What about love?

I think the word love is an amazing word that has the power to change everything, and in fact has changed everything. Two thousand years ago God put His love on display for the human race as His Son Jesus hung between heaven and earth and laid down His life so that we could be saved. His love changed everything and some times we take that for granted and even at times allow Him to become common to us.

Today I just want to encourage you to take some time to think about the love that changed everything and then take a bit of time to say thanks to the one who put His love on display for..........you:)

But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way.
Romans 5:8-9 MESSAGE
 
Why not tell someone today?

Live a Legacy!

Hey dads! I was preparing for my "Wild at Heart" Life Group yesterday and while doing that there was a lot of questions about what your father was like. This was an interesting topic for me so I got pretty absorbed in the moment. I had a great father and mostly my memories of him are nothing but good so the experience really stirred up some great memories. I wrote a letter to myself on the day my father passed out of this world to the next, so that I could capture my feelings about him before they started to fade. I thought I would like to share some of the things I wrote that day with you and make a couple of points, so here goes.

Today my father died.... I feel very blessed to have been the son of such a great man of God. He taught me to live a life of passion, to live from my heart. He taught me to love God with all my heart, soul, and strength. He taught me to love a woman forever. He taught me to laugh and to cry. I grew up in a home where my father loved us and cared for us, his children, more than he did his own life. It is my prayer and my life's mission to become as great a man as my dad......... as I look back on on his life I am so encouraged to see how one humble man can change so many lives, one life at a time. He touched so many lives so deeply, especially mine.
(Written December 31st in Monterrey International Airport)

Here is a few of the take aways for me.

1. Your kids will not always remember what you said, but they will remember how you lived.
2. When you are generous with your life, your children will be left with a legacy, and not just a memory.
3. Being others centered rather than self centered will have eternal consequences.
4. Loving your wife passionately in front of your family will give your children the courage to do the same.
5. Living for a cause will give you the octane to overcome every obstacle.

My dad was no saint, but I have never known anyone who loved Jesus more than he did. Now that I am a pastor and father I understand the incredible challenge of balancing life in such a way that would inspire your child to feel the way I feel about my dad.

My challenge to you, men, is that you live for God with passion, that you love your wife forever, that you love your children more than you love your own self. Last but not least, I challenge you to live a sacrificial life that would make Jesus attractive to the world around you. I know that this is a tall order, but I believe in you, and more than that God believes in you!

Dave approved debt ;)

Romans 1:14 I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the foreigners, both to the wise and to the unwise.

This verse is burning in my heart and has been for a long time, because this is, I believe, God's call to the church. We can never repay the debt that God paid for us, but I believe that because God has given us the Good News, it is now our "debt" to tell others and help them experience the goodness of God!

How Intense are you?

I have been going through this time of awakening in my life like I have never experienced before, and I am so thankful to God for it. We just finished Youth Camp last week and we are working really hard to prepare for the Community Yard sale next week, so the intensity level is pretty high for me right now. I know this may sound strange, but this is what God has been teaching me through it. If my intensity goes up to finish a project or prepare for an event I can accomplish a lot in a short period of time. So if I would put the same intensity into reaching out to people what could happen? This is what Jeremiah had to say:

Jeremiah 20:9 Sometimes I tell myself not to think about you, LORD, or even mention your name. But your message burns in my heart and bones, and I cannot keep silent.

Here is what I think it takes to turn up the intensity till it becomes like a fire in your belly, or your bones.

1. We need to have a vibrant and connected relationship with the person Jesus (This comes through time spent with Him)
2. We must care about the things that He cares about, and the people that He died to save.
3. We must realize that Jesus doesn't really want you to be safe, He wants you to be dangerous.
4. We must deal with your selfishness with extreme prejudice.
5. We must live for Him like it is all that matters, because it is.

I really believe that God is calling us to a new level of intensity so that it will become hard to get to hell from this region. this is our responsibility and it is what we will have to give an account for.

Nathan I love this verse
Hebrews 9:12 Then Christ went once for all into the most holy place and freed us from sin forever.

Jesus died and once and for all time He freed us!

I believe that Jeremiah is now at his destination so remember to pray for him!

Holy Spirit Empowerment!

I was reading in Acts this morning and sort of had a couple of verses just light up for me. I guess that I have probably read Acts hundreds of times, especially the first few chapters but I have never seen it this way before. This was right after the Holy Spirit baptised the Church and they hit the streets.

Acts 2:9-11 Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene; Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes; Even Cretans and Arabs! "They're speaking our languages, describing God's mighty works!"

It seems that the Holy Spirit empowered the church to speak to people within their culture and context, so that they could understand the goodness of God and His mighty works! I know that He has given us that same empowerment for our culture, to communicate in a language that they can understand, the goodness of God and His great love for them. My prayer is that we will not let this gift go to waste but that through the boldness that the Holy Spirit gives we will tell the world!

