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Something to Remember

In Deuteronomy 26:5-10 we find a recitation given to God's people to speak as they would bring their first-fruits offering before the priest.

A wandering Aramean was my father,
he went down to Egypt and sojourned there,
he and just a handful of his brothers at first, but soon
they became a great nation, mighty and many.
The Egyptians abused and battered us,
in a cruel and savage slavery.
We cried out to God, the God-of-Our-Fathers:
He listened to our voice, he saw
our destitution, our trouble, our cruel plight.
And God took us out of Egypt
with his strong hand and long arm, terrible and great,
with signs and miracle-wonders.
And he brought us to this place,
gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.
So here I am. I've brought the first-fruits
of what I've grown on this ground you gave me, O God.

Giving our first-fruits to our Heavenly Father will always return a blessing. We must never forget where our wealth comes from and who we were, where we were, before Jesus changed our lives.

Let God establish you in the land he has given you. Enjoy Him and enjoy the journey and always be thankful.

A Contemplation

Numbers 24:3-9 (MSG)

Decree of Balaam son of Beor,
yes, decree of a man with 20/20 vision;
Decree of a man who hears God speak,
who sees what The Strong God shows him,
Who falls on his face in worship,
who sees what's really going on.

What beautiful tents, Jacob,
oh, your homes, Israel!
Like valleys stretching out in the distance,
like gardens planted by rivers,
Like sweet herbs planted by the gardener GOD,
like red cedars by pools and springs,
Their buckets will brim with water,
their seed will spread life everywhere.
Their king will tower over Agag and his ilk,
their kingdom surpassingly majestic.
God brought them out of Egypt,
rampaging like a wild ox,
Gulping enemies like morsels of meat,
crushing their bones, snapping their arrows.
Israel crouches like a lion and naps,
king-of-the-beasts—who dares disturb him?
Whoever blesses you is blessed,
whoever curses you is cursed.

1. Take stock of what God has given you. Appreciate Him.
2. This is how God views the Church.
3. Contemplate His awesome provision.
4. Remember where you were and where you are now.
5. Our God is both Warrior and Provider.
6. You are a Lion in God's eyes.
7. Don't worry about those who curse you. They are already taken care of.

This scripture spoke to my heart this morning. It is taken from Numbers 11:27-29 in The Message

"We went to the land to which you sent us and, oh! It does flow with milk and honey! Just look at this fruit! The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak. Amalekites are spread out in the Negev; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites hold the hill country; and the Canaanites are established on the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan."

30 Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, "Let's go up and take the land—now. We can do it."

31-33 But the others said, "We can't attack those people; they're way stronger than we are." They spread scary rumors among the People of Israel. They said, "We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it's a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers."

Thoughts:
1. Go where he sends you and be faithful there, it will be good.
2. God blesses the hearing ear and faithful heart with good things.
3. God wants us to have what others think is unobtainable.
4. There is a time to silence the naysayers and to declare truth.
5. How do you see yourself? Are you a grasshopper or a son of God?

Words of Wisdom

I want to share this scripture with you from Proverbs 3 in the Message:

Proverbs 3

5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he's the one who will keep you on track.
Don't assume that you know it all.
Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
your wine vats will brim over.
But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline;
don't sulk under his loving correction.
It's the child he loves that God corrects;
a father's delight is behind all this.

Lessons:
1. Don't try to figure it all out by yourself
2. Listen for His voice. He wants to help you.
3. There are physical benefits in pursuing God.
4. God's heart is to bring increase into our lives.
5. Embrace correction and learn from it. He cares enough to help us.

The Holy Spirit got my attention with Psalm 127. In particular, verse 13 really grabbed my core. Let's begin with verse 11 and read through 14. It reads as follows from the NIV:

11 Teach me your way, LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.

12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
spouting malicious accusations.

13 I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

King David, a man after God's own heart, shows us here four areas that we need to focus on.

From verse 11 we see the need for:
1. Discipleship. (Teach me Your way.)

From verse 12 we see that we all have:
2. Enemies. (Principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, demons.)

From verse 13 we see the importance of:
3. Keeping hope and faith alive. (Seeing God's goodness in our lifetime.)

From verse 14, we see the need for
4. Expectation. (Waiting on the Lord here has the connotation of looking with earnest expectation.)

Have an attitude of always desiring to learn more of Him. Learn how to fight the spiritual battles and win. Operate in faith, hope and love and keep looking for Him to do great things in your life.

Keep hope alive. Good things are coming.

ARC All Access

I had the privilege this week to attend the Association of Related Churches All Access conference. This is a great church planting organization that I joined in 2004.

It was great to go with five other men from the church. We learned a lot and came home dedicated to implementing the ideas and practical tips conveyed at the conference.

