3 Lessons from John 17

In the 17th chapter of John, there is a prayer of Jesus that He prays just before He is arrested. There are three really cool things that stand out to me.

When Jesus prays He gives us a definition of eternal life. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3 NKJV) Isn't it interesting that when Jesus describes eternal life the element of time is not in the equation? From God's point of view eternal life is not about duration but relationship, a relationship with us. Imagine, the Creator of the universe, the God of miracles, and the all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-present God wants to have a relationship with us. It goes without saying it is a forever relationship.

The second awesome lesson from John 17 is this: And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3 NKJV) Jesus makes a point that I have never though of before and I don't exactly know why but it makes me feel good. As a christian I can trace my getting saved to the testimony of one of the original Disciples! For me it is one more reason to believe in the security of my salvation.

And lastly, doesn't it make us feel good knowing that in the chapter we have the recorded prayer that Jesus prayed for us. I know that the savior who died for me was thinking about me just a few hours before He was arrested and put on trial for my sins. Jesus Himself prayed for us!

The Good News

As I have been praying about the direction of Eastside Assembly of God for the next year, I believe that God is pointing me towards a focus on the good news. After all the gospel is literally the "good news"! All we have to do is look at our world to know that it seems that things are not going too well. Everytime I turn on the news or read a newspaper I hear or see bad news. Our economy is weak, it seems that the moral fiber of our world is on the decline, well, I don't have to recount all the terrible things that are happening right now. But for us who are believers we have hope to hang our hat on -- Jesus!

That's right, while the world around us is falling apart, we know that there is good news! Believe or not God is in control! And we have the "good news"! There is a God in heaven who is working on our behalf. We also have the hope that any day now Jesus will return for His church and we will have the ultimate victory!

So with that in mind, it is my intention to make 2012 a year of "good news". At Eastside Assembly of God, we have much to be thankful for and so this next year my goal is to focus on the "good news".

Here is what we are going to do:
Always remember that the Gospel message is a positive message.
Continue finding ways for us to connect believers with each other and with God.
Be there to support and encourage those who are going through a time of testing or trouble.
Preach and teach the "Good News"!

Continue with the healing & miracle services once a month (first Sunday).
I believe that 2012 has all the makings of being a great year for us! One more thing, ask God to help you become more positive about your life, your church, and your faith. That is a prayer I know God will answer!

Something From God

As I was reflecting on last Sunday's Business Meeting I remembered something I have kept with me. It is a prophecy given in January 2008, one year after I arrived as Pastor of Eastside. Mary Massie gave this message, She has since been promoted to heaven. It still speaks to me about what God wants from us as a Church!

My children, I desire for you to know this day that I am opening a doorway – a doorway for the beginning of why this work was established here. I brought you here as foundational stones and I cemented you in by My Holy Spirit, but I am bringing other stones and I am setting them in amongst your midst. I ask of you to bring them in with you. Show them their place. Help them to find that place because there’s a flood coming.

There was a reason that I established this work here and it is time for its beginning, but you must be ready. I will not bring the wounded and the lost here if you are not ready to love them into My Kingdom, if you are not ready to mentor them and to disciple them. I am bringing others alongside of you. Welcome them into the Kingdom here where you congregate. This is My house, a house of sanctuary, a house of praise. It is a house of prayer. Get on your knees and cry out for the lost. My heart breaks, and I hear their cries – many around you. This is not a place to come and receive and go home in smugness, but it’s a place to receive and become strong.

I say to you My children, your love is there within your heart but let it break free. Let it go in and out of your midst and let it go out among those who need you. I say to you My children, My love for you is so strong, but it’s time for you to stand. Strengthen your legs. Strengthen your arms. Let your voice be heard out there among the lost. They are hungry for something and they don’t know His Name. But you know it. It’s in your heart. I say to you, go out and declare. Jesus is My Son, and He’s calling them to Him. Hear My words and heed them, My children.

What If We Treated The World Like We Treat God?

How successful would we be if we only showed up to work when it didn’t interfere with other plans?

What if we took the corporate handbook and decided to put our own “spin” on it?

What if we just never got around to doing the one thing our boss told us to do?

What if we slept through the staff meeting?

What if we came each day unprepared?

What if we didn’t come for 2/3rd of the time?

What if we never talked to our boss?

What if we never said “thank you”?

What if we quit every time we didn’t like something?

“Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” Hebrews 13:12-15 (NKJV)

Worship Leaders Needed!

Eastside Assembly of God is a great Church. One of the reasons for this is we have a group of people dedicated to leading the Church in worship. Our worship team devotes many hours of time to their ministry. As matter of fact, I can say without reservation that the members of our team are the some of the hardest working people in the Church. They sacrifice a lot of their time and their talent to lead us into the presence of God. And I have to say that all of their hard work is paying off. I really appreciate their efforts and I thank them because I am never disappointed by their ministry. Each and every Sunday I experience the presence of God in our services!

