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Saturday, February 19, 2011

Isn't God AMAZING!!!

It is absolutely amazing How God takes the time to create the world all that is in it and then He creates man and woman. He creates them perfect with only one thing in mind, fellowship. God wanted us to love Him and allow Him to provide for us. Simple isn’t it?
So what do we do with Gods glory? We mess it up! God continues to be amazing by picking up the ball and creating a new way for us to connect with Him. Yes, things were no longer easy and perfect, but God was still willing and God wanted us to be willing in return.
Isn’t God AMAZING!!!
But it doesn’t go that way does it? We continue to make excuses for why Gods way just isn’t quite what we fully need. Instead of putting on the newness of Jesus, we take these watered down excuses and dress up our lives with compromise.
But God continues to be amazing. He sends Jesus, His only Son. Commands Him to live in poverty, minister with the bare necessities, live above sin, teach us to be like Him, be tortured, die, go to hell and then rise from the dead. Oh, and by the way, after you get done with all of that I want you to remain on the earth, in a human body and continue to minister for another month and a half.
Isn’t God AMAZING!!!!
So, with His instructions in hand, Jesus leaves heaven and OBEYS God! That’s right. Jesus heard God, understood God and then obeys God. Jesus did not add to His instructions. Jesus did not attempt to change them. Jesus simply obeyed.
After completing His task and returning to Heaven God continues to be amazing. How? God sends us the Holy Spirit. That’s right, the exact same Holy Spirit that lived and moved through Jesus Himself. After all Gods patience, mercy and sacrifice, He sends us POWER to go along with it!
Isn’t God AMAZING!!!!!
So with our new life, new purpose and new power God gives us a simple task. Jesus commands, that’s right, He commands us to be a copy cat.
Isn’t God AMAZING!!!!
God, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit have this great throne room in heaven. What does this mean for us? Well, God is AMAZING! After all these things God still adds some bonus features for us. When we need someone to talk to we can enter Gods throne room. If we have worries we can lay them at Jesus feet by entering Gods throne room. Why do we live under the bondage of nervous disorders, eating disorders, depression, drugs, cigarettes, drinking, when we have the throne room of God in which we are told to enter into BODLY as sons and daughters of God Himself?
Isn’t God AMAZING!!!!
So what’s the problem? Why do we so easily choose to be church attending people when we could choose to be on fire, powerhouse Christians? Why do we find it so easy to excuse away the Bible when it conflicts with our desires?
Aren’t we AMAZING!!!!
If Jesus could give up heaven for us why can’t we give up sin for Him? If Jesus gave up a comfortable life on earth, why can’t we give up our comfort to see Gods plans accomplished? Jesus suffered torture and death and yet we whine when God asks us to sacrifice something or give to support His work. Instead of storing up treasure in heaven we occupy our time planning for a future that we may not live to see. We easily give money to help ourselves, plan for retirement or buy that new thing we just have to have. But God forbid that would give so freely in support of Gods work. We drop a $100 for new shoes but cringe if our offering is more than $10 or $20. We see ministries in need but we eat out instead! Necessities are needed to start new churches but that new cell phone is a must.
Aren’t we amazing!!!
We have the Holy Ghost just waiting to do the impossible through us but we find it easier to justify why that kind of thing is for someone else. The signs, wonders and miracles that could change lives go unperformed because in order to get that kind of power and connection with God we would have to stop our known sin.
Aren’t we AMAZING!!!
God is so great and yet we insist on being greater. Instead of seeking out all of God we seek out new ways to conform God to what we want to do for Him. We profess with our words that God reigns while professing with our lives and watered down example that Satan is God of all!! We tie Gods hands with our willful sin and then blame God for not moving on our behalf.
Aren’t we AMAZING!!!
God is calling the church back to HIM. God is calling YOU to step up and be a CHRISTIAN. It’s time to stop hiding in the comfortable and controllable. You cannot have yourself and have God at the same time. You cannot sin willingly and then expect to touch God with dirty hands. You cannot turn a blind eye to what God wants to do in your life. It will cost you your soul. YOUR eternity is in YOUR hands.
Allow God to be AMAZING!!!
YOU have the power to choose. Allow God to be amazing though you. Give up yourself and take on God. Is God calling you into ministry? OBEY! Is God asking you to give up some control and financially give? OBEY God! Instead of looking to others to be used by God choose to open yourself and your life to be used by God.
Choose to allow God to be AMAIZING!!!

