As of late I’m deeply concerned at witnessing well-meaning ministers urging people to sow a “financial seed” or “first fruits offering” into their ministry – and as a result – their act of faith and generosity will move God’s heart on their behalf to save their loved ones. “Money for a miracle” is often the mantra. This is equivalent to the early Catholic Church commissioning charismatic crusaders with compelling personalities to travel to the surrounding provinces and convince villagers that they could shorten their dead relatives’ sentences in purgatory if they would purchase indulgences (certificates of wit to escape judgment). In modern day evangelism, we must be sensitive in how we appeal for support in order not to cross lines of scriptural error. The deception is so subtle, if we’re not careful, we can unknowingly deceive ourselves!

Beloved, JESUS ALONE is the fulfillment of the first fruit offering prescribed in Leviticus 23:9-16. Jesus fully explains this to His disciples in John 12:24-32. Jesus PAID IN FULL our salvation, healing, deliverance, miracles, financial-breakthroughs and much more with His own blood. What more is necessary!? All our debts have been cancelled and there is no remaining balance. We don’t continue to make installments or pledges for God’s promises. In regards to believing for other’s salvation & healing: we must simply ask the Holy Spirit to work in their lives and trust that they will respond in time to the grace that is ever reaching out to them. We don’t pay for their salvation & healing. We PRAY for their salvation & healing (Luke 10:2). It is impossible to buy a miracle. We must simply BELIEVE for a miracle.

Please know that I am not against ministers making appeals for financial support. I also raise awareness and support for my own ministry. However, we must carefully communicate to those willing to support our endeavors that they are FULL BENEFICIARIES of ALL the promises of God at CHRIST’S EXPENSE and that they are not indebted to Him or us for any of those promises. This includes the promise that God would save their households as well. As we humbly solicit support from willing hearts we must simply encourage them that they should give as a worshipful response of joy and love for all Christ has already DONE!

Stay Tuned…

Gnade und Frieden! (Grace and Peace)

“How long will you hesitate between two opinions? (1 Kings 18:1 NASB)

I’ve talked to so many recently who are in the midst of the valley of decision. It’s as if they’re standing on the edge of the cliff of their destiny and want to take that leap of faith. They’re hearing, “If not now when?” Recently, I was talking with a friend in such a place and God gave me this word for him almost immediately while we were talking on the phone. It came in the form of an acronym of the word J.U.M.P. Keep in mind there are many factors involved in seeking God’s direction. Don’t take this as the final “word” from God. I only hope that it will help in part as you seek His will in your situation.

JUGGLING… This is the season of juggling all the pros and cons, heavily weighing indecision, dreaming and wondering if God is saying yes or no. Often this involves talking to trusted advisors, mentors, friends and close relatives. This can be particularly stressful and even agonizing. However, at some point the juggling needs to stop, because no matter what phase of the decision process you’re in, there is always a potential temptation to keep juggling.

UNDERLYING FEELING… No matter how long you’ve been juggling, most of the time you will know what it is you are supposed to do. It’s that thought, picture, image, dream and bottom-line thing that is not going to go away. This is what you must settle once and for all. At this point there is no need to go back to juggling. You’ve done that already. The idea is to progress in your seeking. It won’t do you any good to juggle because you’ll just be juggling the same things and getting nowhere. You’ve analyzed enough. If you don’t make a move you will give yourself a reason not to.

MISSION… Once you know the bottom line, it’s time to focus on the task at hand. This involves all the details of moving, resigning your current job, preparing kids, selling house, etc. This doesn’t always make navigating through the specifics easy, but nothing is more unnerving than moving forward indecisively. However, once you resign to the underlying feeling, it will naturally propel you forward rather than you trying to muster self-momentum. Also, this is the phase when your vision for the mission will begin to come into sharper focus. Note: Again, don’t allow the fear of uncertainty to tempt you to go back to juggling. Focus forward! Remember God’s word on the matter and all the people, conversations, scriptures, and the unction you have deep inside. At this stage, God will show you a video of yourself in the place He has called you to and you’ll naturally begin formulating God’s strategy for your assignment. This is because God will have your total attention. You can’t watch a video and juggle at the same time. The mission phase is something like an out-of-body experience. You just wont be able to stop thinking about it. In fact, it will powerfully affect your ability to even fairly concentrate on your current assignment. In other words, your spirit and thoughts will already be where God is leading you.

