What Has You?

What has you?  What I mean is, is there anything in your life that you simply just have to have or do?  I felt in this season, the Lord is challenging me, "Don't let anything have you."  For me there have been times in my life where I had to watch a Duke basketball game.  Or I had to watch all 64 teams in the NCAA tournament.  I had to have a cup of coffee or I had to look at my emails for the 10th time in 5 hours.  This season for 180-degrees is and surely my life is a season to go deeper into the presence of the Lord.  God wants to show Himself mighty and strong and I have been so excited that He is offering me an invitation to experience more of His presence and His glory in my life.  As we have been on this journey, the Lord asks this of me and I ask it of you, "what has you?"  So in seeking the Lord, He is responding, make room for me.  In this season, I laugh about making a commitment to quit coffee because it "has me".  The first 3 days all I could think about was my mistress, "coffee".  I know it sounds over the top, but I realized that in my putting it down, all I could do was think of it.  Now, you may ask, what good is that doing?  Not much for 3 days, but after 7 I start to realize, OK, this thing ain't so hard.  So, in a sense, I feel like I have begun to cut away of some of the clamor in my life to hear more clearly from the Lord.  God is asking of us to move stuff out of the way and invite Him to operate in our lives.  The Holy Spirit is a gift....that must be received.  He doesn't just "operate" over our will, He more like dances with us in relationship.  No interest in Him, seasons of dryness....No desire for Him? Lack of peace....No Spirit activity, no Kingdom work done in and through your life.  I want to encourage you all this season to see "what has you".  Consider laying it down...for how long?  I don't know....maybe till it doesn't "have you".  Make way for the greater working in the Spirit of God.

Stuart

Holy Spirit "Want To"

So, I was walking my dog Scooby and I was thinking to myself and reaching out to God with it at the same time, "Lord, I know I am not what I want to be, and I could use so much more of your fire in me.  I think how my chest feels normal, and how I remember times when I could not keep my heart in my chest, like I was going to die if some of the Lord inside of me didn't get "out".  I mulled back and forth about how many people in the church struggle with so many issues and sins, and yet they have a desire to do the will of the Lord.  I felt the Spirit speak to me, "That desire comes from Me."  What a revelation.  Too often we take credit for wanting to do the right thing, maybe even taking credit for doing it (pharisee-ism).  The reality is that it is God by His Holy Spirit doing the work. Philippians 2:13 says it this way:

 ¹³for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. 

People need to know that!  You and I need to know this!  The very urge to do right (even when we are not walking in it) is a sign that the Holy Spirit is indeed AT WORK IN US.  Why does that matter?  Because so often people give up without enduring, thinking that they will never "get there".  So they settle for lower level living and the promise of God eludes them (peace, joy, fulness).  The promise of having the "Helper" with us?

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.- Philippians 1:6

Believer in Christ, be encouraged in your desires if they are for God's work in your life.  Don't focus on quitting now, you are about to see the will of God done if you will only hold onto the promptings of the Spirit with obedient steps of response.  Today is actually a day for a deeper experience with the Holy Spirit. I encourage you all to make steps to do what He is urging you to do so that His presence will pour out more fully in your lives.

Lets pray for our struggling brothers and sisters today with their desire to do right in their lives and make sure to pray them to the other side of walking it out!

- Stu

Ten Tough Questions to Ministry Leaders

Ten questions that I was challenged to ask myself as a pastor recently in reading Darrin Patrick's Church Planter. 


