Love - thoughts from F.F.

Yes, I'm still reading THIS BOOK by Francis Frangipane - and the chapter on LOVE was incredible. It is convicting AND empowering. Thought I'd share a few quotes here on the 'ol blog... because it's too much to TWEET :-) I'll not add any commentary... commentary not needed... you shall soon see why... Be blessed!

"Your Christianity is only as real as your love."

"There is no spiritual unity without love."

"Even a little root of bitterness springing up in a person's life can defile many."

"Painful experiences are allowed by God to teach us how to lover our enemies."

"There is no such thing as love without committment."

"The measure of one's love is found in the depth of his or her commitment to others."

If your "commitment is shallow, (you) will be easily offended."

"Every time you refuse to forgive or fail to overlook a weakness in another, your heart not only hardens toward them, it hardens toward God."

"The one who does not love his brother, cannot love God." 1 John 4:20

"No one will attain the fullness of God's purposes on earth without being committed to imperfect people along the way."

"When you love God, your love for others will actually be like your love for God."

The Next Five

I have lost 20 pounds since December. I’m ecstatic that I fit into a closet full of clothes that have been waiting for me. I am stoked that I can run/walk several miles, do some strength training, get a good workout in and not have it kill me. I could sit here and be happy that I’ve lost the 20 – and I am! While I’m thrilled that I have lost 20 pounds, it’s time to HUNKER down and get to the NEXT FIVE. I could be satisfied and rest in the accomplishment thus far– or I can press on, hunker down and attack the next five pounds that need to come off (I have about 30 to go).

The same can be said of the ministry God has called us to. God has blessed tremendously over the past year, above what we could ask or think, and we have put feet to our faith where He is working. We have seen dozens come to Christ and dozens more grow in their walk with Him. We see God growing His church and that church reaching out step by step making an impact on this community! We rejoice in all the Lord has done!! However, do we just stop, and rest in what has been accomplished in Jesus’ name, or do we press on, hunker down and go after the NEXT FIVE?!? I believe there are five more people who need to hear about Christ for the 1st time. There are five more people who need to hear about the HOPE they can have in Him. There are five more that have needs that we, the body of Christ, can help with. There are five more that deserve the joy that a simple smile can bring them. I’m amazed by all that God has done - but I’m ready to go after the next five.

Whether it’s losing 5 more pounds or reaching 5 more for Jesus, going to the next level takes work. Going to the next level takes commitment. Going to the next level takes sacrifice.

I’m ready baby! By faith, let’s press on and get the ‘NEXT FIVE’ for Jesus! (and them some!)

“But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus. “
Phil. 3:13-14

Weekend + New Addition

We had a super-D-duper 4^th of July weekend visiting my cousin Judy and her family in Indiana!! It was rainy on the 4^th, but we didn’t let that stop our plans. Saturday morning, we walked in the Porter County parade representing Neighborlink. Larry and Judy are the founders and leaders of this awesome work – “Neighbors helping Neighbors” – People seek out Neighborlink if they need some help (i.e. leaky roof, help moving) and it’s a job they can’t do on their own (ie. elderly person, single mom etc.). If you are one who wants to help, you contact Neighborlink and say I can help with such and such, sign me up! They link people who are willing to help to people who need it! If you live anywhere Porter County in Indiana, check out their website to see how you can be a part of helping your neighbor. What an amazing way to put FEET to your FAITH. So proud of you guys, Judy and Larry!!

Sunday, after a great service at Liberty Bible Church, we enjoyed a day at the Indiana Dunes State Park and hung out at the beach. The kids had a blast playing in the sand and water – and God blessed with a beautiful day!!

While we were in Indiana, we met Scooter. Larry and Judy and the kiddos have been taking care of him as his owner has been facing hard times… and he needed a ‘home’.

Scooter is a year and a half year old Yorkie – who LOVES, I mean LOVES to play fetch with his squeaky ball (OBSESSED).

Judy casually mentioned that he was ‘available’ early on in the weekend… little did she know that for about two years we’ve been toying around with the idea of getting another doggie for our family – but not wanting to necessarily go through all the puppy stuff and not wanting to spend a boatload of $$, we haven’t got one yet.

My manly hubby has never been a fan of little dogs… but fell in love with Little Scooter! He kept saying, “He’s such a cool little guy!” He’s not yippy like some lil’ doggies, gets along great with kiddos and listens pretty well… and he’s so darn cute! Long story short… we are now the owners of a cute lil’ Yorkie named Scooter!

Once we made the decision, we took Scooter over to say goodbye to his original owner. She’s a real sweetheart and was a little emotional saying goodbye to her buddy, but also that God had answered her prayers for a good home for him and also provided some money for her at ‘just the right time.’ What a blessing it was to meet her, and see God’s hand at work – we just thought we were getting a cute little dog, but God used it to help her in her situation. Isn’t He just awesome??

