After 30 hours of travel, we arrived in Tirana, Albania.
While it was eventful - weather delays on the runway at JFK that incentivized us to race through the airport to make our connecting flight to Rome. Only to sit on the tarmac for hours waiting for 30 other flights to take off in front of us.
We made it Rome enthusiastic, then wrangled our way onto the plane for Tirana.
Our team of six will be up early to get to work helping make need repairs and improvements on the Bible School here, before heading to the city of Shkodër for the Convoy outreach event with Adopt-a-community.
Personally, I feel humbled to be here, half way around the world, to share the love of Jesus and show His compassion to a people that I have never met, and know so little about.
What do we have to offer? What difference can we really make?
My conclusion today - the love of Jesus and His gospel are universal messages of compassion and are relevant in every language, tribe, and nation. We are not here because we're Americans or because we have something better to offer them. We are here as representatives Christ, and our only mission is to make Him known.
We'll keep you updated. As of now, we'll be back up and ready to work in 5 hrs, so to bed we go.
(Excerpt taking from sermon in series Adventures of Everyman: a study in the Minor Prophets. Message on Book of Habakkuk- listen here)
What do we do in troubled, difficult times of suffering and hardship?
Habakkuk teaches us to PRAY BY FAITH!
In order to PRAY BY FAITH,
WE DISCOVER PEACE IN GOD’S GOODNESS
Habakkuk DISCOVERED peace in God’s GOODNESS through PRAYER.
Not just praying, but HOW he prayed. He spent time ALONE with GOD in PRAYER,
Habakkuk 1:2 (NIV), How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?
Habakkuk 2:1 (NLT), I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guard post. There I will wait to see what the LORD says and how he will answer my complaint.
How prays like that? What sounds audacious to you, God hears as authenticity.
Each time Habakkuk prayed like this, those prayers are followed by a response,
Habakkuk 2:2 (NLT), Then the LORD said to me…
The timeless principles revealed in the conversation between Habakkuk and God.
Habakkuk TRUSTS in GOD'S GOODNESS:
Habakkuk 3:1, 2 (NIV), A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet… 2 LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day…
The METHOD of Discovering PEACE IN GOD’S GOODNESS THROUGH PRAYER that Habakkuk modeled is explained by Paul,
Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV), Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Paul’s not instructing that feeling anxious is wrong. BUT that we can overcome those anxieties and deep moments of anguish through prayer.
Not just casual prayer, but a powerful, PEACE-producing prayer. How?
What did Habakkuk do and Paul instruct?
Step 1: PRAY- express request or concern to God. Tell God what you want him to do.
Step 2: THEN BEAR or PETITION. Tell God why you want him to do it. Petitioning is a desperate cry of explaining they why behind the what.
Lay open the fears, weights, burdens of life. God is not afraid of our anguish or despair.
Lay it open before Him.
Not only pray to ask God for what you need, but explain to Him your worries and fears that lay under those requests.
When we SHARE our fears and anxieties with God, we will SURRENDER those to Him.
Habakkuk submitted His troubles and sorrow to God.
Step 3: PEACE- Then, in surrender and vulnerable SHARING, God gives us a gift of PEACE,
Habakkuk 3:18-19 (NIV), …yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 2 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
In surrender, we discover the PEACE IN GOD that Paul said is beyond all understanding.
Incomprehensible to have inner rest under such weights, troubles, or overwhelming circumstances. SUPERNATURAL!
Step 4: GUARDED- This PEACE will “will GUARD your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
“GUARD” means to “referee”
In surrender, peace “governs” our heart and minds, like a referee calling fouls and keeping our thoughts, attitudes, and anxious heart from running out-of-bounds. He keeps us from getting derailed.
Peace protects us IN GOD through trouble.
Spiritual awakening begins first with WAKING UP!
(An excerpt from weekend sermon at Lifehouse Church)
My youngest daughter used to wake me up at ungodly hours by joyously screaming in my ear, "Daddy! Daddy!" and slapping my rapidly in the face. Trust me, it woke me up and got my attention!
All of us get comfortable and complacent. Life has a way of lulling us to sleep spiritually and causing us to dull our spiritual senses and drown out our cry for God.
Joel 3:14, "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision."
Like these Jewish nation in the time of the prophet Joel, I’ve felt Complacency’s dark figure lurking in the shadows of my heart, whispering with seductive appeal.
