Living For Him

Scripture: ³ By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.2Peter 1:3 (NLT)

Observation: I love the first line of the this passage.  ”By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.” God didn’t give us half of what we need, or none of what we need, or almost everything we ned to live a godly life. He gave us everything! We are equipped. We are loaded up ready to go. There should be no excuses.  We can’t stand before God some day and say “Sorry God… there was just no way to live for You.” All we have to do is spend time with Him… We just have to know Him. When you know Him, you know his heart.  When you know His heart, you know how to live a godly life.

Application: I’m so thankful to know that God has set me up for success.  He has given me His Word, His Spirit, & He speaks to me through prayer.  He basically bumped & set the ball and said “OK here you go… you spike it!”. When the rubber meets the road the only person to ever blame for not living a godly life is me.  I need to always go forward, never looking back. Always pursing Him.  I want to not just know about Him… I want to know Him. I want to live for Him.

Prayer: God thank You for preparing me to live for You.  I pray that I would never forget that I don’t have to settle for a mostly godly life.  I can live for You strong everyday.  Lead me and guide me into Your will.  Let me hear and obey Your voice daily.  I thank You for what Your doing at G2.  I thank You for every victory we had in 2011 & I thank You for what is going to happen in 2012.  You are an amazing God! Help me to be the husband, leader, & pastor you called me to be.  I thank You Love You & Praise You today!

Amen!

Matt

God Gives Us Good Things!

Scripture: I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 (NLT)

Observation: This verse speaks volumes of who are God is.  #1. He is our source of Hope. With out hope we are hopeless.  Without hope we are defeated. With out hope we have no tomorrow. #2. He fills us with Joy. The Bible says the the Joy of the LORD is our strength. With out His joy we are weak.  Without His Joy we are lost in gloom and depression. #3. He fills us with peace.  Without His peace we are in chaos. Without His peace we live in fear. #4. He gives us Confidence.  His confidence allows to stand tall and fight against the enemy that would try to kill, steal, and destroy our lives. We find out we don’t have to confident in who we are, but who we are in Him! #4. His Spirit is Powerful. It’s through His power we have victory.  It’s through His power we are bold. it’s through His power we can change the world.

Application: Looking at this verse this morning makes me ask myself if any of these things are missing from my life.  i need to realize and understand that I don’t want to just know parts of God, I want to know Him in His fullness.  He is so much more than the things I listed above, but it’s a good place to start.  I need hope, I need joy, I need peace, I need confidence & I need His power.  I want these things in my life so I can help others understand they can have them too. That they also can live a life of victory in Him.

Prayer: LORD, I thank You for Your word today.  I thank You that You fill me with Hope. I have so much to look forward to in You.  Thank You that You Spirit fills my life and gives me victory in every area of my life.  Help me to listen and obey Your voice.  I thank You for my wife this morning.  help us to continue to challenge each other and grow in You daily.  I pray you would teach us to pastor and disciple a generation.  I thank You for what You have been doing in G2. Continue to change lives and hearts. Continue to build leaders and warriors for You.

Amen!

Matt

Led by the Spirit

Scripture:  Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. Matthew 4:1 (NLT)

Observation: Jesus was just baptized by John the Baptist.  It was an incredible experience where the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove & the voice of God spoke from heaven proclaiming and confirming that Jesus was His Son.  Obvious a day no one would ever forget.  Surly after an experience like this Jesus would go to the temple, set up a throne, and live like a king over His people.  But that’s not what He did.  Instead He listened to what the Holy Spirit wanted Him to do.  I love this passage of scripture because it says He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness… He was led. Not forced.  We often wonder why we just can’t be in God’s will and be blessed… sometimes we blame God for not taking us to where He wants us to be.  But the truth is God is leading us by His Spirit.  We just have to follow.  The truth was that the Spirit led Jesus to a place where He could be tempted by the devil.  Isn’t that a bad thing?  Isn’t there some other place the Spirit could lead Him? Maybe to a day spa, or to a steak house?  The Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness to strengthen Him.  Often when we find ourselves in a “bad” spot after following God, don’t get mad! Know that this is an opportunity to grow.

Application: I can not fly blind.  I can not make choices just based on what might be a good choice.  I need to make sure I’m led by God’s Spirit.  I need to make sure that where I am going in life is where He is leading me.  I thank God for the times He led me into the wilderness.  I thank God for the times I had to face down the devil. The Spirit teaches me to trust God. It draws me closer to Him and makes me stronger.

