All the believers were one in heart and mind… - Acts 4.32
As the Valley View faith-family, perhaps we can embrace the above fragment of Scripture as our hope and passion. Our hearts and minds are soaked with a zeal for the things of God and for the glory of God. It is an amazing gift to share life in a community of faith, filled with people who are abandoned to God’s glory and who press and challenge one another for the sake of His fame.
4.32 Tuesday is one more way to unite in heart and mind. Each Tuesday, our staff team will post thoughts from the previous weekend or a challenge from our ABS study or maybe something beautiful that God is doing among our faith family. It is a way to unite in prayer… unite in hope… unite in our thought and to unite in our sole focus on Christ. It is our prayer that we will be a fellowship whose hearts are turned toward God and a group of people who compel one another in this journey of faith. 4.32 Tuesday will be a prayer, sharing, & unity invoking platform.
It is our prayer that we might stir up an appetite for Christ and for His grace that is so strong that nothing will restrain us from pursuing the creativity, freedom, hope, and promise that we have in Christ. In Christ, we are free and we are filled with abounding joy and exuberant expectancy. In the past week, I was reading a book by Chuck Swindoll (Grace Awakening). In this book, he wrote about the early church in comparison to the church today. In vain I have searched the Bible, looking for examples of early Christians whose lives were marked by rigidity, predictability, inhibition, dullness, and caution. Fortunately, grim, frowning, joyless saints in Scripture are conspicuous by their absence. Instead, the examples I find are of adventurous, risk-taking, enthusiastic, and authentic believers whose joy was contagious even in times of painful trial. Rules were few and changes were welcome. God’s amazing grace invites us to chart new courses and explore ever-expanding regions, all the while delighting in the unexpected… grace is constantly looking for ways to freedom. Grace wants faith to fly.
May the grace of Christ through the cross of Christ unite us and may it compel us to live as a people who are free. Those who are freed by Christ are free indeed! We are free to risk and to adventure and to expect and to suffering and to joy and to unity and to creativity and to passion and to a singular focus and goal, which is the cross of Christ lifted high among us. ONE in heart and mind!
Speaking of freedom…
- We have a group in the Honduras who are sharing of freedom this week. Unite in heart and mind in asking God to allow freedom to abound through our team
- We have another team who are lifting high Christ at Royal Family Kid’s Camp in Enterprise, AL. Unite in heart and mind in asking God to be Father to the fatherless and to use our team in a prolific way
May we all be one in heart and mind. See you each Tuesday!
The ‘post-awakening’ days have been surreal. We have rested a bit….. Considered the reality that our view of God and our response to God can never be the same. Perhaps, we have moved to a new place in Him and a deeper place as a church. Only time (and eternity) will tell the magnitude of impact of the Awakening. When God allows a great taste of His goodness and His grace, there is an experience of a new ‘normal’ and the old simply will not do. The past few days have been good and right and I am praying that we will never be the same.
Sunday… Well, it was an overwhelming day. Scott was no longer speaking and Kari was not leading worship. Jesus, however, felt free to stay and to lead us in a worship-encounter that was overwhelming. The altar was full… Jesus was lifted high… Lives continue to be transformed….20+ people joined with our church and/or embraced Christ as Savior! It was a day!! As we shared during the Sunday evening service, the Spirit and presence of God was palpable. Story after story of God’s work were shared and we knew that it was a ‘holy ground’ moment. Maybe the most amazing facet of the night was people walking forward to profess salvation or to join with our fellowship and we didn’t have an invitation! Crazy!! He is good. Christ is good. His love endures forever.
TJ put together a sweet video that gives us a taste of the few days of the Awakening. Enjoy the clip below and let’s keep running after Christ together. Expectations are high and greater things are still to come!
As we seek God more fully and as we rend our hearts more fully toward Him, may we then spend our lives for the sake of His glory. Ask God to give you a heart that moves toward things that move His heart. Ask Him to allow Valley View to be a place of healing, hope, and restoration for His fame.
Day 18 2/16/11
2 Corinthians 4.7-16
The past 17 Days have been filled with God. It has been so good and so right to share in a prayer journey with the Valley View faith-family. There is something powerful and synergistic knowing that there is a unity in prayer and in pursuit of the living God, both personally and in tandem with the Valley View family. Honestly, we have enjoyed an Ephesians 3.20 type movement in the life of our church. We asked and we believed and we hoped and we prayed and God has superseded all that we asked or imagined. As I type these words, we are moving toward the last night of the Awakening. At this time, we have experienced:
- A beautiful outpouring of prayer and hope during our Saturday “Circle of Prayer”
- Hearts over-flowing in worship over the last three nights
- Life-change happening as those of us who are in Christ longing for and opening our lives to more Christ
- Transformation abounds as many, many, many children, students, and adults have invited Christ to be life to them. Salvation has exploded in our fellowship!
- Our church taking hope to this city. As of this moment, we have provided over 20,000.. TWENTY THOUSAND items to people who are in need in this city. Plates will be filled with food. Feet warm. Blankets used. Travel bags dispersed. It will be good news to the hurting and downtrodden that we have had an Awakening!
- Children singing, with GLAD hearts, to their maker. God has enveloped the hearts of our children, with dozens and dozens making decisions for Christ.
All that was just typed is excellent, yet we are only touching the hem of the garment of what our God has done in these past few days. There is so much that has not been observed or told or known. He is good. He is good. His love endures forever! There are multiplied stories of God’s goodness as He moves our hearts toward Him and as we have recognized more and more how profoundly His heart moves toward us.
A friend asked this evening, ‘what’s next’. The answer is wonderfully simple. More Jesus. More discipleship. More opportunity to seek Him and to find Him. More chances to live Him out before those that God has placed in our realm of influence. God will remain with us and we will be a people who have staked our lives on Him. Thanks be to God that He does not limit Himself to a series of services, but longs to show Himself great among us at all times. There is huge expectation for the days ahead.
