VISITATION, HABITATION, DEMONSTRATION

Don’t Miss Your Moment

Opening Scripture:Mk 16:15-16 “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶ He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

1. God has called us to be “fishers of men” and to become intentional in our outreach to others. Remember, heaven and hell are real, and we are still alive because God wants to use us to take others with us.

Matt 28:18-20 NKJV “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, evento the end of the age. Amen.”

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped around their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.” – Charles Spurgeon

“Any church that is not seriously involved in world evangelization has forfeited its biblical right to exist. Any Christian who just flat does not care whether or not people crash into eternity without God does violence to the heart of the gospel and the heart of Jesus. Such a Christian is a walking paradox, no matter how orthodox his or her theology may be.

“When you leave the plains of mediocrity known as “the balanced life,” you begin to scale the heights and breathe the rarified air that invigorates faith, hope, and love. Love is the mainspring of all effective ministry and the source from which all missions passion flows. God is ready and willing to give you a fresh baptism of compassion. He wants to perform ‘eye surgery’ so you can see once again with clarity, sharpness, and focus. Are you willing for this surgery?” — David Shibley in THE MISSIONS ADDICTION

2. God visits us to prepare of for what is next. Don’t miss your season of visitation, implanting, and impartation, or the field of your future will not be ready to produce the harvest God has for you.

Job 10:12 KJV “Thou hast granted me life and favor, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.”

Lk 19:43- 45 “For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, ⁴⁴ and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

1 Pet 2:11-13 NKJV “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, ¹² having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

3. “Relaunch” is God’s visitation for Rejoice Church, and for you personally. But Relaunch is not an event, it is the cultivation of a field God wants to plant his destiny in, so that it He can come down and inhabit us with a fruitful future that glorifies Him.

Ex 15:13 NKJV “You in Your mercy have led forth The people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength To Your holy habitation.”

Ps 26:8 NKJV “Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house, And the place where Your glory dwells.”

Ps 22:3 KJV “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”

4. God’s visitation leads to habitation, and habitation leads to demonstration. Any atmosphere you sustain becomes the “culture” you demonstrate. If you sustain mediocrity, you will create a culture of mediocrity, and this is what you will demonstrate to others. But if you sustain the habitation of God in your life and habits, you will create a culture of God’s presence that demonstrates Him to others.

1 Cor 2:4-5 NKJV “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: ⁵ That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

5. Don’t miss your moment, your season of visitation, so you can receive God’s habitation, and become a vessel of demonstration.

1 Chron 12:32 NKJV “…of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command;”

Don’t miss your moment.
Moses and burning bush
Abraham and Isaac
David and Goliath
Jesus and wedding at Cana
There’s just lots of times you work hard for something and then nothing happens. That wasn’t your moment.
David worked hard tending his father’s sheep and killing the lion and the bear, but that wasn’t his moment, that was preparation for his moment.
When his moment came he was ready, and his destiny to become king of Israel began.

Relaunch is God’s moment for Rejoice, and it could be a special moment for you as well.

Hunger is an incredible motivator. I know if I start craving Mexican food, it won’t be long until I show up at a Mexican restaurant, or Taco Bell (semi-feeds the need lol), or I will ask Cathy to do her amazing Tex-Mex “whatever”, which is all great.

Are you hungry for God? I mean really, are you hungry for His glory – His tangible presence in your life, or is a snack on Sunday morning all you need each week?

I believe hungry people show up for what they are hungry for. When people are hungry for God, really hungry for God, nothing else will satisfy.

Jesus said if we are hungry for God, He will fill us. (Matt 5:6)

This Sunday Aug 17-24 begins our bi-annual prayer and revival week at Rejoice Church, with nightly services. We call it Rebuilding The Altars, and this years theme is “Reaching Escape Velocity.” I have been thinking a lot about what draws a person to something like this, and why some are not interested.

Perhaps the reason so many are not hungry for God (and why there have been times I was not hungry for God) is because we are already full of something else.

