Who Am I? Pt. 3

Just knowing who you are isn’t enough, you do need to know what you are going to do and how to go to about fulfilling your purpose. There are people that know their purpose, and despite of that, they are currently not following God. Because they could not overcome the obstacles in the way of their purpose.

There are levels of belief. First there is non-belief. The next level is hypocrisy, you say that you believe but you really don’t. Hypocrisy is conscious. Then there is mental ascent, where you truly believe in that thing, where you tell everyone that you should do something, but you do absolutely nothing about it. It’s very easy to give mental ascent to something.

When you get to the place, where you know what God made you to be, you need to find out, when the next step is, and what that next step is. What do you do? How do we overcome the obstacles of being who God made you to be?

Judges 6:11-16

Gideon has an encounter with God, he doesn’t know who he is, he is hiding, and he encounters God. God shows him who he is, Gideon thought that he was nothing, that he was the least of his family, and his tribe was a nothing tribe. God tells him that he is a mighty hero. Gideon’s creator tells him who he is meant to be.

Your destiny is not going to happen automatically. So many people hear a word from God, and they know what their purpose is. But they think that they are just going to be able to sit around and wait for God to do that. Gideon saw an actual visible angel; you would think that if you saw an angel, you would be pretty certain that it is actually going to happen.

3 Things that you must do to become who God wants you to be.

1. You must overcome fear. Gideon had to overcome the fear of himself, and over the cultural fear that surrounded the entire Israelite civilization this isn’t the kind of fear that comes from a single defeat, it comes from being defeated over and over again. You are going to have to take some steps that are scary. Fear will paralyze you while the life that God created for you will pass you by. Gideon had to crawl out of the wine press in which he was hiding, and overcome the lies that he had been told about himself.
   
   
   James 2:17 “Faith without works is dead” If we have faith that something can happen, but we never actually act upon that nothing is ever going to happen. There is a difference between Faith and mental ascent. Jesus knew he had the power to heal, but unless he asserted that power, u nothing would have changed. You can say that you believe all you want, but unless it results in action, it is going to do nothing.

2. You have to find your passion. Everyone has at least one thing that they are passionate about. There are two things that you can do with the passion, you can either turn bitter when things aren’t going the right way, or you can turn the passion into completing your purpose. Your passion is connected to your purpose. You have to shape and control your purpose, you have to take your passion, and turn it to positive action. Your purpose will always involve the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40), and the Great Commission (Mark 16:15). Your purpose and your vocation are two different things. If your purpose is to build orphanages in Africa, that isn’t necessarily your vocation. Your vocation could be designing software. A job that you work, might not be your purpose, vocation is what you do so you can do your purpose.

   
   

3. To be who god has created you to be, you must let your purpose be too big. Judges 7:1 God will never call you to do something that you can do in your own strength. God will always call you to do something that is too big, that the only way that you can accomplish it is through Christ. God is not interested in being limited by your strength. God wants you to great things, things that are big in his eyes. You know you have found gods purpose when you think that it is impossible.

God is a god of one in a million. God may call you to do something that others have tried and failed, but God is not concerned with odds. The things He calls you to do will always be too big, and they will always be scary. The success of our purpose is not tied to our ability, it is tied to our trust and faith in the power of God.

Who Am I? Pt. 2

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5

A lot of people think they know who you are, and they are not shy about telling you who you are. Your friends, your parents, TV, they all think they know who you are. But who do you believe? Who do you trust? Some people know a small, shallow facet of you. People want to define us based on a lot of things, based upon your appearance, age, skills, clothes, where you are from. It is easy to start living up to those expectations. When people say that you won’t ever end up amounting to anything, it is easy to stop trying to succeed. Everybody wants to tell you who you are, and the truth is, we all want to know who we are. We want to know what group we fit in, and what defines us.
Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, they are plans for good, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

If you want to know the purpose of something, you need to go to the maker of that product. You don’t go to one of the people that uses it, no matter how well they know it; you go straight to the maker. So often we talk to other creation to find out who we are, when really we need to go ask the creator for that information. God created them as well, and they don’t know any more than you do. The problem is that the world is screaming at us from every aspect of our lives, and it’s so easy to get trapped in that. Sometimes it’s even a good message, but it’s incomplete. The world is just as confused as you are about what it is, and what others are supposed to be. No one has it figured out, everyone is just trying to figure out what works.