Expectation reigns in our heart because we have this amazing treasure in jars of clay so that we continuously show this all-surpassing power of God, Who is at work within us. We may have every challenge of life thrown our way, but we persevere because the glory and renown of God are the focus of our lives. We fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but what is unseen. As a follower of Christ…. As a church, may we never lose heart. May we never invest our lives poorly. May we never become obsessed with the temporary, because the temporary is fading, but the eternal is being renewed in our soul day after day after day. It is our prayer that we grow in Christ and that our lives burst with His greatness and His glory and His prevailing goodness in this earth.
After all, we rest our hopes, passions, purpose, life and our church in elevating the name and renown of Jesus Christ. Because He is the fixed point of reference of our lives, we bring the eternal One directly into our present circumstances. Seeing our ‘present’ through the lens of God’s eternal determines our action. Any ’light and momentary trouble simply serves to achieve for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all’ (v.16). His glory is our desire and we live, move, and have our being solely for His name.
Jesus has moved among us. Jesus will continue to move among us. May we avail our lives fully to Him. When He captures our hearts, we will experience ongoing Ephesians 3.20 moments. He is the God our our lives. He is the God of our church. He is the God of this city. Therefore, greater things are still to come…..
Awaken!
Day 17 2/15/11
Acts 2.4-47
The afterglow of Awakening Monday night… It was a remarkable night. Worship flowed. The Word was spoken. Lives were eternally altered. We worshipped more! Many were rescued from a life apart from Christ – a life defined by sin and death – and they were rescued into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Praise God! In the past two nights, 102 people have made eternity-altering decisions and that is good and right. However, that ‘102’ number is VERY personal when salvation comes into your home. One of my own children was saved tonight. My heart is full! I know that multitudes of other households rejoice. We continue to ask God for an awakening to more of Him and more of His life in our church. God has favored us to be a part of His church and His church has a huge role to play in this earth.
The church is a gathering of believers who are intensely passionate to experience the person of Christ and advance the renown of Christ. The ‘church’ may be a group of Christ-followers moving on mission with their small group, or students gathering in to seek the face of God, or a gathering of people in a ‘valley’ in Tuscaloosa. God is in love with His gathering of followers and promises us that the gates of hell will not prevail against it!
Acts 2 shares about a group of people who were radical in their follow-ship of Christ and their shared journey in Him. Because of their abandonment to Him, they lived lives of honesty with God and with one another and they shared with one another generously. They laughed, cried, sang, and served together in authentic Christian fellowship. Barriers that once separated were torn down in Christ. People related together, in Christ, in such ways that racial and gender chasms no longer existed. The church is this beautiful recognition of the tapestry and diversity found in God’s grace.
Acts 2 tells us that this community of believers, this church, offered unbelievers a vision of life that was so beautiful it took their breath away. It was so bold, so creative, and so dynamic that people couldn’t resist it. Because of this passion, God added to their number daily those who embraced the message of God’s grace found in Jesus Christ.
This vision of God’s church is compelling and this view of church drives our desire to allow Christ to breathe life into His body for His glory so that His fame is made known throughout the nations. If my life passion statement, consumed for that which is ultimate, is to be lived out then it will flesh itself out via a group of people who are following him in impassioned ways.
He entitles this ‘called out’ group the church and He says that He will unleash heaven on earth via Valley View, if we are willing to follow Him. God thinks that the church is ultimate because the role of the church is to lift up the Ultimate One and it is such joy to hook your life into that type movement. The church is the arena that allows all to find the ‘level ground’ of God’s amazing grace through the cross of Jesus Christ and a place to boast gladly of one’s satisfaction in Christ alone. “May I (we) never boast except in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6.14).
Awaken!
Day 16 2/14/11
2 Corinthians 3.12-18
Currently, sitting and basking in the afterglow of the launch of The Awakening. It seems that God is opening the window for a move of His that is far bigger than the series of services that we have planned. It has been a remarkable weekend. Amazing. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!
It might be good to simply praise God for what He has done over the past days and to prepare our hearts for an ongoing outpouring of His grace and His goodness. Here are just a few overwhelming moments this weekend:
- We gathered, Saturday night, with the sole purpose of prayer. It was our hope to circle the campus and to ask God to move in Spirit and in Power. We did and He has. We had over 900 and perhaps over 1000 people to gather simply to lift up holy hands and to ask God for more of Him. We circled the campus and basked in prayer.
- Sunday, the Spirit in the room was profound during the AM services. As Christy Wyatt was singing in the 10:30 service, our students moved out of their chairs and flooded the altar. It was a moment that evoked joy and holy weeping. Our God is good. Several families joined their lives with the mission and vision of Valley View (membership)
- Sunday night…. Outpouring!
* Worship was crazy good!
* We had no place for more people. Students filled the choir loft. Middle Schoolers sat on the floor. Our Gathering area (Mall) had no more space. It was chaotically good.
* 29 Adults Accepted Christ! (That should shake the rafters of heaven and rock your heart!)
* 40 – 50 more children made decisions for Christ! (Overwhelming joy @ that news!)
* We gave ABUNDANDTLY to those who are in need in our City.
We don’t know all of what happened last night, but I have just listed a taste of the goodness of God. We can be confident that God is starting a work among us and He will carry it on to completion (Phil 1.6)
We are experiencing God in a very fresh way at Valley View. So, what is our response? The Scripture for today is spot-on. In Exodus 33.18, Moses has seen miracle after miracle after miracle of God. A very long story short, Moses is with God and God plans to move among His people again and as their conversation comes to a close, Moses makes one simple request. “Show me your glory.” We cross a line when we make that type of request. When our deepest desire is not the things of God, or a favor from God, but God Himself, we cross a threshold. Less self-focus, more God-focus. Less about me, more about Him. (Lucado)
May we be a people who step across that line and may we do that together. As a church, may we ask for less us and more God. When that happens, ‘we who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’ – 2 Cor 3.18
Awaken!
Here is a beautiful image from the kick-off of the Awakening:
Day 15 2/13/11
Acts 1.8/ Matthew 28.18-20
I am quite confident that the Awakening is already happening! Last night, the Valley View faith-family gathered with 1000+ NOT for a service and NOT for a musician, but to seek the face of God as a church. We prayed! We circled our campus and prayed. Holy Spirit, stir! Amazing and beautiful night!
