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!

Fame

Girls crying at the Jonas Brothers concert...hmmm. This sounds hilarious. Should we be so emotionally involved that we cry and worship the ground someone walks on? The answer absolutely NOT!

This issue has been on my heart for some time. The internet has made it so easy for people to feed this fame issue. You have facebook, Myspace, and Youtube. People getting on the internet hoping that someone will discover them. Don't get me wrong I am not saying that everyone on these social networks are trying to be famous. For many, it is about staying connected with friends and the ability to post pics about you. But, it can get out of control if we are not careful. Our motives must always stay in check. We also need to truly be careful of setting ourselves and people up as idols. It is so easy to lose humility in this culture. God is looking for a broken and contrite heart after HIM!

Question: Do you seem to have a lot of time for updating your facebook, myspace, or youtube; but you have no time for reading your Bible or praying. How do you think God views this? Could it be this fame issue is getting in you and you do not even realize it? Priorities tell alot about what is important to us. I hope your calendar dictates that God is important to you. If you are spending all your time updating your social networks and spending no time in prayer and Bible Reading you are out of balance.

God is looking for a generation that is hungry for his presence.
Romans 13:11 This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. 13 Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.

The time is now to take off our worldly dirty clothes and put on the clothes of Gods Presence!

Unleash You Are Gods Spokesperson

Our 25th Annual Student Conference is coming up (July 29th - August 1) and I am so excited about it. I have personally hosted this conference for 13 years. It is an amazing adventure and I love it! I am believing God will speak a specific word to students that come about the direction of their life. God desires to release people all over the world to declare His truths. There is a specific unique destiny for each person, we must be broken so we can hear that still small voice.

Jeremiah 1:5 "God has appointed you as my prophet to the nations." Just as God appointed Jeremiah to be a prophet in that time in history, so God is raising up spokes persons for Him in this generation. God uses people to declare his word not things.

• God knows you
• He is calling you
• He will be with you

I am learning more and more to allow God to work through me to declare His truth to this culture!

Eyes Wide Open

Relationships are fun, if we keep it light hearted. It is when we get serious to soon, that it can get messy. The Bible says, "...not to awaken love before its time" This is a great thought for many students. We need to enter relationships with our eyes and ears wide open. Lets not put our mind in the sand and ignore our future. Every student has amazing potential, lets keep God first and not let culture overtake our decisions. You are the best Paradigm and YOU ARE LOVED!