Did you know that it is actually our job as believers to praise the Lord? It’s true! It’s not your pastor’s job or your worship leader’s job to do that for you, It’s actually your job. It may be part of our pastor’s job to help facilitate praise and your worship team’s job to lead praise, but each of us that trust in the Lord are responsible for OUR praise to the Lord.

If you have spent much time in the church at all, you might have heard the words, “praise and worship” used interchangeably, but they are not the same. Praise is included in worship, but not just worship. Worship involves praise, but much more.

Praise can be rowdy and can even make a scene if you will. Now, I’m not referencing an inappropriate scene or a self seeking scene because our praise is to the Lord, not a performance for those around us. I’m sure at some point you have seen some crazy sports fans screaming and jumping and “praising” their team. This is a very different kind of praise but the point remains that it can get wild.

Psalm 100:1-2 says, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.”

You see here that it mentions a shout for joy!! I know for some people the idea of praising God can seem very threatening and very intimidating. You can have a mind set to stand and praise God in your head, but that is not a true definition of praise. This can really be a sticking point for many people who trust in the Lord. I understand that if you’re an introvert making it uncomfortable for you to even walk into a room, it can be very intimidating to praise in a way that means other can see you. Just please, keep this in mind. Your praise is unto the Lord and is an outward expression of gratitude for all He has done. It is not meant for others to judge.

Let’s be clear, there are numerous ways to worship God. You worship Him with your tithes and offerings. You worship when you serve in the house of the Lord or in a place where your acts of service point people to Jesus. Some worship is sacrificial as in volunteering to give up rest to serve in church etc. praise, however is the fun part!

Psalm 150:6 says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.” That actually means EVERYTHING and certainly EVERYONE!

In Acts chapter 16 there is the incredible story of Paul and Silas being arrested AGAIN for sharing the Gospel. They weren’t murmuring and complaining about their circumstances or why God would let them be imprisoned again! No! They were calling into remembrance all the things God had done for them and how He had protected them so far. They were getting stirred up in their spirit man. Then we see that an earthquake happened right there…right in the middle of their circumstances!! The shackles were loosened and they fell off so that they were free, praise God!!! Praise can happen at anytime and in any situation!! If you are feeling bound in your circumstances, praise is a wonderful way to deal with the stress and fear you may grapple with. I say this not because it’s a “If I do this..God will do this” sort of thing, but because we have scriptural references for how God can break chains in response to praise.

Someday, when we have reached our eternal reward and we are in Heaven, there will be unbelievable praise before the Father. What a huge contrast to this carnal world we live in now. However, we don’t have to wait for Heaven because God is worthy to be praised now! Let’s be the scriptural and Godly example for others on earth. This is not for attention and not to seem pious, but to praise the Lord for all that He has done for us and in so doing cause others to follow our example!!

PRAISE the Lord!

God wants to build His church and help us to mature and grow!

Let’s talk about the ministry of the saints today. God has called us each and every one with gifts and callings to minister to those that are lost and hurting.

We are going to discuss a very important scripture and I feel it’s prudent to include the whole thing.

Ephesians 4:11-16 says, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

Before we dive into the different callings in the church, let’s discuss the people. Paul mentions the “babies” of the church. This basically refers to the new converts and the unchurched. This is not intended to be insulting in anyway. If you meet and accept Jesus today, there is no way that you could automatically know or even immediately learn some of the more complicated topics in the word. Just as a mother would never dream of giving birth and moments later handing the baby a plate full of steak and potatoes. This would choke the baby and bring great harm.

Those of us who accepted Jesus years ago have hopefully been reading the Word of God and praying so it is possible at this point to eat the meat of the Word. There are no doubt 20 year old babies in the church due to not being in the right church that preaches the Word or because they count on one hour a weak at church to grow them spiritually and this is where Paul is coming from. Spiritual babies are susceptible to being tossed around by every new thing they hear lacking discernment to know right from wrong.

Paul discusses five positions in the church that are needed to grow the body of Christ. First are the Apostles and these are the people that plant churches…multiple churches. They get them up and running and make sure the appropriate pastor is in place and they move on. They also come in and revive churches that are suffering and dying due to a myriad of reasons. They set up church systems and governments as well. They also have to correct leaders when it’s called for. We don’t meet a whole lot of Apostles

Then there are prophets and Paul says that we should all aspire to be used prophetically. Many folks like to call themselves prophets, but you need not announce it because the church and other prophets will recognize a true prophet. Prophets have an inner voice from God that allows them to speak to the church many times about the future and they are correct when they do.

