Run to Win

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin, which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

So here you sit in the Gwinnett Arena for FORWARD conference 2010, and whether this is your first FORWARD conference or your 6th FORWARD conference an amazing opportunity stands before you. An opportunity to do something that will forever change your life, and the lives of everyone that you know. Hebrews 12:1 tells us that every single one of us has a race that God has set before us.

Think about it, the God of creation, the one who spoke the entire universe into existence has a specific race set aside for you. He created everything that you see around you; from the tiniest microorganism to the largest star in the galaxy, God stood on the day of creation and spoke them into being. That same God from the beginning of time has set a course specifically laid out for you to run! He has custom designed the course based specifically on the gifts and abilities that he has placed inside of you! In order for us to run the race to its end Hebrews 12:1 tells us we have to do things…

“Lay aside every encumbrance and the sin, which so easy entangles us…” First, we have to lay aside every encumbrance. An encumbrance is anything that keeps us from progressing on the racetrack God has us on. The thing to keep in mind is that encumbrances often times are not sins. Than means anything, whether it be a relationship, hobbies, or over-commitment, anything that constantly keeps your from spending time with God is slowing down your pace towards God. Maybe you need to simplify your life, whatever it takes make time for God lay aside all the distractions in your life!

Secondly, we see that we get rid of “the sin, which so easily entangles us.” Notice the writer didn’t say the sins (plural) but rather the ONE SIN that will always trip us up…DOUBT. The minute we begin to doubt what God has called us to do we begin to lose sight of the race that has been set before us. When we stumble and fall, the enemy will tell us that we are not worthy enough to do what God has called us to do. We have to believe what God has said about us and keep running towards the goal!

So what will you do at FORWARD conference 2010? Will you step up the starting block? Will you run FORWARD, not looking back running with everything you have? This is the race that is set before you? If you do God promises that your life and this world will never be the same.

Pastor Jeremy DeBord

This Thursday Night

So we begin a brand new series this Thursday night! Really excited about what God is going to share with us throughout this month!

Check out the series verbiage:

“Sinners in the Summertime” – college and 20-somethings

It never fails. The temptation to blaringly disobey God seems to rise for students every time school lets out. Sin seems to be at an all time high in the lives of young adults during the summer months. But what do you do when you sin? Do you run away from God or run to Him? Through this series, your eyes will be opened to the center point of the Gospel – a truth that is tremendously simple yet incredibly profound.

Join us this Thursday night for part one of this- it will be a July to remember!

pcraig

Your Favorite Part?

Alright, so lay it on here thick.

What was your favorite part of FORWARD this weekend? Give us some details of what God did in your life? What was most inspirational to you?

How will your life be different?

Looking forward to reading the responses!

pc

Unexpected Crosses

Pastor preached a brilliant message tonight at Forward. I wanted to simply remind us:

Are we willing to take up our cross? Don't ever forget what that meant for the disciples!

And it was that moment. It was that moment that he captured in that painting of The Last Supper when He revealed the hypocrite, the betrayer. And He said, “One of you will betray Me. And they all turned and said, “Lord, is it I? Lord, is it I”?

The price that they paid to eat that meal – I want you to remember the price that they paid to eat this meal. It cost them their lives to eat of the Lord’s Supper.

Simon the Zealot was crucified like Jesus with nails in his hands and nails in his feet.

Thaddeus died on a cross at Odessa.

Matthew was martyred at Ethopus. He was slain with a pickaxe.

Philip was scourged and imprisoned and afterwards he was crucified.

Thomas was murdered by an enraged idol priest and thrust through with a spear.

John the Baptist was boiled in a pot of hot oil and somehow survived it and was exiled to the Isle of Patmos.

Simon Peter was slain by Nero and hanged upside down; his wife was crucified with him.

Judas betrayed our Lord and hung himself.

Andrew was crucified on an “X” shaped cross.

James the lesser was stoned and then he was beaten to death with a fuller’s club which is a hammer used to groove iron.

Nathaniel was filleted alive and crucified with his head facing downward.

That’s the price they paid! That’s the price they paid to eat the meal that you and I take. But by far the greatest price that was paid was the Man in the middle of the table Jesus, the Son of God, for they took Him to the cross and they nailed Him to it. He bled His life away for every sinner, for every person who is lost.

