If God Isnt in it Get the Hell Out!

It's kind of self explanitory. Pastor Furtick said it a week ago from yesterday in his sermon. And I could give you this sweet paraphrase that correlates to it and explains it like Pastor did, however I'd advise you watch if for youself. its a good one.

http://www.elevationchurch.org/mediaPlayer.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elevationchurch.org%2F

Fruits of Labor

I thought I would just share this with all of you that read my blog. This is an email from a girl that went to Disciple Now this past weekend and I thought it was pretty cool. The premise for me posting this is even if you play a very small part in something everybodys input adds up in the end and the payoff can be amazing and impactful.

Dear all,
Last night, the night of March 21st, 2009, something huge happened to
me. I
was on a church retreat called Disciple Now. We were in a service and it
was
very dark and I was thinking,"Why is it so dark in here?" Suddenly the
service started and a song started playing. Usually, I don't participate
or
sing at all in church services, but suddenly I found myself singing and
crying for joy. I was just so moved. I saw God in that service. When the
service was over, we went outside to have a bonfire. Our youth minister,
Mr.
Jim Scott, was talking about how to accept Jesus Christ as our savior.
We
were praying, and he said, "If you want to accept Jesus Christ right now
as
your Savior, make eye contact with me." Suddenly, I felt the presence of
God
rise in me. I made eye contact with Mr. Jim, and boy was he happy. He
hugged
me and said, "Welcome to our family." My life has changed so much in
just
one day, and I just feel so overcome with the greatness of our Savior
Jesus
Christ. My heart was moved, and now my life will revolve around our
Savior.
I will go to Youth Group, pray, and try to show as many people as I can
that
God is great! I encourage all of you to go out and try church. Jesus is
the
reason you are on this Earth. He is so great and it is just so wonderful
to
have him here with you.
With Jesus, you are never alone.
Amen.
With Love

I took her name out just for privacy purposes but this is very real and from a very young girl. God can work in many ways. "The Harvest is plentiful the Workers are few." Luke 10:2

Disciple Now

This weekend I had the awesome opportunity to go up to Greensboro NC with a group of College friends to help lead small groups for an event many of you may have heard of called Disciple Now. I had co-leader Trent, and a group of 5 awesome guys that were ready to learn and just overall happy to be there. I prayed for them all last week leading up to the moment I met them and even after the event I'm going to continue praying for them. They took in a lot of info in 4 sessions which were based off of Joshua's Life and the things he dealt/struggled with.

Last night we had a bon fire with worship and a brief alter call kind of deal with the youth pastor. Emotions were high and I was glad to be part of a group that got to watch as 7 students accepted Christ into their lives for the first time. Now I've seen it happen before, time and time again really but its always a joyous occasion to welcome in new Family members :D Overall it was a good weekend and this was just a small recap.

Sometimes I Fail ... (I guess this is my first FailBlog)

A good friend of mine, and hugely influencial mentor in my life through Middle and High School once said... "Brett, how can you be faithful in the big things if you cant be faithful in the little things?" I replied "I dont know."

That being said lets reflect on the little things for a minute. What are the little things?(keep in mind that the little things can also be very big) Reading your bible, prayer, going to church regularly, etc etc.... Well what are the big things? Planting a Church, Leading people to Christ, Revolutionizing your school...

I'm gonna share something... Last night at the 6 pm worship service for Elevation (www.elevationchurch.org) I was sitting maybe 5 or 6 rows back on the right side. Pastor was Preaching and doing quite well if I do say so myself when he said.... "I want someone to come up here and read this passage." (note theres around 1000 people in the auditorium at this point it is a packed house.) At that instant my heart started BURNING I was like I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to do that. A second or two more and I see in my peripheral vision about 20 hands shoot up some people actually jumping up and down... but Pastor wasnt looking at them. I looked up and made eye contact and we maintained this Dead Lock of Eye Contact for what I counted in my head a good 3-5 seconds but sempt like an eternity. I was being stared down by Pastor Furtick, my heart was Burning and I knew what I was supposed to do.....

This is the part of the story where I would love to say "so I raised my hand went up on stage read the passage from James and because of my faithfulness 8000 people in the 900 seat auditorium got saved"...... however it didnt quite go down like that..... I choked. I froze. I couldnt move, breathe, or think, much less raise my hand walk up and then speak in a clear voice.

So I sat there I stared at Pastor and after a brief few seconds he looked away... He didnt show any hint of dissapointment however there had to be some underlying. I know how long we made eye contact and I know he was looking at me..... (I mean Im 6'5 Im a focal point in any audience, I garuntee he was looking at me.)

So he then turned picked someone else and I sat there for the rest of the night kicking myself. "Why on earth couldnt I move?".... Today however I've been evaluating my life as I frequently do and it dawned on me. "How can you be faithful in the Big Things (Like reading in front of a big Church) if you cant be faithful in the small things?(reading your bible praying and overall being a good steward of your time.)"

Are there any BIG opportunities that passed you by because you didnt have the faith to act because you're activity in the SMALL things was lacking?

The Beach

So I'm at the beach this week visiting my Sister! *cheers of joy* I'm excited and ready to relax a little. I have my zune, my books (the bible being among them of course :D) and my beautiful Girlfriend. So all that being said If I dont blog say.... at all this week. Forgive me. I will pick up pronto hopefully with some good insightful things later on. I Love you all.

Perseverance

James 1:2-4

2. Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

3. because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

4. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything.

This is short sweet and to the point, and Its what I'm learning to do. Pastor Furtick is currently talking about "The Dip" ( http://www.elevationchurch.org/mediaPlayer.php ) which refers to our trails in life. Persevere and push through "The Dip" it will develop your abilities to do God's will, and as Pastor said Sunday, "On the other side of The Dip lies Victory." I dont know about you but I enjoy Victory. Thats something to get excited about, and when you're in The Dip, or look back on it you might even "Consider it Pure Joy"