Jesus tells us amazing news in Acts 1.8. He says that the Holy Spirit will come upon us and that He will flow through our lives so that we will be witnesses of the majesty of Jesus Christ. Essentially, we will be a people who have experienced God and a people who have discovered the joy of knowing God and our identity will be shaped by Christ. Because of who we are in Christ, we will give witness. Likewise, in Matthew 28, Jesus commissioned His people to share and baptize and disciple those closest to us in proximity and to extend that passion to the furthest points on the planet. Amazing! We are in the middle of God’s mission.
I totally agree with the great commission and with Acts 1.8. I am all ‘in’. I believe it and I am equipped to share in the role that God has called from me and I am amazed that Jesus invites me in. So, our pastor preached a sermon out of portions of Joel 1 and 2 a week or two ago. He asked:
- When have I grieved and been broken over my own spiritual condition?
- When have I been shattered for those around me who are not yet awakened?
- When have I lost sleep or stayed up through the night in prayer?
- When have I cared more about what God thinks of me than what others think of me?
- When have I wept… WEPT for those who are not yet in Christ?
I am not sure that I am all in. In fact, after considering Joel’s words (and Billy’s sermon), I am pretty confident that I am not…. YET!
I am praying that God will burden me to live out the gospel. The gospel is good news. The gospel has revolutionized my life. The gospel is radical! May I live my life for the sake of the gospel because I am convinced that the gospel changes everything. Even better, may the Valley View faith-family be so infused with the Spirit and presence of God that we live and breathe the gospel. May we be witnesses to the One whom we have experienced.
When that happens, Joel writes that:
- Students will explode in Revival
- Senior Adults will dream dreams and impart wisdom
- Holiness and wonder will abound
- The gospel will prosper and salvation will be common, normal, beautiful, and plentiful.
When you and I are filled with the Spirit, we WILL be a witness. We will….
Our pastor asked this question of me. If there someone that you are concerned for… someone that you are unsure of their salvation… someone who needs an Awakening in their spiritual life…… If so, then how can you not find yourself parked before God in prayer until they come to Jesus? The grace of God must leave us under compulsion. May the grace and gospel of Christ be the predominant core of the Valley View faith-family.
Awaken!
Day 14 2/12/11
Acts 4.29-32
It’s Awakening Eve! Anticipation level is sky high. Hope prevails. Tomorrow is TOMORROW! It’s almost here, which makes the Scripture for today vital. If you are to truly experience an awakening of your heart to the things of God and if Valley View is to experience an awakening to God-sized activity, then we must become a place committed to prayer.
In verse 31, there is a fraction of a sentence that opens the door to the Kingdom of Heaven. “After they prayed….” Heaven unfolds after we pray. The presence of God falls after we pray. Hearts align with God after we pray. The Spirit of God directs the people of God after we pray. Purpose and passion abound after we pray. Unity prevails after we pray. Confidence and clarity and spiritual power and miracles and wonders and awe of the living Christ prevail after we pray.
God is calling you and He is calling Valley View to be a church that is well known for being a people of prayer. The Awakening will happen tomorrow. A few worship services will carry on for the next four days. But, AN Awakening that will shake the rafters of heaven and move among the people of T-town far beyond a series of services will happen after we pray. We are praying for an amazing four days, but even more we asking God for the Spirit of God to compel us to be a house of prayer.
After all, without Him we can do nothing (John 15).
After we pray…..
In preparation for the Awakening, we will gather TONIGHT at 6 PM in the Valley View worship room and we will pray. Bethany Case will lead us in worship, but the primary focus is prayer. We plan to circle the church and to ask God to awaken us and to provide an Awakening among our faith-family.
6 PM Tonight @ Valley View in the Worship Room. After we pray…….
It is our hope that we will be well known as a people of prayer. NOT a people who talk about prayer or think about prayer or study prayer, but a people who pray. Because, after we pray…..
Below is a video of Bethany Case. Bethany will meet us @ 6 PM tonight and usher us into a season of prayer.
Day 13 2/11/11
Luke 4.17-21
This 18 Day Journey is moving toward the very practical. Over the first six days, it was our hope to awaken to a broader vision of God. In days seven through twelve, we desired to move our lives toward that enlarged vision of God and our role in this amazing God-story. Over the next six days, we will awaken to the privilege and responsibility that flows from an all-consuming relationship with Christ.
The Scripture tells us that we are His ambassadors….. We are a holy nation…. We are a chosen people…. We are a royal priesthood – a people who stand before God and make straight the way to Him….We are given the unbelievable privilege of being a part of His ministry of reconciliation. God, in His abounding grace, chooses to rescue us from death to life. Following our rescue and salvation, His grace extends even further in that He chooses to include us in His on-going mission around the globe. What a great and glorious God!
The Scripture for today includes some of the first recorded words of Christ. In these verses, Jesus is quoting the prophet Isaiah. Essentially, Jesus says that His coming means good news to the hurting, poor, broken, suffering, fringe, oppressed, imprisoned, and hopeless. He has come into this earth proclaiming freedom. The dramatic conclusion of Jesus words is that the hope of man-kind is fulfilled in Him and that hope has arrived on the scene (v.21).
So, it seems pretty natural that we, as Christ-followers, would not have a series of services entitled The Awakening without proclaiming freedom to the oppressed and hope for the downtrodden. In fact, it is pretty biblically abnormal if Christians gather and ‘good news’ does not move toward the hurting. As the Valley View faith-family, we are making significant strides to systematically take the gospel of Christ and practical hope in Christ to the most hurting in the City of Tuscaloosa. We think that this must be intentional, tangible, and purposeful.
Therefore, the Awakening services provide great opportunity to meet VERY practical needs as a facet of the Awakening worship experience. Our collegiate ministry has partnered with an organization in town that meets needs of people in a variety of challenged situations. As a part of the Awakening, plan to bring:
(See Video below for more details)
Sunday: Toiletries
Monday: Paper Products
Tuesday: Towels
Wednesday: Socks
It just seems that we will follow in the steps of Christ when feet are warm and towels distributed for the next MONTHS because we worshipped for four days.
