The Move that God is dealing with me about is that the emphasis will be on the ministry of Jesus Christ and not on just the man in the ministry. No longer him but them, where we will not be preaching for response only, but for results of souls, signs, miracles, and wonders and fruit that remains. God seems to be redeveloping the discipleship team ministry after the Jesus model of the 12 where Together Everyone Accomplishes More. What are your thoughts?

I am so amazed at how God has propelled us into 2013 with incredible worship experiences that have been defined by passionate worship among our attenders.  The BC worship team and choir have been off the chain leading us into the presence of God.   The purpose of the Holy Spirit’s anointing is to empower us to reach others and every Sunday in 2013 has resulted in souls being added to the church such as should be saved.  Already this year BC, you have broken non holiday attendance records in our Sunday AM worship experiences and BC Life Groups have broken attendance every Sunday in 2013.  Everyday reports are coming in of restored marriages, healed bodies, saved souls, financial breakthrough and life change.   All I can say is to God Be The Glory for what great things He is doing.  Our passion and vision is to BE THE CHURCH that God has called us to be in every system of LIFE and we are striving to advance the Kingdom of God at Bethel Church.

 
Life Cycle
“When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals.”  Judges 2:10-11
The Book of Judges provides a vivid biography of leaders, followers, and human nature, and describes a cycle repeated even today:
Rebellion-When things go well, people drop their guard. Peacetime brings a greater chance of rebellion than wartime.
Repression-Repression follows rebellion. Whether God sends an enemy or the people cause their own misery, they endure hardship, calamity, invasion, or natural disaster. Poor life choices result in retribution.
Repentance-Extreme hardships often trigger community-wide repentance. Individuals begin to refocus on what is really important and purify their motives and behavior. Organizations cut budgets, downsize, and check egos.
Restoration-Purification leads to restoration. When people begin to obey God, peace returns to the land once more. And the cycle of fallen human behavior has run its full course.

Adopted from Daily Devotions by John Maxwell

These are some after thoughts about the Apostle Peter from my message at WSYM this past week on the series “Deep End”!

• After all the miracles that Peter had witnessed in the earthly ministry of Jesus, he still denied Jesus 3 times
• Like Peter our faith under pressure reveals where we really stand
• Peter found a place of repentance and he wept bitterly
• Jesus restores Peter by finding him in Galilee fishing
• Jesus instructs Peter to pray in Jerusalem until he receives the power that he will need to defend his faith and be an effective witness.
• After Pentecost Peter was never the same.  We never read of Peter denying the Lord after Pentecost
• Peter was filled with boldness and proclaimed the Gospel and over 8000 souls were saved in just a few days
• Peter’s ministry included many miracles including raising the lame man and people were healed by his mere shadow
• Peter led Cornelius, the first gentile convert to the Lord
• Peter was so committed to Christ that he refused to deny Jesus again and he became a martyr by being crucified upside down
• Peter exemplifies Acts 1:8 “You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me”

Parents at a Massachusetts elementary school are furious after educators first removed the word ‘God’ from the popular Lee Greenwood song, “God Bless the U.S.A.” and then pulled the song all together from an upcoming concert.

In Boston it was reported that children at Stall Brook Elementary School in Bellingham were told to sing, “We love the U.S.A.” instead of “God Bless the U.S.A.”

After parents started complaining, school officials removed the song from the school assembly concert. The school’s principal released a statement  stating they hope to ”maintain the focus on the original objective of sharing students’ knowledge of the U.S. States, and because of logistics, will not include any songs.”

Greenwood released a statement to Fox News condemning the school’s actions.

“The most important word in the whole piece of music is the word God, which is also in the title ‘God Bless The USA,” Greenwood said. “Maybe the school should have asked the parents their thoughts before changing the lyrics to the song. They could have even asked the writer of the song, which I of course, would have said you can’t change the lyrics at all or any part of the song.”

Greenwood said the phrase “God Bless the USA” has a “very important meaning for those in the military and their families, as well as new citizens coming into our country.” He said it’s also played at every naturalization ceremony behind the national anthem.

“If the song is good enough to be played and performed in its original setting under those circumstances, it surely should be good enough for our children,” Greenwood said.

An online poll taken by the television station indicated more than 80 percent of viewers were outraged by removing God from the song.

“I don’t have a problem with the song if somebody else does I guess it’s there business,” resident Patrick Grudier said. “I mean It’s on our currency (God).”