I’ve heard Lethargy's comforting song of self-satisfying desires of lust, greed, indulgence, and gluttony.
I’ve felt the brush of Apathy's sleep-inducing touch of self-numbing sins called laziness, prayerlessness, slumber, recreation, and easy-living.
Complacency has told me that my faith is a burden and church is a chore.
Lethargy's whispers have turned violent, as her slumber gripped me with militant tactics- stalking my every spiritual attempt and subverting my spiritual hunger and passion.
Apathy speaks convincingly the dark lies of easy-living, “Why bother? It will cost to much?"
She tells me, "God just wants too much? And it won’t even matter? You’re too weak or too strong. Your too insecure, too ugly, too skinny or too fat. Your too dumb to help or too smart, so why not use your brains elsewhere. You’ll fail so don’t try. You’ll succeed, so take your talents elsewhere where you can be rewarded more noticeably."
She taunts, "People will mock you or laugh at you, are even worse, people won’t care at all."
During times of complacency, inevitably things go wrong.
Like an alarm clock in the night, tragedy, pain, a death, a scare, failure, demotion. They all have a way of challenging us to change
How far must God go in getting your attention? If God has to choose between your eternal safety and your earthly comfort, which do you hope he chooses?
AWAKENING!
I'm calling us to PERSONAL and CHURCH-WIDE AWAKENING!
Joel 2:1, "Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill."
You and me- we’ve screamed at Lethargy's whispers. We’ve grabbed the wrist of Apathy's seductive, comforting touch, and demanded, “NO MORE!”
See, We’re done with easy, comfortable living! We want more from life, faith!
We DON’T want our life to be about "ME." We’re done with ease, comfort, and over-stuffed appetites.
We're TIRED of sitting on the SIDELINES while others live relentlessly their faith in God.
Let's choose ANONIMOTY to make GOD'S NAME FAMOUS.
Let's choose PERSONAL LOSS so some may GAIN CHRIST.
Let's choose to GIVE ALL so that SOME MAY BE SAVED.
Let's choose RIDICULE so that SOME MAY know CHRIST’S LOVE.
Let's choose TEARS so that others may know JOY.
Don’t sit on the sidelines. In the short term we may regret what we have done. But in the long run, we will regret what we didn’t do, the risks we didn’t take.
I'll try to post some thoughts on a few of the discussions from watching the Elephant Room back in February.
Honestly, if you get a chance, last years Elephant Room was much more challenging and "iron sharpening iron" than this years. In 2011, pastors seemed willing to challenge each other in grace, confronted differences, and candidly present their views while agreeing to disagree.
In 2012, it seemed that the design was set to demonstrate a kumbaya-like atmosphere where pastors, who clearly have significant differences, can agree to agree and get along without making a public scene. This IS a key and essential quality due to the rancor of contemporary mudslinging, misrepresentation, and character assassination that goes on all too frequently both among pastors and churches. Since I bear my own scars and wounds from such ill-constructed, misinformed, and ill-placed personal attacks, I deeply appreciate any voice of wisdom and reason that rises up in today's Church to speak against slander, gossip, and abuse of pastoral leadership and biblical communicators.
Over the next few posts, I'll mix in a few of these discussion points and what my personal, and meaningful take-aways were from this event.
Excerpt from my notes in Sermon Series: Fool-Proofing Your Life- a Study of Proverbs
What is the PORTRAIT of a FOOL from teachings of Solomon in Proverbs?
The fool is the antithesis of a God-follower. While the Book of Proverbs, and the Bible as a whole use several words for “fool”, it must be understood that this individual isn’t just silly or goofy like the Three Stooges, but an actual menace- full of destruction, deceit, and death.
Fools can be recognized by the following characteristics:
We are called to apply wisdom. Wisdom is ONLY found in the Fear of the LORD. To Fear God is to hate what is evil, love what is good, and to stand in reverent awe of God and His law.
Wisdom in SKILLFUL LIVING and the only way to AVOID playing the FOOL.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending the The Elephant Room, a live simulcast event pitting nationally prominent Christian leaders to debate topics with each other. It was open to questions via Twitter, and allowed 2 pastors to debate an issue, but each topic was then opened for input from the others in attendance.
While I thought last year's Elephant Room was more challenging, heated, and interactive, this one certainly left me with me take-aways. I posted several direct quotes via Twitter and Facebook.