As we see God more fully, ask God to turn our hearts toward Him with depths of hope and conviction. Ask God for your heart and for our fellowship to have hearts that are turned fully toward Him.
Day 12 2/10/11
Genesis 5.22-24
We are preparing for an awakening. On this journey, we have asked God to open our eyes to His wonder and to expand our view of Him as our great and glorious and eternal and VAST God. As we awaken to His greatness, we will also awaken to our desperation and need for Him. A direct by-product of an awakening is the movement of your life toward God. You simply cannot be fulfilled without the satisfaction of pursuing more of God.
So, at this point in our 18 Day journey it just seems logical to read an obscure few verses found in the Book of Genesis as a preparation for an Awakening! These aren’t just any verses, though. A few obscure verses tell an amazing story and they should leave you desirous in your pursuit to awaken to more of God.
Simply stated, Enoch walked with God and discovered the depths of the riches and wisdom and wonder of God. Enoch found an intimacy with God that confounds human understanding and the basic law of nature. He walked with God and HE WAS NO MORE!
That must be one of the absolute best sentences in all of Scripture! Enoch walked with God and united his life with God’s life and the two built such a deep level of intimacy that, at some point on the journey, Enoch was no more on this earth. He just walked into God.
Awaken to this reality. Enoch’s capacity to lose Himself in God was not random or capricious. Enoch intentionally walked with God. Enoch LOVED walking with God. Enoch discovered, in his relationship with God, a vibrancy and vitality that continued to compel Him back toward more of God.
I would love to know how those closest to him handled this ‘he was no more’ issue. I wonder if it just seemed natural (supernatural) that Enoch was no more? I wonder if they spent time looking for Him or if they just figured, ‘hey, we assume that he got totally lost in God’? I have a lot of fun questions about these few verses.
Despite my curiosity driven questions, I have a pretty simple take-away as I read about Enoch. Do I have such an intimate walk with God that there is even potential for me to be ‘no more’? Does God radiate from my life? Would it surprise those closest to me for me to just disappear into God one day? Those are such great hopes and questions!
Enoch walked with God and he was no more. What about your walk with God? What about our walk, as the church? Yeah, that _______(fill in your name) just walked with God and s/he was no more! I wouldn’t mind being a person like that and I definitely wouldn’t mind walking with others who shared in that level of intimacy with God. I would imagine that it was very good to be a friend of Enoch. I want to be a friend that walks with and radiates the goodness, grace, and truth of our God.
Awaken!
Day 11 2/9/11
Psalm 27.1-4
David is a ‘one thing’ man. His life moves toward One God. One Thing! ‘One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.’ Paul is ridiculously focused as well. Yesterday, we read about Paul’s passion and focus on growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. ‘One thing’ people are difference makers. ‘One thing’ people aren’t easily rattled. ‘One thing’ people live for the vital. ‘One thing’ people change the world. I think that is true of them because there really is only one Messiah who is our eternal hope and promise and it seems pretty wise to invest in the One who stands gloriously over eternity.
I am drawn toward ‘one thing’ people. When I read what they write or see their actions, it moves me another step down the continuum of being about one thing. I want you to meet a young African pastor through his writing and to read his personal life and mission statement. Without a doubt, this young man was about ‘one thing’ and, as a result, his life weighed heavily in the eternal realm. Here is his ‘one thing’ personal mission statement:
MY COMMITMENT AS A CHRISTIAN
I’m a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit Power. The dye has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.
My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.
My face is set, my gait fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go until He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me. And when He comes for His own, He will have no problems recognizing me – my banner will be clear!
***Written by a young African pastor and tacked on the wall of his house***
This pastor was martyred for his faith shortly after writing this ‘one thing’ statement. I would imagine that he left this planet with no regrets. I would imagine that he willingly and gladly spent his life and his death for the glory of God. What about you? What is your life mission statement? What have you written down that is your guide-stone for life and decision making. What ‘one thing’ leads you as you discern where and how to invest your time, energy, and resources? It would be a good and wise thing to take the time to write down a life-mission. This may be a simple sentence or a paragraph that guides you to consciously seek to become a ‘one thing’ man or woman.
A few years ago, this thought flowed out of my heart as a guiding statement. Consumed for that which is ultimate. I want to be consumed by things that are ultimate in the eyes of God. One thing! What about you?
Awaken!!
Day 10 2/8/11
Philippians 3.7-11
I read Paul’s words to the Church at Philippi and I am amazed. In Philippians 3, Paul is crystal clear about what defines Him. The entirety of his life is turned toward and giving full chase after the glory of God through the ever-deepening knowledge of Christ. Knowing Christ is the penultimate for Paul. Stuff… Things… Accolades seem to hold zero relevance to Paul.
I read these words and I ask God to shed light on the focus and passion of my life. I want to put it all out there before God and see how my life matches up with Paul. Here’s all my stuff and my accomplishments and accolades, Lord. I want to stack all that seems to define me before You and see how it all looks in light of You. So often, I think that these things are me….
Born in the Carolinas…..Amazing parents… Decent brother (I so hope that he reads this!)…. Multi-generations of pastors….. Athlete….Academic… Professional… Husband…. Father…..Pastor….. Friend….Unbelievable children…. Leader…. Servant….UA Grad, for heaven’s sake!
In light of You Jesus, all is fleeting. Loss. Rubbish. All that seeks to define me, apart from Christ, is of no worth.
I am a follower of Christ. I am found in Him. I am complete in Him. I am defined by Him. I am purposed in Him. I am fulfilled in Him. There is none but Him and nothing that compares to knowing Him.
Paul, in this section of Philippians, writes of a captivated heart. He has tasted and seen that the sheer, unabashed, and soul completing joy of knowing Christ is more than enough and NOTHING compares to the joy of knowing Christ.
So, the question that just shreds me and compels me toward some level of honesty is, ‘Jesus, are you my one pure and holy passion?’ I think that I agree with Paul’s words. I am confident that Paul is right. I read what Paul is saying and I have little doubt that He has found that Christ alone satisfies. I know this to be true. So, why do I keep returning to a short-stack of meager accomplishments in hope that they somehow will define me as more of a man of worth.