1.Am I addressing problems that arise in the church directly and boldly, or am I allowing problems and dysfunctions to fester?
2. Am I making wise use of the time that God has given me?  Are there any ungodly hobbies or habits that I need to eliminate from my schedule to further my effectiveness in ministry?
3.  Am I being thoughtful about how I am taking care of my body?   Am I practicing godly sleeping and eating habits?  Am I taking Sabbath rest? 
4) Are there any areas in my life that call for me to make a vow before the Lord?
5) Am I surrounding myself with godly influences that will make my ministry sustainable over the long term?  Do I have wise counselors and close male friendship to whom I can turn?  Am I building a godly marriage and family life?
6) Am I applying the gospel that I preach to others to myself as well?  Do I believe that through Christ, God is for me and not against me?
7) Where do I turn when I get discouraged?  Is Christ my functional hope and source of refreshment throughout the day?
8) Am I leaning on the power of the Holy Spirit?  Am I trusting God to do what is impossible through my own strength?

"All these practices of determination can only be done in conscious dependence upon the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).  A determined man is not a man who is simply driven by his will, but a man who is empowered by the Spirit."  Take a moment to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to encourage and strengthen you in the ministry to which God has called you."


MMMMMM....this is good.  I feel like I need to realign some things.  I so appreciate a good word in a needful time.  The Holy Spirit is allowing me to come across things that will help me succeed because He is the "paraclete" the HELPER!

- Stu

Canine Frustration

Ok, it has been a while but I woke up this morning with a very vivid thought.  I hate to say it, but I think it was the Lord.  The thought was:  "We protect our dogs better than our children."  The image was very ruff,  pun intended, so please excuse me if it comes across crude. 
  Many of us know that spring fever comes into play sometime about now, and we know that even nature claws to "do the natural" and when they do we are sure to make sure we protect our dogs and domesticated animals from roving the neighborhood while in "heat."
  I sensed this morning that we often do more for our dogs than we do our own children.  I was shocked going through the childrens "Gap" to find "Daisy Duke Shorts" for kids my Alexandra's age.  It made me so sick.  All I could think of was all the wicked influences of our modern and not so modern "grown ups".  I am not mad at the culture, I get it....people want to shake their thing and yada yada....  I also understand that it is going to continue that way.  Yet Church, we as fathers and mothers gotta do better.  We gotta protect our little girls better than that.  We gotta make sure when they get that lovin feelin all about middle school and even now a bit sooner, we have to make sure we don't let them roam around the neighborhood.  We have to make sure that we don't let those stray dogs come in and lay on our leather. 
  Come on, as I am writing I feel a bit more ticked.  I can't imagine all the frustration and agony the 16 year old daughter's dad has when he realizes the boy he "handed off" his daughter is doing the "do" in his own sedan.  Well, maybe we ought not be so quick to let our daughters off with boys who are in heat(all of them).  I could think nothing better than to let one of those stray dogs come in and prance with the big dog while he talks with the momma poodle and helps us do work around the house and eat with us as a family and maybe even leave right after dinner to go be with his "pack".  In it all he is supervised with baby chihuahua. 
 Feminists and moderns cringe when I write in this style, but to see those little girls all over the boys at the christian concert last night made me want to ask, where is the lead dog?  We will do better to start keeping a watch over our little pups, and that is just the little pup girls.  The boys?  We need to keep a leash on those bad boys.  Take em fishin, get em in sports, but be there to pick em up.  Don't just drop em off.  Expect them to be pure and make sure if they aren't going to be, at least make it be hard on them :)
   The travesty to me in it all is that we PROTECT our in heat dogs more than our spring fevered children.  And in it all we have been duped to believe we are protecting our dogs and making it hard on our kids.  Who is the lead dog here?  Let's get that pack mentality again and take care of these precious little ones.

-Stu

Rain On Us Lord

"When I'm dry and thirsty Lord, and I'm crying out for more, I know I can trust in Your love."  Lyrics from a contemporary psalm.  How often have you been dry?  Or another way of saying, how many times have the circumstances and burdens of life attracted your thoughts and attention over the loving care and affirmation of God?

How do we, "undry" ourselves?  We can't!  But as we continue to look to the Holy Spirit we can trust that God wants us to be wet, filled and brimming with expectant hope and joy with His presence!
  

