3 THings That God wants for YOU

Colossians 2:1-4 (NLT)

I read these verses yesterday and really saw the heart of God speaking through Paul in Colossians.  Paul laid out a simple list of things that are God's heart for you.  You see it's not enough just to get people but God's desire is to grow people.  Here is the list and I think you will recognize the process, yes it's ours.

1. I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love.

• BELONG
• Nothing says ,"you belong", like love.
• From belonging you get encouragement and develop a support system, a family

2.I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God's mysterious plan, which is Christ himself.

• BELIEVE
• God's wants YOU to confidently understand His plan.
• You'll never get it and be confidant until you read His Word.
• S.O.A.P. 
• When you are convinced of God's will for you, then you become convincing to others.

3. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong.

• BECOME
• You are doing it without me, Paul says.
• The goal is to grow up into someone that doesn't need a mentor, but begins to mentor others.
• Become someone who can be an influencer for Jesus.

What are you planning?

Pro. 16:1-3 is a great read about making plans for our lives.  So many don't think of planning, they just prefer to live life and watch what happens.  I don't think that is wise.

There are 6.5 billion people on the earth, and they all have some kind of a plan if it's just what they are going to do today.

When we make plans together, the number of plans could swell to 20-25 billion plans in a 24 hr. period. We plan with our friends, spouses, kids, etc..

God has an answer to every plan.  The proverb says that God weighs our motives, even though we think our motive is fine.

When we commit our actions to the Lord and then our plans will succeed.  I know that I want my plans to succeed and so do you.

Paint a picture of the kingdom

The kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by......Matt. 25:14

I love how even in Jesus seemingly connecting words there is a message.  The Kingdom CAN be illustrated.   So much emphasis is put on the fact that God can't be seen, but the truth is that God's kingdom CAN be illustrated so that we can see it.  3 pictures are painted in Matt 25 that give us great insight into what the kingdom looks like and how it operates, and who it encompasses from the 3 parables of the chapter.

1. The kingdom can be illustrated by those who are ready and have enough oil.

• Those who look to Jesus as the source instead of men.  
• The kingdom is illustrated by those who keep their eyes on the King.

2. the kingdom can be illustrated by the servants who invest and increase what they are given.

• Using our God given gifts by investing in people and seeing them increase the kingdom for God.
• It's never about how much you have, but what you do with what you have.
• Those who do much will have more. That's the way of the kingdom.

3. The kingdom can be illustrated by those serving the least of these, the naked, the poor, the imprisoned.

• Jesus identifies w/ the broken and hurting.
• We serve Jesus when we serve the "lonely"

God sets the lonely in families, sets the prisoners free, and gives them great joy....Ps. 68:6

S.O.A.P. from Matt. 24

My S.O.A.P. verse today was Matt. 24:35
         Heaven and earth will disappear but my words will never disappear. 


After doing a little digging into what the word "disappear" means, this verse is very interesting. Jesus is giving a discourse to His disciples about the end times and what's going to happen, and they are understandably interested as we all would be.  He goes through the whole series of events about wars and rumors of wars, famine, pestilence, that will accompany the coming of the Lord.  At the end Jesus gives them this statement above in verse 35.  The word, disappear, has the implication of the passing of time, or of passing through a distance.  I thought of some of the trips we used to take to Michigan to see Mom's family.  Seemed like it took forever and that was before the days of the ipod so I just stared out the window watching the markers and signs flash past.  I think Jesus was telling the disciples not to let the events of time be the markers of their lives, but instead mark their lives by the words they heard from Jesus.  Most of us section our life by time: child, school, hi school, college, married, middle age, etc...  Don't measure your life by birthdays, that's just time with no significance.  Measure your life by what God has spoken to you.  The season of your salvation, when the H.S. drew you to Jesus and you answered the call. The season of growth, where you got in His Word and He spoke to you about life, finances, marriage, anything.  The season of service, where you began to live life for others and serve and find your place in God's plan.  Perhaps a season of leadership where you help influence and raise up the next generation of leaders.   Every time God speaks to you, it's significant.

Jesus Style Leader

Matt. 23 gives us some insight into what Jesus style leaders should do.  I'm going to go through some of them.  Using the religious leaders as a "how not to", Jesus tells His disciples they should follow their teaching but don't follow their example.  Here's what we can see a Jesus style leader(JSL) should be:

1. Jesus style leaders help to ease people's burdens.(v. 4)

• I'm there to help, so I need to be a blessing not a burden.

2. Jesus style leaders look to give, not what they get.(v.5-12)

• Not into titles, seats in the front, or respect in the crowd.
• Their humiltiy helps them be who they really are with no need to pretend.

3. Jesus style leaders continue to grow.(v. 13-15)

• They are constantly growing, and walking into new arenas that God opens to them.
• If we don't go new places, we can't take other's into new places.
• People are better off not worse after following a JSL.

