LifeChurch Notes (Tony Portel 8/2)

Jesus came not just to enhance, but to transform. Whatever God will occupy, he will rule.  Make us a vessel of honor  1 Cor 6:19-20

"....You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." 

He sees you not through Christ, but next to Christ, as his Child, Holy. 

1)Jesus Rage:  Matt 21:12   Jesus makes a whip.  Purify this house.

2) House of Prayer Matt 21:13, Jer 7:10-11  Religious people had no regard for people of all nations. 

All nations....Everyone is invited, we pray beyond ourselves.  As we pray for others God pours out His heart through us.  We are standing in the gap between them and the enemy.

3) House of Power Matt 21:14

  "....he healed them."

How do we get there?  "Holy hunches", Crumpling the Laundry list and letting him set the agenda. Following where he is leading us to pray, then we pray in His will .   It is only out of His words, His compassion and overflow that people's lives are changed...  We can empathize, God can transform.  

4) House of Praise  Ps. 8:2  "Out of the mouths of babes you have prepared praise."

Transformation Children --> Fathers -->Young men (Paraphrased from 1Jn 2)  Hmmmm ...a lot to chew on here.

• I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name, and because you have known the Father.
• I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.
• I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Good news, God is giving you the power to please him, desire to obey.  It's not us trying to struggle to please Him. Philipians 2:13

A Rough Day...a good day

Do you ever have rough days? I know the answer.



What do you do? Hide, sleep, graze, medicate? There may be a time for any of these...and I have done them all. You have too. Today I did something else. I called out for help. It isn't my intention to boast, but rather boast in the Lord.



1) In one situation I offered someone love, and they returned scorn. I felt rejected and hurt, God said.."put your hope in me". Somehow...I needed more. I let a couple of close friends know, and they immediately e-mailed back the most encouraging words and helped me look at the situation from God's perspective...It was like letting air out of a balloon.



2) In another situation that seemed like a huge knot of events that could not be untangled, I offered an apology for being angry. The man's response was tepid at first, but later he came back as a partner and a friend.



3) Sunday morning Tony suggested we ask that God give us a desire for Him. Today it seemed right to skip the sugar in my coffee, and all the other sugar, to remember he is my delight. We had doughnuts at the staff meeting...and someone asked why I wasn't having any, I told the whole staff. Later, someone told me their dream at a checkout line about forgetting their baby when they were buying shirts for their dog, then I told them that I was trying to skip something today to remember what was really important.



4) Best of all, a friend called me, crying out for help. I was reminded that there is no burden, but the Love of Christ in helping others. Those situations can provide everyone involved with deeper insight into why we were born and the high privilege to which we are called (Romans 12).

In all it was one of those days when God was showing me just how much he would fill my day...with meaning, if I would let him.

Psalm 119: The Movie and the Songs

At the risk of looking like a full time blogger, I expose my addiction to this media, and this subject.

This week LifeChurch is reading Psalm 119. Some suggest its the Psalm that David used to teach Solomon as a child, though the authorship is not definitive (it sure sounds like David). David was not a lawyer, he was a musician, a shepherd and a lover and a king.

As many of you know, my background requires me to post a caveat to this treatise on "the law". I believe that the ONLY way to read this is by the Spirit (see Tony's 2 "rules" about reading the bible in prior post :). The law kills, but the spirit brings life (2Cor 3:6), Wretched man that I am (Romans 7:24-25), who will save me from this body of death? What follows are some of the most hopeful words ever written: "Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord." God speaks to our heart through His living and active word (Heb 4:12), so I have to see this as a channel by which I can have that conversation.

All that said, here are a few resources that might help read Psalm 119.

1. Matthew Henry commentary (Shorter synopsis)
   
2. Spurgeon Commentary (A very detailed commentary)
   
3. The links below are from Zion Christian Press That has taken Each of the "Letters" of Psalm 19 and set to acoustic Guitar (mp3 and chords in PDF) and seperately made a movie of the song. The author gives this material away freely for the glory of God.
   Psalm 119a (Aleph)Blessed Are They Whose Ways Are Blameless
   Psalm 119b (Beth)How Can a Young Man Keep His Way Pure?
   Psalm 119c (Gimel)I Am a Stranger on Earth
   Psalm 119d (Daleth)I Am Laid Low in the Dust
   Psalm 119e (Heh)Turn My Eyes Away From Worthless Things
   Psalm 119f (Vav)I Will Talk About Your Statutes Before Kings
   Psalm 119g (Zayin)Your Decrees Are the Theme of My Song
   Psalm 119h (Heth)You Are My Portion, O LORD
   Psalm 119i (Teth)It Was Good For Me To Be Afflicted
   Psalm 119j (Yodh)Let Your Compassions Come To Me
   Psalm 119k (Kaph)How Long Must Your Servant Wait?
   Psalm 119l (Lamedh)Your Word O LORD Is Eternal
   Psalm 119m (Mem)I See More Clearly Than The Ancients
   Psalm 119n (Nun)Your Word Is A Lamp Unto My Feet
   Psalm 119o (Samekh)Away From Me You Evil Doers
   Psalm 119p (Ayin)It Is Time For You To Act O LORD
   Psalm 119q (Peh)Streams Of Tears Flow From My Eyes
   Psalm 119r (Tsadhe)Your Promises Have Been Thoroughly Tested
   Psalm 119s (Qoph)I Rise Before The Dawn And Cry For Help
   Psalm 119t (Resh)Your Salvation Is Far From The Wicked
   Psalm 119u (Shin)Great Peace Have They Who Love Your Law
   Psalm 119v (Tav)I Have Gone Astray Like A Lost Sheep
   

Revolutionary "Wanna-Be": Part 2 Embracing Truth

The hardest part is being short.  Blogs should be short.