When you make something, you make it for a purpose. When God created you, he created you with a purpose. The way that you are, are the way that God created you, to fulfill a specific destiny. He has given you all the capabilities, and talents that you need to fit the role that God has given you. It’s easy to classify people by their appearance, and that they are supposed to look a certain way, but we all.

To find out who you really are, you have to quiet the sound of the world around you.

Romans 12:2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Don’t let the TV you listen to, the music you listen to, the friends you have in school make you the person that you are. Let God be the one that shapes who you are, he wants to show you your true purpose. God wants to free you from the labels that society has put into place, and he wants to free you from the judgments that have been passed upon you. The pattern of this world is counterfeit.. People put labels on you, but they aren’t real, and there are no real purpose behind them. Even if it’s real, it is a shallow reality.

If you let God transform your life, and let him show you what his will is for you. You will live a fulfilling life, and you will be able to discover his perfect purpose. This doesn’t mean that your life will be without trials, God doesn’t promise that life will be easy for you. He promises that he has plans to prosper you. You don’t have to be someone else to do what God wants you to do. The purpose of something determines its nature, its features. They are built to do what they are meant to do. God built you with a purpose, and the thing that you are called to do is the thing that you will be happiest doing. God made you into a perfect match for your purpose.

Who Am I? Pt. 1

Jeremiah 1:5
“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

You are somebody! For some people that is a pretty revolutionary statement. You were not an accident, whether your parents wanted to have you, or planned on having, you were not an accident. You were created to be one thing, God did not create you to be anything, and he created you to be something. He didn’t create you to be anybody that you wanted to be, he created you for one reason, and he had a purpose for why he created you. You were not created to do whatever you set your mind to; you were created to be a certain someone.
Acts 19:13
“A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use their name of the Lord Jesus in their incantations, saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out! Seven sons of Sceva a leading priest were doing this. But one tie when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you? Then the evil spirit leaped upon them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house naked and battered.”
They were trying to use the name of someone else to cast out demons, because they were unsure of who they of themselves. And the end result of pretending to be someone they weren’t was pain and suffering. When people know who they and they are who they are meant to be. They are exciting to be around. People like Steve Jobs, and Mother Theresa knew who they are, and because of that people wanted to be around them. We sometimes see people that look successful, and we think that we can be successful if we just follow the same course that they followed. We confuse who they are with who we are supposed to be. We chase who someone else is, rather than finding who we are supposed to be. This will never lead to long term success. You can learn principals, character, integrity from other people, but you can’t successfully be who someone else is. It can lead to short term success, these priests, were able to cast out demons for a short period of time, but in the end, they met up with an evil spirit that was bold enough to speak back against them. Eventually you will get to a place in life, where trying to be someone else is going to fail, and only being who you were meant to be will make you succeed.
We live in a society where no one knows what they are supposed to be. There is so much confusion, with us all told to be something that we aren’t meant to be. We open ourselves up to abuse trying to be something that we aren’t meant to be.

Romans 8: 31-38

“What than shall we say in response to these things, if God is for us who can be against us?”

See when you know who you are in Christ, you won’t be moved by accusations. You won’t be affected by labels, and you will be firm in your stand, knowing that you are justified, and a conqueror that you are not a loser. When you don’t know who you are, you bounce around trying all sorts of different things, your life becomes scattered. But when you know who you are, your life will be focused like a laser beam, and you will have power.

Passion

When there are things that we are passionate about, we get excited. You don’t have to know a person for very long to know what they are passionate about. They will bring it up in conversation; they want everyone to know about it. Regardless of whether you care about what they are passionate about, they will still make sure that you know about it.

