Perfect Storm wrap up...

Today we wrap up our series on the Perfect Storm. I have truly been encouraged (should not be shocked by that) from studying the Scriptures for our navigational points during the storm. Any authentic study of the Scripture, of course, reminds us of His Sovereignty. If He truly knew you and I before we even existed or before we were even formed within our mother's womb, AND He states boldly that He has a crazy good plan for our lives even then; well, shouldn't we trust Him then. Earthly father good gifts, Heavenly good gifts, greater works we will do, He will not put more on us than we can bare, My peace I leave with you, not leave you as orphans, never leave you nor forsake you, and on and on and on go the promises!!! Our role is found in the old hymn, Trust and obey for there's no other way....We must keep our eyes fix on the author and finisher of our faith Jesus Christ. That's it. Simple. No complicated formulas, no elaborate memorization, simply stay focused on Him. Don't look at the wind and waves that attempts to distract you (economy, political unrest, relational struggles..you get the picture). We fight battles sometimes when we should be letting Christ our big brother, who has already won, fight for us by keeping our eyes on Him.

Are we crying...

9 And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, 10 and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. Neh. 9:9-10

Are we crying? Are we crying out of a heart for and toward God? When we do, then He will. Think about that. Man2Man Project last night woke me up concerning Life Changing prayer. Craig spoke about Charles Finney and his passionate faith and child-like trust. He demonstrated time and time again a public boldness with ridiculous and audacious prayers that God ANSWERED in God only style, leaving NO room for doubt. Much of our prayers are not even public enough for others to witness if God answered. Furthermore, they are so weak in nature that it truly doesn't take God to answer many of them.

I pray for a heart that trusts and obeys God; that seeks Him first and foremost

Being Who We Are...

Self discovery and identification are ever continuing processes. Just when I feel as if I am closing in on authentically identifying my spiritual and ministerial DNA, I come along something or someone that challenges me to dig to another level. Mark Batterson has done this recently in his post on rebranding. I feel like Turkey Creek Community Church is well on our way, however, we must passionately discover God's calling and our unique design in His plan. Check out Mark's blog and let me know what you think personally and corporate, especially if you are a part of our team.

God bless,

Kaleo...

I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenges and promises of this series. Kaleo, the Greek word for calling, is a dynamic message series from Lifechurch.tv. I am excited about the possibilities of our people truly capturing the essence of this last message; Called to Make Disciples. In just a couple of short hours I will exhort our community of faith to be disciples and to make disciples. There is a stark difference in being a cultural Christian and a disciple of Christ. Every individual follower of Christ, Christian family, community of faith, church and denomination is commissioned by Christ and empowered by His Holy Spirit to go and make disciples. Unfortunately, we have programmed discipleship into a two-hour structured process of the physical church. By this, I mean, we rely on Sunday School and Family Training Hour (Wednesday evening classes) to function as our discipleship. Creative churches (yes, sense the hint of sarcasism) program "organic" discipleship programs within homes, calling them small groups. While this is seems to be a better approach it still, at times, missses the point of our Great Commission. Christ's intentional (incarnational) model of missional discipleship is all inclusive. When I recall the term, "all-inclusive", I experience warm memories of my honeymoon. However, Christ's approach to disciple-making is quite simple: everything, everywhere, everyone and everyway provides an opportunity for a teaching experience. Not only is discipleship sitting around in a circle, (or in neatly formed rows anticipating a lecture) and discussing passages of Scripture. Discipleship, at the fundamental level, is learning to do life in the image of God within the community of faith. Often churches preach well about loving God and others, however, we have forgotten to instruct how to love our neighbor as ourselves. Isn't this the second greatest commandment and like the first, effectually making the basis of the Great Commission the Great Commandment? We have forgotten to live in community, bearing one another's burdens, prefering our brother over ourself, demonstrating that we are truly His disciples because we have love one for another.

If Turkey Creek Community Church captures the essence of this message and we become empowered disciple makers, our community will be supernaturally revolutionized by the power of the Holy Spirit and our godly witness. Pray for us.