I Have Sinned

David wrote in Psalm 51 after he was confronted by Nathan, "Against you, and you alone have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight." When he wrote these words he had coveted and committed adultery with Bathsheba, killed her husband, cause the death of their new born baby, and covered up the whole thing. But in all of this David knew what sin truly is. Sin is an offense against God.

In our legalistic mindset we equate sin with breaking a law and not breaking a relationship. God doesn't send people to hell because they broke some law, but he does require death for those that break their relationship with Him. When a person sins the offend the King of Kings and The Lord of Lords. God has said the wages of sin is death. If a person choses to offend the King, there is hell to pay.

Paise God that in our defense He sent Jesus to pay that penalty of death so that the relationship with God might be restored and we would have to die. But even for a Christian that has been saved from hell, there is still a need to guard his relationship with the King.

Over the years as I counsel with people I have heard them say. I know the Church doesn't agree with this but ___________________. Although I'm glad they recognize the authority of the Church, the Church is not the one they are offending. They are offending God. It is God who doesn't agree with your sin. It is God that is frustrated with your actions. And even though the church may not know what you are doing, God sees you in your house, at the bar, in your bedroom, and at your computer. It would be better to be concerned with what the King sees more than what the church sees.

This is the difference between having a relationship with God and a religion about God. Is your life an offense to God. Are you in need of repentance. Don't come and repent to the Church. First, fall on your knees and cry out to the one who saves your soul and get things right with God, then with God on your side go and make things right with everyone else. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse use from all unrighteousness."

 

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The Power to Heal

There are so many questions surrounding the gifts of the spirit today. Just as there was in days of Jesus. Remember “Context is King.” When Jesus began his public ministry theLord had been silent for the past 400 years. It wasn’t until the preaching of John theBaptist that the silence was broken. This would mean that it had been several generations since people had seen any kind ofmiracle from God. The Jews had become a superstitious people just as many are todaywho long to see and experience the true power of God.

In Luke 5:17 we read, “And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.”(ESV) You would think this to be a given because we are talking about Jesus after all.Could it be when Christ took on the form of a man that he limited even his abilities asGod and lived like any other man that would be filled with the gifts of the Spirit. Weknow and believe that Jesus was 100% God and 100% Man at the same time for this isone of the seven mysteries of the faith. Another passage to consider is Philippians 2:5-8where it is said of Jesus that He “emptied himself” when he took on the form of a man.The word “emptied” in the Greek is “kenoo” meaning: cause to lose power; emptyoneself. With this understanding it is a lot easier to understand the life of Jesus as heprays to the Father and so forth. He is our example of faith according to Hebrews 12:1-3, which is hard to grasp if He is acting as simply God with skin on. But, it carries a tonmore weight if Jesus had to rely on the Father just as we do today. Therefore the only reason to add this phrase: “And the power of the Lord was with himto heal” would be to illustrate that at that moment he had the ability to heal, and thathe didn’t always have that ability. A careful read of the gospels will show that Jesuswasn’t always healing the sick, but there were times of healing in which he healed themall.

In 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 we read a list of the gifts of Spirit and in that list we find the giftof healing. We are also told in verse 11 that the Spirit gives these gifts “individually asHe wills.” The same Spirit that was empowering Jesus for his earthly ministry is thesame Spirit that empowers you for your earthly ministry. When you have a need for agift God is faithful to provide those gifts, but an individual doesn’t necessarily have thatgift all the time. This was true of Jesus’ earthly ministry as it was for the Apostle’sministry as it is for our ministry today. God gifts us as we need to profit the Body andthe Kingdom of God.

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Understanding Fasting and Prayer

We are about to enter into a time of 21 days of prayer and fasting.  I have been reading on Facebook that some of you have never fasted before, so I wanted to take a moment and try and explain the simplicity of fasting and why a person would do such a thing.  I think it is most important that you understand why a person would fast and then understand how you fast.  

Fasting is all about humbling your soul before The Lord.  Prayer in itself is an act of humility as we read in 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."  God is looking for those that humble and he answers the prayer of the humble.  Let me give you an example.  When I got up this morning my dog was ready to go outside. So we did.  As I was making coffee and watching the news and doing what I do, Zach (my dog) was freaking out because I had not fed him yet.  He didn't care about me or what I needed to do he was just concerned with filling his stomach.  This is the way we are with God sometimes.  We get so self-consumed with our own needs that we forget there are more important things going on around us.  When a person fasts he or she is humbled by caring more about the topic of the fast than filling his or her own belly.  Notice the humility in this Psalm of David, "But as for me, when they were sick, My clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting..." (Psalm 35:13).  