Paul’s passion for and hope in Christ compels him to persevere through trials, poverty, wealth, beatings, mockery, church-growth, leadership, imprisonment, shipwreck, serving, watching the early church explode, floggings, and so much more. Through all, his joy in Christ and passion for the fame of Christ never ceased. How? The answer is that Christ is His sufficiency rather than personal gain.
How do I make it when the job comes and the job goes? When I have much and I have little? When the marriage thrives and when challenges abound? When the kids worship and when they stumble in their walk? How do I make it in the midst of a world filled with genocide and trafficking of children and malnutrition and lack of clean water and AIDS pandemic and life un-imaginable.
I think that the answer is found in Philippians 3. We set our hearts and our eyes on Christ and we move our lives toward Him recognizing that NOTHING satisfies other than Christ. Christ fulfills. Christ lends hope. Christ redeems. Christ purposes. Christ, in me, allows me to step into the fray of an insufficient world and shed light, hope, provision, and the truth and reality that ALL is sufficient in Him. Like Paul, I will never experience unhindered passion until I allow my heart to move more and more toward the truth that He alone is my definition.
I tend to seek worth elsewhere. It doesn’t work. Christ IS and all else is rubbish apart from Him!
Awaken!!
The song, below, has been a theme song for quite a few years. The lyrics match quite well with Paul’s words in the 3rd Chapter of Philippians.
Day 9 2/7/11
Nehemiah 8.4-6
Over the past 8 days, we have asked God, through His Word, to broaden our view of Him and to expand our hearts toward Him. In fact, we are asking God to give us a new heart that is completely given for Him and for His glory. Even more, we are asking God for a life that moves in rhythm with Him.
When our view of God increases and our passion moves toward God, we begin to see Him at work. We see His life IN us… His life around us… and we experience Him in unprecedented ways.
So, how do we respond when God moves?
The Scripture for today is beautiful. Through His Word and an amazing Old Testament account of the actions of a people after God’s heart, we discover how to move toward God in the midst of a huge ‘Wow, God!’ moment. In a nutshell, these verses pick up just after the people of God had made huge sacrifices for God and they had moved with God, all the while experiencing challenge, lack of resource, ridicule, and mockery. They persevered and accomplished something (the building of the wall) that could only be explained by God. It was a monumental achievement!
What happens next is such a life-lesson for us. They have experienced ‘more God’. After enduring and enjoying a massive God moment, they come together and……
Worship….. Pray…. Repent…. and Awaken!
They seek even more God. They open the Word. They cry out and pray. They stand for hours listening to the Word and asking God to align their lives with His life and His Work. As they hear the Truth read over them and discover spaces in their lives that don’t align with the Word, they fall on their faces in brokenness only to rise again through the grace of God.
An Awakening leads the Christ-follower to say, ‘more of You and less of me’. An Awakening compels us to cry out MORE GOD! Absolutely, we want to experience an awakening of our soul to the things of God. Honestly, God has done GREAT things over and over in the life of Valley View (and in your own life!) And after we experience a God-sized moment, we want to awaken again…. and again…. and again… and again and beg of Him to reveal more truth, more life, and to walk more fully in His way as we journey toward becoming more and more and more like Christ with far less of me.
Awaken!
Chris Tomlin sings an amazing song that truly fits the vibe of this Scriptural account and, hopefully, our own hearts as we acknowledge God’s greatness and His glory in our church.
Day 8 2/6/11
Ezekiel 36.25-27
These are amazing verses. The theology behind these verses is phenomenal and life-altering (eternity-altering!). This Scripture is found in the Old Testament, yet holds profound New Testament truth.
Here are a few simple thoughts that may be foundational to our ‘hearts’ capacity to awaken toward God. There is a poor statement that we often use in the Christian church. I think that I ‘get’ what we mean, but wow does it mess up our view of God and our potential for a life that is fully alive and useful for the Kingdom of God.
We often say, ‘have you invited Jesus into your heart?’ Or, ‘I asked Jesus into my heart!’ (Caveat Here – It is not the purpose of this devotional to whip you with a wet noodle if you have used these words. I have also used these words. The purpose is to recognize that the Kingdom of God far outweighs these simplistic statements!)
Here is the deal, though. Jesus is not seeking our heart. He does not want to come into our life. We are not inviting Him into our story. As far as our church is concerned, we do not welcome him to be a part of Valley View.
Jesus IS our heart. Jesus IS life. Jesus IS THE story. Jesus IS Valley View.
The last thing that we need from Him is that He be part of our very small and insignificant story. What we need from Christ is a new heart and a new life and a new hope and a new resurrection. We desperately need for Him to RESCUE us from our small stories and our small dreams and our small plans and our small hopes and our small ambitions and our small impact and we need for Him to place inside us His heart that beats for His glory.
We must awaken to the reality that Jesus demands our life. All of it. We must awaken to the reality that we are dead apart from Christ. HE resurrects. We must awaken to the reality that we cannot without Him. We can do NOTHING.
He is EVERYTHING.
Could we please stop asking Him to come into our story and to give our heart a sponge-bath? Instead, if we are to experience an Awakening of Biblical proportions, can we die to self… . can we hand him our dead and lifeless heart and ask Him to do what He is fully prepared to do? Can we ask Him to give us a new and soft heart to the things that He loves, adores, and the activity that He is moving forward on this planet?
An Awakening might just occur when we cease asking God to live in our story and when we make Him THE STORY.
Awaken!
Day 7 2/5/11
Philippians 1.20 – 26
After spending the last six days expanding our view of God, we will move toward awakening our hearts toward God. When we seek Him, we find Him. When we find Him, we love Him. When we love Him, we obey Him. Can we simply park and worship and bow our hearts and lives for a few minutes? If we are to awaken to an ever-expanding view of the greatness of God and if we are to live a life of conviction for the things of God, then we must seek Him. Kari Jobe sings a beautiful song. Listen. Enjoy. Pray. Rest. Give Thanks. After the video, read and consider a few more thoughts about your response to the overwhelming love of Christ.
