Recap of the Sexual Revolution:

For the past 6 weeks we have been doing a series on what the Bible says about sex and sexually related issues titled “Sexual Revolution”.  What began as simple thought in exploring the Bible with our church on such topic quickly grew into one of the larger marketing campaigns we had ever done at Urban Church. Although the series did come with some challenges I believe that overall it was a huge success in many ways for our church so I want to do a recap here.

We started our marketing campaign during the summer with special prayer times for the church as well as some creative outreaches. These times served as a rallying point for our people as we came together and prayed that many people would be touched by the grace and power of God through this series. Our main focus was Ephesians 5:27 and that God’s people would become the beautiful radiant church that Jesus died for as we get cleansed of sexual sins. These prayer times set the platform for all that God did during the series and helped the people of Urban Church take ownership of the series. After many of these prayer times we would hit the streets with creative evangelism.

The marketing fully took off Labor Day weekend to get word out about the start of the series on September 25^th. The marketing included Beach, Framers Market and Art Walk outreaches. During these outreaches we would hand out products that directed people to our website where they could learn more about the Sexual Revolution. During many of these times as we were handing out the product there was a plane flying overhead advertising our series. In addition to these marketing tools we did a mall campaign at Mission Valley Mall that included floor decals as well as massive billboard right next to the theaters.  We also did 5000 door hangers, touch cards, Google ads and Facbook ads. From a marketing stand point I believe it was a success as we had over 3000 first time visitors to our website in 6 weeks! From a church growth stand point the verdict is still out.

Not all of our marketing translated into church growth (yet). We did however step out in faith and obedience to what God was asking us to do and the growth that took place because of that cannot just be measured in attendance.  I think the greatest growth took place in our leadership team as we were stretched to do two services and to serve every weekend in almost every area of ministry. I also saw how it stretched many of those who call Urban Church their home. They were stretched into personal evangelism and challenged to share their faith and why they were wearing a bracelet that said “Sexual Revolution” on it.

Most pastors would probably just post the wins but let me take a moment to share some challenges we experienced along the way. Some of our challenges hit early on during our prayer times, which were maybe a little to “charismatic” for some people, and they decided that maybe Urban Church was not the place for them. Other’s did not fully agree with our aggressive approach on the subject matter and either left or just did not attend the series. I think the biggest challenge was to get more people to take ownership of thier church and to be actively involved. I learned through this and that there are some things I can do better as a leader in the future to help people take ownership and to get them involved. There is something so powerful about UNITY and that will be an aggressive goal for us on our next big marketing campaign.

Here is the breakdown of what took place during the Sexual Revolution series as we covered everything from fornication to masturbation and homosexuality (listen to all the sex rev messages here).

• 30+ Salvations
• 150+ First time visitors
• Attendance was up 30%
• Giving was up 25%

Looking at the new growth and the amazing job our team and guest speakers Annie Lobert and Dr. Ted Roberts did I would say that overall the campaign and series was a huge success.

As great as all of these things are one of the most impacting times for me was the Sunday night service that Annie Lobert spoke on the sex industry. Many prostitutes showed up to hear her story and I along with the prayer team had an opportunity to talk with them and pray with them. My heart broke as I listened to their stories as many of them had either worked just hours before or were headed out after the service. I felt a new compassion for these people and for all of those who are bound by sexual addiction. I saw a new hope for our church and our culture.

I believe that the Sexual Revolution is not over but has just begun. I believe that we can see our city transformed by God’s grace as we continue to strive for spiritual and moral purity as a church. As we begin to allow God to deal with the sins in the church we will become a brighter light that offers hope to those around us.

Thank you to all of those that contributed to the success of the Sexual Revolution. Your prayers, evangelism and finances have impacted many and will continue to do so. As we all continue to move forward I know the best is yet to come!