Next, we have Evangelists and these are the people who can not help themselves when it comes to sharing Jesus with the unsaved. They can be some fire breathing folks who can get really loud and passionate because their heart is for the lost!

We also have the Pastors or shepherds of the flock and these are the Jack of all trades! They hear directly from the Lord for what the body needs to hear and they preach those things…some harder than others. They marry, they bury, the visit the sick in the hospital and go see new babies that have been born. They council,teach and train. They oversee the needs of their flock.

Lastly, we have the teachers and these folks love to learn so they can teach and share knowledge. They love to research and dive into the Word in order to teach the ways of the Lord.

Now, did you know we are all called to teach? Parents teach their children, Sunday school teachers teach the kids and there are those in the body that teach membership classes and other topical teachings as well. In whatever profession or station you find yourself in, you should be teaching. We all should be planting seeds in people’s hearts that are unsaved. We should be watering those seeds with prayer and more teaching until the day they accept Christ and then we teach them the Word.

We have been given Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Preachers and teachers for the equipping of the saints. Seek the Lord to find out where He is placing you and then submit to your pastor so that he can help bring you along in your gifts and callings.

Message by William Burch

Life is absolutely FULL of things that we are well aware of coming our way! Bills, taxes, painful anniversaries are just a few. In this fallen world we are unfortunately always hearing of things happening to people that they did not see coming. In fact, these are some of the most painful things to hear about much less experience. I’ve heard stories of people working their whole adult lives for the same company and months before retirement they lose their job. Some people suddenly lose a spouse to tragedy.

Former Heavy weight champion Mike Tyson was quoted saying, “It’s not always the most powerful punch that is thrown in the fight that can knock you out, but it’s the one that you don’t see coming.” All those other punches and jabs, no matter how powerful can be avoided by some fancy foot work and years of training on how to cover the face. It’s the punch they don’t see coming that can take them out. Many a boxer has been injured and even killed by the punch they never even saw.

We have established how realistic this analogy is to real life, but that is not the point of today’s message. Let’s talk about the blessings of God that you never saw coming. I believe most of us can vouch for a time that God did something amazing or stopped something terrible in your life. What a surprise this can be!

For a scriptural reference we will look at Mark 8:22-26 that says, “They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything? “He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.” I felt it prudent to give the entire reference because it’s full of wonderful points.

First of all, you see that when Jesus grabbed his hand he didn’t instantly start complaining about his condition. He didn’t ask Jesus, “Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this?” No, he caught a revelation of who Jesus was instantly. I’m sure he had heard the stories about Jesus and if his friends had taken him to see Jesus he knew it was for good reason. He just took His hand and submitted to what would happen next.

The second thing we see is that Jesus led him out of the villiage. He wanted him away from the naysayers and doubters. He drew him out to a new location for his miracle. There are times in life that we outgrow some folks and some places. When we take spiritual leaps in our lives it is important to look around and see who made the leap with you. Some people are perfectly happy living in situations that are no longer healthy for you. It doesn’t make you better than them, just changed and you need to find those running along side you to push you to go even further in the Lord.

Lastly, we see the fact that Jesus spits in his eyes. Now I don’t know about you, but if someone tries to spit in my eye…I’m not just going to stand there! I’m going to duck or something to avoid this. However, this man was blind so he didn’t even know to duck. The result of just standing there was that Jesus actually spit in His eye. I know it sounds gross, but just remember spit contains a person’s DNA! The actual DNA from the Son of God went into his eyes and he was healed! If he had been able to see it coming he may have moved away and missed his healing!

There are those of you reading this that God is getting ready to touch your body and heal you when you won’t see it coming. Some of you have been struggling financially and He is going to bless you when you don’t see it coming. Why? First of all He is your Heavenly Father and He loves you, but it’s not just for you. There are folks out there that need to witness and hear about your miracle so that they can meet Jesus for the first time. Some need to be restored to Jesus as well.

God is the God of suddenlies and when He touches your life it might be the touch you never saw coming!

At the end of the day, as complex as Christianity seems, it’s all very simple. 

Have you ever stopped and meditated on the subject of Science and how it pertains to every day life? It can be mind-boggling when you look at things as tiny as atoms, protons and photons.

Some very brilliant men throughout history did their best to come up with explanations for how things such as gravity operate. Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and others sought to understand and explain subjects such as gravity and how the earth reacts to certain things.