Love for Christ is obedience. Love for Christ is a life of conviction. Love for Christ is a recognition that we live for one Person and one Purpose. We have one gain and that gain is Christ. Alive? Christ! Death? Christ. Paul’s words in Philippians 1 are beautifully insane. He says, (and this is a paraphrase) since it appears that I am going to live here and I am going to be among you, then my being alive is going to count. I have seen Christ. I am in love with Christ. I have given my life for Christ. And, since Christ is leaving me on this planet for this day, then you are going to be better off because I am bringing Christ with me!
Read verses 25 – 26 again. Read them throughout this day. As we awaken to God’s wonder and as we awaken to our own conviction to LIVE for His wonder, should we not live with an ever-increasing conviction about this reality….. If we are here, then the fame of Jesus Christ will increase. Others will be encouraged. Christ’s name will be lifted high. Practical and spiritual needs will be met. Those around me will be loved. Hope will come. And, to quote Paul directly, ‘your joy in Christ will overflow on account of me.’
Have you awakened to the truth and to the reality that you were placed on this planet so that others will OVERFLOW with joy because of you and because you are in relationship with Christ? That is a huge, good, challenging, awesome, overwhelming reality. Awaken! You are not just taking up space on this planet. As a follower of Christ, you are here with impassioned intent.
Sit as His feet. Bask in His love. Be overwhelmed. Then, stand and walk into this world and into those who are in your sphere of influence and flesh out Christ to them in real and practical ways. Awaken!
As you read these verses, allow them to open your eyes to the wonder and awe of our God. Ask God to stun you and to overwhelm our fellowship with the magnitude of His presence.
Day 6 2/4/11
Revelation 5.6 – 14
A couple of years ago, a conference speaker (it may have been Francis Chan) shared an incredible message. He talked about Revelation 3 and the description of the Church at Laodicea. You can read Rev 3.14 – 22 and catch the flavor of the moment more fully. In a nutshell, they weren’t doing very well. They were self-focused and mediocre and extremely RICH in the things that have little to no eternal value and, in the midst of all of that description of spiritual abyss, Jesus stands knocking at their door.
He says, IF you will open the door and IF you will let me in and IF you will repent of your life-less, focus-less, purpose-less, and wretched walk, I will step into the midst of your life and I will open the doors of heaven and fill you with a relentless passion for a life that counts. Check out v.21…
To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I have overcome and sat down with my Father on His throne. – Revelation 3.21
I am not a rocket-scientist, so it takes me awhile to connect dots and thoughts from Scripture. But, what John (the author of The Book of Revelation) just typed was totally insane. He said that chapter 3 and chapters 4 & 5 of the Book of Revelation are connected. To those who overcome… overcome what? Mediocrity. Self Focus. Lack of God-vision. Being rich toward self rather than rich toward God. To those who invite Jesus into the very essence of their lives and who allow Him to be life….. to them, He gives the right to sit with Him on the throne.
Now, chapters 4 & 5 describe the throne. It is quite a majestic experience. On that throne and in the middle of this cataclysmic worship-fest is Jesus. There is raging, impassioned, abounding worship toward Him and it flows from every tribe and tongue and nation and people and those on earth and under earth and all created things and colors and grandeur and things that we have never seen and elements (lightning and thunder)…. All of that goes OFF in worship of and for Christ. It’s a pretty mind-boggling scene!
We are invited to sit in the middle of that Jesus-Fest, not because we become a part of the focus, but because we have come to realize that there is only ONE focus on this planet and it is a life focused on and given for Christ.
To them that overcome…….. Pray that you will shun mediocrity and self-absorption and live fixed on Christ. Pray for a church whose hearts are fixed on Him. Awaken!
Kari Jobe will be leading us in worship during The Awakening. She sings a magnanimous song entitled Revelation Song. Take a few moments to worship, enjoy, and consider the throne. Maybe, just maybe you will be given the right to sit with Him on the throne. I can only imagine…..
In this Psalm, David uses interesting words to describe his heart toward God and pursuit of God. Read and consider His descriptions….
…Earnest Pursuit
…With Thirst
…Longing for Him
…Beheld Him
…Satisfied in Him
…Remember Him
…Think of Him
…Through the Watches of the Night (I will stay up all night in pursuit of You, O God!)
…Cling to Him
…Upheld by Him
In this Psalm, David shares of a holy desperation for God. He longs to awaken to the reality of the character and wonder of God. He pursues Him, with abandon, with the hope of catching a glimpse of God and experiencing Him.
What about you? What words would describe your passion for seeing or experiencing God? Honestly, I don’t like the words that come to mind as I type. Words that describe my pursuit are not words of desperation. Yet, I KNOW what and who I want to become. I know that I long to constantly, earnestly, longingly, thirstily, and thoughtfully seek after our God.
So, what words describe your pursuit of God? An awakening of your soul to a God-centered life hinges upon your answer.
David’s answer is found in Psalm 63.2 – 4….
I have seen You in your sanctuary
and beheld Your glory.
Because Your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify You.
I will praise You as long as I live,
and in Your name I will lift up my hands.
Today is a phenomenal day to awaken to your current pursuit of God. And, more importantly, what you will do and who you will become as you determine to seek Him with all your heart. According to the Psalm 63, there is deep joy and satisfaction when we seek Him and find Him!
Seek…. Awaken… Live!
Day 4 2/2/11
Psalm 113
The Lord is exalted over all the nations,
His glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God? – Psalm 113
He is…. Glorious and Beautiful… Exalted and Magnified
He is…. Sovereign and Powerful… Creative and Unchanging
He is….Eternal and Faithful….Present and Mighty
He is….Great and Merciful… Awesome and Peaceful
He is….Grace and Truth….. Hope and Promise
He is…. Powerful and Patient…. Healer and Redeemer
Who is like the Lord our God?
He is our way and truth and life and friend and brother and shepherd and rescue and light and door and salvation and hope and promise and past and present and future and judge and priest and king and Lord and rescuer and advocate and passion and purpose and ALL. HE IS!
