Post-Vacation Part One

Hey gang. It's good to be back.

A vacation is nice, but it is nicer still to be back with friends and family.

Cara and I vacationed in Gatlinburg, TN at the luxurious Buckhorn Inn which is a Bed and Breakfast about 5 miles North of Gatlinburg. The room we had was very nice, with a whirlpool tub, a fireplace, and our own private deck.

The Inn has a walking trail through 80 acres of land with a garden and a rock labyrinth which you can walk around in. They also have two swans on the grounds which are nesting, and they were very specific in telling us not to approach the swans because they're very territorial.

The Inn also has exquisite meals. I don't have a very expensive pallette. I like very simple things, so for them to serve me the meal that they did was a brand new experience. Here was the menu that Cara and I experienced Thursday night:

Appetizer - Cracked Tuscan Wheat Bread
Soup - Sweet Potato Leek Soup
Salad - Mixed Greens with Curry Vinnegrette Dressing
Main Course - Grilled Chicken in a Wild Mushroom Sauce over Creamed Spinach and Asparagus
Dessert - Mud Pie

Needless to say, the meal was phenomenal, but I stayed away from some of those items.

I'll explain how we spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday over the next few blog posts.

Philippians 3 - Watch Out!

I'm back. Let's go.

Philippians 3:1-4 - ¹Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. ²Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. ³For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴though I myself have reasons for such confidence"

^"1Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord!" - After a couple of chapters discussing how we should live, Paul gives us one of the important keys to living a full life in Christ and that is rejoicing in God. Not just in the good times, but also in the bad times.

"It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you." - Paul was repeating himself from something he said earlier in his letter to the Philippians. The word "safeguard" is interesting because God's Word is our safeguard both morally and theologically. Whether we read it by ourselves or it is taught at church, the Word of God alerts us of changes we need to make in our own lives and encourages us to stand firm upon the truths we believe in.

^"2Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh." - Paul was very likely referring to a religious sect of people known as the Judaizers. These were Jewish Christ Followers who believed it was essential for every Non-Jewish person, (Gentiles), to follow all of the Old Testament laws, especially the rite of circumcision. Paul was criticizing them because their thinking was backwards. They believed it was what they did that made them believers, rather than the free gift of grace that Christ gives.

What Christ followers do is a result of faith, not a prerequisite of faith.

^"3For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus," - When Paul speaks of circumcision in this verse, he is not referring to a literal process or deed. He is referring to the fact that we have been changed by God. We are a new creation. (Galatians 6:15). We worship by the Spirit and we give Jesus every ounce of credit for our lives. We would be nothing without Him.

"and who put no confidence in the flesh—" - We are absolutely hopeless by ourselves, even though there may be times we think that we are the greatest thing since sliced bread. God is greater. Jesus is greater and it is the Holy Spirit's presence in us through the grace of God that makes us what we are. There is no good in us except for Jesus. (Romans 7:18)

^"4though I myself have reasons for such confidence" - Paul was getting ready to make a comparison, but we'll save that one for tomorrow.

Vacation

Hey gang,

I know we just got off the ground, but Cara and I are headed to the Smokies for some much needed R & R at a world class B & B. I'll blog about it when we get back. See you all on Monday!

Colossians 3 - Serve Christ

Let's finish this one up.

Colossians 3:23-25 - ^"23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, ²⁴since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. ²⁵Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism."

^"23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men," - Just as verse 17 is the key verse in this chapter of Colossians, verse 23 is a pivotal joint to every Christian's walk with Jesus. We are commanded to work, and work hard - in WHATEVER we do. Not some things, and not most things, but ANYTHING we do.

And, we're supposed to do it as if we're doing it for God, not for men. That means, when you go to your job today and your boss or your co-workers verbally abuse you and dump loads of work on your desk, you need to work at it with all your heart as if you were working for God, not for men. Verse 24 shows us why:

^"24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." - Our reward is not honor from men. We're not out to get shiny trophies and medals. We're out to win the prize. Eternal life in Christ Jesus. When you inherit something, you have it passed on to you. God passes on eternal life in heaven through Jesus' blood to you. You serve Christ - not men. Consider your work an act of worship to God.

