This week you get 2 awesome songs! I couldn't decide :)
7.28.2010
7.22.2010
7.20.2010
Jesus Culture conference
I spent 3 days last week in Georgia. ATL!! I was down for the Jesus Culture conference. That I even got to go is a testament to the mercy and favor of God.
The event was announced 2 or 3 months ago, and you could register online anytime you wanted to. Well, I keep putting it off and putting it off, even while telling a guy who is on the worship team with me to register because it was gonna be so awesome. So I finally get online to register the week before the event and I see that it’s sold out. SUCK!
At this point, I’ve got no way into an event I’ve been looking forward to for months… and not only that, but I’ve gotten an 18-year old dude all excited about it, who has already signed up and paid his registration fee, and now has no way there.
I contact the event coordinator via email asking if she could handle one more registrant; she says no. I call Jesus Culture event people and get no response. I tried getting a friend of mine who has connections with the church in Redding to “do me a favor”—no dice. Finally, I made my Facebook status a desperate cry for help to get me to the conference, just hoping something would happen.
A friend of mine hits me up on Facebook and suggests I call the church that the event is being held at to ask if they need volunteers. Pretty good idea, right?! So I call immediately, but get their answering machine b/c I call after office hours on a weekend.
By this point, I’m ready to just throw in the towel. I call my friend, Chris, to let him know that I’ve sucked the whole thing up… we won’t be going unless a last-ditch thing comes through. I feel real bad. This guy already rearranged his schedule so he could go, already paid for the event, gotten all excited about it. And now it’s looking like we’re gonna be staying in Kentucky all because I procrastinated.
Over the weekend, I begin planning for the week ahead thinking that I wouldn’t be going to the conference. I start to see that I might actually get some time to relax instead of traveling. I start to like idea of staying at home b/c I won’t have to get up really early for 4 straight days. I start to like that fact that I can sleep in my own bed at night. I am starting to be convinced that staying at home will be better than going.
Monday morning rolls around. I’ve got a whole agenda of things to do in Owensboro. I’m still kind of tired from a full weekend of World Cup soccer, hanging out with people, and a good worship service. Then I remember that the offices of Victory World Church (where the conference is taking place) should be open now. When that thought crosses my mind, a battle begins inside my head: “Adam, you should call b/c you know this conference is gonna be awesome.” “Dude, you’ve already called Chris and said you weren’t going, so don’t bother… you need the rest anyways.” “You better call b/c you never know, they might actually need volunteers.” “Don’t waste your time. The conference might not even be that great… the rumor is that Kim Walker's not even gonna be there.” Ever had this kind of thing happen before?
After battling it out in my head, I know that if I don’t call I’m not gonna be able to honestly tell Chris that I tried everything possible to get us there. So early Monday morning I make a call to their church offices. I talk to the lady at the front desk and explain my situation to her. She seems genuinely interested in helping me and transfers me to Melody, the lady in charge of all of the volunteers. I get Melody’s voicemail so I leave a message with details of the situation and hope for a returned call.
At this point, I’ve done all I can. I had already tried 3 avenues of getting into the event, and now, it comes down to a very busy woman finding time to return my call a mere 2 days before the conference starts.
About 1:30 in the afternoon I see a weird number pop up on my phone. I answer the phone and it’s Melody. She says she has never seen a situation like this before but she talked to some of her superiors and they are cool with me volunteering at the event as long as I pass a background check. What?!! That’s all it took?! It was that easy?!
After talking a bit more, she says she will send the information to me and Chris to fill out. All we have to do is show up before registration begins for some quick training. It was that quick. It was that easy.
I think we ended up being the only people on the entire event staff that were not from Victory World Church. We were the last people added to the volunteer list. One of Melody’s co-workers at the event said that Melody just “got a feeling that these guys were ok” when she talked to me over the phone.