A scientific principle is that a vacuum always fills itself. A light bulb holds a filament inside a vacuum, allowing it to burn brightly for long periods of time. But crack the light bulb and the atmosphere rushes in and the filament immediately burns out. A submarine can dive to great depths while maintaining a vacuum relative to the outside ocean pressure. But if the hull of the submarine fails, the immense weight of the water outside will crush the submarine as it rushes in to fill the vacuum.

Another way of looking at a vacuum filling itself is when we are hungry, we eat. No more “vacuum.”

My wife is so funny. Sometimes when I ask her what she wants to eat she has said, “doesn’t matter…when we are full we won’t be hungry anymore.” Cathy is amazingly practical, and I try never to take that for granted.

Spiritual hunger is meant to create a vacuum that God comes in and fills. However if we have already filled up on what the world offers…busyness, so many cares of this life, tons of entertainment sources, an endless list of movie channels, sports channels, food channels, and a lot of good-but-not-godly filler, it is no wonder so many people have no hunger for God. And with all our mobile devices, we are never without the filler.

Jesus said “but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.” Mk 4:19 NLT

My wife Cathy has always tried to make dinner a family affair. Even now with the kids all grown and gone, it is important to her that we have dinner together. I love this. Sometimes with our still very hectic schedule it is a very late dinner. But we always have dinner together when possible.

There have been various times when I was really hungry before coming home for dinner, and I have stopped at a convenience store to fill up on junk food. Maybe it was a coke with peanuts (you have to be from the South), or an especially big temptation for me is Zingers, a raspberry and coconut crème-filled snack cake like a Twinkie…only better.

The problem is that when I got home and sat down for dinner, I was no longer hungry for Cathy’s good food. (Is anyone getting a sermon?) Junk food had taken the place that good food was supposed to fill.

This is the problem with much of modern America today. We are so full of “junk food”, we are no longer really hungry for God.

THANK GOD THERE IS A SOLUTION!

One of the secrets to being hungry for God is learning to do our “push-aways.”

A big problem in the South is we want our guests to pile on the food, then go back for seconds. That has always been a part of hospitality in our Southern culture as far back as I can remember. The problem in our over-weight world today is we need to learn to do our “push-aways” after the first helping, and push away from the table before seconds. (I am preaching to myself ya’ll.)

The same is true with all the distractions of this life.

Learn to do your “push-aways” from the world so you don’t end up immersing yourself in a fruitless and unholy life.

When you unplug from the world, turn off the television and put down the mobile device, you are creating a “vacuum”, a space in time, that God wants to fill.

It takes time to be holy, and holiness attracts the glory, because they are inseparably intertwined. Have we forgotten the call to holy living? Remember that The Helper’s first name is “Holy”, as in Holy Spirit.

Look up the word “holy” and you will be amazed how many times it is used in the New Testament, under grace.

2 Pet 3:11-25a “Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, ¹² looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.”

If you are hungry for God, you can stay hungry by always making room in your schedule for God to fill your life. Stop run, run, running, without running to God. Priorities are not wishful thinking…they are what we actually do.

If you are not hungry for God, but you want to be, start doing your “push-aways” today. Rebuilding The Altars week is a prime opportunity. The more you push away from the worlds table, the more of a vacuum you will create for God to come in and fill.

Here is the beautiful thing about being filled with God instead of the world…when you let God satisfy the hunger in your life, the hunger for the things of this world disappear.

Jn 6:35 NLT “Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Are you hungry for God? Are you really?

Hungry people show up for what they are hungry for.

George W Black

Click for more on Rebuilding The Altars week.

Opening Scripture: Col 1:9-10 NKJV “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; ¹⁰ that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God”

Music Video: Casting Crowns – Thrive (Official Lyric Video)

Joy Unspeakable,

Faith Unsinkable,

Love Unstoppable,

Anything is possible!!!

The Church that Jesus Christ started did seven things that provided every new believer with a personal relaunch out of their old life into God’s new life.

If we want a relaunch in our lives, we need to do what Jesus taught them to do, because that’s what He is teaching us to do as well.

