Grace

Too many "church" people over the years have confused grace with mercy and used them as though they were synonymous terms. Consider this for a moment. Mercy - compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence (Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) ). Grace - the influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them - the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God (same as above).
In my short 10 years of ministry I have numerous times been confronted with a faithful saint of God who in a time of affliction or infirmity solicited the prayer of an elder in accordance with the word of God. I have always prayed the prayer of faith believeing that God was able to deliver from any circumstance and heal all manner of disease. I have many times witnessed the working of miracles as Paul described to the chruch in Corinth regarding the spiritual gifts imparted by God, and have at other times witnessed the impartaion of the gift of healing as was described by Paul in this same setting. Allow me to share my thoughts regarding this passage and how it plays into the thought of Grace. If I were to give you a gift wrapped in beautiful paper and stuffed in a box you would not have actually received the "gift" or the object that I had given you until you had taken the time to un-wrap the gift. If you don't have the faith to belive that the box with fancy wrapping that I gave you contains an actual "gift" then you will miss out on the contents of the gift. For some folks un-wrapping a gift is a five minute ordeal. For others like myself I un-wrap it in a hurry because I want what is inside. I know that there have been times through the years that I have prayed for folks with different ailments and because the Lord chose not to operate through the working of miracles but rather through the gift of healing they walked away from their encounter unchanged and within a few hours began speaking things like" Well I guess God chose not to heal me this time." Quickly the faith with which they approached me is now fading. In other words, they place the "gift" back on the altar because they didn't see instant results.
Now that you think I am absolutely crazy, allow me to explain how this ties into grace. Paul in his writing to the church in Corinth makes this statement in 2 Corithians 11.
23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
Paul writes to the church regarding all of the circumstances he has encountered in his walk with God. Being a man of God myself I can't help but believe that Paul did not talk to God about any of these issues. I am sure there were a few prayers that went up in the midst of these beating. There had to have been a few cries for help amidst the ship wrecks but yet seemingly God chose to allow Paul to continue through each of these trials. Did Paul do something wrong? Did Paul not have enough faith in the midst of his situation to belive that God was able to deliver him? I believe Paul begins to shine more light on this subject in 2 Corinthians 12.
8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Because I pray for a healing from my presesnt infirmity or I ask for deliverance from my present situation and God chooses not to heal me or deliver me doesn't mean that God doesn't heal anymore or that God doesn't deliver. It doesn't even mean that I have any less faith than the last time that I prayed for healing and received. It simply means that this time God has chosen to simply give me the grace to endure whatever it is that I am going through. As christians when we pray we are immediately looking for the instant deliverance or healing. I can only imagine how Paul and Silas felt that night in prison after a beating was received for preaching the gospel. In Acts 5 when the apostles were put into prison for preaching the Gospel the angel of the Lord was sent and delivered them out of their present situation. However, when Paul and Silas were captured and beaten then thrown in prison the angel of the Lord did not appear this time, but rather God gave them the grace to pray and sing praises to God and that brought them through and out of their situtation.
I have often had folks tell me, "I am praying for direction but the Lord just hasn't answered me". The God I serve is always faithful to answer those that wait upon him. However, I don't always like the answer that he gives and so I catch myself continueing to wait upon him hoping that he will somehow change his direction. Could it be that the answer to my prayer is, "My grace is suffucient for you?"
Won't you boldly approach the throne of grace for help in time of need?

Sabattical

As most of you know I haven't blogged for nearly 4 months. This has been due in part to a very busy schedule and also some other issues that arose out of blogging.
Still desiring to log in some sort of format each and every thing we encounter, understanding that this is a process and I am growing everyday and every single thing that I encounter helps me to understand how I got where I am and refocus on where I am going.
This isn't a place to begin debates or even push my viewpoints on any given subject.
So, please just enjoy what ends up on here and I will do my best to keep up with this thing at least weekly!

