It’s sad how sin has a way of sucking us in until we’re bogged down, jammed, and pinned.

“That will never happen to me.”
“Only the simpletons fall into those traps.”
“Never in my lifetime.”

It’s rarely a blowout. It’s usually a slow leak.

On July 6, 1999, 27 year old Daniel Dukes went to Sea World in Orlando. He waited until the park closed. Right before it did, he hid and waited until the park was empty. Sometime during the night, he made his way to the pool where Tillicum, a 5 ton killer whale was. He slipped into his swimming trunks and jumped in.

No one was sure what happened but the next day, Dukes’ body was found the draped over Tillicum’s back lifeless. Some believe that the whale may have been startled by Dukes’ appearance that Tillicum dove deeper into the pool, creating a vortex that pulled the man under and rendered him helpless.

Others believe that maybe the whale thought Dukes was a toy that he dragged him around the pool for fun, keeping him underwater until he drowned.

Either way, he was lifeless the next day.

Sin has a way of dragging us down deeper and deeper until we have no inkling what actually happened to us.

But thank God that we don’t have to continue in that direction.

Jesus came not only to stop the cycle but to completely rescue us from complete lifelessness and ultimate.

How do you get out of the vortex?

1. Understand that you’re helpless and totally unable to deliver yourself.

2. Put your faith in what Jesus has done not on what you have done.

3. Keep going back to step 1 and 2.

4. Repeat step 3.

5. Repeat step 4 till your last breath.

Read the original post here.

He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.”

And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.       Jonah 1:17-2:10

As the storm continued to grow in intensity, Jonah told the crew to throw him over the side of the boat. Although the crew knew Jonah was running from the Lord, they had no desire to murder him.

After making one last attempt to row back to Joppa, they finally listened to Jonah. While crying out to the Lord to forgive them, they threw Jonah into the churning depths of the sea.

By the time Jonah hit the water, he had already resigned himself to his fate. As far as he was concerned, he was a dead man. God, however, had other plans.

Slowly but surely, Jonah was drowning. Although he had been able to remain afloat for a few minutes, all of his strength was now gone. After fighting for one last breath, his weakened body began to descend into the depths of the sea.

Just as he was losing consciousness, however, he was swallowed alive by a gigantic fish. When he finally came to, he was screaming, “Oh, my God! This must be hell!”

After a few moments, Jonah realized it was far too cold and clammy to be hell. Maybe it was someplace even worse. He was lying in a foot of water; the air itself reeked with the smell of rotten fish. The darkness was so thick that he couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face. From time to time, fresh air would be released into the chamber as well as faint rays of light.

Then he figured it out. “Lord,” he whispered, “I’ve been swallowed by a whale.”

In the depths of the whale, however, God was working on his servant. As horrible as the whale’s belly was, Jonah knew that he had been shown tremendous mercy by the God against whom he had rebelled.

“Lord, forgive me,” Jonah wept. “If you release me from this whale, I will go to Nineveh, but even if you don’t free me, I will die worshiping you with all my heart.”

While he was confessing his sins, Jonah could feel the beginnings of a new joy filling his heart. Before he knew it, he was singing and worshiping God.

When the Lord saw Jonah’s repentance, He commanded the fish to vomit Jonah out of its mouth. This time, when God spoke to Jonah, Jonah immediately left for the great city of Nineveh.

Where are you today? Maybe like Jonah, you have been swallowed up by the consequences of your sin and rebellion. If this is where you find yourself today, take heart. The same God who delivered Jonah from the whale’s belly is also able to deliver you.

The timing of your deliverance, though, will be determined by you; for you will not be set free until you have learned the lessons that God is trying to teach you. Like Jonah, you must repent of your rebellion.

Instead of blaming God for his horrible circumstances, Jonah faced that fact that his own rebellion was the cause of his terrible plight. This revelation gave him the strength he needed to truly repent.

Next, Jonah did not have worldly sorrow. He was not repenting in order to escape from the stomach of the whale. As far as he was concerned, his fate was already sealed. He was repenting because he had grieved the heart of God.

Jonah also made a fresh commitment to serve the Lord. When he promised to fulfill his vows (vs. 9), he was committing to obey God for the rest of his life, no matter how long it lasted.

In my opinion, this was probably the very thing God was waiting for, because the moment Jonah made a new commitment, God released him from his imprisonment.