Coming home, Scooter was a bit nervous around Nala, but is already realizing that while she is a moose, she wouldn’t hurt a fly. Nala really could care less what is going on around her!! Follow Kevin on twitter to hear what Scoot is up to… He is his new baby… and I think he’s taking things just a little to far (he he). Every tweet today included Scooter. We all love our new little guy :-)!!

FAITH RISKS

NO, this is NOT the blog revealing the THREE faith risks that God is leading us through/to... but wanted to share Pastor Steven Furtick's thoughts on, FAITH IS SUBSTANCE. Hit the nail on the head, baby! I started taking notes from it, til I realized that I was practically writing the whole blog over. Best thing I've read in a long time!!

Have a wonderful 4th of JULY! We are heading WEST to see my cousin and her fam for the weekend. Looking forward to a wonderful time!!!

Blatantly Obvious

To describe the past few weeks as ‘a funk’ would be a serious understatement. Nothing has been clicking. There have been frequent periods of ‘intense fellowship’ (aka fighting) in our home. Miscommunication with others. Stress. Hurt feelings. Misunderstanding. Ugliness. Yucky. Blah.

What do you think is the cause of this? Who do you think wants there to be a wedge between a husband and a wife, between friends, between co-laborers in Christ?? Who do you think takes words, spoken or written, and wickedly twists them around and distorts them before they reach the intended recipient? Who plants irrational thoughts or creates paranoia?

I can tell you, in the past few days, it has become BLATANTLY OBVIOUS why we have been facing these kinds of struggles, darkness or ‘funk’! God has recently impressed upon our hearts to take THREE faith risks (TBA at a later time). Anytime God is leading you to commit to do something or surrender something to Him, the little snake comes along and tries to thwart the plans, and after the decision tries to dislodge the seed that has been planted. “The thief has come to STEAL and DESTROY” John 10:10, but JESUS “has come that (we) they may have life and have it in abundance.”

The more steps you take towards a sanctified life and/or towards obeying God’s calling on your life, the more you are willing to do for kingdom growth or steps you are willing to take to simply be in God’s will, the more resistance you will face. Press on, baby – ‘cuz if you’re in a wilderness, a MOVE of God is right around the corner!! Francis Frangipane says, “There is something about the time just prior to a move of God that causes many to wonder if the Lord is for them or against them.” I truly believe we are on the brink of a MOVE OF GOD in my home, in my church and in my community!!

Continuing on, Francis explains that this little wilderness season (funk) “has not been a time of punishment, but a season of preparation and of learning obedience.”

Kevin reminded us Sunday that our God is UNSTOPPABLE!! See Mt. 16:18, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it.”

When we are in this funky wilderness, we need to open our eyes to the fact of WHO we are battling! “We must learn to war against the illusions and strife, the fears and jealousies that are sent from hell to divide us. If Jesus is eternally praying for our oneness, then we must recognize that Satan is continually fighting against it. The devil knows that when we become one with Christ and, through Him, one with each other, it is only a matter of time before this Jesus-built church will destroy the empire of hell!” F. Frangipane.

This is a battle that MUST be fought head on… on our knees! Let the power of the heavenlies tackle the powers of darkness. We already have the victory in Christ – we’ve already won the battle. Believe it. Claim it. Live it.

“Let’s go out and show the world who this Unstoppable God is!” – Kevin Grubinski

Being ReLeVaNt...

Was Jesus Relevant?

You hear the term “relevant” being tossed around these days – especially among church planters. The very phrase is favored, or is criticized. A few years ago, the catch phrase that was used (and criticized) was “seeker-friendly” – Jesus was that too… but that’s another blog, maybe. Relevant.

One of our core values at LifePoint is Changing Methods - Unchanging Message - We value creativity. God is the author of creativity – um, look at the universe :-). The message of the GOSPEL will never change, but times change and people change and cultures change. The message is relevant and unchanging from generation to generation, and our methods need to be relevant and in being so, must be ever changing.

Paul said that became all things to all people. Check out 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, “ ¹⁹ For although I am free from all people, I have made myself a slave to all, in order to win more people. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law —to win those under the law. ²¹ To those who are outside the law, like one outside the law—not being outside God's law, but under the law of Christ—to win those outside the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some. ²³ Now I do all this because of the gospel, that I may become a partner in its benefits.” That to me, my friends, sums up relevance. Kevin says (and other planter guys), “We’ll do anything short of sin to reach people.”

Jesus told stories (parables) about everyday “stuff” to make it relevant to them. He took what they knew, what the people were familiar with and adapted the unchanging message so the people would “get it.”