Learn more about the speakers and topics here: James MacDonald, Mark Driscoll, Crawford Loritts, Jack Graham, TD Jakes, Steven Furtick, Wayne Cordeiro.
Topics/ Issues: Diversity, Denominations, Differences (in major theology), Depression (un-health of pastors and how to avoid burnout), Distinctives (essentials of the Gospel).
Significantly, at least at the event, TD Jakes came out and addressed his position, with great humility and willingness, on his theology of the Godhead. What was discussed was a deep theological distinction regarding modalism or Sabellianism. (For more info on Sabellianism, visit Justin Holcomb's Know Your Heretics series at The Resurgence.) and Trinitarianism. Honestly, while I study and know my theology, I was not familiar with TD Jakes position on these issues, so I wasn't prepared for this discussion and was even surprised by it.
I enjoyed the grace and truth with which topics were handled and debated. In fact, I wish there had been more heat, debate, and direct candor on differences (or that they had brought in speakers who didn't agree so much). The elephant did not seem very big in the Elephant Room. In fact, here's a pic of the actual elephant in the room at our event. See, not very big!
If you would like to read well-written live-blogged version of the event, check it out at Trevin Wax's blog.
I may post some of my personal thoughts and notes from the event next week, if there is enough interest. Let me know!
Join us Sunday, January 22 as we kick of Open House Week for Life Groups!
On Sunday, browse through the lobby and visit each Life Group’s table to sample some of their homemade goodies and meet a few members of their group. During the Open House Week (February 12-20), make it a point to visit one or two groups that interest you. Each group will be having an “Open House,” so it will be easy to stop in, check things out, and feel right at home. No pressure to commit or sign-up- just have fun and make new friends!
Check out the list for the Winter 2012 Life Groups, and we hope to see you this week!
But WHY should you check out and JOIN a life group? Let me say, come out Sunday and you'll find out WHY? It's what I'm preaching about too. But let me add a few thoughts.
We were created for and NEED community. God uniquely created us (in His image) to need and want to belong and be part of community. That's why we feel disconnected and messed up if we are not in connection with people and building meaningful friendships.
Sundays Life Gatherings aren't for COMMUNITY. We gather on Sundays to worship and grow. That's why it's essential to get plugged into a group during the week. Sundays are designed to gather as many believers together to worship and gather as many unbelievers together to introduce them to the GOSPEL.
We need to BELONG and to be KNOWN and that CANNOT happen on Sundays. When you come out on Sundays to our gatherings, we know you feel a little lost in the crowds, and it's HARD to meet people and make friends. Truth is, even if Lifehouse were only 40 people, you wouldn't know everyone. It's just that you would at least see someone you do know. Plus, no matter where a person attends, Sundays really aren't meant for community. So, we need to belong and the best way to belong is to get connected to a life group.
Life groups are a "FAMILY of FRIENDS!"Joining a life group of 6-25 people allows you to meet and get to know other Jesus-followers. In groups, you'll build authentic community and meaningful friendships, and you'll know that you belong. We want to be a family, well... a church should be a family of friends!
Life groups help you GROW! The best place to develop in your personal, spiritual journey is in a group with other believers. They can pray with you, and you for them. Together you can study the Bible, encourage each other, and ask questions. Once of the key goals of a life groups is DISCIPLESHIP (or becoming more life Christ!)
Life groups are easy an easy place to invite friends. Who's intimidated to go over someone's house? How DOESN'T like to be invited to someone's house? It's easy to invite friends who don't know Jesus over to another friends house to meet people like them and to talk about God. Another key goal of life groups is to invite un-churched friends.
We look forward to seeing YOU get plugged into a life group.
More on Lessons from Lovejoy and ChurchPlanters.com. For the first 6 lessons, see yesterday's post.
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12 Lessons Learned in 12 years (Part 2 of 2) by Shawn Lovejoy
7. Change the way people think about church
In the first year of our church, we made a decision: In everything we do, we’re going to seek to change the way people think about church. This is so much bigger than the type of music we do, or our dress, even though they are parts of the equation! It affects everything we do. Examples? Folks don’t have to be “Christians” to go on a mission trip. They might become one by going! They don’t have to be a “Christian” to volunteer at our church, much less, be a member! Our small groups are always not only open to new people, but are going after people who don’t go to church and inviting them to be a part of their group! Every group is responsible to “get off the couch” and serve and care missionally for people groups in our community. Just small simple example of how we’re changing the way people think about church both inside and outside our church in our community.