Do you see it yet? The same God who sent a whale to swallow Jonah has allowed you to be imprisoned by the consequences of your stubbornness and rebellion. It is important, however, to see your imprisonment as something far different from punishment.

In reality, your loving heavenly Father is disciplining you in order to deal with the attitudes that have kept you from fully obeying His will. Once you have fully responded to God, like Jonah, you too will be projected into your destiny!

Read the original post here.

One of the most glaring reasons for the lack of evangelistic growth is that there are precious few evangelists that are properly recognized and  functioning in the leadership of most churches.

The evangelist is gifted by God to do several things:

1. To preach the Gospel to Unbelievers,
2. To equip Believers to do the same, and at the same time,
3. To lead the community of faith to which they are connected beyond the Church walls into the harvest field.

The Church will fall short of its call to be missional if it fails to recognize and utilize the very catalyst God gave to make it missional: the evangelist. In other words, no evangelists, little evangelism.

Church planting literature has asserted that 10% of Christians have ”the gift of evangelism.” While no Biblical references point to a ”gift of evangelism” it does reference the evangelist (Eph 4:11). Research has shown that to be about 1% of the Church’s population. When those with this gift are trained and properly connected to the local church, an amazing impact takes place. The people of God are equipped and empowered to share their faith and advance the Kingdom.

Like Gideon, who found 300 out of his 30,000 (1%) that were called to lead the charge, let us do all in our power to see the return of the gift of the evangelist to the life of the local church.

Today is usually the busiest meeting day for me weekly, and this week’s edition was no different:

Prayer meeting, followed by staff meeting, followed by pastoral meeting, followed by structure meeting, followed by creative project meeting, followed by a rehearsal for our new ENCS MUSIC album.

One of the recurring themes of every meeting I had today was the topic of alignment – lining things up on purpose to fulfill purpose. Whether it’s lining up harmonization in a song, lining up roles and responsibilities with gift mixes, or lining up prayers with the will and word of God, one figures out quickly that life gets done a lot easier if there is good alignment with God and one another.

My favorite alignment scripture is in Romans 12:

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (Romans 12:2,3 ESV)

1) Alignment takes mind renewal to the will of God.
2) You can test and approve the alignment of your life with the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.
3) The will of God: good, acceptable, perfect. All 3 aligned.
4) Pride (thinking too highly of oneself) is the enemy of alignment.
5) Sober judgment with regards to the measure of faith God has assigned is an ally of alignment.

Align yourself with the will of God – all else is, like the hymn says, “sinking sand”…

Read the original post here.

Moses discovered that doing leadership alone is a heavy burden. He also discovered that equipping and empowering next generation leaders is the best way to lighten the leadership load.

That sounds simple, but how do we equip and empower leaders? Here are four leadership development tips from Numbers 11:

1. GROW YOUR OWN. Next generation leaders are already with you. When more leaders were needed, God told Moses to bring 70 of Israel’s elders. He did not tell him to find some Egyptians. The future leaders were already with Moses, he just had not yet recognized them. (Numbers 11:16a)

2. LOOK FOR LOYALTY. Next generation leaders must be willing to “stand with you” for a season. If they are only interested in replacing you, and are not willing to stand with you, then they are not ready to lead. (Numbers 11:16b)

3. THE GOD FACTOR. Next generation leaders need the power of the Spirit. No amount of natural leadership ability, education, or charisma can replace the power of God’s Spirit. You have your part to play, but only God can anoint leaders with the power of his Spirit. (Numbers 11:17)

4. THE NECESSITY OF COMMITMENT. Next generation leaders must consecrate themselves. You can teach them and you can train them, but only they can consecrated themselves. (Numbers 11:18)

If your leadership burden seems too heavy to bear, it’s probably time to identify, equip, and empower a new generation of leaders.

I am not saying there is no truth to this, there is lots of truth. Our conscience must always be clear before God. I am speaking to the person who uses this statement as a crutch as an excuse to justify their own bad attitudes, to justify their own dysfunction even when its been confronted.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:4, “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent, it is the Lord who judges me” Wow, ouch. Just because our conscience is clear doesn’t automatically we have done everything right.

Brings a good reminder to the exaltation of the “Christian Conscience.”

Read the original post here.