Prayer:  LORD-  Lead me today. let Your Spirit be my guide.  I don’t wan t to go on my own path… I want to follow You.  Thank You for letting me hear Your voice…. help me to always be obedient to it.  In times of temptation, help me not to give in, but to have victory because of your Word on the inside of me.  Thank You Jesus.  You have done so many amazing things in me and at G2.  I thank You for all the people we baptized this week and for the decisions made for you. You are amazing!

Amen.

We are Family

Scripture:  ³³ Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ³⁴ Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. ³⁵ Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”          Mark 3:33-35 (NLT)

Observation: This is an odd little story about Jesus. It’s easy to skim over and the reader might wonder… Wy did Mark even write this story down.  But if you look close you can understand the impact it has on those who are followers of Jesus.  Jesus’s mom and brothers stood outside of a packed house Jesus was in, looking for him to come out.  When a message got to Jesus, He basically said that his disciples were His mom & His  brothers and went on to say that anyone who does God’s will was his family.   Was that a slam on Jesus’s mom & brother’s? Nope… Jesus loved them…. but He wanted to make a point.  He was showing everyone the importance of our brothers and sisters in the LORD.  Much like family we need to be able to lean on each other in good times and bad times.  We need to be able to encourage each other, lift each other up and live life together.  Like it or not… we are family.

Application:  I need to have a firm understanding of this daily.  I need to know that I don’t have to try to figure out life all by myself.  I have a family.  Yeah I have brothers and sisters, but they all live out of town.  I have a church family.  I have brothers and sisters in the LORD that love Jesus and love me.  I enjoy times like this on Saturday mornings when I get to spend time with some of my students… because at the end of the day, they are messed up like me, they need Jesus like me, and they are family. Every single one of them.

Prayer: Lord… thank You for the blessing of my family in Christ.  I thank You for surrounding me with those who I can lean on .  I can encourage them and they can encourage me. Thank you for continuing to shape G2 into a family of young people that are accepting and forgiving.  I pray that you would continue to send us strong leaders who want to help build up a generation that will serve You. I thank You and Praise You today.

Amen

Matt

Good Idea < God idea

Scripture:⁶ Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. ⁷Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. ⁸ So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas.  ⁹ That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” ¹⁰ So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there. Acts 16:6-10 (NLT)

Observation: This story always amazes me.  Paul is the greatest missionary ever in the history of the Church… He goes on to write 3/4 of the New Testament, and see many come to know Jesus through his ministry…Pastors and amazing leaders are raised up through his discipleship… and he gets it wrong… twice! He made plans to go different places but kept finding out that his plans and God’s plans are not always the same.  Finally he has a vision from the LORD showing him where it is he needs to go. Paul soon learns that good ideas might be well intended but unless inspired by the Holy Spirit, produce little fruit.  Who knows how the Spirit of Jesus turned them from those other towns. It could have been bad weather, it could have been an angry mob, or an angel with a sword. The bible doesn’t say.  It just says that God said no.  Instead of getting upset that didn’t endorse Paul’s trip agenda, Paul yields to the voice of the Holy Spirit and now finds himself on the way to Macedonia… a place where God uses him and his team in big ways!

Application: It’s funny that I find myself in the same figurative boat that Paul was in.  There are times I have great ideas and I jump in with both feet… and I fail miserably.  Was my idea a bad idea or selfish idea? Nope my ideas are usually intended to advance the Kingdom of God, but I’m finding out that good ideas and God ideas are two different things for sure.  I refuse to go blindly forward.  There are times where I just simply need to camp out until I hear God speak and see where He’ll send me.  I would rather be fruitful than busy.

Prayer: God- I simply just want to hear You and obey your voice.  I know you created me to dream and to think and be creative, but I pray that I would never get in the way of what You have for me.  I pray that my ideas would come from You. That my ideas would be inspired by Your Spirit.  Thank You for moving in G2… Thank You for fresh ideas and vision not from our heads but from Your heart.  I pray that we would be full of faith knowing that You are doing the things You promised.  Help us to always error on the side of Big faith knowing that sometime the vision involves patience.  I pray that we would see growth just like the church in Acts did… by many people coming to know You! Thank You for my wife and who she is. Help me to always be the husband You called me to be.  Thank You for these guys here this morning.  Would you cause them to fall deeper in love with You today.  I thank You love You and praise You today.

Amen!

Matt

All For Nothing!?!

