Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom...

Leading in a Land of Giants...

2009-09-30T14:59:00.004-04:00

If I was to say that phrase to you what would be the first thought to enter your mind? Possibly you would think about Caleb who took his mountain after the entrance into the Promised Land and purposed to cleanse it of the giants who lived there. Or maybe it would be about David battling Goliath or perhaps the giant killers that David raised up... And all of those are great answers, leadership is seen in all of those instances and those people Lead in a Land of Giants.

But what caused me to consider another view was when I recently heard Kris Vallotton of Bethel Church in Redding, CA. tell of an interaction he had with God. He told how God told him to be ready to lead in the Land of Giants. Kris asked Him what He meant by that statement and God told him he would lead men and women who were spiritual giants after he co-labored with the Spirit to raise them to a greater spiritual stature than he reached... That while leading them, he would be towered over by their abilities and anointings but they would follow him because of honor for their spiritual father...

WoW what an intimidating thought... to lead people more gifted, more anointed, more might in spiritual power, etc. In the world the leader is usually the loudest, the strongest or the best at any given thing but in the Kingdom we are to esteem others' more than ourselves, we are to be the platform for others' success, and we are to draw out the treasure through honor.

This may not be the call of every leader in the Kingdom but we are to be building people and drawing the treasure from the earthen vessels and we are to honor not only those that lead us but those who we lead with and those we lead...

But even still, what do I do with the people He entrusts to me? John 10 is an awesome example of what a leader should be like with His people. In contrast is Ezekiel 34...

Imagine us taking the call to disciple people seriously and then making our goal raising them to greater heights than we've attained. To see Christianity as more than mere information transfer but to impart the true life of Christ because it flows through us. Elijah passed his mantle to Elisha and he went on to walk in a double portion of the anointing - he had what was his and what was Elijah's. Jesus told His disciples, "The things I do, you will do greater." And there are several biblical examples that they did...

“My anger is kindled against the shepherds [who are not true shepherds] and I will punish the goat leaders, for the Lord of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as His beautiful and majestic horse in the battle.”
(Zechariah 10:3 AMP)

Sheep to WarHorses... what a picture of Kingdom transformation...

For me, this is a high call and challenge that I want to take on. I want to be able to lead people who are more of Christ than I so that they can do and have more than I have had or will have... But I will have to deny myself, take up my cross and follow Him. I will have to be healed of my intimidation and insecurity and lead like Jesus lead.

I do not want to be a leader who merely leads people - I want the grace to leader leaders who in turn lead leaders... because the harvest is so great and the laborers (God's shepherds) are few.

I love what Jesus did in Mark 6. After making the statement about honor not being available in your home town He calls his Apostles to Himself and sends them out... almost saying, "Ok, so you couldn't Me - here deal with My Apostles..."

"Break our hearts, change our lives, raise us up to be Your leaders Lord..."

It's about being fruitful... Part 1

2009-02-10T11:03:00.003-05:00

“I AM the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit. You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you]. Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned. If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine.”
(John 15:1-8 AMP)

What a startling passage of scripture. As a follower of Jesus I am expected to bear fruit. Just like a vineyard owner who plants grape vines and works with the goal of grape production in mind, God works in my life with the goal in mind of me producing much fruit.

But what sort of fruit is it Jesus is talking about? Some would say the fruit of the Spirit as found in Galatians 5, others might say it is good deeds and good character as found in John 5, and still others might say it is people being won into the Kingdom through my life. I would say it is all of that and perhaps more.

1. The Fruit of the Spirit - I believe that the Fruit of the Spirit is simply that - the Fruit of the Spirit - it is His presence and operation in my life which produces love, joy, peace, etc. But that is His fruit and my submission to His inner workings in me. It is like the sap that runs through the branch and gives it life and the ability to produce life. But this is not all there is to fruit.

2. Good deeds and good character - I believe this is like having good-looking healthy leaves on a branch. As I submit myself to the inner workings of the Holy Spirit in my life and His fruit begins to become evident that is will begin producing good character and good deeds. Through my good character and good deeds (because of Him working in me), I will begin making an eternal impact in the world around me - peoples' lives will be influenced for God's glory. But this is not all there is to fruit.

3. People being won into the Kingdom through my life. I believe this is the ultimate fruit that can be born through a believer's life and it is a huge mark of distinction that God is up to something significant in someone. If I am a grape vine then I should produce grapes. If I am a follower of Jesus, then I should produce other followers of Jesus and the only way this will take place is through abiding in Jesus.

Jesus told his followers that they needed to be vitally united to Him, to dwell in Him. Up to that point they had been with Jesus in a physical sense but He is now preparing them to relate to Him on a whole other level. He had taught them and showed them and evaluated their exploits as they went out, now it was time for them to do it without His physical presence being with them. They needed to learn to abide in the Spirit and still produce fruit for the glory of God's Kingdom.

More on God's vinedressing work in our lives in the next installment...
Blessings

The 3B Challenge

2009-01-18T07:35:00.002-05:00

If you have hung around our congregation any length of time you have heard us mention the 3Bs and perhaps you were wondering what that is all about and where it came from...