Thankful,

pcraig

Called to Make Disciples Not Dependents

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” - Matthew 28:18-20

It’s the Great Commission. Of course we know it. God has called us as youth pastors to make disciples. But is that what we are doing?

Over the past few years, I have noticed a trend. It never fails to happen; I will see a young leader get a promotion within the church and then immediately watch that young leader’s program die. Should the pastor have taken the promotion? Of course, if that is the will of God. But why does the ministry die so quickly?

In fact, this is the pattern all across the country. You will see a young, energetic youth pastor come into a church to serve, the youth ministry will grow, only to have the youth pastor leave, and then the ministry will die again. Why is that?

Simple: We, the youth pastors, have raised up dependents, not disciples.

We must never forget that our students’ capacity to achieve is directly determined by our ability to empower other leaders. Therefore, we, the pastors, must make sure to never place ourselves as the full anchors of the ministry we serve. No single pastor can give adequate pastoral care to more than about 100 people. This is why churches stay small. Some pastors never understand that for their ministry to grow, they must give the ministry away. A pastor must learn to empower other growing leaders. And those leaders must become the anchors of our ministry. We must never enable the students we serve to become dependent upon us. We are not called to make dependents; we are called to make disciples.

For my world here at theTURN, our small group leaders are becoming the anchors. The only thing that is consistent in the life of every young adult at theTURN is the same small group leader with the same group of students. So it can’t be about us – it must be about our leaders or else our ministries will never outlive us.

Remember that in order for your students to grow, they must be a part of something growing. The same is true for your leaders. In order for them to grow, they must be under a growing pastor. Growing Christians grow Christians.

So what are you doing to grow and empower your leaders? Has your ministry outlived you in the past? Let’s raise up some empowered disciples; it’s simply what we are called to do!

Empowering together....

pcraig

Week 14 - "Lord Jesus, I Give You My Body"

Today, we begin part two of this great prayer. We are on week fourteen this week!

Chilcote took this prayer that is divided into four roughly equal parts and provided a theme for each section:
Part 1: Who is God to me? (first paragraph of prayer)
Part 2: What can I give to and ask of God? (second)
Part 3: How does God shape my life? (third)
Part 4: How do I live as a disciple of Christ? (fourth)

Today, we start with part two from Chilcote.

Scripture

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Meditation

God created human beings as a miraculous synergy of body, soul, and spirit. Unlike dualists at that time (as well as today) who divorced material and spiritual things, they valued both. No act demonstrated the value God places on our bodies and material existence more than the Incarnation. The word literally means “in-fleshed.” God “got” physical in Christ Jesus. God embraces creation in the most radical way imaginable. A handmaiden’s son “em-bodies” God. And in his earthly ministry, Jesus spends much of his time healing, feeding, even resurrecting bodies from death. He offers his body for the life of the world and Paul refers to the community birthed by the Spirit as the body of Christ.

In a culture obsessed with the body, we do well to remember that the body is not something to be worshiped, but neither is something to be denigrated. Our identity as the children of God derives from our good bodies as much as it does from our good souls. The body, as Paul taught the Corinthians, is a temple of the Holy Spirit – a sacred place in which God dwells. Charles Wesley frequently observed that we worship God with both our physical and our spiritual being. We glorify God in our body as well as our spirit since both belong to God.

Prayer

Gracious Lord, who created us as a unity of body, soul, and spirit: keep me outwardly in my body and inwardly in my soul and spirit, that I may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body and from all evil which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ. Amen.

As a recap if you would like to read it, here is the great prayer from Elizabeth Rhodes:

