“Obedience is far better than Sacrifice”

I’ve been reading in the end of Genesis about the life of Joseph and how obedient he was to the voice of the Lord. It really challenged me to look at my own life and reflect on how I was doing with the whole obedience thing. Then the Spirit led me to I Samuel 15 and I was able to compare Saul – a man of sacrifice, with David – a man of obedience.
Saul was Israel’s first earthly King. Before God made Saul King, HE, the Almighty One was King of the Israelites. One day the Lord gave Saul a simple command “to completely destroy the Amalekite nation – Men, women, children, babies, cattle , sheep, camels, and donkeys.”

Now your probably asking why God ordered such utter destruction on the Amalekites? The Amalekites were a band of guerrilla terrorist. They made their living by attacking other nations and carrying off their wealth and their families. They were the first to attack the Israelites as they entered the Promised Land, and they continued to raid the Israelite camps at every opportunity. God knew that the Israelites could never live peacefully in the Promised Land as long as the Amalekites existed. He also knew that their idolatrous religious practices threatened Israel’s relationship with Him. In order to protect the Israelites, God commanded Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekite nation.

I Samuel 15:7-9 says that “Saul mobilized his army of 200,000 men and slaughtered the Amalekites. He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed everyone else. Saul and his men spared Agag’s life and kept the best of the sheep and goats, the cattle, the fat calves, and the lambs—everything, in fact, that appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality.”

Now, go back and read that paragraph again and tell me…was Saul obedient to the command God gave him?

If your like me, you may have glanced over it the first time. I read the first sentence “Saul slaughtered the Amalekites,” and then began singing his praise – “way to go Saul you obeyed God.” But if you read on you’ll discover that Saul and his men deliberately disobeyed God. They destroyed everything except the things that appealed to them, and then used the best of the sheep and cattle and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord.

I believe this is the important difference between Obedience and Sacrifice. God isn’t looking for more things we can bring to sacrifice to Him. He’s after an obedient heart. A heart that says yes to the things of God and turns it’s back on the things that so easily entangled. Like Saul, we can choose the easy way out and partially obey God. We can choose to sacrifice to God the things that are convenient for us or appeal to us, but in the end where’s that gonna land us – Saul lost his crown to an Obedient Shepherd named David. Because Saul rejected the Word of the Lord, God rejected Saul as King.

Obedience is better than Sacrifice!

Abortion Survivor!

President Obama is enacting a law known as the Freedom of Choice law that will annul 30 years of progress made in the fight to end abortion. Everything from parental consent to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act will be completely outlawed and the horrific, mutilating practice of abortion will continue to haunt our Nation.
As you listen to the words of Gianna I pray that your spirit comes alive and propels you to get on your knees, begging the Lord Almighty to forgive this Nation for it’s reckless, murderous attitude toward the unborn.
Lord have mercy!

So my mother called me the other day and told me she had found some….lets say interesting pictures from my childhood! (She is getting married and so shes packing her stuff up to move so she had been going through pictures and whatnot.) so anyways…i went over and was looking at these ridiculous pictures of my brothers and i! I respect and love little kiddos so much. They do everything balls to the wall! They don’t care who’s watching or what it is that they are doing! some people might say this is reckless…no way it is totally motivating!
This whole scenario got me thinking…(i know scary!!!) how do we relate our childhood to our relationship with the LORD? Can you image the impact if we had a childlike faith! I WANNA BE RECKLESS FOR JESUS! think of the impact we could have if we didn’t care what people thought…who was watching…what they would say! its crazy to think about! We need to stop thinking about being vulnerable with JESUS and just dive in baby! That’s all i got for now!WORD UP!
BLESSINGS!
AC

