Last Night's Slides...

As promised, the slides from last night's VISION 2010:

Going to be Sick!

We have an awesome series starting next Thursday here at theTURN - February is going to be great! It will be a teaching series that I will spend lots of time re-examining our foundations in the faith. If you want to grow, you better get yourself here - that is all I am saying!

“Essential Ingredients: the ABC’s of Christian Living” – college and 20-somethings

Consider this: the few simple exercises done in elementary school are the foundation that all future learning—and all future success—is built on. The same is true of your Christian life. If your spiritual building blocks are firmly in place, you have a strong foundation to support your future growth and withstand even the worst of life’s pressures. Join theTURN all month long as we anchor our lives to God’s essential ingredients!

You don't want to miss a single night! Stay consistent and receive all that God has for you!

pcraig

Will You Be a Part?

You do not want to miss this Friday night here at theTURN! I can promise you that.

We invite you to join us this Friday, Jan 29th starting at 10pm for a night of prayer. We will gather at theTURN and pray from 10pm Friday night til 6am Saturday morning. Join us as we pray over our friends, ourselves, our community, and our world.

We have some very creative and interactive means of prayer that we will employ throughout the night. I can assure you that you have not attended a prayer meeting quite like this before! We will have corporate prayer, individual prayer, and even prayer stations for you take solitary moments to reflect on different areas of your life.

Bring your bible, a pen, and maybe even a blanket or towel if you so desire to use to kneel.

Some Scriptures to start mulling over:

2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Romans 8:26 NIV

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”

James 5:16 NIV

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

See you Thursday & Friday night!

pcraig

Guest Blogger: Do You YEARN for God?

During this fast I have been listening to a song every morning that is simultaneously crushing yet encouraging my heart….sounds like a spiritual paradox doesn’t it?

It’s the song “Yearn” by Shane & Shane. If you haven’t heard it before, I’d like to encourage you to listen to it before the end of the fast.

It’s a simple prayer that merely says, “Lord I want to yearn for you. I want to burn with passion over you....and only you...Lord I want to yearn”.

Sure, we’ll joyfully enter into a time of passionate worship and prayer on a Sunday morning when the worship team is singing the right song, and even on a Wednesday night. Or how about on the days when the Sun rises precisely when we’d like it to and we wake up on the “right side of the bed”? It’s slightly easier to enter into a moment of selfless worship unto our God when the moments and situations are right, isn’t it? But what about the days when it seems as though our stomachs are screaming at us because of the fast; maybe you’re somewhat discouraged because you’re not having the experience you’d hoped for during this fast; or maybe nothing is necessarily wrong, we’re merely not in the mood to worship...

My very simple question to you is this: “Do you YEARN for the living God?

The initial and immediate answer to that simplistic question is, “Of course I do!”

But do we truly YEARN for our God?...

During this fast I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the Psalms, and as I do I attempt to think as David thought. “As a deer pant and thirsts for streams of water, so my soul longs for you O God. My soul thirsts for God. The living God. When can I go and meet with God? (Psalms 42:1-2)”

I don’t question for a moment that we all love to enter into the presence of God with passionate worship…..but do we yearn for Him? Are we ok with not taking time out of our day to sit down with the living God? Are we truly ok with waiting until a Sunday morning or Wednesday night to step into His presence? I’m not talking about the moments when you’re day has lacked any and all enjoyable moments and you hear that perfect song that just warms your heart as you lift up your hands in worship and thank God!

…Do we YEARN for God?”

One thing I’ve come to realize during the fast is this: A true yearning for God knows no past, or present circumstance. That’s not implying that those circumstances are non-existent, it merely implies that no circumstance will have a hindrance on the praise I give my God. The increase/decrease of the intensity or severity of our circumstances should have no affect to the intensity of our worship unto God.

I believe a wonderful example of that type of yearning and worship is displayed in Job 1:20-21:

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised

Do we yearn for God?

My prayer not only for myself, but for you as well, is that we would develop a craving for God beyond what we thought was possible; that our hearts would ache until we have encountered God....that in the midst of difficult times – whether big or small - our yearning for Almighty God would stir up a zeal and passion that would cause us to cry out in utter worship at all times – regardless of our circumstances.

