He is the Holy Spirit…

In teaching on the Holy Spirit’s role in Acts, I saw a few things I wanted to share about Him:

*  He can’t be caught. “Catching the Spirit” is an expression that is tied to tradition and not truth.  The Spirit can move in a church service (Acts 2), but he can move any and anywhere he feels.  He is God.  Acts 5:3-4

*He is not an it.  The Spirit is not an it or impersonal force.  He is a person.  John 16:7

*He is the third person of the Triune God.  Matthew 28:19.  But the members of the Trinity are still one God.  Romans 6:4

*He is the Gift that God the Father gives to those who trust in Jesus for salvation.  Acts 2:38

*He won’t leave you.  He comes to live inside of you and is a seal of your salvation.  Ephesians 1:14; Romans 8:12.

*He is necessary to live out the lifestyle of the believer in Jesus.  Romans 8:5, Galations 5:16.

*He changes the worship game.  Before Jesus came to earth, the Holy Spirit lived in the temple, which was where you came to worship.  There was one place that people came to worship the One God and that was the temple in Jerusalem.  Now, the Holy Spirit lives in those who have trusted in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  We become the temples and the places of worship.  Our life and how we live it becomes an act of worship to God.  John 4:24; Romans 12:1.

*He makes living the a life in Christ exciting.  Listen for Him!

The Greatest Gift…

On my birthday, I started to think about what I saw God doing in my life and others around me. This one was a no-brainer. I have seen dozens of people in the last 6 to 12 months come to know Jesus in a very real way.  Not religion, where there is a constant craving to improve one’s self  and the need to be recognized as a “good person’, but a man-decreasing, God-exalting relationship.  A relationship where Jesus is seen as more than just a self-help guru, but the beautiful Lord and Savior of those who would just admit that they are not “good” people and want true change in their lives.  I have literally seen dozens of people give their lives to Jesus, and then turn around and share this same news about Jesus with people they meet.  I am witnessing an empowerment of the Holy Spirit that I have not seen in my 6 years of ministry.

I have seen young people, motivated by Jesus, looking after the needs of the homeless in their community.  I have seen them knocking on doors and looking after the spiritual, physical, and emotional welfare of hundreds of people.  I have seen folk set free from homosexuality and drug/alcohol addiction.  I have seen people delivered from the clutches of atheism and agnosticism.  I have seen Jesus remove the shackles of religious pride from people as they begin to live their lives afresh in  His freedom. I have seen men and women released from the power of sin and Satan, as they come to realize that they are deeply and profoundly loved by God.  I believe I am witnessing a revolution and God has just been awesome.  Thank you Jesus, for allowing me to witness this — my faith has been increased.  Let’s go!

P.S.  Thanks to my University of Houston, Rice, HCC, TSU, and  Good Hope  kinfolk.  You guys have made my birthday special.

Done with “The Chu’ch: Together We Stand.”

Kinfolk, we had a wonderful time in studying the book of Ephesians through the series entitled: “The Chu’ch: Together We Stand.” We began to see our true identity in Christ Jesus and how God loves us dearly, so much so that he had a plan before the world existed to bring us into a permanent relationship with him through Jesus, even when we were going to diss Him for stuff He created. (Ephesians 1)  I have been personally challenged to see that the greatest force for social change in the world is the gospel  — the good news about Jesus Christ.  Further, I see that the ones who are used by God to carry the news and be part of the change is the church  — the worldwide group of people who call Jesus the Master of their lives.  We have also seen people grow closer to God and closer to each other by hearing God’s Word to the Ephesians.  My prayer is that the best is yet to come!

Baptism Party?

Sometimes I feel like an angel peering into God’s kingdom seeing and learning from his people what true love and joy in Jesus is all about.  A few  Sundays ago, I attended a baptism party for nine people who had been baptized earlier that day.  I have never heard of that in all my years of being around the church.  But, man, I really saw what a taste of heaven was going to be like.  These people wanted to celebrate their BAPTISM so much that they threw a party for seventy-five people.  They cooked all sorts of food and had all kinds of desserts.  They were also SERVING the food as well.  The question popped in my mind:  “Who gets baptized and actually throws a party to celebrate?”  I mean they didn’t win any awards.  They didn’t graduate from college.  It wasn’t their birthday. I feel like Jesus gently rebuked me and said, “those who really feel like they have something to celebrate will celebrate.” “I took them from death to life.”

Spiritual Warfare in the West

Some of us hear stories of how people face demonic opposition to the message of Jesus Christ all over the world.  People die and sacrifice their lives all the time for the sake of Jesus.  However, in the West, people enjoy the opportunity to share their faith openly.  But Clinton Arnold, in 3 Crucial Questions about Spiritual Warfare, lists a few of the ways in which Satan tries to hinder our commitment to Jesus’ command to make disciples:  (Matthew 28:19)

• Making Christians think how extremist or obnoxious they might appear to friends by “forcing their faith” on others

• Making Christians feel that everybody has heard the gospel

• Inciting so many problems in the church that efforts to resolve conflict sap all our energy and attention

• Causing Christians to believe that only missionaries and evangelists should be concerned with outreach

• Convincing Christians that there is a fair chance that everyone will be saved ultimately, giving such a loving God.

I am curious to know what you think?

How to Handle Beef Between Believers in the Body

This is a controversial topic in most church circles.  How do you deal with Christians who sin against themselves, God, or other Christians?  Because sin ultimately has an effect on one’s relationship with God and the community of believers, we need a way in which to handle things appropriately.  With clarity, Jesus lays out a process in Matthew 18:15-20.  Here is the process:

Take it to the person privately

When someone does something offensive to you or sins against you, the Word instructs you to go to that person privately and deal with it.  If they repent then you have gained your brother again!  Oftentimes, instead of taking it to the person privately, we either make a show of it publicly or we gossip about it to other people.  Or worse yet, we don’t say anything!  This is in line with what Satan and your flesh would have you do.  Don’t blast them in public.  Don’t blast them on Facebook.  Don’t blast them on twitter.  Do go to the person in private with the issue.

