F@ith_Life

Morning Meditation 11-09-09

Started a new series Sunday called "the blueprint-downloading the plan of God". It's about getting Gods plan for your life and walking in the light of it. Should have it edited and uploaded later on today.

I had my notes for the whole series ready but didn't get to them until the last few minutes of the service. But when talking to some of the folks after service I know why, the Holy Spirit knew the needs of the people in the room and spoke to those needs directly during the message.

I had a opportunity of attending a meeting at HBCC last week with Dr. Ed Dufresne and there were a bunch of preachers from all over the bay area there, in fact you couldn't swing a cat without hitting one. In those 4 nights my life and ministry were changed. The Spirit of God used him to confirm some things He had been dealing with me about and in general it was just a great time of refreshing.

The fire of God is starting to burn in California.

Rules of Huggin'

Pastor Hacks-Post Ministry Recovery

John 7:38 (Amplified Bible)
He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water.

When your minister the Word of God you are literally pouring our your life to the people, (assuming the your ministering out of your spirit instead of your soul) so it's vitally important that you build yourself back up spiritually after preaching.

By praying with your spirit.

Jude 1:20 (Amplified Bible)
But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit;

By speaking the Word.

Joel 3:10 (King James Version)
Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

By waiting on the Lord.

Psalm 27:14 (King James Version)
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Grace Grows The Church...

I've done a lot of stuff in my over 12 years of serving here in the Bay area.

Prayed on a mountain tops, literature drops, vacation Bible schools, hits the streets (really hard), prayed on street corners, knocked on doors, laid hands on the sick, played the drums, ran the sound board, taught Sunday school, preached, cleaned bathrooms, more preaching, put together office furniture, visited the sick, bible studies at half way houses, more hitting the streets, all night prayer meetings (okay we got out at midnight) and the list goes on.

But in the midst of all that activity the only things that produced anything of lasting value were inspired by the Holy Ghost and empowered by the grace of God.

So after 12 years of much activity I've come to find out that this whole Church thang can be a lot easier if you let grace grow the Church.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7 (New Living Translation)
6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.

Legal Issues For Churches

Some good Baptist brothers have put together an overview of the legal issues that you have to deal with to start a Church in California.

It's in PDF format and includes links to most of the required IRS forms.

You can check it out here.

A New Season

Yesterday was Word of Faith Christian Center-San Francisco last service.

Pastor J preached an outstanding message on "Suddenly (the way of God)" and afterwards the staff came up and shared some brief comments. So when I came up to share my comments the hand of the Lord came upon me and I preached for a furious five minutes.

Pastor and Mrs. J were gracious enough to tell a lot of the folks after service about the new work that we'er starting in the city, so I got a lot of contact information from people who are interested in attending.

Yesterday Word of Faith Christian Center ended and today Faith Life Christian Center-San Francisco started when I stepped into my office and reported for duty.

I'm so thankful for what God has done for me in the past and I'm so excited what He's doing right now.

It's amazing what God can do in just 24 hours...

Honors And Rewards

We are living in season of promotion, but you have to be in position to receive...

Drucker On How To Get Things Done...

The difference between being active and being productive is that productive people are moving towards and expected end, while active folks are reacting to the demands of life.

So before you take your next action you need to ask yourself, "am a acting with purpose or simple reacting?"

Throughout human history, it was the super achievers -- and only the super achievers -- who knew when to say "No." They always knew what to reach for. They knew where to place themselves. Now all of us will have to learn that. It's not very difficult. The key to it -- what Leonardo da Vinci and Mozart did -- is to record the results of our decisions.
Every time you do something that is important, write down what you expect will happen. The most important decisions in organizations are people decisions, and yet only the military, and only recently, has begun to ask, "If we assign this general to lead this base, what do we expect him to accomplish?" Three years later they look back at what they had written. They have now reached a point where 40 percent of their decisions work out.

via leader to leader

Burning Up Or Burning Out?

Great post from Joseph Mattera on the “twelve signs that show whether you are headed for breakthrough or burnout”…

In breakthrough mode you are ministering out of the overflow of Christ’s life in you. In burnout you are ministering purely out of your natural giftings and spiritual anointing without a fresh infilling from the Holy Spirit.

Those heading for breakthrough are ministering out of a fresh word they receive daily from God (Isaiah 50:1-4). Those headed for burnout are depending only on their natural wisdom and abilities that God anoints, just like the Corinthian Church who operated in the gifts of the Spirit but were moving in the flesh and were not spiritual (1 Corinthians 3:1-4).

read the full post here

The Deity In A Box

I was watching Hardball with Chris Matthews yesterday when they had a segment on Sarah Palin and how she mentioned during a recent speech that she couldn’t find anyone on the McCain staff to pray with her before the Vice Presidential debate. Chris seemed very offend by her desire to bring “The Deity” into her political life.

An offended Chris Matthews, on Thursday night's "Hardball," was so shocked by Sarah Palin's claim that there wasn't anybody to pray with on the McCain campaign, that he hurled multiple insults Palin's way, calling her, "a little scary," and asked if Palin thought McCain was, "the Anti-Christ?" Matthews was appalled by Palin's recent revelation that she had trouble finding someone to pray with before her vice presidential debate and the MSNBC host worried such talk about "The Deity in a political environment," wasn't "normal."

via newbusters

Chris who I have heard mention often that he’s a proud Catholic did what almost all of us do, which is to put “The Deity” in a box. We all reserve the right to manage certain parts of our lives without “The Deity” help, thus putting “The Deity” in a box, in that area.

Many Christians' have received Jesus as their savior but He’s not their Lord. They make all the major decisions in their lives and only consult Him during times of great trouble, when they have no other option.

The only problem with turning to “The Deity” in the box during times of great trouble is that when you open the box you’ll often find that it’s empty and you were worshiping a figment of your imagination.