8. Go after unchurched people
We’re not worried about swapping sheep or reaching professional Christians. If they want to join our mission to reach the lost, great. If not, great. We are here to help as many people as possible find a relationship with God through Jesus. That’s our laser beam focus. Take us or leave us! We’re here to reach people who don’t like Jesus or Christians.
9. Be careful what you ask for
Did you know unchurched people don’t walk in and start tithing? And it probably won’t be a three-month process, either; probably more like three years! Unchurched people smoke and curse in the parking lot, and maybe even in the sound booth! All of these things really happen in our church. Being a hospital for sinners is messy!
10. The right team in the right seats makes all the difference
We’ve always had a great Ministry Team at our church. I am thankful for every one of them, however, the right team members with the right gifts and skills, in the right seats, in the right seasons of the church, allows a church to continue to breath and grow and reach people for Jesus Christ. The wrong team members on the wrong seats for too long will put a lid on the church’s effectiveness.
11. I must measure success God’s Way
Success is being who God called me to be and being obedient to what God has called me to do. I am so tempted to measure success by this week’s attendance. However, I’m never as good as people think I am when we’re exploding numerically; and I’m not as bad as I think I am when we’re not. My role is to be obedient to the call and stay sane, centered, and happily married in the process. That is success!
12. God is faithful.
God never gives up: on me; or on my ministry! He hasn’t given up on you, either! Don’t give up on yourself. We only fail when we give up. God never gives up. He is faithful!
Twelve years ago, we launched weekly worship services at Mountain Lake Church. Wow. What a ride! God has used me despite my stupidity; and I have learned so much along the way. Here’s the first part of my top twelve lessons I’ve learned in the last twelve years.
1. Having a vision is easy. Sticking to the vision takes extraordinary discipline and effort.
Every pastor and church has a vision. Every one of them I’ve ever seen is Biblical. However, even most church planters get sidetracked form their vision within the first few years. We have stuck to our guns. We’ve been “mean about the vision.” It’s made all of the difference!
2. Conviction and Courage are more important than strategy.
My passion and sense of conviction, along with the courage to stay the course are more important than any brilliant strategy I could come up with that no one has ever done before.
3. No plan’s perfect; so work our Plan!
Our ministry plan is not perfect. However, we’ve worked the plan every year the last twelve years and every year we’ve gotten better at what God has called us to do. We don’t have “vision flavor of the month” or “small group method of the year.” We’ve worked our plan. We’ve been consistent in our ministry approach. It’s made all the difference.
4. People come. People Go. Go with the Go-ers.
Don’t focus who’s leaving; focus on who stays. The ones that stay will see the mission through and experience the fruit of mission accomplished! When one leaves, God will bring five to replace them…if we stay focused!
5. God does things the way He wants.
It has almost NEVER happened exactly the way we drew it up. However, that’s the precise thing that has kept us dependent on Him! Proverbs 16:9 (NIV) says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Prophetic verse in my life these last twelve years! So many times, what I deemed as a failure was God’s sharpening and sovereignty at work in my life and church!
6. In God’s Story, ordinary matters.
God loves to use ordinary people. I am one. The very reasons or excuses I might use to disqualify myself from being used greatly by Him make me the perfect candidate for extraordinary ministry! What are your excuses as to why God can’t use you? Those are the very reasons God wants to use you; because you’ll know it’s not about you!
In 2005, we launched Churchplanters.com to “give pastors permission”. Join us this year at #Velocity12 on Feb 27-28. Once again, we’ll give each other permission to be what God has called us to be and do what God has called us to do! Register NOW!
I've tweeted several of Martin Luther King Jr (in honor of our national holiday TODAY) quotes, but here are a few of his best speeches and sermons. You can research and read more here.
His most famous and quoted speech, "I have a Dream" from August 28, 1963 in Washington, D.C. (read here) or watch here.
"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free... In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check... It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note... America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy... The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
...we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
...I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
...With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
...And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
An imaginary letter from the Apostle Paul, that he wrote for a message in 1956. This imaginary letter MLK Jr wrote on behalf of Paul seems very appropriate today in 2012!
