Living out Life with Passion, Purity & Purpose

Mass Shootings – My kids school on lockdown & Hope & Love > Fear I have read, listened to and seen so much information about the mass shooting in Parkland, FL that took 17 lives and forever altered countless others. I have listened to people debate gun laws, parenting or the lack of, hate groups and countless other topics this subject brings up. The day after the shooting my kids high school was put on lock down for an anonymous note found threatening to shoot up the school. Neither of my kids were at school at the time of the lock down. All of this makes me sad, tired and the enemy would love to make me afraid. Afraid to send my kids to school. Afraid for the parents of young kids in my church that have to send their kids to school for a lot longer than I do (mine are in 9 th and 12 th grade). But the truth is I still believe that Love > Fear & Love > Hate. Too simplistic -   you state. But let’s remember that in all of the stories of tragedy...

This past Sunday we started a new Sunday School Series based on Jon Blooms book “Things Not Seen”. It is a cry to re-center our lives, our hearts and our focus on the unseen things of His Kingdom. You see, it is the unseen things that survive the fires in our lives.  Love, Relationships, Worship, Prayer, Communion, Giving – only those things that are unseen and centered in Christ will survive the storms we go through. We live in a world driven by accomplishments and accolades but Jesus is demanding that our priority be those things unseen. “Again, today, that’s always the call: slay the idol of the seen.” Jon Bloom We have to continually choose to slay the idol of focusing on only what can be seen, praised and noticed. Our souls are always prone to wander so Jesus himself reminds us in Matthew 6:6 NIV But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward...

Today we finished up our Sunday School lessons on a Rick Renner book “Dream Thieves.” We discussed the Dream Thief of ourselves - or in other words - our own will. You see, we discussed that ultimately, I am the one who decides if I will fulfill God's divine destiny in my life or if I will choose to go my own way. We all come to crossroads in our journey - where choices have to be made - where we ultimately decide whether or not we will do what You want to do or what God wants You to do!  Honestly, we sometimes think that the small choices we make every day are insignificant.  But the book of John tells us about one of Jesus most astounding miracles - and this miracle only took place because a little boy made a simple decision to give Jesus his lunch instead of keeping it for himself. Read the story in John 6. Everybody knows this story!  John 6:1-15 After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias....

Having loved this present world.... This phrase has been on my heart lately. It was spoken by Paul about a man named Demas. Most people would say Who? Paul we know... but who is this Demas fellow? I wrote this Bible study over 5 years ago but it is one that stays with my spirit. I look it up and reread it often. I will share what I wrote then... with some new thoughts added in.... When I think of endurance, keeping the faith and finishing well I always think of Paul. As he sat chained in a Roman prison, waiting the time of his execution, he wrote to Timothy: 2 Timothy 4:6-8 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. Paul was confident that he had en...

Radical Holiness – a fight for Purity Last night we started a series with our students titled Radical Holiness. When David felt this phrase spoken from the Lord, we began a discussion. The thing is - Biblical Holiness IS Radical. It’s different, it’s set apart! Biblically, there is no other way to be Holy than for it to be radical looking to the world! So why Radical Holiness? Well let’s be honest here… the world and even church people in general have so watered down what the word Holiness means. We have either avoided the subject altogether and just done our own thing or we have made it about a list of rules, don’t do this and don’t do that. We've made it about dress and actions and words. When the truth of the matter is none of those things make you Holy. Keeping that list, doing all the right things does not constitute Holiness.  Holiness is a matter of the heart. Truth here – if you are Holy, you will live by the Do’s and Don’ts set fo...

My last post was about a line in a worship song "I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open." It dealt primarily with How to do this... Today I want to focus on why! We talked about climbing and trusting. Letting go of everything else so we are capable of receiving all that God has for us. That divine exchange, beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, heaviness for Praise! But all of that is about me... And I know that Gods purposes for my mountains cannot be just about me. Lets look at a verse in Isaiah 40:9 O Zion, You who bring good tidings, Get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, You who bring good tidings, Lift up your voice with strength, Lift  it  up, be not afraid; Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” For a bit of background, Isaiah has spent the first 39 chapters of his book mostly prophesying Israel’s judgment. He is letting them know they will be taken captive into exile in Babylon. Now in Ch...

This weekend we heard one line of a worship song, here are the lyrics from the song.   “I lean not on my own understanding My life is in the hands of the Maker of heaven I give it all to You God trusting that you’ll make something beautiful out of me. There’s nothing I hold on to There’s nothing I hold on to There’s nothing I hold on to There’s nothing I hold on to I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open” - United Pursuit, Live at the Banks – Climb   I want to focus on the line “I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open.” Surrender – it’s tricky business. I am almost 40 (sigh :/) and every year it seems I learn something new about complete surrender to God. Surrender is about trust… and sometimes… let’s be honest here…. I trust my plans and ideas and dreams more than I trust Gods. And yet I know to receive fully what God has for me, I must be willing to completely let go of...