But not everyone agreed – including parent Matthew Cote.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with changing the song,” he told the television. “It’s a public school. If you want to have the word God in the song, go to a private school.”

Reaction on Facebook has been overwhelmingly in favor of the traditional patriotic song.

“Here we go again, more war on Christianity,” wrote one Facebook user. “You can remove God all you want, but the good news — there is still a loving God and He lives.”

You may remove the name “God” but you can’t remove “God” because He can’t be moved.  He’s omnipresent so how can you remove “The God” who is everywhere?

Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

What a mind-boggling thought: God created us for the purpose of glorifying and enjoying him! Are you tempted at first glance to question God’s motivation? The fact is that God is a spiritual being who is social. Certainly he enjoys intimacy within the Godhead and among the angels. But beyond that, he desires authentic and voluntary fellowship with the beings he created to be in relationship with him. The enjoyment part is reciprocal (see Zep 3:17). And Psalm 8:4–5 even proclaims that God crowns us with a measure of glory and honor. When we think of stewardship, how readily does this aspect occur to us?

Courageous faith aligns with convictions based on Truth!
 
Conviction is the conscience of the mind.
Nicolas Chamfort
 
Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct.
Thomas Carlyle
 
Honest conviction is my courage; the Constitution is my guide.
Andrew Johnson
 
 
Convictions determine conduct and conduct defines character and character reveals Christianity.  The same God who tells you how to get saved is the same God who tells you how to live saved.  We must reach people where they are but that does not mean that we make it easy for them to stay there.  Staying aligned with truth takes deliberate action.  As leaders we can not afford to forget or ignore to teach the values of Jesus and allow exceptions.  We cannot afford to soften the language and expectations of the cross just to build a bigger tent.  We just cannot assume that people will get Jesus values by osmosis.  Over time, Jesus values will fade and drift from their original position of prominence.
 
1. Aligning with convictions based on truth means surrendering illusions-A percentage of professing Christians are “reality impaired”-refusal to face, define and align with convictional truth.  It is impossible to receive spiritual results when we are misaligned to the reality of Biblical truth.  The truth will make us free but only if we acknowledge it convictionally.
2. Aligning with convictions based on truth produces results-better people, better partners, better relationships, better churches.  Never too late to do what is right-Truth does not mean making a list of rules-truth is a core decision to align with what is right.  Embrace reality and correct it.  Choose conduct that is right, choose behavior that is based in the Word of God.  Soon you’re unaddressed reality is going to cause a disaster and like the earthquake in Haiti, it is going to be a mess to clean up.  Jesus is calling for a life change in you!  I am calling for a life change in you.

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14 KJV

The word press means:

1.  to act upon with steadily applied weight or force.

2.  to move by weight or force in a certain direction or into a certain position:

The word prize means:

1.  to value or esteem highly.

Yesterday was another amazing day at BC! I never get tired of seeing people come to Jesus! What was so amazing about yesterday was a message of prophesy concerning redemption was given in the 9 am worship celebration and then it was fulfilled in 11 am worship celebration and the most unique part of this spiritual transaction was the souls that were saved in the 11 am were all sitting in the same area where the prophecy originated in the 9 am. I know you may be skeptical reading this but it happened exactly this way. Honestly, I was expecting souls to run to the altar in the 9am but that was not the case but it happened in the 11 am. People came forward for forgiveness and redemption and I was in awe of how awesome our God is. God’s spirit is working all the time to bring people to Christ. Now we are celebrating souls that came to Christ in the 11am.  I wanted to write this because when you have multiple worship celebrations, you don’t always know what is going on in the other celebration.  So I want the 9am to celebrate how God used you and your faith, even though you may not have witnessed it for yourself.   Some plant, some water, but God gives the increase.  Let the church celebrate!

23,000 THANK YOUS
“Celebrate in the presence of the Lord.”

That is the phrase I kept coming across in Deuteronomy today. And I think it’s one of our greatest shortcomings as Christ Followers. Most of us are wallowing in guilt when we should be swimming in gratitude. Don’t get me wrong. We need to repent. And one dimension of that is emotional repentance. We feel bad about what we’ve done. But God wants to sanctify our emotions so we’re able to wholeheartedly celebrate who He is and what He has done. How? There are lots of ways, but I think a gratitude journal is one of the most spiritual things you can do. It keeps you focused on things that are praiseworthy.

Don’t know where to start? Well, how about the fact that you’re still breathing. In fact, you’ll take approximately 23,000 breaths today. Seems to me like we owe God 23,000 thank yous.
Adopted from Mark Batterson