Pictures Of Recent Evangelistic Trip To Michigan

I was in Michigan ministering two weeks ago and wanted to share some pictures with everyone.

The First Step Of Restoration Has Come!!!!!

In my past blogs I have eluded to a situation that was handled poorly on my end and the other parties end but there seemed to be no restoration in sight or ever from where I stood. Through it all I had been speaking with a really good friend of mine in Southern Ohio and he told me that the same thing had happened to him as far as people running his name through the mud and people constantly talking about him. I asked him what he did to keep the bitterness feelings from setting in.

He told me that everytime that person would come to his mind he would say a simple prayer "God let your kingdom come" and then move on. He encouraged me to do the same and he said that he felt if I did it with a pure heart that God would move and change the situation. When you have a 55 minute drive to and from work you have a lot of time to think and pray about things. Every time this situation and person would come to my mind I would pray the very thing that Billy told me to pray. Although the first couple of times it was prayed through "gritted teeth." The more and more I prayed that prayer the easier and easier it got.

Then last Wednesday (10-31-07) I received breakthrough. The person that I had an "issue" with and they had an "issue" with me called and apologized for everything. They said that they were wrong in what they did and they regretted it. Of course I forgave all and I apologized for the attitude that I had given as well, we hugged and were able to talk with no animosity at all. I am so thankful that we are able to start reconciling the relationship and I am anxious to see what's going to happen. If you are in a situation and you need God to restore; take heart and know that the restoration is only a prayer away.

It's Your Wake Up Call

For those of you that read this blog quite regularly (I don't know who you are) you know that a couple of days ago I wrote about God telling me to tell the kids at church that it's time to get serious. Matt called me last week and asked that I teach the kids one more time on Sunday morning. The moment he asked me to teach God spoke to me and said preach on "It's Your Wake-Up Call."

I was past the point of worrying about the kids feelings towards me and I decided that I was going to minister what God told me to minister. Up to that point the kids in the youth really hadn't shown a "true" interest in spiritual things. There was one young lady in the group that has really been through a lot and God was able to use me to give her a prophetic word that really changed her life.

Her mom came to me the following Sunday and thanked me for "reading her mail" because all she did was talk about how awesome she was feeling. I know that this was a "destiny" word and I am excited to see where God is going to take us as a youth ministry.

Time To Get Serious!!!

Tell the kids "It's Time To Get Serious!!!" It was Sunday morning during praise and worship at church. (www.myspace.com/abundantlifetabernacle) I was contacted at 9:59am that morning to teach the youth (thanks Chewie - you have taught me to be instant in season and out). I was asking God what He wanted me to teach and I heard nothing until about 15 minutes until it was time to go back to class. I was praying and seeking and asking and all of the sudden I heard God tell me to tell the kids It's Time To Get Serious!!!



God brought me to Revelation 3 where God is telling the church that He wished they were hot or cold. But because they are lukewarm He was going to vomit them out of His mouth. I can honestly say that God came in the room and I was literally weeping as I was teaching. I kept telling the kids that God's heart cry for us is to get serious about our walk with Him and the lack of care we have had. If America needs anything right now it's for the youth and the church of America to stand up and declare the word of the Lord to a lost and dying world. He's tired of our lackadaisical lifestyle and He's going to start requiring us to change so we can walk into what He has for us.

Keeping The Right People In & The Wrong People Out

“He Who Covers a Transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates friends.” – Prov. 17:9 (NKJV)

For the past 21 days I have been going through the book of Proverbs and reading one chapter a day for each day of the month. I am absolutely amazed at the “nuggets” of truth that have been uncovered; they aren’t necessarily “heavy revi’s” but they are scriptures that speak to me where I am. That’s the amazing thing about the Bible; although it was written thousands of years ago it can still speak to you today where you are in life. That’s the difference between truth and revelation. Truth is where God has been; revelation is where God is.

After reading this verse I stopped everything and read it again. I began to think of situations and people in the past that I have trusted and other’s have trusted that haven’t covered transgressions but have told everyone about what happened. If you want to be a person of trustworthiness then we need to become “covering” people. I am sure we all go to church with the “concerned prayer people.” You know the person I am talking about; they are the ones that, when word gets out about someone OR something they go to that person and tell them that they want to pray for them and they need to know what happened. They are no more concerned about what happened then I am a Rhoad’s scholar. They don’t care about the situation they only care about gossiping about it to other people.

That’s why we need to be careful with who we allow access into our lives. We need to have people in our lives that are doors AND walls. The door people are the people that see a good thing coming your way and open they way for you to receive it. Those same people need to be walls and when there is a bad thing coming they block it and don’t allow it.