Dream Big

Ben

Comments

Bible Reading:  Ephesians 1 Not Part of Your Life, but Your Life I attended a conference on Monday and Tuesday of this week.  One of the statements made at the conference has stuck with me.  “Jesus doesn’t want to be part of your life, He wants to be your life. Being part of something is different than being the whole of something.  If something is just part of your life, something else fills the remainder of your life.  If we only give Jesus part of our life, we must feel that we can handle the other segments of our life without his help.   Jesus said in John 10:10 “The thief comes only in order that he may steal and may kill and may destroy.  I came that they may have life and enjoy life, and have it in abundance -- to the full, till it overflows.”  (Amplified)  To the full, till it overflows!!  If something is full until it overflows, there’s no room for anything else.  In order to have that full, overflowing life, Jesus has to be our life, not just part of our life.   Ephesians 1:22-23 says “God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”  He fills everything in every way!!  It’s the same as overflowing.  The King James Version says he “fills all in all.”   I think there are a lot of Christians who haven’t grasped this truth.  They are only giving Jesus segments of their life and haven’t surrendered everything to him.  Unless we do that we are not going to experience the abundant life that is promised to us.  God can make much better decisions than we can because he knows the beginning and the end.  We might feel he is withholding something from us without considering that God knows how that something will affect us down the road.  Adam and Eve felt God with withholding something good from them and took matters in their own hands.  The end result was that they were naked and had to be cast out of the garden of Eden.   Jesus talked about people who are weary and burdened.  He said if we would come to him he would give us rest.  It can make you spiritually and emotionally tired to try to handle things your way all the time, or even some of the time.  We might take the big, hard things to Jesus, but say, “Oh, I can handle this one by myself,” and end up making a mess of things.  But Jesus wants us to bring all things to him.  He said he is gentle and humble in heart and if we bring things to him we will find rest for our souls.  Matt. 11:38-30.  Sounds like a good deal to me. I challenge you to examine your life.  Is Jesus your life or is he only part of your life.  He wants to be all, and to fill all in all. God is good all the time, Naomi Brinkman

Comments

Bible Reading:  Colossians 3 We Can Learn From Everyday Things Saturday morning I led a Community Group, Cooking with Naomi.  Some of my group had requested to learn how to make jam, so we made peach jam.  I always bring a devotion that ties in with what we’re making, but I wasn’t too sure how to tie a devotion in with jam.  Jam and jelly are not mentioned in the Bible.  Probably the closest thing they had to it was honey.  But as I meditated, I found some applications, so I’ll share them with you. 1.  The fruit has to be prepared.  Bad spots have to be cut off and discarded.  Eph. 4:22-23 says “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds."   Bad spots cut off!!  The fruit has to be cut up, chopped or pureed.  “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these:  anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.  Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self.”  Col. 2:8-10.  That’s some chopping and pureeing!!   2.  The fruit is put in a pot and brought to a boil.  1 Pet. 4:12-16 speaks of “fiery trials” that come to test us.  Heat kills bacteria.  The fiery trials that we go through help us get rid of unwanted things in our life. 3.  Pectin is added to the fruit to make it gel.  I likened this to the Holy Spirit who is given to us as a helper and teacher to make us “gel” as Christians.   4.  Sugar is added.  As we progress as Christians we begin to produce fruit, which is sweet.  The fruit of the spirit certainly sweetens our lives.  Love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Gal. 5:22 5.  The jam is poured into jars and sealed.  “And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”  2 Cor. 1:21-22.  I realize this I s a different kind of sealing, but I think an application can be made.  When jam is sealed it is kept good until ready for use.  The Holy Spirit seals us and keeps us until the day we stand before Jesus Christ. 6.  The jam can be shared with others.  Scripture tells us to even love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  Matt. 5:44.  “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:27.  “Do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Gal. 6:10.  Paul said in Phil. 4:18 that gifts he received from other Christians was “a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.”  As we share with others and bless them God considers this as a fragrant or sweet offering and sacrifice and it pleases Him.  Do you want to please God?  Start blessing other people and share with them.  Paul said in 2 Cor. 2:14 that through us the fragrance of the knowledge of God is spread everywhere.  We can share with others materially and spiritually.   Lessons and applications from life can be learned everywhere.  Let God speak to you from the things surrounding you. God is good all the time, Naomi Brinkman

Comments

Isaiah 12

This past week I wrote about some of what it means to work out our salvation (Phil. 2:12). Through Isaiah 12 we learned that it means that we praise God through chastening or discipline and we trust God willfully not just when the emotion or feeling of trust is present. There is no pattern format or 12-step program for working out our salvation in order to get to an arrival point. If it were that easy I’m sure we’d all be perfect by now and we would no longer need Jesus because we could do it on our own. However, working out our salvation is a continual process of allowing God to work out of us what God has already worked in by his grace. Through Isaiah 12 we learn several more principles of how we can continue to have ourselves decrease so that Christ might increase in us (John 3:30).

