Pastor Seth Goodson

Kingdom Conference

2011-09-11T11:22:00.001-04:00

Elim Gospel Church will be hosting an awesome conference this fall. We are featuring guest worship leader, Kent Henry, and the outstanding ministry of Jack Taylor, Bishop Joseph Garlington, and Leif Hetland. Consider letting setting aside September 22-25 and encourage your congregation to join us! Feel free to utilize the below promo video however it might most effectively help you get the word out.

You can visit the Kingdom Conference web page to sign up or learn more.

Kingdom Conference 2011 Promo from EGC on Vimeo.

Kingdom Conference

2011-08-22T11:20:00.001-04:00

Kingdom Conference 2011 Promo from EGC on Vimeo.

Kingdom Conference

2011-07-22T11:18:00.002-04:00

Kingdom Conference 2011 Promo from EGC on Vimeo.

Kingdom Conference

2011-06-22T11:07:00.004-04:00

Kingdom Conference 2011 Promo from EGC on Vimeo.

Whose got your back?

2011-02-28T15:18:00.000-05:00

Whose got your back? This is a vital question you have to answer! If you are trying to protect your own back you are leaving no room for God. The whole concept of “whose got your back” comes from the playground fights. I do have to note at this point that I have never been in a fight, but I was apart of a few “got your back” crews. The idea is when someone has done something to you and you want to get revenge you challenge that person to a fight but you don’t come alone, you come with a crew. Having the bigger crew or the meaner looking crew gives you the confidence in the fight.

Reading 1 Samuel this past month I realized something. God actually gave David the opportunity for revenge, not once but twice. The first time Saul was in a cave “relieving himself” (I Samual 24:3 you’ve got to love the NIV). David was in that cave and actually cut a piece of his garment off. The second time he and some of his guys snuck in while Saul was sleeping and stole the spear and the water jug that were next to Saul’s head. In both cases David’s men urged him to take Saul’s life.

David knew something though, he knew that God had his back. David could have struck Saul but instead he entrusted God with his back. He honored the authority. God will give us opportunities to gossip about the person who back stabbed us. Oh wait, Christian’s don’t gossip, let me rephrase that. You will have opportunities to ask people to pray for the person who back stabbed you. You may have the chance to give the cold shoulder. You may even have the opportunity to strike someone. But we have to remember God has our back.

Something powerful happens when we do this, God’s love is revealed. Both times when David honored Saul, Saul’s heart was softened. We can express God’s love because we know God has our back.

We have to ask ourselves are we trusting God with our back or are we defending ourselves?

Snake Skins

2011-02-22T14:59:00.003-05:00

I have never been a big fan of snakes. I use to work at an amazing inner city sports camp. One night some girl counselors came to me and asked me to remove a snake out of their cabin area. At that point in my life I had never caught a snake and had never desired to experience it in my lifetime, but it was my job. I was the safety director at the camp and this was classified under unsafe.

I located the snake and had him cornered. I knew enough to know that I did not want to pick it up by the tail so I worked to get my foot on his head. I then proceeded to pick it up by the head. Once I had it in my hand I had no clue what to do. I’m not going to lie though I felt pretty manly at that point, but then fear set in. What do you do with a snake once you catch it? So I took it to my friend and he said, “do you know what kind of snake that is?” “Yea a big one.” He said, “it’s a cotton mouth.” I have learned since then that these are highly poisonous snakes.

As much as I dislike snakes I have realized I am a lot like a snake. When I allow God to do a work in me there are things that I need to shed. Snakes have to shed their skins as they grow. We are the same way. We need this same process as we are growing in the Lord; addictions, hurts, bitterness, envy, anger have to be shed. But not only the more obvious ones but; but you will find God wants to deal with all aspects of your life that can hold you back from growth. For me it has been things like eating habits, sleep habits, pacing myself in my vision, or lack of planning. We can view these as a pain in our side or we can see them as opportunities for growth.

What has to go so you can grow?

Revisiting the Dip

2011-01-25T14:27:00.013-05:00

Pastor Joshua Finley preached an amazing sermon this week and while I listened to it I saw the Dip Principals come to life even more.

When we look at the passage from Exodus 16:1-20 we see that God lead them into the Desert of Sin. They left Elim, which means Oasis, and haded right into the Desert of Sin, doesn't sound to fun, on their way to Mount Sinai.

This wasn't their first dip, think about it. They get released from captivity, sounds like a pretty big high, than they come to the Red Sea and they have Pharaoh breathing down their necks, AKA The DIP, than the Red Sea opens up, pretty big high. They went from the high to Marah, where the water was bitter, God turned it to sweet water than led them Elim where there were seventy palm trees and they camped there near the water.

Principal #1: You will face more than one dip. (Check out John 16:33 for encouragement)

Why would God lead them into the desert? I know this ruffles some misconceptions of God and Christianity. Many times we preach salvations messages that sound like Cruise Liner commercials.

Deuteronomy 8:1-5 shines a light on this idea. Verse Two says, that God lead them into the desert to humble them and test them in order to know what was in their heart. I personally don't think God was doing that to find out what they were made of, I believe He took them into the desert so they can see what was in their heart. This is why our Dip has to become a Dip of Direction. We gain insights in the dip.

While they were in the Desert of Sin God gave them Manna, it says in Deuteronomy 8:3 that God did it to teach them, "that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." Why was God teaching them this? Because they were about to go into a land flowing with milking and honey, a la

nd with streams and pools of water, a land with wheat, barley, vines and fig trees, etc... It is very easy once you get to your promise that you can become consumed with the fruit of the promise and not God.

It could be that new promotion, the baby that you have prayed for, for 10 years, it could be a platform in ministry. God wants to work in you the principals of dependency on Him before He takes you to the next level.

Don't avoid the dips, they are for your benefit. Verse 5 says, "Know in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you." Your dip weeds out what will be destructive to your destiny.

Principal #2: God is more interested in your growth than you comfort.

To make a long story short they come to Mount Sinai. This is still apart of their dip, why? Because at this point God was building infra

structure for them, He was showing them a new way of living. They had lived as slaves and now were free and they needed direction. They needed systems.

Principal #3: what got you here, won't get you there and sustain you in your promise.

Fast forward to the Promise land. They are now at the verge of their promise. God has been working in them through out all the dips to develop trust in Him. Now it is time to see if they have learned the lesson. The tension builds as we read the story, we lean in to hear the courage and the trust in God and they shrink back in fear. They spend the next forty years dying off so the next generation can have the promise that was theirs. When we look back at their other dips this was the same problem, lack of trusting God. Instead of using those other dips as lessons to grow in trust, using the dip as direction, they continued in the habits of despair. God was calling them to do something dangerous, to do something that was going to be a high risk. We see, that in order to get out of your dip you will need to not only know that dips happen, that God is growing you, that your old habits don't work but you will need to trust Him as He leads you.

Principal #4: Trust is necessary to get out of your dip.

James says, "In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead."

When we get in the dip it is easy to fall into despair, the loss of a job, the pain of losing someone you love, the death of a dream, but we must fight to hold onto faith. Hold onto the promise God has given you, given your family, the dream God has placed in your heart. I don't just think James is just saying if you have faith you will go out and feed the hungry or go on missions trips but I believe He is saying that Faith is really trust and when you trust God, where He says go, you will go. Where God says stop you will stop. This is something that we have to fight for. Trust doesn't come naturally.

Principal #5: You must Fight For Faith.

Where ever you are, heading into a dip, in the dip, coming out of the dip, or standing in your promise I want to challenge with the same thing God was working in the Israelites: To be fully Dependant on God. It will get you out of the dip as well as lead you into the next dip that you need to grow you.

You choose the end result.

2011-01-18T13:49:00.005-05:00

Your Dip is what you make of it, it can be a Dip of Direction or a Dip of Despair. We all hit dips in our lives, you know when you feel God far away or you feel like nothing is working. All dips look different and our descent into the dip can be from various paths. This is why it is critical to discern your dip.

Dip of Disobedience

You could be in the dip because of disobedience. Think about David or even Jonah or even better yet Peter. Steve Furtick says if you are in a dip you need to ask, "Did I get myself into this dip."

Dipstick Dip

This dip comes on by lack of knowledge. You may make a financial decision that ends up sending you and your family into the dip.

Divine Dip

I believe there are times when God actually leads us into the dip. Look at Elijah in 1 Kings 17. He obeyed God stood up and said it would not rain unless he spoke it. Then God told him, "Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there." Verse 7 says, "Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land." God led him to a place that would run out of water.

We have a choice when this happens, we can allow this to become the Dip of Despair or the Dip of Direction. So many times in my life when I hit the dip I go through a season of Despair. What I have noticed is that I actually create habits that keep me in the dip. Some of them for me is I will start watching a lot more T.V. instead of spending time with God, my quite time will begin to suffer, I stop trying to learn. The problem with these dips are that they keep you from the very source you need, to get you out of the dip. Many times and many people create these habits and they decide to make camp in the dip.

Whether you may be in the Dip of Disobedience, the Dipstick Dip, or the Divine Dip you get your way out the same way.

You look for insights. What got you here? What can I learn from this? Every good company does this. Think about the Iphone. When they released the first phone sales went through the roof. But at some point the sales began to drop. They had to look for insights, what can we do now?Well they needed a camera, so they put a camera on it, or make it faster. So they do this and the phones sales go through the roof again. They have done that over and over again.

A bad company would have said things like, there is nothing wrong with our phone. We do that so many times in our lives with God. We might disobey God and step out in sin, we need to repent and look for insights into what caused us to go down this path. You may be in a Divine Dip and God is wanting to reveal some things that draw you closer to him. It's much like a snake, the old skin has gotten to small, so the dip is the place God desires for you to recognize it.

