Missions 2018!

Mission’s Faith Promises! Missionaries speaking in so many services! Challenges to give to Missions…challenges to give more every year! Challenges to pray for our missionaries and to support the General Missions of Life Church! Pastor Rick, all we hear is Missions Missions Missions! Why? Why is this such an emphasis at our church and why does there seem to be an obsession with Missions at Life Church? What a great question and I could give you all the reasons I believe Missions should be a priority but let me defer to the One Who has greater authority and wisdom about reaching the world with the Gospel…Jesus!

Jesus said in John 3:16-17 (NKJV) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” The reason Jesus wants to reach the world and we should want to reach the them is because God so loved the world that He gave Jesus!

Jesus said in Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV) “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.” How much more do we need to be motivated to emphasize Missions than what Jesus has said here? He said “Go!” We can’t all go. True. In Romans 10:14-15 (NKJV) “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!" We can’t all go but we can send missionaries all over the world!

Finally, Jesus said in Luke 19:10 (NKJV) “…for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." If that was what Jesus was doing, shouldn’t that be what we are doing? Enough said!

Seven Principles in Giving

Seven Principles in Giving

2 Corinthians 8:1-15 (NLT)

In this article I would like to introduce you to our Distinctives here at Life Church, and then, give you Seven Principles in Giving. This short study will prepare you to be faithful during our Mission’s Emphasis and be faithful in general to the Lord. I will be preaching this on Wednesday night January 31, 2018.

Our Distinctives:

1. We are passionate about reaching the lost! 

2.We are passionate about Home and Foreign Missions! 

3.We are passionate about being filled with Holy Spirit power!  

4.We are passionate generous givers! 

5.We are passionate about worship!

Seven Principles of Giving

1. There must first be the dedication of self.  2 Corinthians 8:5 (NLT)

2. There must be a willingness to be extra-ordinarily faithful even when we are going through hard times ourselves. 2 Corinthians 8:2-4 (NLT) 

3. There must be the desire for excellence. 2 Corinthians 8:6-7 (NLT)

4. There will be a proving of how genuine is your love. 2 Corinthians 8:8 (NLT) 1 Corinthians 13:3 (NIV) 

5. There is an identification with Jesus. 2 Corinthians 8:9 (NKJV) 

6. There must be a right attitude in our giving. 2 Corinthians 8:10-12 (NIV) 

7. There will be sowing and reaping. 2 Corinthians 8:13-15 (NLT) 2 Corinthians 9:10-15 (NLT) 

What if someone would give...

... you $10,080 dollars each week of your life. It would be up to you how you spent your money. You decided. What if you had to spend that money every week and what you didn’t spend would be lost. We all have 10,080 minutes.  What we don’t use we lose!  We all have the same. We need to give to Jesus TIME!

1. We need to give Jesus the gift of Time. Time to pray.  We may not all have the same amount of money but same time to pray…pray without ceasing. Time to be benevolent.  Go out of your way to bless someone else. Do random acts of kindness! Time to be thankful and remember His gift.  Jesus! Don’t rush this time…Time to worship. Time to understand God’s plan for us! Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NKJV) “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”

2. We need to give Jesus the gift of Intimacy.  Intimacy pertains to knowing the inmost character of a person…knowing them intimately. Philippians 3:10-11 (NIV) ^“ I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Intimacy can only be developed through spending time with God in prayer. Talking and listening.

3. We need to give Jesus the gift of Meditation.   Meditation is continued thought and deep reflection on the Lord and His goodness. Always have Him on your mind and in your heart. Meditation on Him and His Word will be a guardian and a gift. King David saw it protecting him. Psalms 19:14 (NKJV) “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.”  Psalms 64:1 (NKJV) “Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.”

  4. We need to give Jesus the gift of Evangelism.  Evangelism is a zealous effort to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Mark 16:15-20 (NKJV) And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Jesus last Words were to be filled with His Spirit, and then, go and preach. Go evangelize! Acts 1:8 (NKJV) "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." If we don’t have time for intimacy with Jesus, if we don’t meditate on Him, there is a good possibility we will not make time for evangelism. This Christmas…give Jesus the gift of TIME!

As we approach Christmas my prayer...

... is that all of us will keep the main thing the main thing.  We all know this but sometimes we need to be reminded that Christmas is about the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He left the splendor and glory of heaven to be born in a manger, live His life among us, go to the cross, and be raised from the dead that we might have the most awesome gift of eternal life with God.  It should never be hard for us to worship Him at Christmas time when you consider all He has done for us.  A few years ago I preached a message “Wake Up! The Gifts Are Under The Tree!”  That is what my parents used to say to us on Christmas morning.  My sermon said for us to wake up because our gifts are under the tree...the cross!