^"25Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism." - Two key things here: Wrongdoing is repaid by God, not by us. Vengeance is for God to take and God alone. Not us. Even though we feel like we should get revenge for the wrong done to us, our Heavenly Father has already seen the wrongdoing and will repay it.

The second key to this is that God doesn't show favoritism. That means you and I are equal in his sight, BUT, so is Adolf Hitler. So is Charles Manson. So is Arnold Schwarzenegger. You have to know that God doesn't excuse the sin in their lives or ours, but Jesus died because God loved EVERYONE. If God showed favoritism, perhaps Jesus would not have gone to the cross and God would have just rescued a handful of people across time.

God doesn't pick favorites and you and I are loved equally by God. Praise Him for that!

Next week: Philippians 3

Colossians 3 - Specifics

Open up your Bibles.

Colossians 3:18-22 - ^"18Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. ¹⁹Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. ²⁰Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. ²¹Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. ²²Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord."

^"18Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord." - Alright, this is one of the most misinterpreted scripture verse in the whole Bible. Jesus died for the church. He was willing to sacrifice his life so that the church might have life. When Paul writes that wives should submit to their husbands, he is referring to their submission to the husband's leadership of the family as Christ led the church. To understand this in context, let's look at the next verse:

^"19Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them." - That's right. Love. Love means that you are willing to treat your wife the EXACT SAME WAY that Christ treated the church. If you need more motivation, listen to Mike's message from this past Sunday about Honor. Wives, your role is to support your husband's leadership of the family as Christ would lead the church. Husbands, your role is to honor your wife by being willing to DIE FOR HER as Christ did for the church. Notice also the little caveat that Paul chucks in - "do not be harsh with them." That means, when you disagree, don't scream, yell, or pitch a fit. Be calm. Be rational. Do not be harsh. Your wife is only trying to love and support you and sometimes that means a difference of opinion.

²⁰Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord." - Kids need to obey their parents. That makes God happy. But, just like husbands and wives, read the next verse in context:

^"21Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged." - I have to be honest, sometimes I struggle with this one. It is so hard as a parent to watch your child deliberately disobey you. When Josh does that, I feel like I want to show him the consequences immediately and seriously impress upon him the fact that disobedience leads to hurt and pain. I don't want him to disobey, I want him to obey, but I don't want to crackdown on him like a drill sergeant when he disobeys either. He is 6 years old and he's going to make mistakes. The hardest thing as a Father is judging between willful disobedience and a childish mistake.

Here's what I've learned as a parent. Let the mistakes go. Punish and swiftly correct willful disobedience, but let your child make those childish mistakes and then discuss with them why they happened. Otherwise, you'll raise your children bitterly and they will be disheartened and discouraged.

²²Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord." - We are all slaves to Christ, but the slaves Paul is referring to, no longer exist within the confines of our culture. However, you can very easily apply this to a working environment. (Now you're all mad at me - aren't you!) Work at your job with everything in you, not only when your boss is standing over your shoulder, but when they have the day off and they're not even in the office. You're not doing it for them, you're doing it for God.

We'll finish up this chapter tomorrow.

40 Days of Prayer for Sports Camp

Hey gang,

This year at our church, instead of a traditonal VBS, Melanie Presta, our Children's Minister at ACC, has cooked up a super idea to reach the community and it's called Mega Sports Camp - and the best news is, it's absolutely free!

We're sending out invitations to the entire elementary school district plus a couple others, so we're expecting God to knock our socks off with this one, but we need your help to make it happen.

Today kicks off our 40 days of prayer which leads up to the registration start date. Would you all commit with me to praying for this program, the leaders, and the students who will be impacted by this?

You can visit the prayer chart by clicking on the link below!

40 Days of Prayer - Amelia KidZone

Colossians 3 - In His Name

Colossians 3:15-17 - "¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

"¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace." - Peace is a state of harmony, or the absence of strife. As a church family, we are joined together through the blood of Jesus Christ. We are members of one body (the church) and we are called to peace. That doesn't mean that all opinions are suddenly eliminated, but it does require that we all work together, despite our differences.

"And be thankful." - This little sentence is so easy to overlook as you read through this passage, but it leaped off the page at me. Being thankful requires us to acknowledge that we are grateful, and that requires us to have a humble attitude. These three words seem easy at first glance, but they are a lot harder to act on.

