share... Mike is energizing and I felt like last Sunday I came to play!
Did you notice how sweet the set was... sometimes I just want to brag up on our church. I want to tell people hey... check this place out because it is the funnest environment to develop your faith. I do it often but I know people are like... your the pastor you have to brag up your church. I want to tell them... I am the pastor and so I shouldn't be surprised by how good our church is but I am and that makes me more excited about our future and out potential to reach this region.

WK1 of "The dirty dozen" opened with a bang! and a harmonica. Next week should be good as we further humanize the discipes and get into there lives.

Here is how to pump up this series... my challenge to you... My challenge to me... Lets read the four gospels in the next five weeks. That is a little over 1 book a week. Doable. they are not huge books. Ask yourself these questions.

1. Which disciple do I identify with?
2. WHat would it have been like to walk with Jesus?
3. Would I have stayed the course and made it through his death and reserection?
4. What does my being a disciple today do to the decisions I make about how I live my life?

Pump Up the JAM and ride with the Dirty Dozen... Next week... YOUNG GUNS!

MOMS ROCK!

This Moms day I think we can be proud... The Sunday was a great day. The weather cooperated with me. I had been telling the late night news team to change the forecast but my cable hookup seems to only be working one way. But wow it was beautiful.

The service was a blast... worship Rocked I feel like we have gotten a little deeper as a church in worship lately. My message came off really well.

I spent some time trying to rally our men around the goal of living there families potential. I am convinced that how the dad goes so goes the family. it is important for single moms or parents without dads to make sure that they find men in the church that can provide that male encouragement that all young kids need.

I challenged us as a church to seek God First and let our families flow from our relationship with God. He is to be our ALL. Our kids will be in our home for a short time but our relationship with God and to our spouse is forever.

I am challenged that if we can save one family we save there kids. And we can change there lives. If we save a few families we change a city... and if we save a church full of families we can change the world.

We finished the day by giving out nail files to all the ladies. I was talking to someone and a lady pulled hers out from across the room and gave me the thumbs up with a big smile:) I went to talk with her and she said, "thank you for the gift." I said something like, "we are always trying to find fun usable gifts to give our ladies and I have never meet a lady who didn't like a nail file." She smiled big and said, "And this is a GOOD one." Yes it was! So ladies enjoy your good nail files.

The pod cast is up if you want to listen to it...

Click here to get your own player.

Good Green Theology... Not making it to sunday

Ok... I am going to throw this out quick... It was a message I was thinking about sharing but I couldn't come up with a practical do this with this thought.

Caveat... I always want to leave you with a practical do this with this message. Sunday morning is for application of the word into our daily lives. There are other times and places for good biblical thoughts that form other thoughts but don't have as much practical application (It is called a University... JK... I love Universities and want a masters some day.)

Check out the Noah Story... Noah was found righteous above all other humans and was commissioned by God to build a boat to save the animals and humanity from destruction.
Genesis 5-9

Genesis 7

1 The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."

God was not just getting ride of the rotten people on the Earth God was cleaning House...the Earth completely wiping it clean.

Genesis 8

  1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.
15 Then God said to Noah, 16 "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17

20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."

22 "As long as the earth endures,
       seedtime and harvest,
       cold and heat,
       summer and winter,
       day and night
       will never cease."

Genesis 9
1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

I have always read this as a covenant with man and God... It was much more than that. It was a covenant with all of creation including man and God... WOW. God cared enough about the animals to make a way to save them from total destruction just like he did for man. This is for shadowing something super cool that is to come.

Jesus came we know and ushered in a new way of living for man but there was also an interesting thing that God spoke in Revelations about what would happen to Earth.

Revelations 21-22
1I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea. 2 I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband. 3-5I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: "Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They're his people, he's their God. He'll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone." The Enthroned continued, "Look! I'm making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate."

Revelations is a tough book to fully understand. That is meant to be. When ever you are using future speak or prophecy it is cryptic because it is something that is not yet and is hard to fully put into words... However. This is a powerful revelation that God will make all things NEW... including the EARTH. Refining it and repairing it. As our earthly bodies will be remade into heavenly bodies so our earth will be transformed into a heavenly earth.

Pretty cool isn't it? Often there is confusion about our final destination and ultimately, Ill tell you when I get there, but scripture does say that the New earth is our final home.

So next time you want to trash your body because you think Ill get a new one or trash the Earth because it doesn't matter... Think about how it would feel to be God and have your creation trashed by itself. I hope this makes sense since I will not be explaining it on Sunday... I have another Hot thought that I think will be a little simpler to get across.