PEACE, PLACE, PURPOSE… This is a three-fold point. Sometimes the peace doesn’t come until after you’ve made the decision to move. God will only tell you so much because obeying God always takes a leap of faith. If God told you every little thing to do it wouldn’t require any faith at all. Besides, in this phase you already know mostly what to do because you’ve been dreaming of it for years. You’ve worked out so many details in your head and had several Spirit-led imaginations prior to this point that you’ll almost be in default mode. Eventually you’ll find yourself in the place God has called you and fully involved and devoted to your purpose.

So, as the great prophetic 80’s Rock legend David Lee Roth once said… “You might as well go ahead and JUMP!” (cheesy synthesizer riff here).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVd28CR6Wmk

I am honored to be one of the keynote speakers at this year’s CREATE CONFERENCE in Cleveland TN, Friday, January 25 at Peerless Road Church. Among the guests include, Babbie Mason, Warren Barfield, Jeremi & Amy Richardson (of Avalon), Dr. Brad Moffett (Lee University Singers) and others. I will be sharing a powerful word on the real purpose of creativity in the ministry of local church. I truly believe it will be a life changing message that will deeply resonate in the hearts of the attendees for a long time to come. I can’t wait to reconnect with life long friends as well as meet new friends. I look forward to seeing you there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVdpN6zTIKc

Greetings Spring Place Church in Cleveland, TN. I’m honored to be the special ministry guest for your annual Old Fashioned Sunday on November 18, 2012. While it’s important to look back at the past to see where God has brought us from, it’s even more important to look to the future for the awesome things God has in store just ahead of you. So come expecting God to do incredible things! I look forward to seeing you soon!

A few days ago I came across a somewhat scathing post (along with a picture) that condemned a major U.S. government figure who was caught in a recent scandal (this was also reposted by some of his followers). I was a little troubled by this post but more importantly I was hurt for the individual being exposed. It is not the church’s job to point blame and shamefully expose people’s sin while subtly spotlighting our “good” moral behavior. Our platform was given to us to proclaim Christ and be the hope to a lost, hurting, desperate and dying world. I’m sure this man is deeply ashamed for the world at-large to know of his secret sin. The reputation of His integrity is lost forever. In fact, he’s pretty much lost everything. Why would any one of us want to further make an example of Him?

The hard truth is people’s sin will eventually disclose them (Numbers 32:33). However, we are not called to be their sin broadcasters. The woman caught in adultery was paraded down the street and cast in front of Jesus by her religious accusers. In response (and very careful to note here), Jesus stooped down and posted His own message. We’ll never really know what He wrote. I believe there is a reason for that… He didn’t want us to know. If Jesus were on Twitter, would He post OUR shameful deeds? After all, He has first hand information and could completely ruin any of us. Truth is, we all may have private thoughts about our disdain with someone’s actions, but it’s not for the world to know. More importantly, we must demonstrate Jesus’ heart of compassion. Notice Jesus said, “He who is without sin cast the first stone.” This was Jesus’ FIRST response. Unfortunately our first response is usually to rub people’s noses in their failure. Jesus didn’t come to rub in our guilt. He came to rub it OUT! (John 3:17) Highlighting people’s failure in a self-righteous tone does not help win people to Jesus. In fact, it chases them far away. Exposing people’s sin is NOT the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18) and it certainly shouldn’t be our ministry. Our ministry is Jesus and the hope we have in the cross. Whoever came up with the idea that we should preach sin is completely off course. We are to preach the GOOD NEWS of Jesus! He IS the gospel message! We must, as new covenant ministers, point the way to Jesus.

Scriptures do not indicate that the woman even wanted forgiveness. She was caught red handed in the act and forced upon the ground only to look up into the eyes of Jesus and await his response. This is what a shameful world is looking for. What will our response be? Shame and condemnation or forgiveness and refuge? Jesus then said, “Where are your accusers?” and they were nowhere to be found. We should be careful lest we accuse people and lose our audience with Jesus. At the end of the day notice who had audience with Jesus… The woman caught in her sin. What a truth that Jesus is indeed a FRIEND of sinners. When we use our platform to expose and perpetuate the sinful deeds and speak of that which is done in darkness is not a shame only to those whom we expose, but it is a shame to our own heart as well (Ephesians 5:12). Truth is, if the curtain of our own hearts were thrown back, it would reveal our own hidden sin, hate, malice, jealousy, greed, lust, pride, etc.