4. Jesus style leaders are life-giving and not legalistic.(v. 16-22)

5. Jesus style leaders teach a holistic gospel.(v. 23-24)

• Can't pick and choose, Jesus wants to impact your whole life.

6. Jesus style leaders display an inside out work in their lives.( v. 25-28)

• Care more about the inside(heart) than the outside(look).

7.Jesus style leaders honor leaders of the past.(v. 29-31)

• Realizing we stand on the shoulders of leaders of the past.

6 Days to Create our 6 Month Future

In the beginning God spoke the earth into existence in 6 days the Bible tells us. We have a chance to speak into existence our future through corporate prayer. We are going to focus on praying those things now. God said, "Let there be light" because He was modeling how we create the future we are promised in Christ. There is power in our prayers and that's the way God has chosen for the kingdom to work. Let's commit the next 6 days to creating the next 6 months of our church future.

Man Up

Hey guys, Saturday morning, July 31, Pastor Bud Plake will be speaking at our final Man Up of the summer @ 7:30 a.m. in the activity center.  P Bud is a good friend of mine and a great pastor of The Freedom Church.  We are going to start with a slammin breakfast by Mrs. Gail, so you know it will be good.  Come on out and get your biscuit n bacon on, then get encouraged to man up for Jesus.  We thought we'd try out a morning meeting to get your weekend started off right and then you'll have to day to relax or work around the house.  I'll see you in the morning , so call or email somebody and let's Man Up.

End Times Events

Apocalyptic- means to "unveil" so apocalyptic writings are those with hidden meanings.

Eschatology: big word that means a study of the last days.

The day of the Lord- when you see that in scripture it means a time period, not a 24 hr. day.
                                  Usually associated with end times teaching and timelines.

Rapture- the catching away when Jesus returns for his bride, the church.  1 Thess. 4:15-17

• Jesus will not come to earth, but we will meet Him in the air.
• Both those dead in Christ and the living will be raptured.
• We will be changed in the twinkling of an eye.
• One taken and one left.
• It's next on the Biblical agenda.

Tribulation- the 7 year period between the Rapture and the 2nd Coming of Christ.

• This is a period of God's wrath poured out on the earth.
• Will facilitate the rise of a world ruler who promises peace but can't deliver, will be called the Anti-Christ
• Antichrist - means anti or against Christ.  
• An enemy of Jesus, and His followers.
• Will decieve many, that spirit is already at work in the earth.
• The first three and a half years will not be so bad, but the last three and a half years will be the worst in all of history.
• 1 John 2:18-22

Mark of the Beast- a financial mark required by the Antichrist to do business.

• Rev. 3:16-18
• Those who refuse will be persecuted, possibly executed.

Armeggedon- A great battle that will take place, a battle between the antichrist and his 

                    armies and Jesus and the saints who come with Him to do war.

• Jesus will defeat the Antichrist and his armies 
• At a middle eastern location
• Rev. 19:11-21
• This is also known as the Second Coming of Christ, as He will set His feet on the temple mount in Jerusalem.
• Antichrist's defeat sets up next 1000 years

Millennium- 1000 year reign of Christ on the earth.

• Satan will be bound for this time, so no demonic influence.
• Rev. 20:1-3
• At the end of the 1000 year period, Satan will be released for a little while leading to the Great White Throne Judgement

Great White Throne Judgement

• Rev. 20:11-15
• God judges the living and the dead based on what they have done with their lives.
• Afterward Satan is cast into the pit eternally.

New Heaven and New Earth

• Rev. 21:1-7
• God reinvents it all again.
• The curse of time is removed and we live forever in eternity with Him.

XG Camp Alive 2010

Well, Vanessa and I were there for opening night of Alive 2010, and for Cayle's 1st camp sermon and he did great.  200 kids worshipping, and just getting away for some God time is awesome.  I have found that hanging around the next generation helps keep me young thinking.  I don't have to have the music as loud as they do, don't have to always embrace all the culture that they do, but I love their energy and passion for God.  As always, 1st night was great, seeing God call so many to turn to Him fully and to awake fully to Christ is a highlight.  Cayle's message to wake up was right on time.  They team did an incredible job and everything turned out beautifully.  Kudos to Rachel, Abigail, Joey, Kyle, Cayle, Bridgette, Courtland, Branden, the band, LeJuene, Summer Interns, and too many others to name that make it happen.  Gonna try to post some video and some pictures.

