This really shouldn’t be a surprise to us. If we look back at the apostles, especially Paul, they didn’t have it easy. Paul was beat up, put in prison, whipped and eventually hung for sharing his faith with others. Our Savior had the exact same thing happen to Him. He was ridiculed, cast out, his own people turned their back on Him, and ultimately He died on the cross for us. If we are wanting to be more like Jesus we need to understand the fact that our life will not be easy. Sharing the message of salvation is not something that is easy to do and Christ told us that because they do not know Him, they will not know us. As Christians we have accepted this mission when we signed on. We have committed to follow Christ till the end of our days, and sometimes it means being in rough spots. We have faith because our Father in Heaven pours out His love on us in ways we sometimes don’t realize.

God never told us that our life would be easier when we chose to follow Him but that He would never leave us. He gives us a full life. One that we cannot attain otherwise. Even in our troubles God is there guiding us though them even if we don’t see it. As new believers come onto the journey we have an amazing opportunity. We get to share with them what we have gone though for the sake of Christ and help them along the way. In our trials and troubles God uses them to reach others in ways we may never see. Non believers and new believers don’t want to buy into something that we are fake about, and when we share about everything that God has gotten us though our faith is real.

The prosperity Gospel is fake. You don’t get a sign-on bonus for becoming a Christian, but instead you are able to live a life that is renewed in Christ. While we live as Christians we have to become transparent which means putting the old to death. The new creation God has molded us into is revealed when we live a transparent lifestyle. We don’t believe people when they put up fronts so we should not live like this ourselves. This means that we are in the spotlight because we serve God and we need to keep that in mind. If we begin to really live what we say we believe we have the ability to reach those far from God with just being who God crafted us to be.

When we get discouraged about our faith we must rely on God to refill us. Paul in all that he was put though was singing songs of praise to God. We often in trials blame God, but instead we should praise Him in the storm. If we begin to live this we will be put into places that we can help others along the journey and call new people into a relationship with Christ. It isn’t easy helping others along the journey, but if we show love to them in all areas we will begin to grow in our journey. Sometimes God asks us to let someone else live on borrowed faith for a season so they might be drawn into a deeper relationship with God.

If we are not living a life that continues to dive deeper into our relationship with Christ we will not have faith to help others along the way. Believers are not just one person in a sea of faces, but one person being a part of a community of faces. Christ meant for us to do life together in community and to invite others into the journey. We do not walk this path alone, but with our Savior beside us and our brothers and sisters in Christ in front and behind us. Community living allows us to sometimes borrow others faith and in turn will grow ours. We long for the day when this is the case with believers, and we don’t feel like just one person in a sea of faces.

Throughout this week begin to seek out other believers and fellowship with them. If you’re not plugged into a community like this search one out. If we are going to reach people for Christ we are much stronger in a group than as individuals. Begin to live lives that are, as Ephesians 4 says, worthy of the call that we have received. Our call is to be real with those around us and open to sharing our faith. Continue to pray for God to allow you to minister to people and invite them into the journey. Let us take the hard road that gives us a fulfilling life rather than a prosperous one that leaves us empty. May God bless you all as we continue on this journey to reach those far from God!

Dive Deep,

KC

Something that is evident throughout the Bible is we as a people were created for community. Starting with Adam and throughout generations of our Christian history there are examples that we were made to do life with others. Christ presented this with the calling of the 12 disciples. When you really think about it, Jesus was God in the flesh and He didn’t need people around Him to complete what the Father had set forth. He was showing us that we all need to be in a community of believers. If we were made for community, it would make sense that we would worship with other believers as well.

Just as we are stronger as a group, worship can be stronger within a group than by yourself. Although that does not mean we can go without private worship. When we worship with a group it may be easier for someone to connect with their Father or step out and experience God because the people around them make them feel comfortable. It also provides a since of community and you actually see other believers pressing into the same God that you worship. When I get the opportunity to watch a worship service while serving in an area of ministry, there is something that makes a deeper connection when you listen to a few hundred voices joining together in praise to the Lord of Lords.

Being in a worship community is very important in our spiritual development, but we should not neglect the act of private worship either. Sometimes worship in a large setting can become routine or even a little bit clique because we begin to just go through the motions of worship. It is in this time that our private worship becomes extremely important in the development of our community worship. We can only change from the inside out, not the outside in. When we begin to go through the motions we think that what we are doing outwardly will become what we are inwardly. Instead we become like the Pharisees that looked good on the outside and horrible on the inside in the area of worship. We lose the connection we once had because we are no longer sowing what is good for us.

Private worship builds self discipline within us and gives us a greater understanding of our Father. This can come in may different forms like prayer and quiet time or maybe having your own personal worship service in your bedroom. Whatever is the pathway for you, we encourage you to pursue that in your private life so that you may benefit in your outward life. Just to clarify, you should be worshiping because you love our God and not because you receive something in return. Worship was never meant to be self beneficial but a way of being obedient and praising our Creator King. After all, God gives us 24/7/365, the least we can give him is some set aside time of private worship and even that should not be enough for us.