You may be in a dip for awhile because of consequences of decisions or God has led you into the dip to help you grow. In all these cases it is to take you places with God that you have never been. To give you direction to a more intimate relationship with God.

If we allow our dip to be the Dip of Direction instead of Despair others will be impacted. Many times you will be directed to people who are in a dip themselves. Look at what happened to Elijah in verse 8-24, God tells him to go to Zarephath because there will be a widow who will supply food for him, a widow who has no flour is supernaturally blessed with flour and oil that will last until it begins to rain again, and after her son dies Elijah prays for him and he comes back to life.

Even if you are in the Dip of Disobedience or Dipstick Dip you can turn your dip into a Dip of Direction. God waste nothing in your life. So my question to you is this, whether you've gotten yourself into your dip or were led into your dip what will your end result be?

Many of these thought were developed from Pastor Steve Furticks sermon, The Dip, Divine Dip.

The idea of Dip of Direction comes from the book Switch which talks about the Valley of Insights.

Does God still heal?

2011-01-09T14:35:00.003-05:00

Does God still heal? There are wiser men than me who can debate the theological side of healing but I want to look at one side of this coin, God as a good father. In 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 it list the gifts of the Spirit. These are gifts that God gives through the spirit to the church.

The idea of a gift is that you give something with out expecting to receive something in return (like salvation) or expecting to have it returned. If there is an expectation of having something returned that is called borrowing.

The gift of healing was given through the Spirit to the church. It's a gift that God did not intended to ask for it back.

Motives behind the supernatural

2010-12-27T11:42:00.001-05:00

I remember the first time I was in Wal-mart and wanted to pray for someone. I walked in pumped and ready to go, I told God the first sick person that walks by me I am going to pray for. I happened to walk by a rough looking seasoned (nice term for old) lady. She had an Oxygen Mask on and was not looking very good. I wish I could tell you that faith welled up inside of me and I went for it but that is not the case. I actually walked right past her saying, "God not that one, choose someone else." As I kept walking God spoke to me and said, "I choose that one."

After some self-motivation I went back to her. I walked up and said,"excuse me, I have seen deaf ears open, backs healed, broken bones healed..." before I could finish my spill she bolted. Not going to lie she was pretty quick with that Oxygen tank. I thought well she isn't going to get healed, she missed out. Then God spoke gently, don't you still think I can heal her if you pray. In another blog I may talk about tactics but it was my first time.

There have been more times than not that my fear of what the people would think of me has kept me from expressing the love of God to someone. One time in particular I wanted to pray for a lady who was getting her blood pressure checked at Wal-Mart but she had a little girl with her. I walked away thinking what would the little girl think of me. I felt like Peter denying Christ to a little girl. Little girls can be very intimidating.
What I have begun to see is that the motive of the supernatural is love. Why? Because you have to lay down yourself, whether it is fear of rejection or religious pride (Thinking we are too good, like the Priest and Levite in the story of the good Samaritan.) When you prefer others over youself and love them enough to go out of your comfort zone without religious pride or fear we see God move, whether in the physical realm or behind the scenes in someone's life.

For most of us religious pride isn't our biggest struggle it is the fear of what others will think about us, so in that we are thinking more about ourselves than others. To walk in the supernatural it takes your time, your resources, your energy, and your reputation. This is where the preferring others over ourselves come in. Can we lay down our time, our resources, our energy and even our reputations to allow someone to experience the love of God.

See the motive of the supernatural isn't for people to worship me because cool things happen when I pray for them, it is for people to see that God loves them enough to step into their world and touch their lives.

My challenge for us today is where do we need to prefer someone else in order to step out in the supernatural. Is it a call to someone you've

been thinking about a lot lately. I actually did this one time and that phone call ended up keeping someone from committing suicide. Is it to pray for a co-worker. I work at a church and it is still scary to do this. If you are in school what if you prayed for a teacher. This week let's start the journey of a supernatural life together.

I would love to hear stories of you preferring others.

Stay tuned for my next blog, "Does God still heal?"

I just want to be normal!

2010-12-20T11:21:00.004-05:00

"I just want to be normal," seems to be a common mantra among us. I have been wrestling with a fear for about a year now and it is time to confess it and let it out. Like film being developed I want it destroyed by the light of confession. I am afraid to be seen as a weird Christian. I have a passion to see people get out of wheel chairs, the dead to be raised, to prophecy over people in Wal-Mart, to lay hands on the sick in Wendy's (I totally chickened out today on this one). But my fear keeps me from going through with it on a regular basis.

My fear haunts me with things like, I don't want people to duck out of rooms when I come in or to be talked about behind my back and the Christian gossip words be thrown into it, "but he has a good heart." I don't want to be "that guy."

But I have been toying with a question of late, "what's my standard of normal?" Is it other people? It's like how churches compare themselves to one another, "we've got good worship," compared to who? If my standard of normal is other people than I might be considered weird.

So I have two ways of thinking going on inside of me, don't do it, it's the wrong timing, they may reject you and the other side of me is speaking so gently this person is hurting, broken, in physical pain, they long for freedom.

So I have come to the conclusion, I want to be normal, but not the normal kind of normal. My standard of normal is not the person next to me or down the pew from me, it's Jesus. What did Jesus do? He healed the sick, raised the dead, spoke life into broken situations. So the conclusion is this, for me as a Christ Follower it's weird for me not to look like Jesus.

The fear that has been wanting me to not be weird was actually keeping me weird.

My challenge for us today is what's keeping you weird?

There is a book coming out by Jon Welton titled "Normal Christianity" which will be dealing with this very topic. Check out Jon's Website for more information.

In my next blog I will be talking about the motive behind healing and prophecy, so stay tuned.

Ingredients to the Supernatural

2010-12-04T11:34:00.004-05:00

I heard a story this morning of girl who was born with out a left Kidney, Hip, or Leg. All the odds were against her but she decided to go beyond her limitations. In her lifetime she helped plant churches and schools throughout parts of Africa. How did she do this? She says there were 3 key ingredients...

1. Wake up

2. Ask God what is He doing today

3. Join Him in it

Many times we make walking in the supernatural sound so hard but when you break it down it is God's superness (not a word but works here) meeting our natural everyday lives. God might be healing someone today, giving a prophetic word, giving food to a homeless (this is supernatural because it's not natural for us to love others it comes from the overflow of knowing His love for us), helping an old lady cross the street like a 8 year old boyscout or even overcoming the fear to do any of the above.

Today where does God want to invade your natural with His superness; work, home, in the grocery store, or at your kids sports game?

Is your Cruise on?

2010-10-26T15:38:00.006-04:00

The difference in being great at something and being mediocre is simply a decision, a decision to learn. Many leaders think all they need to succeed is charisma and passion but neither of those will get you past the mediocre level of leadership. Many future leaders spend years learning to get to the place of leadership and once they get there the cruise control comes on. I want to encourage you to keep learning, keep reading, keep asking questions of great leaders. Why? Those following you need you to keep growing in order to grow as well, you can teach what you know but you reproduce who you are. Secondly you need to keep your self fresh and sharp.

Some of the tools I use are following blogs, reading books (leaders are readers), asking lots of questions, and being attentive when I am around leaders to learn how they lead.

My challenge today for you is this, what is one thing you can do this week to grow your skill.

Existing?

2010-09-07T08:35:00.002-04:00

Take a deep breath! Okay let it out before you pass out. As long as we have breath in our lungs God has a purpose for our lives. Without a clear purpose for our lives we can tend to become apathetic and walk aimlessly through work, school, through our towns and homes. There is a focus for our lives that is marked out for us in Matthew 28 it's the great commission.

"18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Many times we see missionaries as people over sees reaching the nations and lost people groups around the world, but we must understand that our friends, co-workers and family are a nation and a people group as well.

Acts 17:26 says,^"26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live."

God designed for you to be a missionary in this exact time and location of your life. Let's take a deep breath today as we go as missionaries to reveal the transforming love of God to those around us.

To hear more about check out my latest sermon, "Who will go?"

Facing the Giants

2010-08-18T08:42:00.006-04:00

Are you facing a giant to your dream? We all face giants to our dream because our dreams require giants to be overcome, ending starvation, starting a business, becoming a missionary, being a teacher what ever it is a giant has to be overcome so that giant has to be faced. The problem is many people think the giant is a sign that they are going in the wrong direction so they turn back and begin to live a passive and apathetic life. Moses faced giant after giant in his journey of leading the Israelites to the threshold of the Promise land. This past Sunday night I preached a message on Facing the Giants, if you feel you are in the midst of your dream and there are giants in sight or you know they are coming, I encourage you to listen to my sermon.

I read a blog today by Pastor Steve Furtick that I wanted to re-post for you because it challenges us to not turn back from the Giants.

The ultimate poster child for what could have been

Few of you have ever heard of Ron Wayne.
A lot of you have used the products that stem from his creation.
All of you need to know his story because it’s a warning to all of us.

Along with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Ron Wayne cofounded Apple Computer Inc. on April Fools Day, 1976. Yes, there was a third founder of Apple. But few people know that because just twelve days after he signed the agreement he himself drafted that would have given him 10% ownership of the company, he sold back his shares. For $800. If he had stuck it out, today he would be worth around $22 billion.

Instead he now sells stamps out of his home. And plays penny slot machines after midnight. A poster child for what could have been.

Ron bailed on Jobs and Wozniak because he wasn’t sure about the future. Jobs spent a lot of money that Ron was going to have to pay the tab for initially. Wozniak was non-committal. And the prospect of starting a computer company just seemed too difficult and taxing.

Basically, Ron was afraid. Afraid that the payoff wasn’t going to be worth the work. So he quit. And missed out on billions.

Most of us are never going to really experience Ron Wayne’s story on the level at which he experienced it. Most of us are not going to be able to say that we missed out on being responsible for the birth of cool.