3. He must be our strength and our song (vs. 2).

Too often we can view God as distant when merely talking about salvation. It can be easy to say that Christ died for me over 2000 years ago for my sins. God is most definitely our Savior but he is also our strength and our song. When God is our strength it shows that he is our refuge, our protector and our resource. Calvin said it this way, “Nor is he here called a part or an aid of our strength, but our complete strength; for we are strong, so far as he supplies us with strength.” God is with us now, wants to fight for us now, but we must place our trust as we said in last week’s post, in him and let him be our strength.

Not only is he our strength but our song. Nehemiah 8:10 says that the joy of the Lord is our strength. Now don’t judge me but when I first read this verse I immediately thought of the Elmo song. You know the one that goes, “la la la la, la la la la Elmo’s song.” If you don’t know it, look it up. The gist of it is that it’s a very joy filled song. That is what this scripture is trying to say. When God is our strength, he is also our joy. We know that he doesn’t disappoint and we can find our purpose and life in him. Our joy is not dependent on circumstance or feelings but is steady and constant. This can sometimes be one of my biggest struggles. When we aren’t experiencing the joy of the Lord, we must take a step back and reevaluate what is the center of our lives. If it isn’t God, but based on unsteady circumstance, people or feelings we must refocus and realign with God as our center.

4. Draw water (vs. 3).

Jesus told us in John 4:14, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” When we come to know Jesus we begin drawing water from the wells of salvation. When we look at this in context we must remember that Israel was a semi-arid climate. When water is rare, a well is life. Thus where there was water there was a community that would spring up.

Drawing water will not happen through passive inactivity. The water is there for the taking but it says, “you will draw water.” We must reach out and draw from what God has already provided. This scripture causes me to think about the beautiful story of the women at the well that comes from John 4. When you read the story you see a woman that greatly needed Jesus. She meets Jesus and believes in him, experiencing for herself the water from the well of salvation. She doesn’t just stop there though. She goes back to her village and tells others about the living water and because of her testimony many others believed too.

Wells were never meant for just one person, but they brought water for a community and established life. When we draw water from the wells of salvation it is for us, but then we are to keep drawing and bringing it to others in our community so that they might too experience firsthand the living water of Jesus Christ.

5. Sing a song meant to be sung (vs. 4-6)

In verse 2, it says that the Lord is our song. Last time I checked songs were meant to be sung. Have you ever gotten a song stuck in your head and all you can do is just sing it. I know there are some songs out there that are super catchy and whether you like them or not they get stuck and it’s all you can do to not sing them. I would name a few but then they would get stuck in your head and you would dislike me. Well God wants to be the song stuck in our head that we can’t help but sing everywhere we go and whatever we do. We should praise God publically. Our praise results out of what God has done for us, but encourages others to worship as well.

Verse 6 says, “Shout and sing for joy”. This is not just praise, but excited praise. Spurgeon once said, “We ought not to worship God in a half-hearted sort of way; as if it were now our duty to bless God, but we felt it to be a weary business, and we would get it through as quickly as we could, and have done with it; and the sooner the better. No, no; ‘All that is within me bless his holy name.’ come, my heart, wake up, and summon all the powers which wait upon thee! Mechanical worship is easy, but worthless. Come rouse yourself, my brother! Rouse thyself, O my own soul!”

Finally we worship because, “for in our midst is the Holy One of Israel.” We worship God because of who he is, but also because of where God is, he is with us in our midst.

Be encouraged today that wherever you are at in the process of salvation, that everyone else is in process too. One of the best ways to learn to work out your salvation is by getting a mentor that can encourage and challenge you through the Bible and their own experiences and also by getting plugged into a community group. I can guarantee you that by doing so your relationship with God will grow deeper and you will see the fruit of that relationship in your life.

