A Brand New Season

This past weekend my ministry transitioned into a new season of life. After 21 amazing years of full time student ministry I am stepping into adult ministry. We announced that we will be transitioning out of Student Ministry Pastor to Life Group Pastor at Antioch Church.

Student Ministry has been so incredibly fulfilling. I could not express the joy and excitement into words of what it has meant to fulfill that call. I have so many amazing memories of changed lives and relationships I built through this avenue. I have loved it and I was 100% devoted to it! But, life is filled with seasons and I am entering into a brand new era.

My family is excited as we answer Gods call in Pastoring people through small groups. Our small groups here at Antioch Church will be called Life Groups. There is no question that life change will happen in Life Groups. Through life groups we will experience Authentic Relationships and Spiritual Growth. As I consider the time in which our nation and church are in, there is no question believers must have true relationships and discipleship going on in their life. Discipleship needs to take on a high priority for the church as it did in the book of Acts. I believe discipleship is best fulfilled in a small group setting. At Antioch Church we are taking a step forward in making this the highest priority, that is why I will be giving it my full attention.

In the coming days there will be an amazing harvest of souls into the Kingdom of God. The church must be ready for this harvest, and we must be ready to care and disciple them. Life Groups will be that vehicle of discipleship for Antioch Church.

I want to thank everyone who has been so supportive to my family during this transition season. God is at work in our land and it is important to have our Spirits in tune with what God is doing.

Waiting

As I sit here in Black Dog coffee house, I can't help but feel a time of waiting on God. Have you ever been at a place in your life, you knew no answers and you had alot of questions? I find myself there! Questions and Circumstances can sometimes bug you, and the funny thing, they could just be normal questions and circumstances. All I know to do, is read his word, seek his face, and love people.

Lately I taught on being a Man of God, and one of the points was Lead Courageously. The Lord challenged Joshua to lead courageously without fear when Joshua was faced with the transition from Moses to him. Can you imagine being next in line for leadership, and the leader before you was Moses. Here is the guy, who lead a ton of people out of Egypt, saw Gods back side, and wrote the ten commandments. Now, God was calling Joshua to step up to the plate and lead. Do, you think he felt inadequate or weird?

I think when you are at a place of waiting, God is molding you for your next step. He wants you to be totally dependent on Him. He wants all of you and none of yourself. He is waiting for YOU to die. I think John the Baptist found himself there out in the wilderness. I think David found himself there out with the sheep, before Samuel came and got him. I think Moses found himself there, when he was taking care of his father n laws sheep. It seems like the Bible is filled with waiting stages when you think about it.

So, why don't we like it?

Just Put Another Piece of Wood on the Fire

It has been a long time since I have updated my blog. So much has happened, for starters, it was an amazing holiday season as Antioch gave tremendously to the community. What a great way to spend the Christmas season, helping people.

The whole Kirkpatrick family spent Christmas time in Tucson, Arizona. We had such a wonderful time. We played golf, cards, dominoes, Madden 09, and just kicked back and relaxed.

As we begin the new year, I think the word of the year is change. Revolution means radical change, and we all want to see certain things change in our life. It will take a radical Spirit to see certain things change. I think the foundation of change begins with DESIRE. You have to want to change before you will ever change.
Paul said an encouraging word to Timothy in his letter to him. He knew Timothy probably struggled with discouragement and a lack of confrontation in his life. So, he wrote to him and said,

2 Timothy 1:5 I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. 6 This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.

Paul was telling Timothy, keep the flame going, don't let the Spiritual fire go out. The way you do this is fan it. Another way of looking at it, he had to keep the wood on the fire. If you do not keep wood on the fire, it will eventually go out. It is the same way in our Spiritual lives, you have to keep wood on your Spiritual lives. You do that through prayer, word, obedience to scripture, and worship. There are times it is hard, but you have to make yourself go get the Spiritual wood. You have to keep the desire alive for God, "the want to", begins with us. If you have no desire, your fire will eventually go out for God.

Lets make 2009 a year of Radical Change! It starts by fueling the desire for God and letting that flame grow Big for Jesus!