"Grant me, gracious Lord, a pure intention of heart, and a steadfast regard to your glory in all my actions. Possess my mind continually with your presence, and fill it with your love, that my whole delight may be to repose in the arms of your protection. Be light to my eyes, music to my ears, sweetness to my taste, and full contentment to my heart. Be my sunshine in the day, my food at the table, my repose in the night, my clothing in company, my succor in all necessities.
Lord Jesus, I give you my body, my soul, my substance, my fame, my friends, my liberty, and my life. Dispose of me, and all that is mine, as seems best to you, and to the glory of your blessed name. I am not my own, but yours; therefore claim me as your right, keep me as your charge, and love me as your child. Fight for me when I am assailed, heal me when I am wounded, and revive me when I am destroyed.
My Lord and my God, I ask you to give me patience in troubles, humility in comforts, constancy in temptations, and victory over all my ghostly enemies. Grant me sorrow for my sins, thankfulness for my benefits, fear of your judgments, love of your mercies, and mindfulness of your presence for evermore. Make me humble to my superiors and friendly to my equals, ready to please all and loathe to offend any; loving to my friends and charitable to my enemies. Give me modesty in my countenance, gravity in my behavior, deliberation in my speech, holiness in my thoughts, and righteousness in all my actions. Let your mercy cleanse me from my sins, and your grace bring forth in me the fruits of everlasting life.
Lord, let me be obedient without arguing, humble without feigning, patient without grudging, pure without corruption, mercy without lightness, sad without mistrust, sober without dullness, true without duplicity, fearing you without desperation, and trusting you without presumption. Let me joyful for nothing but that which pleases you, and sorrowful for nothing but what displeases you: that labor be my delight which is for you, and let all weary me that is not in you. Give me a waking spirit, and a diligent soul, that I may seek to know your will, and when I know it may I perform it faithfully to the honor and glory of your ever blessed name. Amen."

Part Fifteen coming next Monday...
pcraig

Yea I Know You Can't Be Used By God

The Lord knows very well that you cannot change your own heart and cannot replace your old nature. However, He also knows that He can do both! He can cause the Ethiopian to change his skin and the leopard his spots (Jeremiah 13:23). He CAN create you a second time! He can cause you to be born again. This is a miracle of grace that the Holy Spirit performs.

It would be incredible if a person could stand at the foot of Niagara Falls and speak a word that would make the Niagara River begin to run upstream and leap up that great precipice over which it now rolls down with outlandish force. Nothing but the power of God could achieve something like that. Yet that would be a perfect parallel to what takes place when the course of your whole nature is altogether reversed! You are stinkin' miracle - there is no other way to say it.

It's not about your ability to serve Him, it all began and ends with His grace and your availability to be used by Him!

The next time you feel like GOD can't use YOU, just remember...

· Noah was a drunk

· Abraham was too old

· Isaac was a daydreamer

· Jacob was a liar

· Leah was ugly

· Joseph was abused

· Moses had a stuttering problem

· Gideon was afraid

· Sampson had long hair and was a womanizer

· Rahab was a prostitute

· Jeremiah and Timothy were too young

· David had an affair and was a murderer

· Elijah was suicidal

· Isaiah preached naked

· Jonah ran from God

· Naomi was a widow

· Job went bankrupt

· John the Baptist ate bugs (ha!)

· Peter denied Christ

· The Disciples fell asleep while praying

· Martha worried about everything

· The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once

· Zaccheus was too small

· Paul was too religious

· Timothy had an ulcer

· Lazarus was dead!

There are no more excuses now!! God can use you to your fullest potential. Besides, you aren't even the message, you are just the messenger.

Much love,

pcraig

A Life Changed...A Letter Written

Over the past few weeks, God has been so good to us here at theTURN! One particular testimony that has worked its way into all the hearts of our people has come from one of our new friends Casey Lamb.

Casey came to theTURN three weeks ago bound up in drug and alcohol addiction for 15 years searching and looking for something greater. He was just recently arrested for a violation of his probation again, and came to the point in his life where he was ready for change.

I will never forget the first conversation we had in the arena after service a few weeks ago. He told me about his 5 year incarceration when he was younger in the penitentiary, his history, and his present day seeking. I could feel God brewing.

Our students here at theTURN welcomed him in open arms. That weekend he attended one of our IONs, and it began. The Lord moved in a mighty way, and in just a few days the first miracle broke forth. Casey's judge released him from having to serve time and immediately signed him permission to be a part of No Longer Bound, our ten month drug and alcohol regeneration program. Casey could not have been more excited!

He met me at church last weekend, and he gave me a letter that he wanted me to read from stage this past Thursday night. Casey checked into No Longer Bound the next day, Monday June 14. I read the letter and it brought me to tears. I shared it this past Thursday night in service and the place erupted in joy. Joy of salvation, joy of His faithfulness, joy of His redeeming power!