When was the last time you were thankful for your family?
For your neighbors?
For your church?
For God?

^"16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom," - The word admonish means to advise seriously, or reprove mildly. Whenever you teach scripture to someone else, you should really think about it before you do. Teachers are held to a higher accountability standard by God and as such, are urged to take their teaching very seriously, with all wisdom.

Think of it this way, if I was going to tell someone about a new chocolate bar that I had eaten, I would not only have sampled the chocolate bar myself and read the nutrition information on the package, but I would have brought some of the chocolate along for that other person to sample and I would have gauged their reaction to the chocolate, based on the information I had passed along.

It is the same with scripture when we introduce it to someone. We need to read through scripture first, and read commentary that goes along with it to gain a better understanding about it. Then we need to bring that passage to someone else and gauge their reaction to it.

"and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." - Paul tells us here that IT DOES NOT MATTER what our personal preference or style of music is, as long as we are letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly and we are singing to God with thankfulness (gratitude) in our hearts.

^"17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." - This is the key verse in this entire chapter. Whatever we do - not just some things or most things, ALL THINGS - we need to do in the name of Jesus, while giving thanks to God.

Living our lives as Christ-followers can be very difficult at times. However, if we go about our daily lives, thanking God for everything and accomplishing our daily tasks in the name of Jesus, our mindset has shifted. That's what Paul is trying to get us to realize. All of the changes that God wants you to make in your life are not going to change unless you change your mindset first.

Live life for Him - in His name - with gratitude.

Do it. Now.

Colossians 3 - God's Chosen People

Let's go.

Colossians 3:11-14 - ^"11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. ¹²Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

^"11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all." - Jesus wants His church to have absolutely no barriers in it. Things like race, nationality, education level, social standing, wealth, and gender, have no place in the church. Jesus is in everyone of us and as our lives have been "hidden" in Christ, He is what people see when they look at us.

^"12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved," - You are loved by God. Never let anyone try and tell you differently. God wants you to be a part of His church, And in this passage, Paul calls us "holy" which means consecrated, or set apart for sacred use. We are vessels for what God wants to do in this world.

"clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." - Let's break down this list:

• Compassion - Feeling merciful and empathetic for other people.
• Kindness - Being gentle and considerate toward other people.
• Humility - Thinking of other people better than yourself.
• Gentleness - Being calm with other people.
• Patience - Calm endurance with other people.

Notice each and every one of these things has to do with others - NOT ourselves. That is the whole purpose of the church. It is all about what God wants, and all about what we can do for others.

^"13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." - The key to forgiving others is the second half of this verse - remembering how much God has forgiven you. Sometimes it may be difficult to forgive someone who has wronged you, but you need to remember God's infinite love and forgiveness, and that will help you to forgive other people.

^"14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." - The strand that binds all of this together is love. As we put on the new self with its virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, the last piece of the puzzle is love, which holds all of the other ones together. In fact, if you tried to practice any of these things without love, they would all fall apart and be useless.

Which of these virtues do you need to clothe yourself with the most?

Who do you need to show love to this week?

Notes from Unleash - Part Two

More from Unleash

I almost didn't attend Lee's session because I had attended it the previous year, but because the session I wanted to attend was already full, I chose to attend this one with ACC's Worship Ministry Co-Director, Josh Young. Obviously, God meant for me to attend this session again because I got something completely different out of the session this year than I did last year.

Worship Ministry can be a very rewarding, and satisfying ministry, but we have to be comfortable not to get our priorities confused. This was the aim of Lee McDerment, the Worship leader at New Spring Church, and here are some caveats from my notes during his Unleash Breakout Session.

Worship Leading

Priority List For Our Identity as Worship Leaders
#1) First and Foremost, we are a Child of God

• Don't let a stage ministry get between you and God.
• You are expendable as a minister, but you are irreplaceable as God's child.