A lot has transpired in the last four months. I will probably share more as I feel led in each post. I don't desire just to post for something to do but rather to post as I am led of the spirit. Who knows all of whta will end up here but I hope that who ever stumbles across it will enjoy some part of it.

Nick

Super Bowl

GO COLTS!!!!!!

Birthday Weekend

Hard to believe it is already Wednesday. We had a wonderful weekend which I will get more into later in the post. Last week was very un-eventful. Both Kaylee and I were very busy with work and preparation for getting out of town on Friday night.

Kaylee's birthday was the 28th so I planned a special surprise trip for her. She knew we were going but didn't know where. Friday night after work we set out on an adventure to Leavenworth,WA http://www.leavenworth.org/ . We had the time of our lives. For all of you who don't know, Leavenworth is this cool little Bavarian Village located about 3 hours NE of Seattle. It is nestled in the cascade mountains and has a whole plethora of attractions. We spent Saturday snowboarding and enjoying the BEAUTIFUL SUNNY outdoors of eastern WA. Then Sunday we hit all the shops and a couple of restaurants in the downtown area. I loved the aptmosphere of this little town. Even though is was barely above 20 degrees and 2' of snow on the ground the outdoor venues were great. I ate more Bratwurst at outdoor heated eateries than I can even count. This was Kaylee's first snowboarding experience and I hope not her last. It was a rather rough day for her on the slopes. I enjoyed the time I was able to spend on the mountain carving up the slopes. This week is rather short. PI begins on Friday night and we are frantically trying to get things in order for Youth Convention March 7-9. May the blessing of God be with you throughout the remainder of this week.

Enjoy the pics

Nick

Hayward Field

A great shot of Hayward Plaza. I was the Construction Manager on this project while living in OR

My Tail Is Between My Legs

WOW. o-2 don't know how that happened. Other than the teams that I picked to win forgot to show up!
However, I must admit now that I secretly wanted Peyton (even though I cannot stand him or his brother) in the Super Bowl and if you will read several post from Oct. you will find that I made metion of the Bears. I simply picked the teams I thought would win on Sunday. I am EXCITED at the thought of a BEARS vs. COLTS game. I am going with the Colts.
Okay, enough of the NFL for now...lets talk College Hoops!!! Oregon is 18-1 and 7th in the country. The team looks much like the team that the Luke and Luke show led to the Elite Eight. Needless to say I am stoked at the thought of Oregon playing the way that they are.

Church was great last weekend. We had a normal weather week for once. We took the Youth Group to Snoqualmie Pass to play in the snow on Saturday. A few bruised tail bones and head aches were all that we suffered.
This weekend is Kaylee's Birthday (1/28). HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!!! We are going snowmobiling and snowboarding. We are goign to have a blast.

Pray for my parents they are looking for a home in Yakima. They want to be where God wants them.

Until next time...
Nick

Super Bowl...Cajun Style?

We have survived once again a storm event of the decade...this time snow. It all started when we awoke last Tuesday to 1-2" of snow. By Wednesday evening about 9:30 it was snowing blizzard style and by midnight we were pushing 6" in the Puyallup Valley and upwards of 1' further north. That was all followed by temperatures that rarely raised out of the teens the rest of the week. We are recovering slowly...my street and driveway are still packed snow and ice.

With all of that it was a pretty slow week. I enjoyed a little bit of down time. The weekend was pretty eventful. A group of men from the church visited Monster Jam ( Monster Truck show in Tacoma) which was quite the event. A few blown ear drums, rolled over monster trucks and a great time as had by all.

I made mention of my parents home selling last weekend. I will expound on this in more deatil now. In September of 06 God began to deal with my Dad concerning the city of Yakima, WA. After a few other events transpired he knew that was the place God wanted him and his time in OR was through. After much prayer and Godly counsel from several men around him they made the decision to step out in faith. They listed their home last Saturday and it sold within the first five hours and their were more people in line to purchase it. It is amazing how things flow when your walking in the spirit. Upon final approval of the district board a church plant will be started in the Yakima Valley. Please keep them in prayer throughout the next few months and years as the help of God is coveted dearly!