Here is the letter:

Dear all my new friends,

By the time this is read I will be on my fourth day at No Longer Bound and by me writing this letter five days ahead of time, as you can see, I miss all of you already. And I am not even gone yet. I am so grateful that God has given me so much in a short period of time, and all it took was "FAITH!" All of you are a big part of my life and have been a big part in my change to move "FORWARD!" It is so cool how God works through all of you to help and change me then shows me a miracle that not only changes my life and makes my faith for Him stronger than ever but changes your lives as well. So 10 months from now be ready because I am going to be reborn, renewed head to toe, inside and out and we are going to praise the roof off this place, and he said AMEN!

Love all of you,

Casey

Praise God! Wanna talk about moving forward? This is it! Praise God for what He is doing! So thankful there is so much more to be done - so many more to win!

Much love from your pastor,

pcraig

The Upward Call

I pray that you are pursuing that upward call today! He is calling us beyond ourselves. You would be mind boggled if you just knew how He wanted to use you!

An Awakened Spirit

I was teaching the other night in the School of Discipleship, and I said something that I had not thought about or even planned saying. But needless to say, I taught myself something in saying it. I said something to the effect, "God does not want us to seek emotional experiences so we can glory in our experiences. True knowledge of God creates a desire to glory in God, not the experience." It has 'awakened' some thoughts in me. We need awakened spirits, not unstable emotions and feelings!

I love the preaching of the Word. It is grand. It is so necessary. However, great teaching becomes just "knowledge that puffs up" (1 Corinthians 8:1) in the minds of those whose spirits have fallen into slumber. I have been noticing over the last few weeks several people I am teaching God's Word to are not possessing awakened spirits. An awakened spirit is one that is free of the doping effects of the flesh and the carnal mind.

Who you are and what is yours now in Christ is nothing short of phenomenal! But the carnal mind (the sinful, fleshly mind that you lived with prior to conversion), cannot even begin to see this, let alone appreciate it. Neither can you grasp it if you are still controlled by your emotions and feelings. The reason is that when your emotions rule, your spirit slumbers. When you feel happy, you think you believe; but when you are sad, down, or depressed, the faith you thought you had seems to disappear. You are riding an emotional roller coaster - up then down, belief them doubt, trust then worry, and so on.

The solution is to live by your born-again spirit, an awakened spirit ruled by the Holy Spirit, and not your mind and emotions. But how do you do this?

As spiritual hunger grows, causing us to earnestly seek God in the Word and in prayer, our spirits break the shackles of the flesh and of the soul (the mind and emotions). We begin to live with an awakened spirit that lays hold of all the "exceedingly great and precious promises" (2 Peter 1:4) of God. That, in turn, brings us into the realization of the power and authority that we actually have in Him! We begin to live on high.

Stop accepting anything less than God's best. Be filled with God. Hear those words. Be filled with God. Break the spirit of slumber (Romans 11:8) and live out of that awakened spirit!

Hungering together,

pcraig

The "O" Word

The place of yieldedness is the place where God wants us today. The only thing that keeps us from experiencing the baptism, the certainty, the healing, the anointing, etc. is our unyieldedness to the plan of God. I will say it again. The main thing that God wants from His people today is obedience. When you live constantly yielded you come into that place in your life where you are able to constantly eat the fruits of Canaan.

He does indeed have a plan for our lives. Unfortunately our plan is not usually God's plan, and often it will actually block the execution of His plan. This is because our plan is usually based on our own understanding and knowledge.

Before we come to Christ, we are captive to our education and experience. We are products of the ten, twenty, thirty years of the input of life. When we decide to give our lives to Christ, the journey of transformation begins. We begin to be transformed by "the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:2). Through yielding to God's ways and His Word, our thoughts and minds become captive to Christ Jesus, and not captive to the input of life.

"Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." - 2 Corinthians 10:5

It is one thing to know the Word, and another thing to be captive to the Word. You are either captive to the world or captive to the Word.

Transformation comes through constantly obeying and yielding. This is the only way. You can go to church all your life; you can spend all your time learning, praying, and singing; but still you will be captive to your past input unless you make the decision to yield and obey every time God shows you something.

Scripture says "to obey is better than sacrifice" (1 Samuel 15:22). If you spend your whole life sacrificing without obeying, sadly you will never find victory, never find God's plan for you. You may repeatedly sing "I love you Lord" but the Word says, "For this is the love of God, that we keep HIs commandments" (1 John 5:3).