What are you passionate about? What things make you excited, that when someone brings the topic up, your face lights up. That same passion that you have for whatever your favorite thing is, that is the way we need to be about our relationship with God. We need to get excited about our Faith, because it is good news, we should be excited that we once were blind, but now we see, and that at one point, we were in bondage, but now are free. That should be something that we are excited about.

“He loves us, oh how he loves us” The truth expressed in this song should excite us, we don’t deserve the love that god gives us. There is nothing that we can do to make him love us anymore, or to love us any less. That should pump us up, ‘cause we deserve death.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah:and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart;and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.”

If you are truly in love anything with all your heart, mind, soul and whole life, it is going to be evident in everything you do. People should know right about your passion for Christ, your entire life, should be evidence to others for Christ’s love towards us.

“If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Our lives should not be so blended with the world, that people can’t tell if we are a Christian or not. Our lives should scream that we are Christians.

1 Chorinthians 6:18-20 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”

Sex is one of those things that is easy to justify, we are able to say that certain sexual acts aren’t as bad as others, but the bible says that all sexual immorality needs to be run away from. But it’s not just sexual immorality that we need to flee, it’s other things, coarse jokes, and foolish talk, as well as bitterness and rage, anger. (Ephesians 4:29-5:7)

If we want to make a difference in this world, we have to be a passionate people. We have to be people that are fully in love with Christ. If you truly understand what Christ did for you on the cross, you would want to tell people about what Christ did for you. But in order to understand what he did, we need to spend the time to get to know him. In prayer and in reading his word, dive in, and get to know him. Learn who he is, and what did for you, and get so passionate about it that it saturates your life, so that everyone can see who you are.

Broken

Click above to listen to Pastor Dan's latest message called "Broken" or right click and choose "Save Link As..." to download the mp3.

If God is good, why do bad things happen? Why is there war, disaster, pain, tragedy? Why does Evil exist?

To an extent you can answer, people do stuff, people are messed up. But what about the things people don't do, like natural disasters, and diseases? If God is good, why does this stuff happen? The real question is, why doesn't the world work the way it should?
We all have an innate sense that the world isn't working right, we all know that the world isn't fair. We can sense that this isn't the way it's suppose to be, that's a real thing, we are sensing truth in that.

In Romans chapter 5:12 we see the cause of the troubles in this world, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” The world glitches, because the world is broken. Things don't happen the way that God wanted them to, because when Adam sinned, it didn't just effect Adam, it opened a barrier and let sin into the world, and everything was contaminated. This didn't just include humans, but all of creation.

In Romans 8:19-22 it says “For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. And we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.”

The world is bound, it's trapped in bondage to decay. The world doesn't work the way that God wanted it to, even though he created all these things. Everything he created was “very good” in the beginning. Unfortunately, people are dumb, and we did something stupid and broke the world. Things like cancer are not fair, it's one of those things that just doesn't make sense. Cancer is a glitch in the body, it's the result of our broken state. God didn't want the world to have cancer or tornadoes or hurricanes. He didn't make that, God made something different, but because of Adam, sin was allowed to contaminate the world, and now we are suffering from the glitches. Much like a healthy body when germs are allowed to enter the body we see the physical manifestation of that through our symptoms. The world is showing the contamination of sin through natural disasters.

There is however hope, for you, your friends and family, and the world. Even though sin has come and contaminated every aspect of our lives, our hearts and our relationships with families and friends. There is a hope, but you can't find it in Obama, or getting rich, or love. The are all places that we often turn, but none of them will bring healing to the situation. You can't fix this issue yourself, nor can other sinful people help you to fix the problem. Much like an oil covered animal cannot help to clean off another, we as broken humans cannot fix each other.

You can make a difference though, you can help to deal with the symptoms of sin, and make a difference in the world, but you can't fix the problem. Hope is found only in Christ, not in the church, or in other human beings.

In Romans 5:15-17 it's written “But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. If because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. “

Though the world is broken, there is hope in Christ. For by his grace there is life that overcomes the death that sin has cursed this world with. We shouldn't give up hope for this world, for by the death of Christ, there is a free gift of righteousness through Him.

