Oneofhis’ Weblog

As I began to read His Word and ask Him to reveal Himself to me, He began to reveal to me His purpose for why we were here.  I realized according to the scriptures, that God’s plan was not some cosmic chaotic mess that it seemed.  God is the master planner. His will cannot be denied. He is All Soveriegn and All-Powerful! For God to be these things, He would have to have a plan so detailed it could not be comprehended totally by our natural understanding! Jesus tried to reveal some of that plan to Nicodemus:

John 3

³⁾Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴⁾Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵⁾Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶⁾ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. ⁷⁾ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸⁾ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Verse 8 really stands out here (not just because I underlined it). Jesus compares the process that God chooses those to whom He has decided to the moving of the wind. I like to take this scripture and transpose “the Spirit of God” into where you see “the wind” cause He is describing the Spirit of God as “the wind”. 

Just as the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters of the deep in Genesis 1, even today, He moves across this world drawing those to Himself that He has chosen before the foundations of the Earth were laid!

Ephesians 1

³⁾ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴⁾ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵⁾ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶⁾ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7⁾ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸⁾which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹⁾ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰⁾as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

There are so many more scriptures I could share about this, but back to my story.

I began to realize that God’s love was not determined upon whether or not I did certain things, but was given freely because I was chosen by God. I was taught for a long time that salvation was based on my actions (not that we have a free license to go out and do whatever we want with no consequence). I had to a pray a prayer to get saved, had to not drink or smoke, read my bible,  pray regularly, give my tithe, and I was good to go. I did good on the smoking and drinking stuff cause I had no desire to do either, but I struggled with prayer,reading,  and still have some attitudes and things I have to work on. Many well intentioned men would use condemnation to get me back in line which only really worked for short periods of time.

What I have come to learn is that I am free and you are free to seek Him! There is no long list of prerequisites to be saved or be in right standing with Him! Jesus already did everything that was required and we have an opportunity to experience the love of the God of the universe with no restrictions, no bounderies, no limits! Is that not incredible?! The burden of your salvation was carried on that cross and we are free!! Free to love Him and be loved with no strings attached! It’s this love that moves me to read so we can know Him better. It’s this love that should move us to spend time in prayer, fellowship, and worship!

Hebrews 10:21-23 

²¹⁾and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²⁾let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³⁾ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

We are so loved by Him! I hope you get a revelation of what He has done for you!. Thanks for reading.

Kevin

  For a long time, I was a “captive of God and Church.” Let me explain. As a child, I was told about Jesus and how He died for my sins, but I was also told how if I didn’t “accept His love”, I would be doomed to an everlasting, burning, eternity in the lake of fire. Being a fairly intelligent child, I knew that was not something that just didn’t sound “fun”, so I accepted Christ. That was a no-brainer to me.  I was supposed to go to church, and pray and read my bible cause that’s what God wanted me to do so I would not go to hell.  As I started getting older, the fear of hell was there, but there were desires to do things I was told I shouldn’t do. I felt like I was in a constant war with my desires and what I knew was the “right” thing.

It wasn’t until I reached my late teens that God revealed to me His love that freed me from the fear of hell and propelled me into the loving arms of my savior! I not only understood that He didn’t want me to go to hell, but that He wanted to have a relationship with me! This was the beginning of a relationship that will continue till my last breath and into eternity! However, I was still finding that the tight-rope changed from doing the right things so I wouldn’t go to hell, to doing the right things so I could be loved by God. As I made mistakes (which we are going to do because we sinful creatures, prone to sin) I felt less loved by Him, not realizing at the time I was buying into a non-truth that the enemy was speaking into my brain. The burden of “maintaining my salvation” was overwhelming for me, cause I so wanted to please Him and be loved by Him, but I always felt like my faults and shortcomings were keeping me from Him. I was falling into despair in my walk with God and I had no hope.

But God had other plans……

Stay tuned,

Kevin

I have heard a lot of messages over the past several months, on how God is after our hearts. I know this is true in my own life cause He has dealt with me on a lot of things that He wants to change in me. He is aggressively after the hearts of those He has chosen to call His children. His grace is irresistable and is love knows no boundry! He is not interested in your participation in religion, your “good” deeds, or how many scriptures you have memorized. He is after a heart that is fully His. He will attack every idol in our lives, everything that you hold higher in importance than Him.

Knowing that our Lord is in pursuit of our hearts, my question is are you pursuing after His heart?