Below are notes from the LifeChurch message today. 

Any fool can count the seeds in an apple, only God can count the apples in a seed. His power is in the seed, our choice is in the soil (Hard, Rocky, Choked with weeds or good soil Mark 4:13-20).

1. The Path-Hard:  We have allowed hurts and disappointments with people have to make us hard-hearted, stubborn and willful.  God turns that manure into fertilizer, a place from which we can minister to others.
   • Antidote: Tell God "I am getting hard, cold not feeling, don't want to be that way.  God will you just love on me?  He will bring verses, remembrances
2. Rocky Places: Trouble and Temptations take you away Ps. 119:9-11
3. Thorns?: Our Own Kingdom, weeds
   • We are unfruitful, saved but little to show
   • Ps 119:105  Lamp to my feet
   • Ps 119:133  Direct our footsteps
4. Good soil, Bearing Fruit, whoever has will be given more, 30, 60 or 100 times

Two quick rules to Studying the bible:

Never open the Book without praying that "I believe you will speak to me through your word".  God depends on us reading His word.

Don't open it unless you're committed to obey "Help me to receive the grace to obey".  He will till the ground.

 

Eagle or Prairie Chicken? The eagle egg, rolling down the hill, adopted as a prairie chicken.  Looked up one day to see a eagle flying.  "WOW, I'd love to do that", the chickens told him to stick to pecking in the dust.  You can soar with the eagles (Is 40), if you feed on the truth....

Read Psalm 119, a little each day 

Melissa summed it up...I could  "delve" into the word more, share what he says more.  That's meat.

Revolutionary "Wanna-Be": Part 1 past due

Ever since I began blogging, I don't remember taking the time to put down notes about my time with LifeChurch.  This is actually some of the most special time, when I see lives that are changed, people who are hungry for Life, and we get to pray and worship our Father together, and get pearls of wisdom from our Leadership: Tony Portell, Scott Himes and TJ Hampton. 

Recently we started  a series on Revolution,  with the idea that we must become the change we envision (Ghandi, no we are not new-age, he stole the idea from God). 

Here I sit, every week, sometimes through the same message twice, and I do not allow this to change who I am. Shame on me, what a waste of my time and God's if I don't treat this at least as seriously as the "random" stuff that God lays in front of me.   Last week, I took serious notes, and I while I was cleaning up and helping the band pack, someone threw away all that I had written....bummer.  Here is what I can remember.

1. A lark, threatened by death from singing would still have to sing.  Why should I change who I am in the presence of others?  Where is my identity?
• A revolution is not a bed of roses, ...a revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.  (Fidel Castro  1961)
• Simply put, if you are not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people and kiss it goodbye, you can't be my disciple (Luke 14:33 the message bible)
2. Revolutionaries look like their leader, shouldn't we?  (2Cor3:18)
3. Revolution is a sudden change in organizational Power (We give God control) 
• Question: What is holding us back?  What are we not letting God have dominion over in our lives? 
• Answer: It's the stuff that upsets us when we don't get our way.

 

 

Revolutionary Love

David Crowder

Desperation leads us here 
Leads us here
Illumination meets us here
Meets us here
Revelation brings us here
Brings us here
Restoration frees us here
Frees us here

And I don't want to leave
I don't want to leave this place
No, I don't want to leave
I never want to leave this place

CHORUS
It's so amazing
Your unchanging love
Simply amazing
Never changing love
Love, love revolutionary love

Reparation leads us here
Leads us here
Liberation meets us here
Meets us here
Jubilation brings us here
Brings us here
Higher elevation frees us here
Frees us here

Your revolutionary love
Your revolutionary love, love, love

You're a revolution I want to be Revolutionary
You're a revolution I want to be Revolutionary
You're a revolution I want to be Love, love, love
Revolutionary love

Canoe Trip: which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

 

Last week I had a special privilege to canoe with Garry, his boys and my son Dave. 

The trip down was an adventure as we listened to a Rudyard Kipling poem (IF).  We talked with the boys about being able to risk everything, and loose, and still gain Jesus.  The bridge was down so we had to take a long detour to the canoe place, challenges along the way in the river with new canoe'rs and old men. 

Once we got past the throngs of people we enjoyed standing in the river and feeling the rush of the current of warm water around our legs.  We saw tadpoles becoming frogs and boys becoming young men, growing past the challenges and even car sickness.    We finished the trip with a stopped at Mayberry Cafe (a la Andy Griffth and Barney Fife) in downtown Danville.  I had fried catfish and stewed apples. 

This is how every day should be, fathers and sons. 

IF
Rudyard Kipling

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!