In fact, the reason you can see anything today or experience and touch anything is because there are electrons, photons, neutrons, gluons, protons interacting with each other. If they did not interact with each other, you wouldn’t even know they were there. So the interaction causes reality. These particles exist as potential until they are interacted with by measuring or observing them. Until this happens they are not considered real. The interaction mixed with the particle’s inherent potential causes them to become real.

There is something else that operates much the same way and its faith. We are all born with faith..small faith like that of a mustered seed according to Matthew 17:20. “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” You grow your faith by reading the Word, praying and by actually using your faith. Until it’s used it does nothing for you.

So you can see a parallel for how our spiritual walk works similarly to how the universe operates. If the potential is never tapped into…it won’t work. James 2:17 says, “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Please don’t get confused, I’m not saying works are how you please God and make it to Heaven. However, the idea is that faith produces good works and there is a difference in those two. This activation of our faith causes us to act in a way that will cause the world to see our good deeds, which will point them to Christ.

Now, one of the ways we hold fast to our faith is by assembling with our brothers and sisters in church and other opportunities to hear the Word of God. The Bible addresses this issue in Hebrews 10:23, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

It is difficult to grow your spiritual walk if you are always moving from place to place. We must grow roots to be spiritually healthy. I bet you have never once seen a big and beautiful apple tree wondering about. Of course not! We need to find where God wants us and then settle there. We don’t just stay for no reason either. As we grow in our walk with the Lord, serving Him and others we cause spiritual roots to grow.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It is important to understand that faith is not the only important factor in your Christian walk, hope is important as well. You might be reading this right now and you might think you are really low on faith. However, if you at least have hope…you are halfway there!

When living a life of faith we must first call on God. By faith you believe in Him and live your life for Him. Another thing that faith requires is obedience. Once you become a believer, you want to dive into the Bible and obey what is tells us to do. So, you accepted Christ and now you get baptized in water to show publicly that your old man..the sin nature has been crucified and you are now living for the Lord.

Another commandment we have is to bear spiritual fruit. It’s peace, joy, love, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, patience, gentleness and self-control. You’ll need to start practicing those things. These fruits of the Spirit are an outward sign of God’s work in our lives.

Wherever you are in life today, you can change your mind, change your direction by letting hope go from being potential faith to real faith, from having the potential of new life to having new life in Jesus.

Being known as a person who calls on the name of the Lord. 

We have to do what it takes to get to Jesus! 

The book of Jude is not one that we hear much about. In fact, it is literally comprised of one chapter, yet its message is as important as the rest of God’s Word. Jude verses 22-23 states, “Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear, hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” This scripture is giving us a verbal roadmap of how to handle folks with different personalities in different situations.

I bet just about all of us at one time or another have heard the cheesy car commercials about bringing in your car as a trade. They say things like, “Even if your car is no longer running just bring it in..just push,pull or drag it, but get it here!”

If you think about it, this phrase that pertains to cars can easily be used about people and how they may need to get to Jesus. There are some people that you can just drop an invitation or a bit of encouragement about coming to church or about turning to God and they are in. They are already aware of the fact that they need help or a change and they just need that friendly nudge to get them going the right direction. Others, however are not so inclined to admit their need for a Savior or that their life is going in the wrong direction, but will still be persuaded with enough convincing. Then there will always be those that have to hit rock bottom, but still have to be practically drug to the Lord.

Obviously we aren’t talking about trading cars anymore are we? No, in fact the trade we are now referring to is the ULTIMATE trade, death for life. This is why God wants us to push, pull or drag (metaphorically) others to Church and to Him. Because of the completed and perfect work of the cross, Jesus takes our rotten and sinful hearts and replaces it with a clean and fully forgiven heart. What a trade!!!

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I can’t think of a better trade in all the world because we get to trade our one way ticket to death, destruction and an eternity in hell, for a one way ticket to forgiveness, security, peace and an eternity with Jesus in Heaven.

It’s not always easy to reach out to others for a myriad of reasons. Let’s face it, it’s time and energy consuming to come alongside a hurting person. Many times they treat people poorly because of the pain they are in. It’s a labor of love to put your pride on the line and to risk rejection to push,pull or drag our friends and family to the source of life that they need. However, most of us were brought into the Kingdom by our parents “dragging” us to church or a friend inviting us. How can we feel that all is well because our eternal future is secure? The Great Commission that we can find in Matthew 28:18-20 states, “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” I think the part we can easily forget is that it doesn’t say, “If you feel up to it” it says, “THEREFORE, GO” We need to pray that we are moved with the very same compassion that Jesus was!