But I am afraid that many of us are going to sell out and accept an $800 payoff when we could have made billions. Not literally obviously. But I worry that instead of putting in the hard work and pushing through periods of uncertainty and difficulty, you’re going to take the easy way out and walk away. From your marriage that is struggling. From the calling you know you have received but is tougher than you thought it should be. From the risk you’re supposed to take.

That’s not to say that some people aren’t sometimes called to sell back their shares. The wife that is getting beat by her husband should not wait for a payoff down the road. Sometimes God calls you to a different ministry or career. To move to a new city. To play conservatively.

But more often than not, we sell out before the big payoff because we’re scared. Or we don’t want to do the hard work. Then we use God to justify a decision we have already made out of fear or apathy. And we never know what could have been down the road if we had kept persevering.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Your story is not destined to be a cautionary tale of what could have been. God would rather raise you up to be an example for others of what can be. Of the incredible marriage that is possible through God’s grace and power. Of what God can accomplish through people who stay true to their calling.

God has a much larger payoff for you than the one you’ll receive if you give up now. Persevere. Stick it out. Push through. When the payoff comes, it will be worth the work and the waiting.

Are you Dreaming?

2010-08-15T11:53:00.000-04:00

I believe everyone of us is created with a dream inside of us. A dream is when we see through the telescope of time and see something as how it ought to be. We see starving children being fed, orphans in homes, teachers teaching with passion, business ideas, inventions, or abortion stopped. This is what a dream is. But beyond that I believe that we have dreams because there is a purpose on our lives. God created us to meet a need in the lives of those around us or around the world. So I have come to the conclusion that when we stop dreaming it's because we have lost the sense of purpose on our lives. I challenge you today to dream big. Discover what dream is on your heart, what gets you passionate or mad or a Popeye once said it when you get the, "I can't stand it no more" mentality.

Here is my Questions: What is your dream?

Check out my sermon to hear more about this.

94 years left!

2010-08-14T19:33:00.007-04:00

6 years ago Tarah and I set out to reach a goal few will ever reach, the goal: To be married for 100 years. If the next 94 are anything like the last 6 I am up for the journey. How is it possible to fall more in love or find someone more attractive every day. Have we had our hard times, YES!; Have we had our disagreements, you better believe it! But one thing rings true every time: There is no one on this planet that I would rather go through all this with than Tarah. No one would I rather laugh with, cry with, hurt with, argue with, and be mad with than Tarah. I am excited about the next 94 years. Thanks Tarah for all the memories, below are a few of them.

Are you Starving?

2010-08-12T11:48:00.001-04:00

Let us not become starving bakers! A starving baker is one who gets so busy feeding others that he never feeds himself. This can be us, this can be me, it is easy to get in the habit of reading our bibles for others, praying others, dreaming for others, working for others and even helping others that we don’t take time to do the things we need to do to take care of ourselves.

In Acts 27 Paul and the men on the ship sailing to Rome find themselves in a terrible storm and they go without eating for 14 days. Paul says in 33, “ ³³Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. "For the last fourteen days," he said, "you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven't eaten anything. ³⁴Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head." ³⁵After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves.”

If you notice when Paul started to eat it encouraged the others, people are more encouraged when they see you feeding yourself than when you are a starving baker trying to feed them. Let’s guard ourselves from becoming starving bakers.

Check out Habitudes by Dr. Tim Elmore for more images that form Leadership Habits and Attitudes.

New Thru 30

2010-08-09T12:13:00.002-04:00

Have you ever read through the whole New Testament? Starting August 29th I am joining with my church and Youth Ministry to read through the whole New Testament in 30 days. In its words are history,wisdom, encouragement, teaching, correction and life! I want to invite you to come and join me on this journey through the New Testament. You can get the reading plan here!

Adults make a difference

2010-08-05T08:41:00.002-04:00

I was reading an article by Lifeway Research this week about the importance an adult makes in helping a teen stay connected to the church.

"Teens who had at least one adult from church make a significant time investment in their lives also were more likely to keep attending church. More of those who stayed in church – by a margin of 46 percent to 28 percent – said five or more adults at church had invested time with them personally and spiritually.

"The Bible teaches that older women should mentor and invest their lives in younger women. Clearly, this holds true for both of the sexes," Stetzer said. "When adults pour their lives into young adults, both are better for it."

Meaningful relationships with adults at church helps teenagers see church as a place they belong, McConnell said.

"Investment time in young people lives out the love of Jesus Christ in a tangible way," he said. "It proves that a young person belongs at church. It can help connect the dots to help a teen integrate their faith into their life. And it gives the teen a connection to church after graduation when many of their peers are no longer around.

"Anybody wondering if they can make a difference can stop wondering," McConnell noted. "One Sunday school teacher, one chaperone, one discussion leader, one person at church who clearly cares can impact the course of a teen’s spiritual journey.""

In case you are wondering, you make a difference. I want to challenge if you are not already to get involved in a young person's life it will make a difference.

Day 10 Rehab Center

2010-07-28T21:52:00.004-04:00

Our last day of ministry, we are all excited to go home but the feeling that we are leaving behind friendships as well as parts of our heart is very surreal. To think we have invested 10 days of our lives into people we may never see again is hard to grapple with.

With all this on our minds we got ready to go serve at a Rehab Center. This center is part of the ministry of Vida Abundante. These men have chosen to come to this center and allow God to work on them. We found them passionate about God and ready to hear the word of God.

When we got there they asked us to weed a field that they will be using to plant corn. While doing this we learned that they grow all their own food and wash all their clothes by hand. We spent about 2 hours weeding this small field as well as playing in the mud. Three of our guys (Mitchell, Brandon, and Tim) enjoyed the mud a little more than the rest of us did.

After this we had to clean ourselves up quite a bit, but we prepared for our worship, drama, testimonies, and preaching. Dan and Debbie did an amazing job leading worship (Debbie led in Spanish), our team preformed their drama and did an amazing job, than Mitchell, Janelle, and Ruth gave their testimonies. Ruthie even did hers in Spanish. After this I got up and talked about how Christ took the punishment so we could have the position.

The men touched our hearts as we saw their passion for Jesus which empowered them to overcome their addictions.

Day 9 Tuna Manza

2010-07-28T19:25:00.002-04:00

Today we traveled back up the mountains to Tuna Manza. We split into four teams and went house to house praying for the families in the town. I traveled to a home where five children in muddy clothes and dirty faces and hands came running out. They became very shy once they saw our team. A lady with our team told us the story of how the mother did not want the youngest girl and had began to starve her, people from the church talked with her because her baby was really unhealthy looking. The mother repented to God and her daughter and now her daughter is a healthy toddler.

As we got back the men in the town wanted revenge. I think this time they had recruited a few other men because their skill was much better this time. We played for what seemed to be forever, we were playing to one goal. After 30 or 45 minutes Mitchell Kinney took a deep shot and put it in the goal. All the fans where excited to because this meant we could eat. Before we ate Brandon gave a salvation message. He did an amazing job presenting the gospel to the people in Tuna Manza. He had a great experience of preaching to people as Jesus did. The people where sitting in a tree as well as on the ground listening to the gospel be preached.

Lastly we ate lunch with the people of the town and they taught us how to cut the grass with machetes. This is quite a technique, but I am grateful we have a little more technology.

We learned that there are no men in the church, so please be in prayer with us as we are praying for the men to break out of the box and step up as Men of God. This town truly has our hearts. The kids here love seeing us coming and they followed the bus out of town. It has to be the love and not the candy we were throwing out the window. One team member was even throwing money out as well. It was quite a site to see.

Day 8 Jeruco

2010-07-27T08:45:00.004-04:00

We woke up this morning all feeling much butter around 11:00 we pulled into Jeruco this as we arrived the paint was ready for us. In the middle of Jeruco is a basketball court that the kids use for soccer and volleyball. The lines had warn off and the paint faded beyond sight. We got to work right away, repainting lines, painting the backboards, and steps of this square. The kids were so excited and wanted to help so we began to give them the paint brushes and more and more wanted to help. They did a great job. We ran out of paint and began to have to mix colors in order to have enough to finish. To finish we had mix 6 different colors to make a close enough color to finish the court.

The Pastor from the town invited us to the church where they had a meal prepared for us and blessed us. Before we left we prayed over the pastor and the church, we agreed with the people that the church was becoming a church that reached the hurting and the lost of that community.

Lastly we preformed our drama in the recently painted square. It was difficult to pull off because of how wet the court now was after the rain. After a little slip n sliding we pulled it off. I sensed coming while in the town that God wanted to break off addictions and hopelessness when facing certain situations. We prayed for a number of people, one lady was healed of back problems and feet problems. As we were leaving a drunk who had been following all day came up upon the pastor request and we were able to pray with him, God gave us some prophetic words on some of the past hurts in his life and in English he said, “how did you know that.” As he began to tear up we were able to minister to his heart. God is at work in Jeruco.

Day 7 Church/Rest

2010-07-27T08:37:00.003-04:00

Sunday started off with a nice day of sleeping in once again. Many woke up feeling a little as if the Montezuma was seeking his revenge. We went to church were we got Gatorades and medication to settle our stomachs. Church was amazing. To watch the people worship God with all their hearts is challenging as well as inspirational. We had translators translate the sermon for us as the Director of the Mexico Christ for the Nations spoke about having a heart as Christ’s.

After Church our plan was to go hiking but with the way many of us were feeling we decided to take the afternoon and nap. At 7:00 we ad our soccer game with the students of Vida and may I say they were way better than any of the teams we have played so far. We played in this indoor basketball gym at the church, it was street soccer. Our record took a hit the guys lost 3 out of our 4. What these guys could do with a soccer ball was amazing.