Deuteronomy 4:29 (English Standard Version)

²⁹⁾ But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

2 Kings 23:25 

²⁵⁾ Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.

God wants to be pursued. God wants to be sought after. He wants us to seek His face and not just His hand (yeah, I know it’s an overused phrase, but it’s true). He wants us to have relationship with Him! I wonder how much sooner those things we struggle with in our lives would be a thing of the past if we would run to Him as He is pursuing us? I wonder if we struggle with things for such a long time is because we are trying to “hide” those things from Him, just like Adam and Eve tried to hide from God in the garden. At some point, everything must bow it’s knee in submission to Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 45:23 

²³⁾ By myself I have sworn;
   from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
   a word that shall not return:
 ’To me every knee shall bow,
   every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

This scripture is not just talking about judgement day. Everything that has a place in our lives greater than Christ must be submitted to Him. There is no other god before Him. What an act of love to actively lay down those things that stand between us and Him!

I know that some things are easier than others. There are some things that we can’t do in our strength. We need Him. It is His power that gives us the power to change!

Philippians 2:12-13 

 ¹²Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure

Let’s not just be pursued by God, but let us pursue Him with the same passion that He is pursuing us until all things are subjected to Him. He truly is all and holds, everything we need.

Kevin

I was reading this passage from a book called “The Inner life” by Francois Fenelon (1651-1715) and it really ministered to me this morning. I thought about how we try so hard to “protect” ourselves from God. We have such a difficult time embracing the change that God wants to do in our hearts. We are afraid of correction, accountability, and exposure.  It’s almost like we are afraid that if we cooperate with these things, we will lose our own identity, our individuality,and our own life. This could not be closer to the truth! This is why Christ died, so we can have His life! The scriptures say that anyone who tries to save their life will lose it, but anyone who loses their life for my name sake will find it! (Matt(16:25) Check out what Fenelon had to say:

Let us compare our lives with that of Jesus Christ, reflecting that he was the Master and that we are the servants; that He was all-powerful, and that we are but weakness; that he was abased and that we are exalted. Let us so constantly bear our wretchedness in mind, that we may have nothing but contempt for ourselves. With what face can we despise others, and dwell upon their faults, when we ourselves are filled with nothing else? Let us begin to walk in the path which our Saviour has marked out, for it is the only one that can lead us to Him.

And how can we expect to find Jesus if we do not seek Him in the states of his earthly life, in loneliness and silence, in poverty and suffering, in persecution and contempt, in annihilation and the cross? The saints find him in heaven, in the splendors of glory and in unspeakable pleasures; but it is only after having dwelt with Him on earth in reproaches, in pain and in humiliation. To be a Christian is to be an imitator of Jesus Christ. In what can we imitate Him if not in his humiliation? Nothing else can bring us near to Him. We may adore him as Omnipotent, fear him as just, love him with all our heart as good and merciful,—but we can only imitate him as humble, submissive, poor and despised.

Let us not imagine that we can do this by our own efforts; everything that is within is opposed to it; but we may rejoice in the presence of God. Jesus has chosen to be made partaker of all our weaknesses; He is a compassionate high-priest who has voluntarily submitted to be tempted in all points like as we are; let us, then, have all our strength in Him who became weak that he might strengthen us; let us enrich ourselves out of his poverty, confidently exclaiming, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philip. iv. 13.)

Let me follow in thy footsteps, O Jesus! I would imitate Thee, but cannot without the aid of thy grace! O humble and lowly Saviour, grant me the knowledge of the true Christian, and that I may willingly despise myself; let me learn the lesson, so incomprehensible to the mind of man, that I must die to myself by an abandonment that shall produce true humility.

May I decrease so you can increase in me God.

Kevin

Psalm 103:1-3 (English Standard Version)

  ¹⁾ Bless the LORD, O my soul,
   and all that is within me,
   bless his holy name!
²⁾ Bless the LORD, O my soul,
   and forget not all his benefits,
³⁾ who forgives all your iniquity,
   who heals all your diseases,

I sat at my desk today, reflecting on what God has been doing at Journey Church as of late, and I can’t help but be excited. God is healing, providing jobs, and filling people’s hearts with a great sense of purpose. Folks who sat on the fence in their relationships with God are being challenged to make a choice to get off and get into the fight, and yes it is a fight for the souls of men we are fighting for!

