Prayer Train

Today was a great day. Not going to surf ministry gave me the chance to have a great quiet time. I read Luke 14:25-16:18 starting off with the Cost of Being a disciple which was amazing to remember the promise and commitment I made to Him. Also, after that the Pharisee's try to bash on Jesus because he loved people, he even ate food with sinners! As a result, he tells them 3 stories: Story of the Lost Sheep, Coin, and Son. They were amazing reminders of how joyfully God accepts us no matter who we are or how far we've strayed. After a passionate prayer time, I got to go to our amazing church to worship God. The singing was harmonious, the preaching was convicting, and the fellowship was contageous. Shane preached boldly on repentance. It was such an epic lesson called Repentance and Redemption

First he explained that repentance is NOT...
-just a good idea
-feeling bad about what you did
-cheap grace (Romans 6:1-4--stop being a nice guy!)
-independent of others
-just a confession

Next he defined repentance:
-dealing with sin (Matthew 5:27-
"heart" CUT IT OFF! Don't manage it, CUT IT!
-Having the same attitude towards other people's sin...what is your relationship with people defined by!???? If your being simply nice to them, then your not being a brother..get in their life and challenge with love!
REPENT FROM THE SILENCE SO PREVALENT IN "GOOD PEOPLE" without going all self-righteous

James 4:17
Not just repentance from evil but the good we must start doing! Replace the sin with good!

Romans 12:21
DO NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL BUT OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD!
your sin just needs a little crumb like a dog under the table. Satan is NOT done attacking, once he gets a crumb he comes back for more, and more and more until he's eaten everything you have away.

Hebrews 10:19-25
SPUR ONE ANOTHER ON TOWARD LOVE AND GOOD DEEDS!!!
"How you doing?"
"Good"
"So what's been your challenge lately? What do you need to repent of?"

REVIVE THE CULTURE OF OPENNESS

repentance begins with a decision to change: WRITE IT DOWN
Right now I will change the way I love God and people...from making it a habitual checklist chore, to a heartfelt, serious, deep devotion with complete breadth.

John 5:1-9
DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL? THEN WRITE A JOURNAL OF THINGS YOU'VE DONE, HOW YOU FELT ABOUT THEM, AND THE CONSEQUENCES THAT CAME.

"Take your mat"
Your dirty, disgusting, smelly, nasty mat you've lived on without taking a shower for the last 20 years!
A good reminder of what you were...be in touch with the pain!
How has this sin hurt the ministry? Relationships? family? etc.
Get in touch with that pain and NEVER go back to that putrid mat--stand up again and never go back to it don't even take a nap on it.
In order to get to the diamond of your life, you MUST dig through the dirt.

STOP MAKING EXCUSES
"I didn't have the time" CANNOT fly any longer! Get deliberate with it!

2 Corinthians 7:18 (Godly sorrow)
Have you been innocent by repentance shown by your deeds!?

1. Go pray with somebody!
2. Have a bible study on the sin your most struggling with!
3. IMMEDIATE confession
4 Journal/openness
5 get help!

Pretend your going to the cheesecake factory...but instead of ordering food, you bring a Deluxe Cheesebuger with fries (lies), ask for a table, sit down, and start eating...that would be outrageous!!!! WOuld you do that? Then why bring that fake stuff in the church!?

*****And then some guy I don't even know his name did contribution and just totally blew it out of the house...Its like when your a dad you might give your son some money to put in the contribution tray. But what if he took half of it, put it in his pocket and then put the rest in the tray? or crazier yet took all of it and put it in his pocket? Acts 17:24-25 ("The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anythingbecause he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.") God gave us everything we have, including money for contribution. We need to stop putting half or a all, or whatever part of it in our pocket and start giving it back to him!*****

So church was beyond epic! But that wasn't even the highlight of the day...the best part was the glorious prayer train we had. Today from 3-9, many disciples went from campus to campus praying boldly for this semester. It was a fantastic time and we had a lot of fun and built faith togethor. It was cool visiting all the campuses, even ones I had never seen before. I was really grateful we made that happen it was an amazing time.