“…Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”
-Rev. 2:4
Have you ever missed the first button on a shirt you wearing? If you have, it doesn’t matter how well you button the other buttons. If the first button is out of whack, the rest will be too.
Our love for Jesus is the first button in our relationship with Him.
When it is ‘out of whack’, then everything else is too.
Jesus has not just called us to serve Him, but He has called us to love Him. In all the hustle and bustle of life, it is easy to allow our passion for Jesus to wane. But our love for Jesus is the foundation for a life with Jesus.
I know this isn’t easy.
But we MUST prioritize our relationship with Jesus.
But Jesus never said it was going to be easy.
He just said it would be worth it.
“Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. I’m about to call each conqueror to dinner. I’m spreading a banquet of Tree-of-Life fruit, a supper plucked from God’s orchard.”
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
-Psalm 8:1-4
The Newman family is visiting relatives that live about 20 minutes outside San Diego. These relatives (Tiffany’s Aunt and Uncle), have a beautiful home that is located in a small mountain range. Though this housing development has all the newest technological bells and whistles, you are still able to hear coyotes howling at the moon at night.
We are having a great time swimming, relaxing, and hanging out.
Today we did something really cool. Early this morning (at exactly 4 am!), we all woke up to look at the stars. Because of the elevation and the lack of artificial light, the clarity in which you can see the stars from this place is truly breath-taking. They shined so bright it scarcely seems real.
Gazing at this cosmic masterpiece, I thought about the God that made it. Falling stars, meteors spinning through the sky, lights sparkling like Christmas right before my eyes.
Wow.
I shuddered while considering the expanse of the countless galaxies, innummerable planets, and ever increasing span of space itself.
I serve a God that did all this?
And more?
It kinda scared me to think about how awesome and amazing God really is.
It also humbled me to think about how easy it is for me to doubt Him. To worry about the details of my day-to-day life.
But I think a God that can hang the sun on its hook, is a God that can take care of me.
If I can trust Him to keep gravity working on planet earth, I think I can trust Him with my future.
There was a moment during worship on Thursday night where there was such passion and intensity, that I was shocked. To see that many people (over 2000) praising and crying out to Jesus that fiercely…wow.
I have only witnessed that raw intensity in worship of Jesus a few times in my life (and to see our little girls singing and crying out to God was awesome!).
I am convinced that we are going to see a move of God in our generation. We are going to see it. The culmination of years of prayers, tears, and sacrifice. It is going to happen.
The love of Jesus is going to be expressed worldwide in a way that we haven’t ever seen before.
A move of God is coming.
And I am going to be a part of the movement.
The movement to change the world in the name of Jesus.
“For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
-2 Chronicles 16:9 (New International Version)
“I despaired at the thought that might life might slip by without seeing God show Himself mightily on our behalf.”
-Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire
God is watching. He is looking.
His eyes are roaming the earth looking for loyalty. Obedience. Honor. Passion. Boldness.
He is looking so He can show Himself strong on the behalf in the lives of those that are faithful.
The question is:
Will He find it?
And will He find it in you?
Will He find it in me?
And if He does, how will He show Himself strong on our behalf?
My Prayer:
“Lord, give us the passion and the desire to live for You. Get us hearts that are loyal to you. May we honor you with integrity and purity in good times and bad times. Let us love You with all of our hearts, all of our minds, with all of our souls. And after You witness our faithfulness and our allegiance to You, show Yourself strong on our behalf. Use us to reach our generation. Use us to change our communties. Use us to heal the broken. To restore the hope of those that are in despair. Be strong in us God. We have nothing with You.”
“Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.”
1 Thess. 5:16-18
We had an awesome Baptism Service at Folsom Lake a few weeks ago (to see the video, click here). The only thing that wasn’t awesome about it was the fact that I left my Iphone in my pocket while in the water . And yes, that was ‘all she wrote’. I tried to dry it out, put it in a bag of rice (one of the recommended remedies for a wet Iphone!), and synced it with my Mac to see if somehow it could be jumpstarted.