* * * * *
None of this could have happened if I wouldn’t have made the decision to call. I had already tried 3 different ways of getting in late with no success. The event was sold out, and it seemed there was no way in. However, I sought out advice from godly voices in my life (posting the status to Facebook), and came up with an alternative. Even then, I was tempted to not call back on Monday after I initially got the answering machine at the church.
What happened to me over the weekend is what happens when we decide to settle on the easy way out, the usual, the ordinary. As I let the thoughts of not going to the conference set in, my mind starts to generate this crap telling me that sleeping in late is better, that comfort is better, that being able to relax is better. I’ve got news for you: following after the Lord and encountering Him will cost you something! Living a life for Christ is living a life of sacrifice and surrender. It’s not always going to be comfortable. It’s not always going to be feeling well-rested.
Satan will try to convince you that neither sacrifice nor surrender is necessary. That battle I had with myself on Monday morning is exactly how the devil will try to make you believe that you shouldn’t take that next step; that you shouldn’t put forth any more effort. He will whisper doubts into your ear that will make you second-guess yourself. But you’ve gotta make up your mind that it is worth it to follow the Lord, and that you will listen to His voice.
Everything fell into place for me to go to the Jesus Culture conference, and it was all God’s doing. It was most definitely a display of His mercy and favor on me. All I had to do was make the decision to try to get there. My responsibility was to exhaust all of my efforts in attempting to make it happen; He responded to my call.
The event was announced 2 or 3 months ago, and you could register online anytime you wanted to. Well, I keep putting it off and putting it off, even while telling a guy who is on the worship team with me to register because it was gonna be so awesome. So I finally get online to register the week before the event and I see that it’s sold out. SUCK!
At this point, I’ve got no way into an event I’ve been looking forward to for months… and not only that, but I’ve gotten an 18-year old dude all excited about it, who has already signed up and paid his registration fee, and now has no way there.
I contact the event coordinator via email asking if she could handle one more registrant; she says no. I call Jesus Culture event people and get no response. I tried getting a friend of mine who has connections with the church in Redding to “do me a favor”—no dice. Finally, I made my Facebook status a desperate cry for help to get me to the conference, just hoping something would happen.
A friend of mine hits me up on Facebook and suggests I call the church that the event is being held at to ask if they need volunteers. Pretty good idea, right?! So I call immediately, but get their answering machine b/c I call after office hours on a weekend.
By this point, I’m ready to just throw in the towel. I call my friend, Chris, to let him know that I’ve sucked the whole thing up… we won’t be going unless a last-ditch thing comes through. I feel real bad. This guy already rearranged his schedule so he could go, already paid for the event, gotten all excited about it. And now it’s looking like we’re gonna be staying in Kentucky all because I procrastinated.
Over the weekend, I begin planning for the week ahead thinking that I wouldn’t be going to the conference. I start to see that I might actually get some time to relax instead of traveling. I start to like idea of staying at home b/c I won’t have to get up really early for 4 straight days. I start to like that fact that I can sleep in my own bed at night. I am starting to be convinced that staying at home will be better than going.
Monday morning rolls around. I’ve got a whole agenda of things to do in Owensboro. I’m still kind of tired from a full weekend of World Cup soccer, hanging out with people, and a good worship service. Then I remember that the offices of Victory World Church (where the conference is taking place) should be open now. When that thought crosses my mind, a battle begins inside my head: “Adam, you should call b/c you know this conference is gonna be awesome.” “Dude, you’ve already called Chris and said you weren’t going, so don’t bother… you need the rest anyways.” “You better call b/c you never know, they might actually need volunteers.” “Don’t waste your time. The conference might not even be that great… the rumor is that Kim Walker's not even gonna be there.” Ever had this kind of thing happen before?
After battling it out in my head, I know that if I don’t call I’m not gonna be able to honestly tell Chris that I tried everything possible to get us there. So early Monday morning I make a call to their church offices. I talk to the lady at the front desk and explain my situation to her. She seems genuinely interested in helping me and transfers me to Melody, the lady in charge of all of the volunteers. I get Melody’s voicemail so I leave a message with details of the situation and hope for a returned call.
