10.06.08

Sustenance beyond food

As a kid, I didn’t like the idea of this “Catalyst” weekend.  It wasn’t something I looked forward to.  Can you blame me?  How excited can a kid get when parents say no food,TV or Tecmo bowl for an entire weekend.  However, my good buddy Krist, his sisters and I learned to improvise.  We couldn’t eat food but could drink liquids.  So we turned anything we could get our hands on into liquid.  I don’t think his blender ever worked the same after that.  Fortunately, my perspectives of this Catalyst weekend has changed.  Prayer and fasting have been foundational in my life.  God never disappoints.  His plans and purposes come to fruition.  It’s when I set time to fast, pray and focus on God that I can better hear and respond to His words for my life.  Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in Him a source of sustenance beyond food.  By engaging in it, we learn that God’s word to us is a life substance.  It’s not food alone that sustains but the words that proceed from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

-Shane

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01.06.08

Soak me in your laundry

In Psalm 51 David writes, “wipe out my bad record. Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry. I know how bad I’ve been; my sins are staring me down..  what your after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life…  Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean, scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.”

Ever feel that your thoughts, actions or attitudes are a bit like a dirty old rag that is ready for a good spin cycle?  King David felt the same way. David was honest with himself and admitted that he truly needed God to do an overhaul on his life.  All it takes to start the internal laundry is to admit that you need a good washing and ask God for it.  God gave His only son Jesus to purchase our lives and cleanse us from every ugly stain that we might encounter in our past as well as our future.

Consider asking Christ to hook you up with new clean heart, thought life and attitude today.  He will

~Jeff

Popularity: 86% [?]

05.05.08

Emptying your pockets looking for hope?

There are times that king David felt like everything was going wrong and he found himself wondering how he had gotten to this point? Where was the love he once felt towards the Lord? and why he just didn’t feel the sense of awe he once had towards God’s goodness.

In Psalms 42:4 of the Message Bible David writes, “These are the things I go over and over, emptying out the pockets of my life. I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd, the one right out in front, leading them all… eager to arrive and worship.”

David is feeling blue and looking back at all of the things he has been through lately and trying to figure out what he has left, how he got to this place in the road.. and how to go forward. David finds his solution and pens it a couple verses later in Psalms. 42:6, “When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse everything I know of you.”
David realizes that he must encourage his soul and fix his eyes on the only one who can truly bring life to the situation. In verse 5 David asks, “why are you down in the dumps dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God and soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. he’s my God.”

If life is overwhelming and you find yourself questionsing God’s plan while rehearsing the details of how you wound up here, try focusing on the things that Christ has done for you… how he has carried you… and you’ll find yourself back in a place of worship once again.

~Jeff

Popularity: 93% [?]

12.02.08

When we understand God’s love we better understand repentance

Last year Pastor Ken went to Kenya and God overwhelmed him with the reality of His amazing love.  A love that is unlimited, unmatched and sacred.  We began sensing the heart of God more deeply within our leadership.  We became immersed in the baptism of God’s love.  The love of God went from thought to heart felt reality.  So much so that we began hurting more and more for people as they struggle in life…with pain, depression, hurt, sickness.  Now, I’m sensing that God is readying the Church for a revival of repentance.  When we understand God’s love we better understand repentance.  The love/kindness of God leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4).  Love doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t abuse or take advantage of.  The fear of abuse, embarrassment or retribution from repenting to God is absent when walking in the love of God.  Scot McKnight said, “Abba is implicitly pure, majestically marvelous, and embarrassingly faithful in His love for us…Repentance is what happens when we realize in our deepest selves that we have violated the sacred trust of love with Abba and seek to renew our commitment”.  While I was in Washington, D.C. I got the picture of God’s love ministering to the hearts of our national leaders.  As God moved on their hearts, repentance flowed from their mouths and the stain of sin was removed.
-Shane

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01.01.08

Lord, I don’t want to miss you!

I always marvel at the thought, “what could God do in and through us if He had our undivided attention and cooperation”.  What excites me about our Sacred Roots gathering is that it provides for a corporate and individual time of “Consecration, Prayer, Humility, Repentance, and Seeking God’s Forgiveness, Favor and Direction”. These components of 2 Chronicles 7:14 are key to us allowing God to do, what He wants to do, in and through us as the Body of Christ!

The cry of my heart in 2008 is “Lord, I don’t want to miss You” and what better way to get in a place spiritually where I will hear the voice and direction of the Father clearly, than by gathering together with likeminded men and women of God and waiting for direction from the Father. God tells us in Jeremiah that “if you seek me, you will find me, if you seek me with all your heart”. I look forward to seeking the Lord with you this weekend and throughout the year!

-Mark

Popularity: 60% [?]