Sunday, March 16, 2014

God Takes Action! (New Series: The Enduring Church: God's Abiding Presence


Jesus shows shows up for 40 days
➣ “Ummm, are you going to break up the Evil Roman World-Power?”
Jesus was not as interested in ruling people as freeing & empowering people!

  • God is not passive
  • God is not ineffective during periods of apparent silence
  • When God takes action, it is deliberate (connected & connecting)
  • When God takes action, it is subtle, yet, blatant (depending on your eyes and ears)
  • When God takes action, it is typically in response to a wrong He wants to correct, and a right he wants to establish.
  • Since a day it like a thousand years and vice versa to God, when God takes action it’s way too late for some...and way too soon for others. However, God’s timing is always impeccable (meaning, it can’t get no better!)


God is a Creator! An Establisher! An Innovator! God is the Impetus to Life!

  • Adam (breathes in his nostrils) & builds humanity with him
  • Noah (rebuilds a new pared-down humanity with him)
  • Abraham (builds a new family/ a preferred people group with him & his kin)
  • Moses (Leads Abraham & Joseph’s descendants out of Egypt to establish a new nation)
  • Raises David, from the chosen family’s bloodline, to be Head over his new Kingdom (sphere of influence)
  • Jesus Christ then comes, from the chosen family's bloodline, to bring others into the bloodline who are not physically related to the family of God. His blood as mingled with that of outcasts, murderers, prostitutes, foreigners, etc.

*God has always chosen a progenitor* through which a new order of people and/or relationships were created.


➣We look at the Book of Acts today...same STORY, but a DIFFERENT TWIST!
Luke is writing a letter to Theophilus (Book of Acts...a letter or legal brief)

Acts/Operations/Functioning/Duties/Responses/

➣Dreaming of a loved one who has died to awaken & you feel the loss....

➣When the person of positional power dies...you’re up! You’re next. Top Dog.


5 Stages: 1. Denial 2. Anger 3. Bargain 4. Depressive 5. Acceptance


  • Disciples hadn’t gotten thru the 5 stages because Jesus returned on Day 3

  • Before they can’t get through stages one or two...Jesus shows up for 40 days... Just to leave again!!!

➣Some likely misunderstood and thought Jesus would drop in from time to time for a chat...

➣They didn’t realize that today was a major handoff and set-up for a new dimension of God’s presence in the Earth. 

...Without an owners manual...And they moved from Crisis to Courage!

➣2 Angels seem like a duplicate of an O.T. symbol that meant God’s presence
(Like Luke 24.4; John 20:10-12)

Numbers 7:88-89 (The Message)
89 When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with God, he heard the Voice speaking to him from between the two angel-cherubim above the Atonement-Cover on the Chest of The Testimony. He spoke with him.
➣Called the chariots of God

Challenges & Next Steps~
● Join a Life group and experience a closer connection with God & His people

● Share with your group where you’d like to grow in your faith (understanding scripture, prayer, sharing your faith, getting connected, godly living & victory, accepting God’s love). Receive prayer for this requests, believe God hears you, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit as you are directed in areas of growth and development.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Built To Last! ("Enfrastructure")

Enfrastructure

Infrastructure According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word infrastructure has been used in English since at least 1927, originally meaning "The installations that form the basis for any operation or system".

The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, bridges, water supply, sewers, electrical grids, telecommunications, and so forth, and can be defined as "the physical components of interrelated systems providing commodities and services essential to enable, sustain, or enhance societal living conditions."

Viewed functionally, infrastructure facilitates the production of goods and services, and also the distribution of finished products to markets, as well as basic social services such as schools and hospitals; for example, roads enable the transport of raw materials to a factory...


*Infrastructure for us:
  • Spiritual Vibrancy (prayer for sensitivity to Spirit, study of scripture, living out faith in community, sharing faith & service)
Generosity---------> Sharing the wealth of God
Hospitality----------> Sharing the heart of God
Administration-----> Facilitating the strength of God
------------------------------------------------------------------------
They all undergird the Plan of God


The role of structure is sustainability!
Leaving a legacy for the generation requires sustainability


Enfrastructure~

Admin: Mo. Lola/Carolyn/Judy/Brian W./ Gloria/Denise Boss/ Renee Daniels...
  • Communications (Powerpoint, graphic design, newsletter, video editing)
  • Grounds (Flowers/Fruit trees/ Gardening) & Maintenance


When properly laid, enables quick expansion e.g. 2nd service, Service for Spanish Speakers

Needs: Phone coverage/Volunteer Coordination/Benevloence/Communication 


What changes and impoverished mindset into a resourced mindset? (Answer: A person’s giving)

Challenge: Pray for a spirit of generosity to erupt in our hearts and midst!



Sunday, March 2, 2014

The New Table (Empowerment)


Contract~Contact~Impact (Act~ing) 

➢God’s empowerment comes upon us as we find ways to empower others
➢Those who were sent and spent by God were those who went for God

Mephibosheth
  1. Probably didn’t have a true sense of his worth or identity
  2. Had royal blood in his veins but no avenue for living it out
  3. Called into community to show God’s compassion...he was @ the table
  4. He was resourced independently of David. He was resourced appropriately.
  5. He ate with the king’s son...heard their strategies, their conquests & their dreams. He got to hear how empowered people think! 
  6. He had to first change his address!


➢Empowerment is not merely about being trained and sent...
●Empowerment is about being released by a community...
●Because your empowerment benefits the community...

➢Empowerment is about being fueled & resourced for what you were created for

➢Empowerment is dangerous~ it removes all *excuses

➢An empowered person is not a devoured person, or soured  person or coward person.

But rather...a towered person, a flowered person and a showered person.

*When empowering...God has already assessed where you're limited by reality (which He can change); by your limited perceptions of Him (which you must be willing to have changed); and by your limited understanding of yourself in Christ (which is the hardest to change)


Before Mephibosheth was empowered...a few things happened first:

  • David, while considering his own blessings...sought to bless others
  • The thought of others caused him to ask about Saul’s legacy
  • Because Mephibosheth was seated at the table, he could empower someone else with his own god-given resources.
Next steps: 1. Get to a new table. 2. Get around those who awaken God’s Dream within you. 3. Try a Life Group