Find two or three witnesses

If the person does not respond with repentance to the offense or the matter is not resolved, then 2 or 3 witnesses ought to be brought in to hear the matter.  They may be able to help resolve the situation or they may just act as witnesses to the offense that happened, so that you have credibility if you have to take the matter public.

Tell it to the church

In a church that handles the discipline of its members this could be powerful.  In first-century churches, the church knew about and handled unrepentant sinners publicly.  Most churches today do not have a working model for church discipline.  If your church does not have this type of process, then take it to your church leaders and see if they would be willing to help you to settle the dispute according to Matthew 18.

Treat them as one who is not a believer

The goal of this process is for the one who has sinned against you to repent from their sin and trust in Jesus while keeping the unity of the community of believers intact.  If they repent, you bring them back in to your church, ministry, or community of friends.  If they have continuously refused to repent from sin, then it is evidence that they may not be a believer anyway, so the bible declares that we ought to treat them as an unbeliever, hoping that by good or bad means they will come to repent for their actions. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul talks about expelling a brother from fellowship with other believers who was having sex with his step-mother in order that his sinful nature might be destroyed.  Paul hoped that one day the step-mother lover would come to Jesus and be restored into fellowship with other believers.

Using God’s method of discipline brings honor to God and also provides a healthy way of dealing with sinful disputes between believers.  If you feel wronged by somebody, try handling it God’s way today!

What about “binding and loosing” in verses 18-20? I’ll put that in another post.

Got Power?

On August 27, 2009, 7:00pm, at the Center for Hope we are getting together as a young adult community to worship and communicate with Jesus.  Normally, we get together and study the Word of God, but at this particular time we felt God’s pull to seek Him, His will, and His power for our lives as the summer is ending and the fall is about to begin!  We are believing in faith that it will be an awesome time in prayer, song, and testimony.

During the CONFESSION portion of the evening, we are allowing you to bring items that God is leading you to get rid of (pictures of old boyfriends, CDs, King magazines, etc.), and put them in our Burn Box.  Be obedient, bring them, and burn them!  In addition, we will have a special time where you can text in your prayer requests and someone will talk to Jesus on your behalf.  It will be powerful time in God, so join us!

I can’t wait to worship Him with you!

You can go here for more information:

http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=Got+Power&init=quick#/event.php?eid=153957074408&ref=ts

Tupac and the Gospel

I am working on a book that is tentatively entitled “Tupac and the Gospel The purpose of the book is to shed light through the music of Tupac Shakur, on the struggles of the so-called “hip-hop” generation face (including absent fathers, finding purpose, questions of the afterlife, finding true identity,single motherhood, etc.) and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can be a liberating force in freeing them from to live abundant, purposeful lives for God. Those of you who will, include me on your prayer list and pray for this endeavor. You will be hearing more shortly.

Gospel of Self-Improvement

I have always like the song “Man in the Mirror.”  Michael says in the song: “The man in the mirror must make a change.  I think Michael took that literally and began to change himself over the years.  He probably never liked what he saw in the mirror.

In the same way many of us look in the mirror and don’t like what we see.  I like to call it the gospel of self-improvement. In the last year or two, it became obvious to me that religious folk behave just like Michael Jackson. We don’t like what we see, and we carry enormous amounts of guilt for things we did on Monday through Saturday.  We tell ourselves that if we read our bible enough, pray enough, go to church enough, God will love us and accept us and forgive us.  We work real hard at looking and sounding holy, while inside we feel dirty, lonely, and unforgiven.  We put in a lot of work so that in the end we would like what we see.   But we never do, and it becomes an endless, joyless cycle.  We tell ourselves we are beautiful.  We tell ourselves we are smart.  We want acceptance. We want to be right before God.

If Michael says, “The man in the mirror must make a change,” then Jesus says, “The man in the mirror must let ME change him.”  The gospel of self-improvement doesn’t work because you can never be right with God with the things that you do.  Romans 3:10. Our hearts are deceitfully wicked, and we need a Savior to save us from our sins. Jeremiah 17:9.    We are flawed and sinful in our being.  We sin not only in thought and deed, but our hearts are totally messed up.  We need God to provide us new hearts, that will live and love for him. (Jer. 31:31-34) However, unless we acknowledge that we are sinners with sinful hearts and we need a Savior, we can’t move anywhere.

As flawed sinners, God has provided away, that you can be right in the eyes of God, not by doing or working, but by trusting the work that Jesus did on the cross.  Jesus gave us his righteousness and then he took our sin, so that God would love us and declare us right. Romans 4:5-6.  On the other hand Jesus got punished by God the Father for what we did.  So that now, I don’t have to improve myself, in order to get God’s love, I repent from my sin and trust in what Jesus did on the cross, which gives me total and uninhibited access to God.  Romans 5:1.  We can now have an abundant life!  We can now enjoy a life in which Jesus is improving us daily!  Philippians 1:6.  Imagine that!  That’s good news!

He Reversed the Curse!!!

 

 

hereversedthecurse

Kinfolk, I haven’t posted in a while.  So, Hello!  This was a message (link above) delivered on July 12, 2009 and is based on Genesis 3:14-19.  Through Adam, curses came into the world which have affected us, our relationships with God, and our relationships with people.  However Jesus has reversed the curse!