It's time to celebrate!

The last time I posted a blog i got many concerned calls telling me that life was ok and God was working.  I didn't think my post was especially depressing but apparently it was…. I wasn't ready at the time to tell the full story of what God was up to. Over the past couple of months God has worked in ways that have blown me away, he has worked in spite of me, many instances bringing me to my knees, to a place of knowing I can do nothing but let him work and i can do no work without him.

  After many sleepless nights and arguing with God that he didn't understand, Myself and an amazing group of people have taken the biggest step of faith I have ever personally taken. We planted a Church.  Center Church officially launched March 1… 

The past month has been the biggest blur (i will tell the full story in a future post), there have been some incredibly hard and difficult days and there have also been some days that at the end of the day I am humbled to tears at what God is doing around me.  We have seen people come alive in their passion  knowing that it is given meaning by a purpose, and that purpose is to make the name of Jesus known.  And boy are they making the name of Jesus known!!!!

We get to have our first Easter together this Sunday and I am so excited about the party that we are going to have. We are going to celebrate 3 people who have heard Jesus calling their name and have had their lives changed by him. He has made them whole, He has redeemed them. I don't think I could think of a better way to spend Easter that baptizing 3 of my friends. God has done amazing things in their life and has plans for them that I cannot even fathom.  

One thing God has made more evident than ever to is that the gospel isn't that you go to heaven, you do but the gospel is that Christ gives you the power to live everyday. The gospel is today, the power that brought Jesus out of the grave is available to us today.

Join us Sunday at 5pm at Jo’s downtown and hear all about Jesus and the power that brought him out of the grave, its gonna be amazing!!!!!!  Its gonna be a party, cook out and baptism immediately following the 5pm gathering. 

Hope to see you there!

The last Abyss of my Nature

This year is shaping up to be a great one so far. The things God is doing is blowing my mind. This year is just starting and I am already seeing lives that are being changed by God. It is incredible!
Lately I have been studying a lot about what a foundation in God looks like. How does abiding in Jesus and his power radically change my life and those around me. One of the things that has been on my mind for a while is what does it look like to always bring our “A” game be it leading a church, a small group, or just meeting a friend for coffee. Is it even possible? Now those of you who know me well know that “on my mind means” that I have turned God convicting me of fear and doubt in his sovereignty into a philosophical journey. It’s me trying to find a technical solution while not actually doing anything. I typically turn it into a global problem so it easier to justify not doing anything about it, the problem is too big for me to fix, the cultural and traditions are to engrained for anything to be done or to change.
Let me show you what i mean when I say “A” game.  Every Thursday night I lead a group of people in bible study, worship, and prayer. There are many Thursday nights that I show up and honestly I would rather be anywhere than there at the moment because I know I haven't prepared, not that don’t possess the knowledge of a topic but that I haven’t been praying for the people, the people who could come to know Christ, the lives that could be radically changed in that hour time span. God has been convicting me about, proclaiming the gospel which we are all called to and in the specific purposes he has for my life. Louie Giglio talked about this in an old podcast I listened to, He spent all of a sentence on it, but it was a punch to the gut for me.  My serving, teaching, leading could be the only time a person hears the gospel.  That interaction could be their only shot at knowing Jesus. When I am not using every ounce of my abilities to point a broken world toward life, toward Jesus then I am living in sin.
So how do I bring my best every single time, be it a chance interaction with someone or a planned gathering.  Thats a lot to ask as I look at my calendar it is overwhelming. God you expect me to be at 100% at all those times and even the in between. The answer I keep getting getting from God is Yes, a resounding Yes. Trust me I have been diligently searching scripture for a way out of this, that one verse that says in this situation or this circumstance you can let your guard down. I haven't found one yet, what I have found though is a lot of scripture talking about prayer, an intimate relationship with Jesus, and clinging to his scripture.
In the January 7th reading of My Utmost for his Highest by Oswald Chamber these sentences stood out to me, “When once we get intimate with Jesus we are never lonely, we never need sympathy, we can pour out all the time without being pathetic. The saint who is intimate with Jesus will never leave impressions of himself, but only the impression that Jesus is having unhindered way, because the last abyss of his nature has been satisfied by Jesus. The only impression left by such a life is that of the strong calm sanity that Our Lord gives to those who are intimate with Him.”
My prayer is that I cling to Jesus that the last abyss of my nature is satisfied by Jesus. As that happens I will become more aware of the importance in bringing my “A” game and actually have the power thru Jesus to do that because if I don't I am not sure I can live knowing that someone missed their shot to step from darkness to light, to a redeemed life.  My prayer is that I am able to lay the heavy worship that comes from living a life of meaning at the feet of Jesus one day.