Fast Forward

When a lot of people think of fasting, they just think of it as a sacrifice. But they often don't pay attention to having a vision for the week. We often view fasting as a chore we have to complete, but truly it's a time for God to speak to us, a time for God to move in us, and to show us his will for our lives. We need to fast with a purpose, not just because everyone else is doing it, or because it seems like the right thing to do. Why do we fast, how should we fast, and when should we fast? These are all questions that we need to answer before we begin fasting.

There are a number of great reasons for fasting, however there are also a number of wrong reasons for fasting. You should never fast to show how great of a Christian you are, its not about proving something to anyone else. Fasting isn't a way to earn your salvation, or holiness. Fasting also should not be used to lose weight, or to punish yourself. We aren't suppose to fast for these reasons, fasting for these reasons will distract us from the true purpose of our a fast.

So what reasons should we fast for? We should fast because we are expected to fast. Jesus set the example for fasting. Before he did any miracles, before he taught, he spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting, and then was tempted by the devil. In Matthew 6: 16-18, Jesus said “when you fast” not if you fast, he was expecting that we would fast, knowing that it was a commandment stemming from the old testament.

James 4:8 gives us another reason to fast “Come close to God and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” While this portion of scripture does not directly mention fasting, fasting is used to narrow or focus from the things of the world, to purify our hearts from the things that distract us, to rid us of the junk in us both spiritually and physically.

Once we have settled why we are suppose to fast, we must understand how to fast. Fasting in it's most literal sense is to go without food for spiritual reasons. However, fasting doesn't always have to be about food. It can be anything that normally distracts us from God. It can be facebook, television, movies, anything that normally takes up your time. It has to be something that is sacrificial, giving up an activity that you don't really like, or that you rarely do, is not fasting. While fasting, you takethe time that you would normally spend in that activity, and spend it with God, praying and reading his word.

You should always fast with energy, look for the next step, use it as a time to see where God is pointing you. Keeping a journal during fasting can be beneficial, so that when it ends, you don't forget what God speaks to you. Make sure that you are pressing in, not just giving something up, but also seeking what God has for you during that time. Otherwise you really are just punishing yourself.

When do we fast? Fasting can be done at a number of times for a number of different reasons, anytime that you need God to move in your life, or you need direction in your life, if you have a big decision in front of you, these are all good times to fast. If you have a sin in your life, or if there is a major issue that needs to be addressed, fasting can help you in your seeking for the answer. Remember to let God direct you in your fast, doing it in his will is most important, more so than how long you fast, or what you fast, is that you are doing what God is asking you to do.

The Faith Process Part 2

Luke 5:17

Last week we talked about the Faith Process, this week we will be talking about the fact that Faith expects.

Why is generation conference different? Why isn't every week at Revolution Church just like Gen Con? Does God just like big crowds, he can't come when there are fewer than two thousand people? Does he only come with cool lighting and smoke, or only with Australians?

I'm not talking about the thrills or chill of getting away, going to a new place, staying up far too late. People can go around chasing exciting spiritual thrills, people will go from conference to conference, chasing after an emotional spiritual high. I'm not talking about the emotion, I'm talking about the encounter with God.

Christians shouldn't be chasing the emotional experience, but the actual encounter with God. Now, a lot of time the encounter with God can lead to an emotional display. But the goal shouldn't be emotion, God should be the goal. Just because everyone else is expressing a particular emotion, and you aren't it doesn't mean that you aren't encounter God. Now, that doesn't mean that God won't sometimes call us to emotion. He could be calling us to get down on our knees, and if that is the call refusing it could lead to you missing an encounter with God. What we dishonor moves away from us.

Hebrews 11:1
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen.

Faith expects. Faith gives us assurance about things we cannot see. It was by faith that Cain brought a more acceptable offering than Able. Without Faith it is impossible to please God, anyone who wants to come to him, must believe that God exists, and that he rewards those that sincerely seek him. There are things that God wants to do in your life that you currently cannot see. When God calls us to do some things, we won't understand why he is calling us to it, it may not be obvious to us. But through Faith, we can have assurance of the plans that God has for us, even though we cannot yet see it.