¹⁹"Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;  ACTS 3:19

Sin squelches....grimes and bogs us down.  The presence of the Lord is a Holy presence.  The Lord is a refreshing God....He wants us to prosper and be filled with energetic praise, even in the difficult and ridiculous trials we face.  Psalm 23 is the most well known reminder of God's heart for us as His children:

    The LORD is my shepherd;
    I shall not want.
2    He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
    He leads me beside the still waters.
3    He restores my soul;
    He leads me in the paths of righteousness
    For His name's sake.
4    Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil;
    For You are with me;
    Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5    You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
    You anoint my head with oil;
    My cup runs over.
6    Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    All the days of my life;
    And I will dwell in the house of the LORD



I know that the underlines and the bolds and big fonts are way over the top, but come on....lets break this bad boy out of the Psalms and recognize, if God is all this to us, why is it so stinkin hard to prioritize time with Him in prayer and Bible study?  Busy, busy, distracted and doing stuff.  Wow.  The presence of the Lord is able to bring all this stuff in my life, that is what I am talking about.  I pray today that the PRESENCE OF THE LORD overtake you and bring you to a place of complete contentment!




Holy Spirit on a rampage to refresh the BRIDE!  - Stu

Baptized In The Spirit

It has been a week almost since the last post, and I can say that things are really picking up.  I have been blessed to celebrate my girls 9th birthday and get my other daughter kindergarten ready.   Soccer season is winding down and there is a lot of things vying for my time as usual.  It is so hard to prioritize, accept and reject things in life, but with this 10 week study on the Holy Spirit, I am once again getting back to basics.

In the picture in the post it shows a momentous occasion in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.  It is when at 30 years old, He was baptized by John.  The scripture reports that the Father opened the heavens and down descended a dove (The Holy Spirit) that rested on Christ as the Father speaks, "this is my Beloved Son."  Baptism of the Son, recognized by the Father and the sending forth of the Holy Spirit.  Wow, a power packed event for all time.  One of the few times we see Father, Son and Holy Spirit all in one show manifested in the earthly realm.  What it means for me is several things. 1) Without the Holy Spirit we have no power for ministry at all   I can't tell you I have always operated in the Spirit's power.  Many time my wife would say to me, "Stuart, you just ceased operating in the Spirit and started operating in the Stuart.  Operating in the Spirit means to have a heart of compassion and anointing.  Anointing as I understand it means ENABLING.  God makes us able for the task.  When it is impossible for man, nothing is impossible with God.  As I move forward looking to make an impact in the earth for Christ, I can rest in knowing that if He can, I can trust Him to, believe Him to, ask Him to, and watch Him perform!  2) If Jesus needed it, then I need it. Jesus was baptized in The Spirit, and it was the commencement of all His ministry.  After this scene we see the Spirit lead Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  We then see Jesus endure the temptation by the power of the Spirit and be led forth to minister to all in POWER.  If Jesus needed that event then I surely need it too!  3) The Holy Spirit is a gift.   This week we will be discussing about how the Holy Spirit is a gift.  If The Spirit is given to us by God for His divine purpose, how much more should we receive Him in fulness and with all joy and expectation.

My prayer this week is:   Lord help us to wait on you, to be filled in you with power and to receive you and love to fellowship with your sweet Holy Spirit.

Stu-

Fire!!!

 Some more thoughts from the sermon on Sunday: "The Holy Spirit" ( http://www.vimeo.com/oneeighty/videos) Because the Holy Spirit is invisible and intangible, there is a unique way that He manifests Himself to us in symbols.  Below I have listed the New Testament symbolic terms.  Each symbol deserves recognition and explanation,but for the purpose of keeping it simple and short, let me elaborate on one of these symbols, the Holy Spirit as fire.