Youth Camp today, Eternity will be changed for many

I don't know if you've ever had to opportunity to attend a youth camp with HOF, but it's awesome.  So much work and planning has gone into the next 3 days and I know that God will honor it with His Presence.  Lives are changed at youth camp, young men and women are called by God at youth camp, God's voice is heard at youth camp for so many.  It's powerful, it's priceless and it's fun.  This is P. Cayle's 1st year to "lead" XG at camp, and I'm looking forward to hearing him preach tonight for the 1st time.  200 youth coming together for one thing: Jesus.  It's not too late to register as we won't be leaving until around 10:30 am or 11 but you'd better get moving quickly.  I have 2 sons going and am looking forward to all that God is going to do in their lives.  Next Generation is the life of any church, pray for the next 3 days, these will be the future leaders of our churches, families, and community.  Camp is on, it's time to be made ALIVE

July 4th Celebration Service

This Sunday falls on July 4th, only happens every few years.  What a fitting day to celebrate Independence Day.  Freedom is a precious commodity, both politically and personally.  Freedom is a God idea, and our freedom as a nation was a work of God though many don't choose to recognize that fact.  So many God moments contributed to the founding of our nation and it was for a reason.  So that we can use our freedom to bless the world and share the Good News.  America has done just that.  It's the same reason that God wants to bring freedom to your life, so that you can share the Good News with others.  So many are not free, but instead are bound by hurts, habits, and hangups in their lives.  This Sunday we talk about freedom, real freedom which I'm convinced is misunderstood.  Freedom can be yours.  It is God's will for your life.

S.O.A.P. What are you writing with your tongue?

Psalms 45:1  Beautiful words stir my heart, .....for my tongue is like the pen of a skillful poet.

I was thinking that if our tongues are a pen, what are we going to be writing today?

Tabloid piece: Tabloids deal in rumor and the latest gossip, and when engage in rumor and
                     talk about people discussing their problems and issues, we are in fact writing a
                    tabloid piece.

Hatchet piece: This is where articles are written that chop people up and criticize them over
                     something they've said or done.

Horror story: This is when all we talk about are the hard or difficult things that we are
                    experiencing.  Recounting the horrors instead of God's help.

Novel: You know, you just talk and talk and talk and really don't have much to say, it's all
          fiction anyway.

Wish list: all of our words center on the things we wish we had or want someone to give us.

And I could go on and on, but i think you get the message.  If our tongue is a pen, then we can use it to write beautiful words to our great God or use it to write things that only discourage and damage the hearer.

I want my tongue to write an first person story on the goodness of God.

Lord, you are my only hope! S.O.A.P.

Reading Psalm 39 this morning, and it's good stuff.

This psalm of David begins with David making the statement that he's not going to sin anymore, he's going to watch what he says and do good. But then he goes silent, because he realizes that he can't keep himself from sinning.  I think we've all said, "I'm not going to do that anymore".  But when we really get honest, we know that if we possessed that power we wouldn't have done it in the first place.  He asks God to show him how short life is, my guess is to motivate him to passion towards God.
Then he says, Lord, you are my only hope.  Rescue me from my rebellion.  David does what we all must learn to do and that's ask God for His help, because it's only through Him that we can live this life.

Father's Day this Sunday

Father's Day is this Sunday and I want to encourage you to honor your father(and you should have also for Mother's Day) this weekend.  That is one of the commands that comes with a promise in the Bible.


                Ephesians 6:3 (NLT)

                3 If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you,
                   and you will have a long life on the earth.”*

Listen to these stats on those who don't have fathers from www.parents4justice.us

• Girls without a father in their lives are two and a half times more likely to get pregnant and 53% more likely to commit suicide.
• Boys without a father in their lives are 63% more likely to run away and 37% more likely to abuse drugs.
• Both boys and girls are twice as likely to drop out of school, twice as likely to end up in jail, and nearly 4X as likely to have emotional or behavioral problems.

In the gospel of Matthew in chapter 28 we are challenged to "Go and make disciples..."  I really believe that begins in our homes.  Our children are our main disciples, and then we work outward to all others.  Disciples are made by discipline, which simply means training.  When we intentionally train our children in the ways of the Lord three very interesting things occur:

 1. You really feel like you belong to God.

7 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children.              Heb 12:7

• As you train(teach them how to live) your kids develop a feeling of belonging to you.

2. You have the capacity to believe God

8 If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.           Heb 12:8

                                                           

• Training makes you legit, as MC Hammer said, "To legit to quit"l.
• When it's real to you, you can beleive.

3. You have the ability to become.

But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.                                    Heb 12:11

• It produces something good in us, a peaceful harvest of right living.  

A New Coaching Network

I was so impacted after my last coaching network that I enrolled in another one along with Wade.  He's going to plant a church in the semi-near future so I want to expose him to as much learning as I can to see him be a huge success, which I'm confident he will.  I believe that we all need coaching, no matter how long we've been a believer or what place we rise to in our walk.  All of the greats in sports and business utilized coaching.  I need it and look forward to it in my life now more than ever before.  What makes a person NOT want to be coached?  That's an interesting question that I'll explore here a little.  In Matt. 8:9ff the centurion spoke with Jesus and told Jesus he was a man UNDER authority.  He was coachable, and Jesus said about the centurion that HE had not seen such great faith.  I believe a lack of faith makes us uncoachable.  When we believe that God wants to do a great work in us, that God sends those exact people to us, then we have faith to submit to coaching and see ourselves grow.

