The Kingdom Is In You...

Wow, I havn't written in months....not sure where I was at....Jesus told some people (and this is my paraphrase) - you go here and you go there looking for a sign...but the Kingdom of God is within you....

I love that. The Kingdom of God is within you....we run here and we run there....reading this and buying that....looking for the next "thing" in the subculture that we call Christianity. But that is not what Jesus was about. He said the Kingdom is IN US. We need to allow that Kingdom to come out of us. Why are we stock piling it? The psalmnist said - "my cup runs over..." - what does that mean? It means he had the Kingdom in him to such a degree that it began to spill out of him...

The writters of "Starving Jesus" say this-"we don't need the next THING or great idea to be discovered, rather we need people to do those things that have already been thought up..." In other words - stop running around looking for the Kingdom, it is in you - let it come out of you and spill onto the lives of other people...

A New Chapter...

As you know, we returned to Orlando from California this year. Upon helping the church get started out west, we sensed called back to Orlando until further direction was given. As the year progressed, our heart grew to pastor again. An opportunity opened for us this month. We have transitioned to Lake Michigan Christian Center – in Bridgma, Michigan. We are the Young Families Pastors. Our roles will be to pastor the young families and young married couples and to give oversight to the Children’s Ministry of the church....We believe that God's vision is for families to be whole (in all arenas of their life), that his desire is for families to be in harmony with Himself & each other... In addition we will be helping with the Missions Department and in time will help set up and take teams on missions trips over seas! We are very excited about this new season of ministry.

The Alteration:

Luke 9:29 - “...And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white...”

When I was younger, I was always a chunky little guy. When I was 10 years old, I couldn’t buy clothes in the “ten year old clothes area.” I had to go to the store where the older kids shopped to find the waste that fit me. However, the pant legs would end up being 6 inches to long! So I would have them altered to properly fit my height. Having said all that, here is one definition of the word altered: changed in order to improve or make more fit for a particular purpose.
What an amazing truth we can learn about the power of prayer! I will admit, that my strength lies in reading the Bible and trying to allow the Spirit of God to speak to me and change me through scripture. But I am desperate, to allow prayer to consume my life to a greater level than it does already. Think about it—”Jesus’ face was altered as he prayed.” As we pray, areas of our life are altered. Our thought life; our vision for what God wants us to do; our relationship with our spouse and children; our finances; etc… As we pray, areas of our life become altered (changed in order to improve us or make us more fit for a particular purpose]. So, the more we pray, the more we are “changed in order to improve us and make us more fit for the kingdom of God! “ Take the challenge with me; instead of us complaining about our circumstances or the way we are as individuals, let us approach God in prayer and watch as His Spirit alters our lives and our situations!

Avoid Presumption...

Judges 11:29 – “Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah…”

This is a truly interesting story. This story tells of Jephthah in Judges 11:29 - 40 and how he makes a very un-thoughtful vow unto the Lord. As he prepares to go to war, he tells God that if He will give him victory, he will sacrifice unto the Lord, the very first thing that comes out of his home to greet him when he returns from war. So Jephthah goes to war and the Lord gives him victory. Upon returning from war, his only daughter runs out to great him. Understandably, Jephthah regrets the vow he made to the Lord, yet because of his commitment, within the next 4 months, he keeps his word and sacrifices his daughter as a burnt offering to the Lord.

What a thought: the Sprit of the Lord was UPON Jephthah, and yet he made a foolish vow that to some degree ended in tragedy. How often does that happen to us? Maybe we read an awesome passage in scripture during a quiet time or in the midst of a worship service we get goose bumps from the presence of God. Upon these experiences in our excitement and zeal we begin to make commitments and promises to God that later we don’t follow through with because they were to hard, or we later realize that the promises we made were kind of foolish and we realize they weren’t from God, but because of our vows we feel obligated to walk them out and end up wasting time doing things God never intended us to do.