Randy Smith stated at the NEXT Church Planting conference that “relevance is a moving target.” That’s right on, Randy! What is relevant to me as a Caucasian, woman/mother of 3 kids in the Midwest may not be relevant to a single male from New York City and 10 years down the road, it’s going to look even more different.

Here are Perry Noble’s thoughts on a “Seeker Friendly” church… “SEEKER FRIENDLY - It amuses (and saddens) me when people use this as a term to attack the church–what in the heck are we supposed to be–seeker hostile? (Many churches are!!!) We believe people seek God because He draws them to Himself…and when they walk into our church we do try hard to make sure the environment is FRIENDLY! We want people to want to come back…and so we do all that we can, knowing that we will fall short if not for the mercy of God’s grace using our efforts for HIS glory!” The same goes for relevance. We want to meet people where they’re at… and let the gospel transform them.

I have to admit, this isn’t always easy on me… I, like most people, balk at change. I like certain things “how we’ve always done it.” But, it’s NOT ABOUT ME! Craig Groeschel asks the poignant question, “What if we forgot about ‘how we do it here’ and ask God how He wants it done?”

More it not being about me… In regards to music/worship - I like a variety of music, especially contemporary praise songs… however, if the pastor of my church (aka hubby) felt God leading him to change things up a bit to harder rock or rap, or even old-time gospel – because of the demographic we were reaching, I would embrace it. Again, it’s not about me. I’m already SAVED. I’m going to HEAVEN! And I’d like a lot more people to come with me!! (And I can praise 7 days a week, not just on Sunday mornings!!)

It’s like Henry Blackaby teaches, “See where God is working and JOIN HIM!” If he’s working among a certain people group – reach them with the gospel! Meet them where they’re at. Don’t try to get them to look like you – if God would’ve wanted cookie-cutter Christians, He would’ve said so… and we’d all be boring. (Stepping off soapbox now.)

Embrace diversity. Embrace change. And, embrace relevance.

Jesus did.

Repentance to Deliverance

What does it look like? Let’s start with deliverance…

Well, I’ll let the children of Israel tell ya’… Exodus 15

I will sing to the LORD, For He is highly exalted;

He has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea.

The LORD is my strength and my song;

He has become my salvation.

This is my God, and I will praise Him,

My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

The LORD is a warrior;

Yahweh is His name.

Deliverance is refreshing! Deliverance produces praise!! Deliverance ROCKS!!

How do we get there? Pray like David prayed in Psalm 51!

What does repentance look like? Our good bud Jaime commented on FB that many times people don’t repent, because they don’t know how or what it looks like. Let’s see if I can take a stab at this…

Repentance – according to dictionary.com –noun

• -deep sorrow, compunction, or contrition for a past sin, wrongdoing, or the like.
• -regret for any past action.

• -The GREEK (yeah baby, playin’ the GREEK card!) metanoeō meaning to change one’s mind.
• -"Repentance (metanoia, 'change of mind') involves a turning with contrition from sin to God; the repentant sinner is in the proper condition to accept the divine forgiveness." F. F. Bruce.

Alright, so you experience a deep sorrow for your sin, you regret it, THEN change your mind about it (from it’s ok to it is NOT ok) and TURN to God.

Sorrow => Change Mind=> Turn From It => Turn TO God (in a nutshell)

God doesn’t ask anything of us that He doesn’t provide even more instructions for. How do you turn from sin and how do you turn to GOD? Let’s see if God’s Word can help us along with that?

*COMMIT – Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will act. Proverbs 16:3 Commit your activities to the Lord and your plans will be achieved.

*RUN – from sin, temptation and TO God. Make a clean break from those you used to hang with… Psalm 119:115. RUN from temptation like Joseph did.

*KNOW – that He LOVES you. Psalm 86:5 1 John 3:1 1 John 4:16 This is HUGE! He wants this for you more than anything!!

*BELIEVE – He’s not going to leave you. He is with you! You are NOT in this alone!

*FILL - Be filled with Him. Spend time with Him. Hear from Him by hanging out in the WORD. Talk with Him in prayer. Begin a daily quiet time, set aside for just Him to read the Bible and pray (it really is THAT simple) but talk with Him all day. Eph. 5:18 Psalm 119:11 Pray constantly.

*FELLOWSHIP – Go to a church (Heb. 10:25), surround yourselves with believers (aka good company, not bad 1 Cor. 15:33). Hang with those that want to follow hard after Christ.

If you don’t know where to begin, click on those verses. Read them. Let God’s truth settle in and work its way through your soul til’ you KNOW it and BELIEVE it. Trust in His goodness. Hang with some people who will help you along the way and KNOW that He loves you more than you can imagine. Oh baby, it’s so worth it to chase hard after God!

You will keep in perfect peace, the mind that is dependent on You

for it is trusting in You.

Isaiah 26:3