Think about this today. If you and your friends and family were imprisoned and on death row yet you were pardoned, would you not wish the same for those left behind? If you knew that all they each had to do was to go to the warden, confess wrongdoing and ask for forgiveness and they could also be pardoned, would you not tell them this? Would you not be willing to help in anyway as an advocate? How much more should we want to see our friends, family and sphere of influence come to Jesus and therefore change the trajectory of their lives from hell to Heaven? Let us all keep our eyes, ears and hearts open today for what God needs us to do. It’s not always comfortable for us, but the eternal reward is so worth it. We should be on the lookout for who we might need to “push,pull or drag” to Jesus.

How can we get God’s attention?

I’m Perfect & Complete walking with Jesus!

Perfection in the secular sense can seem daunting, particularly when we look at our lives and see blemishes of regret, missed opportunities, and stains of shame. But remember, wholeness cannot come from a broken world. Wholeness comes from holiness – from being set apart.

This is where Beyonce’s song lyrics resonate, “Perfection is a disease. You’re trying to fix something, but you can’t fix what you can’t see. It’s the soul that needs a surgery.” Perfection, in essence, is an internal matter, a matter of the soul, not external appearances or accomplishments.

The Apostle Paul is an excellent example of this understanding. A Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee of the Law, respected and feared, he relinquished all his worldly gains for the sake of Christ (Philippians 3:7-8). He realized that worldly achievements, good or bad, were mere ‘fertilizer’.

The idea of perfection is not about achieving a flawless state. Rather, it’s about completeness, about being whole in a fractured world. As Paul himself wrote, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own” (Philippians 3:12).

Perfection is a process, akin to growing a watermelon. Plant the seed, fertilize it, water it, and watch it grow. Celebrate each stage, even when it doesn’t yet bear fruit, because it’s perfect in its progression.

And so, it’s the same with our lives. We experience good and bad, but if it’s not aligned with Christ, it’s just ‘fertilizer’. We reach for the Son, we grow, we mature. We are in process, and in that process, we are perfect, we are complete.

Remember, being ‘perfect’ doesn’t mean everything falls into place immediately, and that’s fine. The world will remain the same, but amidst the chaos, you can find your completeness in Christ.

So, let’s strive for true perfection – for completeness. Let’s strive to be whole in Christ, to grow and mature in our relationship with Him. You haven’t failed too many times. You can always reach out to Him. His love is never-ending, and His embrace can make you complete and whole.

Leave your past behind, not to forget it, but to use it as your foundation. Reach out for Christ, grow in Him, and in this process, realize that you are perfect in Him – that is the sweetest feeling of all.

Each and every one of us are called by God for a very distinct purpose. Your calling might look very different from all those around you which can cause doubt, envy or even pride. Learning to trust that God knows what He is doing when He places a specific call on our lives, can save a ton of heartache.

Today we are going to look at a man in the Bible who did NOT trust God’s sovereignty and paid a price for it. Our text can be found in Numbers 16 and it is about a man named Korah. Now this fella was the great grandson of Levi and first cousins to Moses and Aaron. He was very much familiar with the fact that Moses was rescued as a baby and adopted by the Pharaohs daughter. He obviously knew that Moses grew up being pampered in the palace while he and all the other Israelites were being beaten and enslaved by the Egyptians.

Fast forward to when God used His mighty power to make Pharaoh release the Israelites and they were wondering in the wilderness. Moses, Aaron and Korah were all descendants of Levi which meant they were all set apart to do the work of the Lord in the tabernacle. However, Moses was put in charge of Israel and Aaron was made High Priest. Korah burned with envy, bitterness and rage because he was not made a priest that could go in before the Presence of God. It was for this reason that Korah led a rebellion against Moses. It’s an incredible story that you should read, but here is the gist of what happened. While Korah along with a few other men and their families stood outside their tents in opposition to Moses, God caused the ground to open up and swallow the men, their families and all their possessions. As soon as this was finished God sent fire down on 250 other men who followed Korah. This was a mighty display of God’s power. There was also a plague that attacked the people as well. Moses instructed Aaron to take the censer and incense and run to the people and stand between them and death. It was because of this that the plague stopped. Moses and Aaron had fallen on their faces before the Lord to beg for mercy on behalf of the people before the fire and before the ground swallowed up the men and families. Even as they were being mistreated, they had compassion on the people.

There are so many amazing lessons we can take from this story. First of all, we can see from Korah that jealousy has always been a part of the human condition. Our flesh does not tend to like feeling like second best. No matter how wealthy, beautiful or talented a person is, there is ALWAYS someone more wealthy, more beautiful and more talented out there. We shouldn’t waste time looking around at what others have or what they get to be or do. We should be occupied by what God has for US to do. Your calling in life might seem less important or glamorous than someone else, but it doesn’t matter. There are things in this world that have been ordained by God for you and you alone.