Live Life Extraordinary,

Alayna

Comments

My Strength, My Song

Isaiah 12

Throughout my Christian life I have often said that I have not been saved all my life when asked if I grew up as a Christian. The other day I came to a startling though encouraging revelation, I in fact have been saved well over half my life now. It was almost as I expected God to come down in that moment and give me a gold star or pat on the back for such an accomplishment. As I thought about it awhile I began to think how silly my feelings of accomplishment or pride were about being saved for half my life. The truth of the matter is that while accepting Jesus into your life as your Savior may only occur once, salvation is a continual process.

Philippians 2:12 says, “…work out your own salvation in fear and trembling.” It says twice in Isaiah 12 God is our salvation. Our good works, good intentions and good thoughts cannot save us. That being said, where there is divine sovereignty and grace for salvation through the cross there is also human responsibility to walk it out. “The believer must finish, must carry to conclusion, must apply to its fullest consequences what is already given by God in principle…He must work out what God in his grace has worked in.” says Muller. Fear and trembling doesn’t mean in fear of hell or from guilt or shame, but instead means the righteous or awe-filled reverence of God that every believer should have.

Though I have always heard of how salvation is a process I have never necessarily seen a process laid out. I believe this is partly because God cannot fit in a box. God may choose to work one way in you and then another way in others. Some people accept Christ and are completely radically changed in an instant and for others it is an evolving work in their life. Regardless of how God works My intent is not to explain the mysteries of God because I cannot. Rather, it is my hope that through Isaiah 12 you will be encouraged and challenged to continue to walk out your salvation.

1. Praise God through being chastened.(vs. 1)

Hebrew 12 speaks that while no discipline is fun for the moment in the end it leads to the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Also we can be assured that if we are feeling the Lord’s discipline it means that we are his sons and daughters and he loves us. Even when we feel God’s chastening we must make the decision to praise the Lord. When I was a kid I would get the occasional spanking because of my disobedience but once the disciplining was over, my dad or mom would always give me a hug and tell me how much they loved me. Even more so God as a perfect parent knows how to perfectly comfort us after we have been disciplined.

Tr  Trust God.(vs. 2)

If God is our salvation we do not need to be afraid but we can have confident hope in him in every situation. We must make the decision to trust in God. It says in verse 2, “I will trust and not be afraid.” There is a difference between feelings of trust and making a decision to trust. We must decide sometimes daily to trust God to do what he has said he will do. Spurgeon says, “The talk about trying to believe is a mere pretence. But whether pretence or no, let me remind you that there is not ext in the Bible which says, ‘Try and believe,’ but it says ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.’ He is the Son of God, he has proved it by his miracles, he died to save sinners, therefore trust him; he deserves implicit trust and child-like confidence. Will you refuse him these? Then you have maligned his character and given him the lie.” We must decide and say to our will, “I will trust and not be afraid.” When we place our trust in God we experience the peace of God that comes through Jesus (Romans 5:1).

Today I hope you are both encouraged and challenged as I have been to continue to work out your own salvation. A couple weeks ago I was sharing with a friend about how exciting it is to be a follower of Christ because God is always continuing to work something new in me and every time I read the Word God shows me another layer of who he is or what he wants to accomplish in and through me and his Church to reach those that don’t know him. I pray that today God would reveal himself to you and help you walk out your own salvation because it’s not for our benefit but for those we are to reach. Have a great weekend and stay tuned for part 2 of this devotional next Saturday!

Live Life Extraordinary,

Alayna

Comments

Bible Reading: Psalm 106, Exodus 14

How Soon They Forgot

I was reading Psalm 106 today and when I got to verse seven it caused me to pause and look at it more closely and check the cross reference. “Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.”

I looked back at Exodus 14 to see what this was referring to. The Lord had delivered the Israelites from Egypt through a series of miracles. He sent the ten plagues, one after another to the Egyptians, while the Israelites were not affected by them at all. He gave the Israelite slaves favor with the Egyptians and they plundered them when they left Egypt, laden with gold, sliver and rich clothing. They left Egypt at midnight but not a dog barked as they left. They were only gone a few days when they reached the Red Sea and discovered that the Egyptians were coming. Pharaoh had a change of heart and sent his army after them.

