When Everything Falls Apart

This past week I have been listening to Fee's cd Hope Rising. The song Everything Falls has been an encouragement to me and I just wanted to share the lyrics with you.

you said
you'd never leave or forsake me
when you said,
this life is gonna shake me
you said
this world is gonna bring trouble on my soul
this i know

when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
your the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
i find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on
you keep holding on

when i see
the darkness all around me
when i see
the tragedy has found me
i still believe
your faithful arms will never let me go
and still i know

when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
your the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
i find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on
you keep holding on

?shallow? i last for the night
but hope is rising with the sun
(its rising with the sun)
there will be storms in this light
but i know you will overcome

when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
your the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
i find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on

when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
your the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
i find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on

you keep holding on

"No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." - Joshua 1:5-9

The Body of Christ

"Just as each one of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given to us..." Romans 12:4-6a

Do you believe you are a vital member of the Body of Christ? Because you are. Do you believe the church needs you like a body needs a mouth? Because it does.

You have a role. God has given you God-ordained gifts, talents, and passions to use for His glory. The Lord has placed you in a local church body to play a role in that particular body of Christ. God has prepared people for you to minister to, pray for, and serve. He just wants His children to be obedient and fulfill their purpose in Christ. My prayer for you today is that you will understand that you are valued in the kingdom of God, you have a vital role in the body of Christ.

Heart of Expectation

Expectations define our experience

What are your expectations of God?

What are you expectations of Church?

What are your expectations of Prayer?

What are your expectations of Scripture?

Are you expecting to hear from God and be moved by the Holy Spirit?

I want to challenge you to seriously consider and evaluate your expectations. Do you expect other people to manufacture a "God Emotional High" experience or do you prepare your heart and mind to hear and be moved by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Do you expect to hear from God each and every day when you get out of bed? Do you expect the Holy Spirit to speak to you through Scripture? Prayer? My heart is that you would evaluate your expectations and compare them to what Scripture says.

New Year's Resolutions Part 2

So, after my blog yesterday I came across a quote that confirmed my convictions about reading through the Bible this year. It is by J.I. Packer and says, "Any Christian worth his salt ought to read the Bible from cover-to-cover every year."

13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

- Matthew 5:13-14

Packer poses a great question we all need to answer, are we worth are salt? Or you could go on to ask, How bright is your light? Recently God has just been teaching me the power and importance of Scripture. We need to read, know, and understand God's Word. I will leave you with this passage from the book "Primal":

"One of the common complaints people make when leaving a church is this: "I'm not being fed." As a preacher, I make it my goal to nourish our congregation via a well-rounded diet of sermons. And I try to preach every sermon like it's my last. But let me push back a little. My kids learned to feed themselves when they were toddlers. If you're not being fed, that's your fault. I'm afraid we've unintentionally fostered a subtle form of spiritual codependency in our churches. It is easy to let others take responsibility for what should be our responsibility. So we let our pastors study the Bible for us."

New Year's Resolutions

I have never been a big fan of New Year's Resolutions. I guess my thought would be, "why wait till January 1st to start doing something, do it now!" However, I always think a new year allows us to reflect on the past year and more forward to a new one. This year I felt compelled to make some "resolutions" or goals spiritually for 2010. I wanted to share them with you not only to challenge you to make some goals spiritually for yourself but also to keep myself accountable.

Goal #1: Read through the Bible in 2010. I have never committed to do this and completed it yet so this year I felt this is something I really need to do. The more of God's word I can implant on my heart the more ammunition I have to battle Satan. This year I want to challenge you to know the Word of God.

Goal #2: Read 15 books this year. I really am growing to love to read. I think Christian books are great in addition to the Bible. They help me understand people, culture, and share stories of others in ministry. I will probably be blogging a lot over this next year about the books I am reading and the truths God shows me through His Word.

The first book I am diving into for 2010 is called "Primal" by Mark Batterson. Mark is the pastor of National Community Church on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. I have really enjoyed one of his previous books "Wild Goose Chase." Here are some highlights so far:

• Many Christians know what they believe, but they don't know why they believe what they believe. Their faith is fragile because it has never been tested intellectually or experientially. When they encounter questions they cannot answer or experiences they cannot explain, it causes a crisis of faith.
• If Jesus said that loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is the most important commandment, then doesn't it logically follow that we ought to spend an inordinate amount of our time and energy trying to understand it and obey it.?
• Minds often remain closed to the truth until hearts have been opened by compassion.

Bonded

I want you to think about a really rough point in your life, some obstacle, some hardship, some bump in the road that you had to overcome. Were you alone? Did you have anyone to walk with you through those times?

As I have been studying the book of 1 Thessalonians I am understanding that we are not meant to suffer alone. Shared suffering and hardships are much easier to bear than when you are on your own. So many people give up on God, relationships, people, and life because no one pleads with them not to give up. So today if that is you I want to challenge you not to give up. Read and understand the context of 1 Thessalonians. Paul not only shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them but he was willing to share his own life and share in their suffering as well (2:8).

When we share our lives with one another and walk "through the fire" we are refined and grow stronger. Think about the Holocaust for example. In the midst of extreme suffering people were brought close together. Christians all over Germany and Europe bonded together to help people. Many people shared in the suffering of the Jews to help them.

We even see that in many areas in our own lives. Look at sports teams. When teams overcome the team grows stronger and their is unity among the group. As Christians we are a team. Living for Christ in a world that is totally opposed to the things of God is really hard. We have many failures and have many obstacles to overcome. We need to share our lives with one another and walk through the hardships and sufferings with people so that we may be strengthened and God may be glorified.