10-30-08 Blog Draft
There is change in the air and the freedom that God designed each and every one of you to experience is quickening. Stand firm in the convictions that burn deep in your being. Take hold of your dreams and abundant vision that have been given for the purpose of creating a future hope. A future for yourself and the people around that are in desperate need of the living and true God.
We are all vessels of Love and Hope.
There are no proclamations that were made, only actions toward the result in which He was sent for. When asked who He was, when challenged, it was left to them to decide. “Who do you say that I am?” The answer, based on the influence He had in your life, was differing, changing but constant. He was all things to all people. The drunks, dead, whores, murderers, they all responded to the reality of His nature, to who He was. The response was not to exalt, not to hype but to move in His expression of who he was and who He was compelled to love. He was a revolutionary of a culture, a hope, an eternal perspective for us to hold up in plain view for us to gaze on and run passionately toward exampled all by action. He was at His core an Anti-Hype Revolutionary.
So we are change agents by which we are compelled to ask, “who are the sick, who are the dying, who are the outcast, who are the broken hearted?” Whoever says, “I am” is an object of our affection, an inspiration for Hope in our future produced by Love and Faith. All things to all people, brought out of the ashes and into the light to overcome death and breathe life into the lifeless. Beware though, in reading this statement of conviction you have now been impacted by the ANTI-HYPE REVOLUTION.
Holy is the Lord. He reigns and is on the throne. Holy is the Lamb who was the sacrifice that was laid down. We all cry Holy, Holy, Holy! Jesus is alive, He is alive and we are alive in Him! Let all of us rejoice in His glory!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Passion & Purpose!!
What is my purpose? What is my calling? Simply put, what am I supposed to do with my life?
Josh 6:27
27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout all the country.
NKJV
Joshua continues to move in the direction that God has given him direction in. In doing so he continues to make God famous and God promotes Joshua in his popularity throughout the country.
This is a perfect picture of what happens when we are obedient with what God has given us. When we take our gifts and our passions and we are disciplined with them. I believe that God has built inside of each one of us a unique purpose that will be manifested through our gifts and passions. Let’s start by asking a question. What are you passionate about?
I remember sitting across the desk from a man who had been helping me in my early walk with God. We were having a conversation based on my curiosity to whether there was more to life, more than making money and building a great life for myself and my family. Please don’t take this out of context, I was in a position that was leaving me unfulfilled and I knew that there was more to life than what I was experiencing. This gentleman asked me a simple, yet difficult question that left me momentarily speechless. He asked me this, “if money was not an issue and it was impossible to ever fail, what would you do with your life right now?” Wow!! For how simple that question is it brings a lot with it! What would you do if time and money were no issue and there was a guarantee of no failure? What is it that rises up inside of you that get’s your heart beating a bit faster and leaves you trying to talk as fast as your mind is moving? What is it that you find yourself doing now, that if possible, you would do a whole lot more of with this proposal of time, money and never failing? I asked a youth this question the other day and he answered and said that he would play music. He already is a musician and he is passionate about it. You know how to tell that he is passionate about it. He spends his own time, without someone offering payment, playing for hours into the late night. He is going to play music regardless of who is paying attention or if someone is paying him for it. In fact, those are the last things on his mind. He just simply wants to play music. It is what resonates in him and comes out of him with joy. What are you passionate about? What would you do if no one was looking, nobody was paying you and nobody had to motivate you to do it? There is something inside of each one of us that breathes life back into us when we partake of its activity. Helping others, speaking, teaching, learning, loving, unifying, making jokes, being an athlete, these are merely some of the things that people find passion in. I am professing that we run as disciplined as possible into our passions and we will find a fulfilled life here on earth while making a maximum impact on others around us. Why? No matter what happens you will be driven by something deeper than what the world has to offer you for the display of your passions. You will be driven by something special that God has placed inside of you for the PURPOSE of having abundant impact on those around you. Whatever it is that you name when the question is asked, that is what has an abundant potential of fulfilling you and changing the world around you. That very well may be your PURPOSE!
Josh 6:27
27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout all the country.
NKJV
Joshua continues to move in the direction that God has given him direction in. In doing so he continues to make God famous and God promotes Joshua in his popularity throughout the country.
This is a perfect picture of what happens when we are obedient with what God has given us. When we take our gifts and our passions and we are disciplined with them. I believe that God has built inside of each one of us a unique purpose that will be manifested through our gifts and passions. Let’s start by asking a question. What are you passionate about?