Who is like the Lord our God?
He is omniscient. He is omnipotent. He is omnipresent. He is INTIMATE!
Who is like the Lord our God?
He is Savior.
He has regard for His children.
He is might.
He is power.
He has done great things.
He has mercy on those who fear and awe Him.
He scatters the proud.
He dethrones the mighty.
He exalts the humble.
He satisfies the hungry.
Who is like the Lord our God?
His love, none can fathom. Give effort as you attempt to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. (It is your hope that you may) know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. – Ephesians 3.14 – 20
Who is like the Lord our God?
18 Days is a united journey into the depths of that question. WHO is like the Lord our God? There is none like Him. There is none before Him. There are none above Him. He will stand over eternity as the King of Glory. He is God. He is our God. He is good and His love endures forever.
As Paul prayed in Ephesians 3, so I pray for you. Seek to discover the depths of the character of your God. You cannot plumb the depths, but go for it anyway. Dive in. Go deep. Discover and live in wonder of your awesome God.
Who is like the Lord our God?!?
A great pastor preached a great message about a great God. Click on the video and consider His words about our King… WHO is like the Lord our God?
18 Days…Awaken!
Day 3 2/1/11
Colossians 1.15-20
18 Days…. As we ask God for an Awakening, we are asking Him to broaden our view of Him and to allow us a taste of His magnitude. This 18 Day journey can be a lot of things. Perhaps we will unite in prayer… become more intent in purpose… enjoy a fresh taste of the goodness of God… deepen in our personal walk with Christ…. enliven our hope for our faith family… and, a myriad of other possibilities.
Today, however, is a day that leads us to the apex of our hope for this 18 Day journey. The verses from Colossians point toward One Savior… One leader…One redeeming hope.. One Passion… One purpose….. One leader of the church. As we read, pray, and align our lives with the Word today, we come face to face with the reality that Jesus Christ is, and must be, the supreme and consummate desire of our souls. There is none like Him. There is none but Him. There is no one or no ‘thing’ that compares to Him. He is……. HE IS!
A simple, yet profound thought from Colossians – All things were created by Him and all things are for Him. You and I are created and purposed on this planet for the glory, name, and renown of God. We have the thrill of spending our lives in order that He is made famous. I am not sure that truth remotely reflects the trail of my life investment. As I look at the use of my possessions and time and hopes and dreams, I don’t find that I spend myself with the focused desire that Jesus be the sole famous One on this planet. I seek my own fame. I seek small goals and selfish ambitions. I tend to lean toward ‘me’ and away from ‘His glory’.
Yet, all of life and all of eternity will point to one great name. The name of JESUS will echo as the refrain of eternity. I know that to be biblically true. I want that to be practically true as the practice of my own life today. I want to live and move in a fellowship of Believers who know this to be true and who compel me to live for His fame. It makes sense that my life and the life of our church join in that echo…NOW.. today… in this moment. As we venture through 18 Days and as we prepare for an Awakening, perhaps we are invited to Awaken to the reality that there must be one famous One in our midst. As we prepare for an Awakening, then we must awaken to the hope, promise, and passion that we hold in Christ. Christ supreme… Christ alone… nothing less.
Colossians 1.20 is the compelling verse for the supremacy of Christ in our lives and in our church. His shed blood brings peace and salvation and hope and life. The gospel soaks the Believer in the glorious gospel found in the blood of Christ. We are cleansed and made whole and given promise and share in an eternal hope through the reconciling work of Christ on the cross. Thank you, God, for the cross; for the work of the cross and the hope in the Cross. As the cross stands over all things, may our hearts cry of your supremacy and Your name. Jesus – our famous One!
Kari Jobe will lead us in worship in a few days. Take a few moments and listen to the below song and ponder the power of the cross. 18 Days… Awaken!!
Honestly, there are a hundred things that you could see in this life-changing passage of Scripture. Feel free to read this passage several times throughout the day. Marinate in the description of Isaiah’s seeing God in a VASTLY more significant way. Be amazed by the impact of this new view of God on the life of Isaiah. For the sake of this writing, there is a simple facet of this story that blew up Isaiah and forever marked his life. It would be impossible to tackle all of the nuances of Isaiah 6. So, let’s focus on one thought.
In verse 1, Isaiah is rolling into worship with zero expectations. In fact, it would be safe to say that his expectation level was in the negative realm. The King was dead. His hopes were shattered. Life was not the same. And, in steps Isaiah into a moment that would forever shape His life and purpose. “In the year that King Uzziah died…..” This story is NOT about Uzziah. This story is not about when Uzziah died. This story is about a glorious God who shattered Isaiah’s life and left him broken before a holy God. This story is about a man who was lifted up by a God of grace and who, as a result, willingly spent his life for the sake of that glorious God. So, what is the significance of this being ’the year that Uzziah died’?
Isaiah loved Uzziah, but that is not the point. Isaiah wanted to remember Uzziah, but that is not the point. Uzziah’s death was a marker…. A moment in time when Isaiah would never be the same. Uzziah’s death was a moment that God chose to use to AWAKEN Isaiah to Himself. In the midst of a massive life-crisis, God revealed Himself and His life to Isaiah…. And Isaiah exploded! He was marked for the rest of His days.
God takes our highest moments AND our lowest moments. God takes our everyday moments and our surreal moments and He allows those moments to become AWAKENING moments to Himself and His purposes and His ways. There is no way to know where you are, in life, as you make your way through this passage. Just know this…. God loves and longs to explode your view of Him! He is on edge, just waiting for you to say, let me see You for who You are, O God!
How about ,instead of ‘In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord….’ How about this for the Valley view faith – family? “On Day 2 of the Awakening, I…….” Yeah, let’s allow God to finish that sentence as we ask for an ever increasing view of Him TODAY. May God mark our lives for His glory on this day and may our personal journey in Him and may our church never be the same.
In the year of the Awakening…..