So if I can, I would like to ask a huge favor from the rest of us at Eastside! Wouldn’t it be great if all of us became worship leaders? We can do this by each one of us responding to our time of worship in an overt way. There are many people who come to our Church each week with a need in their life and sometimes that need could be met by simply experiencing the presence of God. And if we are entering into our time of worship with the idea of invoking His presence many needs will be met. By the way, it is a great thing to be a part of God meeting a need.

So here are some practical suggestions for being a leader of worship:

(1) If you are physically able, stand. I used to wonder why it is so important to stand during worship. Because I believed that the more comfortable I was the better I could worship. (I can focus on God and not my hurting feet.) The reason we stand is very simple – we stand in honor of the presence of God. When someone of importance enters the room we stand – think of the times this occurs. When a king enters, when the President enters, when a judge enters the room we stand as a show of honor. So if we are serious about invoking the presence of God shouldn’t we honor Him by standing? And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. --Nehemiah 8:5

(2) Raise your hands. The reason we raise our hands is because we are giving a sign to God and to others that we are surrendering ourselves. There are amazing things the Holy Spirit can do through us when we yield ourselves to Him. By surrendering ourselves and raising our hands we are indicating to God that we are focus totally on Him. I used to wait until I got a certain feeling before I would raise my hands in worship, but I found out very quickly that when I offer to raise my hands in surrender to God I get that same feeling. For some reason raising my hands makes my heart more sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

(3) Focus on the words of the song we are singing. When we are all singing the same words we become unified in thought. The greatest miracles of the Church happen when we are in one accord. That means we are all putting our minds on the same thing. That is why the most effective worship songs have words that are directed to God. Did you ever notice that almost all of the Psalms are directed towards God?

I believe if you will help me with these simple things the worship experience at Eastside will be amazing and we will experience the presence of God in new and exciting ways. Most importantly, people’s needs will be met.

Justification and Propitiation

Yesterday when I was talking about what Jesus did for us when He died on the crossed I spoke about two biblical concepts. And I would like to give you some further insight so that you can really understand what it is that Jesus did for us.

The first being justification. Sometimes I wonder if we don’t take the penalty for sin very seriously. Or if maybe we think that God just arbitrarily decided that there needed to be a price for sin. We need to know that there really is a price or a penalty for sin that must be served. Because if there in not then Jesus’ death was nothing more than some kind of game that God has played with us. I can assure you that Jesus didn’t suffer the excruciating pain of the cross just to placate God. He did it because there really is a cost to sin that must be paid for. So in order to find set us free from sin, we must be made innocent. That’s what Jesus death on the cross does; it makes us not guilty because Jesus took our guilt with Him to the cross. As He hung on the cross He bore are shame and guilt, in effect removing it from us. So we can stand before God justified – Just as if I never sinned.

The second concept I spoke about was propitiation. What this means is that the wrath of God is pointed at sin. God hates sin and yes he also hates those who sin, that is why they cannot be with Him. That is why He hates those things. So when we sin we become the object of God’s wrath…therefore Jesus became that object or propitiation. He substitutes Himself in our place so that when He died on the cross He was the object of the wrath of God.

For these reasons it should break our hearts when we sin. Because in our sin we are not justified and we are the object of God’s wrath. We need to learn to hate having sin in our lives. Because that sin cost Jesus His life.

We love God because He first loved us!

More Stuff About Earthquakes

On Sunday I shared a message about the significance of earthquakes. And when I went to the first occasion of a quake in the scripture what I discovered is that it was the very first one to occur. And God when He did it was showing a sign to the nation of Israel.

Then Moses said, "This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD brings about something TOTALLY NEW, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt." --Numbers 16:28-30 (NIV)

So I believe that earthquakes are a significant sign. An earthquake occurred at Jesus death and at His resurrection. I am not so sure that earthquakes are as much about the judgment of God but more about being a sign of Jesus’ return. Jesus told us in Matthew 24 that when we hear of earthquakes in various places that we should look up because it means He is returning.

Let me take the opportunity to share with you a couple of things I didn’t get to say on Sunday…We should be reminded when there are earthquakes that they are the natural disaster that we cannot give a warning or even a lot of preparation for. The Japanese found this out…they built with the idea of an earthquake occurring, but were helpless to prepare for the resulting tsunami. So earthquakes have been and for the time being with be the most feared “act of God” we face. According to the Bible it is God who literally holds our world together…For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER. --Colossians 1:16-17 (NIV) Once again, we see more evidence of God’s direct involvement in the occurrence of earthquakes.

One last point I want to share. According to Romans 8:19-22, creation itself is seeking for the return of Jesus and its release from the curse of sin. Verse 22 speaks of the creation moaning and groaning as it waits for Jesus to appear. Turns out the ultimate environmentalist is Jesus and the planet will literally be saved when He returns! Is it possible that the earthquakes are the result of a creation that is moaning and groaning? I don’t know for sure, but I do believe it is time to look up for our redemption is near!

PS. I am writing from Cleveland while on vacation and we are having a great time, but I am looking forward to Sunday! I can’t wait to see what God is going to do!