Four things to concentrate on as a Child of God:

• Knowing the Bible - Daily Spiritual Disciplines are the result of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. Daily focused time in the word will increase our knowledge of Scripture.
• Intimacy With God - You need to ask yourselves these two questions:

1. How does my face time with God look to me everyday?
2. How do I need to grow, and in what areas?

• Sabbath - Everyone needs a day off- that's what God originally intended the sabbath to be, but while it is a day of rest, it's not a day of complete idleness. Ask God how your period of Sabbath needs to be and what that looks like.
• Community - Community rids you of most temptations that attack you in the lonely moments. Sometimes, you need to swallow your pride and call others instead of waiting for them to call you.

#2) Secondly, God has called me to Build His Church

Three things to concentrate on while Building His Church:

• Work Under Authority - You need to learn how to follow. When you meet to discuss creative ideas, follow your Senior Pastor's vision that God has laid on his heart. Come in with an attitude of humility and say 'yes' as often as you can, but be ready to bring alternatives if you sense different elements.
• Practice Communication - The "Second-most Speaker" people will hear in a worship service is the Worship Leader. Make sure that you put a lot of time into planning your communication. Prepare your transitions, find your scriptures, and don't use "canned prayers."
• Work Hard - Make sure what you do is a work produced by faith, not by self. (1st Thess. 1:3) Do not delay when God asks you to do something, but do it with instant, complete, and joyful obedience.

#3) Lastly, we are Musicians

• When we understand what worship truly is, our own idea of our musical role in worship becomes less important.
• If my own life does not reflect the Biblical model of leading Worship, then I am nothing more than a Music Director.

Three things to concentrate on as Musicians:

• Be Objective About your Craft - Record and evaluate yourself, as hard as it may be. You need to check your abilities and talents in the mirror.
• Go to Concerts - See how it's done. Dream big and get vision from these type of events. make sure you're connecting with the pros to see what "professional" is all about.
• Sing/Play to the King - Use your gift to please God. Go into the throne room and worship God alone.

• God's desire is for His own Name to be glorified. We need to check our personal style or preference at the door in order for us to be relevant to people and NOT ourselves.

Worship is NOT about music, rather music is A PART of worship. We need to continually trust in God, and not a band, to lead people to Jesus.

This was a dynamite session and Lee is one of the most humble men I have ever met. I was glad that my other session was full, so I could be blessed and encouraged by what he brought to the table.

Colossians 3 - Things to Get Rid Of

Here we go.

Colossians 3:7-10 - ^"7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."

^"7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived." - This used to be you. In your former life (before Christ) you were everything Paul talked about in verses 5-6 (see yesterday's post). That was your life - the sum of your existence.

^"8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips." - Notice the word "rid." The official Webster definition of rid means you free yourself from something that is not needed. Here's what you need to get rid of:

• Anger - Being really displeased with something or someone. (This does not refer to righteous anger which is anger against someone who goes against what God has set for us in Scripture.)
• Rage - Being violent in your anger.
• Malice - A desire to harm or tease others.
• Slander - Talking against someone in a manner that damages their reputation.
• Filthy Language from your lips - There's a lot that this particular one could mean, but the main thing to remember here is that we need to use our mouth to praise God and teach the Word to others. This could refer to anything from coarse language to gossiping.

^"9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices" - Paul adds one more thing to the list, and that is lying. God does not want us to speak anything but the truth. Notice Paul refers to our "old self" like a set of old clothes. We went shopping and found the only set of clothes will we ever need because they'll last forever - but in order to wear them, we have to take our old ones off first.

You might have a favorite shirt and it has seen its day. You all know what I'm talking about - it's the one with the holes in it and the stains all over it, but you still wear it to work around the house because you can't bear to throw it out.

Christ is the only thing that we ever need to clothe ourselves with. Check out verse 10.

"¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." - Imagine owning a shirt that never wore out - no matter how much you wore it. It constantly renews itself. Would you get rid of your old favorite shirt for the new one?

Our "new selves" are renewed in knowledge, meaning if we are actively reading God's Word, we will grow and learn constantly. We are also renewed in the image of our Creator, meaning if we are growing, we look more like Christ everyday.

So, in light of this passage, what shirt do you need to get rid of this week?

Notes from Unleash - Part One

Just in case you missed it, Mike Edmisten, our Senior Pastor at ACC is also posting about his thoughts from the Leadership Conference and you can catch it all here.