So far I am 5 -3 on playoff pics. No one has emeerged as the real frontrunner for the Super Bowl but I can't wait any longer for my pics. So here goes...

New England

New Orleans

It is a NEW thing this year! I am pulling for the Saints...no greater story than a Super Bowl win for this team and City!

Playoff Picks!

I needed to establish these before the weekend.

Bears
Saints
Chargers
Ravens

May the force be with you all.

P.S. It is official I have expereienced more snow this year than any other year of my life...maybe even more weather events than any other year also!!!!

Monday Weekly

Well its Monday and that means time to reflect.
3-1 on my wildcard playoff picks! The one that I got wrong was the only one that mattered to me this weekend. Dallas got duped big time...I guess the officials owed Seattle one.
I trust that all of you had a wonderful weekend. This was a PI weekend...I am teaching Ministry of the Apostles this semester. Very interesting class that focuses on Apostolic Ministry in the book of Acts and how it applies to the church today. There were a few points throughout the weekend that really stuck but one that knocked me over was the apostles and their "house to house" ministry. I will post more on this subject later as the Lord allows but it will blow most of your pentecostal, traditional, lets go get ourselves a big building that is more nice and more classy than the church down the street mentality right out of your head. I was almost angry at myself after the class for the way that I thought for most of my young ministry.
Work is extremely busy for me right now. There is some major transition going on within my company which I am not able to disclose but when it becomes public info I will share. Kaylee is doing well she is looking foward to this possibly being her last 6 months of working a real job!!!!
My parents home sold this weekend. I will post more on this subject next Monday.

Until next week, may the Buckeyes win and God be with you and bless you all!

Late Weekly Post

With the holidays my weekly post is running rather late. The holidays were very eventful even though Kaylee and I were both on vacation for two weeks. I really enjoyed the New Years weekend. We had a "non-traditional" Watch Night service that included a little word, a little praise and a little testimony. We even threw a little food into the mix at the end of the night. This week has been very busy. I have spent the majority of my time out of the office chasing meetings. I walked out of a 1:30 p.m. meeting today only to realize it was already Friday and the weekend was here.
Tomorrow is the kickoff of the NFL playoffs more formally known as "Wildcard Weekend". Here are my official picks for the weekend. First I am taking 'De Boys' of Dallas. They should kill the Hawks of S-town! I am fasting and praying fervently for this game. Second I am taking the Colts I beleive that KC's backwards plunge into the playoff via a Denver loss will not be enough for Peyton and the gang. Third I am taking the Pheagles over the G-men. I don't think Weeli Manning will be able to get around Lito Shepherd and it should turn into a pick fest! Fourth, I am taking the Pats over the Jets. Bill will school the student.
I will post again on Monday...until then...

God Bless
Nick

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

May the blessings of God be with your families in the new year!

Love Nick and Kaylee

Almost Over

The Holidayas have nearly come and gone. I trust that you and yours had a merry Christmas and are looking forward to the start of a new year shortly.
We had a very blessed Christmas. The time was spent with my wife's family in WA State. We are currently in OR spending time with my family and looking forward to heading back home for all of the New Years festivities. Our vacations are wrapping up. It has been refreshing to just do nothing for the past week. Although that has rarely been the case...Kaylee always has something that she needs me to do.
We are embarking on College Bowl season...Oregon is already out so I probably won't pay much attention other than to the National Championship game. NFL playoffs are just around the corner which means it is nearly Super Bowl time. My my my where has all the time gone.
We are looking forward to what God has planned for all of us in 2007. May it be a year full of excitement and opportunity as God leads.
I will get more information out regarding the Holidays when I return home. Until then have a blessed New Years.

