Grateful

I want to be transparent with you all for a moment.. apologies if any family member is offended. Your struggles are tools for ministry, and i think someone out there can grow from this situation. 

Anyway.. 

      Two days ago, my mother's car was repossessed. I had no idea. That same morning, my dad told my siblings and I that in a few weeks we would be moving into a smaller home because at the moment my dad was the only paycheck we were living off of, so we needed to save money and cut expenses. Initially,  I thought, "How did things get this bad? My parents make descent money, especially to only be on the lower end of their 30's. what's going on?" 

      But God spoke to me at that moment, and I couldn't do anything but give Him praise. We have to downsize from our condo to an apartment. True. However, we are all covered under my dad's health insurance; we have two other vehicles to use so the repossession didn't greatly effect our daily routine; we're not starving; and we still have somewhere to lay our heads. Some families weren't as lucky. Some kids are living in shelters right now. The only change in our lives is that I have to give up my own room and share with one of my sisters. Nothing else changed, or is changing. Praise God that this situation isn't as bad as it could be. In fact, since we have to downsize, we can't take everything with us. So i've decided that i'm most likely going to give my tv, radio, and some other valuables away to the city rescue mission. I'm not going to just give away the things I no longer use, but I want to actually sacrifice some of the material things in my life so that I'm not as distracted from God. I'm going to turn the situation the enemy want to use as a tragedy and turn it into a testimony for God. With Him, I can never be defeated! 

       However, as human beings, sometimes it takes a little bit of light for us to see the whole picture. We tend to focus on the little speck in the corner, when the entire picture is a million dollar portrait! Through good and bad, God remains worthy of every ounce of praise. Remember that everything you have or don't have, good or bad if for the glory of God alone. Always count your blessings and stay humble. Stay blessed, love you all. Have a great day :) 

"Impact Through Relationships" ~Bishop George Davis

~October 09,2011
[Week 3 of 40 Days of Impact]


--> Matthew 28:16-20 (The Great Commission) 
     - You have accepted the responsibility of fulfilling your part of the Great Commission the moment you became a born-again believer..


*impossible to have this type of impact on people (teaching/ discipling) without having relationships!


-->john 1:34- 
         "Leadership is influence" --> *in order to have influence on an individual's life, you must have relationship! 


--> Luke 14:23-33 (The Cost of Discipleship)
Compel--> to necessitate; constrain; to bring by force or threat


-for last, longterm change in people's lives= relationship. Over time, God will use you to minister and reach people 
*In order to be effective in Evangelizing, you must be effective in relationship! You can't evangelize if you don't know people. Meaning, you must be willing to open yourself up to meet and interact with people you don't know. We must be willing to expand our horizon of who we consider our friends


--> Matthew11:28
                                 ~ 2 methodologies  Jesus uses in ministry~
1) he met "felt" (human) needs
        - Matthew 11:28
-people are more willing to listen to you if you touch a place in their hearts that is hurting; relate to them. 
* "You'll never know until you try, how accessible men are, but we must approach each man a different way" ~ William Beacher


Question: What are "felt" needs? 
         - answers to Q's about life problems. --> when people recognize the wisdom of God in you, they will come to you and ask you questions! [so don't be aggravated when people always want to talk to you about issues, etc] You can't be easily irritated by those people are who you are trying to reach! 
         -info about things that interest people -> *so many Christians only know how to talk about the bible! We have to be well-rounded (i.e. able to talk about common interest like volleyball, football, etc) so that you don't turn people away.. and eventually, once you build that relationship, you CAN talk to them about what you really want to talk to them about, which is the love of God. 


-->Luke 4:18-
   * Question: how will we ever be like Christ and use the anointing we have to heal the hurts of people, if we never know the people around us are hurting? 


*you don't have to be rich, but it's selfish to only want enough for you and your family because then you can't be used by God to bless others! He has raised you up to get a word so that you can give a word! 
-->john 1:35
"come and see" 
-come= He had enough time, they're worthy of his time. (we have to slow down enough to spend time with them) 
-see= he was being transparent with them! 


--> Matthew 5:13-
"we are salt.." --> *The only reason total hell and condemnation hasn't completely take =n over this world is because the body of Christ is here
                  -salt = a preservative. (used in mid. eastern countries without refrigerators to preserve food) 
*we have to take the salt and light out  of the church and into the community where the people are. 