I have been preaching a series for the past several weeks on miracles. Miracles do happen. We have seen some fantastic “only God” type of phenomena happen over and over again. Really. People healed. Fantastic financial miracles. Awesome open door experiences. And unexplainable answers to prayer.  Miracles do happen. But today I preached the most important message of the lot. “When Miracles Don’t Happen”.

The Bible is full of examples. Abraham perishing without ever seeing the fulfillment of his promises. The children of Israel being enslaved for hundreds of years. Moses seeing the promised land but never allowed to enter in. David’s Psalms are full of disappointments. Even our Lord quoted the 22^nd Psalm “my God my God why hast thou forsaken me” as he experienced the “NO!” of God. Stephen stoned, James with his head decapitated, and all the disciples but John died in horrific manners. This is a topic not talked about much in our “faith filled” world. But it is the “cross” side of our walk and if taught correctly brings stability and comfort to our flocks.

Personally I have learned in my life how to respond to the “NO” of God. Through the disappointments of this life I have tried always to maintain three important principles.

Number One: See things from the right perspective. The world does not revolve around me and my happiness. God has bigger plans than that. My role is to line up to His plan. When I see my disappointments through His eyes it makes a big difference.

Number Two: God is God and he can do whatever He wants. I learned this at a very young age and it has allowed me to walk through a lot of junk. Many people say a comment that sounds quite cool. “I can’t believe in a god who would allow such and such in this world”. It sounds pithy, but in reality it is one of the most stupid statements a person can make. We did not create God. He created us. My dog doesn’t tell me what to do. I tell my dog what to do. I am the dog and He is God. The dog doesn’t tell God what to do. My dyslexia has often turned the dog aspect of my life to god. But I really really know that God is not out to squash me like a cockroach, but rather He loves me as His son. Therefore I can trust His “NO”. It is for my own good.

Number Three: Just keep believing. No matter what my role is to just believe. To not get weary in doing good. To embrace His promise. My hero is John the Baptist. You should read “The Prisoner in the Third Cell”. It is a short and powerful little story by Gene Edwards recounting the life of John. When he was awaiting his gruesome death in the prison of Herod he sent messengers to Jesus to alleviate his doubts about the authenticity of Jesus being “the One”. Jesus told him several things but the final word He gave the messengers was “Blessed is he who does not stumble because of me”. There will be many reasons for us to stumble in this life. There will be many reasons to quit believing. But “blessed are those who don’t”.

Such is faith. One day all the answers will be there. But now they are not. I do believe in miracles. I will continue to believe in miracles. And when miracles don’t happen I will still believe in the giver of miracles.

Read the original post here.

It was Henry David Thoreau who wrote, “How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.” This has certainly been the case in my life.  Time and again, a book has proved a turning point, a course correction, a reworking of how I would ever after see the world.

Following the response to my blog on reading of a few weeks ago, I decided to share here the thirty books that have changed my life. I have read many more books, of course, and hundreds of them have been significant. However, the books below were each a turning point—a literal revolution—in my thinking and therefore in my character and conduct. They were so influential, in fact, that I was able to compile this list from memory.

I cannot promise that what happened to me in these pages will happen to you. I can promise that these books will at the least enrich your life. Literary revolutions, though, are in the hands of God. I’ll list the devotional and theological books that changed me first. Then, in an upcoming blog, I’ll list novels, histories, biographies and a few nonconformists. Enjoy.

Devotional Turning Points

• The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer
  Given to me by my college chaplain, Dr. Bob Stamps, this book shaped my spiritual life for years after.

• The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a’ Kempis
  This classic taught me that the Christian life is to know and be like Jesus.

• Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald
  I learned the difference between being called and being driven from this book and it has been a defining ideal for me ever since.

• Wild at Heart, John Eldredge
  This book explained my frustration with the lack of manhood in the Christian church and offered a path to masculine maturity.

• The Celtic Way of Evangelism, George Hunter III
  I learned from this jewel how our Celtic Christian ancestors changed nations through a type of evangelism that is vital for us today. It was a devotional turning point for me because it instilled in me disciplines for living in a pre-Christian culture.

Theological Turning Points

• The Land, Walter Brueggemann
  Learning the difference between “place” and “space” from this book was one of the defining moments of my theological and historical development.

• Paradise Restored, David Chilton
  It is no exaggeration that I learned how to “see” the Bible from this book.