At this point, I’ve done all I can. I had already tried 3 avenues of getting into the event, and now, it comes down to a very busy woman finding time to return my call a mere 2 days before the conference starts.
About 1:30 in the afternoon I see a weird number pop up on my phone. I answer the phone and it’s Melody. She says she has never seen a situation like this before but she talked to some of her superiors and they are cool with me volunteering at the event as long as I pass a background check. What?!! That’s all it took?! It was that easy?!
After talking a bit more, she says she will send the information to me and Chris to fill out. All we have to do is show up before registration begins for some quick training. It was that quick. It was that easy.
I think we ended up being the only people on the entire event staff that were not from Victory World Church. We were the last people added to the volunteer list. One of Melody’s co-workers at the event said that Melody just “got a feeling that these guys were ok” when she talked to me over the phone.
* * * * *
None of this could have happened if I wouldn’t have made the decision to call. I had already tried 3 different ways of getting in late with no success. The event was sold out, and it seemed there was no way in. However, I sought out advice from godly voices in my life (posting the status to Facebook), and came up with an alternative. Even then, I was tempted to not call back on Monday after I initially got the answering machine at the church.
What happened to me over the weekend is what happens when we decide to settle on the easy way out, the usual, the ordinary. As I let the thoughts of not going to the conference set in, my mind starts to generate this crap telling me that sleeping in late is better, that comfort is better, that being able to relax is better. I’ve got news for you: following after the Lord and encountering Him will cost you something! Living a life for Christ is living a life of sacrifice and surrender. It’s not always going to be comfortable. It’s not always going to be feeling well-rested.
Satan will try to convince you that neither sacrifice nor surrender is necessary. That battle I had with myself on Monday morning is exactly how the devil will try to make you believe that you shouldn’t take that next step; that you shouldn’t put forth any more effort. He will whisper doubts into your ear that will make you second-guess yourself. But you’ve gotta make up your mind that it is worth it to follow the Lord, and that you will listen to His voice.
Everything fell into place for me to go to the Jesus Culture conference, and it was all God’s doing. It was most definitely a display of His mercy and favor on me. All I had to do was make the decision to try to get there. My responsibility was to exhaust all of my efforts in attempting to make it happen; He responded to my call.
7.11.2010
7.07.2010
Song of the Week #2
I thought this would be the perfect song to go along with everything I've been talking about so far.
7.06.2010
Get Out of the Shade!
One of the things I get to do around the house every week is mow the yard. I kind of like it because it’s a pretty simple task and one that lets me be to myself for a few hours. There’s only one spot in the whole yard I usually have trouble with—this big patch of grass that is situated under two big shade trees. It’s hard to see the line of where I’ve already mowed when I’m under those trees because the grass doesn’t grow as much. The rest of the lawn could have grown six inches, but under the shade trees there just isn’t much to mow.
The explanation for this is rather simple: the sun doesn’t shine there. No matter where the sun is in the sky, those massive trees keep that patch of grass from getting any of the light. While rain still gets through by dripping down the leaves, the sun is completely shielded from nurturing.
Now I don’t remember from Science class exactly how photosynthesis works, but I do know that plants need both water and sunlight to grow. Whenever there is an insufficient amount of either ingredient the plant will suffer.
I think the Church, as a whole, is like that grass in the shade; we’ve been starving ourselves of one part of an equation that has two components.
Our understanding of who God is and what He is doing on the earth comes from two central places: knowledge and experience. When I use the term knowledge, I’m talking about studying God, learning from a more intellectual standpoint. Gaining knowledge of God could come from reading the Bible, learning church history, dissecting specific passages of Scripture, listening to sermons, or hearing stories of how the Lord has moved in other people’s lives. All of these things add to our understanding of God’s heart, His character, and what He desires of us.