In this culture the girls don’t play sports they sit on the side and watch, so we had our girls challenge their girls. They were pretty hesitant but once we talked them into it, it was a lot of fun to watch. Our girls won all three of their games. Way to go girls. Getting out and running around was really good for many of those who weren’t feeling all that well. This was such a neat experience with the Vida youth, we really have made great relationships with them. Relationships that we hope last beyond this trip. The usual has begun to happen which makes my heart smile, our students have begun to ask where are we going next year, saying I can’t wait to go next year, some saying they want to move to Mexico or spend months down here. They are truly getting a heart for Missions. I love it!

Day 6 - Shopping/Senior High Ministry

2010-07-26T23:48:00.004-04:00

Today we were able to sleep in which was a much needed as Missions work as well as being off your normal routine wears on you. We once again went shopping in Centro which is the downtown of Morelia. As we were driving down town we saw the longest Aqueduct in the world as well as the only Cathedral dedicated to Jesus in the world. Morelia has some beautiful architecture.

On Saturday night we went to the Senior High youth ministry at Vida Abundante where they asked me to speak again. It was so amazing to watch these students worship God with all their hearts. Before we got started we prayed and prophesied over the youth pastor Isreal as well as the youth ministry. As we were doing that I felt as if God said put your notes down I have a different message for you. I felt as if God is calling this youth ministry to that reaches the city and the nations and in order to do that they must walk as royalty.

I concluded my message with some specific prophecies over certain individuals than our teens began to pray and prophesy over their teens. It was such a blessing to watch our students walk in such power and anointing.

God really used our students to encourage the students of Vida Abundante. At the end of the night their youth have challenged our youth to a soccer game. We will see how that goes as many of them play soccer unlike many of the games we have played. We are now 8-1 verse the Team Mexico.

Day 5 Shopping and Vida Abundante

2010-07-24T09:49:00.002-04:00

Today was a great day, we got to sleep in and then eat breakfast at McDonalds which is always plus. Today was our shopping day we traveled to Patzcuaro and walked around the shops and saw some amazing handmade bags, shirts, hoodies, bracelets and more. The most exciting time was as we were walking back to the bus a man had a toy you could put in your mouth to sound like a cat or a chicken and he followed us for about 2 miles making the noise the entire time. After saying senior alto he continued to follow us. We all laughed about this because we felt he was stalking us. As we neared the bus he left but we later found out the Brandon and Mitchell had each purchased one so now we get to hear the amazing sound for the rest of our trip. Yahoo!!!

Last night we were invited to the Jr ministry. We worshiped with the adults than we went into the jr high room. They had asked me to preach so I preached a message on forgiveness and we saw many of the young girls broken by hurts and abuse by people close in their lives. Our girls did a great job just holding these girls and allowing them to cry in their chest. We truly have some amazing teens on this team with us.

Day 4 Santiago/Childrens Hospitol

2010-07-24T09:23:00.004-04:00

Every time we load the bus we know something amazing is going to happen. We don't know what to expect as we drive out of the city and into small towns in the mountains. But one thing we know for sure is that we must be flexible. We drove to Santiago this morning expecting to paint and dig a ditch. Once we arrived we found that they wanted us to pick up trash for two hours. We all thought there was no way picking up trash would take two hours. We were wrong!

We walk down the mountain for about 20 min and arrived at a lake that the locals hang out at. What we saw stunned us all. There were thousands upon thousands (I know preachers can exaggerate but this is not one of those times) of bottles across the shore and in the water. We worked for two hours and could have been there all day. We had a blast doing it as we saw the strip of the shore we were cleaning go from trashy to nice.

After this we hiked back up the mountain and began going to the houses of some of the church members. This was hard as we saw some of them living in such poverty and how some of them especially the women where being abused by their husbands. We prayed with many of them and saw how God was using us to touch their lives.

Later that day we traveled to a children's hospital. At this hospital only one parent can go into the hospital at a time so the other has to stay out on the street and they switch. We preformed out drama and then Dan Freda got up and preached a salvation message. Many decided to give their lives to Christ PTL!!! After praying with them the team began to go among the people and pray for their needs. This was hard for many of us as we heard the stories of kids with Leukemia, a four day old baby that had fluid on his lungs and the parents have been trying to have a child for 28 years and they believe this baby will die. This father cried in my chest for 20 min broken with fear and worry over his son. This was hard for our team as we came back we broke up into teams and talked through the night and debriefed and saw how God has used us to touch the hurting by giving us a heart for the hurting. Please keep praying for us as we continue to see needs that stir us and break us.

Day 3 Jeruco

2010-07-22T07:57:00.004-04:00

Day 3 started out with a long bus ride out of Morelia to a paint supply store. We arrived in Jeruco around 10:30 and dropped off a team of 6 to build a wall and play soccer in the town square. While there Esther had the opportunity to pray for a lady whose son just came home after 27 years. His father took him away when he was one. While the team was there her son gave his life to Christ.

We continued on our drive to another small town where we dropped off 7 of our team members to paint a kids center. A couple of our girls painted a mural of the city on the outside of the building while the others started working on the inside.

The last of the team were dropped off at a tiny one bedroom house with a back porch/ kitchen and dinning room, this was their church. This team moved everything away from the walls and started painting them white. While there they also chased chickens around having a 5 year old girl teach them to catch them.

After this all 19 of us piled into three small cars. The 7 guys where piled into the back seat of a car the normally seats 3. We traveled about 20 min where we showed up at a plaza. When we arrived there was no one in sight. Within 10 min there was a crowed of about 30-40 people. We preformed our drama, Brandon shared his testimony, and we preached the gospel. While there we saw people putting balloons up on their house and we asked if it was someones birthday but were told they where putting balloons up to celebrate their gods. Lastly we took some time to pray for the sick and one lady was having headaches every day as well as back problems and she was healed of both. We are seeing God moving in the lives of the people of Mexico.

Day 2 Tuna Manza "Love does not need words"

2010-07-20T23:37:00.008-04:00

As a few of us gathered this morning on a roof top overlooking the city of Morelia with our Ipods on and the sun rising over the mountains we knew today would be a day we would never forget. We jumped on our bus and started to head out of town we knew things were changing when we got off the paved road and began to travel down a long winding road up the mountains. Travel slowed to at times barely moving and at times moving in the wrong direction to avoid holes or retry a slope.

We arrived in Tuna Manza at 11:00am and hit the ground running. We got our battery powered speakers up and started playing kids music and out of no where and I mean literary out of know where, there only appeared to be 1 house and a school house, 2 kids turned into 10 kids which turned into 20 kids and into 30 people getting face paint, balloon animals, and candy.

Over the course of the next few hours we played four corners, sang the hallelujah/praise you the Lord song in Spanish, preformed a drama, shared a message, and heard Megan and Drew do a great job with their testimonies.

After all that the local men challenged us to a game of soccer. For the next several hours we played soccer first defeating the local men 2-0 thanks to the village pastor who scored both our goals. After this the village children wanted to play us, which turned into about 30 to 11 but we held our own and won the game. After this the men wanted a rematch we played first goal wins and after some close calls Team USA pulled out another upset win. We head back there on Tuesday which we will have to defend our title.

After this we were invited to the home of one of the families in which they made lunch for us and showed us great hospitality. As we sat around and debriefed tonight it was the kids who stole our hearts. There smiles and joy in the midst of a lifestyle that none of us could fathom challenged a way of thinking that many of us have. It was powerful to see the students of Outbreak reach out past their comfort zone and language barrier and prove love does not need words.

19 world changers Day 1

2010-07-19T09:17:00.005-04:00

Many times we pray for increased anointing when going on trips but we are praying for a revelation of the anointing that God has called us to walk in for the rest of our lives. We don't want to just have a great 10 days we want to be set up to change the world for the rest of our lives.

So this morning 19 world changers awoke at 3:45am to be at the airport by 5:00am we arrived on time thanks to Rob, Josh, and Andy. We board on a puddle jumper to Cleveland and arrived here safely and now wait for our next flight which is in 4 hours. Please keep praying for us and believing for great things to happen.

5 Reason why my dad is the best!

2010-06-20T19:52:00.005-04:00

I know we could all get in wars over whose dad is better than others. It is like when we were kids and we started arguing and it always ended in my dad is bigger than your dad, or my dad has more facial hair. Nonetheless after all these years I must say my dad is the best. Here are 5 reasons.

1. Character: A patented line from my dad was, "don't worry son it builds character." Watching my dad all these years, almost 28 now which in some fields you are considered a leading expert after this many years, I have seen my dad walk in such character and allow God to use tough trials and adversity to build character in him. I remember my dad paying bills on line, taking back money when to much change was given, I remember watching people bad mouth him and he guard his lips. My Dad is the best because he walks with such character.

2. Gentle: I have watched my dad all these years walk in gentleness. He has always been a "velvet covered brick", dad I still remember that sermon. Where he was unmovable and unwavering but carried himself with extraordinary gentleness in all situations. My dad is the best because he is gentle.

3. Consistent: My dad has been my Steady Freddy. Though life brought many rains and wind I watched my dad never waiver in his faith and pursuit of God. This has been an image marked in the forefront of my mind for eternity. Not only in faith but my dad was always there, I can remember him rescheduling a guest speaker so he could come to my last game. My dad is the best because he is consistent!

4. Courageous: The courage that I saw in my dad to take steps of faith when everything screams "don't do it," to take on challenges far greater than himself is what sets my dad far above many. Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." My dad has consistently taking on the challenge and their are lives eternally impacted because of what God has done through him. My dad is the best because he is courageous.

5. Example: As a kid you dream to be just like your dad than you go into your teens and that fades but than there comes a day when things come full circle and you want to be just like your dad. I truly can say that I want to be like my dad. I hope I am as great as a dad as my dad is. He has set such a great example and can say as Paul said, "imitate me as I imitate Christ." My dad's life is worth imitating that is why he is the best.

Now I know many of you will want to argue with me about how awesome your dad is but you can't talk me out of knowing my dad is the best.

