March 29, 2008 by Matt.

I  know that when I started this adventure, I promised to keep you posted on what God has revealed to me. Well, let me say that there is more that I could fit into a blog (at least if I were to keep it to a length that people would actually read). I will share some things as time goes by.

If you are a Christian and have never taken the time to make a conscious effort to connect with God, then I challenge you to do so. For a time turn off the TV, computer, or whatever it is that distracts you and spend some time listening to what God has to say to you. It doesn’t necessarily have to be 40 days that you do this for, it may just be a could weeks, or a few days, but I challenge you to do it. And please let me know how God speaks to you during this time.

I will share more about this stuff as time passes, but for now I have something more specific that I would like you guys to pray for. I have been touched very deeply by a number of scriptures these past few weeks. There are two in particular that I can’t stop thinking about; Matthew 25:34-46,”Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored…you did it to Me…Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored…you failed to do it to me(MSG)” and Ephesians 4:1-6,”…live a life worthy of the calling you have received….Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is only one body and one Spirit(NIV).” Through the passion in Ephesians I realized first that God had not revealed my next step because I was not “living a life worthy of the calling I have recieved.” As I read in the next would verses I see where Paul began to outline some of the things that characterized this “worthy life”. Among them was a passion for the “unity of the Spirit”. Well, this is not anything new to me as I have often felt that the church as it currently exists lacks unity. Sure we have unity within our individual churches (in many cases), and we have some unity within our denominations, but as Paul goes on to say, “…there is only one body and one Spirit…one hope…one Lord…one faith…one baptism; one God…” From this, I get that we should have unity among all Christians. Does this mean that I think we should all be listening to the same music, that we should all have the same kinds of buildings, and use the same structure for our services. Do I think that we should all wear the same cloths and sing the same songs, or even use the same translation of the bible. The answer to this is NO!!! God made us all very unique, of the billions of people that have existed since God created the earth no two have ever been exactly the same. Not even once have there existed two people that were exactly alike. Would God have created us all so different just to have us all worship in the same manner, I don’t think so. However, what I do think is that we should be looking at what Paul has to say in Ephesians 4:1-6 and start applying that to what Jesus had to say in Matthew 25:34-46.

This is where you come in. Wear these scriptures take me is something that I am calling the Church Unity Project (CUP). The idea is to begin to creat a list of people from different churches in my area with certain skills and a willinges to serve God. This list would then be used to bring people from different churches together to meet the needs of the body and of the community. One of the greatest ways that Jesus reached people was through his love. Through the Church Unity Project it is my goal to begin to show the love of Jesus to our community in a way that we could never do as individual churches.

The eventual goal would be to take this project beyond my community to include churches in surrounding areas, and eventually even taking it nation wide and some day world wide, uniting Chrisitans around the world to meet the needs of the body, and showing non-believers the love of Jesus.

The body of Christ (the church) has become a disfigured being where the eye has indeed said to the hand, “I have no need of thee,” and the head has said to the foot, “I have no need of you.”(1 Chorinthians 12:12-26 KJV). I think it is time that we reunited the whole body to reach out to “the least of these”.

I ask now for your prayers for this  project, that big or small that it would glorify God. Thanks, in advance for your prayers. I will be placing some more information about this one my website. Please check the website often as I will be adding this information there and will be adding updates as this project gets rolling. Thanks again.

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March 19, 2008 by Matt.

In the Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren states that we allhavea  life metaphor that motivates our thinking and out decisions. For instance; if you think life is a party, then you will be motivated by having fun, if you think life is a race you will value speed, if you think life is a marathon you will value endurance, and so on.

So, he then goes on to say that the Bible gives tree basic metaphors for life: a test, a trust, and a temporary assignment. Well, I couldn’t get past the first one; Life is a test. There are many stories in the Bible of people being tested; Adam and Eve in the Garden, Abraham as he was instructed to sacrifice Isaac, and Job to name a few. Remembering this could change the way we respond to certain situations.

As I thought about this, two things came to mind in regards to testing; preparation and passing. When we face testing in school we spend time preparing for that test, and we do this with hopes of passing. So, what does this mean in regards to life being a test. How do we prepare for that test, and how do we know we have passed. Well, preparation takes on many forms; study of the Bible, prayer, worship, serving, and many more. As for passing, I think that the first part of that is salvation, from there it is about doing Kingdom work. We will know we have passed when we stand before God and he says, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”

So, I then started to think of the testing I face in life. Testing serves two purposes, to prepare us for the next step and to prove we are ready. I compare this to when I was in nursing school. I took many tests when I was going through nursing school. These tests worked to prepare me for the next step. Then when I graduated I was prepared to start my career as a nurse, but I still had to take state boards to prove that I was ready. Such is the case with the testing that we go through with God. Even Jesus was tested before he started his ministry. He spent 40 days in the dessert being tempted by the devil. Only after completing and passing that test did he start his ministry.

This made me think….All this time I thought I have been waiting on God, but perhaps God is waiting on me. Waiting on me to pass the test, to Prove that am ready for the next step. So, when you think you are waiting on God, could it be that he is actually waiting on you? Waiting on you to pass the test, to prove yourself ready.

Remember these things:

• Life is a test! - Am I  preparing? Will I pass?
• I am being tested! - God is watching, even the little things.
• Is this testing preparing me for the next step?
• Is this test proving me ready for the next step?
• Am I ready for the next step?

Remember, God is watching and everything we encounter could be a test, are you passing. Do you need to prepare better so that you might pass the next test?

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March 14, 2008 by Matt.

Ok, so I just finished the book I had been reading and decided it was time to actually read the Purpose Driven Life and complete it. So, I read the intro, the dedication and look up some of the scriptural references in these parts. Then, I get to chapter one. If you have read this book before, you probably remember the first words, “It’s not about you.” Whoa, that’s kinda harsh. Anyways, as I read this single sentance I am reminded of how God has told me this many times over the course of the past year or so. I firmly believe that it ws my coming to this realization several months ago that lead to my oportunity to lead worship. I also believe that this realization has lead to a transformation in myself. It began with a powerful message on pride delivered by Beth Moore at Passion ‘07, then lead to me leading worship, then to me being called to full time ministry and contiues to carry me towards that place. I am finding it easier and easier to remember that it is not about me when it comes to things at church. Hoever, I have yet to apply this to other aspects of my life. I need to remember that it is not about me when I am at work or at home. My frustrations at church were a result of me making it about me, the same is true of the things that frustrate me at work or at home. I must remember that even at work and at home it is not about me, but rather everything I do should be to glorify God. I should be grateful even when things don’t go as I would like because it may lead to an opportunity to minister to someone, or a chance for personal growth. AND no matter what, it WILL represent an opportunity to glorify God. It is simply a matter of how I chose to respond.

So, by now you know that my blogs tend to come with a challenge for my readers. As I extend these challenges to you, I am also accepting the challenge myself. So, for this one I challenge you to identify the things in your life that you make about you. When things frustrate you remind yourself that it is not about you.

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