Choose this day whom you will serve....

Jos 24:15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

On Sunday, my pastor preached a sermon on "Choices" based on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. In his intro, he shared two passages. One was Deut 30: 15-16. The second one was Jos 24:15 (see above). This was so cool that he shared this passage and when he did, I straightened up in my chair really quick and listened intently. I'll tell you why:

On Friday, I was working, driving along, and this statement came into my mind: "Choose this day whom you will serve." I didn't know where it is was from, off hand. But, it kept repeating in my head. I was thinking, "is this something I read, or is it a line from a movie?" I decided to pray and make a decision to work the rest of the day for the Lord.

So, when my pastor read this Scripture Sunday morning, I was blown away! Wow! God had totally prepared me for this message in advance. Awesome!

"What will heaven be like?..." by Sam Storms

“When we get to heaven there will be nothing that is abrasive, irritating, agitating, or hurtful. Nothing harmful, hateful, upsetting or unkind. Nothing sad, bad, or mad. Nothing harsh, impatient, ungrateful or unworthy. Nothing weak, or sick, or broken or foolish. Nothing deformed, degenerate, depraved or disgusting.

Nothing polluted, pathetic, poor or putrid. Nothing dark, dismal, dismaying or degrading. Nothing blameworthy, blemished, blasphemous or blighted. Nothing faulty, faithless, frail or fading. Nothing grotesque or grievous, hideous or insidious.

Nothing illicit or illegal, lascivious or lustful. Nothing marred or mutilated, misaligned or misinformed. Nothing nasty or naughty, offensive or odious. Nothing rancid or rude, soiled or spoiled. Nothing tawdry or tainted, tasteless or tempting. Nothing vile or vicious, wasteful or wanton!

Wherever you turn your eyes you will see nothing but glory and grandeur and beauty and brightness and purity and perfection and splendor and satisfaction and sweetness and salvation and majesty and marvel and holiness and happiness.

We will see only and all that is adorable and affectionate, beautiful and bright, brilliant and bountiful, delightful and delicious, delectable and dazzling, elegant and exciting, fascinating and fruitful, glorious and grand, gracious and good, happy and holy, healthy and whole, joyful and jubilant, lovely and luscious, majestic and marvelous, opulent and overwhelming, radiant and resplendent, splendid and sublime, sweet and savoring, tender and tasteful, euphoric and unified!

Why will it be all these things? Because we will be looking at God.”

–Sam Storms, One Thing: Developing a Passion for the Beauty of God (Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland, Great Britain: Christian Focus, 2004), pp. 178-79.

this is my prayer today

from the song "Hosanna" by Brooke Fraser

"Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity"

A Call to Stand for Truth

Yesterday morning as I was driving my brown truck I was praying and a word came to me from God. I was thinking about how far I've come in the last year, regarding my worship leading.

A year ago, I wasn't leading anywhere for anyone. And I had no plans to do anything with it. I was busy. We had just brought Tasha home to live with us. Being new parents, life was crazy. In only a couple months (we didn't know it) we would be changing churches. I was frustrated in my ministry and I had thoughts that I would never do worship leading again. A friend and brother of mine thought otherwise (I suspect that he was busy praying that I would change my mind).

Shortly after Christmas, I realized that I needed to be back in fellowship with my band of brothers. I had taken a hiatus from the bible study. Spiritually - I was drained and could feel the devastation in myself from lack of fellowship. As I began to go back, I made a commitment to myself to lead worship for the guys every week.

Something had happened in the months between April and December of last year. This "break" from leading worship had affected me. God showed me that his gifts really matter. When he made me, Nev, when he knit me in my mother's womb (Psalm 139), before time began, he gifted me with specific, unique gifts and talents. And so this question came to me:

Who am I that I should decide when it is no longer good for me to lead worship? When did God give me the choice to forsake the gifts and talents he bestowed upon me?

God blessed me with the gift of music, song. He blessed me with the desire to lead others in worship. God called me to himself, so that I would walk in the light, walk in the truth, ...be in obedience to his plan for my life.

So, as I prayed yesterday, I realized that I am a worship leader. I lead others in worship. I am called to lead others in worship. I must obey that call to lead others in worship. But there is one thing that is more important, I am a Christian. I am called by God to lead others to Christ. I must stand in Christ. I must stand for truth. I am called to stand for Truth.

One Year Anniversary!

It's been one year Apr 11th that we've been parents of Tasha!!! Praise God for his goodness, greatness, mighty hand, provision! Our God is an awesome God!

Jackson Senyonga

I heard a great sermon this past Sunday. We had a missionary from Uganda, Jackson Senyonga, come and speak to us about prayer. Here follows some things that he preached:


Does God answer prayer? What kind of prayer does God answer?

He preached from the Scripture :

2 Chronicles 20

Here are some quotes from Jackson:

"God has no credibility problem in the area of answered prayer."

"It's impossible to seek the Lord and not find him."

"When you stand on your knees, you are taller than your enemies."

His Message:

There are 5 kinds of prayers that God answers:

1) Desperate Prayers:

a) Casual prayers: America loves this one

b) Crisis prayers: (9/11) its a good prayer, but it dies quickly after the crisis is over

c) Committed prayers: This prayer causes real change

-2 Chr 20:12 - "we don't know what to do Lord, but our eyes are on you...."

- in humility - ex. Moses, Jacob

"Prayerlessness is an exhibit for Pride."