This aspect of the equation is something that the Church excels in. You can find endless numbers of strategies to help you read the entire Bible, thousands of websites dedicated to different interpretations of Scripture, podcasts of sermons from any style minister imaginable, and seas of Christian literature designed to help you in any area of your walk of faith. Knowledge is something that we do well.
But what about experience? What about the relational aspect of the equation, the experiential portion? Is this something that we are equally versed in?
When I use the term experience, I’m talking about actually interacting with God, seeing what He does with you personally. I’m not talking about just reading about God, or hearing about God, and knowing what He can do, but witnessing first-hand what He is doing. I’m talking about praying to God for direction and you getting an answer; I’m talking about praying for healing and it comes; I’m talking about boldly proclaiming the Gospel and people being saved; I’m talking about taking what you’ve heard from the Spirit in your prayer time and sharing it with others.
This side of the equation requires more than one-way communication; it involves more than reading, and listening to other people talk. This is where you and God interact, you work together—you seek Him out, and He shows up. You take all of those things you’ve learned about Him, the truths that you believe, and you see them play out in a unique way in your own life. You see His purposes play out through you.
Whereas knowledge tends to be more about learning what God has done before, experience is seeing God’s power in action right now. While it is imperative to have true knowledge and sound doctrine, it is equally important to have an ever-growing, ever-deepening experience with the Lord.
I want you to ask yourself: “When was the last time I prayed and got an answer?” “When was the last time that I know I heard from God?” If you are having a hard time with that question, you are not alone. The vast majority of the Church is deficient when it comes to personal experience with the Lord. Though it is not something that we should be proud of, it is definitely something that is fixable.
In Revelation 3:20, God says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” God is waiting for an opportunity to dine with you. Your knowledge of who He is and what He has done before assures you that He will be faithful to reveal Himself to you in a more personal manner as you set your heart on pursuing just that. He will most certainly respond to you when you call out for Him.
Lastly, remember that you do not have to give up going deeper in your knowledge of Christ in order to experience Him. In fact, these two go hand-in-hand. This is a just a call to not neglect the other part of the equation. This part, the experience, is what brings your faith to life.
The explanation for this is rather simple: the sun doesn’t shine there. No matter where the sun is in the sky, those massive trees keep that patch of grass from getting any of the light. While rain still gets through by dripping down the leaves, the sun is completely shielded from nurturing.
Now I don’t remember from Science class exactly how photosynthesis works, but I do know that plants need both water and sunlight to grow. Whenever there is an insufficient amount of either ingredient the plant will suffer.
I think the Church, as a whole, is like that grass in the shade; we’ve been starving ourselves of one part of an equation that has two components.
Our understanding of who God is and what He is doing on the earth comes from two central places: knowledge and experience. When I use the term knowledge, I’m talking about studying God, learning from a more intellectual standpoint. Gaining knowledge of God could come from reading the Bible, learning church history, dissecting specific passages of Scripture, listening to sermons, or hearing stories of how the Lord has moved in other people’s lives. All of these things add to our understanding of God’s heart, His character, and what He desires of us.
This aspect of the equation is something that the Church excels in. You can find endless numbers of strategies to help you read the entire Bible, thousands of websites dedicated to different interpretations of Scripture, podcasts of sermons from any style minister imaginable, and seas of Christian literature designed to help you in any area of your walk of faith. Knowledge is something that we do well.
But what about experience? What about the relational aspect of the equation, the experiential portion? Is this something that we are equally versed in?
When I use the term experience, I’m talking about actually interacting with God, seeing what He does with you personally. I’m not talking about just reading about God, or hearing about God, and knowing what He can do, but witnessing first-hand what He is doing. I’m talking about praying to God for direction and you getting an answer; I’m talking about praying for healing and it comes; I’m talking about boldly proclaiming the Gospel and people being saved; I’m talking about taking what you’ve heard from the Spirit in your prayer time and sharing it with others.