Some more notes that I took at the Unleash Conference:

For this section, we'll cover the Service Planning seminar that I attended which was led by Shane Duffey, Creative Arts Pastor at New Spring Church. These notes are in no particular order.

• The key to planning any service is to listen to God and do what He's telling you to do. It's not about the process, it's about the person (Jesus).
• Make sure Jesus is seen clearly in your service. If you need to pull elements out of your service for people to see Jesus more clearly, then do it.
• There is nothing sacred about a worship service except for what God's Word says.
• Excellence is getting everything out of the way that obscures people's view of Jesus. It is NOT perfection.
• Talk & walk through every one of your transitions in a service.
• Employ the A.B.E. principle. (Always Be Evaluating)
• Teach your artists to honor God with their attitudes and if a piece gets cut that they worked on for 15 or even 50 hours, it is always for the good of the church and for the glory of God. You have to be able to remove your ego from the equation.
• If there is an idea that you do not like, you need to come prepared with alternatives to offer.
• Change things for a reason, and not just for the sake of change.
• Don't let your ministry get in the way of your personal time with God.
• Don't worry about late people. Put the Big Element in a service up front and if people miss out even one time, they'll start getting there earlier.
• Don't serve anything other than Jesus.

My pen was smoking during this session. It was almost too much to wrap my mind around, but it was great encouragement that we are doing a ton of things right at ACC. Now we just have to repair the things that we can and focus the service more on Jesus every week and not on what we want to do.

Remember, don't serve anything other than Jesus.

Tomorrow, I'll blog on the Worship Leader seminar with New Spring's worship leader, Lee McDerment.

Colossians 3 - Things to Kill

Grab your shovels.

Colossians 3:5-7 - ^"5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived."

^"5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:" - A mentor of mine used to remind us "anytime you see the word 'therefore,' you need to find out what its "there" "for." Paul is reminding us that we have died to ourselves and we are hidden in Christ, therefore we need to put the sin that is in our lives "to death." Sin is everything we do according to our earthly nature which is our flesh, or, as Paul wrote earlier in the Chapter, our desires for temporary things.

"sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry." - Here, Paul runs down the list of things we need to kill in our lives. Let's take a moment and define these.

• Sexual Immorality - Anything done sexually outside of the limitations God has defined within Scripture.
• Impurity - Quite simply, sin.
• Lust - Intensely desiring after something or someone that does not belong to you. In most cases, this has to do with our sexual natures.
• Evil Desires - Anything that doesn't fall under the realm of lust, falls under this one.
• Greed - The desire for more, and more. A feeling of never being satisfied.
• which is Idolatry - God is our all sufficient source for everything. When we desire more than God, he loses the number one spot in our lives and whatever we replace him with becomes an idol to us.

^"6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived." - The Bible teaches that God is storing up his wrath for the day of judgment. (Rev. 19:15) and that we, as Christians, are not appointed to suffer God's wrath. (1st Thess. 5:9) However, one day, God's wrath will be poured out upon the world and sin will be put to death forever. We don't know when that day will be, but the Bible is very clear that it is coming soon.

We used to walk in sin, but after our new life was hidden in Christ, we have put our sin to death and we no longer live the life we used to live.

A movie line that illustrates this well, comes from a scene in the movie Twister where Bill Paxton says of his character, "See honey, there was an evil Bill, and I killed him." That is exactly what we did when we died to ourselves for Christ.

See, there was an evil Brian, and I killed him.

Change of Direction

Tonight, with the weather being warm enough, we took Josh to the playground for some much needed playtime.

I don't remember how I felt when I was his age, but after an entire winter indoors, he was itching to get out to the local playground.

When he arrived, he immediately found a pack of three boys and followed them around for a good two minutes UNTIL......he decided to head the other direction. I was curious why he changed course. I got up from the picnic table that I was sitting at, only to find him engaged in a conversation with two young ladies, one of which was in his first grade class.

I pondered for a second just why he had left his new found buddies in the dust as soon as he discovered something he thought was better, and then out of the blue, it hit me.

We change our course from the straight and narrow path all the time for things we THINK are better. God tells us that He is the all-sufficient source for everything we will ever need or want, but we struggle with our flesh and as a result, we end up changing our direction to pursue the things of this world.