Scripture: Unless the Lord builds a house,
the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless the Lord protects a city,
guarding it with sentries will do no good. Psalm 127:1 (NLT)

Observation: I want to take a second to let this sink in… There can be so many times (especially in the ministry) that we get frustrated, stressed, and burnt out.  We ask God what the heck He’s doing.  ”I don’t understand God? I’m working my tail off for You here! I’m doing everything I can to do ___________ (whatever it is your doing) and it’s just not working! Now I’m stressed and upset! What’s going on!?!” Have You ever felt like that? I know I have.  In times like those it’s a good thing to just stop and look and see what is it your doing, why you are doing it, and who told you to do it.  The last one is kind of important. Are you spinning your wheels because you got excited about a good idea?… or are you filled with passion and vision because of something that the Spirit of God placed directly in your heart? The truth is a good idea is not always a God idea.  What God is telling others to do is not always what He is telling you to do.  Solomon hit the nail on the head when he penned this Psalm. “Unless the LORD builds a house, the work of the builders is waisted.”  He is the Architect. He has the plans.  Can you imagine a house being built by a bunch of workers who have different ideas about what the house should look like? It would be a joke! They need to all look at the blue print and be on the same page.  In the same way, we need to find out what God’s blue print for us is.  We need to find out what it that God is speaking to us.  When we are led by His vision and fueled by His passion then the load isn’t as heavy as we thought.  Oh… we still work our tails off some times… but the work isn’t for nothing!

Application: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done things that I thought where a great ideas then fell flat on my face.  It is in the times where I clearly hear and obey the LORD’s commands that I find myself fruitful and find myself in a place where I am being used effectively by Him.  I need to be sure to never just get caught up in “good ideas”.  I need to be a man that is running with the vision God gave me.  Not the vision He gave other ministries.  I need the LORD to build the house.

Prayer: Jesus- I thank You for speaking to my heart today.  Always give me ears to hear You! As I near Rise Together give me strength.  It is not time to take my foot off the gas.  It’s the time to go forward. It’s the time to be who be who You called me to be and not be anyone else.  I thank You for what You have placed in my heart.  I pray that YOU would build G2. That YOU would bring us 1,000 students to Rise Together. That YOU would prepare 250 hearts for salvation.  I know I’m just along for the ride.  I know that I’m just working on Your crew.  I know that I’m just another soldier in Your army.  Let me hear Your orders and obey.  Build us and guard us LORD.  I thank You for an amazing wife. Teach me to be the husband that she needs.  Bless her today while I am gone.  As we build a family we know that it is YOU who really builds it and guards it.  We belong to You.  I’m so thankful that You have trusted us with this generation.  I am so excited to see old dry bones LIVE! I’m so thankful we will see a generation Rise Together and be the army you have called them to be. I thank You, love You , and praise You today!

Amen

Matt

Rebuilding Temples & Relationships

Scripture: Then God stirred the hearts of the priests and Levites and the leaders of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of the Lord.     Ezra 1:5 (NLT)

Observation: After 70 years of being held captive and being banished from their home, God’s people were finally able to return to their home land.  They were free.  I think it’s awesome and symbolic that the first thing that happened after their release was the obvious change in their heart.  Before they went into captivity most of them could care less about God.  This is where thy got into trouble in the first place.  They were hard hearted and worshipped other gods & could care less about God or His house.  Now after being free their hearts where changed.   They wanted to rebuild the Temple of the Lord.  This was so symbolic.  They were not just rebuilding a building.  They were rebuilding a relationship with God. So often we let parts of our relationships slide with God. Maybe our prayer life, or our devotions are suffering.  Maybe we don’t take the time to thank Him or worship Him how we should.  We should take a page from this lesson God’s people learned. Instead of falling further and further away with Him for 70 years… fix the relationship now. Rebuild the temple in our lives to honor our God.

Application:  Where has my relationship suffered?  It is so easy to loose focus sometimes on what really matters… even in Youth Ministry.  I want to make sure I’m inspecting my relationship God constantly… always looking for areas that could be improved. I want to be stirred up like these men from Judah and Benjamin where.  I want to be stirred up to be close to God.

Prayer: LORD- Stir my heart.  Let me search and find any wholes or cracks in my relationship with You.  Let me have the patience and strength to fix anything that needs fixing.  This morning I cry out in my heart for You.  Be first in my life… above everything.  I thank You for the blessings You have given me and Gwyneth.  I thank You for the forgiveness and Grace You pour out me everyday.  Thank You for the amazing things we saw happen in G2 these last couple of weeks.  I pray that as we experience Your presence, you would increase our faith.  Thank You for 1,000 students at Rise Together and 250 salvations.  Continue to let us be bold as we invite people, but above all I pray that we would build relationships that allow us to minister to our city. I thank You, love You, & praise You today!

Amen!

Matt