God's Lessons In My Life

Luke 14:27 "And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple"

Have you ever had those weeks where you know God has His hand completely on you?  Where it seems that every minute, is a lesson God is teaching you something? From July 25, to now, I have been having those weeks!

God recently, has opened my eyes to the gospel in a way I have never fully understood before. And it all started with Luke 14:27.  When we think of the cross, we think of what we put on the rear view mirror of our vehicles, the necklaces we wear, the pictures we put up in our house.  And in a sense, we do love the cross because its what saved us! But because of this, we forget what the cross means in the culture where Jesus spoke these words.  Back then, He was saying pick up your instrument of torture and follow me.  In today's terms, pick up your electric chair, and follow me.  That is radical! And its not the gospel we are parading today.  Today we just ask, "do you want love? Pray this prayer, and your life will be so much better".  We never tell them that the gospel will cost you your life, and because we do so, they never receive life in the first place. 

Because of this I have really looked into the gospels, to present to my Heart Cry family what the gospel is according to America verses what the gospel is according to the Bible.

If I were to have never been around today's church, and all I had was the Bible. I would think the gospel is totally different than what many preach today. So I presented this to Heart Cry on August 1st, and it was amazing to see God speak to the congregation. you can find it here: http://www.messageshare.com/messages/memberID483/Follow%20Me.mp3

But parts of my message was about how do we disciple?  How do we make disciples? And our culture is wrapped up in the idea that the next program is the key to success in making disciples.  But I preach that Jesus laid it out to us clearly in Matthew 28:18-20.

We make disciples by:

1. Share the Word. Going. 

Our strategy is dependent upon the best lights, speaker, band, and building. While God's strategy is dependent upon people!

We are all preachers of the word, not just the pastor twice a week! 

2. Show the Word. Baptizing.

We are baptized to identify ourselves with Christ. But from then on, we show this identity.

Read 1 Cor 10:31-33, Phil 3:17. Phil 4:9.

Paul is exclaiming to follow his walk, and in so doing, you will get closer to the Father. this is great pressure. 

We have become so individualistic, that we do this walk for ourselves. But in fact, its biblical to say that we are to live for others.  In other words, my holiness has a direct effect on others Christianity.  We tell the ones who follow us, to watch us and do what we do. This brings true accountability, causes you to grow, and also causes other to grow.

(Listen to message for this to make complete sense)

3. Teach the Word. Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Does the word stop with you, or spread with you?

Stop listening to messages without a pen and paper. That means you are listening just for your own health.  Rather, take notes for those who aren't listening to the message. so that you may share that word with your neighbor.

Challenge: every time you read something in the word, share it with at least one other person.

4. Serve the world.

Invest in 1 or 2 people, do these 3 steps, and they will begin serving with you. They will impact the world. 

Then you go get 2 others to disciple, and the one you just discipled gets 2 of their own.

This will begin to multiply into strong disciples!

Please take this message, and apply it to your life. For the sake of the gospel!

The other thing God has taught me these past weeks, is through others lives.

I will not mention their names, but I have been radically impacted by 2 guys who have poured their life into me.  They have shared with me their life story, their sins, their punishments of their sin, and the precious gospel that has liberated them. 

Hearing stories about prison, not having much, living in a homeless shelter, is very humbling to say the least.  These man have impacted my life the 2 past weeks, more than a Sunday school teacher ever has.  

Doing life together, sharing experiences, and learning about other people's mistakes is such a blessing. 

I have gone to sleep every night, just so thankful for the gospel.  So refreshed and re-energized knowing that God saves the worst, uses the lowly, and has His hand on His sheep wherever they are. 

Please. Please. Please. Invest your life into someone. Show them what you have learned so far, and look for someone to invest their life into you.  That is what the early church did, we must go back to it. 

I have seen the positive results first hand.

Summer Trips

Wow. What a summer I have had, and it has been so busy that I have had no time to blog whatsoever!
But I would love to use this post, just to catch up with the summer trips I have taken.

Virgina/Tennessee:
In June, my family and I were blessed with the opportunity to go to the "South" and enjoy some family time while celebrating my Papa and Grandma's 50th Anniversary of their marriage. God really worked on my heart the week that we were there.  It was just so refreshing to see churches there, passionate about the gospel of Jesus.  I loved seeing the Tuttle family (my relatives), doing so much for Christ. We rarely ever have the time to connect because they move all around the world for the gospel.
I particularly needed the time I had with my cousin Jace.  It was very encouraging to see his willingness to help me with my church plant in Arizona.  He offered so much of his time to help the Gathering, and it was so apparent to see it was because he is so hooked on the love of Jesus and pursuing Him.

Georgia Team:
Once I left the south, the south came and visited us with a mission team from Georgia. My previous post explains in further detail about their visit, but please keep them in prayer as they present and live the gospel in Lavonia Georgia.

San Francisco:
God richly blessed Heart Cry Church's youth by financially providing our way to San Fran to spread the precious gospel.  Powerplant was the name of the organization that held the mission trip/camp experience. The staffers their were amazing, and it deeply encouraged me to see fellow young people serve the gospel with their entire life!
The best part of the trip, was the mission aspect! We helped a new church plant called, Ministerio Hispana, in Richmond, CA. For those who don't know where that is, its very close to San Fran but also known as the "gangster area".  We were in the hispanic region, with many of them only speaking spanish. But the language barrier did not stop us a bit.
We helped the church by doing a VBS event for the children of the area. I taught the 5th and 6th graders, and they were such a blessing. We had 10 kids consistently for my grades, and they heard about Jesus every single day! 2 of them surrendered to Jesus, through the preaching of the gospel to them.  The others claimed that they were followers, but realized they need to sacrifice more to God.  They probably impacted my life, more than I impacted theirs. It was amazing to see their happy spirits, knowing someone cared for them.  All they need is hope, and thats all any community needs.  And that hope is found in Jesus Christ!
Please pray for Richmond, CA.  They are a desperately wicked community that has fallen into the fascination of gangs and violence.  Pray for certain teenagers at the church, who recently gave their life to Christ and trying to get out of their gang without getting shot!

Through these trips God has humbled me, broadened my horizons, and assured me that there are disciples of God's word out there.  They just need to be reminded, and trained to spread this gospel to others in their community.  I love that God hears every language, I love that God can bless me through a homeless man just as much as a youth pastor can.  It doesn't matter what walk of life, you can still gain wisdom, knowledge, and encouragement from them.