New Testament Symbols Referencing The Holy Spirit

• Wind
• Water
• Dove
• Seal
• Oil
• FIRE

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Matthew 3:11

“The chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.  Matthew 3:12

“And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”  Acts 2:3-4

“The baptism with the Spirit is closely conjoined with fire.  And this fire, as the succeeding statements suggest, deals with the consuming of evil;  The spirit of burning, likely symbolizes the Spirit of God in His role of fire cleansing away evil.”   Williams, Renewal Theology

Following up on the preaching Sunday, I was encouraged by so many people ready to pray in response to the word.  I found that as I prayed for people the theme was constant...."I am so ready to be free from this" or "I truly need to start doing this and can't seem to do it."  Upon hearing all the requests for prayer, I was able to confidently lay hands on each person and say to them purposefully, THE HOLY SPIRIT WANTS TO HELP!!!  He is a FIRE.  He will burn off the chaff.  He is the Helper.  When we find ourselves in deadly cycles and generational sins, we find that it is only God who can make the change for us.  Each believer that I prayed for simply needs to connect with this great Helper so that He can burn that stuff up.  That stuff is.... lack of motivation, meanness to children, lack of diligence in financial management, continuing to run into sins of destruction.  It is ANYTHING that is creating havoc on your spiritual advancement WITH GOD!  The Helper is with us believers!  He is the ONE who makes the difference.  Today, if you call on Him, I trust He will HELP YOU!!!


FIRE!

THE

I have been studying and preparing a sermon series on The Holy Spirit.  There is so much to say about the 3rd person in the Trinity/Godhead.  So much so that I am about to give 10 weeks or so to just dig and search for more and more about this wonderful Helper that Jesus has left with us in the earth since His ascension.  Sunday I shared a thought from J. Rodman Williams in his book, Renewal Theology about the article "the" on the front of the Holy Spirit's name.  Sometimes preachers can get a little overboard with the greek renderings and all the nuances about interpretations, but I was overwhelmed by the simplicity and power of the article, "the" in the name of God's third person.   Rodman writes:

"The article “the” speaks quite simply of singularity and uniqueness.  There are many ‘spirits’- angels, demons, even human (the spirit in man) but there is only “one Spirit” (1 Cor.12:13).  Other spirits are called holy, such as the ‘holy angels’ (Mark 8:38), who are ‘ministering spirits” (Hebrews 1:14) But no such holy spirit is ‘the Holy Spirit.’  Christians have sanctified spirits that someday will be spirits perfected in holiness- hence ‘holy spirits.’  But we will never be ’the Holy Spirit.’  ‘The Holy Spirit’ is the source of all freedom and energy, the quintessence of all righteousness and purity: there can be no other.” Pg 139.

How bout the God that we serve is the ONLY God!  The ONLY Holy Spirit.  There may be many "spirits", but there will only be one THE!  HA!  I am humbled at the magnificent greatness of God the Holy Spirit.

Let's get to know Him better today!- Stu

The Whole Gospel not the Hole Gospel

Had a great week of anticipation this week.  At 180 we are delving into a 10 week study on the Holy Spirit.  I tell you, last night we studied the name and nature of The Holy Spirit.  I was blessed to see how God is stirring people up in their hearts for more of Him.

I am so excited to see God move in His power.  The timing for this word is right on I feel.  My prayers are for all of us to grow in our relationship with God through His Holy Spirit.  That is a sweet thing.

Was a bit disappointed this weekend as we were looking to baptize two teenage girls this Sunday in the ocean.  Last week I preached to them after the service was over.  They came up for prayer because they were moved in their heart to better understand God.  They "wanted" God, but did not know what that meant.  So I was so blessed to preach the "Whole Gospel" not the "Hole Gospel" to them.  What I mean is this....I fear the church is filled with people today who have been duped with the Hole Gospel.  The Gospel with a Hole in it.  This Gospel is the one that says, "God loves you", and "God wants to make your life better."  It treats Heaven as a fire insurance plan, so that one can go on living the way they are and that they can still receive the benefits of all that God has for His children.  Although these premises are partly true, and I say partly because there is a big missing piece in this presentation.  There is a Hole in this gospel.  The hole is that there is no need for repentance for sin.