God give us a yearning for you. Burn within us a passion that can never be subsided. God, that we would not become complacent or content in our relationship with you, but that ever day we would seek to chase after you with more passion and zeal than the day before. Let our yearning for you overflow out of our hearts and into the lives of others.

Pastor Blake Hamon

Sermon on the Mount: the Radical Choice

13"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. 15"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” 21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' 24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." – Matthew 7:13-23

Jesus sets before us, in the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, the radical choice between obedience and disobedience. Not, of course, that we can be saved by our obedience but that, if we have truly been saved, we will show it by our obedience.

Firstly, Jesus warns us of the danger of a merely verbal profession (vv.21-23). To be sure, a verbal profession is essential. “Jesus is Lord” is the earliest, shortest, simplest of all Christian creeds. But if it is not accompanied by personal submission to the lordsip of Jesus, it is useless. We may even hear on the last day the terrible words of Jesus: “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers” (v.23).

Secondly, Jesus warns us of the danger of a merely intellectual knowledge. Whereas the contrast in verses 21-23 was between saying and doing, the contrast now is between hearing and doing (vv.24-27). Jesus then illustrates it by his well-known parable of the two builders. It features a wise man who constructed his house on rock and a fool who could not be bothered with foundations and built his house on sand. As both got on with their building, a casual observer would not have noticed any difference between them, for the difference was in the foundations, and foundations are not seen. Only when a storm broke and battered both houses with great ferocity was the fatal difference revealed. In the same way, professing Christians (both the genuine and spurious) look alike, Both appear to be building Christian lives. Both hear Christ’s words. They go to church, read the Bible, and listen to sermons. But the deep foundations of their lives are hidden from view. Only the storm of adversity in this life and the storm of judgment on the last day will reveal who they are.

The Sermon on the Mount ends on the solemn note of radical choice. There are only two ways (narrow and broad) and only two foundations (rock and sand). On which road are you traveling? On which foundation are you building? (adapted from John Stott)

When studying this passage, I noticed something very interesting. The Greek word poieo, which means “to do” occurs 11 times in Matthew 7. The verses are below. The words the NRSV uses to translate poieo are in boldface.

7:12 In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.

7:17-19 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

7:21-22 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?'

7:24 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.

7:26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

In all but one of these cases (7:22 - aorist), the verb is in the present tense. This implies continuous or repeated actions. This is very unique. The present always implies continued action.

This suggests that the "doing" is more of a way of life rather than an isolated deed. The "isolated deed" (aorist tense) occurrence is when those seeking to enter the kingdom tell the Lord about the many deeds of power they had done. They look back to what they had done sometime in the past (prophesied, cast out, and did).

Modern Day Application: All of us need to look at what we are doing now; not what we might have done, e.g., attended Sunday school class with a long string of perfect attendance pins, endured discipleship classes, went to church camps, etc. A critique I've had of many personal testimonies and the way many people talk about their churches, is that they are centered on something God did for/through them in the past. What is God doing now? How is God involved in you life of faith now? How are you living now? What things are you doing now in your Christian walk?

See you Thursday night!

pcraig

Message Slides

Message slides from last night - in the process of getting the podcast ready right now. We will keep you updated!

Praying with Scripture

“He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day.” -John Bunyan

I felt it was appropriate during this intense time of prayer and fasting at theTURN for me to give some very practical and tangible ways to pray. I practice these myself, and I think it will be helpful to you as well if you give them a try. Today I want to share with you about praying with Scripture. Try it out.

God Speaks To Us First

This fundamental truth makes it possible for us to pray. God has been concerned for each of us long before we became concerned for ourselves.

God desires communication with us and does so in many different ways:

• through God's own word made flesh in Jesus;
• because we are joined together in Christ Jesus, God speaks to us through others (the church, wisdom of the ages, etc.);
• creation took place in the Word (Jn 1:1) and is another form of God's self-revelation;
• through the events and experiences of our lives;
• through the scriptures, a real form of God's presence.