Right now, in Schoharie, it can be hard to see what God's plan for this area is. But God has a plan for us, and he is planning on using the youth in this ministry to minster to this area. Everyone of you is a leader, everyone of you is called to be a leader. You are all called to be real leaders, you are all called to be small group leaders, youth leaders, leaders leaders, not the pretend everybody feel good leaders. Because if God is going to do what he wants to do in this church in this region, you will be the most mature the most knowledgeable Christians in the ministry. If God does what he wants to do, we will all be needed to pray over someone, to minster to someone. We live in a culture an era of people not knowing God, this generation did not go to church as a kid, they don't have a knowledge of Christ. As much as we may not think we have a lot of knowledge, you have a large amount of knowledge compared to those that are going to come into our ministry. This is hard vision to see, but Faith is the assurance that this is true.

The five friends went to Jesus because they were confident that God was going to heal their friend, they expected God to heal him. If they hadn't been certain, it would not have been worth the work unless they were entirely certain of it. Faith is action with Expectation, you must both put in the work, but you must also believe that you are going to receive something. If you have action without expectation, that is religion. Expectation without action, is dead. (James 2:17 “Faith without works is dead”)

The difference between Generation Conference and Revolution Church is that at Generation Conference there are people coming with expectation. Expecting that there will be great worship, and that there will be great speakers. We need to come each we expecting to encounter God. How would coming with expectation change your approach, how would that change how you worship. If you know that you would hear the best message, would you take some notes? If God was going to come during worship, how would it change how you worshiped, how you pressed in. What do you expect God to do in your school? Do you expect people to be saved, do you expect addicts to recover?

God meets us our level of expectation. If you come expecting nothing, God will meet you with nothing, if you come expecting everything, God will meet you with everything. On occasion God will come in and meet you, even when you are expecting nothing. But those are rare and miraculous.

James 1:5
“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

This isn't just talking about wisdom, if we come to God and ask, for him to work in our school, he will give generously. If your expectation meets God desire, the supernatural will happen. Now our expectation a lot of the time is way lower than God's desire. In the story of the five friends, their expectation met God's desire, in because of that a supernatural miracle occurred. How do we raise our expectation? We must spend time with God, we have to get in his presence, when we start seeing enough of God, enough of his desire, what he wants to do, not just your own doubt, your expectations will be raised. Your expectation will meet Gods desire when you see enough of him to fully expect the great things he wants to do.

We need to have great expectations for our lives, we need to seek to increase our faith, we need to ask God that he would increase our faith. That we would be able to see the things that he wants us to do, that we would begin to enter into his presence, and that our expectation would rise. That we would come expecting something greater, expecting to experience who he is, and expecting that he would move in us. There is so much that God wants to do, but our expectation falls below his desire, so we need to move towards an increase of faith, so that the supernatural will occur.

The Faith Process

Luke 5:17-26

One day while Jesus was teaching, a paralyzed man was brought to where he was teaching to try to receive healing. When they were unable to find a way into the building through the crowd, they carried their friend to the roof and lowered him through the tiles and set him before Jesus. That day, the man who was paralyzed from birth was healed. He was the only one healed that night, and his sins were forgiven.

The Lords healing power was with Jesus, and he had the ability to heal that day as much as ever. It was there for everyone, but not everyone decided they wanted healing. God didn't decide who got healed that night. Faith decided who got healed that night.

Only one man was healed, everyone else went home the same way they came in, no one else was transformed and no one else got healed. We can have encounters with God, but that doesn't always mean that there is a permanent change, many of the people in the room, were excited, but they were not changed. Just being in the presence of God isn't enough to change your life, whether it be through a great worship service, or an incredible message, unless you walk in a faith process after the encounter you won't change.

The Faith Process Requires four things: determination, a plan, hard work, and friends.

• Determination:

• The men in the story didn't just give up when they couldn't reach Jesus because of the crowd, they went up onto the roof, continuing to seek a way until they found it. We also cannot allow the crowd to stop us, things naturally will snap back into their origional shape, so if you don't go through the faith process, you will revert back. We need to make the choice not to let the people in our lives, the movies we watch, or the music we listen to pull us back to where we were.