Another valuable lesson is that we don’t need to get all worked up asking why people get certain things that they don’t deserve? I can tell you emphatically that all of us are getting what we don’t deserve when it comes to salvation, redemption and an eternity with God. We aren’t called to make sure everyone gets what they deserve.

Let’s talk about the nasty word…pride! We have all dealt with it at some point and it can really cause issues in life. If you are angry that someone gets to do something you don’t, isn’t that pride? We know that thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought is definitely pride, but so is begrudging success or position for someone else. This means that you think yourself better.

If you take just a moment to reflect you will most likely find a matter in your life that you treat a bit like Korah. Are you envious of someone’s position? Are you disappointed in your own personal calling because of the lack of prestige or position? Do you go to others and gossip about those you are jealous of? If the answer to any of these questions is yes…it’s time to kill Korah! You can do that today because you have been made aware of how dangerous these mentalities can be. Pray to your Heavenly Father and ask that He remove these feelings and replace them with gratitude for what you and others have.

God has picked YOU for a very specific purpose and there is great peace and blessings awaiting you. Please don’t waste another moment comparing yourself because that takes precious energy away from your purpose.

The Calling of God

He’s the God of the calling. He knows what we need before we ever get there!

If you have grown up in church or hung around with Christians for long, there is a topic you’ve likely heard about. This is one of those topics that a Christian could spend a great deal of time praying about. I’m talking about knowing the call of God on your life, recognizing that you have one and yearning to learn what it is.

First of all, if you have been born again, you have a call on your life. Matthew 28:18-20 teaches us the “Great Commission.” Jesus is instructing His disciples by saying, “All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” This is what we are all “called” to do.

You could actually say that there are three separate callings from God. The first is the call to salvation. This is the most vital call to respond to because without it, the rest doesn’t make much sense.

The second call is to consecration and that simply means to grow and mature In Christ. We were never meant to accept Jesus and just go about living the same lives. We need to spiritually grow and mature just like our physical bodies do.

Lastly, is a call to be faithful to Jesus in a way that makes a difference in God’s kingdom. We know that our Heavenly Father is so very faithful to us. I like what it says in Corinthians 1:9 “God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” Praise God!! As Christians just passing through this time on earth we can experience a lack of faithfulness in marriage, friendships and work etc. However, we cannot say the same of our Abba Father!

The matter of a call to faithfulness is not just a suggestion for somewhere down the line, but it’s for NOW. We can stop and take mental stock of our own faithfulness to Christ and I would dare to say there is somewhere that could use some encouragement.

When it comes to our individual callings, please remember that it is not about you and me. This is about God’s faithfulness in our life. Do we believe that God is that faithful, that He will use us in all of our hang ups and all of our shortcomings and failures?

God doesn’t look at us like the world looks at us, He looks at us and says, “Im not looking at the person that’s failing and the person that made mistakes and has a past history. I’m looking at somebody that has a purpose. I’m looking at somebody that has a future. I’m looking at their potential and I can see in the future that they have something great to do.” This is such a beautiful thing to know! We can trust that God sees our future and it is bright so we should see it this way as well.

You know satan is really not that clever because he seems to only have a small bag of tricks that he uses over and over. He tempts us in our weak spots and weak moments. He temps and temps and then THE second we give in, he mocks us! How does he do that you ask? He does it by immediately turning on us a filling us with shame and regret which plays out when God needs us to make a difference in this world. Now we say things like, “God can’t use me! Look what I have done in my life?” He will even make you feel like a hypocrite. If you can grasp that image of satan working you into sin and then basically making fun of you when you mess up, it could help you with temptation.

So practically speaking, how do we respond to God’s call on our lives? Well it’s by faith! Without faith, it’s impossible to please God. Faith is the way we answer the call and we say, “God, I’m here. I surrender to you.” When we do that, we start to see God do things that we know is not possible for us to do in our human ability.

In all reality, it is God who helps us bring the calling to pass. We sometimes forget that and then wonder why our heads are spinning with doubt and why we get overwhelmed so easily. God equips us with all we need to make a difference and if the dreams and callings of God aren’t huge and seemingly impossible, we aren’t letting God steer us.

Today would be a great day to answer the call of God on your life. Receive Him first of all, and then trust in His faithfulness to bring to pass what He has called you to do.