None of it worked.
Rather than get the same model that I had (3G), I decided to wait for the new edition (4G).
So I have been without a mobile phone for over 3 WEEKS!
It has been a huge adjustment (it is amazing how accustomed we can become to these little devices!). I feel totally disconnected. Can’t call when I am out and about, no text messages, no e-mail, no Twitter, no Facebook, No TED, no internet, no Google Maps…nothing.
I am a disconnected man.
While thinking of my plight of disconnectedness, this thought struck me: “Why aren’t we as concerned about our connection to God?”
How many times have you heard someone say, “I am so disconnected from God right now. I really need to spend some time disconnecting from everything else so I can get serious about RE-connecting to God..”?
How many times have you heard that said?
How many times have you said it?
How many times have I said it?
The time has come for us to put a new urgency and priority on being God seekers. We need to stop making excuses, stop blaming our schedule, stop pointing fingers at everything/everyone else.
Seek God.
Get connected again.
He is waiting for us.
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
-Jeremiah 29:13
What if we came to God to give to God for a change? What if we came to God with the intention of blessing Him rather than to seek a blessing? What if when we did ask for something, we prayed that God would bless us with the resources and the tools to be a blessing to others?
What if we esteemed God above anything He could ever give us?
What if we lived as if God was the most valuable connection in our life?
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” -Matthew 2:19-20
What if the only thing God could with you before He did something awesome was to wait for you to die?
That is what happened to King Herod.
He was in the right location.
He received the right information.
He had the right resources.
But he had the wrong heart.
God was forced to work around him because he was so stubborn, so resistant, and so stuck in his own ways.
So God simply waited for Herod to die.
In his case, the process seems pretty extreme.
But what if God is setting up a scenerio to get us out the way because we have become a barrier to His purposes?
Not because He wants to work around us, but because we won’t let Jesus work in us.
Think of how tragic it would be if our life was doomed to irrelevancy because we couldn’t do things God’s way.
The scariest thing is, when it is happening to you…you probably don’t even know it.
“In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
-Luke 14:33
True disciples, are those that surrender EVERYTHING. They’ve had their hearts captured by Jesus. Captured by His person. Captured by His love. And they don’t hesitate to give EVERYTHING to the God they love.
They renounce every treasure, every precious thing, every important thing, in exchange for the God that has gripped them. There is urgency, a passion; a fiery burning that causes the disciple to say:
I HAVE TO HAVE YOU JESUS! I HAVE TO HAVE YOU! TAKE MY LIFE! TAKE MY FUTURE! TAKE MY BEST! TAKE MY EVERYTHING!
This type of passion, this type of urgency is unsettling to most of us. It is unsettling because we know so little about it. EVERYTHING people are extremely rare in our generation.
We are most familiar with those that reside in 1 of 2 camps:
a. The NOTHINGS-These are people that are unwilling to commit anything to God. They live in opposition against God ways, principles, and ideas. They don’t know God, aren’t sure if He exists, and if He does; they hope that He will be nice to them.
b. The SOMETHINGS-These people fill most churches and places of worship. Though they are willing to commit SOME-THINGS to God, they are unwilling to commit EVERYTHING to God. They willingly obey God in the areas in which they agree with God, or in areas that can obey at minimal cost or risk.
And while they willingly obey, they also willingly disobey. Things that are tough, would require true faith, or could/would cause discomfort or are ignored. Though they are unwilling to give EVERYTHING to God, they want EVERYTHING from Him.
We must determine whether we are:
A NOTHING, SOME-THING, or EVERYTHING person?
This week in our ‘Going Deep’ series we talked about giving Jesus EVERYTHING (to listen, click here).
con·tra·dic·tion [kon-truh-dik-shuhn] direct opposition between things compared; inconsistency.
“The very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God’s mercy to me.”