Instead of remembering the miracles, they were scared to death and started yelling at Moses. “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in this wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” Ex. 14:12.

Do you get what they said? They were slaves in Egypt, with cruel taskmasters over them with whips, making them gather straw and make bricks. That was better that leaving?? At the first difficulty they preferred slavery to being free. They didn’t even consider all the miracles that God had already done. It didn’t even enter their mind to think God might possibly perform another miracle to protect them from the Egyptian army.

In spite of their unbelief, God showed up big time. He put his cloud that had been leading them (another miracle), behind them so it was light to Israel and darkness to the Egyptians. He caused a strong east wind to blow all night and opened up a path through the middle of the Red Sea and the next morning Israel crossed through the sea on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to follow, they floundered in the middle, God caused the waters to flow back in place and the whole army drowned. Ex. 14:31 says then the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. But just a few days later they were back to complaining and grumbled against Moses when they couldn’t find water to drink. God performed another miracle. Ex. 15:22-25.

Are we like the Israelites? Believing when everything is going fine, but grumbling and complaining and forgetting all God has done for us at the first hint of a problem? When there is something insurmountable in front of us, instead of stopping to remember how God has gotten us through problem after problem, do we just concentrate on the new problem and feel we’re going to be swallowed up by it? With Israel it was a cycle. Believe, face a problem, unbelief, murmuring and complaining, God came through with another miracle, believe again.

God does not want us to live our Christian life like that. 1 Cor. 10:10-11 says, “Do not grumble, as some of them did – and were killed by the destroying angle. (At one point God had had enough and sent a plague amongst them. Num. 16:49) These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us”

Instead of having spiritual memory loss, when difficulties arise, stop and remember all that God has done. Begin to thank him for all he has brought you through and you’ll find your faith being strengthened to face your new challenge. Don’t be like the Israelites and forget one day to the next how great is our God!!

God is good all the time,

Naomi Brinkman

 

 

Comments

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 26

Do You Get Offended At The Truth?

I am amazed at the lack of insight that was shown by the people in Jeremiah 26. Jeremiah brought a message to them from God telling them to repent because God was going to destroy the city by allowing a foreign king to conquer them and the people would be taken captive. God’s message was, “Tell them everything I command you; do no omit a word. Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from his evil way. Then I will relent and not bring on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done.” Verses 2-3. God was actually being longsuffering with them, and giving them space to repent. All they had to do was turn from their wicked ways.

I would think that reasonable people would be ready to admit that they had been doing wrong. They didn’t deny that they were doing wrong. Instead they got very upset because Jeremiah told them the truth and they wanted to kill him, led by the priests and the other prophets!! (Verse 7) Some of the elders stuck up for Jeremiah and said he did not deserve death, and even recalled how other prophets had been sent to warn the people that God would punish them for their evil ways. So Jeremiah’s life was spared.

People got offended at Jesus because he told them the truth. When he could do no miracles in his hometown because of their unbelief, he told the people they and took offense at him. Matt. 13:47. 1 Pet. 2:7-8, talking about Jesus says, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, and a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey the message.” The reason people take offense at truth is become they do not want to obey it.

Some people get offended because the truth is spoken in church. The searchlight of Scripture is shone into our lives. People feel uncomfortable and conviction comes when sin in their lives is exposed. And often time people react exactly like the people of Judah. They start criticizing and blaming the pastor and the church. Of course they don’t want to literally take the pastor out and kill him, but instead they speak ill of him or negatively.

If we don’t take some action when truth is spoken to us we’re like the person described in James 1:23. “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”

Whenever we feel pricked in our conscience after hearing the Word of God presented the right action is to go to Jesus, confess our failures and ask for forgiveness. Just as he was willing to relent from the disaster he planned to bring on Judah if they would repent, God is willing to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9.

Don’t’ take offense at truth – repent instead.