• A Plan

• “Your life will not change for the better by accident” God's plan for your life will not fall into your life, you have to make a effort, and actually develop a plan through which to change your life. The mans friend developed a plan on how to move the man, how to lower him into Jesus. Sometimes we will find that the plan we originally had isn't working out, and we need to adjust. But we can't just sit around and expect everything to work out on it's own.

• Hard Work

• What God has called you to do is not easy, but it is supernatural. The work of the man's friends didn't heal him, but it put him in a position to get the healing power of God. We aren't going to make anything supernatural happen, but our work will put us in a place where God can work. “Faith without works is dead”. If you expect to do what God is calling you to do without working for it, you are being deceived, and you will never accomplish what he is asking of you.

• . Friends

• You can't do it alone, we all need a support group in order to make it through. People that will hold us accountable, and help us in our journey. That man could not have gotten up onto that roof without his friends, it would have been impossible, no matter how determined he was. There are things in our lives that we can only do with the help of others, so we need to surround ourselves with people that will help us in our journey, and we need to remove ourselves from people that are holding us back to the place where we currently are.

An encounter is great, but it will not change your life without a faith process, you must be determined, come up with a plan, take progressive Faith steps, and surround yourselves with people that will help you succeed in life.

Message Recap - Blessed

Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called children of God.

Matthew 5:3-11

Everyone wants to be blessed, the translation in the Greek is “happy”. Everything we do is an attempt to feel happy, our efforts in school work, and personal relationships are all efforts on our parents to become happy.

In this scripture Jesus reveals that peacemakers will be blessed. This brings the question, what is peace, and how can we find it? Many people believe peace is the end of war, or for their lives to be less busy, for some to be alone. They seek it in all the wrong places, in relationships, drugs and alcohol, in lifestyles that will never truly bring peace. We life life thinking the next thing will bring us peace, graduation, a job, relationships, kids. All of these things carry the promise of peace, but none of them have it.

Peace, is not any of these things, peace is a gift, it's not something you can attain by effort, or purchase, you can't reach it by “achieving a zen like state, occupying wall street, by having tea, or protesting war.” You cannot attain peace in any earthly way. Peace comes from Christ, to your mind and heart so that you do not have to be afraid, or worried. Jesus had peace of mind in the midst of his crucifixion. This same peace that Christ left he also left for us. In John 14:27 Jesus said “I am leaving you with a gift-peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So do not be troubled or afraid.”

Once we have accepted the peace of Christ into their own heart, and willing give it to others, you are a peacemaker. We cannot give what we do not have, just as someone who does not know how to play an instrument cannot teach someone else how to lay that instrument. In the same way, if you do not have peace, you cannot bring peace to others. A peacemaker realizes that the world cannot give peace, and they turn to Christ and ask for his peace, and then follow up by giving it out to other people.

Those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. The words we say, and the prayers we pray, are seeds being planted in peoples lives. It's not a peace that comes from the world but from Christ. They are seeds of Salvation, and that needs to be our ultimate goal. Salvation is the only way to true peace, and the world cannot know that until we plan the seeds.

Matthew 5:9 in the NLT says “God blesses those who seek for peace, for they will be called children of God. This is an important distinction, because our efforts at being peacemakers might not always succeed. Just because we pray for someone, or talk with them, it does not mean their issues will be cleared up. Our being blessed is not dependent on our success. If we work to spread peace, whether we succeed or fail, we are children of God. If we are working for peace, we are a peacemakers, and we will be blessed.

Message Recap - 08/12/11 - It is Finished: Part 1

This is the beginning of an all new series!
We'll start in John 19:28-30:
Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.
Christianity is all about Jesus. It all comes back to Jesus. We've talked about a lot of issues here at Revolution Church, but what it all comes down to is Jesus. It is finished, complete and whole in Him; nothing more is needed.
We all need reminding now and again how big a deal it is that Jesus died for us; what we have in Christ. He changed history, He forever changed us and who we could be through the cross!
There are many different benefits of the cross we can talk about, but this week we are focusing on mental freedom.
Isaiah 53:1-6 talks about Jesus. Check it out:
Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.