Through obedience we really demonstrate our love. Today God will give you an opportunity to go further in obedience. Ask God to show you specifically how you are to obey. Take the opportunity, and you will see the transformation and start to walk in God's plan for your life.

Obeying together,

pcraig

Week 13 - "My clothing in company, my succor in all necessities"

We are on week thirteen but crazy enough still in just the first section of this great prayer!

Chilcote took this prayer that is divided into four roughly equal parts and provided a theme for each section:
Part 1: Who is God to me? (first paragraph of prayer)
Part 2: What can I give to and ask of God? (second)
Part 3: How does God shape my life? (third)
Part 4: How do I live as a disciple of Christ? (fourth)

Today, we continue with part one from Chilcote.

Scripture

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” - Matthew 6:25-33

Meditation

Jonathan Coussins, the author of Elizabeth’s prayer, concludes the opening section with a return to the scene of God’s provision. God blesses us with light, music, sweetness, and contentment; gives us sunshine, food, and repose; and provides all the basic necessities of life. Neither Elizabeth, however, nor the preacher of the Sermon on the Mount viewed God as a heavenly vendor of material and spiritual blessings. That is not the point.

One of the words in Elizabeth’s prayer provides a clue, perhaps, to the important teaching of Jesus and the intent of this prayer. The somewhat archaic term succor comes from two Latin words, a preposition that means “beneath” or “under” and a verb that means to “run.” So the word literally means to run beneath or “to quickly get under.” No less than five times in the portion of his sermon, Jesus draws attention to the anxious thoughts of the poor who gathered around him for a word of hope. In the face of their anxiety, he affirms repeatedly that God will run beneath them. God will get under them quickly and never let them fall. Jesus calls them to the joyous abandon of trust in this God. He himself lived in that sort of relationship with God. When we cast our care on God (see 1 Peter 5:7) - when we live in the joyous abandon of a trusting relationship with God – glory brings to completion that which grace has begun in our lives.

Prayer

Gracious Lord, you provide succor in all necessities in life and sustain your creation each day: quickly get under me when I begin to falter, run beneath me when I am falling, free me from all my anxious thoughts and into the joyful abandon of trust in you. Amen.

As a recap if you would like to read it, here is the great prayer from Elizabeth Rhodes:

"Grant me, gracious Lord, a pure intention of heart, and a steadfast regard to your glory in all my actions. Possess my mind continually with your presence, and fill it with your love, that my whole delight may be to repose in the arms of your protection. Be light to my eyes, music to my ears, sweetness to my taste, and full contentment to my heart. Be my sunshine in the day, my food at the table, my repose in the night, my clothing in company, my succor in all necessities.
Lord Jesus, I give you my body, my soul, my substance, my fame, my friends, my liberty, and my life. Dispose of me, and all that is mine, as seems best to you, and to the glory of your blessed name. I am not my own, but yours; therefore claim me as your right, keep me as your charge, and love me as your child. Fight for me when I am assailed, heal me when I am wounded, and revive me when I am destroyed.
My Lord and my God, I ask you to give me patience in troubles, humility in comforts, constancy in temptations, and victory over all my ghostly enemies. Grant me sorrow for my sins, thankfulness for my benefits, fear of your judgments, love of your mercies, and mindfulness of your presence for evermore. Make me humble to my superiors and friendly to my equals, ready to please all and loathe to offend any; loving to my friends and charitable to my enemies. Give me modesty in my countenance, gravity in my behavior, deliberation in my speech, holiness in my thoughts, and righteousness in all my actions. Let your mercy cleanse me from my sins, and your grace bring forth in me the fruits of everlasting life.
Lord, let me be obedient without arguing, humble without feigning, patient without grudging, pure without corruption, mercy without lightness, sad without mistrust, sober without dullness, true without duplicity, fearing you without desperation, and trusting you without presumption. Let me joyful for nothing but that which pleases you, and sorrowful for nothing but what displeases you: that labor be my delight which is for you, and let all weary me that is not in you. Give me a waking spirit, and a diligent soul, that I may seek to know your will, and when I know it may I perform it faithfully to the honor and glory of your ever blessed name. Amen."

Part Fourteen coming next Monday...
pcraig