God is good all the time,

Naomi Brinkman

Comments

Bible Reading: Matthew 21, Matthew 7

Watch Out For Too Much Foliage

Both Matthew and Mark contain the story about Jesus cursing the fig tree because the tree was covered with lots of leaves but absolutely no fruit. Lots of pretty leaves and show but no substance. I believe there is a principle involved in this regarding our lives.

God definitely wants fruit from our lives. Gal. 5:22 lists the fruit of the spirit that God wants all of us to produce. Love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Notice that there are nine characteristics listed but it’s called one fruit. You’ve probably heard that before; just thought I’d point it out again!! It’s kind of like an orange – many segments but one fruit.)

Many people talk the talk but do not walk the walk. That’s like a tree with lots of leaves and no fruit. In Matt. 7:15-23 Jesus was talks about false prophets, and in verse 16 says “By their fruit you will recognize them.” I think this principle applies across the board for everyone, not just false prophets. It’s true that we are warned in Scripture not to judge, but we can be “fruit inspectors,” watching a person’s life to see what kind of fruit they produce. Are they bearing the fruit of the spirit, or is there just a bunch of foliage and no fruit.

John 15:8 says “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Wow!! We show that we are true disciples of Jesus by bearing much fruit. Forget the “show,” let’s see the fruit. Is my life producing joy and peace. Am I becoming a patient person, or do I have fits of impatience and fly off the handle at others? Am I faithful in the things I have committed myself to, or do I drop the ball whenever things don’t go exactly my way. If we say we will show up to help in a certain area at church, do we back out when something comes up that we’d rather do? Are we gentle or harsh with others? And how about self-control? That’s a big one.

Fruit trees have to be pruned each year in order to keep bearing the maximum amount of fruit. The dead branches are cut off so new growth can take place. If trees go too long without being pruned, they grow shoots that put forth lots of leaves but actually suck the sap out of the tree and prevent them bearing as much fruit as they could. The Bible talks about pruning our lives too. Not in so many words, but Heb. 12:11 says “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present but painful, nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” God will chasten us, or in other words, prune us, to that we can bear much fruit.

Young people seeking a mate need to observe the life of the person they are interested in. There might be a lot of talk and show from someone, but is their life really bearing fruit. Do they have a goal and direction for their life? What are their standards? Is following Jesus a top priority for them? If there is no concrete evidence of good fruit in their life, there might just be a lot of leaves and foliage. Beware of too much foliage.

God is good all the time,

Naomi Brinkman

Comments

Isaiah 11

A few nights ago I got to watch a bunch of kids with a friend. Kids are hysterical and I love getting to hang out with them because it is true that kids will teach you much about life and God. When their is a bunch of kids in one group the adults in the mix kind of become irrelevant. As I watched them to make sure that things didn’t get out of hand I had to have a chuckle to myself. The observation I made was that the kids were distinctly like their parental counterpart. Now obviously most kids tend to look like their parent or we hope so, but past the physical similarities I noticed that it wasn’t too hard to match the kid with the parents just by watching their interactions with other’s and even their responses to things going on around them. The kids both looked and acted like their parents and knowing the parents it caused me to laugh a bit.

Yesterday morning I read Isaiah 11. This scripture is about the coming Messiah and I’ve always been amazed reading it because it’s prophetic and its fulfilled. Not to mention scriptures of fulfilled prophecy for me just create so much hope in my heart because it confirms that God does what he says he’s going to do. As I continued to marvel and meditate on this portion of the Word God reminded me of the kids and how they looked and acted like their mom’s and dad’s. Then in a way only God can he spoke to me and said, “Mills, yes this is a picture of my Son but it is also a picture of who my children are supposed to be.”

Don’t you love it when God shows up and speaks to you. I was reminded of when Paul says to imitate him as he imitates Christ (1 Cor 11:1). Just as the children are imitators of their parents so we are to imitate Christ. Also Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” This image was both spiritual, mental and volitional. It involves the very character and nature of God. Therefore while Isaiah 11 is yes a prophetic scripture confirmed by the person of Jesus Christ it is also a scripture of who we are supposed to be as Christians.

If you haven’t read Isaiah 11 yet read it now.