"For many years I have longed to be able to come to see you. I have heard so much of you and of what you are doing. I have heard of the fascinating and astounding advances that you have made in the scientific realm. I have heard of your dashing subways and flashing airplanes. Through your scientific genius you have been able to dwarf distance and place time in chains. You have been able to carve highways through the stratosphere. So in your world you have made it possible to eat breakfast in New York City and dinner in Paris, France. I have also heard of your skyscraping buildings with their prodigious towers steeping heavenward. I have heard of your great medical advances, which have resulted in the curing of many dread plagues and diseases, and thereby prolonged your lives and made for greater security and physical well-being. All of that is marvelous. You can do so many things in your day that I could not do in the Greco-Roman world of my day. In your age you can travel distances in one day that took me three months to travel. That is wonderful. You have made tremendous strides in the area of scientific and technological development.
"But America, as I look at you from afar, I wonder whether your moral and spiritual progress has been commensurate with your scientific progress. It seems to me that your moral progress lags behind your scientific progress. Your poet Thoreau used to talk about "improved means to an unimproved end." How often this is true. You have allowed the material means by which you live to outdistance the spiritual ends for which you live. You have allowed your mentality to outrun your morality. You have allowed your civilization to outdistance your culture. Through your scientific genius you have made of the world a neighborhood, but through your moral and spiritual genius you have failed to make of it a brotherhood. So America, I would urge you to keep your moral advances abreast with your scientific advances.
"I am impelled to write you concerning the responsibilities laid upon you to live as Christians in the midst of an unChristian world. That is what I had to do. That is what every Christian has to do. But I understand that there are many Christians in America who give their ultimate allegiance to man-made systems and customs. They are afraid to be different. Their great concern is to be accepted socially. They live by some such principle as this: "everybody is doing it, so it must be alright." For so many of you Morality is merely group consensus. In your modern sociological lingo, the mores are accepted as the right ways. You have unconsciously come to believe that right is discovered by taking a sort of Gallup poll of the majority opinion. How many are giving their ultimate allegiance to this way.
"But American Christians, I must say to you as I said to the Roman Christians years ago, "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." Or, as I said to the Phillipian Christians, "Ye are a colony of heaven." This means that although you live in the colony of time, your ultimate allegiance is to the empire of eternity. You have a dual citizenry. You live both in time and eternity; both in heaven and earth. Therefore, your ultimate allegiance is not to the government, not to the state, not to nation, not to any man-made institution. The Christian owes his ultimate allegiance to God, and if any earthly institution conflicts with God's will it is your Christian duty to take a stand against it. You must never allow the transitory evanescent demands of man-made institutions to take precedence over the eternal demands of the Almighty God."
Many people are afraid of commitment. Others think they'll be ready once they mature. Truth is: commitment produces maturity not vice versa. Think about marriage. It's the lifelong covenant of marriage that demands personal growth in each spouse.
Spiritual growth is similar. We grow through commitment. Here's an opportunity for YOU to grow!
If you have not YET been through Lifehouse's Life Commitments process, sign up. It's starting THIS Sunday!
Life Commitments is an exciting 8-week discipleship course that teaches commitment to God and commitment to the body of Christ (the church). We believe the church is a family; and it takes commitment to build a strong family. The course is an interactive teaching with video illustrations, gifts assessment tests, and plenty of group discussions. The process concludes with an overnight retreat, where students are given the opportunity to deepen relationships with others in the class, review the material, and allow each person to individually experience God’s presence in a life transforming way. After completion of the course, individuals are given the opportunity to become a “Ministry Partner.”
The Winter Semester begins January 15 and ends March 4. The following class times are offered weekly at Lifehouse Bethel (515 E. Wilson Blvd. Hagerstown, MD):
As we begin making preparations for Hagerstown Convoy of Hope 2012, I'd like to encourage you to check at what's happening both globally and nationally through Convoy.
Check out this edition of Extreme Makeover to see how they're working together.
Now a word from Hal (President of Convoy of Hope),
Dear [Sponsors],
Last May, after an EF-5 tornado carved a deadly swath through Joplin, Mo., Convoy of Hope rushed aid to the devastated community, which is only an hour’s drive from our world distribution center in Springfield.
In the following days, weeks and months we distributed more than 2.6 million pounds of food, water and emergency supplies. Convoy of Hope work teams also logged hundreds — if not thousands — of hours helping the community recover. To this day, we still have teams on the ground bringing hope to families in need.
None of this work would be possible without you! We’re so grateful for the thousands of individuals, families, organizations, churches and businesses who trusted us to help Joplin.