Fasting in the scripture is always about one thing: food.  I hear today of people fasting from all kinds of things (social media, chocolate, gaming, etc.), but the most effective fast is to remove a basic need of life which is food.  There is no set time for the fast.  People fast every night as they sleep which is the reason we "BREAK-FAST" in the morning.  People fast for one day, three day, seven day, or two week fasts.  There are some references of forty day fasts in the bible but this is not common practice.  

Jesus warned about fasting for the wrong reasons in Mathew 6:1-18.  The Pharisees were fasting in front of others to show how "spiritual" they were which is very arrogant and the complete opposite of humble.  Remember, the goal of fasting is humility before The Lord.  We are commanded not be be like the Pharisees.  

When we call for 21 days of Fasting and Prayer, we are not expecting anyone to fast for the entire 21 days but that you pick some days throughout the time frame in which you are fasting.  We want someone fasting the entire time before The Lord.  May God grant you the requests that you seek as you humble yourself before The Lord through the fast.

The Best Day at New Season Church

Last week as we were preparing for the service on Sunday, I received a copy of Pastor Steve's sermon notes.  I get a sneak peak along with the rest of the staff so that we can prepare all of our pieces that fit into the Sunday morning experience.  I knew after I read it that this was going to be one for the history books. We started a new series entitled "Dark Horse Rises" which is a sequel to last year's series on I Samuel.

On Friday night we had a special vision night for the volunteers at New Season and there was such a sweet spirit in the room I could tell the people were preparing there hearts for the message and service on Sunday. There has been tons of spiritual warfare around NSC over the summer, but you wouldn't have none it this weekend.  I woke up this morning and hit my knees in preparation for what God was going to bring us.  I prayed for Pastor Steve that the Lord would just fill him up with all the words and thoughts that I saw on the paper notes.  I felt in complete agreement that God was going to show up in the Worship experience and knock our socks off.   All the staff had been at the church on Saturday cleaning up from the volunteer night and putting the last touches on the stage and classrooms for the kids, so all was ready.

The 8:50 service went a bit long because we had an issue with Steve's count down clock, and at the end of the service I walked out into the hall and there was a sea of people waiting to come into the 10:00 Worship experience.  I was overwhelmed.  They were everywhere.  The kids classes were full.  The auditorium was full.  The parking lot was full.  And I was full up!!

The worship band began the worship set and it was amazing.  I was singing in the midst of God's people with tears in my eyes and a song in my heart.  We sang together, we cried together, we worshiped together.  It was beautiful.  Then Pastor Steve preached the message I had been meditating on.  and it touched everyone in the room.  As he gave the invitation for people to respond to the message, I knew we were going to have a big response.  And sure enough, we had 12 people come forward and receive Christ as their Lord and Savior.  They passed from death to live right before my eyes.  I can't get over it.  I don't want to get over it.  I love it.  If you are dealing with strongholds in your life make sure you listen to the sermon online: www.newseasonchurch.com.

After church I came home rejoicing as I took my normal 20 minute cat nap in my chair and then went to the pool with the family.  We had a great time socking in the sun and talking about God's grace. I met one of the worship leaders at Burnt Hickory Baptist in the pool and we swapped stories of God grace and call on our lives.

It is amazing the way God has the ability to turn something that seems so dark around in a few days or even a few hours.  It makes me know that he has not left us or forsaken us.  He is very much at the helm of the lives of his dear children.  I hope your Sunday was as good as mine.

The End of Summer

Summer is coming to a close and we have barley been in the 90's here in Atlanta.  I'm not quite used to that. I'm more used to 100+ on the thermometer.  So life is good in that since.  Kim and I have been enjoying the porch on the front of our house and the decks in the back.  It's been so nice to live around my family for the first time since I was 18.  I feel like I have missed out on so much.  It's the little things that you don't think about like sitting down for a Easter meal or celebrating my nephew's birthday.  I just think this is how it is supposed to be.

My brother and I worked on my dad's boat this morning and we are just about ready to put it in the water.  We had to change the motor to a new hull that my Dad had purchased.  Even that was enjoyable because it was with my family.