The 3B challenge is something we encourage ourselves to do as a part of our discipleship lifestyle. It is Bible Before Breakfast. It comes from Job 23:12:

“I have not departed from his commands, but have treasured his words more than daily food.”
(Job 23:12 NLT-SE)

To show that the Word of God is more important to us than our daily good we simply read it before we eat our breakfast in the morning - pretty simple huh? But we believe it says something pretty powerful...

Around our fellowship we use the One Year Bible as our daily reader because it is broken up into 365 daily reading portions that take about 15 or so minutes to read.

There you have it the 3B Challenge... are you up to it?

Blessings

WoW... The Value of Children in the Old Testament...

2009-01-14T15:04:00.004-05:00

I was reading the One Year Bible this morning (Bible Before Breakfast of course - Job 23:12 - The 3B Challenge) and I noticed something... They did some insane things when it came to having children because it was so important to them...

Abraham had an intense discussion with God because he didn't have children of his own... God promises him children and it is taking a while so he and Sarah come up with this plan to help God's promise come to pass because they wanted children NOW - Hagar and Ishmael... But then after still doing things that produce children at the ages of 90 and 100 the child of promise came through Sarah - Isaac...

Rebekah was barren so Isaac made it a spiritual matter and prayed then she conceived and had twins...

Jacob had all kinds of things going on with Leah and Rachel when it came to children... even to the point of Leah trading food for a night with the old boy and she conceived that night...

I am not saying any of the insanity was God's plan or way of bringing children about for them but man were they serious about having some children...

Then I was reminded about Joel's prophesy which was echoed by Peter in the book of Acts... I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and daughters will prophesy... Am I as serious about having spiritual children so as to be able to increase the vessels for Holy Spirit to be poured into?

In Galatians it says that we are heirs of the promise that God gave to Abraham because we are in Christ. One of the promises was for a multitude of descendants - not just a lot of church goers, but descendants - sons and daughters... what lengths would I go to to have more spiritual children? How insane would it seem to others who do not understand the necessity of having multitudes of descendants?

Just a thought...

Well Which Well?

2009-01-12T21:41:00.002-05:00

“Isaac’s servants also dug in the Gerar Valley and discovered a well of fresh water. But then the shepherds from Gerar came and claimed the spring. “This is our water,” they said, and they argued over it with Isaac’s herdsmen. So Isaac named the well Esek (which means “argument”). Isaac’s men then dug another well, but again there was a dispute over it. So Isaac named it Sitnah (which means “hostility”). Abandoning that one, Isaac moved on and dug another well. This time there was no dispute over it, so Isaac named the place Rehoboth (which means “open space”), for he said, “At last the Lord has created enough space for us to prosper in this land.””
(Genesis 26:19-22 NLT-SE)

This was part of the One Year Bible reading for the day and as I was reading it I felt like the Spirit said, "Which well will you camp at?"

Many times things happen in our life that we do not understand. We work and labor and things don't go the way "we" planned.

Issac's men had dug the wells and they had expected to be able to drink from them but things didn't go as planned.

The first one they called "argument." How many times have we labored for something and when all was said and done the only thing we had was an argument against God because He didn't what we expected Him to do?

The second well was called "hostility." When we have an argument, many times it will take us to the place of being "hostile" towards spiritual things or other believers when they try to encourage us because we are camping at the wells that are not open to us.

But Isaac and his men did not camp out at the first two wells but moved on to the third well "open spaces." The bible says that God closes doors that no man can open and opens doors that no man can close. If we will learn to live by that truth we will see "wells" that we dig and that don't pan out as closed doors that mean - this is not the right place or it is not the right time for this and then keep moving on until we find the wide open spaces that lead to our spiritual prosperity... remember if we stay at the wells that are not for us we can pick up an argument and even become hostile...

Let's look for the wide open spaces of spiritual prosperity that God has for us...

Blessings

Wisdom 4 Life

2009-01-01T13:17:00.003-05:00

As I am sure many of you have read this morning in the One Year Bible reading the Proverbs have an awesome purpose of transforming our lives...

“These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.
Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair. These proverbs will give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young. Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. Let those with understanding receive guidance by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables, the words of the wise and their riddles.”
(Proverbs 1:1-6 NLT-SE)

1. To teach us wisdom and discipline...
2. To help us understand the insights wise people have...
3. To help us do the right things...
4. To give insight when we don't get it naturally...
5. To give knowledge and discernment to young people (like me)...
6. To give more wisdom to the wise...
7. To help people give guidance to others...

WoW - meditate on that... I would encourage each of us to increase our daily spiritual diet with a proverb a day... there are 31 of them so we can do one a day and on 30 day months do two on the 30th... it is just a suggestion not a command - we may never track it on accountability cards and such but I think our lives and ministries will reflect it over the course of time...

Happy New Year...

A Peace-Filled Life

2008-10-28T13:49:00.002-04:00

Want a more peaceful life? Then follow Paul's prescription to Titus...