 

1. They began with repentance.

Repentance is changing our mind to agree with God, and then making the needed changes in our lives to conform to what we now believe.

Acts 2:38-39 NKJV “Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Have you repented of your sins and old life, and do you still repent when you drift?

2. They were baptized.

Baptism is changing our identification with the world to identifying with Christ, and His family on earth, the church.

Have you been baptized, surrendering your life fully to the Lord?

3. They received the Holy Spirit.

The disciples of Jesus Christ were asked to wait in Jerusalem until they received an enduement of power from the Holy Spirit. Some treat this as optional today, but Jesus meant for every follower to receive His power to live the Christian life, and be a witness to others.

Have you received the Holy Spirit the way they received the Holy Spirit in the New Testament?

4. Next they continued steadfastly in the teaching of the Word of God by the apostles.

Acts 2:42 NKJV “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

Do you continue steadfastly in the teaching of the Word of God?

5. They continued steadfastly in “koinonia” fellowship – intentional relationship building for mutual benefit.

Do you intentionally invest the time needed to build meaningful relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ outside of church services?

6. They continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread through common meals (love feasts) and encouraging faith in one another for the things Holy Communion reminds us Jesus died for

Do you continue steadfastly in sharing common meals, and encouraging faith in one another for the things Holy Communion reminds us Jesus died for?

7. They continued steadfastly in praying together.

Do you continue steadfastly in prayer times with your leaders and church?

Here’s what’s waiting for you if you will take the challenge of these seven steps:

Joy Unspeakable,

Faith Unsinkable,

Love Unstoppable,

Anything is possible!!!

Get ready for a RELAUNCH…your life is not ordinary…God wants you to THRIVE!

 

RELAUNCH, Pt 8 –  Relaunch With Fresh Vision

VIDEO: Mrs Edwards Gets Invited To Church

1. God has placed every one of us in His church, and also in this local church, to unite together around fulfilling the Great Commission and Great Commandment.

Is 43:18-21 NIV  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. 20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.”

Psalm 105:40-41 NKJV “The people asked, and He brought quail, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it ran in the dry places like a river.”

2. Our target is defined by the word “RED” and means to Recover, Empower, Deploy. To hit this target means we will refocus and re-purpose our energies with new strategies for the future, AND MAKE IT FUN!

A. “Relaunch” is your churches campaign to repaint the target God gave us years ago so that we may lead our church and its members in reaching their full potential for Christ.

B. The Relaunch Campaign is about Rejoice Church allowing God to do a new thing in each member, in each ministry, and in the church as a whole, to bring us forward into a new beginning where we start over, as though we are planting a new church.

C. The goal of the Relaunch Campaign is to refocus our church and members on what we are called by God to do in our region and in the world, so that we can Recover more people for Christ, Empower more disciples, and Deploy more members into their ministry in the church and their mission in the world.

D. Relaunch is like a “Grand Re-Opening.” Help us get ready, then tell your community and family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. what you want them to know is best about your church, and what is new and improved!!! With your help, our goal is to double Rejoice in one year.

2. RED BEGINS WITH RECOVER – Rejoice exists for those not yet here. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, and this is job #1 in our continuing mission.

Lk 14:15-24 NLT “ Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ 18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’

21 “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 22 After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ 23 So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full.24 For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’”

3. SECONDLY, RED MEANS EMPOWER – Rejoice answers it’s call to empower its members through discipleship and mentoring. It’s not enough to know what to do, but we must also be given the tools for HOW to do it.

Matt 28:18-20 NLT “Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

4. FINALLY, RED MEANS DEPLOY – Rejoice releases its members to be doers of the Word, not just hearers. Deployment is mobilizing the trained to fulfil their ministry in the church and their mission in the world.

Matt 5:13-15 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.”

5. How does the vision of RED apply to you and your personal life? Your ministry in the church? Your mission in the world? It’s time for a RELAUNCH of fresh vision and personal application. God can only take us as far as we can see.