As I was thanking God for His goodness, He spoke the above scripture to me. He said “Forget not His benefits”. It’s easy when God gives us a victory to stop pressing the attack, to stop moving forward. My encouragement to you today is don’t forget what He has done for you! Let what He has done be a testimony you constantly share with others. Tell them about His goodness and grace to you! Encourage others who are still going through a tough time to continue to press in and seek His face.

Don’t be the man who looks into the mirror and turns away and forgets what he looks like. Let His praise be in your mouth and let the abundance of His joy be in your hearts.

Rejoice, but remember, as good as He has been to you,the best is yet to come!

Kevin

Hebrews 4:13-15 (English Standard Version)

¹⁴⁾ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵⁾ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Where is it?

What I am talking about is the confession of your faith. Where is it? As I have said many times, I was raised in church. I have noticed a steep decline in seeing public confessions of faith in Christ, in our churches today. Most people today wouldn’t even know that they are sitting with, working with, even hanging out with a Christ-follower! This is wrong. I’m not suggesting you wear Christian t-shirts or put fish symbols and “turn or burn” bumper stickers on your vehicles. What I want to know is where is your confession? When is the last time you shared with someone how God has changed your life? When is the last time you told someone that you are a Christ-Follower?

Your confession was never meant to be a private thing. Your confession is powerful, not just for others to hear, but for yourself!

Romans 10:16-18 

¹⁶⁾ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷⁾ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Other people’s faith is strengthened and challenged by your confession. Your faith is strengthened when you confess His goodness and mercy and grace. It is not a point of shame, but of  glorious worship!

Don’t be ashamed to share your testimony with others

Kevin

I had the privilege of reading Max Lucado’s book, “Fearless”. When I say privilege, I do mean it was a privilege to read this book. This book isn’t a psycho-analysis of your fears. It’s a look at your heart. Jesus asked His disciples, “Why do you fear?” That is the angle this book comes from.

We all have fears. Fears of rejection by people and God, of failure, of our children’s future, and even the fear of death itself. Max Lucado confronts these issues with the Word of God in a simple, non-confrontational, way. This is not a drill instructor pushing you out of a plane, but a loving Savior beckoning you to meet Him in the midst of your fear, and setting your eyes on Him.

Many of our fears are based in a lack of tust in God’s Word. “Fearless” attempts to give us a view of how life can be if we put our trust in Him and allow Christ to speak to the storm rather than us speaking about the storm. God is not caught by surprise when things take a turn for the worse in our lives. He knows our fears and concerns, and He is with us in the midst of the storms.

I highly recommend you buy “Fearless”. There is even a great study guide that you can do a small group study or even just a personal study.

Imagine your life without fear.

Kevin

Today marks two years that I have been married to my best friend. Her love for me and her passion for God have been such an inspiration to me. She has been such an encouragement to be everything that God has called me to be.

Proverbs 18:22 (English Standard Version)

²²He who finds a wife finds a good thing
   and obtains favor from the LORD.

Happy Anniversary My Love!

Kevin

I went mountain biking yesterday with a couple of buddies from church. We ran into this guy out at the park that we had talked to previously for a few minutes.  This guy and his son go riding quite a bit. He came up and said hi and we talked for a few minutes. He asked if he could ride with us sometime. He mentioned how he has a hard time finding guys to go riding with. Numbers were exchanged and I’m sure he will be riding with us soon.

It doesn’t seem like much, but I took some thoughts away from the experience. I hope you take away some things from this as well.

1) Consistancy opens doors.  If we only went out once a month, we may have never ran into this guy and his son. Many community outreaches fail because of this. When people see you more than once, it builds familiarity. How many of you like when get the same cashier at the grocery store (granted if she friendly)? There are people who will wait in a longer line to deal with the same person. People get comfortable with you, and that in turn lowers defenses to allow opportunities to share your faith. Consistancy will win more hearts than a fancy outreach.

2) People want to belong to something. We have to provide something that someone feels like they can be a part of.  Whether it be guys out mountain biking, a ladies get-together, or having people over to watch a football game,  people want to belong to something. They want to be where people know their name. It’s a fact that people like to hear their name. Common interests will draw those who have an interest. Find something that you like to do and invite someone into “your world”. You never know what kind of impact you may have in a person’s life.

3) Missional Living Isn’t Rocket Science. There is more books about being missional out in Christian bookstores and websites than ever. Don’t let it scare you. It’s not complicated. It can start with something as simple as some guys going mountain biking. What do you like to do? Find a way to bring others in and share a piece of your life with them.

Hope these experiences and observations inspire you to step out and become more missional minded.

Kevin