Ephesians 6:8 says that what we do for others God will make happen for us. The recent past clearly shows that when ministers make it a habit of being hard on people for their sin it isn’t too long before their own secret sins are brought to light in a major way. Think about this for a moment… If we want people to point to the good in our lives and keep us covered then shouldn’t we also seek to do the same for them. What if our life story were told today? Would we be proud of our innermost thoughts, secret sins, etc.? How would we feel if OUR story was posted in the major headlines? I know this for certain; God would never do that to any of us so why should we?

In short, whenever we expose other’s sins we are indirectly parading our sense of self-righteousness, inviting others to gaze upon us as the example of Godliness and holiness. Paul called himself the worst of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15 NIV) and the truth is we all are! When anyone’s sin or scandal is exposed it should draw out hurt over haughtiness, compassion over condemnation, pity over pride, mercy over maliciousness. We must remember this lest we be the ones on the chopping block.

At first this may sound ludicrous but did you know there is no such thing as spiritual growth? Look carefully at the passage above. Romans 12:2 does not tell us that we are transformed by the renewing of our spirit, but rather by the renewing of our MIND thus proving (living out in vital display) God’s good, acceptable and perfect will. This is literally how we successfully apply the mind over all of life’s matters. Proverbs 23:7 tells us that we are a product of what we think of ourselves. Therefore, having a radically renewed mindset to all we are, all we have, and all we can do through Christ (Philippians 4:13) is the vital key to radical transformation. It is also absolutely essential to breaking the cycle of defeat from incessant frustration over our failures.

When we are saved our Spirit is born of incorruptible seed without one single strand of sin’s DNA. It never grows old and never dies. Upon the moment of salvation our spirit is Heaven-conceived, totally regenerated, wholly constituted, completely mature and fully loaded with all the make-up of Christ. We are partakers of the righteous nature of God Himself (Colossians 1:27, 2 Peter 1:4). A fully resurrected Christ lives inside of us. However, our flesh has yet to be contended with. This is the process of sanctification and rest assured it is a life long process. Our flesh has the same sinful human tendencies it had before receiving Christ. The outer man will struggle a lifetime, awaiting its glorification (the Kingdom come). However, when we see ourselves in Christ and surrender ourselves to Christ we will naturally begin to break habits and compulsions that hold us captive. Grace awakens the holiness of God inside of us! Once our mind is awakened to who we are in Christ (repentance) then the fruits of holiness and righteousness will assuredly follow (transformation). Holiness is a byproduct of a changed mind. Through the miracle of repentance, precipitated by grace, transformation is not just possible… It is IMMINENT!

Our total salvation in Christ involves three things: justification, sanctification and glorification. Our justification is immediate, our sanctification is life long and our glorification is in the Kingdom to come. Christ is involved in all three and all three are fully promised. As believers when we struggle with sin we must remember that the Holy Spirit is still powerfully at work in us. We shouldn’t worry whether or not He will be successful in that work. Know for certain that the Holy Spirit is exceedingly efficient in purifying us. He will not fail. The very notion that our inner man is struggling for freedom in the outer man is a sure sign that Godly sorrow is producing the desire to change  (2 Corinthians 7:10).

God calls us to more than just moralism. The worldly mind comprehends and even practices morality. But repentance leads to a true change of heart with an authentic desire to live in the fullness of God’s purpose. Repentance is the powerful work of God’s grace to bring us to a place of total freedom. Repentance isn’t mentally flogging ourselves for our failures until we feel some sense of penitence. Grace doesn’t lead us to feel guilty. It leads us to live Godly lives in this present world (Titus 2:12). Repentance isn’t wallowing in the sorrow of our sin. Rather it’s the power to walk away from it.

…From an adaptation of my book Graceworks (pages 119-121).

This is not a typical conference. It is a powerful & prophetic week of worship, intercession & ministry designed to be a loud voice in the region to awaken God’s people to spiritual renewal, revival and action. The expectation for a move of God is high and the passion is intense. If you have a desire for God to unleash His Spirit in your life, church, ministry and region, then this event is definitely for you! You will be ruined for normal! If you are anywhere in the surrounding area don’t miss it! Special guests include: Eddie James, Jarrod Pugh and the incredible Eagle Sanctuary Worship Band. I am praying for you and hope to see you there! You will never be the same again!