Dad, I am proud to have heard all my life, "son," from you. I glad to be your son. seriously.

P.S. just so you know my mom is the best too :)

Characteristics of a Godly mother

2010-05-09T08:29:00.006-04:00

These are Characteristics that I have seen in Tarah since we have had kids.

1. She is patient when a two year old goes potty in her pants for the 5th time today even though she is potty trained.

2. She is kind when I walk in the house and everything is crazy and I want to share something that I have been thinking about all day and she is kind enough to listen.

3. She sees long term, Tarah doesn't allow the temporary frustrations to change her course because she has long term purposes with our children.

4. She perseveres, Tarah perseveres with the intentional characteristics we are instilling in our children even when it would be justified to give up.

5. She is gentle, Tarah is so gentle in the what she does with our kids and speaking gently with them and not getting frustrated when frustration is due.

6. She is hungry for God, I have never met someone who wants the things of God like Tarah does. She seeks Him and longs to be led by Him. She truly is a woman who is after the heart of God.

7. She is fun, I love watching her with our kids, run around, laugh, sing, dance, color, paint, and experience the joy of God.

8. She is protective, Tarah does a great job of making sure she listens to the Holy Spirit when it comes to who watches our kids, where our kids go, and what they do. I saw this in my mom who would stop us from going places, wake up in the middle of the night and call us or wait for us to get home and then ask us what happened at 10:43 and 30 sec. I admired this so much in my mom and now I have a wife who walks in the same giftings.

9. She is Diligent. The definition of diligent: characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort. There is a steadiness about Tarah that is awe inspiring. Nothing really gets to her or shakes her, she is like an oak tree with her roots going deep.

10. She is worth modeling her life after, I look at my girls now and think if they grow up to be just like Tarah we have succeeded. The character, integrity, hunger for God, love, compassion, perseverance, gentleness, if these get into our children we have done our job. Tarah, thank you for being the best mom and wife a man could ever wish for.

Proverbs 31:10 "A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. "

Laughter is the best medicine

2010-04-30T09:57:00.003-04:00

Jericho knows, "A cheerful heart is good medicine," Proverbs 17:22

Minute To Win at Outbreak this week

2010-04-28T11:58:00.002-04:00

Come on out to Outbreak (5:30-8:00 at EGC) this week and play some Minute to Win it

2010-04-27T07:49:00.002-04:00

I have signed up for this podcast by Derek Levendusky and it has been a real blessing to me and I wanted to pass it on to you.

GraceLife Episode 1

2010-04-21T22:35:00.001-04:00

GraceLife Episode 1

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Is your expector broken?

2010-04-20T07:55:00.001-04:00

“Are you bored with life? Maybe your expecter has expired,” John Maxwell. I have found at times when the alarm goes off in the morning I don’t really expect it is worth it to get up and spend time with God in the morning. Will I really get something out of reading the Bible, prayer, or worship, well this morning I was convinced.

Ps 19:7-11 “7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. 10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. 11 By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”

It might be time for a new expector!

Life Lessons from Eeyore

2010-04-13T07:47:00.004-04:00

I recently preached a message titled "Life Lessons From Eeyore." Many times when we go through a difficult season we begin to have a cloud hovering over us, we are not meant to live the rest of our lives with this cloud over our head. The cloud lingers for longer than it should when we begin to believe the lies that take away all hope. Everyone has times of cloudiness but we are not meant to camp out in "Eeyore's sad and boggy place." The way out is to focus on the truth of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. I heard someone say this weekend, "focusing on Jesus may not change your circumstances, but it changes you." If you are going through a difficult season and have begun to feel hopeless, together let's lift up our eyes to Jesus and find hope again. If you want to check out the sermon I preached you can click HERE.

Do you remember what you look like?

2010-04-09T05:31:00.001-04:00

"Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." James 1:23-24

Spinning Plates

2010-03-31T10:41:00.004-04:00

Many times in our journey with God we find ourselves feeling like we are spinning all these different types of plates: prayer, evangelism, worship, reading our bibles, etc... We find ourselves acting as slaves and not children of God, loved by God. I read a quote by Derek Levendusky last night that said, "Satan spends all his time making unbelievers feel accepted by God, and believers unaccepted by God." We feel if we don't keep up all the plates we lose our position as Children of God. When really God is looking for intimacy. All these things are good and should be done by a Christ follower but when you put your faith in those things to make us acceptable to God instead of what Christ did on the cross we've lost focus on where our salvation has come from. Join me today in evaluating where our focus is. If you have time check out this VIDEO of a guy spinning some crazy plates.

Remember?

2010-03-15T07:39:00.000-04:00

It's easy to forget who God is in the midst of a trial. I am seeing more and more the potential of the spirit of despair and hopelessness setting in not only in our country but in the church. In these times of trials and difficulties when everything seems to be in chaos we must remind ourselves of who God is. I read this quote this morning by AW Tozer that I think will help us all.

"God's sovereignty is the attribute by which He rules His entire creation, and to be sovereign God must be all knowing, all powerful, and absolutely free. The reasons are these: Were there even on datum of knowledge, however small, unknown to God, His rule would break down at that point. To be Lord over all the creation, He must possess all knowledge. And were God lacking one infinitesimal modicum of power, that lack would end His reign and undo His kingdom; that one stray atom of power would belong to someone else and God would be a limited ruler and hence not sovereign.

"Furthermore, His sovereignty requires that He be absolutely free, which means simply that He must be free to do whatever He wills to do anywhere at any time to carry out His eternal purpose in every singe detail without interference. Were He less than free He must be less than sovereign."

Our God is in control of every situation and every situation He works to benefit us. We can trust Him.

Did you see this?

2010-03-10T15:15:00.002-05:00

God is doing some amazing things in Haiti. I saw this on Pastor Wayne's blog, so I guess you could say this is my second Re:Blog

Haiti - "A Call To Fasting & Prayer" from anthony gehin on Vimeo.

Re: Blog Pastor Josh Finley?

2010-03-08T07:32:00.001-05:00

Are you allowed to Re: Blog someone's blog? I know you can RE:Tweet but can you Re:Blog. Well I am going to today. My Pastor, Pastor Josh Finley, did a blog the other day that I think everyone should read especially if you are a leader. So today I am launching into new territory that I don't know if anyone has ever gone before, I am a pioneer that is leading the way of RE:Blogging. Below is Pastor Josh's blog.

how to start a movement.
Check out some helpful leadership principles from this "Dancing Guy" youtube clip.

I received this from a church leadership coach whose blog I regularly read, tonymorganlive.com.

David Sivers gave this message at a recent leaders conference.A 3 min commentary on this video..only 3 minutes..he received a standing ovation.. AND got his point across!

Tarah, you surpass them all!

2010-03-05T02:24:00.002-05:00

On the eve of Tarah’s 27th Birthday I can’t help but sit here and think of all the amazing things that she is. So I have dedicated this blog to her. We have been married for 5 ½ years but have been friends for 7 ½ so I have had the privilege of getting a glimpse at just a few of the amazing facets of this rare diamond.

• She has some of the cutest pet peeves. Double cases her pillow, likes me to get her tooth brush ready for her, loves storage tubs, loves any organizational tool, when we play sports she gets hair time outs, and there are many more.

• Tarah has always dreamed of being a mother and when you see her being a mother you see that this was her God designed assignment.

• She remains a student. She loves to learn, whether it is cooking, gardening, reading books, and her desires to learn more about God she does it with such intensity.

• She is not star struck. Tarah has an amazing ability to not get caught up in the name of someone with this she has the ability to connect with people on all levels because your level doesn’t matter to her.

• She challenges me to grow. Watching Tarah pursue God and allow God to work in her life reveals the amazing love of God to me which causes me to pursue God.

• She is an amazing wife. I hear it said behind every great man is a great woman. Behind me is a woman who has been such a support through encouragement, prayer, and wisdom that has allowed God to use me to sow and reap a harvest. She will receive a full reward for this.

• She can make just about anyone talk. There are times I don’t want to talk but she knows just the right questions to ask to crack the vault of my mouth. She will prod and poke until you willingly give the information you were keeping. Even presents for birthdays and Christmas. She hates surprise so she makes you confess.

• She is a prayer warrior. Smith Wigglesworth once said I never pray for more than 15 min but I never let 15 min go by without praying. He is talking about a life style of prayer. Tarah does an amazing job of continuing in conversation with God all through out the day.

• She has the most amazing eyes. To look in her eyes is to look at the ocean on a calm night. I grew up near the Gulf of Mexico and I would at times go out and sit on the beach at night and to hear the waves crashing brings a peace to your day. When looking in Tarah’s eyes you see that peace, you know you can talk to her about anything. She is a safe place for many, including me.

• She is my best friend. I love being with Tarah. When I am with Tarah life seems to slow down. There might be chaos happening all around me but when I am with her it’s okay because as we often say, “there is no one else that I would rather do this with than you (her).” She is my best friend.

• Finally she is a Proverbs 31 Woman
10 [c] A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.
19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
Tarah,
As Proverbs 31:29 says, "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." You have surpassed them all. Thank you babe for being you and I love you to the moon and back.

Drowning?

2010-03-01T07:19:00.004-05:00

I have almost drowned twice in my life, it is truly one of the most helpless feelings. Many times we can feel the same way when facing obstacles, habitual sins, or trials.

Recently I was reading 2 Peter 1:3-4, "3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

He has given us everything we need to walk as His sons and daughters. The Holy Spirit is our teacher who helps us discover everything we need to live as royalty. Last night I preached a message titled "The Everything" on this very topic and if you feel yourself beat down or exhausted in your walk take some time to listen to it. Click Here

How to have victory!