-Thomas Merton
Having the right answer it just part of the equation. Getting the right result is putting the right action behind the right things.
To do believe the right stuff and do the stuff we believe shows maturity and depth. Unfortuanately, we aren’t nearly as deep as we think.
We’re more shallow than we let on.
We contradict our beliefs and quickly question God when trouble comes.
Even when the trouble isn’t really trouble.
The boss looked at us funny(God, I thought you were going to take care of me?). The car had a flat tire(I thought you were with me?). One night we have an upset stomach(Why are you doing this?).
A shallow person is always one step away from re-evaluating everything whenever turbulence occurs in their life.
Circumstance dictates whether the shallow person has confidence in God. When things are good, predictable, the way that they want…they are with God.
But the moment that they are not…they are ready to abandon Him.
And if the shallow person doesn’t outwardly renounce their faith, they begin to live a life that espouses faith in God, but they live as though God doesn’t exist.
As Craig Groeshel writes in his latest book ‘The Christian Atheist’, “A Christian Atheist puts their whole faith in God but still lives as if everything was up to them”
Question: Do you believe in God, but live like you don’t?
They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
“…Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”
-Rev. 2:4
Have you ever missed the first button on a shirt you wearing? If you have, it doesn’t matter how well you button the other buttons. If the first button is out of whack, the rest will be too.
Our love for Jesus is the first button in our relationship with Him.
When it is ‘out of whack’, then everything else is too.
Jesus has not just called us to serve Him, but He has called us to love Him. In all the hustle and bustle of life, it is easy to allow our passion for Jesus to wane. But our love for Jesus is the foundation for a life with Jesus.
I know this isn’t easy.
But we MUST prioritize our relationship with Jesus.
But Jesus never said it was going to be easy.
He just said it would be worth it.
“Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. I’m about to call each conqueror to dinner. I’m spreading a banquet of Tree-of-Life fruit, a supper plucked from God’s orchard.”
-Rev. 2:7
To hear my recent talk on having a passion for Jesus, click here.
Posted in The Church, Worship, Discipleship | No Comments »
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
-Psalm 8:1-4
The Newman family is visiting relatives that live about 20 minutes outside San Diego. These relatives (Tiffany’s Aunt and Uncle), have a beautiful home that is located in a small mountain range. Though this housing development has all the newest technological bells and whistles, you are still able to hear coyotes howling at the moon at night.
We are having a great time swimming, relaxing, and hanging out.
Today we did something really cool. Early this morning (at exactly 4 am!), we all woke up to look at the stars. Because of the elevation and the lack of artificial light, the clarity in which you can see the stars from this place is truly breath-taking. They shined so bright it scarcely seems real.
Gazing at this cosmic masterpiece, I thought about the God that made it. Falling stars, meteors spinning through the sky, lights sparkling like Christmas right before my eyes.
Wow.
I shuddered while considering the expanse of the countless galaxies, innummerable planets, and ever increasing span of space itself.
I serve a God that did all this?
And more?
It kinda scared me to think about how awesome and amazing God really is.
It also humbled me to think about how easy it is for me to doubt Him. To worry about the details of my day-to-day life.
But I think a God that can hang the sun on its hook, is a God that can take care of me.
If I can trust Him to keep gravity working on planet earth, I think I can trust Him with my future.
Whoa.
Our God is an amazing God.
Posted in Creativity/Innovation, Family, Worship | No Comments »
After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield, [a]
your very great reward.
-Genesis 15:1
New message from New Frontier series called ‘Mountain of God’ about worship, passion, and the key to the human heart.
To listen or download, click here.
Posted in The Church, Worship | No Comments »
At Jesus Culture Conference with Tiffany and the girls.
Unbelievable event. Absolutely unbelievable.
There was a moment during worship on Thursday night where there was such passion and intensity, that I was shocked. To see that many people (over 2000) praising and crying out to Jesus that fiercely…wow.