Many get caught up with the pressure of making sure everyone gets a gift and unfortunately many go into debt to do so.  Christian financial expert Dave Ramsey says that we should never go into debt for Christmas but that we keep the main thing the main thing.  He said we spend what we have on those we can and trust that everyone will understand.  He goes on and tells parents not to get all stressed out over this issue but to sit down with their children and explain to them the best they can their situation.  He also says it is a great opportunity to share with them that the most important things are our relationship with God and each other.

  Mary (the mother of Jesus) had to learn Christmas was gaining and losing...how so?  She gained by being chosen to have the Christ-child conceived in her.  She had to be willing to lose her reputation and almost her husband.  Luke 1:35 38 (NIV) “The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.  For nothing is impossible with God." "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.” As we choose this Christmas to be the Lord’s servants let us choose like Mary to keep the main thing the main thing!

Twenty-one days of fasting...

... to start January 1, 2018 and who can even believe that we are almost there.  How can we make our fasting more effective this year and what is it that God expects of us as we fast?  Isaiah 58:69 (NIV)  "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?  Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.  Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I...”

Please be aware that fasting is not intended to be a “quick-fix diet” for over eating during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year Holidays.  It is a time of seeking God with all your hearts and it is a time of searching our hearts and repenting for ourselves and our nation.  According to Isaiah, it is a time of seeing people set free by the power of God, a time of being compassionate to those in need, and about taking care of our own families.

I am praying this year that men will step up and take their spiritual responsibility as the leader in their homes.  I am also praying that women will adorn themselves with the glory of God and cause their homes to be a place of blessings and refuge.  I am praying that our children will seek God passionately and for those who are prodigals to return to the Lord with all their hearts.  Come on, Life Church Assembly of God, let us fast and pray as one in the Lord, let us see our light break forth in our community, and our healing to come quickly!!

There are many “catch phrases” that circulate...

... through Christendom...sometimes they have great meaning and other times not so much.  One such phrase is, “It is not about me” but reality tells us that most of what we do is about us and it is for us.  Max Lucado in his book with the same title as the phrase It Is Not About Me is attempting to help us see that whatever we do should be done for the glory of God.  Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NKJV) “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  Whatever we do we should be doing for God’s glory but all too many times “me” gets in the way.

Lucado says, “Our society is not wired for this kind of thinking.  It’s a “me-centric” world out there, which destroys much of what should be good.  Marriages are ruined because one or both partners are focused on their own happiness.  Successful men and women are ruined by their own success, believing they don’t need anyone else’s input.  And for some, life’s troubles are magnified because they believe life is all about them.”  The Gospel of Jesus Christ seems to be completely backward to our self-centered lifestyle here in the United States of America.  We are taught and are even conditioned to believe that we have the right or entitlement to have what we want when we want it.

I have said for years that God is not so much interested in our happiness as He is our holiness.  He wants us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.  This seems so difficult when we are so comfortable taking care of number one.  Lucado says, “Our comfort is not God’s priority.  If it is, something has gone awry.  If we are the marquee event, how do we explain flat-earth challenges like death, disease, slumping economies, or rumbling earthquakes?  If God exists to please us, then shouldn’t we always be pleased?”  The truth is that God does not exist to make a big deal out of us but we should exist to make a big deal out of Him.  It is not about you and for a certainty it is not about me, it is all about Him.  Psalm 34:3 (NKJV) “Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.” 

Joshua has always been one of...

... my favorite Bible characters, so much so that we named our second son by that name. I believe that Joshua (the one in the Bible) can be such an inspiration to us by the things that God commanded him and how he walked those things out in his life. Can you imagine trying to fill the shoes of Moses? Over and over in Joshua 1 God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous...I believe He is saying those things to us. As a review here are the points to the message God gave me to give to you comparing our lives to Joshua!

1. God wants us to put our past into perspective! Joshua 1:1-2(NIV)

2. God wants us to realize He has a place for us! Joshua 1:2-4(NIV)

3. God wants us to know that His power and presence will go with us to defeat our enemies! Joshua 1:5 (NIV)  

4. God wants us to know that He will keep His promise to us! Joshua 1:6 (NIV)

5. God wants us to have true prosperity! Joshua 1:7-8 (NIV) 

6. God wants us to take possession of what He has promised! Joshua 1:11 (NIV)

7. God wants us to be passionate about being obedient to Him! Joshua 1:16-17 (NIV)

A.W.Tozer said, “The true follower of Christ will not ask, "If I embrace this truth, what will it cost me?" Rather he will say, "This is truth. God help me to walk in it, let come what may!"  What I am saying is that this is God’s truth and with His help we can and will walk victoriously in it! Be strong and courageous!