2010-02-16T08:18:00.002-05:00

This week there have been many issues brought to me about problems and attacks against families and teens. As I was praying this morning I discovered our natural tendency is to focus our prayers against the satan, our enemy. This plays right into what he desires, if the focus of our prayers are on him, our addictions, sins, and the circumstances he is causing, then our focus cannot be on what Jesus accomplished with His death and resurrection. Our prayers should focus on the victory we have in Christ over satan and the circumstance. Below are some scriptures that show us that we have victory in Christ. Claim these and pray these over your addictions, sins and circumstances and as you walk this out you will have freedom because your focus your faith is on the right object. Where your focus lies so does your faith. Pastor Josh said one time, "Jesus hit the game winning home run our job is to run the bases." We have already won now it is time to run. I challenge you today to focus on the victory we have in Christ today rather than your trials.

No more need fear, and no more need doubting,

No more need pride control in my life.

I may be free from all condemnation,

I can have victory now in the strife.

I take the life of victory,

Not I, but Christ Himself in me;

He conquers now, He sets me free;

I take, He gives—the victory.

Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?" 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

"Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 15:56

“Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all.
Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all." 1 Chronicles 29:10-12

“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. "For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:4-11

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves... [W]hen they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." Matthew 10:16, 19-20

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:31-39

"Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Hebrews 2:14-15

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" 1 John 5:3-5

“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.” "'O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? 'The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:51

“I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 'Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." Revelation 12:10-11

"And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” "Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” "And He said to me, 'It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son." Revelation 21:4

"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. " 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

How to trade your sorrows for joy

2010-02-10T06:16:00.003-05:00

Some times I like to listen to the oldie but goodie worship songs and for the last week I have been listening to "Trading My Sorrows (Yes Lord)" worship song. This morning as I was listening to it I started praying how do I trade my sorrows, shame, sickness, and pain and lay them down for the joy of the Lord. Who wouldn't want joy over all those things. I could always use more joy. I felt like the Lord dropped in my Spirit a common theme He has been speaking to me for the last two years. The way you trade something is by changing what you are focusing on.
In John 3:14 Jesus says, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert the Son of Man must be lifted up." Jesus is referring to the story in Numbers 21 when the people spoke out against Moses and the Lord, because of this God ."...sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelite's died..." The salvation from this snake was for Moses to, "...make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake lived."
So what is Jesus telling us in John 3:14? He is saying to live, to be saved, you must put your focus on me. Look up to me and not the things that are around you. So how do we make the trade of sorrows, shame, sickness, and pain; the writer of Hebrews confirms what Jesus says, "...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." If we fix our eyes on Jesus and what He has accomplished on the cross and His love that is revealed to us on the cross the sorrows, shames, sicknesses and pains are exchanged for Joy.
It's about my focus, is it on the problem or the finished work of Christ on the cross. Bill Johnson says in his book, Strengthen yourself in the Lord,"the enemy uses lies to make our problems bigger than the solutions you carry." Today I want to challenge us to see the areas we are focusing on our problems and not the solution: Christ.

The Great Exchange

2010-02-01T06:27:00.003-05:00

Guys tend to have to exchange there clothes a lot, we go shopping for clothes and never try anything on. I think a lot of the reason why we don't try anything on is the torment our mothers put us through as children. We would have to come out where a bunch of other mothers where and walk around, have our mom's check the waste, and see if they fit in the butt. This was always an awkward moment for guys and with all the scarring I believe we have boycotted trying clothes on now. With that memory in mind we come home into a safe environment and try them on and realize they are way to small or way to big, then we have to go back and get a different pair. We tend to do this cycle until we get the right size.

There is another exchange that happens in our lives and this one can be even more costly. I was reading Romans 1 this morning and ran smack dab into verse 25, "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen." I was challenged today to do as David did, God search my heart and find if there is any area where I have exchanged the truth for a lie. Where am I worshiping the created and not the creator, is it in my possessions? Do I have to have the latest or greatest? Is it in my job? Do I seek the praise of man over God saying, "well done?"

These lies capture us and put us into bondage. God desires for another exchange to happen. Hebrews 12:1-3 "1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Let's exchange what is hindering us with fixing our eyes on Jesus and begin to walk in freedom today.

Son or Slave

2010-01-31T06:46:00.002-05:00

"I believe that not understanding who you are in Christ is the source for every spiritual conflict." Neil Anderson. I am in the process of reading "Discipleship by Grace" by Derek Levendusky and in every page I am challenged and confronted with who I am in Christ. Many times as Christ followers we find ourselves striving to do for God. We read the pages of the Bible with do glasses on. We see every thing we are not doing and make a mental note that either I will start doing that or I will never be able to do that. This is exactly what the Pharisees did, they searched the scriptures for more rules to keep. When we live that life we are acting as slaves. The truth is that we are sons and daughters of God. When Jesus died on the cross He didn't only free us from forever separation from God but He brought us into the family. We are just princes and princesses with amnesia, in the process of discovering who we are. We don't know who we are. Let's say Prince Edward was traveling to America and when he got off the plane he hit his head and forgot who he was and began a homeless lifestyle. If I saw him eating trash out of a trash can and said, "Prince Edward what are you doing." His response being, "I'm not a prince." Because he doesn't know he is a prince, does that change whether he is a prince or not? Over the next weeks and months he would go through the process of learning who he was and that would begin to change what he did. Derek says in his book, "the doing will flow from the being." Once we discover who we are, our minds begin the transformation and renewing process and as we discover that, the doing becomes natural. Today I want to challenge you with this question, are you striving to do or are you striving to believe. "Our royal status as children isn't based on our feelings but truth," Derek.

Forgiveness Brings Freedom

2010-01-11T08:09:00.003-05:00

"Resentment and Bitterness are worthless emotions, they allow someone in your past to still hurt you in your future." This last week I have been studying the second half of Matthew 18 where Peter asked how many times must I forgive my brother. As I read this several times I saw the pride in the servant. The king called for his accounts to be settled. The servant came in and owed 10,000 talents which is estimated in our day to be about 10-15 million dollars. The servant could not pay so the King was going to have him and his family placed in jail. He fell to his knees, on commentator said,"crouched like a dog," begging for forgiveness. The King forgave him and sent him forth.

He then comes to another servant who owes him an estimated few dollars in our day, and chokes him and tells him he must pay. The man begs, "crouches like a dog," but the wicked servant would not forgive him and had him thrown in jail. The King finds out and says, "you wicked servant. I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother form your heart."

Where did this servant go wrong? He went wrong in verse 26,"I will pay back everything." He actually thought he could pay back the debt he owed, so when the King forgave him of the debt he saw it as a favor. Pride! Unforgiveness is prideful superiority. It says I deserve to be forgiven but you don't deserve to be forgiven by me.

Our reaction to the Grace of God forgiving our sins should humble us that it fills us with such gratitude that we extended that Grace to others. I want to challenge you today as I have been challenged, who are you holding unforgiveness towards and let's extend the same Grace to them as we have been shown. Unforgiveness imprisons us, let's walk in the freedom of humility.

Last night I preached about this very topic if you are interested in getting more on this check it out here, it's titled Humility Brings Freedom.

Where did everyone go

2010-01-04T08:29:00.002-05:00

Tarah and I were coming home from church one night after Outbreak and after being home for a while I realized I hadn't seen the dog in a while. I start looking all over the house, the basement, our room, outside and I couldn't find him anywhere. He had run off. After some spirit led driving I found him wondering around down the road. Thinking about this I was struck with the thought that this happens to many of my friendships. I find myself after a few months or even years wondering where all my friends have gone. I find myself having to create new relationships.

Many times pride and insecurity is the very root of lost relationships, because when hurts through words spoken or actions taken come, instead of going through the pain of talking with the person I just stuff it down deep because I might be too prideful to say sorry or too insecure to tell someone they hurt me. Pastor Josh talks about the only way to go from artificial relationships to authentic relationships is to go through the Tunnel of Chaos. It's hard to ask for forgiveness or talk to someone about the hurt they have caused you but it is the only way to go from artificial to authentic. If you look at the closest relationships in your life you will see you have gone through some confrontational moments with them. This is so clearly described in Matthew 18 when Jesus says "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over." The purpose for going is to win your brother over not win an argument; to restore the relationship. Isn't this what Jesus did for us. We have offended God with the very sin in our lives but He sent Jesus not to judge the world but to save it, that we might have a restored relationship with Him.

I challenge you today as I have been challenged, look around at relationships that are artificial or have been lost and look to restore them. I preached a sermon on this very topic last night if you want to here it click HERE and listen to Humility Builds Strong Relationships. Also if you want some steps on how to confront someone biblically just comment on my blog and I will get a great document that Pastor Wayne has made.

Check this video out

2009-12-21T11:48:00.003-05:00

Check out this video by clicking this link

There is rest

2009-12-01T07:49:00.002-05:00

I recently heard a quote repeated, "no rest for the weary." That is how many of us feel; "I can never get ahead", "I am always behind the 8 ball", etc... But as I thought about this it is completely contrary to what Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30, "28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

There is rest, it is in Jesus. I have come to realize that when I am getting weary and burdened I am wearing the wrong yoke. If I am wearing His yoke there is rest for the weary. The reason why His yoke is restful is that He has already completed the work on the cross and when we put on His yoke we learn how to reap the harvest that He has for us whether it is a project at work, a dream He has put in your heart, or raising your kids. All our burdens are apart of the finished work of Christ when we trust in Him the the yoke of stress, workaholism, weariness is lifted. Today and everyday I challenge you to purposely take off the yoke of trying to complete task in yourself and put on the yoke of Jesus and learn from Him and find rest.