Nick

Six Days Until Christmas

Another week has come and gone. We survived the storm of the century on Thursday night. The 70 MPH winds blew but my house somehow remained upright. Over one million homes in Puget Sound were without power but somehow my hood stayed bright. We never lost power throughout that weekend. However, we did have a full house since no one else had power. My parents came into town for a short visit on Friday...we spent Friday night with them and ate breakfast Saturday morning before hitting the road to eastern Washington where I was preaching a two day youth event.
We had a wonderful weekend with the Joel Hart Family they opened their home and pulpit to us and I pray that somehow we were as much of a blessing to them and their church as they were to us. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and every conversation was ministry (some of you will understand that). I spoke to about 50 youth on Saturday night...30 of them were un-saved and it was awesome to see the sincerity of all when it came time to pray. Sunday we had incredible church I spoke about "Spiritual Utterance" and the word was confirmed with signs following. The alter was full and lives were visibly being changed. To God be the glory.
I am only working two days this week then will begin a nice long Christmas vacation ( hopefully not National Lampoon style). To all our family and friends, to all the pastors and churches who have been so gracious to allow us to come and minster in 2006 we say Thank you, God bless you and we pray that 2007 holds unprecented manifestations of apsotolic ministry in your church and homes.

Nick and Kay

P.S. HOW BOUT DEM COWBOYS!!!!!!

Merry Christmas From The Johnstones

Productive Weekend

Greeting all interested parties. I just finished a very productive weekend. It was rather long but then again short at the same time. PI weekends are long because I am in class from the moment I get off work Friday until late Saturday, but then at the same time when PI is over the weekend is over and Sunday is here which is filled with church.
We had a great Sunday...Missionary Nix from South America was visiting. We had a family trip to Scrooge The Musical which is absolutely amazing. Kaylee got lots of Christmas shopping completed and we are looking forward to the Holidays.
It looks as though my role at Signal Electric could be changing...more info on this as it becomes public info!

God bless you everyone throughout this Holiday Season

Nick and Kay

The INCREDIBLE GOD

Have you gave any thought this season to how great the God of heaven and Earth is.

I have no other choice but to trust Him!!!!

Nice Long Post...Promise for Consistency

I don't know how long its has been since I sat down to write information in this blog. Several times I have sat down to write and have been distracted or just didn't know what to say. So here I am today trying it again.
It has been an eventful past few weeks. All of my family (parents and sisters) were in town for the Thanksgiving Holiday. We were blessed to have all of mine and my wife's family together in the same house for the holiday. We spent the remainder of that weekend in Yakima enjoying snow and just chilling out.
After the holiday it was back to work. Kaylee just got a promotion on her current job. She is now a real banker. I am super proud of her. I celebrated one year with my new company Signal Electric Inc. WE have had a record year and things are going incredible. We are looking forward to the holidays as both Kay and I have vacation time around Christmas and New Years.
We will be in WA state for Christmas and in OR for New Years. We will also be ministering in Wapato, WA the weekend of the 16th and the New life Christmas Banquet is on the 15th. December is proving to be a busy month.

I am running out of things to write about, I will get back to posting weekly as I was before. All that time off during the holiday should help.

Nick

For All Those Irritated With My Lack of Posting...

Two or three weeks have passed since I last posted any new information, so I will try to make this juicy!
The past few weeks have been very eventful to say the least. As most of you who read this know that I am a dual career person. I work full-time in the electrical construction industry and also am very involved on the pastoral staff at my local church www.newlife-apostolic.com along with preaching engagements that can take me across town, the state or country. So the mixture of all those makes for a very busy life. I still find time everyday to spend time with my beautiful wife who is the one who keeps me going day in and day out.
Last weekend was very eventful. I t was a P.I. weekend...PI is the Bible School which are church is hosting a sattelite campus for in WA state. This has been a gret endeavor so far and we are excited to see what more God is going to accomplish through all of this. That same weekend my friend Eli and his wife from OR were up visiting and we were able to spend the majority of the weekend with them in our home. I always enjoy getting together with Eli and discussing all the outstanding issues in the organization and our districts. There are even a few debates from the Word of God thrown in every few minutes. We had a wonderful time with them.
That same weekend our family had been going through some things and so we spent Sat evening together just hangin out and being goofy.