I have only witnessed that raw intensity in worship of Jesus a few times in my life (and to see our little girls singing and crying out to God was awesome!).
I am convinced that we are going to see a move of God in our generation. We are going to see it. The culmination of years of prayers, tears, and sacrifice. It is going to happen.
The love of Jesus is going to be expressed worldwide in a way that we haven’t ever seen before.
A move of God is coming.
And I am going to be a part of the movement.
The movement to change the world in the name of Jesus.
Posted in The Church, Media/Culture, The Future, Worship, World Change | 1 Comment »
“For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
-2 Chronicles 16:9 (New International Version)
“I despaired at the thought that might life might slip by without seeing God show Himself mightily on our behalf.”
-Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire
God is watching. He is looking.
His eyes are roaming the earth looking for loyalty. Obedience. Honor. Passion. Boldness.
He is looking so He can show Himself strong on the behalf in the lives of those that are faithful.
The question is:
Will He find it?
And will He find it in you?
Will He find it in me?
And if He does, how will He show Himself strong on our behalf?
My Prayer:
“Lord, give us the passion and the desire to live for You. Get us hearts that are loyal to you. May we honor you with integrity and purity in good times and bad times. Let us love You with all of our hearts, all of our minds, with all of our souls. And after You witness our faithfulness and our allegiance to You, show Yourself strong on our behalf. Use us to reach our generation. Use us to change our communties. Use us to heal the broken. To restore the hope of those that are in despair. Be strong in us God. We have nothing with You.”
Posted in Prayer, Worship | 1 Comment »
“Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.”
1 Thess. 5:16-18
We had an awesome Baptism Service at Folsom Lake a few weeks ago (to see the video, click here). The only thing that wasn’t awesome about it was the fact that I left my Iphone in my pocket while in the water
. And yes, that was ‘all she wrote’. I tried to dry it out, put it in a bag of rice (one of the recommended remedies for a wet Iphone!), and synced it with my Mac to see if somehow it could be jumpstarted.
None of it worked.
Rather than get the same model that I had (3G), I decided to wait for the new edition (4G).
So I have been without a mobile phone for over 3 WEEKS!
It has been a huge adjustment (it is amazing how accustomed we can become to these little devices!). I feel totally disconnected. Can’t call when I am out and about, no text messages, no e-mail, no Twitter, no Facebook, No TED, no internet, no Google Maps…nothing.
I am a disconnected man.
While thinking of my plight of disconnectedness, this thought struck me: “Why aren’t we as concerned about our connection to God?”
How many times have you heard someone say, “I am so disconnected from God right now. I really need to spend some time disconnecting from everything else so I can get serious about RE-connecting to God..”?
How many times have you heard that said?
How many times have you said it?
How many times have I said it?
The time has come for us to put a new urgency and priority on being God seekers. We need to stop making excuses, stop blaming our schedule, stop pointing fingers at everything/everyone else.
Seek God.
Get connected again.
He is waiting for us.
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
-Jeremiah 29:13
Posted in Prayer, Worship | No Comments »
What if we came to God to give to God for a change? What if we came to God with the intention of blessing Him rather than to seek a blessing? What if when we did ask for something, we prayed that God would bless us with the resources and the tools to be a blessing to others?
What if we esteemed God above anything He could ever give us?
What if we lived as if God was the most valuable connection in our life?
How would our life be different?
Posted in Transformation, Worship, Discipleship | No Comments »
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” -Matthew 2:19-20
What if the only thing God could with you before He did something awesome was to wait for you to die?
That is what happened to King Herod.
He was in the right location.
He received the right information.
He had the right resources.
But he had the wrong heart.
God was forced to work around him because he was so stubborn, so resistant, and so stuck in his own ways.
So God simply waited for Herod to die.
In his case, the process seems pretty extreme.
But what if God is setting up a scenerio to get us out the way because we have become a barrier to His purposes?
Not because He wants to work around us, but because we won’t let Jesus work in us.