Faith and Obedience

Faith is the key to our Christian Walk. We must learn to walk by faith not by feelings/circumstances/thoughts. Training your soul to live by faith is a challenge. When things do not go as planned, your soul wants to slip into negativity and doubt. But, you must discipline your thoughts to live by faith.
In Genesis 22:1 "God tested Abraham's faith and obedience" Sometimes trials and disappointments come in life and we must learn to continue in this race with passion. It is one thing to have faith and another to have faith AND obedience. It takes both to see Gods provision and supply. We want the miracle and the power but we don't want the uphill climb of the mountain in Moriah. God loves taking us through seasons that do not make sense. It is in these seasons we build character and trust.
I am learning to decree the word and not my feelings in the area of finances. God is showing me through prayer and action that He is my supply. I must work, but He is in control. It does not always work out like we think. We draw everything up in our mind, but He has it all under control. Our job is to decree the word and trust He has the promise. Don't allow satan to decree his lies in your thoughts and feelings, learn to pray and speak the word. Satan is trying to put fear and discouragement into you, so you will stop moving and believing God.

Run with Endurance

God is working more and more in my life through the Word of God and Prayer. I am sensing the Holy Spirit speak to me about sacrifice. My life is not my own it was bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. It is not about what I want or what I want to accomplish. It is really about what does God want and what does God want to accomplish through me. I know I am a selfish person by nature and I have to constantly talk to myself about dying to my will. I have an agenda but then God has an agenda.

Just the other day, my computer crashed. I lost everything! I lost every message I have preached, song I have saved, I lost every document I wrote, every illustration and article I have saved. It crushed me! It is requiring me to live in the moment and create in the moment. God has a way, of making us learn to rely in HIM. I am learning to do that. God loves to humble his people.

The other day I had the privilege of spending time with Joel Stockstill. He showed me what it means to live by Faith and Endurance. God is challenging me through Joel to get Faith Goals. Goals that make you hear from God and rely on God. When I was down there in Baton Rouge, I saw first hand there leadership team having Bible Studies in Public High Schools. It was amazing. Joel was so gracious toward me as He poured into my life. My life was better after being around him.

God wants believers to realize that life is going to experience setbacks and challenges. We must learn to run, not walk or sit with endurance. Run speaks of passion and focus. I desire to be that kind of person.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.^[a] Because of the joy^[b] awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne." Hebrews 12:1-2

What a Week

Last week was amazing!

Spent Monday at the springs pool with my family, it was cool but refreshing. I was also able to preach a fresh word from 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Remove the Veil and Reflect the Glory of Christ. God wants all believers to embrace the new way in Christ by understanding Spirt of Christ lives in all believers. We are not like Moses! We can all be filled with Spiritual Boldness if we will just remove the mask of SELF. It is SELF that stops believers from walking in Spiritual Boldness. God is on a mission to get rid of the Veil of SELF, when he does you will experience a NEW WAY.

It was also exciting to see the beginning of the Focused Prayer Service at Antioch Church on Thursday Night. Experiencing 75 believers focusing on praying the Word of God on given situations was powerful. God is at work at Antioch Church. Praise The Lord!

Dealing with Rumors and Negativity

Conference is over and what a time we had with Jesus. I believe we experienced the best conference ever. Gods word was spoken, lives were changed, and students responded to the voice of God. It never gets old to see students respond to the altar of God telling Him that they Need Him. Don't we all need the Lord. I know I do! I do not want to live one day without the word of God speaking into my life.

I just came back from vacation with my family and it was so refreshing. God has blessed me with such amazing kids and a loyal and beautiful wife. We have so much fun together, we went to Dallas for a few days, then we went on to San Antonio. Great Fun!

Have you ever had someone start a rumor or speak negative about you? It happens. What do you do? Your flesh wants to react, say something back, get even, try defend yourself, etc... It is so hard! You see satan wants to get you off track, get you off center with God! He wants all your thoughts and time to be focused on the negative. If he can get you distracted from the will of God for that day or week, he can get Gods plan delayed in your life.
I was reading in Nehemiah 6:2-9 Sanballat was trying to distract Nehemiah from rebuilding the wall in Jerusalem. This was a God's will for Nehemiah to get this project done and restore Jerusalem. But, satan did not want this to happen, so he used sanballat to try to distract this plan by starting rumors about Nehemiah. He also tried to get Nehemiah off the wall and come down and meet him. Nehemiah knew this was not right, so he told the people this was all untrue and the rumor was all made up and he refused to go and meet him. I love also what Nehemiah said, "Sanballat is trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So I (Nehemiah) continued the work with even greater determination." Nehemiah developed the attitude that I will stay focused not on the negative but on the vision that God had given him, he even became more determined. He allowed the negative voices to actually fuel the vision of the Lord.
This is what we must do when rumors or negative comes our way. We must not rehearse it, replay it, or repeat it. Just move forward in Gods word and plan for our lives.
The key to the Christian walk is to keep your heart clean and move forward in the word of God for your life. God is so good!