Our goal as a body is to reach as many people with the awesome life changing power of the Gospel and we can. We will increase our efforts to win the lost, give people a wow experience in our worship services, strive to experience the presence of our almighty God every time we come together and to make wholly devoted followers of Jesus.

Jesus is Lord and He is moving mightily in the earth today. What a wonderful time to be living in. We are in a new phase of ministry and enjoying the journey.

Come see what the Lord is doing at Harvest Church, www.harvestchurch.org 2118 Cindy Lynn in Urbana, IL. Call us at 217.328.7711, I look forward to meeting you.

Writers Block

I have been longing to write something of substance for some time now. Perhaps if I just get started, the ink will begin to flow. Oh wait! This is electronic. Well, you get the idea.

It seems as though I've been in a constant state of refreshing since our time of fasting and prayer the first twenty-one days of January. We have been seeing God answer prayers that we have held before Him for years. Never give up! The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty and He will save.

I was blessed to attend two great conferences in the month of March. The first was the Remnant Conference at Bethany World Prayer Center with Pastor Larry Stockstill in Baton Rouge, LA. It was a great conference.

Keynote speakers in addition to Pastor Stockstill were Reinhard Bonnke and Rick Warren. They both shared a cool drink from the fountain of wisdom and encouragement. I really enjoyed my time there and was blessed tremendously.

In that same week, on the return trip home, I was able to attend the Make Room Conference at The Life Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Pastor John Siebeling shared some wonderful insights. The Life Church is exactly that, a place of life, growth, momentum and refreshing. They are doing an incredible work in Memphis.

While in Memphis, I enjoyed some quality time with my friend in revival, missions and pastoral ministry. Pastor Bob Thomas is doing a tremendous work for God in Olive Branch, Mississippi. He, along with his son Rob, have built a wonderful church. They built a new building on ten acres right on the highway. They treated me like a king. I preached both morning services and we had a blast. They, along with their wives, Ellen and Shawna, have a very healthy church with pure-hearted people who love the Lord.

So much for writers block. I'm going to have to shut this thing down. It's late, I'm tired and I have a meeting with the Lord in the morning.

Vision: Leaving the Ordinary, Finding the Dynamic

We are beginning a new series this week. We are ministering on the need for Vision in your life. Vision is necessary in our spiritual life. If we will incorporate vision into our lives, we will have the things God has destined us for.

We can ill afford to live a life of whatever will be, will be. As long as there is teaching available, we should all be learning and growing. Can you imagine, getting on a city bus or a train. When the driver or conductor asks where we are going, we reply, "Where ever". As long as we had the money, we could go to quite a few places without ever getting anywhere.

Vision comes by spending time with God. As we read, seek and pray, we are more inclined to be on the path He has for us. The Bible states in Proverbs… “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, it shines brighter and brighter until the full day". So it is with vision. Vision grows clearer and clearer as we grow in the Lord.

Come join us for this powerful series. We will learn together how to get vision for our lives, how to let it incubate, enter into it, speak it, get a word from the Lord and obtain the fruit of the vision. Join us at Harvest Church this Sunday morning at 10:30 am. The coffee is on us. Wear what you like as we enjoy God’s presence together. This is practical, relevant teaching that will change your life. I look forward to meeting you.

Looking Forward to Prayer

I am really looking forward to our time of prayer, praise and worship this evening. On Sunday, we kicked off our 21 days of prayer and fasting to draw nearer to the Lord and to begin the New Year in Him.

Tonight at 7:00; at Harvest Church, 2118 Cindy Lynn in Urbana, we'll be spending that sweet hour of prayer individually and corporately. The first 30-40 minutes will be spent in worship, soaking in His presence and just spending time with Him. The last twenty minutes will be prayer, open mic, supplication and thanksgiving.

We will continue in this mode on the 18th and the 25th, same time and same place. I look forward to seeing you there as we press in for more of Him.

Forward from Here

Twenty ten has come and gone. I am truly looking forward to the New Year. I never grow weary of expecting the awesome things that God desires to do in our lives.

I received a call this past week from a young lady named Alicia. She had recently given her life to the Lord and had a slip. The great news is that she recognized her sin/mistake and was taking steps to correct it. We pressed in to the Lord in prayer over the phone and got a breakthrough.

Our breakthroughs and victories in Jesus keep us in a state of expectation of the great things the Lord will do in our lives and the lives of others as we pursue Him. I choose to keep looking up. One of my favorite scriptures is found in 2 Chronicles 16:9a "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him..."

As we meditate on this verse, believe that the heart of the living God is for us, set our eyes as a flint toward heaven and move forward step by step. In so doing, we will have a wonderful new year. God is moving and working on your behalf. Keep looking up and believe that you will get your breakthrough from heaven in 2011. May it be the best year of your life.