Jephthah’s passion and zeal to serve God were right. The Spirit of God was upon him stirring him to service! However, maybe the story would have had a differed ending if Jephthah would have “inquired of the Lord” on how to give Him worship? What if he would have waited on God to hear his voice and asked – how can I give you honor upon a victorious battle?

This is where we error so often. We just presume thoughts, ideas, and all opportunities are of God. We get excited in a moment of God’s presence and make commitments God may have never intended us to fulfill. What if we were more intentional to wait upon God and inquire of Him and listen to His voice? Maybe we would have less screw ups and calamities in our lives. If we were more intentional about being "presumptuous," maybe we would spend our time un-waisted and more fulfilled in doing things that the Lord truly intended us to do.

Eternal Purpose...

“...this was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness, and confidence…” - Ephesians 3:11-12

I am completely taking this out of context, I know that, but as I meditated on this verse, something just got me excited with the following idea: We have to pray and seek God about our “eternal purpose.” We can spend our lives and time doing 10 spiritual things that we submit to God...and we may tend to get frustrated and mad about them, or we may do well and flourish, but never feel a peace and contentment about life….we spend it always wondering? Yet if we seek God and can get His 1 eternal purpose straight from Him - we can walk in “boldness” and “confidence never wondering if it is the right thing or if we should be doing something else. I encourage you, that if your life seems like you are doing way to much or not enough, etc...just stop! Take it all in your hands and lay it at the feet of Jesus. Start fresh...ask Him to reveal your “eternal purpose.” Don’t give him any of your thoughts or ideas about what would be good. Get it straight from Him...it will bring you to such a place of peace and you will be able to live out each day in “boldness and confidence” that has come straight from our Lord…

My True Vision?

Mark 16:15 - "...And then he told them, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere..."

The main vision and overall true vision of every Christian is - preparing people to stand before Jesus – those perishing and those being saved...But today I, standing with the Fear of the Lord all over me and being convicted to the core am clearly seeing that so often in my life, I am pursuing my vision in the name of Jesus, but in reality I am really pursuing myself!

We are aiming to help people throughout the world to open there eyes to the Lordship of Jesus in the midst of where they are. The vision of the Kingdom of God is not church planting, or conferences, or missions, or converting people to our stream of denomination. The vision of God's kingdom is preparing people to stand before Jesus. We are wanting their hearts to be pure and undefiled before him; submitted to His Lordship...

Before all of you my friends, I repent to the King of the Universe for chasing my vision and tagging His name to it. My heart is freshly visioned to prepare all peoples in any way God leads, to stand before Jesus....

Returning to Orlando...

Well once again it is that time of year for celebrating the birth of Jesus, admitting that Santa is not real (again), drinking eggnog and peppermint hot cocoa with our friends and of course setting New Year’s resolutions. It is the time of year where we can reflect on the past years accomplishments and failures. We then learn from all these things in looking ahead to target our New Year’s pursuits...

Two years ago my wife and I had a stirring in our hearts concerning being pastors and wondering what that looked like in a practical application. As much as we loved being a part of YWAM Orlando, we felt we had to settle the pastoral stirring in our hearts. As you know, after much prayer and wondering, we committed to be a part of planting Origins Church in Long Beach, CA.

As of November 2007, we had been a part of this church plant team for a little over 1 year. And though it has been a great experience and we have learned a lot from this journey, our hearts have been settled concerning the prior stirrings that we have had – our hearts and lives are committed to being a part of YWAM Orlando. We really believe that one of our rolls was to help the church get started and to get the ball rolling; and we have done that to the best of our ability. There is a team that is established and committed to being in Long Beach, and our weekly gatherings have a regular attendance of 30 – 40 people. However, upon much prayer and talking with various respected spiritual leaders in our lives, we believe that it is time for us to return to Orlando. We are not having marriage or family problems and we have not been involved in any “sin" [people usually think that is the case when pastors leave a church]. It is just that upon searching out our hearts along with the heart of God, we truly believe that we belong in YWAM Orlando...

We concluded our responsabilities with Origins through December 15th....we are currently in Michigan until the 31st of December where we will be relocating back to Orlando...