The first and only part of this scrpture that I want to point out is the first verse that says that out of a stump God did a new thing. If you have ever read Jesus’ lineage this makes sense. There were some messed up people in his lineage. David alone was a murderer and adulterer. Jacob stole the blessing of his father from his brother. Rahab was prostitue. Uzziah was proud and because of his pride entered the Holy of Holies like an equal to God. And so on and so forth goes the lineage. When I see a stump I see something cut off and beyond repair. You can’t just glue the tree back on but often when a tree is cut down the stump will remain and while the roots may be living the tree won’t continue to grow. Our sin makes us like the stump. It cuts us off or separates us from God.

God however, decides to sprout a new branch that bears fruit out of that old seemingly dead stump. God wants to do a new thing out of your old dead stump. What is the old dead stump in your life? What sin have you allowed to cut you off from God and keep you from him? The Bible clearly states that there is no sin or condemnation in Christ Jesus. Whatever you have done in your past or maybe last week ask forgiveness for, repent from it and walk in the newness of life that Jesus has promised you. The lineage of Jesus may be pretty messed up but it’s made up of broken people who chose even in there inadequacy to rely and trust in God. As you too rely and trust in God, He will use that old thing to create something new. And that new thing will be stronger and more fruitful than that old thing could have ever imagined.

Abide in Him today and let God do something new and fruitful in you.

Live Life Extraordinary,

Alayna

Comments

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 25

Do We Provoke God?

Pastor Ben brought an awesome message on Sunday about adultery. That’s not a subject we hear covered in church much, but sorely needs to be addressed. The message didn’t center on just physical adultery but he took it a step further and applied it to adultery in the spiritual realm. Adultery starts in the heart, not in the act. Anything that steals or draws us away from our relationship with Jesus can be spiritual adultery. I posted something like this on my Facebook status and created quite a storm of comments, especially from a friend who said she was “really offended” that I would post such an awful thing, and that “my Jesus would never say anything like that to me.”

Scripture says something to the contrary. Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30. To ask a simple question, “What part of all don’t we understand?” “All” is an all-inclusive word and doesn’t leave any room for discussion. God is asking for all of us. If we give him any less, that means our heart, soul, mind and strength are being diverted to something else. If a man’s love and attention are diverted away from his wife to another woman, Jesus said he has committed adultery in his heart. Therefore if our being is diverted away from God, we are committing spiritual adultery.

In Jeremiah 25:7 the Lord said, “You have provoked me with what your hands have made and you have brought harm to yourselves.” He was talking about the idols that the people of Judah had made and in place of worshiping God, were worshiping something they had made themselves. In verse 6 he reminds the people what he had told them earlier through the prophets. “Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.” But Judah didn’t listen and continued to give their worship to idols that they themselves had made and set up and turned away from worshiping God. God was bringing punishment down on them.

It always boggles my mind when I think about that. How can you go out, cut down a tree and carve it yourself into an image, then set it up some place and say “This is my God?” It’s not even an intelligent thing to do. But people do the same thing now with their actions. Oh, they don’t carve an idol and set it up, but they devote their time to their jobs and don’t leave any time in their life to go to church and fellowship with other believers, even though that’s what God tells us to do. They fill their time with video games but don’t have time to crack open their Bible one time in the week. They find plenty of time to go out on weekends to wherever their pursuits take them on Saturday night and are too tired to get up in time to go to church on Sunday morning. I think God is saying to this generation, “Do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made.”

Computers are part of our lives and they are here to stay, and who knows what technology the future holds. But you can get lost in the computer and hours can pass without you even knowing it. There are websites to browse, games to play, social sites where you can check what’s going on with all your friends, and probably lots more things that I don’t even know about. (After all, I am 75!!!) There’s nothing wrong with the computer. They can be used for the Lord also. But if they consume all our time and there’s nothing left in our day for the Lord, they are causing us to commit spiritual adultery.

So, let’s all just take a step back, review what we’re doing with our time, and see if anything we allow in our lives is stealing something away from our walk with the Lord. I don’t want to commit spiritual adultery and I don’t want God saying to me “You have provoked me to anger with what your hands have made.”

God is good all the time,

Naomi Brinkman

Comments