The use of scripture in prayer is the mode of communication that we are concerned with in this exercise. Since God invites us to listen, our response to God's initial move is to listen to what is said. This is the basic attitude of prayer.

How To Go About Listening
What you do immediately before prayer is very important. Normally, it is something you do not rush right into. Spend a few moments quieting yourself and relaxing, settling yourself into a prayerful and comfortable position. In listening to anyone, you try to tune out everything except what the person is saying to you.

In prayer this can be done best in silence and solitude. Select a short passage from scripture. Read it through a few times to familiarize yourself with it. Put a marker in the page. Try to find a quiet place where you can be alone and uninhibited in your response to God's presence. Try to quiet yourself interiorly. Remember as we talked about, Jesus would often go up to a mountain alone to pray with his Abba. In an age of noise, activity, and tensions like our own, it is not always easy or necessary to forget our cares and commitments, the noise and excitement of our environment. Never feel constrained to blot out all distractions. Anxiety in this regard could get between ourselves and God.

Sometimes in preparing for prayer, relax and listen to the sounds around you. God's presence is as real as they are. Be conscious of your sensations and living experiences of feeling, thinking, hoping, loving, wondering, desiring, etc. Then, conscious of God's unselfish, loving presence in you, address God simply and admit that you are helpless and in need of Him.

God is present in you through the Spirit, who speaks to you now in scripture, and who prays in you and for you. Ask for the grace to listen to what God says. Begin reading Scripture slowly and attentively. Do not hurry to cover much material.

If it recounts an event of Jesus' life, be there in the mystery of it. Share with the persons involved, e.g., a blind man being cured. Share their attitude. Respond to what Jesus is saying. Some words or phrases carry special meaning for you. Savor those words, turning them over in your heart.

When something strikes you, e.g.,

• you feel a new way of being with Jesus or he comes to you in a new way ( e.g., as healing or accepting you in a way different than other times);
• you are happy and content just to be in God's presence;
• you are struggling with or disturbed by what the words are saying;
• you experience new meaning;
• you are moved to do something loving.

This is the time to …pause.

This is God speaking directly to you in the words of Scripture.

• Do not hurry to move on.
• Wait until you are no longer moved by the experience. Don't get discouraged if nothing seems to be happening. Sometimes God lets us feel dry and empty in order to let us realize it is not in our own power to communicate or to experience consolation. God is sometimes very close to us in seeming absence (Ps 139:7-8). God is for us entirely, in a selfless way, accepting us as we are, with all our limitations -- even with our seeming inability to pray. A humble attitude of listening is a sign of love for God, and a real prayer from the heart. At these times remember the words of Paul, "The Spirit, too, comes to help us in our weakness, for when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, it is the Spirit who expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words" (Rom 8:26-27).

Relax in prayer. Remember, God will speak to you in God's own way. "Yes, as the rain and snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do" (Is 55:10-11).

Spend time in your prayer just being conscious of God's presence in and around you. If you want to, speak about the things you are interested in or wish to thank God for, your joys, sorrows, aspirations, and so forth. (Adapted from Armand Nigro)

What's most important? That you are indeed praying during this FAST!

pcraig

Guest Blogger: A Fast to Remember!

Well day ten is here and we are all approaching the mid point of the fast. By now many of us have hit the sweet spot, and we are now more focused on hearing from the Lord rather than not giving in on our stomachs. I know personally this is the time for me when I truly begin to grow in the fast.

One thing that a fast quickly teaches us is our utter dependence on God to sustain us not only through these 21 days but also for the other 344 days of the year. While reviewing some of my old devotional readings I came across a scripture in Leviticus that changed the way I was fasting.

Leviticus 16 contains the instructions for the Jewish ceremony known as the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur. This was the day in which Aaron would go before the Lord in the tabernacle, and make atonement for all of the sins of the Israelites. While reading the instructions commanded from God I came upon verse 31, It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute forever. The phrase afflict your souls stood out to me and I soon realized that God had demanded the Israelites call a fast on the day they were to have their sins cleansed and atoned for. In the Psalms David also caught hold of this when he wrote that he would afflict himself with a fast. Instantly I began thinking about all of the things I was fasting for and soon realized that I had forgotten that above all the things I was fasting for God had already granted me the greatest blessing of all…. forgiveness.