When you allow someone close to you that doesn’t know what to be when to be that they will be doors when they need to be walls and let bad things in and they will be walls when they need to be doors and not allow good things to come. The people you allow in your “inner circle” need to be people that will “cover” you and not speak of things you have spoken to them about. I have three people that I can confide in and talk to about issues that I am facing and I KNOW that they aren’t going to tell anyone. It didn’t happen overnight and it came with time. I was able to tell them little things and over time I began to realize and trust them that what I was saying to them would not go any further. There was a situation that one of them could have sold me out and told everything we talked about but they covered me and didn’t say a word.

We need to be careful of the people that will, as Solomon told us, “…speak a matter and separate friends.”

I haven’t traveled extensively in ministry but the places that I have traveled I have seen churches “killing” their wounded. The church and the church body need to be a place of refuge and healing but it has become a place of haughty attitudes. The church was established not so we could “show off” our gifting or our suits but it was established to be a place that people could come and receive love and healing. A church is always going to reflect the attitude of the pastor. I have seen some churches on the verge of dieing and then a new pastor comes in that speaks on life and not death and the church growth explodes because the people will ultimately become a reflection of the pastor.

That is why you have to be careful when seeking counseling and guidance from your pastor. Just because he’s behind the pulpit doesn’t mean that he doesn’t gossip. Before you bare your soul to the wrong people give it time for them to earn that right.

Remember this: If a person gossips to you; they WILL gossip about you. Check back often as this is a subject that I am going to discuss and write my thoughts about regularly.

A Must Read

The Courage To Confront

Recently I purchased TD Jakes newest book entitled Reposition Yourself – Living Life Without Limits. I knew that it was going to be good just by reading an excerpt of it on the internet. The first chapter deals with confronting the things in your life that need changed. By the end of the chapter I was in tears because it hit home and “punched me in the mouth.” I know that by the time I am done with this I will be living the life of my dreams because I am going to have to deal with things that I have run from.

One of the points that Jakes made that hit me the hardest was an illustration of an intervention with “people” that are in your life. The four “people” that were at the intervention was: Distant Dreamer (the part of you that dreams); Listless Lover (the part of you that looks for love in all the wrong places); Manny The Manager (the rational part of you); Blinded Believer (your spiritual self). These are the voices that we all have and we attempt to muzzle them and not listen to them. By the time I was done with Manny I was in absolute tears because the things they were saying was were I am.

Another point he made that totally made sense was on page 10. He was talking about having the “courage to confront” and he said “You can only correct what you are willing to confront.” This hit me like a ton of bricks because for so long I was content to live in the past life of hurt & regret. I used these two things as a crutch to not living to my full potential. I know have the understanding that this wasn’t only holding me back but also my wife and child. I made the decision last night (9:14pm) to not live in the past; I will learn from the past and use it to thrust me into the future.
Look for more updates as I continue this journey to Reposition Myself.

Amazing Thought

I received the following article from Michael Pink. It's an awesome article that deals with focus. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Intensity.

There's something about intensity that generates results like nothing else. I watched a documentary yesterday on the life of Keith Green. Talk about intense! His passion was a consuming fire! His music moved a generation of young Christians in the early eighties. And I was stirred, just watching.

Where does intensity come from and what happens when you have it? Well, first of all, it's highly contagious and anyone with any contact with you will catch your intensity. If they don't appreciate your intensity, it will drive them away, but others, many others will be drawn to it. Therefore, make it about the right things. Until you value intensity or as some call it, passion, you will never have it. You may be moved by it in others, but you will never be possessed by it, consumed by it, animated by it. You will never benefit from it directly, nor will others be benefited by the potential of it in you.

Think about this... How long does it take to weld a bridge using a candle versus a blowtorch? Which are you? Have you lost your intensity lately? It happens. It's time to relight the blowtorch. It's time to ignite the passion, the intensity for what you are doing with your life. It's time to ignite the passion for your product or service if you are in business. And always, it's time to keep your intensity strong for the Lord.As they say, I would rather burn out than rust out. How about you?

I want to continue the discussion on intensity. Where does it come from? I submit that intensity is the result of FOCUS. When I was a child, I guess I had a cruel streak or at the very least an insensitive streak. On a lazy summer afternoon, we would grab a magnifying glass and go looking for ants.Some of you already know where I am going with this. We would find some slow moving ant near an ant hill and try to focus the light of the sun upon the ant. If we were way out of focus, there was no effect. If we were nearly in focus, it got us excited, but the ant didn't seem to pay any attention.It was only when we sharpened that focus to a virtual pinpoint that suddenly the ant upon which that light beam fell, suddenly withered and fried before our eyes. The ant represents the goal, the objective, the thing you are in pursuit of. With poor focus, nothing at all happens. With some focus, you get excited, but with precision, pinpoint focus, your actions become like a precision guided laser and the goal is accomplished with remarkable speed.But focus requires intentionality. Deliberateness. That's the subject of my next blog, but in the meantime, if you want to grow your mental capacity a bit, meditate on what it takes for you to focus. When you know that, you are well on your way.