One of my favorite worship songs is a song by Hillsong.  It is called “Desert Song” and one of the verse says:

And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved
Of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flames

It captures one of the hardest examples of life that we can go through, but it is in that time that we need a worship community around us. We need people to lift us up and help us along the faith journey. It is in times that this song talks about that we will begin to reap in public what we sow in private.

Mathew West in his song “The Motions” not only gives us a good summary to what we have been talking about over the past weeks but also encouragement in our private pursuit of worship. The lyrics to the song say:

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions

This should be enough to encourage us to pursue private worship time and encourage us to have a deeper appreciation of our worship in community. We would encourage you to pursue both of these things with a hunger that can not be satisfied. Our prayer for you is that you will never have enough of God and continue to dive into his amazing deep waters.

Next week we will be launching into a new series called “Sea of Faces”. The ministry team has been praying for great things to happen by God’s hand over this next season and we would ask that you would join us in this prayer. Over the next series, we will be looking at the reality of our world feeling like a sea of faces. We live in a world that is lost, and we are the ones that God has put here on earth to reach those far from His arms. He sent His son to die for everyone and our mission is to share that with the world no matter what differences we may have. We are much stronger as a community, and we want you and your friends to be a part of this. Look for our new post next week and some pretty cool things that we will be doing over the summer to help with our mission of reaching those who are lost.

Dive Deep,

KC

Communication is not an easy thing to do depending on your subject. Some people get uncomfortable around others or in front of big groups when it is necessary to talk. We can’t go though life without communicating, so we begin to rely on our knowledge to speak to others. We need to realize that God created us for communication with others. Let’s consider Moses. After he fled Egypt, he went to live in the desert for 40 years and then one day he was walking along and a bush started talking to him. Now many have probably heard this story before, but think of how you would react if a bush started talking to you. That would make for a pretty awkward moment, but the awkwardness came later in his conversation.

God told Moses to go to back to Egypt because he was to tell the king to let the Israelites go. Now Moses was raised by the daughter of the king of Egypt. Imagine how that must have made Moses feel. At first he said that God needed to send someone else. God told Moses that he still wanted him to go and speak on their behalf. Moses did, and he probably felt pretty awkward when he started to talk to the king.

While most of us may never have to go and tell a leader to do something, we all have burning bush moments in our relationships. This could be a time where we hear a voice tell us that we need to talk about something with our spouse, boy/girlfriend, or fiance’, but how many times do we take the easy way out and stay silent. We have to be willing to have the awkward conversation in our relationships. So often people shut off communication instead of taking a chance to talk about the hard subjects and it breaks down the relationship.

If we shut off communication to those around us, we tend to become silent to God. We know that He wants us to be in open communication with our earthly relationships. We, just like Moses, begin to make excuses of why we want to keep something silent. Maybe you think that you will be looked down on or that you could mess up your relationship by talking about something, but in reality you are only breaking down the trust in your relationship by not being open with each other. Relationships are for you to share life with someone.

Silence has become our way of hiding things, and somehow we feel like that is helpful. It only destroys our relationships, and causes irritation on both sides. We have to be willing to be vulnerable and talk about the things that are needed, even if it means creating a very awkward moment. God was not pleased when Moses made excuses about why he couldn’t go to the king of Egypt. Why do we think that He reacts any different for us?

Lets start to do something that will amaze the rest of the world around us, and be willing to have the hard conversations about issues that need to be talked about. This could be as small as needing to spend more time together or having to make a few changes because boundaries are being crossed. Don’t allow yourself to lose out on an amazing relationship because you are to afraid to have the awkward moments. In the long run you will feel better that you did and trust will continue to build in your relationships.

This week, challenge yourself to talk to your spouse, boy/girlfriend, fiance, or just a friend about something that you may have been thinking you need to talk about, no matter how awkward it may be. We can’t be silent forever, and God will allow it to come out. He will be pleased if we take the initiative to break the silence first.

Be sure to check out the Dive Deep Ministries group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=68351964049&ref=ts and get involved in the conversations with others there! We hope that your week is blessed!

Dive Deep,

KC

“Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”

Sometimes we end up taking this to the extreme, and sometimes we don’t do enough. The question that everyone ends up asking themselves at some point is where is the balance, and how do we achieve that. We don’t want people to think we are fanatics who need to be locked up, but we still need to convey our love for God. There are three types of evangelism styles; Signpost, Street Corner, and Chameleon evangelism. There is no right or wrong way to evangelize, but some are more effective. Let’s dive into this.

As you have driven anywhere on the interstate, you have seen billboard advertising products, services, and maybe even Christianity. You look at most of them just because your driving and have nothing better to do, but you don’t really remember them, with a few exceptions. There are some people who’s approach to witnessing is much like a billboard. They stand at a distance, showing they are a Christian but don’t really make any effort to reach out and engage others around them. Just like billboards, most people just pass them by and continue driving on the road of life.

When you walk around in downtown Atlanta, GA, you are bound to see someone on the street corner with a sign or a megaphone or just their voice talking about God. Mostly, with a few exceptions, these people talk about God’s wrath or the destruction to come. While their intentions are right, you can get more bees with honey than with peanut butter. The people that talk with them end up feeling scared and afraid, so the accept Christ as insurance instead of out of reverence.