-we need to get to a place where we don't condemn the sinners, but at  the same time we can still reach out to them.
    **their temptations are not beneath us! It's just that we've come to a place where we're not tempted to/by it
--> Luke 19:
-you don't have to shove that person's past sins in their face, or quote 100 scriptures for why what they're doing is wrong! 
*acceptance builds trust--> trust builds relationships--> relationships lead to people being comfortable enough with you through relationship that they are willing, maybe even eager to hear what you have to say

Another Friday Lifted Service

October 07, 2011

scriptures:
Luke 1: 26-35; Matthew 1:18-25; Jeremiah 1:5; Romans 11:29; Ephesians 2:10; Matthew 28; Mark 13:11; Romans 10:14

-You've been chosen. Therefore you have been equipped with everything you need (through the Holy Spirit) to minister to the multitudes
*Think of 2Timothy 1:7 before you get ready to minister to people [if fear is something that stops you from sharing the Gospel] and read Mark13:11 [if you deal with insecurities like what to say when you minister, etc]

*Romans 10:14 = your motivating force in discipling
--> Romans 8:35
         *We have to be crazy in love with God in order to follow christ. I want to make my life look so much like Christ's life so that I can live forever with him.

- The only way you know Christ is through the word.
**Question: What are some things that tend to separate us from Him?
               our own physical plans - music - friends - guilt - unforgiving heart - insecurities - etc

-Paul is talking to us; he is asking us what shall separate us from the love of God?! It's really just a rhetorical question b/c NOTHING can separate us from the love of Christ!
     Tribulation= distress, turmoil, dire or extreme tragedy and sadness.
*even though i'm feeling this way[insert emotion here], God is still in love with me!
(I no longer live but Christ lives in me)

--> God is still amazing; He is still good despite your circumstances!! For God's sake, we are being persecuted all day long! We may not be killed physically, but we are persecuted by words, etc. We can't do all the things of the world b/c we know that it doesn't please him.
              - I'd rather be treated like a sheep, than BE a sheep without Christ. (*Without a good shepherd, we're treading on very dangerous territory)

-suicide= allowing affliction to separate us from God

*Paul doesn't say what turns GOD away from us, but what WE do to separate ourselves from HIM! God is ALWAYS there!! He'll never leave you nor forsake you. He won't give up on you, even when everyone else around you does.
                 ---> It's not enough for God to be crazy in love with us! We have to reciprocate that same love back to him!
**Question: Are you in love with him back?
          -it takes a leap of faith. Are you crazy enough to not only believe in Him, but be radical enough to love him back by sacrificing your life to Him?
      

Crazy Love ~ Pastor Brandon Davis

Friday night Lifted Service [September 30,2011]

* a huge misconception about God is that he doesn't love individuals who don't follow him.
-God loves us, in spite of us!
-we could go day after day doing the same sins we swore we'd stop doing, constantly breaking promises to Him and he STILL loves us!
-God is omniscient [all knowing] He knows your good, bad, and ugly (all the little things you put away in a closet for no one else to see)
*God's love is different than the "love" of this world!!
-->Romans 5:6-8 Jesus died for you IN your sin! *If you never realize how jacked up you are, you'll never truly appreciate the death of Christ
            - the death of Christ signifies that you have the power to defeat sin, we're born again, etc. and we mock his death when you keep playing with those sins.
-He must be crazy to send his son to die for us, knowing that we were going to sin against him over and over...
-John 3:16-18 "....he gave"
         --> Love leads to giving
*Jesus didn't come to the world to judge or condemn us! --> His love came in and rescued us from what we were about to do to ourselves.
Q: how many times have we put our feelings, sin, etc. ahead of God?
        ex:"i don't feel like reading my word tonight, i'm too tired.." I know i shouldn't be doing this [insert sin here], but i want to do it.." When you do that, you're putting your feelings, sins, etc. before God! He's a jealous God! you can't play around with sin throughout the week, then try to clean yourself up on sundays and think God is pleased with you.
-->Ephesians 3:17
*Jesus wants to dwell on the inside of your heart forever [only possible if you have faith! trust in him and know him!]
-understand the extent of God's love. It surrounds us; we can't ever escape it! Despite what you've done, what people say about you, etc God has not given up on you!

*There is never a day when you were so good that you're beyond the need of God's grace, and there's never a day where you were so bad that you're beyond the reach of God's grace!  (Jerry Bridges 1994) --> "The Discipline of Grace" chapter 3...

-come to know how much God loves you and how much he loves others
*our ability to love can either hurt our ministry or help it

Ghandi- "I would've became a Christian if I never met one." --> Show the true love of Christ and break this stereotype!!

-->Matthew 25:31-34
Did you even know...
    -That someone is in need?
    - That Jesus is sick when people are sick, hungry when people are hungry, etc.