I suggest that we ought to be a church on Sunday with our hands raised up high worshiping with all our hearts, sweating under our arms and shouting chants of praise.  Much like a Jesus Culture concert, or even Michael W. Smith or something of the like that.  You cannot "produce" that type of response to Christ unless you stir up emotional frenzy, but it is not authentic.  But a people who have been hell bound and recognize their need for forgiveness truly are willing to enter into an atmosphere of praise and worship that is full on submitted to Christ as the center of the show.  He is worthy of a hoop and holler!  Even more than that He is worthy of a life being laid down and sacrificed for His purposes and no longer our own.  And also, that type of worship spills out of worship services on Sunday to radical and totally submitted lives to Christ.

So how do we preach this "Whole Gospel" we have to preach the portion about our response to what God has done.  A simple altar call and leading someone in the prayer of salvation is not going to cut it.  As I led these girls to the cross last week, I needed to explain about sin.  I had to go to Adam and Eve.  I had to share about how they missed the mark.  Sin entered in the world and it literally through the relationship with God out of the window.  I explained how we have been born "INTO" sin because our world is now tainted and separated from God.  I explained about the nation Israel and how they need to have priests to shed blood from the animals to cover their sin.  I shared then that is why Jesus died.  It wasn't because He just wanted to go to the cross.  It was because He became the LAST SACRIFICE for their sins.  And I explained if they could be down with that, then they were not far from salvation and the benefits of God, including being snatched from eternal hellfire and torment to receiving the blessed assurance of a good conscience towards God and becoming citizens of Heaven and aliens of this world.  Not to mention receiving the seal of the Holy Spirit to guide and protect them in all truth! 

What I did next was the part that is often missing in the gospel....it is the "hole".  I asked them to acknowledge their sins and repent (turn from/stop) from them.  Going  back to the authentic worship example above...the church is riddled with unrepentant sinners who want to believe that their souls are saved, but I fear, if that was not the case, we would see a lot more freedom in the body of Christ as well as victory.  Instead the church is filled with depressed, anxious and fearful souls. Christ's gospel does not produce this type of follower.  I explained how we need to make inventory of our lives and then turn from every evil deed.  In Acts 19:19 we see how a new believer responds to sinful lifestyles, we read of those practicing sorcery responded to the preaching of the gospel immediately repented of their sins with ACTION:

"19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver.20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. "

WOW!  So what happened with those 2 girls?  They did not show up to the baptism.  My heart is grieved over that.  I know there is hope for them.  On one front I greatly respect them for not going through baptism as half hearted and unrepentant as scores of "believers" do.  But I must not fault them, but us as leaders for preaching an "incomplete gospel."  On the other hand, I am honestly saddened to the fact that these girls still stand in the desperate waters of separation from God.  Please pray for these two precious souls that they may be washed in the blood of the perfect blood of Christ.  And lets remember to "preach the WHOLE Gospel!"

Peace,- Stu

The GREATER PRINCIPLE

In John's 1st Epistle chapter 3, it is written that Christians ought love one another.

"10    In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous.  13    Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16    By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?"

Here I see that God puts the fact out there that if we are to be His children we are to love each other.  I have heard over and over and over from certain people that they can't be in community groups or church cause all the people are like this or like that.  They come sporadically then realize that they struggle to connect.  I am finding that it is easy to throw stones over God's people.  They are struggling with sin, they are often a messed up bunch.  One ironic thing is that the beat against God's Bride is that they are all hypocrites. One is only a hypocrite if they announce they are someone that they truly are not.  Christians are forgiven not perfect, a distinction true hypocrites do not understand.  