Monday, February 14, 2011

The Expected Price

The Expected Price

Isn’t it amazing, how when you get saved and God begins to do a work in you, how eager you are to learn and serve the Lord. You begin to pray, read and diligently study Gods Word. You go to church, prayer meetings and Bible studies. ANYTHING to get just a little more God.
A little time passes, and like anything new, that fire begins to dwindle. That amazing new feeling is not so new and wonderous anymore. You begin to think and wonder if maybe you over reacted or possibly God was not all you initially thought. After all how can somethting as amazing as Salvation and newness begin to “wear off”.
Slowly, ever so slowly, you begin to realize that this new God thing is much more than it was cracked up to be. After reading the Bible you begin to see a very redundant theme. This theme is easily overlooked and sometimes even justified away. Yet this theme is so emensly powerful. This obscure truth found within Gods word, that will inevitably bring you to the doorway of decesion with yourself and with God.
So what is this theme I am speaking of?
Lk. 14:28-33 28For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?29Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,30Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.31Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? 32Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.33So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Count the Cost, make up your mind, Take action on your commitment and obey God
For several years God allowed my wife and I to be a part of an amazing ministry. Ministry which touched lives through the power of God. We saw God do some amazing things. Teens would hear Gods Word,apply it to their lives and allow God to use them to minister to others. Adults would yield their desire to control God and allow the Holy Spirit to freely move and minster. We saw people healed of sickness and diseases. We saw demon oppressed people freed through the power of the Holy Spirit. We were allowed by God to be a part of a revival that last for months.
Then when all seemed to be going according to Gods will and plan, God did something strange. Funny how He likes to do that. So what did God do that was so strange? God began to speak to Diana and I and told us to go to move from New York and go to Virginia!! Up and move to a new state, with a new church, that was in the baby phases of its development and take a youth pastors/childrens pastor position. What was God thinking?
So, like all obedient servants of God we did the one thing we just knew we should do. We questioned God! We sought confirmation and demanded God to prove Himself. Smart move right. Well God did exactly what we asked. God gave me a dream in which the events of the future would play out. God also confirmed our calling prophetically throu 3 people who did not know what God was telling us.
So the day came for us to make Gods calling, as we knew it then, known to those in our church. An absolutly amazing, and also very sad thing happened that day. The events if my dream began to play out like the lyrics of a well written song. All those with whom we ministered with and fellowshipped with began to slowly turn their backs on us. We were told of the big mistake we were making. We were told how we should have sought the council of others befor “blindly following our emotions”. One person said that they felt as if there had been served divorce papers. O how true a statement. We felt as though we were being torn from all that we called family. As the time to leave grew closer the more shunned by our church family we became.
On the day we left New York for Virginia no one showed up to bid us farewell. No one had any words of encouragement or support. After 3 years of growth and ministry service all seemed, at that moment, to be in vain.
Well we finally arrive in Virginia and we had to move in with the senior pastor due to financial hardship. For the next 2 months Diana and I and our three children all slept in one room!!! Talk about cramped. Diana and I began to accept and move in our new positions and calling as God led us and all appeared to be going well. The senior leadership all seemed to like us and several compliments were made. However it was not long until Diana and I began to notice some things that didn’t quit line up with Scripture. Issues that delt with integrity in both finances and with the leading of people. Things finally came to a head and to make a long story short, Diana and I left the church. So here we were, stuck in a new city with no friends, no church, little money and a job that required me to work 12 hr. night shifts. We began to think that maybe we were wrong. Maybe the people in NY were right and maybe we didn’t know Gods voice and leading the way we thought we did. After all, we obeyed God, gave up everything and now all was in shambles.
Within a week God led us to a place in which to be ministered to. Another new church, but this time Diana and I only wanted to be ministered to and allow God to speak to us through His Word.
Well, as much as God is sometimes strange in His ways He is also faithful. It wasn’t long and small doors began to open for us to share what God had given us and to effect lives, even if in small ways. But as time went on we knew God was going to again uproot us for something greater. We had a service one night with a couple of sister churches and God began to show us our next step. A step that did not come easily to me. I was tired of moving around. Tired of second guessing if we were hearing God and tired of things going wrong. Because of my discouragement I was very resistant to the idea of going to a different church. But God again was paitent and faithful and so we moved to one of the sister churches in Virginia Beach. We remained at this church for about a year. During this year God open many doors, did some amazing things and changed peoples lives in ways that are still evident today. It was during this time in 2009 that God began to birth what is now EDGE Outreach Ministries International!!
For years Diana and I had seen pastor after pastor lead by allowing and overlooking comprimise and sin. This had weighed heavy on our hearts and led to much frustration. God was calling us to sep out of our comfort zone and begin to lead instead of follow. To preach and live Gods Word. To stand in the face of sin and comprimise and proclaim Gods deliverance.
Now do not get me wrong. Diana and I are as human as the next person. We make mistakes just like everyone else. But we also believe in following God in sincerity and with a whole, dedicated heart.