One thing I've learned about the people in Georgia, they are all residents of Florida in the Summer time.  I don't think I've ever seen such a migration on people.  Even I find myself renting a condo and staying for a week, but I go in the off Season in September.  It's not near as crowded and the weather is perfect that time of year.

VBS in Haiti

When I lived in Borger, it was common for dust bowls and dirty rain, but I must say Borger ain't got nothing on Haiti.  This is one of the dirtiest places to which I have ever been.  There is so much dust here there is no way to keep anything clean.  

One of the main highlights of the trip for me was the VBS.  This was going to be the time that we got to share the gospel and see some kids come to Christ. We had everything planned out, had our parts down, and skits practiced.  We were doing VBS for the school kids and it was test day today.  There were about 50 kids that came to school and to our VBS.  One of the big treats for VBS is that the kids get peanut butter sandwiches.  This is a huge treat because peanut butter is so expensive over here.  The kids ranged from 5 years to 14 years old.  This is a huge gap for VBS and they were all together.  Any time you take a discovery trip (going to a place for the first time) you basically learn what not to do.  It is hard if not impossible to come into a new culture and hit a home run right off the bat.  We defiantly learned some lessons today.   The program went off just like we planned it, but we will do it completely different next time.  Unbeknownst to us, this was the kids 3rd VBS in a short amount of time.  I felt like and they acted like they were going through the motions to get to the peanut butter.  Even if this was the case the gospel message did go out.  I think next time for an effective response we need more days to really drive home the concepts of the gospel message.  The kids were suffering from information overload and some of them just checked out.  I don't blame them for that, it was just to much to fast.  We did have a good debriefing meeting in which some planning was noted for the next one.

It is funny how God works.  I was so set on this VBS being the reason for the whole trip, but that wasn't God's agenda at all.  I always look for the supernatural events on the trip.  The ones that make you say, "Ah, That's why we came.  The supernatural event this week has been watching Karlata break through to these girls in the orphanage in a way that has amazed even the directors.  The ministry that she has started with these girls will last long after this trip is over and Karlata's return has already been offered.  Her work with these girls will effect and change each and every one of their lives.  This is a huge success and blessing to me and most defiantly makes the trip worth it.  Every day Karlata as more sessions with the girls so please pray that God would give her strength and wisdom as she ministers to the House of Hope girls.  One of the girls told her today.  If you made and you are O.K. I think I can make it too.  If that's not hope I don't know what is.  God be praised. 

At the same time the team is growing closer together everyday and finding new paths to travel in our own walk with Christ.

A Sunday in Haiti

I've attended many church services all over the world and never get tired of seeing the different ways that people praise and worship The Lord.  I had a thought today that I'm still chewing on.  All the different ways of praising The Lord are all being driven by the Holy Spirit.  If he didn't like it he would reveal it to and through is people in all these different countries.  But if we know anything about God we know that he likes diversity, wether it be trees, birds or people he made all different kinds and he made all different kinds of worship.  So here's the cool thing about that thought.  What an awesome site when we are gathered around the throne and the africans are praising in their dance and the Haitians are waving their hands back and forth, and the American are giving the raised fist that God will be sitting on the throne saying, "Yea, now that the way I like it!"  It was a good day a Church today.  I did whoever miss the time of invitation; but I will leave that conversation for another blog. 

After Church we took a walk and surveyed the land to which Paul and Kate are ministering.  That has been the most eye opening thing we have done yet.  If you have been with me on missions trips before you know how I love to get out and meet the people.  I have learned that most people in the world are not radical or even mean for that matter.  They are just trying to make it another day, providing for their family.  I would give a smile and say "good afternoon" in Creole and their faces would like up as they offered me a blessing of peace.  Haiti in general looks like a war zone with downed buildings, tent cities, and homeless everywhere.  Yet, they would still smile and laugh and play in the midst of all their struggle.  it changes me more and more every time I come.    

We spend some time working on the skit for VBS tomorrow (please don't forget to pray).  Before dinner Karlota had been meeting with some of the girls one-on-one.  As she was giving her findings it finally hit me how much trauma the girls have gone through.  It is hard to see when they are so happy to see you and smiling all the time but the truth is they are hurting and emotionally distressed to say the least.  The girls have been really opening up to her and she has been making a huge difference in their lives.  There is no way this can be her last trip.  She must come back and continue to work with these girls.  Pray that God would provide a way for her to return as soon as possible.  I believe after today that Karlota is the reason we came on this trip.