Day 1 1/30/11
2 Chronicles 7.1 – 3….. 18 Days is a journey. 18 Days is a hope. 18 days is a church asking God to move in our midst as never before. 18 Days is preparation for The Awakening. 18 Days IS an awakening. We are asking God to awaken us to Himself, His purposes, and His ways. Through the first six days, we want to expand our vision of Him. It is impossible for us to make our God bigger. It is, however, completely possible for us to increase our view of Him and to enlarge our understanding of Him and to expand our hope in Him. It is our desire to launch 18 days with a united and singular prayer. ‘Allow us to see You, O God, for who You are!’
Today’s reading is ridiculous! The people of God have built a temple for God. They are ready and longing for God to indwell their presence. They prepare. They fast. They pray. They seek. They sing. They hold a holy desperation in the depths of their soul for more God. These people rend their hearts before God and they confess their brokenness and their sin. They are intense in their preparation. Solomon’s prayer in the latter part of chapter 6 is so fresh. But, what happens in the first few verses of chapter 7 are overwhelming. As they prepare to enter this newly built temple and to experience a typical worship, they gain a wholely new and abounding view of God. They can’t walk into the new place….God has invaded. His presence abounds. All they can do is fall on their faces in awe of Him and a beautiful song flows from their lips.
He is good. He is good. His love endures! It is our prayer, as we enter an 18 Day journey of prayer, that God do something so fresh and mighty among us that we have nothing to explain Him or us. Let us pray and seek. Let us fast and confess. Let us prepare and hope. Then, may we be completely stunned by the vastness, wonder, and awe that we have found in our God and that He displays for us..
The below song is written with this 2 Chronicles moment as it’s heartbeat. Enjoy. Pray these verses over and through you and into the very heart of our fellowship. Feel free to comment by clicking on the button below.
We are praying for an Awakening…. an Awakening to the wonder and awe of God…. an Awakening to the Presence and Person of Christ…. an Awakening toward our complete depravity apart from Him… an Awakening of our wholeness and completion tha t is found in Christ. The Awakening is going to be an amazing four days. Honestly, what leaves the Valley View faith-family stoked is the walk up to the series of services and expectancy from God that far supersedes these four days.
We are experiencing some amazing and God-sized stuff happening among us. How insanely sweet was it to watch our students come alive toward the things of God over the past weekend? They flooded the altar…. lifted holy hands to our God…. worshipped with abandon…. and lived ‘unhindered’ before the King of Glory. Students were saved. Families joined with the mission and vision of Valley View. A more beautiful view of God was gained. It was a great and good weekend. What is even more amazing is the ‘next days’ for our students. They are covering their lockers with the Word. Friends are being invited to our student ministry. A group of them are pouring the Word into their peers by searching the Word for six verses a day, writing them down, and asking God to open their eyes to who needs those verses. Yeah, it is just good among our students. Awakening!
Our church is preparing to unite in prayer, hope, expectancy, and holy desperation for Christ. 18 days is a prayer journey that will lead us up to and through The Awakening. We literally want more Jesus. More focus. More passion. More purpose. More glory, honor, dominion, and praise toward Christ alone. Pray and expect. Unite and prepare. Awaken us!
Awake our soul and sing! Feel free to kick back and enjoy the song below while you worship, pray, and ask our God for an Awakening among us! Glory to God!!
Our ABS groups are making our way through quite the amazing study of OT characters. It continues to be a remarkable journey as we see God at work in the lives of extraordinary men and women who willingly spend their lives for the sake of His fame. This past weekend, we were studying the ‘Moses’ encounter by the burning bush. Honestly, it’s so easy and it seems so right to expect encounters with God to ‘deepen you’ or to ‘grow you in Him’ or to ‘strengthen you.’ As I read about this encounter and as I ventured through the ‘Yahweh’ book, God provided such a rich epiphany.
“God did not reveal Himself to Moses in order to deepen Moses’ spiritual life…. Far too often we seek to know God or to experience Him without recognizing that encounters with Him typically call us to join with His work for the sake of His glory. Rather than giving Moses hope for retirement, God completely unsettled his entire existence and called him to lead a nation of unarmed, overworked slaves out of the most powerful country on the planet.’ – Mark’s paraphrase of Yahweh, the study
God draws us to Himself but His work is rarely about us. God’s purpose is that He gain all glory and all honor and all renown. He invites us into His story so that we join in the great privilege of making much of Him. I don’t know that I’ve wanted my ‘God encounters’ to be about moving me forward or calling me to great adjustments. I just want to ‘go deep’ without doing. I often want to have great experiences without potential sacrifice or suffering. It was a challenging moment to sit in an encounter with God and to say to Him, ‘so, how do You gain glory through this moment, God?’ After all, all glory, honor, power, dominion, hope, and promise are yours forever and ever. Since that is true, then God encounters invite me to seek God… to know God… and, ultimately, to adjust my life to His in order to give Him all glory due His name. This eternal story that we live in really is not about me!
Valley View is stepping into the blog world. In days to come, this space will be used to think about our Pastor’s teaching or consider a thought from Yahweh or talk about something amazing or God-sized happening in our fellowship or tell a funny story or post a great video….. We will have fun in the blog world.
Ultimately, this blog will be used to declare our sheer wonder and awe and joy and completion and hope and love for Christ and the riches in Him that we are discovering together. It is such a great thing to cry out of God’s grace, goodness and truth and to stake our lives, hopes, and passions in Him. Christ supreme! There is none like Him and He is more and more becoming the consuming desire of our soul.
It is Christmas and it is so good to know that God came near. He put on flesh and He pitched a tent among us and He declares His glory and His glory flows from the Father. The glory of Jesus Christ is filled with grace and with truth and you and I have the high honor of beholding His glory. (John 1) It is our prayer, as the Valley View family, that we ‘behold’ him this season. It is our prayer that our fellowship is a place that resounds of the glory of God and that the people around us rise up and take notice, not of us or of our church, but of Christ who reigns supremely among us.
As we make our way through an insanely crazy season, let’s ask God to break through our busyness and to have our hearts t0 beat a bit faster because we have tasted and seen His glory. Enjoy this Christmas Season. Enjoy Christ. Enjoy the reality that we share in Christ TOGETHER with such an amazing faith family. Live in awe of Him. He is supreme!