I remember sitting across the desk from a man who had been helping me in my early walk with God. We were having a conversation based on my curiosity to whether there was more to life, more than making money and building a great life for myself and my family. Please don’t take this out of context, I was in a position that was leaving me unfulfilled and I knew that there was more to life than what I was experiencing. This gentleman asked me a simple, yet difficult question that left me momentarily speechless. He asked me this, “if money was not an issue and it was impossible to ever fail, what would you do with your life right now?” Wow!! For how simple that question is it brings a lot with it! What would you do if time and money were no issue and there was a guarantee of no failure? What is it that rises up inside of you that get’s your heart beating a bit faster and leaves you trying to talk as fast as your mind is moving? What is it that you find yourself doing now, that if possible, you would do a whole lot more of with this proposal of time, money and never failing? I asked a youth this question the other day and he answered and said that he would play music. He already is a musician and he is passionate about it. You know how to tell that he is passionate about it. He spends his own time, without someone offering payment, playing for hours into the late night. He is going to play music regardless of who is paying attention or if someone is paying him for it. In fact, those are the last things on his mind. He just simply wants to play music. It is what resonates in him and comes out of him with joy. What are you passionate about? What would you do if no one was looking, nobody was paying you and nobody had to motivate you to do it? There is something inside of each one of us that breathes life back into us when we partake of its activity. Helping others, speaking, teaching, learning, loving, unifying, making jokes, being an athlete, these are merely some of the things that people find passion in. I am professing that we run as disciplined as possible into our passions and we will find a fulfilled life here on earth while making a maximum impact on others around us. Why? No matter what happens you will be driven by something deeper than what the world has to offer you for the display of your passions. You will be driven by something special that God has placed inside of you for the PURPOSE of having abundant impact on those around you. Whatever it is that you name when the question is asked, that is what has an abundant potential of fulfilling you and changing the world around you. That very well may be your PURPOSE!
Monday, October 13, 2008
10-13-08 Upcoming Merge!
Who are you? How do you define yourself? Does God care about who we are? Does he care only about what we are doing?
One of the things that most of us, not just high school students, struggle with is identity. Here is the scripture that we are going to use for Thursday night. Joshua and the Israelites are going to cross over the Jordan and into Gilgal. Upon doing so the Lord gave specific instruction for the priests and Levites to gather twelve stones each representing an individual tribe. There was to be an altar built with those stones for a specific purpose.
Let's read together and find out what the purpose was.
Josh 4:14 - 24
On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life. 15 Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, 16 "Command the priests who bear the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan." 17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, "Come up from the Jordan." 18 And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before.
19 Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. 20 And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. 21 Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' 22 then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land'; 23 for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, 24 that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever." NKJV
The potential question, "what are these stones?" is brought to the children of Israel in verse 21. This question of "what" it was meant for will lead us to the answer of "who" it was meant for. Those stones that were laid there to build an altar were done so for the purpose of reminding the Israelites "who" they were. It would serve as a reminder, to all of those that had just crossed the Jordan and all of the future generations, that they were a chosen people by God. It is important to remember that there were many roles that the Israelites played within their primary role as a chosen child of God though. Some of the secondary roles were named in this passage as priests, Levites and even Joshua is playing a secondary role as the leader of the entire nation. We too play secondary roles to our primary role as a child of God. Our culture has conditioned us to be driven, even obsessed, with the secondary roles that we play in our daily lives. There is no mistaking the importance of the multiple secondary roles that we all play as husbands, sisters, dad, employees, employers, politicians, doctors, teachers etc. All of these roles serve as doors in the overall structure of our being. We are primarily children of God that have gifts and talents that, as doors, decorate our primary role and should be used for others to gain access into "who" it is that we really are as children of God. Therefore, making the question of "who we are" more important than "what we are". The question "who" speaks to the primary role, and the "what", although important, speaks to the supporting cast of gifts, talents or even careers we are decorated with as we live out this temporary existence here on earth.
This week we are going to help the students define who they are. We will only find fulfillment in our temporary existence as a being when we are living out our primary role as a child of God.
PL
Monday, October 6, 2008
10-09-08 theMerge Lesson Notes
Ok....I am not a scholar by any stretch of the imagination so please extend grace and mercy on me as I simply share my heart and thoughts on what the Lord is speaking to me about on a weekly basis. Remember the purpose of this blog is for all of us to have a unified understanding of what the Lord is speaking about. This means that if you feel compelled to share something with me in regards to what I have scribbled down please do so. It is always encouraging to hear your hearts!
Week1....
Josh 3:1-6
Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. 2 So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; 3 and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before."
5 And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." 6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people."
So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.
NKJV
The Israelites had walked in the “wilderness” and had seen the worst of times. Is the Lord real if He is willing to let us walk in the desert? I know that there are signs of His existence but if He was for me, why would He allow all of us to walk in such dry, hot and deadly deserts? Does this sound like some of the same questions that we hear asked on a regular basis? Truthfully, is it not that what we sometimes ask about our own past or current circumstances? This week we will talk about the fact that despite all that the Israelites had seen in their past and their current circumstances, the Lord had yet again given them a sign of Hope for a promised future. Day by day, moment by moment, this nation of orphans numbering more than two million would cling to the sign that the Lord would send to them on that day. Moment to moment and truth to truth we all move forward toward the Hope of our eternal future, our promised land.