Slumdog Millionaire

My wife and I watched the movie Slumdog Millionaire last night…you know, the one everyone’s saying “you have to go see.” It certainly didn’t disappoint. The plot paints a graphic picture of the life of two orphaned brothers surviving in Mumbai, India. Jamal Malik, – who kind of reminded of a modern day Aladin, stealing anything valuable that he could pawn off for some cash, all while pursuing the love of his life – gets the opportunity to play “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” and is one question away from winning a fortune. The entire movie portrays the struggles and challenges facing orphaned children all over the globe.
One part that really caught my attention was how corrupt people become when money is involved. After Malik had won 5,000,000 rupee, the game show host immediately accused him of cheating and sent him to get tortured until he told them where he was getting his answers. How could an uneducated young man from the slums succeed at providing correct answers to questions that had stumped countless scholars before him? They were unwilling to pay him based on his reputation and upbringing. It’s amazing how the love of money can consume and control how we interact with people.
As I was watching the early part of the movie my heart went out to these poor kids. Growing up in the slums and playing with garbage for fun. Stealing for food and sleeping in railroad cars. I was reminded of Heidi and Rolland Baker, and their ministry to the orphans of Mozambique, Africa. This must be the lives these same children live before they are rescued by Heidi and Rolland. My spirit burns for these orphans. I long to reach out to each one of them and fill them with the hope and power of Jesus. If only they new how much they are loved by a sweet, sweet Savior.
If you’ve seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire or even if you haven’t, watch this clip of how God is touching the hearts of these young orphans in Mozambique. See the difference between a child who knows Jesus loves them and a child who is lost and doesn’t have a clue that he is loved. Ask God to spur a passion and strategy for how you can make a difference in child’s life…and don’t use the excuse – “I can’t do anything, I live in America.” There’s plenty of needs right in your own neighborhood, God will show you if you ask!! You can do it…step out in faith and watch what God does!! Besides we’ve got something that’s way more valuable than a Million dollars…We’ve got the LOVE of JESUS CHRIST!!

Peace and Love

Lifehouse – Everything skit, definitley gotta see it…

HE WHO THE SON SETS FREE IS FREE INDEED!!!

Freedom from the Law

Galatians 3:10-14
But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse. As the scriptures say in Deut. 27:26 “cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey these commands that are written in God’s Book of Law.”

I can’t tell you how many times I have read the book of Galatians throughout my Christian walk. Each page is covered with highlights and notes. But this little section in the middle of Galatians 3 leaped off the pages this week. For the first time I realized that not only does the law condemn us- but we are cursed because we are unable to obey the Book of the Law. That word Cursed is a strong word. Breaking even one of the commandments brings a person under condemnation and a curse from the Lord. For me, this cemented in my brain the fact that in no way, shape, or form could I ever earn the Lord’s approval. And when you dwell on that concept…you kind of feel worthless, helpless and depressed knowing that the Law can do nothing to reverse the condemnation and curse that we fall under for sinning. As sinners who fall under the Curse we deserve to die the humiliating death of crucifixion on a tree. Read what it says in the book of Deuteronomy 21:22-23: …”anyone hanging on a tree is cursed of God.”
But Praise be to God for sending his son Jesus to rescue us from our sin and condemnation!!!
Jesus, out of his perfect humility and outrageous love for us his children, lived the perfect life that we could not live and died the cursed sinners death that we should have died, taking our burdens, pain, and sickness, and FREED us from the bondage of sin. The only condition is that we accept Christ’s death on our behalf as the only way to salvation. There is nothing we can do to make God love us more, and there’s nothing we can do to make God love us any less…He loves us because He loves us, because He loves us, Because He loves us….
Stop trying to earn God’s love by following the Law and trying your best to be a good person. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith. It is a gift from God, not by works or following the law. It’s based on the merit of Jesus’ finished work on the cross. Reach out to Jesus…let Him ravish your heart with his unconditional love!!

Blessings
(If you’re still struggling with this concept of getting out of the curse of the Law and being free in Christ, read the entire book of Galatians…ask Him to reveal kingdom Truths to your soul!)

Chaos 09

Attention all Burn Middle Schoolers and Parents!!! Check out www.chaos09info.com for more info or call Nate at 366-7446 if you have any questions.