Jackson believes right now, that "Prayer is the missing ingredient in the American Church."

2) God likes to answer the Big Picture prayers

- Kingdom Minded prayer

3) Pray for Other People:

-"It starts with you, but doesn't end with you."

-"We are so much in our own way"

- "It's not about me, it's about the Kingdom."

4) Act/Walk out your prayers: everyone has a part to play

"Prayer is harder on our knees"

"Some of us want to hide in prayer to disobey God"

-"We want to spiritualize our disobedience.----that's witchcraft."

-"What ever you don't do, it goes undone."

-"If you don't go and touch those(non-believers) people [you just prayed for], they will go untouched and go to hell."

5) Pray sacrificially

"Not out of liking, but out of obedience.

Ex. from Scripture:

Matt 16:21-23

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." 23But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

As soon as Jesus began to speak on sacrifice and death, Satan [through Peter] interrupted because ----

"Sacrifice produces power"

"Fires from heaven (Power) don't fall on nothing, they fall on sacrifice"

the True Power of the Cross

Jesus Christ is the Resurrection and the Eternal Life. He has the power to give eternal life to all who believe in him, because of his miraculous work on the cross. He is the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life that leads to a relationship with God. On the third day Christ rose from the dead with a glorified body and ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God, awaiting his second coming.

---

John 11:25-26, 1John 1:2-3

John 14:6

Jesus Christ is the True Power of the Cross. Without his resurrection on this day, Easter Sunday, the cross would be meaningless. Praise God for the empty tomb!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Jesus is the Sacrificial Lamb

I believe that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. He is the perfect, pure and innocent lamb who was sent as a sacrifice to die in our place. He was betrayed, scourged, beaten, spit on, insulted and finally crucified under Pontius Pilate. He died a criminal’s death on a cross, and yet three days later he rose from the dead to vindicate the saving work of his life and death and to take his place as the majestic, everlasting Lord of Lords on the throne of God. Christ, though completely righteous, willingly submitted himself to the Father by sacrificially laying down his life, absorbing the punishment and wrath of God that was against humanity.

---

John 1:29, Eph 5:2

Matt 15

Rom 8:32, Eph 2:3-6, 1 Thess 1:10

what are we living for? (Part 1)

Today, I went to a funeral. A friend of mine's mother-in-law went to be home with the Lord and today was the memorial service. I had never met this woman before, but after the service I felt as though I did. And what a wonderful woman of God she was.

A friend of hers' was a man that I greatly respect, David, who spoke during the service. He was a professor of mine at Bible College and he is a wise man and has a deep love of God. There was something he said about this woman that spoke volumes to me. He said the reason she was such a cheerful person was that she "knew she was deeply loved by Jesus." That is what gave her great joy. She experienced the unending and abounding love poured down from above on her. This caused her to return that love back to her Savior and to all those around her.

This is such a simple, yet profound thing.

As I am preparing for this weekend's services, this celebration of a life well lived brings me to think about the Love of Christ. And to John 3:16:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

And to Isaiah 53:5:

"But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.

This causes me to raise a question: What is it about Christ's love (agape) as opposed to the other types of love, namely brotherly love (phileo) or romantic love (eros), that can save the whole world and bring peace to a lost soul?

I saw a couple movies recently. One of my favorites is The Fifth Element (Sci-Fi). In it, the antagonist is literally "pure evil". It consumes everything in its path and it threatens to consume Earth. The protagonist is another alien in the form of a beautiful woman. She is the key to stopping evil from winning. In the process of the movie, Bruce Willis' character falls in love with the perfect woman. Long story short (it's still a great movie), Love, the love between two people, is enough to stop the evil force and even to completely destroy it.

So, can romantic love (eros) save the world from evil and bring peace to all? Hmmm...

God is Everywhere

How great, how deep and how wide is the Lord our God, the living creator and sustainer of all life, matter, and reality that is and is to come. We humbly praise the one, the divine, the wondrous, the infinite, and the incomprehensible; He who is beyond reason, beyond measure, beyond description, and above every finite word, thought, and dream. How great is the Lord our God whose mercy allows us to scarcely attribute to him the glory, fame, and credit he deserves.

---

Rom 11:33-36

God's Grandeur

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;	5
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;	10
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
By Gerald Manley Hopkins

To Meet With God

True worship is the acknowledgment and realization of the presence of the glory of God. We are like mirrors reflecting, to God and to others, His glory. Expanding on John 4:24, worship encompasses both spirit and truth. It is both a subjective experience and an objective activity, meaning it involves not only our intellect, but also our emotions. Jesus says in that passage, "we must worship in spirit and in truth." John Piper said in his book, Desiring God, "Worship must be vital and real in the heart, and worship must rest on a true perception of God. There must be spirit and there must be truth." This is a non-negotiable.

Worship is for God. We come before him to give him all the praise and all the glory he deserves. Let's not forget that we are to enjoy him in worship too. We worship God because it glorifies him and because he demands it of us. We also worship him because it transforms us as we focus on him.

Worshiping God is for us. Corporate worship is an active response to the presence of God, involving not just the internal, but especially the external. When we meet together to worship, we are meeting with God.

It is my desire not only to worship my God, but to lead others in worship. I desire to lead others into the very throne room of God, so that they can meet with God, so they can be healed, changed, transformed, and renewed.