In this current scripture the people are given a simple command of waiting for the ark of the covenant, the priests and the Levites. The verse says that they were to “go out after it” and to keep a specific distance from it. We are to give chase to the Lord daily in our lives in accordance to His command. Imagine though if by giving chase we came upon the “ark” or the Holiness of the Lord in its entirety. We have no way of holding captive the fullness of the Lord’s power, goodness, righteousness, holiness, or knowledge. His character is to vast for us as His creation to be a vessel for. It is best for us to be given the sign that leads us today, the knowledge of now, so that we have the Hope to step into tomorrow. There is no possibility for us to hold, understand and act upon the knowledge of eternal things. Therefore, we will always be in a position of partial understanding when it comes to the nature and the ways of the Lord. We must not fail the continued pursuit of the Lord due to our human conditions. We must be resolute in our commitment to a more passionate pursuit of the timely understanding of what the Lord is doing now. Clearly we must chase after God and have a healthy understanding of the distance in terms of knowledge that the Lord keeps with us. Like the scripture, we have not passed down these roads of life before. This is all new landscape for our eyes and we in our thoughts want to see the whole view at the risk of disrupting our firm footing on the path we travel today.
Interestingly enough the Lord wants to do the miraculous through us even while in our human or limited state. Is this possible? What is required of me to see the miraculous occur through my life? "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you” is what the Lord commanded the Israelites to do through his oracle Joshua with the knowledge that there was going to be “wonders” happening. What is sanctification? Does it apply to us today? To sanctify is to make (pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally). Some other ways of understanding sanctification is to appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy (-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify (-ied oneself,), wholly. Should we not be in the constant state of sanctification in our relationship before the Lord or is it a destination that we arrive at for the completion of our living sacrifice before the Lord?
Pray this week over the health and sanctification of our students. Ask the Lord to give us words of encouragement, wisdom, and supernatural insight as we prepare ourselves to walk our students through communion this Thursday. Prepare our hearts for the partaking of communion and sanctification.
Week1....
Josh 3:1-6
Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. 2 So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; 3 and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before."
5 And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." 6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people."
So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.
NKJV
The Israelites had walked in the “wilderness” and had seen the worst of times. Is the Lord real if He is willing to let us walk in the desert? I know that there are signs of His existence but if He was for me, why would He allow all of us to walk in such dry, hot and deadly deserts? Does this sound like some of the same questions that we hear asked on a regular basis? Truthfully, is it not that what we sometimes ask about our own past or current circumstances? This week we will talk about the fact that despite all that the Israelites had seen in their past and their current circumstances, the Lord had yet again given them a sign of Hope for a promised future. Day by day, moment by moment, this nation of orphans numbering more than two million would cling to the sign that the Lord would send to them on that day. Moment to moment and truth to truth we all move forward toward the Hope of our eternal future, our promised land.
In this current scripture the people are given a simple command of waiting for the ark of the covenant, the priests and the Levites. The verse says that they were to “go out after it” and to keep a specific distance from it. We are to give chase to the Lord daily in our lives in accordance to His command. Imagine though if by giving chase we came upon the “ark” or the Holiness of the Lord in its entirety. We have no way of holding captive the fullness of the Lord’s power, goodness, righteousness, holiness, or knowledge. His character is to vast for us as His creation to be a vessel for. It is best for us to be given the sign that leads us today, the knowledge of now, so that we have the Hope to step into tomorrow. There is no possibility for us to hold, understand and act upon the knowledge of eternal things. Therefore, we will always be in a position of partial understanding when it comes to the nature and the ways of the Lord. We must not fail the continued pursuit of the Lord due to our human conditions. We must be resolute in our commitment to a more passionate pursuit of the timely understanding of what the Lord is doing now. Clearly we must chase after God and have a healthy understanding of the distance in terms of knowledge that the Lord keeps with us. Like the scripture, we have not passed down these roads of life before. This is all new landscape for our eyes and we in our thoughts want to see the whole view at the risk of disrupting our firm footing on the path we travel today.
Interestingly enough the Lord wants to do the miraculous through us even while in our human or limited state. Is this possible? What is required of me to see the miraculous occur through my life? "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you” is what the Lord commanded the Israelites to do through his oracle Joshua with the knowledge that there was going to be “wonders” happening. What is sanctification? Does it apply to us today? To sanctify is to make (pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally). Some other ways of understanding sanctification is to appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy (-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify (-ied oneself,), wholly. Should we not be in the constant state of sanctification in our relationship before the Lord or is it a destination that we arrive at for the completion of our living sacrifice before the Lord?
Pray this week over the health and sanctification of our students. Ask the Lord to give us words of encouragement, wisdom, and supernatural insight as we prepare ourselves to walk our students through communion this Thursday. Prepare our hearts for the partaking of communion and sanctification.
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