It was our sorrows that weighed Him down. Our worries, stress, grief, guilt, embarrassment, anxiety.
Back in the Garden of Eden there was no stress, no guilt, no shame. Then once sin was introduced into the world, embarrassment came. Stress, guilt, shame; sorrows. It's all the result of sin; either sin we've just committed or the sin nature that is a part of all of us. When Adam and Eve sinned, sin became a part of them. Sort of like spiritual DNA, it was passed down to all of humanity. Many of the negative things we face are the result of this.
Jesus came to take upon Himself all the results of our sin.
On New Year's Day, 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared that all slaves in the United States were free. Do you think the slaves became free instantly? No. It took a long time; years, before they became technically free, even longer before they were treated like humans. This little history lesson applies to what we're talking about.
There's a parallel between that struggle for freedom and our own as Christians. Though we've been declared free, we are still walking in bondage.
Even though our mental freedom has been declared, the task masters of sin are still trying to control us. We have to refuse to remain in slavery to those things!
So, how do we deal with sin?
1. Recognize and confess our sin.
2. Believe that we are free through Christ.
3. Don't let the thoughts of sin's oppression dominate your mind.
It can be easy to let your mind be dominated by anger, lust, depression, etc. It is a slippery slope, and at the bottom is death.
Instead of letting the thoughts of sin dominate your mind, renew your mind with God's thoughts. Getting God's thoughts changes who's in charge and what's dominating your mind.
Romans 8:12-16 says: Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father. For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.

We had no hope. We were slaves; doomed. Until God came and offered us freedom! Our minds, our hearts are free!
How much of your time is spent worrying, angry, stressed, depressed? If that no longer has power over you, it changes your life! Through Christ, through the Cross, we have mental freedom!

Message Recap - 07/29/11 - The Church

Sometimes when you look around at the world, it's easy to see the problems everywhere. It seems so overwhelming!
And then you see Christians doing things like protesting at soldier's funerals (which is, by the way, misguided and a total wrong response). It doesn't accomplish anything good.
Sometimes Pastor Dan looks around at the problems of the world and his own ministry and impact, and wonders how he can accomplish change. On his own, he's not strong enough. The problems of the world seem insurmountable. How can we even begin to make progress with all these issues?
For many people, when facing these questions we end up lowering our goals to something easily attainable.
So where does the church fit into all of this? What does God say and do about all these problems going on in the world?
There is no trite answer for those questions.
But, Ephesians 1:19-23 sheds a bit of light on the role of the church in the world.
I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.
What is the incredibly great power that Paul talks about in this verse? It is working through us, the church! Just as we have to use our physical bodies to accomplish things, God uses the church to accomplish his goals.
Our brain can't run a marathon or write a book on its own, it has to utilize the body.
When Jesus sees starving children, people suffering and without hope, He uses the church to make a difference!
This is why Jesus left after He rose again. He could have continued his ministry on earth. But He didn't; because on earth He was limited by His physical body, but from heaven He could work through His spiritual body - you, the church!
When you see suffering and pain in the world and wonder, "Why doesn't God do something about that!" The answer is: He's trying. But there's a disconnect between the brain and the body. He's trying to send the message to his body to act, to make a difference. But the message isn't getting through.
He sees what's going on, but his body doesn't respond!
There are more Christians on the earth now than in all the rest of history combined. The church is rapidly expanding and the ability of the church to help the poor, to make a difference in the world is growing.
Jesus wants to do the same things today through His spiritual body as he did 2000 years ago through His physical body!
Check out 1 Corinthians 12:12-21: The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”