This side of the equation requires more than one-way communication; it involves more than reading, and listening to other people talk. This is where you and God interact, you work together—you seek Him out, and He shows up. You take all of those things you’ve learned about Him, the truths that you believe, and you see them play out in a unique way in your own life. You see His purposes play out through you.
Whereas knowledge tends to be more about learning what God has done before, experience is seeing God’s power in action right now. While it is imperative to have true knowledge and sound doctrine, it is equally important to have an ever-growing, ever-deepening experience with the Lord.
I want you to ask yourself: “When was the last time I prayed and got an answer?” “When was the last time that I know I heard from God?” If you are having a hard time with that question, you are not alone. The vast majority of the Church is deficient when it comes to personal experience with the Lord. Though it is not something that we should be proud of, it is definitely something that is fixable.
In Revelation 3:20, God says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” God is waiting for an opportunity to dine with you. Your knowledge of who He is and what He has done before assures you that He will be faithful to reveal Himself to you in a more personal manner as you set your heart on pursuing just that. He will most certainly respond to you when you call out for Him.
Lastly, remember that you do not have to give up going deeper in your knowledge of Christ in order to experience Him. In fact, these two go hand-in-hand. This is a just a call to not neglect the other part of the equation. This part, the experience, is what brings your faith to life.
7.02.2010
Intimacy
Today, we’re gonna talk about intimacy. I really want to tackle the subject of identifying gifts in yourself that you can use for the Kingdom, but I feel like before I can even approach that topic it is imperative to address this first.
I KNOW that a lot of you have a real desire to make your lives count for something. I know that you want to have an impact on this world that is lasting. In short, I know that many of you are here: I know Christ, I’ve given my life to Him, I want to do something, but I don’t know what to do.
I’ve heard numerous suggestions for ways to figure out what you are supposed to do, find out what your talents are—personality tests, career counseling, job shadowing, ability inventories, etc. But as people of faith, the equation for us may just be a little bit different. Yes, you can have some test tell you that you are “an excellent communicator”, but what does that mean to you? How are you going to use that information to decide exactly what you are going to do?
More important are these questions: “What does God want me to do?” “What has He designed me for?” Although you may hear others within the Church disagree, I don’t believe any test can answer those questions for you. Those questions, the important questions, are ones for which only you can discern the answers.
So now the question comes back to, “How can I figure out what God wants me to do?” The answer is intimacy.
Intimacy with God is not unlike intimacy with anyone else. You and your best friend could be said to be intimate because you are very close, you share your lives with each other, and you like to spend time together. Or if you have a spouse then you know how important talking to each other is, comforting each other, and figuring out life together. These are all things that mark intimate relationships. If you are serious about your relationship with the Lord, then it is time to get intimate.
So what does it actually mean to get intimate with God? Well, let’s start by taking a look at what you might do to get into a deeper relationship with a friend:
Do these look like things you can do with God? Absolutely, they are. The first big step for you might just be making time to hang out with God. Maybe it starts with setting aside 10 or 15 minutes every day that is going to be, from here on out, your “God time”. During that time, you can have conversations with Him. Tell Him what’s going on with you. Let him know that you’re happy with how the tennis season is going, or how much it sucks right now that you and your parents are fighting. God cares about you. Those things that may seem a little trivial to you are not lost on the heart of God.
Then, after you’ve talked for a while, you get to the good part: you get to listen. Just like you would shut up after you’ve talked your friend’s ear off for an hour, and let them have their turn to talk, you should try to do the same with God.
I’m not gonna lie, sometimes, especially at first, it can be hard to just sit and listen for the Lord. Whereas I love this part of my personal prayer time now, I know that it could be daunting when I was first starting out. With that in mind, I want to be sure to let you know that this part of your intimate time with God can take on a lot of different looks. A few examples would be playing some worship music in the background, having quiet mediation, praying from your spirit, or reading the Bible.