What about Bob?

As I have been saying, I think it is really important to invite people to church and maybe even go a step further and bring them. Check out this post by Perry Noble. I think it says it all. Who is the Bob in your life and what are you going to do about Bob?

Have a good one!

New Week!

It is great to be home! A couple years ago we did "Building a House to Belong to" as our theme for the year and for Father's Day we gave out baseball caps with that phrase printed on. Well today as I was sitting, thinking and asking God about how we can reach out in our world, He reminded me about that theme. When we were away last week on holidays it really occurred to me how important Jubilee is to me and my family, and how important the relationships that we have here our. I also believe that God wants other people to find a home and strong realationships here also. He wants to do that through us and he wants to do it one person at a time. So many times we are looking for the big event, but the truth is that it is through relationships that God touches lives. This is what the Bible says:

Psalm 68:6 He gives the lonely a home to live in.

If we are really going to "Build a house to belong to" I think there are a few things that we need to do:

1. We have to love Jesus with all our hearts
2. We need to understand how much He loves the people of this world, and care for them in the same way.
3. We need to take practical steps to make Jubilee a home for the lonely, such as talk to people that come to the building, and by inviting people into our homes and our lives.

I believe that with God's help we can become a place that people can feel like they have found home, but the only way we can do that is if we all commit to changing our community , one person at a time.

Gone Fishing!

Yesterday I spent the day out on Lake Mindemoya on beautiful Manitoulin Island. Our main objective was to catch fish, any way that we possibly could. What a day of thinking and adjusting our methods of catching fish. We started out casting for pickerel with worms, then we tried trolling for a while with lures and worm harnesses, then we shifted to moving from place to place, to try and catch bass with the simple old reliable hook and bait method. We were unsuccessful most of the day until we found the perfect spot with the perfect bait. Within minutes I had pulled in a six pound bass (And that is no fish tale either) and within a few more hours we had pulled in several large bass and were enjoying them for our supper meal.

This morning as I was spending time reading through the Book of John, I came across the story of Jesus calling His disciples. Some He called and they simply followed, others He attracted in other ways, by miracles or even by telling them things that He had no way of knowing about themselves. He too was using different methods of calling people to himself in order that they could become disciples. As I was praying and thinking about what I had just read I realized that if we are truly to become fishers of men as Christ has called us to be we are going to have to do a few things.

1. We are going to need to learn to be persistent. A good fisherman never gives up trying to catch what he is after. so many times we give a halfhearted shot at trying to "catch" someone for Christ, but what God wants us to do is to keep trying different things to win that person that He loves!
2. We need to be creative. When we are out fishing we tried all kinds of different lures and bait before we ever landed the first fish in the boat. How are you using your God given creativity to reach people for Christ do you just try to thump them with the gospel or are you willing to explore different ways to build relationships with people so that they will open their hearts to you and the Christ that lives in you?
3. We need to pray! After being in the boat fishing for many hours with no success I began to pray that we could catch a fish. In so many ways we try to live our lives without a deep and intimate relationship with God, but the truth is that new life can only be birthed out of intimacy. so pray, or more simply put, talk to God so you can build relationship with Him.

Tomorrow is going to be an amazing day at Jubilee and I believe that as all of you gather together with a sense of expectancy that God will meet with you and do amazing things. So pray for the service in the morning, invite someone with you (It is not to late), and come with expectant hearts! Kristine and I will be praying that God will touch your lives! See you soon!

Just thinking.

I know that most Christians believe that telling others about Christ is important, but it also seems that even though we think that, we still don't do it. I am often fearful about telling people about Christ even though in my heart I am very passionate about Him. What does it really take to become a passionate sharer of the truth? I believe there are a couple things that will help.

1. We need to experience the power of a transformed life for ourselves by becoming intimate with God. We can only do this by striking up a relationship with Him, by consuming the Bible (not literally but by making it part of our lives we consume it) by talking to God (prayer) and lastly by practically living out our faith.
2. We need to believe there is a real hell (I know it is not popular but the Bible teaches us that without a relationship with God that we will spend eternity separated from Him in a place called Hell) to shun and a real heaven to gain. I think that if we really believe in both of these places it would up the urgency level in our lives and that we would have a hard time letting a friend or neighbor walk past us without telling them the Good News.

I am really excited about our service this weekend and I believe that if as a church we will do a couple of things to prepare for it that peoples lives would be impacted. First we all need to pray that God would speak to us and that those that don't know Him yet would come to know Him. when God's people pray, great things happen. Second, we need to invite people. who have you been hoping would show up in church some day? Well give them call and offer to pick them up, offer to take them out for lunch after the service, or whatever it takes, just get them here. third come with an expectation that God will be in the House!

Check out this story http://www.perrynoble.com/2008/02/25/newspringers-and-pastors-please-read/