Priorities

Haggai 1:1-2:23

Pressures, demands, expectations, and tasks push in from all sides and assault our schedule. Sometimes it feels as though we don’t have time to eat breakfast in the morning. Do this! Be there! Call them! Finish this! It seems as though everyone wants a piece of our time – family, friends, employer, school, church. Soon there is little left to give as we run out of energy and time. We find ourselves rushing through life, attending to the necessary, the imidiate, and the urgent. The important is all too often left in the dust. So many times I find myself dozing off during my quiet time with the Lord, not giving much care to whether or not I give Him my best. Our problem is not the volume of demands or lack of scheduling skills, but values -what is truly important to us.
Our values and priorities are reflected in how we use our resources – time, money, strength, talent. Often our actions don’t match our words. We say God is number one, but then relegate him to a lesser number on our “to do” lists.
Twenty-five centuries ago, a voice was heard, calling men and women to the rigth priorities. Haggai was a prophet of the Lord who knew what needed to be done, and challenged God’s people to respond.
The armies of babylon had destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem- God’s house and symbol of His presence. About 50 years after the Temple was destroyed the Jews returned to jerusalem and began rebuilding the Temple. But soon they forgot their purpose and lost their priorities, as opposition and apathy brought the work to a standstill. The people were more concerned with their own needs than with doing God’s will, and, as a result, they suffered. Haggai delivered a message, calling them back to God’s values. His message became a catalyst for finishing the work on the Temple.
Read the book of Haggai and listen to the Lord urging you to reorder your priorities in accordance with His will. What has God told you to do?? Put all else aside and obey Him!!

Random

The past few weeks at the River we’ve been experiencing some spiritual attacks – The worship leader went home sick before the night of worship even began, the powerpoint screen didn’t work right, the pastor couldn’t find his notes – the whole thing was a disaster! The Lord spoke to me and said due to the lack of prayer cover over the River, the enemy was able to infiltrate and manipulate our worship service. This really awakened my spirit about the importance of diligently and faithfully seeking the Lord in prayer before leading people into an atmosphere of worship. If a service is not blanketed in fervent prayer, the power immediately shifts to the enemy.
This week we made it our goal to get into the prayer room a half hour early and soak up the presence of the Lord, begging Him to show up and transform hearts. Because if Jesus is not in atmosphere of the worship and the teaching and the fellowship and small groups, then there is really no point in showing up ourselves.
God is so amazing!! This week we had an awesome time in worship. There was a deep, rich aroma of the presence of the Lord. Jared decided to skip out on the message he had planned for the night and just listen to the Lord speak to our hearts. Again, Jesus spoke these words to me from Zephaniah 3:11-12

11 I will remove all proud and arrogant people from among you.
There will be no more haughtiness on my holy mountain.
12 Those who are left will be the lowly and humble,
for it is they who trust in the name of the Lord.

At Church at the gate, our pastor has spent the past few weeks pounding the fact that the United States of America has quickly shifted to the United States of Accumulation. Everywhere you look you see selfish, greedy, proud, ego-centric Americans falling for the lie that accumulation & consumerism will bring them true joy. The stuff that was going on in Zephaniah’s day is the same thing we see today in the U.S. We’ve been living in a delusional lie that we are untouchable & indestructible. Zephaniah’s prophetic word to the people of Jerusalem reminded me to check myself. To get rid of all moral filth, PRIDE, LUST, INSECURITIES, FEAR, and SELFISHNESS. We’ve gone too long simply ignoring the Lord! We get so caught up in our “stuff” that we no longer care about spending time with the One who created us.
I know this posting is probably ADD-like, I’m kinda all over the place. But the point I want to make clear is that God loves us and he desires to be in relationship with us. When we choose to put other things before God we will continue to see struggles and hardships come our way. Just like Zephaniah saw in his day, and just like we have seen here at the River.

God’s Outrageous Love for you!!!

II Corinthians 5:14a – “whatever we do, it’s because Christ’s love controls!”

This verse awakened my spirit as I read it this morning. If people haven’t encountered the Love of God, then they haven’t experienced a true transformation. It’s the Love of God that drives us to repentance and compels us to change. God’s amazing casts out all fear so there becomes no desire to seek the praise of man, but our hearts cry is to be completly saturated in His perfect Love.

Only Love can reach out a hand to the poor and the beggar. Only Love can stand as a defender of the orphan and the widow. Only Love has enough boldness and courage to cast out demons and lay hands on the sick. It’s only Love that drove one man to the cross, where he suffered and died so that ALL might live.

Is Christ love controlling you???