“Warn a quarrelsome person once or twice, but then be done with him.”
(Titus 3:10 MESSAGE)

So many times in our effort to appear correct to everyone under the sun, we are constantly fussing with people over scripture and ministry styles... it seems to validate us to have everyone agree with us - but truthfully not everyone will... our call is to be true to God's call on our lives - to be true to how He put us together and be ourselves in Christ...

I believe a valuable action to learn is to simply smile and nod - after explaining something to someone once or twice only to have them come 3 and 4 and 50 times over style issues simply look them in the eye and smile, while nodding to the fact you are hearing them and go off and do what God has given you to do the way that God has given you to do it... now understand I am not talking about violating leadership when they are trying to teach you a certain way of doing things - I am talking about people you are not to be submitted to trying to sway you in what you are doing or how you are doing it... if we give in and are always explaining or arguing with them then we move into a place of submission to that person's approval of what we are doing - always working at trying to gain it... after explaining it once or twice simply let them know you are not going to fuss with them anymore about this or that and move on...

God has given us a great mission to accomplish with His Holy Spirit - He has uniquely made us as individuals and as a congregation... we simply are not here to be another cookie cutter church producing cookie cutter Christians that are powerless and impotent... look around us - lives are radically changing and hearts are burning for God - the fruit speaks for the method God has given us...

What I have found is that usually people who are constantly arguing with us over things struggle with the issue of discipleship - usually they aren't one hence the lack of humble teachability to anything new or different from what they are used to...

We are here to be disciples and make disciples - not convince everyone we are right...

So that you may have many grandchildren...

2008-10-16T17:23:00.003-04:00

““Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.””
(Jeremiah 29:5-7 NLT-SE)

“This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.”
(Jeremiah 29:10 NLT-SE)

These passages where in our daily reader for the day and they jumped out at me... Now truthfully they jumped out because of the reference to having many grandchildren and anyone who knows me very well knows I have great plans for having many grandchildren and I am ready to start seeing them come to pass... but obviously there are somethings that need to happen first - but that is another blog post...

But anyways as I read this passage and thought about it during the day I saw it in a couple different ways...

1. Many have the attitude of come Lord Jesus and get me out of here quickly... they are more "rapture" oriented than they are seeing the Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven...

I am all about wanting to see Jesus come but I do not want to be like the disciples when Jesus went up into the clouds in Acts 1 - standing with my mouth hanging open wondering "What the...?" I want to be found busy advancing the Kingdom...

Verses 5-7 are really an echo of Genesis 1:28...

“Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.””
(Genesis 1:28 NLT-SE)

Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare...

What a powerful thought... God has attached a blessing for our lives from our bringing a blessing to the world around us...

2. Now as I was considering verse 10 in Jeremiah 29 I thought about the region I live in. It is a military town and many people who live here are from somewhere else and many times they are merely living here and waiting to go back home...

I remember a cross-stitch picture my wife Bonnie did one time that said "Bloom where you are planted..." There really is no good reason to not be fruitful and productive right where we are no matter where it is we would rather be... whether we are waiting to get out and go back home or we are deployed and want to be back with our family and friends...

Let us be ones who redeem the time and use it to advance the Kingdom no matter where we currently find ourselves...

God has blessed you - go be fruitful, multiply and advance the Kingdom...

A Mark of a Disciple...

2008-10-09T10:20:00.001-04:00

I found this mark of a disciple tucked in Proverbs 9...

Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding. Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
(Proverbs 9:6-10 NIV)

Have you ever seen someone receive godly/biblical correction and then they rise up in arrogance and pride and anger or maybe they go off and complain about the one giving the correction - usually a leader of some sort (a parent, employer, or spiritual leader)? They begin insulting them or verbally abusing them or maybe it manifests through arguing openly and angrily... perhaps they withdraw and withhold relationship from the person correcting them...

How often have we ever seen someone get corrected and they thank the person correcting them and show more love to that person who loved them enough to say something... can you imagine correcting your child and them thanking you and giving you a huge hug?

I believe what we see here in Proverbs 9 is something that we want in our hearts as disciples and in the hearts of our children and the people we are discipling... we do not want the ones we love to be mockers or wicked fools...

Our response to correction and discipline says a lot about where we are in life... I desire to be wise and increase in wisdom... to add to my learning... I want my children to be wise and increase in wisdom and to add to their learning... I want my spiritual sons and daughters to be wise and increase in wisdom and to add to their learning...

I love how this passage reads in the Message Bible...

Leave your impoverished confusion and live! Walk up the street to a life with meaning. If you reason with an arrogant cynic, you’ll get slapped in the face; confront bad behavior and get a kick in the shins. So don’t waste your time on a scoffer; all you’ll get for your pains is abuse. But if you correct those who care about life, that’s different—they’ll love you for it! Save your breath for the wise—they’ll be wiser for it; tell good people what you know—they’ll profit from it. Skilled living gets its start in the Fear-of-God, insight into life from knowing a Holy God.
(Proverbs 9:6-10 MESSAGE)