There is a "GREATER PRINCIPLE" I have learned in parenting that applies to the church of God and the people in it.  This principle is not in the fact that someone is right or wrong...but that they are part of a family.   Let me explain:

If one of my kids eats the other kids candy it is wrong.  The other kid looks to me and says look what happens.  I tell the thieving child that they were wrong.  I may discipline them.  Usually I do not go out and buy them new candy.  It is unfortunate.  So the Greater Principle means, we don't always get back something.  But we are always in a family.  One of my kids wants to sing in the car....the other wants quiet.  You cannot have both.  But the GREATER PRINCIPLE is we remain a family.  My kids do love one another.  They are just immature.  And for that matter, I get on their nerves a good bunch.  The point is that the GREATER PRINCIPLE over-arches the inconsistency of personalities.  My son wants to hang out with this friend, my daughter this activity...but at some point we REMAIN family.

I think the greatest challenge we have as a church with all the incompleteness and frailty of humanity, is to love each other and DESIRE to be together and walk through this broken life until we become glorified.

To love the brethren means to be saved and it is a true mark of being a follower of Jesus.  Let's examine how we see each other (brethren) and kick the devil in the teeth by walking in the GREATER PRINCIPLE. 

Sweet Holy Spirit

Sunday was a special time for me as a pastor.  It has been a long time in a Sunday service since I have seen the Lord move like yesterday. 

We were having the worship service like we usually do, welcoming, cafe and then moving into worship time.  Worship was sweet.  We ended on a song that talks about how much we love the presence of God.  As I began to sing I just wanted more and more to really experience God's presence.  For me, and I am just like many of you in that many days are totally "normal".  No spiritual highs, just chuggin through the day.  But this song reminded me of how we should be hungering and thirsting for the presence of God.  I know that there are times when I feel that the Lord is "thick" around me.  I sense a reverential respect and awe as my spiritual senses are heightened by His nearness.  Often times this will cause me to just cry tears of gratitude of all that He is to me, all that He has brought me through.  I just simply longed for Him like that Sunday.  When it was time for me to preach, I felt like I just could not enter into that presence.  I felt like I just wanted to sit in that song until we had a breakthrough.  A breakthrough to more of His presence in our midst.

I released the youth to go with their teacher and began to preach a pretty straight forward message about this season being the season between Jesus' resurrection and ascension.  How for 40 days he showed himself to many, many people in the earth.  It was during this time that He promised to send "The Promise"- the Holy Spirit.  We discussed the mystery of the triune nature of God, how God is Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  This mystery, a bit much to be grasped was the majority of our discussion.  Then we moved onto looking ahead to the ascension.  Christ offered the disciples, something better.  He said in the gospel of John that it was "to your advantage that I go away."  In other words, the Holy Spirit would now empower every believer after Christ's ascension.  Closing the service I mentioned that we were going to spend a few weeks on discussing the nature of the Holy Spirit and what He means to us now as believers.   I shared how He brings us power, comforts us and leads us into ALL truth.

 Simply said, I offered up a simple call to the altar to anyone who would like this relationship with God, the Holy Spirit.  But I reminded them that they had to come through Christ to experience this life transformative relationship with the Spirit.  Two teenage girls came forward and I had the privilege of leading them to Christ. Just this next Sunday, we will be baptizing them in their new faith walk with Jesus right in front of the Sea Mist resort in the chilly Atlantic.  I am already thinking of all the obstacles that will be in front of them...wanting to help prepare the way for them to run the race with victory.  I am so ready to get some ladies around them willing to help disciple them in their faith.  What amazes me most about yesterday, that confounds me is that honestly, I think it might have been a sermon that I struggled through the most.  I felt like I just couldn't go where I was supposed to go, like there was some hindrances.  Yet the Spirit of God, worked in the midst of that.  I am reminded that the simplicity of the gospel has power.  And that power is connected to the sweet working of the Holy Spirit.  I am reminded that God brought those young girls to church (one had never come to church before in her life).  And He knew just when they needed to come and what they needed to hear.  I am excited to study the Holy Spirit closer in the weeks ahead.  Be praying for us, I sense the Spirit will be moving more and more with us like this in these last days.


Peace,

Stuart