Congratulations to my friend Ted Tolstad, he just assumed his first pastorate in Elsey, MO (at least I think that is the town).

This weekend was very eventful as well. It began with a day off on Friday. I decided to spend the day cleaning up and doing yard work around the house. Friday night I took a road trip down to Vancouver for the WA district Prayer Summit. Rev BJ Wilmoth was the speaker and we had a great time.
Saturday I finished doing my yard work and then Saturday night I completed my yearly trip to a hanuted house or corn maze. This year I did the "Haunted Woods" hosted by Maris Farms in Bonney Lake, WA. Can't say it is as good as the Corn Maze which I generally attend down in Eugene, OR but it was fun in the least.

I finished out the weekend just relaxing. We had a great church yesterday as always.

I am peparing for a trip down to OR for a section 1 youth rally (Friday Nov. 10 @ 7:30 p.m.). We are looking forward to what God will do in that night. If you are reading this young or old from section 1, please do everything you can to be in attendance that night. I truly believe that God has something special in store for your section. Come expecting God to do great things and lets not just make it another Youth Rally! We need a manifestation of Apostolic ministry and power!!!!!!!

God Bless
NJ

Mountain Biking!

This is my 2005 Gary Fisher Mt. Bike. I never knew there was a difference between a bike that you pay $100 or $500! Believe me I KNOW NOW!

This thing is sweet...

visit www.fisherbikes.com

Ducks, Cowboys, General Conference and Seahawks

Ducks are going to the National Championship, Cowboys are going to the Super Bowl, General Conference was great, and Seattle fans are still wiping tears after their thrashing received by "DA Bears"!!!How is that for an opening statement. I hope to expound on all of those thoughts.

Saturday was again another one of those days (as I have alreay stated) when it was great to be a Duck fan. I have to say it was about mid-way though the first half before I was near my sattelite radio www.xmradio.com to see that OR was thrashing ASU 21-3. It went downhill from there and by the time the second half started I found myself in front of a TV to see the remainder of the thrashing.
Everyone of my teams were involved in blowouts this weekend. Sunday the Cowboys got off to a slow start but ended up blowing out rookie Vince Young and his Titans. I like Vince Young a lot I think he is a first class guy and it is too bad he is being thrown into the position of starter this early in his career...(keep your eye on Vince and Matt Lienhart who played each other in the National Championship last year and will be both starting for their respective teams this sunday). It was good to see T.O. haul in a few long passes from Bledsoe but the man of the hour in Big D is TERRY GLENN!!!! Because of double coverage on T.O. Terry is now s wide open as your Momma's kitchen.

I really enjoyed the Seahawks getting spanked last night. Let me explain because I already know there are about 5 people who will read this and immediately their blood will begin to boil. After the Super Bowl last year all the Seahawks could do was complain about how they has been cheated by the officials and they were the real National Champions. Well they had a chance to prove that this year and they have yet to put some money where their mouth is and prove to the world that they were the better team. They got what a team who spends more time complaining in lieu of playing deserves! Way to go Bears...something inside of me wants them to go all the way.

General Conference from what I hear was incredible (Kim and Rachel said it was "Off da chain" quote end quote) but then again...they weren't in any of the services! So why did I ask them? Who said conference was about church...I garuntee half those attendees this year didn't give a rip who was preaching the commercial filled services they just wanted to cast a vote for a resolution that never even made it to the conference.
This brings me to my second point concerning GC...One more year before I will open my mouth to speak anyhting regarding my postion of resolution 6.

Until 2007 may the conservatives dream of a TV free organization, the liberals of a TV in every room of their house and the rest of us that everyne would just get along!

Love to you all