It's All About Purpose

So yesterday, I had the privilege of watching two of my close friends get married and it was a genuinely amazing thing to watch. It wasn't amazing because of the decorations or because of the music but because of what was taking place. Here you have two people really saying to each other, "You and I are uniting our purpose together." I could talk all day about the miracle of unity between husband and wife but just as incredible to me is this fusion of purpose that they share. It becomes a lot more incredible when you think about the importance of purpose. It seems like the question that always get's asked is, "Why am I here?" Or you could say, "What's my purpose?" Now if we all are just here by chance and there's really no purpose to our lives, a marriage is an extremely insignificant event. However, if the Word of God is true (and we know it is) and we really do have a purpose here, then the fusion of two purposes together, or maybe a better way to say it is uniting of purposes, is of the utmost importance. I don't want to get to weighty with this but tackle this verse for a second: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11. God's got a plan for you. He has certainly imbued you with Life, and also, a purpose! So now imagine two of those God given purposes being brought together. That amazes me. It amazes me because in part, that was part of the purpose. God really must have thought this one through. And if God put's that much emphasis on purpose, then it seems like something worth considering. What is your purpose? What were you designed to uniquely do or accomplish? I can name you a couple to get you started. You were made to: Worship, Glorify, Rejoice, and live Victoriously. I like what Rick Warren says, "You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. "

Live with a Purpose.....

The Battle We Face

It's been a while since I wrote last and the thing is, God is constantly changing the playing field. What I mean is, God, I feel, has brought us into a season of time where things are starting to change. If you want to think in sports terms, we are in a season of "game changer" moments. This is a season where I feel like the prayer and perseverance toward God in the last several years of Faith Chapel is beginning to be seen completely. God is really bringing us into view of the promised land so to speak. As I reflect on that, it reminds of the battle field that the Israelites fought through in taking the promise land. God brought the people to what He had promised them and they had to rely on Him to win the next battles for them along with the battles that they had already fought in the wilderness. I say all that to say this. As we enter into what God has promised for us individually and as Faith Chapel, we must rely on God as we enter in the battles. Two things strike me about what the Israelites did. First, God won the battles for them. Look at every occasion when God was for them. They won. And the times He wasn't? They lost. It's as simple as that. We must constantly be seeking the face, voice, and presence of our God so that He can be with us. The second thing I notice is that they still had to fight. I suppose you could make a case that if they had extreme faith, God could have always fought completely for them to the point that they wouldn't have even had to go out. But that wasn't the case most of the time. In the majority of cases, God gave them the strength to go and win the battle because He was with them and so I feel it is with us. There are some cases where God takes the battle for us and times when God requires us to fight with His Hand upon us. Here's the awesome thing. We have a knowledge of something that they didn't. They knew God in one way. We know Him in a very special way. Remember this: We march to battle with a greater weapon than mankind has ever known. It is the power of a name. A name that moves mountains, a name that heals disease, a name that restores hearts and gives life....a name called Jesus. He is our not so secret weapon to overcome! So when we face the battles to come, and I assure you we will face them, we can stand strong knowing that our power doesn't lie in ourselves but in the God who already lade down His life for us that we may be victorious in Him! Just keep this verse at the focus of your heart: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Live Victoriously.....

What Is Holy? Purity....

This week, we are going to continue pursuing God into the question He's tasked us with: What is Holy? God really pressed something upon my heart yesterday. It was all about building an alter to the Lord. He directed me to Exodus 30:7-10. It's talking about the instructions God gave to the Israelites in building the tabernacle. It says, "Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come. Do not offer on this altar any other incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it. Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come. It is most holy to the Lord." The most important things about this text is two fold: 1, They would do this for atonement of sins. (and specifically for sins that hadn't even been committed yet!) And 2, this act, was "holy to the Lord". If it was something holy, we need to understand why. The answer is all about purity. God requires purity because He is pure. That is part of holiness. Let's go back to the definition of holiness. Holy means: perfect in all goodness and righteousness. Another way to probably say that is the same way we define purity: without blemish or sin. God is perfect in goodness and righteousness because He is without blemish. Just to share, I felt very much in my soul like yesterday (and hopefully the days to come) we need to set up an alter before the Lord in our hearts and constantly throw our lives upon it. We need to ask that whatever is not pleasing to God would be consumed so that we may be pure before Him. In the Old Testament, they would often name the alter based on what God had done or what they were wanting to remember forever. I feel like God has asked us to call this alter, "Whatever it takes." Basically, we are saying, whatever it takes to be holy, whatever it takes to be pure before the Lord is what we will daily pursue. So as you go about your day today, tomorrow, and so on, take some time to build an alter to the Lord for purity and holiness for our God is holy and requires that we be the same.

Whatever it takes....

What Is Holy? Love....