• Biblical Hermeneutics, Milton S. Terry
  Hermeneutics is the study of how to interpret scripture. Good hermeneutics leads to good doctrine and thus to vibrant spirituality. This book taught me the path to both.

• Before Jerusalem Fell, Kenneth Gentry
  There is no exaggerating the importance of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. to understanding the New Testament. This book drove this point home and transformed my worldview.

• The Day Christ Died, Jim Bishop
  Bishop was a journalist who wrote about the physiology of Jesus’ experience on the cross in a way that shaped both my faith and my writing.

Read the original post here.

They say that the dreams and ambitions you have as a child are a glimpse into your life’s passions. I’ve often thought this to be true.

The first ambition I remember having as a child was to be a veterinarian. While I do not think I would have particularly enjoyed having to remove socks, coins and half-finished homework assignments from the stomachs of ravenous dogs, I have always loved animals of all kinds. I can still remember my favorite book in grade five was a novel called, “A Dog Named Wolf,” which I read at least once or twice a month for the entire year.  As a teenager, this ambition ranged from wanting to rehabilitate wolves to wanting to raise a lion, jaguar or cheetah. (Perhaps it is a good thing that, due to my work and travel schedule, I have never been able to keep a pet — since, as I once observed to my sister, I cannot manage to keep a houseplant alive, so presumably it would not bode well for a pet either…)

My second childhood dream was to help the Vietnamese boat people. I still have vivid memories of sitting on our basement floor as a child of perhaps 10 years old, reading my parents’ National Geographic magazines about the Vietnamese “boat people” who fled the country after the Vietnam War. Many of them ended up in refugee camps in Malaysia and the Philippines before ultimately being relocated to third countries such as Canada, USA and Australia. However, by the time I grew up, there were no more boat people…

So, instead, I spent the next decade doing what I would describe as getting wide and varied work experience — from teaching English in Japan, to working for the Canadian Embassy in Manila, to serving as the country manager of a US multinational in the Philippines — and what anyone else viewing my résumé would probably have thought was a clear lack of direction (and coherence) in my life.

The five days I spent in Vietnam, however, brought me back to those dreams of my childhood. And while it may have taken me a good many years and a bit of a long and winding road, I realized that — while I may have forgotten my early goals for a period of my life — God never did. And just last week, in the way that only God could have orchestrated, I found myself in meetings with people in Ho Chi Minh to explore the possibility of starting a scholarship program for the poor there. I had come full circle.

You can read Lynn Nawata’s original post here.

The picture of Steve Murrell winning this race is a classic shot. Thanks to his father (I think) and a good camera.

For many years I have grown up spiritually under Steve’s teaching gift. Steve has always had a way of unpacking God’s word in a way that I could relate to and understand. More importantly be able to apply it to my life. Now that he spends most of his time traveling for the Every Nation world I don’t get to listen to Steve as often. Thankfully last Wednesday Steve spoke at our monthly staff meeting in Manila – and like the picture above, true to form Steve delievred another classic.

I’m meditating on his message for my Sabbath today. I was so convicted by what he said, I knew I had to review it and internalize the words of Philippians 2. Paul starts out with an appeal to unity and likemindedness. Then he explains how that can be achieved:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4

Four things will cause disunity: selfish ambition, vain conceit, devaluing other people’s contributions, concern only for one’s interests. More than just a teacher Steve is an intuitive leader who knows what to say and when to say it. With the growth of Every Nation particularly in Asia he cautions us on how enticing success can be and how it can lead to blind ambition and vain conceit – surefire causes for disunity.

Steve explained that….”When God does something in us our response should be one of humility. When He does something for us our response is gratefulness. When He does something through us we tend to get full of ourselves, our natural human response is one of pride.” It is here that we must look to Jesus.

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:6-8

At the end of the day the issue of our hearts is sin. In this case – the sin of pride. Pride is the combination of our fears and insecurities that we learn to cover up with our well fabricated lies (mainly to ourselves). Through constant practice we perfect our pride. Fortunately there is a remedy. Look to Jesus.

Although being God, He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. He did not use His super powers to his own advantage. Instead He humbled Himself and became a servant who obediently obeyed the Father unto death.

Lord, thanks for the reminder. Thank You for Your example, may we learn, apply, and find victory over our own fears and insecurities. And may we learn to be truthful about ourselves.

You can read Joey Bonifacio’s original post here.