Great Expectations

2009-11-16T08:24:00.002-05:00

Two Fridays ago I had the awesome privilege along with Pastor Josh to fly in a little prop plane over Niagara Falls with Phil Deitsch taking us up. The night before I read Psalms 5:3, "In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my request before you and wait in expectation." I have probably read this verse 50 times but it had never really affected me until now. "(I) wait in expectation." When my alarm went off early that Friday morning I jumped right out of bed because I was so excited about flying, expecting the time of my life. As I sat on the edge of my bed putting my socks on I felt God drop into my spirit, "but you snooze for Me." Through out the week God began to show me I got up that Friday Morning with great expectation of what was going to happen, but on a day when I have nothing rushing me out of the house early and the first thing that I am going to do is read my Bible I snooze until I have to be up and then I "don't have time" to spend with Him. The difference is my expectation level. I have quit expecting God to meet with me when I spend time reading or praying. These things I do, have become traditions that need to be checked off my list. I am praying for great expectation to be restored into my life. Will you pray that with me for your life? He says, "Draw near to Me and I will draw near to you."

Who Moved?

2009-11-02T09:24:00.003-05:00

I heard a quote one time that said, "If you are feeling distant from God, who moved?" Yesterday during worship I was praying because I have felt distant from God and feeling disconnected; that is when this quote dropped into my spirit. I began to rewind in my mind the last several weeks and saw that I had moved away from depending on Him.

I have discovered the busier I get the less quality time I spend with God because I am to busy to pray, read my bible, do personal worship. When I do this I become dependent on myself to create fruit. I have blogged before about the vine and branch. The branch has no ability to bear fruit unless it is connected to the vine. In my busyness I stop doing the very thing that will allow me to produce fruit in my life. I have come to the conclusion that I am to busy not to spend time with God. As Derek Levendusky says, "He is my everything, I am my nothing." This is so true, I need Him not just a token song on a Sunday morning during worship or a quick read of the Bible to fit it in but I need a real authentic growing relationship with Him to walk out my everyday.

Grace empowers you past your sin

2009-10-05T08:12:00.006-04:00

In this video you see a young women who understands the truth of Grace empowering you past your sin. If the video below doesn't work for you Click here

Your future is dictated by what you are fixated on

2009-09-29T14:46:00.002-04:00

"Your future is dictated by what you are fixated on" is a phrase that came to me today while reading Matthew 14. I was reading the story of Jesus walking on water and then Peter having the faith to get out of the boat than that faith turned to fear which causes him to start to sink. As I was reading this I caught something new. The storm was happening before Peter got out of the boat but the level of faith overcame any fear he might have. As Peter began to walk out on the water he took his eyes off of what got him out of the boat, Jesus. Fixating on circumstance instead of the creator will cause fear. Fixating on personal struggles instead of your personal savior will cause condemnation. This is why the writer of Hebrews writes, "fixes your eyes on Jesus..." because when we look at Him faith rises up inside of us to walk where God has called us to walk. Today I want to challenge you to look at areas in your life that you are fixating on circumstances and not the creator and fix your eyes on Him who will cause faith to rise inside of you to walk where He has called you to walk.

David faith infused courage

2009-09-22T08:33:00.003-04:00

I think most people would say that the account of David and Goliath has to be their favorite or at least top three. I love this story in 1 Samuel 17. A young shepherd boy comes down to bring food to his brothers and overhears this 9 foot tall Philistine Goliath defying the armies of the Living God? As I was reading this I caught something new. In verse 24 it says, "when the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear." Then as I kept reading in verses 52-53 it says, "Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp." What gave these men who were just fearful the courage to chase an entire army without fear? One man stepped out in great faith. As I thought about this David's actions infused courage in the rest of the Israelites. Our individual actions of faith infuse courage in the lives of those around us. People around us are crippled by fear and we can infuse courage into them by our actions of faith. Today I challenge you to walk in faith. What is the giant that defies the people of the Living God? Let's slay the giants today.

A Kingdom Principle

2009-09-14T08:34:00.002-04:00

As I was doing my Outbreak reading plan this morning I caught something I had never caught before. In Genesis 14 a war breaks out between 4 Kings allied verse 5 Kings allied. Two of the 5 Kings were Sodom and Gomorrah's kings. Sodom and Gomorrah along with the other three kings went to battle and lost terribly. It says, "the four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. They also carried off Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom."

Abram (later known as Abraham) catches wind of this and gets together 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit of these four kings. It says, "during the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah north of Damascus. He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people."

Here is the Kingdom principle: I Corinthians 1:27-31 "27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

Do you see it? Abram with 318 men did what 5 Kings and their armies could not do. Today I want to challenge you to step out and allow God to use you in something beyond your normal strength so that He may get all the glory!

Simply Put

2009-09-08T08:38:00.002-04:00

I am more convinced than ever that I need God's presence with me. Moses' was meeting with God in the Tent of Meetings and this was their conversation in Exodus 33.

"12 Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." 14 The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." 15 Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" 17 And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."

I love what Moses says, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here." It reminds me of what Jesus said in John 15, "apart from Me you can do nothing." Oh how I long for His presence with me daily, I don't want to attempt to do life without being connected to Him. I as the branch have no ability to produce fruit unless I am connected to the vine.

Get Connected

2009-08-31T08:43:00.003-04:00

Have you ever had a thought that was so beyond your normal IQ that you knew it had to be God. This happened to me two weeks ago. I have been praying for several weeks about how to really do life and all its busyness. Being apart of a great staff, leading youth into a greater walk with God, being a husband, have a child and another on the way, etc... I am sure your situation feels similar. This sense of just staying ahead of the wave that is about to crash down on you. I have heard people say, "You just have to depend on the Lord, its God's ministry not yours." That sounds good but no one has ever really told me how that is suppose to work.

Sitting in a meeting the Lord dropped a phrase into my spirit that has ruined me. "A life without the secret place is a self reliant life." This is John 15 in a nutshell. "I am the Vine you are the branches, Remain in me and I will remain in you, No branch can bear fruit by itself; you must remain in the vine, if a man remains in me he will bear much fruit." There is such a great demand of fruit from our lives; our families, churches, jobs, hobbies, etc... that if we are not connected to the vine we are lacking the source of fruit. Our labor is not the source of fruit. I can't try hard enough to bear fruit, I have to stay connected to the vine which flows life into me which then enables me to bear fruit.

When we are connected to the vine we know His desire for us. We know when He desires us to put more emphasis in an area whether it be family, friends, work, or fun. When our lives get out of balance we have lost connection to the vine. Today I want to challenge you to get re-connected to the vine through your secret place. It is the only way fruit will come from your life.

The Woodshed?

2009-07-27T08:39:00.002-04:00

I was driving yesterday praying for Tarah as I do just about everyday. My usual prayer, "Lord fill Tarah today, fill her more with joy, peace, love, etc..." As I was driving God decided to take me to the woodshed. The woodshed is a place where God takes you to discipline you are to change a way of thinking. God's simple response to my prayer to fill Tarah was, "That's your job." Now God didn't simply leave it at that but began to show me how God has placed me into her life to be a conduit of His love, joy, peace, etc.. He has placed me into her life to help her experience Christ Transforming love.

We so often want God to do things that He has called us through His power to do. It is not that God isn't going to fill Tarah up, it is that He has given me the power to be a conduit of His love in such a way that she will be filled. My sole mission in my marriage is to keep my wife and family filled. To pray for her, to pray for ideas of ways to bless her (love notes, presents, flowers, regular dates nights, etc...)to make her feel like a woman and not a stay at home mom. God has given me power to fill me wife.

Are you hanging with Daddy?

2009-07-21T08:14:00.002-04:00

A bit of history for you...

John and Jacqueline Kennedy were one of the youngest presidential couples to live in the White House, and their children treated it as a play land. Caroline Kennedy, almost 4, and John Jr., just an infant, moved in on February 4, 1961. Americans had not seen children so young in the White House in 50 years — since Theodore Roosevelt’s family lived there in the early 1900s. John Jr.’s favorite hiding place was under his father’s desk in the Oval Office. He could hide behind a secret door built into the desk. One of the White House staff, Preston Bruce, would have to take the young boy out from beneath the desk when President Kennedy had meetings in his office. In a book of his memories about working in the White House, Bruce wrote: "Sometimes I’d be asked to fetch him because there was business to be done that would be better accomplished without John-John. I’d have to pull him away from his daddy."

I love this line, "I'd have to pull him away from his daddy." If I were to try and hide in the Oval office there would be a few men with guns that would want to talk to me, but John-John had full access to the oval office. He could walk confidently in there to be with his daddy.

Eph 3:12 says we can do the same thing, "In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence." Because of what Christ did on the cross I am now a son of God, that gives me free access into His presence. I don't have to have someone else go to Him for me. I get to go right to Him. If that is the case, if I get full access to God, my ultimate daddy, why don't I go more often? For some of us we don't understand how much God loves us and wants to spend time with us, for others we are to busy. But I want people to say about me is, that they had to pull me away from my daddy. What about you?

Fear keeps us from the promises of God.

2009-06-27T08:13:00.002-04:00

When we allow fear into our lives it keeps us from the promises of God. I think about the Israelites who were PROMISED the Promise Land (hint is in the name)and when they went to scope out the land, only two had the faith that God would be true to his word. The others were some overcome by fear that they imparted fear into everyone else. And they chose not to walk in faith and take the promise land. This is also a good place to note that you should surround yourself with people who impart faith not fear. This generation of Israelite missed out on the Promise Land and died in the wilderness. Fear will keep you from the promises of God. Joshua and Caleb by the way the, two who walked in faith, were the only ones that got to go into the Promise Land from that generation. Replace Fear with Faith. What areas of fear are keeping you from the promises of God in your life? Offer them up to Him - Perfect Love cast out all fear.

Fear is the belief that God has lost control.