S.O.A.P.ing Today

Hebrews 9:12 (NLT)

—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

I've been thinking about this verse this morning especially the "once for all time" phrase.  How many things do you know that you can do "once for all time"?  Not many that I can think of but Jesus gave His life "once for all time". That's just a huge thought, He's never going to change His mind or change His heart about you and I and what was accomplished on the Cross.  Imagine the pressure that takes off of us, we don't have to worry about Jesus changing His mind.  What that means to me and you is that He never going to change His mind about loving us, forgiving us, helping us, praying for us, saving us, comforting us, empowering us, leading us, using us, blessing us, etc...   There is one thing you can be confident in today and that's in God's love for you.  I can't be confident in much about me, but my confidence is in Christ and His once for all time commitment to me.  It's gonna be a great day.

Dirty Church

I am so anticipating this weekend and part 2 of Dirty Church.  We are talking about the process of becoming good soil.  You know the seed of God's Word is good seed, and the season is right for growth, so the only variable is us, the soil.  The good news is that our soil(hearts) can be made into good soil.  This week we delve into the rocky soil.  As a believer we have got to trust the process that God is working in our lives.  P. Greg did a phenomenal job last night talking about waiting on God from the story of the 5 foolish virgins and the 5 wise virgins.  We all start out as pathway soil, you know, hard and indifferent until we repent and then God's Word can find a place in our hearts.  The next part of the process is to overcome being rocky soil.  I promise it will be good and speak to your heart.  See you Sunday.

Living Sacrifice

I've been wrestling with Paul's encouragement that our lives are to be a "living sacrifice" to the Lord.  Those 2 words, living and sacrifice, just don't seem to go together at first, but it really begs us to pay attention to what Paul is saying in Romans 12:1.  "Sacrifice" is the noun that defines us.  We are called to give our lives in the same manner that Christ gave His life.  The idea of dying to self and to our selfish ways best embodies this act of sacrifice.  It's hard to say no to something so determined and defiant as our flesh.  Still we are challenged to sacrifice our will to the Father's.  "Living" is the adjective to describe us.  When we give our life as a sacrifice to Jesus, then we experience the power that raised Jesus from the dead and we are alive.  Philippians 3:10-11 Paul states,

                 "I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised 
                   Him from the dead.  I want to suffer with Him, sharing in His death
                  so that one way or another I may experience  the resurrection 
                  from the dead."

It's by knowing Christ and His sufferings that we experience the power of the resurrection by the Holy Spirit.  We are not called just to know, but to experience God.  I want to know by experience not just by someone telling me.  Determine to live your life as a "living sacrifice" today and make yourself available to that mighty power that raises from the dead and causes us to live.

SOAP for today

Today I was reading in Philippians 2 and thought I'd share some things that spoke to my heart.


2 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate?
                                                                                                         Php 2:1


Our relationship with God provides some things for us as outlined by Paul in the form of questions.

1. We gain encouragement from belonging to Christ.

• Knowing what Christ has done for us leads us to be greatly encouraged in our faith.
• THat God would care for me so much is the most encouraging thought I can think.

2. We gain comfort from being loved by God.

• God's love is an active comfort in our lives, we are never far from His love if we take the time to realize and respond to Him.
• Knowing that I'm loved by someone comforts me greatly.  Knowing that I'm loved by God is beyond comprehending.  He who is perfect loves me who is imperfect.  
• Not just love in words, but in action, The Cross, love personified.

3. We are not alone because of our fellowship with His Spirit

• We are not alone because His Spirit lives in us.
• The Spirit of God walks beside us teaching, leading, convicting, helping.
• He's our supernatural helper in this life we live.  

4. Our hearts are soft to His leading.

• This walk with God produces a soft and tender heart for God and for people.
• God's nature becomes our nature so that we can act and live like He does.

Let's Turn Up the Heat

I'm so fired up for the next 5 weeks as we begin a new series of messages.  This Sunday I'll be sharing some thoughts about how God sees us and wants to bless us out of the Book of Job.  Then we will begin a series called "Dirty Church" that I can't wait to get into.  I was SOAPing one day in the gospels and God spoke some things to me through the parable of the sower.  I can't wait to share this with HOF as I believe it will be a blessing to our lives.  I know we all take a breather once school is out and the routine is relaxed a bit, but let's keep our eyes on the prize and make this summer count for Jesus.  Summer is prime growing time: grass is growing, veggies are growing, you and I need to be growing too.