What does all that stuff about ears and eyes mean? It can be easy to look at others and wish you were just like them. But God has created you to fill a purpose in the body of Christ! Your role is just as important as anyone else's in the church.
Maybe you help with Generation Church or help clean up the church after a service. It can feel like something insignificant, but when you stop doing your role, the whole body suffers. You need to be plugged in at church.
The power mentioned in Ephesians 1 doesn't come from the church, but from God - just as an electrical outlet is not the source of power, but an access point.
Our ability to fully be what God has called us to be can be limited if we are not fully plugged in to a church!
The power of God working through you and the church can make amazing things happen in the world.
The power to make great things happen comes from being plugged into the body of Christ, with the power of God flowing through you and the rest of the church.
The book of Acts tells us about a man named Stephen. No, not Steve Wolford. Anyway, he gladly helped distribute food to poor widows -- not a glamorous position, but a critical one in the church. Yet he still performed amazing miracles! When he was willing to plug in where needed, God gave him the power to perform miracles!
Find a need and fill it and God will give you the power to do what you need to do.
Psalm 92:12-13:
But the godly will flourish like palm trees
and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.
For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house.
They flourish in the courts of our God.
You need to be planted in your church. When you do that, you will flourish. You will continually produce something significant in your life when you are planted in your church.
Colossians 1:15 - we are, as a part of Christ's body, a visible image of an invisible God. We are His hands, His feet, His mouth.
Get plugged in at your church and help bring change to the world!

Message Recap – 7/22/11 – Live Up

When you get in survivor mode, all you care about is survival. A great example of this is Aron Ralston, the hiker who became trapped in a canyon and had to cut his own arm off in order to save his life. He wasn't concerned about how weird he'd look with just one arm when the time came to choose between life or keeping his arm.

Starving children in Africa are not too concerned about the carb content of their food, global warming or gay marriage. Not that it's wrong to be concerned about those things, but once you're in survivor mode, those less important things drop away and you just care about staying alive.

There are times when survivor mode is necessary; when you need to let some important things go for the sake of survival. But once that point of danger passes you can't continue to live in survivor mode. It can be easy to get trapped in survivor mode by pessimistic predictions, bad news, and hopelessness. We can get stuck in unnecessary survivor mode because of the constant negativity that surrounds us. We can start to think that the only thing that matters is making it to the next day.

When you're in unnecessary survivor mode you give up things that are important; you live lower instead of higher.

Ephesians 4:1 says: Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.

We need to live higher because we are called higher! You are not called to just survive.
Check out what Jeremiah 29:11 says: For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Do you know who God was speaking to through Jeremiah in this scripture? People in slavery, people who were displaced. They were much worse off than you are now. They had a much bigger reason to give up than you do. Newsflash: You do not have it that bad.
Here's a little perspective to prove that point: Most of the world's population lives on about $1 a day. If you have any money at all
– even change in a jar on your dresser – you are richer than 86% of the world.
What is the calling Paul mentions in Ephesians? It is bigger than you can ask for, higher than you can imagine.
But so often we live in unnecessary survivor mode. Carrying around our pocket knife, ready to cut off our own limbs at a moments notice. In survivor mode we cut short our list of priorities, including serving God.
Live a life worthy of your calling.
What's the point pf living up? Why try, when so many others have given up, and they seem to be fine?
The point is that you are called, you have a destiny and there is something great that God has called you to.
When you are called to something higher, you have to leave what's lower.
If you could look into the future and knew that one day you would be president, how would that change how you live now? What if you knew that you would one day be a professional athlete, how would that change what you eat and how you workout today?
God's calling for you is bigger than either of those two things, because what God has called you to is the very best for you. He has a purpose and a plan for exactly what He has called you to, whether it be lawyer, pastor, athlete, president or something else entirely.
People are doing stuff all around you that is not worthy of your calling. All around you are people who have given up, people who are living lower than the call of God on their lives. They've pulled out the multitool and (figuratively) cut off their arm when it was totally unnecessary.
If you get stuck in survivor mode, you can lose your sense of destiny and purpose, and you will live lower rather than higher. You will live according to the circumstances around you instead of up to the calling God has for you.
God has a plan for your life! It's a great plan, a high plan! Live worthy of that high plan; live up to it! Live as if you had already stepping into that plan. Don't slouch down to smoking pot or watching TV all day. Live better, live higher! God has a plan, a hope and a future for you!
We are living significant lives; it's not hopeless, it's not meaningless! Live a life worthy of the calling that God has for you.