I believe that surge of support was one of the main reasons Convoy of Hope caught the attention of the national media — in particular ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
This coming Friday night (January 13), we will be featured on the 200th episode of EM:HE focused on rebuilding Joplin, and I will share some exciting news with viewers about our continued work there.
Please tune in to ABC this coming Friday night at 8/7 central.
Thank you for making a difference for families in Joplin and throughout the world!
So many people today hate organized religion, and for many years I would have joined them. I've stated that we're not about religion but relationship. The organized church has certainly earned their hypocritical, corrupt reputation. Not all of them, mind you, just a few that spoil the whole bunch.
But the Church is the hope of the world. She is the conduit of God's Gospel and Grace to all mankind, and God loves His Church, the Bride and Body of Christ. And the LOCAL church is the "first name" of the Church. It's how people know who Jesus is and how His followers live and love. The local church is the hope of a community and neighborhood. While others depend on government, look to bailouts, or settle into despair, the local church rises as a beacon of hope and compassion.
PRAY for the LOCAL Church. Pray for Lifehouse and our Network churches.
Paul states, "since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you..." Col 1:9, NIV.
Let's be found faithful in praying for the local church, our family of God in the faith. Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians, sharing his love for them and the demonstration of that love in prayer.
How did Paul pray for the church?
Thanksgiving- in Col 1:3,12, Paul says that he "always thank God" for the local church in Colosse. Take time to thank God for your church, her pastors, and for your community of faith.
God's Will- next, in v.9, Paul says that he prays that they "may be filled with the knowledge" of God's will and with spiritual understanding. Pray for God's will over your church, and for God to guide the leadership with His vision through spiritual wisdom.
Pleasing and fruitful- in v.6 & 10, Paul's prayer is so that they would please God and be fruitful. That is an important balance- both do what is right and pleasing to God AND be fruitful. If either are missing, then the church is unhealthy and missing her mission. Pray that your local church is FRUITFUL in reaching and discipling the unchurched.
Strengthened- Paul's prayer, in Col. 1:11, is that the church would be strengthened through God's power with patience in joy! Wow! Pray that over your church and leadership!
Please join Lifehouse Church today, during this season of fasting and prayer, in praying for us, the churches within our Network, and for your local church.
At the end of each year, we go through a New Year’s ritual. We evaluate the previous year, and set resolutions to change our habits and lifestyles.
Resolutions start with good intentions:
We set goals. We make commitments.
We tell our friends. We start…
Then, as quickly as the new year begins, our resolve wanes. Busyness kicks in and old habits find new life.
What was once comfortable becomes comfortable again.
And what happens to our resolutions? We want and even intend to do what we couldn’t do in the past. Yet, new resolutions require new disciplines. We get tired. We experience setbacks, delays, and unanticipated obstacles.
We get busy. Daily life distracts us. Deadlines and demands zap our energy and quiet our enthusiasm.
Therefore, I’m calling for no more resolutions. 2012 will be RESOLUTION-FREE.
Let’s NOT make any more commitments with good intentions but no execution.
Let’s NOT recycle the same guilt, failures, and regrets into yet another year of broken promises, disappointments, and inadequacies.
At Lifehouse, our goal is to provide resources that will empower you to live RELENTLESSLY for God. We want to assist you in developing a vibrant relationship with Jesus by establishing a daily prayer time and reading through the Bible. We want to challenge you to give your talents, time, and treasures to the Cause of Christ, and to join this authentic community of Jesus followers called the Church.
What do you need in order to be RELENTLESS in 2012?
Join us THIS Sunday for a powerful call to a radical commitment to live relentlessly in 2012.
What do you want to be different about your life this time next year?
Are you willing to commit? Will you give God your all this year?
Lifehouse West has launched a new educational ministry called Community Life Institute.
This is an exciting opportunity to both be served and serve!
Check it out here and found out what's available and how YOU can get involved.
This ministry is offering tutoring to get a GED, school tutoring, Continuing Education Courses, or Community Awareness Programs. If you NEED this tutoring, then check out the website and register.
If you are WILLING to be a TUTOR! Also, go to the website or comment on this blog.
Here's a hard lesson on how to avoid sabotaging God's plan in our life. Believe it or not, we can often be our own worst obstacle in fulfilling God's purposes through our lives.
When we've heard from God and have confirmation that God is speaking and leading, we often become so zealous that we can sabotage His desires.
Abram (who became Abraham) was given a clear promise from God - that from his old age he would have a son, and this son would be the father of nations.