Think of how tragic it would be if our life was doomed to irrelevancy because we couldn’t do things God’s way.
The scariest thing is, when it is happening to you…you probably don’t even know it.
Posted in The Church, Worship, Discipleship | No Comments »
“In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
-Luke 14:33
True disciples, are those that surrender EVERYTHING. They’ve had their hearts captured by Jesus. Captured by His person. Captured by His love. And they don’t hesitate to give EVERYTHING to the God they love.
They renounce every treasure, every precious thing, every important thing, in exchange for the God that has gripped them. There is urgency, a passion; a fiery burning that causes the disciple to say:
I HAVE TO HAVE YOU JESUS! I HAVE TO HAVE YOU! TAKE MY LIFE! TAKE MY FUTURE! TAKE MY BEST! TAKE MY EVERYTHING!
This type of passion, this type of urgency is unsettling to most of us. It is unsettling because we know so little about it. EVERYTHING people are extremely rare in our generation.
We are most familiar with those that reside in 1 of 2 camps:
a. The NOTHINGS-These are people that are unwilling to commit anything to God. They live in opposition against God ways, principles, and ideas. They don’t know God, aren’t sure if He exists, and if He does; they hope that He will be nice to them.
b. The SOMETHINGS-These people fill most churches and places of worship. Though they are willing to commit SOME-THINGS to God, they are unwilling to commit EVERYTHING to God. They willingly obey God in the areas in which they agree with God, or in areas that can obey at minimal cost or risk.
And while they willingly obey, they also willingly disobey. Things that are tough, would require true faith, or could/would cause discomfort or are ignored. Though they are unwilling to give EVERYTHING to God, they want EVERYTHING from Him.
We must determine whether we are:
A NOTHING, SOME-THING, or EVERYTHING person?
This week in our ‘Going Deep’ series we talked about giving Jesus EVERYTHING (to listen, click here).
Posted in Worship, Discipleship | No Comments »
con·tra·dic·tion [kon-truh-dik-shuhn] direct opposition between things compared; inconsistency.
“The very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God’s mercy to me.”
-Thomas Merton
Having the right answer it just part of the equation. Getting the right result is putting the right action behind the right things.
To do believe the right stuff and do the stuff we believe shows maturity and depth. Unfortuanately, we aren’t nearly as deep as we think.
We’re more shallow than we let on.
We contradict our beliefs and quickly question God when trouble comes.
Even when the trouble isn’t really trouble.
The boss looked at us funny (God, I thought you were going to take care of me?). The car had a flat tire (I thought you were with me?). One night we have an upset stomach (Why are you doing this?).
A shallow person is always one step away from re-evaluating everything whenever turbulence occurs in their life.
Circumstance dictates whether the shallow person has confidence in God. When things are good, predictable, the way that they want…they are with God.
But the moment that they are not…they are ready to abandon Him.
And if the shallow person doesn’t outwardly renounce their faith, they begin to live a life that espouses faith in God, but they live as though God doesn’t exist.
As Craig Groeshel writes in his latest book ‘The Christian Atheist’, “A Christian Atheist puts their whole faith in God but still lives as if everything was up to them”
Question: Do you believe in God, but live like you don’t?
They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
Titus 1:16 (New International Version)
Posted in Worship, Discipleship | 1 Comment »
If I get on American Idol, Survivor, The Apprentice, America’s Next Top Model and someone notices me…then I can get my “Big Break”.
We live in the generation of the “Big Break”.
The thing is, this mentality is so pervasive that we have begun to think that God works this way.
If we just do the right stuff for long enough, well enough, hard enough then God will take notice…and He will give us our Big Break.
But when our service is tied to our Big Break ambitions, we are not really serving.
At least not anyone but ourselves.
True service to God is achieved when we recognize that we have already gotten our Big Break:
Jesus Himself.
“But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.”
-Luke 22:26
Posted in Media/Culture, Worship, Discipleship | No Comments »