2009-06-15T09:58:00.002-04:00

Fear. Over the last several months fear as been dominating my thoughts. Last Friday morning I was out at the lake doing some work and the setting was so peaceful that it gave me ample opportunity to think and pray. Fears began to dominate my thinking once again, fear of man, fear of failure, fear of pregnancy problems, fear of finances, how I have reacted to situations out of fear and not respond to them, then God spoke. God spoke so clearly to me that it will never leave me. God said, "Fear is the belief that God has lost control." At first it hit me and stunned me, but over the next couple of hours of marinating on this phrase He began to open it up to me. Fear is the belief that a God who is madly in love with you has somehow lost control. Because if He hasn't lost control His love would never allow something to come to you that wouldn't be for your benefit and for His glory. So if there is fear that means our thinking is that God has lost control. But we argue that we know that God is always in control but fear proves that our thinking is contrary. Perfect love cast out all fear. You can trust Him! Though the enemy wishes to destroy you, God uses it to promote you.

The teens are starting a revolution!

2009-06-03T14:15:00.010-04:00

At Outbreak I have been provoking the teens to start a Revolution in there jobs, schools, neighborhoods, and families. Below is an email from orinne who is starting a Revolution in her work place.

"So I wanted to e-mail you cuz I am not going to be at Outbreak this week or next as they having me working (Please pray they don't have me work every sunday night!!) But I know you'd be as excited as I am! So I was at work Saturday. I was stocking the pop cooler and thinking. Most of my coworkers are older than me. Like to old to come to youth group (Except one guy who I will eventually bring) So I went "Lord your gonna have to help me reach my coworkers cuz I can't bring them to youth group." Well later that day I got to have a conversation with this guy Dave about God! It was sooo cool! I was humming a worship song while I was working and Dave asked me what I was singing. I told him a song from my church. He's like "Oh...I haven't been to church in like...10 years" I was like omg!! Opening!! lol So I asked why. He's like "God and I aren't on very good terms right now. I've done some stuff that God wouldn't want to be associated with." I was like How do you know? He's said "Believe me, he wouldn't." Then we got caught up in stuff for a bit. Then he swore or something and was like "See God hates stuff like that" Something along those lines. I was like God doesn't judge as much as you think he does. He's like Yeah he does. Then I dropped it cuz I wasn't gonna be like Yes he is No he isn't type of thing. A little later I asked Dave to reach me some boxes cuz I is short and can't reach that well. =) He's like I will if you stop trying to shove the Lord down my throat. I'm like "I am not!" He's like " Yeah you are! I hear you humming your hyms over there" ( I had a song stuck in my head) I was like whatever. So in a little bit I was like "Dave can I asked you a question? And I don't mean to make you mad." He said K. "What have you done that is nonforgivable??" He asked what did I mean. I said "Well, God says he can forgive everything. What have you done that is not forgiveable?" He's like "I made my mom cry.." I rolled my eyes and said "That's not unfogivable?" He's like "Yeah I guess it is..." So cuz he couldn't think of anything I said "So if you have nothing that is NOT forgivable...why do you think God is so judging?" Then he kinda mumbled so I'm not sure what he said but it was something along the lines of "I guess it's cuz of my own insecurities..." And that's it. But I was soooo excited! This is the first opportunity I've EVER had to witteness to someone. I wanted to share it at youth group to encourage other people BUT they gots mt working. So I had to tell someone!! =) That's my news for the week. Pray that Dave pursues the conversation! I'm sooo excited!"

This provokes me to look for opportunities even more.

Sweet Reminders

2009-05-20T22:48:00.002-04:00

There are times in your life when you get reminders of the greatness of God. Tonight as I was walking through a path in Illinios I saw the sun setting over the tree tops and was reminded of God's greatness. All creation shouts the existence of a great God.

When the goosebumbs fade

2009-05-06T15:44:00.002-04:00

There is a point when the excitement or the passion fades. What do we do when worship is harder, prayer is harder, reading the bible is harder? The natural tenancy for me at least is to stop pressing in. I was watching Biggest Losers last night and for the first time in the shows history they had a challenge where the four finalist had to run or walk a marathon. At the mile four mile marker each of them had a friend or relative run the next four miles with them. From that point on every so often a family or friend would run with them to encourage them. Each one of them finished the race, even the one who it took 13 hours to walk the 26.2 miles. All of them attributed there success to the fact that they got to walk or run with someone at the different legs of the marathon. Proverbs 13:20 says, "he who walks with the wise shall be wise but the companion of fools suffers much harm." I have noticed in my life how important it is to have constant fellowship with other believers. They encourage me when the goosebumps fade to keep pressing on because "this to shall pass." I want to ask you, who are you walking with? Who is encouraging you to press through in worship, prayer, and your word when the goosebumps fade? Satan loves isolation, find wise people to walk with.

The point of no return

2009-04-20T09:03:00.002-04:00

After hearing a sermon by Banning Liebscher this weekend, it challenged me to cross the point of no return. Growing up cliff jumping was one of my favorite hobbies. Standing on the edge of a cliff 20ft, 30ft, up to 50ft above water can be a very intimidating thing. Every time I stood there it was so hard to force myself to jump. I would count down 3, 2, 1 and my feet would not move. Cliff jumping is never exciting or adventurous if you never jump. In cliff jumping there is a point of no return it's when both feet leave the cliff. There is no calling timeout or going back up. There is a point of no return in our walks with God. You can be saved but never cross the point of no return. The point of no return is where you lay everything down and say God I am pursing you with every thing I've got. It's the point where you desire to make Him known no matter what it cost you. What I discovered this weekend was that there were areas in my life that I was holding back, some plan B's in my life. This weekend I decided to cross the point of no return and go fully after knowing Him and making Him known. Will you jump with me.

Superheros

2009-04-09T15:39:00.003-04:00

Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Action Man, and Wonder Woman were some of the popular Superheros when I growing up. One thing they all had in common is when some one was in need they went to the rescue. Batman had the bat signal and Spiderman had his spider senses that he could hear people cry for help. We all need a Superhero. Because we have all sinned our punishment is forever separation from God. But just like when Spiderman would hear a cry for help through his spidey senses when we call out to God out of a realization of our need for a savior we are saved. Jesus is my Superhero!

Conditioning

2009-03-20T09:02:00.002-04:00

This morning God spoke so softly to me. It was one of those times where you sense His gentle whisper in a way that brings comfort that is unexplainable. He said, "Seth you are not conditioned to stay in my presence very long."

Let me give you a little background to why God spoke this to me. Tarah and Jericho went out of town last night and will be gone for a week. Whenever they go out of town I plan to stay late at work, hang out with friends, do a lot of house work and I end up over scheduling myself. Yesterday I began to get stressed about the week ahead of me. It does not help that Tarah is not around because she is such an awesome support to me. Then who could not miss the pitter patter of Jericho's little feet. So with all this stress I decide to go for a walk, which is always a stress reliever to me. While I am on this walk God again spoke such a gentle but stern word to me, "Seth when did you schedule in some extra time with me?" God was wondering why I scheduled all this time to do extra work when this is a prime opportunity for me to schedule in extra time to just sit with Him. I have always seen all my extra moments as times to move something forward or clean something instead of sitting in the presence of Jesus.

This morning I got up and removed all my expectations of getting tons and tons of stuff done this week and simplified it, spend time with Jesus. So I began to sit with no music on, no pen and pad, and no Bible; just me and God. After a while I began to notice everything wrong in my house. That needs repainting, that needs to be cleaned, that needs to be dusted, why did I hang that picture there. My mind raced from one side of the house to the other. I sat there for a period of time and it was nearing the end of the time and I had not yet had a great revelation from God or some nugget of truth jump out at me, and I began to doubt. Doubt creeps in and tells me God does not desire to speak to me. At that moment was when I heard God say, "Seth you are not conditioned to stay in my presence very long." Because I am always allowing my mind to race with all the things I have to do in a day, even when I am speding time with God, that I have not conditioned myself to hear from Him because I am rushing past Him.

God desires to speak to me, to give me direction, to speak words of encouragement to me but I must discipline my mind through conditioning it to hear from Him. For me what that looks like is sitting still without any distractions and waiting on Him. It reminds me of the verse, "Be still and know that I am God." What do you need, how does it look for you. How can you get to a place where you do not rush through your time with God and wait a while with Him?

My First Pick 3

2009-03-03T13:13:00.005-05:00

At EGC we just finished a series called "Too Busy Not To Pray." The last week of the series we were challenged to do an EGC Pick3. We pick three families or three individuals who have never made the decision to have a relationship with God. Then we pray for them and pray for opportunities to share with them of the awesome relationship with God that we have experienced and that they could experience.

This works! Praying for friends who have not yet discovered the transforming love of God works. I remember in high school I picked three. They were my first pick 3 - Anderson, Kirby, and Barron. I began to pray for them on a daily basis during my freshmen year of high school. These three friends would come to church or church camp and get excited about God but would soon go back to their old ways and never decided to follow Jesus. Almost every night for 4 years I prayed for these friends and never saw a change. I went to college and through the busyness of school soon forgot about these three.

8 years after my first prayer, while sitting in my apartment in Candandigua, NY, I received a call. It was Anderson. I had not heard from him in 4 years. I said, "Anderson what is going on?" He said, "Seth you won't believe it. I have been looking for your number so I could call you. I found your dad's number online and called him and got your number. I ASKED JESUS INTO MY HEART!" I said, "Anderson, that is so awesome! Tell me what happened." He said, "You won't believe it, but Kirby led me to the Lord." "No way! Kirby asked Jesus into his heart and led you to Jesus! That is so awesome," I said. "You wont believe this, though. Guess who led Kirby to the Lord? Barron led Kirby to the Lord," Anderson said. By this time I was floored. My friends, my Pick 3, had led each other to the Lord! All three of them are still walking with the Lord, one of them is in marketplace ministry while the other two are in full-time ministry at churches.

The power of prayer. I encourage you to begin praying for friends who have not yet chosen to have a relationship with God. Go for it and see God transform your friends lives. Who are your "Pick 3"?