For some it's women, or (for the ladies) men. For some it's money, or power, or fame. For others, it's a quick fix for addictions. Whatever it is though, we deviate from the course which God has set before us.

We need to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. When we do that, we'll stay on course.

Oh, and just so you know, Josh gave the girls up after two minutes because all they wanted to do was sit and talk.

Go figure.

Quiet Time

Every morning, I set my alarm clock for an hour before I am supposed to wake up. I hit the shower and then head downstairs to a HOT cup of coffee and the Bible. I spend some time in the Word and then spend time praying over areas of my life that I desperately need God to fill in the cracks - THEN, I spend time in total silence, listening to God.

When was the last time you sat before God and just listened?

Colossians 3 - Life in Christ

Continuing our study,

^"3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. "

Let's break it down some:

"For you died" - Your life no longer belongs to you. At the moment you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord, you ceased to belong to yourself. You are no longer a slave to sin, but a servant of Jesus Christ! You are dead to sin - it no longer has any power or rule over your life!

"and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." - The most interesting word that leaps out to me in this verse is the word "hidden." If you hide something, you keep it concealed and safe. In this verse, Paul is telling us that God guards our life in Christ. He keeps it concealed and safe against sin.

Now, that does not mean we will never sin, but it does mean that God has given us the Holy Spirit to warn us against temptation and to convict us of wrongdoing.

Think of when you were young and you used to play the game "Hide and Seek." You kept yourself protected from the Seeker. Sin seeks to devour you, but you have died to your sin and God, being ruler of all, has hidden your life in Christ.

⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. " - Since your life has been hidden in Christ, Paul now tells us that Christ IS our life. We are no longer slaves to sin, since we have died to our sin and set our hearts and minds on what is above. Jesus IS our life. He is all we will ever want or need. When he returns, we will also be with him if we employ faithfulness in our lives.

Colossians 3 - Heart & Mind

Digging in a little deeper.

Colossians 3:1-2 (NIV) - "¹Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

Let's break it down:

^"1Since, then," - Paul is referring to his previous Chapter Two of his letter to the Colossians in which he identifies humanity with Jesus Christ and exposes false teaching of Scripture. In essence, there is a change that occurs within each and every one of us - all because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. He also highlights that we should daily be in the Word, so that we can examine what is true and what is false.

You have to be able to deny your desires and wants and pursue Jesus and nothing else.

"you have been raised with Christ," - Paul speaks here of resurrection and new life. Romans 6:6-11 beautifully illustrates what Paul is talking about.

"set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God." - When you set your heart on something, you desire that one thing and nothing else. Paul instructs believers to set their hearts on what God desires most, namely, Loving Him and Loving Others. Desire to love him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and desire to love others as yourself. Put the priorities of God into daily practice.

²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." - The difference between setting your mind and you heart on something is a constant state of focused thought. Paul wants us to walk with Jesus while focusing on the eternal, not the temporary. If we are always focused on the here and now, we will lose sight of the greater picture, which is winning the lost to Christ.

What a week

Whirlwind city, but I'm home.

This week was nothing short of phenomenal. I had the opportunity to attend the Unleash Conference at New Spring Church in Anderson, South Carolina with Ten members of our Leadership Team at ACC and I have to tell you that it was one of the greatest opportunities that i have seen our church take advantage of in a long time.

This conference was a one day, one-shot leadership seminar designed to strengthen and encourage leaders to renew their passions for ministry in the church.

I took the opportunity to attend a Service Planning seminar by New Spring's Creative Arts Pastor, Shane Duffy and I also attended Worship Leading with New Spring's Worship Leader, Lee McDerment. Both sessions were phenomenal and completely rocked my world.

Here's a couple of tidbits from my notes.

• Excellence is removing anything that stands in the way of others seeing Jesus. It is NOT perfection.
• God has called me to be (in this order):

#1) A child of God
#2) A minister to people in his church
#3) A Musician

• I am expendable as a minister, but I am irreplaceable as a child of God.

I will post more this week on the trip and some good discussions that came out of the sessions, but for now, I'm exhausted and I need some family time.