Lastly, do stuff together. This can mean doing things inside or outside the church. It can mean just doing something small that you know pleases the heart of God; e.g. meeting the need of a person in your community, or sharing His love with someone who is broken. If you’re stuck trying to figure out exactly what to do (which we’ll address in another blog very soon), don’t be afraid to try something different. Many times, I've learned the most by trying something and merely figuring out that that particular thing wasn’t for me.
As you spend more time with the Lord, you’ll start to learn Him more; you will grow in your knowledge and understanding of His heart. Intimacy with God is the thing that will set your life on fire. It will give direction to your life, strength to your convictions, and purity to your motives.
I guarantee you that as you pour more into your relationship with God that He will pour out exponentially more into your life. The questions about direction will begin to show answers, and His purposes for your life will start to shine through.
I KNOW that a lot of you have a real desire to make your lives count for something. I know that you want to have an impact on this world that is lasting. In short, I know that many of you are here: I know Christ, I’ve given my life to Him, I want to do something, but I don’t know what to do.
I’ve heard numerous suggestions for ways to figure out what you are supposed to do, find out what your talents are—personality tests, career counseling, job shadowing, ability inventories, etc. But as people of faith, the equation for us may just be a little bit different. Yes, you can have some test tell you that you are “an excellent communicator”, but what does that mean to you? How are you going to use that information to decide exactly what you are going to do?
More important are these questions: “What does God want me to do?” “What has He designed me for?” Although you may hear others within the Church disagree, I don’t believe any test can answer those questions for you. Those questions, the important questions, are ones for which only you can discern the answers.
So now the question comes back to, “How can I figure out what God wants me to do?” The answer is intimacy.
Intimacy with God is not unlike intimacy with anyone else. You and your best friend could be said to be intimate because you are very close, you share your lives with each other, and you like to spend time together. Or if you have a spouse then you know how important talking to each other is, comforting each other, and figuring out life together. These are all things that mark intimate relationships. If you are serious about your relationship with the Lord, then it is time to get intimate.
So what does it actually mean to get intimate with God? Well, let’s start by taking a look at what you might do to get into a deeper relationship with a friend:
- Make time to hang out
- Tell them about what’s going on with you
- Listen to them talk
- Do stuff together
Do these look like things you can do with God? Absolutely, they are. The first big step for you might just be making time to hang out with God. Maybe it starts with setting aside 10 or 15 minutes every day that is going to be, from here on out, your “God time”. During that time, you can have conversations with Him. Tell Him what’s going on with you. Let him know that you’re happy with how the tennis season is going, or how much it sucks right now that you and your parents are fighting. God cares about you. Those things that may seem a little trivial to you are not lost on the heart of God.
Then, after you’ve talked for a while, you get to the good part: you get to listen. Just like you would shut up after you’ve talked your friend’s ear off for an hour, and let them have their turn to talk, you should try to do the same with God.
I’m not gonna lie, sometimes, especially at first, it can be hard to just sit and listen for the Lord. Whereas I love this part of my personal prayer time now, I know that it could be daunting when I was first starting out. With that in mind, I want to be sure to let you know that this part of your intimate time with God can take on a lot of different looks. A few examples would be playing some worship music in the background, having quiet mediation, praying from your spirit, or reading the Bible.
Lastly, do stuff together. This can mean doing things inside or outside the church. It can mean just doing something small that you know pleases the heart of God; e.g. meeting the need of a person in your community, or sharing His love with someone who is broken. If you’re stuck trying to figure out exactly what to do (which we’ll address in another blog very soon), don’t be afraid to try something different. Many times, I've learned the most by trying something and merely figuring out that that particular thing wasn’t for me.
As you spend more time with the Lord, you’ll start to learn Him more; you will grow in your knowledge and understanding of His heart. Intimacy with God is the thing that will set your life on fire. It will give direction to your life, strength to your convictions, and purity to your motives.
I guarantee you that as you pour more into your relationship with God that He will pour out exponentially more into your life. The questions about direction will begin to show answers, and His purposes for your life will start to shine through.
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