Well, I finally came to somewhat of an acceptance of Gods calling and did the one thing I am amazingly good at. I jumped ahead of Gods timing and tried to do it my way!!! I spent money and made EDGE ministries legal. I was ready to go! But God told me to prepair the ministry, not establish it. So you may be wonder, what did God do to correct my childish eagerness? Its simple, God closed the doors with the church we were at, due to a very serious lack of integrity with leadership. God then led us to a new, very much out of the box church. A church that gave us a new outlook on Gods view of people and what “church” really should be. God allowed us to move in power and anointing. Lives were touched and changed but this time we knew God was changing the playing field. The other half of Gods master mix-up was to tell us to move to Tennessee.
Slowly, we were beginning to learn to not to jump ahead of God. To take what knowledge God gives us and to walk slowly. We were starting to not just “hear” God but to actually LISTEN to God. We were learning that just because God had shown a few of HIS cards it was still HIS game and HIS rules and God loves take the long, windy road.
Through our time in Virginia, God brought key people into our lives. God allowed us to minister to these people and to also receive ministry from some of them. These God established connections have proven to be long lasting. Some of our new brothers and sisters expressed to us that they did not really understand what we had expressed about Gods calling. However they knew and believed God and they knew Gods annointing on our ives and so they supported Gods moves in our lives and prayed with us and for us.
We arrived in Tennessee July 29, 2010!! We were hyped for the new plans and blessings God had prepared for us. Obedience = blessings right? Right? Hmmmmm. Why do we insist on thinking such things? Why do we look for ways to get Gods approval and thus His blessings/rewards?
Read the Bible, many people were faithful to obey God and in return it appeard that the “Blessings” were temporarly on vacation. Our move to TN was no less. We arrived to a house that was promised to be clean and move in ready and yet it was, without exagerating, absolutly disguisting. Dishes and roteen food piled up. Drug paraphanalia throughout the house and several known drug dealers/drug users living on the property. In addition there were several known users and thieves coming and going through the day and night. One day we were in the dining room and my then 10 yr. old son was looking through the glass doors at people who were sitting on the back deck smoking a joint! One person had set up a meth lab in the back shed! We were stuck in this living condition for about five weeks. In addition to all of this I was having a very hard time getting my Nursing liscence transferred to TN and thus finding a job. A small house finally came available and, through mostly desperation, we took it. Well, that house was a disaster within a disaster. It was rented for a month and we only spent 2 nights there!! On the verge of homelessness and without a job God opened a door, just in the nick of time. We were permitted to stay with some friends. God began to use people we barely knew to step up and make provision for our family. Through a pastor I had only met twice, God used to pay our rent, deposit and utilities at a new location. Fees that totaled around $1500!!!
My liscence finally got straightened out, but jobs were seemingly impossible to find. My awesome wife spent hours prepping my resume and placing online applications/resume’s for me. I would follow up with the phone calls and visits. But all doors seemed closed. Then, after seeking God in prayer, God did the impossible. I got an interview!!!!!!!! At the end of the interview the lady told me that she had only night shift positions and nothing full time but then all of a sudden a full time day shift and opened up. I asked for $17 p/hr for pay and she suggested I ask for $19 p/hr.!! I did so and she gave it to me!! When does that ever happen? God is so awesome!
God led my wife and I to begin to move in our ministry calling with regards to establishing the ministry. We have obeyed and now are holding weekly Bible Studies, Prayer Meetings and services. Deliverance is being ministerd and people are being affected for Jesus. Seeds are being planted and Gods work is moving forward. We have set up a web site. It looks like we will be filing the paperwork this week to incorporate Edge Outreach Ministries International and within a few months it is our hope to file for our 501c3 nonprofit paperwork with the IRS. God has also begun to open our eyes to the next steps of HIS plan to touch and change lives.
Count the Cost Make up your mind Take action on your commitment and obey God.
Gods calling and Gods glory comes with a price. In order for Jesus to move in his ministry he had to count the cost, make up his mind and then commit to his decision with action. Jesus did these three things and while it cost him everything it opened the door to salvation.
The apostles chose to consider the cost and obey as Jesus did. It cost them everything. Their confort, control, understanding and even their very lives. They saw the expected price and chose to pay it. Through their obedience the church was established with power and authority.
Do you consider yourself a Christian? If so take a long, hard, honest look at your life. See your life through Jesus’ eyes. Have you truly considered the expected price and are you willing to pay what God demands?
If you choose yes then be ready to accept the path God sets before you according to how God reveals it to you. Do not expect to understand, feel comfortable or safe and have groves of friends and support. Expect only to obey God and see His glory in His time. The path you walk may seem full of resistance, bumps, twists and turns but remember, Gods “straight” line has a purpose. Where you or others may see radom and hinderance God see a plan and a purpose.
God lives and operates in the unknown. If God asks you to give something up or to endure something it because that is what is best for both you and for Gods plan. Your sacrifice or suffering is acceptable to God. Choose today to stop being safe and comfortable. Choose to be risky and radical. Step out of your control and into Gods control. Allow God to change the world around you by using you as HE sees fit. Gods calling on your life does not have to make sense to anyone but YOU. God will establish you and his calling through you as you step out, endure the path and obey God.