In Genesis 16, we read the story of how Abram and his wife Sarai took this promise into their own hands. Sarai encouraged (what was she thinking) her husband to "go in to" her handmaiden Hagar, so that she could bare a child for the couple. Ishmael was the son of this attempt at self-fulfilling God's promise.
The result of self-fulfilling God's plan is an Ishmael. While Ishmael did become the father of nations, his people became a major problem to the promised nation of Israel. God did fulfill His promise through Abram and Sarai, by giving them a son in their old age. Isaac was born to Sarai and became the father of the Jacon (name changed to Israel) and Esau.
Psalm 127:1-2, "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain."
Another biblical example is the burning bush of Moses and the parallel in John 15.
What attracted Moses to the burning bush was that it burned but "was not consumed." It wasn't the fire, but the unquenchable fire. The fire burned because, instead of the bush being the source, the presence of God was the source of the fire.
Here's the KEY- if God is the source of the fire and purposes for our life, then we will "burn" will holy passion and purpose. The moment we become the source of the fire - harder work, longer hours, more energy, fleshly ambition - the fire will consume the source. If we're the source, we won't burn for long, will get "burned out." Trust me, no one is attracted to a heap of ash, but to people who are on fire but not consumed!
In John 15, Jesus teaches that a branch only produces fruit when it is attached to the vine, and apart from the vine it cannot bear any fruit, let alone sustain life. If we are to produce the fruit of righteous, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, along with the fruit of effective ministry, we MUST be connected to the life of God through personal relationship with Jesus.
Apart from constant connection with God, we will dry up, burn out, and birth Ishmaels. Don't try to fulfill God's purposes in your own strength.
Let's get back to a dependency on God and desperation to know Him and stay connected to Him.
I joked with my family over the holidays about BACON, and how much we all love it (at least most!). We got carried away and drove the ladies nuts, but apparently someone was listening in. We said that they should liquify bacon and turn it into a drink - it would be the most popular in history. It would be like bottled Chuck Norris.
We'll for all you bacon-lovers out there...
Here's a photo and a link to a news story about our imagined invention turned actual product.
Bacon has been around for centuries: preserving pork bellies began in China around 1500BC, and the Greeks and Romans continued the tradition, until Americans perfected it!
Choline, a mirconutrient found in pork products like bacon, may actually boost the intelligence of an unborn child (until they're born, served unlimited amounts of bacon...). Scientist at Univ of NC have linked Choline to better brain development, memory, and recall, and possibly a decrease in heart problems (just saying!),
In 1924, Oscar Mayer patented the 1st packed, sliced bacon (God bless that man!),
Denmark consumes the most pork in the world & the average American eats 17.9 lbs of bacon each year,
Each serving of bacon is about 3 slices, 100 calories, 8 grams of fat, 440 miligrams of sodum, 0 trans fats, and 5 lbs of AWESOME.
Every breakfast with bacon is EPIC!
It has been scientifically proven* that eating bacon daily increase your life expectancy (*not scientifically proven)!
At the end of each year, we Americans go through a New Year's ritual. We evaluate the previous year and set resolutions to change our habits and lifestyles. We make the same resolution we've made for years, each time failing to follow through with our commitments.
Resolutions start with good intentions, then as quickly as the new year begins, our resolve wanes. Then, we justify our lack of follow-through: the resolution was unrealistic, timing was bad, and our schedule had too many unexpected demands.
The same happens with our spiritual life. We intend to follow God, and really want to. But then life happens, and we don't follow through! Instead, we follow the crowd; we follow comfort; we follow the path of least resistance. The greatest obstacle to living relentlessly for God is everyday life: its challenges, conflicts and distractions.
For this reason, I'm calling all of our Ministry Partners to 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, January 2-22. This is a call to be "RELENTLESS." This is a call to step away from the routine of everyday life and discover once and for all, "Am I following God because it's convenient and comfortable or because I truly believe He is the one cause worthy my full, relentless devotion?"
Follow this link to view or download our 21 Days Prayer & Fasting Guide. In it you'll find a weekly devotional, daily prayer focus, and schedule of corporate prayer gatherings.
This season of fasting and prayer, I guarantee this will be the most exciting, challenging, and intense time of the year--both for you individually, and for our entire church and community!
As always, thank you for your partnership with Lifehouse, faithfulness to Christ and His Church, and for taking the time to read this heartfelt message. Let's stop following the crowd and start following God relentlessly!