Let me just say that I couldn't have been more thrilled at the heart to which I really felt like everyone received the new direction for The Pursuit! I am absolutely convinced that if we stay the course and continue to seek God and learn about His Holiness, we will begin to experience a deeper level of worship and a greater understanding of our Saviour in a way we never have before. God really was speaking today and for all of those that were able to make it, I have never experienced a two hour block of time that went by as quickly as that did! That really excites me because as Pastor Brad shared today, we really are Pursuing His presence in this! We are going after being right where He is. Remember the scripture we are using? "Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy." Psalm 99:9 We are going to worship at "His holy mountain". We are meeting Him where He dwells in this encounter. I am convinced that in His presence, our concept of time is honestly meaningless and so I couldn't be more excited that this was the shortest two hours of my life! That just says to me that we are going there! Thank You Jesus for giving us the opportunity to be where you are! So what I feel like God is speaking to me is the characteristics that make up Holiness. Today, I couldn't get away from His love. And honestly, if I could have gotten away, I wouldn't have wanted to. That all encompassing, ever lasting love of God was the first step or the first characteristic and what God wants to convey to us about this thing called holy. I want to rewind and remember the definition of holy. Holy means: exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness. The last part is what I want to note, "perfect in goodness and righteousness." Think about this. You can be perfect at something perhaps. But the definition is very careful to distinguish that this is "perfect in goodness and righteousness." And that is exactly what His love is. His love is perfect in it's goodness. Check out what we normally say about His love. His love is: never ending, all encompassing, everlasting, sacred, pure, honest, etc. That is perfect love and that is what He wants to share with us. His love is holy. In His presence, there is fullness of joy and I know, overwhelming love for His creation. There is nowhere I can run. There is nowhere I can hide. There is no sin I could commit that could ever be great than His love for me! This week, I want to challenge everyone with this. (as I do the same) Take a look at 1 Corinthians 13 but specifically, verses 1-7. Let's take the Jesus test together. In verse 4-7, every time the word love appears, replace the word love with your name. See how far you get. Now go back and replace it with Jesus. Is it any wonder that He was the perfect sacrifice?

Thank you Jesus for Your love....

What Is Holy?

First off, let me say how proud I am of everyone who's been making it to The Pursuit! And I'm not proud because it makes me feel good about myself but because of the heart in which everyone has been coming! It is very easy to see the passion of our church displayed by the willingness to dive deeper into the heart of our Creator. It seems like things have really been going great so far and I think things are about to get even better! God has really placed something on my heart today that I just can't shake until I share it and we get started! It feels like He really wants us to learn about what it means to be "holy". I believe that knowing what it means to be holy will really increase our relationship with a God that is Holy! I don't quite know yet how this will effect the normal flow of The Pursuit yet but in general, we will still be sticking to a time of prayer and worship maybe just geared more towards seeking God and learning holiness together! So let's start with this scripture which I think is gonna be central thought for our times together. "Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy."- Psalm 99:9 The word of God tells us two things here: First, we are suppose to worship Him where He dwells (we are called to worship Him in His Presence) and secondly, we are doing this because He is holy. We tend to throw that term around a lot without a solid grasp on what it means so I wanted to see what the dictionary really says about it. Holy means, "exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness". Righteousness means free from guilt or sin. So in other words, God is saying that He is worthy of everything we've got not because He is just perfect but because He is perfect in all good things! So let's stop there for right now and give it some time to sink in. (that goes double for myself) Our God is not only perfect but perfect in a way that is without guilt or sin. Father, begin to reveal to our hearts as Your bride who You really are. You are perfect. You are righteous.

You are holy....

The Pit

I was scrubbing a pool today. Sort of an odd way to start this but it's the truth. I was cleaning out the pool for the gentleman that I work for. Apparently given all of the storms that have come through, the pool that I just cleaned not more then a few weeks ago is now filthy again. I'm definitely not the chemist or the person that can identify what kind of grime was building up down there but all I know was that I was down in this pool with the brush and this concoction of degreasers that should kill anything you throw at it. I started scrubbing everything I could trying to get this junk off surface. I had just finished the bottom when I went to climb out. I got no traction. Every two feet I climbed up, I slid 3 feet back. I'm laughing on the inside and angry on the outside because I'm totally stuck. That's when I started thinking about sin. That's when I start thinking that in our spiritual lives (by the way, please note that I say "we" and not, "you" because we're all in this together) we are in the same pit. We are stuck in something so deep that we can't get out of it. In our own strength, we slide back down time and time again. We need something to carry us out of the mess we made. Thankfully, we've been given a wonderful answer in Jesus. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 My boss told me that he could've let the hose down for me had I asked. I laughed about that. The hose would've been my climb out of that pit. And honestly, Jesus chose to be that escape for us. He climbed down into our pit, laid Himself down, and let us climb up on Him. I will never fully understand that love but I couldn't be more thankful for it! Thank you Father that you pulled us out of what we were in.

I Have The Right.....

It's 10:15 Saint Louis time and it's 11:15 here in Virginia. The 4th of July celebration will probably start in a few hours if it hasn't already. Soon we will all begin to remember why we have the rights we possess in this country. That thought got me remembering something a teacher of mine told me once. In paraphrasing it, she said that the only right that humanity possessed was the right to death. That's not necessarily a fun thought to think of. But when you get down to it, I'm pretty sure she's correct. The only thing we inherently deserve because it is ours is death. We've taken it upon ourselves to make it a right for us when we sin. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23. I love the way Paul said that. Break it down and you could say it like this. "What we have earned for ourselves because of our sin is death. That's it, period. But we've been given what we didn't deserve in eternal life because of Jesus!" Thank you Father for giving us a gift we didn't deserve and we didn't earn. I don't know what your plans will be tomorrow. I don't know if you'll set off fireworks, hang out with friends and family, work, or something else all together. But what I do know is this. Tomorrow, we should really take a second to remember two things. Firstly, our rights that we have in this country are a gift given by the lives that fought and died that we may be one nation under God. And secondly, thank you Jesus that your gift is so much stronger than my right to death!

Remember.....