It is easy during this time to begin to get focused only on the blessings that we seek after during these 21 days. Jesus warns us of this when in Matthew chapter six He said, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” I was quickly reminded that even if the Lord chose never to do another thing for me again I would still be blessed beyond measure due to the atonement Christ made for me on the Cross. I know and believe that God uses fasting to bring great blessings in our lives, and I am believing for some personally, but He also uses it so that we shall never forget what was accomplished for us on our Day of Atonement over 2000 years ago.

So as a mini challenge inside this already challenging fast; I ask you to take one of these twenty one days and focus on the sacrifice paid by Christ for you. I know personally this often has been a source of great joy in my life during the fast. Yes, I am humbled and dismayed by my sin, but I also have an overwhelming peace and joy knowing that Christ has dealt with my sin once and for all. Now I can walk in confidence knowing that God has declared me righteous through his sacrifice!

Keep on keepin' on!

Pastor Jeremy

ALL NIGHT PRAYER!

As you all heard on Thursday night - we do indeed have a huge announcement:

We are having our first-ever ALL NIGHT PRAYER service coming up in just two weeks!

Join me on Friday, January 29 (one night after VISION 2010) for a night of power, prayer, and passion. It will be day 19 of the fast, and there is no telling what will happen when we come together and seek His face!

I will be leading the night for the 8 hours of prayer - the night will include corporate prayer, individual prayer, and even prayer stations! It will be unlike anything you have ever been apart of before - you can't afford to miss it! I am asking that you join with me in fasting, reading the Word, and prayer for this whole month of January! 2010 will prove to be the greatest year we've seen, and we need you to step up to the plate in leadership.

It is time that college aged students arise to their leadership potential in this world! At ALL NIGHT PRAYER we are going to implore of Him to use us in our generation.

The call has been made. Will you be a part?

See you on Thursday night - got such a fresh word for you all! Bring everyone you know...

pcraig

A New Evangelistic Methodology

Today's thought from our "New Thru 30" Challenge:

"Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 5:19

Read this the other day. New thought. The chronology of the two verbs "does" and "teaches" are all too significant. "Doing" the commandments must always precede "teaching" those commandments.

But what are some of the commandments Jesus is talking about here? Go back 3 verses.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." - Matthew 5:16

That is a commandment. As a disciple, student, and follower, Jesus calls me to allow the glory of God to shine bright in my life. Why? So others might see and praise the God whom is allowing His light to be made manifest in my life.

But verse 19 says I must first "do" the commandment before I "teach" the commandment. I am afraid we have too many people preaching and teaching the commands that they themselves have never obeyed.

New Evangelistic Methodology: let your light so shine brightly long before you encourage or teach others to be a witness.

"We modern Christians are long on talk and short on conduct." AW Tozer

Reaching,

pcraig

Public Comes out of Private

I was getting ahead last night in our "New Thru 30" Challenge, and God is already speaking! This jumped off of the page at me:

"Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops." - Matthew 10:27

Principle: All public witness flows out of the private time one has with the Lord.

What better time to realize this principle than when fasting and reading? I sure hope each of you have started this journey with us through the NT in 30 days! If you have not yet started, start today! It is the first day in this journey - you can find the reading guide above.

If you want daily updates about theTURN, the FAST, and this challenge - be sure to follow theTURN on twitter by texting "follow craigmosgrove" to 40404! I am sure there will be lots of personal thoughts and devotions over these next 30 days.

Each day, I will share raw thoughts about what I have gained while sprinting through the New Testament with you. This blog will be a source of encouragement and strength to you while you fast and discipline yourself.

So take the words of Jesus in Matthew 10 and seek to experience more of Him in secret. As our pastor said yesterday, "Secret seeking produces public reward." You want to increase your effectiveness in witnessing? Let Him speak to you in the dark so you can share it in the light. Allow Him to speak into your ear so you can share His words from the housetops!

There is no telling what is about to happen in our lives!

It's always an honor.

pcraig