An alternative is to live your faith among those people that you are around. St. Francis of Assisi summed the topic of evangelism up well when he said:

“Preach the gospel always, If necessary use words.”

An interesting observation about people is that we become like those we are around. We are infulanced by our environment, so if we live our faith, we will rub off on those around us. Chamelions blend into their surroundings, but you know that they are there. Our faith should be able to be seen by those around us, while not sticking out like a green dot in a sea of red dots. People will begin to notice that you are different, and when they ask you why it allows a perfect opertunity to share your faith.

You should never be ashamed or afraid of what you believe. Christ tells us that while we preach the good news that we will come under persecution. In those times, we should rejoice because we are being pursecuted for Gods name. It begins to mess with their heads, because its different than everyone else. When the group Switchfoot was talking about how to inspire change, they said:

They say there is strength in numbers. That doesn’t mean that numbers are right. Dare to be different.

Being different for the sake of Christ is a hard road to walk. We must surround ourselves with others to help us though the hard times so that we can rejoice when we are persecuted. Do not faulter in your faith, be strong and courageous.

However you share your faith with others, make sure that your life reflects what you are saying. Fight against the grain of conveniant Christianity. You are a Christ follower at all times, so live for God in your words and actions, and just watch how God will use you.

Dive Deep,

KC

Mathew 6:33-34 says

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

We have all probably heard this verse at some point in our lives, whether it was while singing a song in bible school, or in a sermon somewhere. In this chapter of Matthew, it is talking about worry. Then we are told seek first the kingdom and His righteousness. What God is trying to tell us is if we put him at the center of our lives, He will give us everything that we need.

The most common mistake among Christians is that we start off wanting to spend time with God, and that is our hearts desire, but we allow the busyness of life to get in the way. We start putting things in front of God, or just make God something we check off our list. We do this, then we wonder why God isn’t blessing us.

To solve this problem, we have to make some needed corrections and put things into perspective. Our thinking must be adjusted to view our relationship with our Creator as the most important relationship we have, because it is. He spends all day with us, but we rarely strive to spend time with Him, so no wonder when we don’t make time for Him, he doesn’t make time for us. He can no longer be a priority, but must become a lifestyle.

As a lifestyle, there is no question to who comes first. God wants us to talk to him about everything, so we always need to be in constant communication with Him. He should be our first thought in the morning, and the last before we go to bed, and occupy all those in between. We need to get to a point where we rely on God as much as we do the air we breath.

With life moving so fast, this can be hard to do, but only if you make it that way. We all have excuses why we can’t talk to God about things, but it all comes back to our priorities being messed up. So take God out of the priority checklist of your life. Make Him what your life’s priorities revolve around.

Proverbs tells us that we should put our relationship with God at the top of everything. It’s not just a good idea, it actually works. If your having problems with your priorities, relationships, work, habits, or anything, start seeking God first, and you would be amazed at how things will change.

God loves us, and nothing gets Him more excited than when we go to Him. We are His children, and as our Heavenly father, He wants to know whats going on, and lead us with advice when we need it. We need to live what we believe, not just check it off our list. God gives you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and sometimes the best we can do is 5 minutes a day. When we signed on to be a Christian, we said that we commit our lives to Him. Is this really represented by 5 minutes a day, or should we be always in contact with our Creator? If we are living as Mathew 6:33 says, we should be the second option.

So if your not being blessed by God, or feel there is a distance, God hasn’t gone anywhere. He is actually closer than ever, just waiting for you to talk to Him so that He can bless you. If we don’t make time for Him, does He really have a reason to make time for you? He wants to, but will you let him?

Challenge yourself to rise above the culture of convenient Christianity. Make God the center of your life, not a priority in your life, and watch what happens. Things will fall into place, and you will begin to see things as never before.

Lets go after this as a community, and let God do the rest.

May God bless you in all you do. To Him be the glory!

Dive Deep,

KC

Over and over again the Bible tells us that God is with us. God says in Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

We know this in our heads to be true in the times of prosperity, but what happens to us when we go though the hard times?

Some facts about challenges that seem to be helpful are that everyone has challenges, and even though they might seem insignificant to someone else, each of them impact the person in the same way. This might mean that someone is short on money, which is not a big deal to their friend. On the other hand, their friend might be struggling with relationships. In both instances, the persons have challenges. Neither of these are bigger than the other, but they impact them differently.

Sometimes when we face a challenge that seems to big we begin to embrace fear and worry instead of the Creator who is bigger than all of our problems. We run to fear because we so badly want to control our situation, eventhough God says that we should be courageous. One thing that is forgotten is that God is not up in Heaven running around trying to figure out what to do to fix the problem. God will put us though challenges that require us to lean on Him rather than ourselves.

Challenges are also what you make them. This is illustrated by groups that have done studies on cancer patients. The patients that go into the situation with a positive attitude have a much higher survival rate than those who don’t. It can be hard to be positive, but it will change your life dramatically if you decide to have a positive outlook.

When we get hit from all sides at the same time with problems and challenges, we have a tendency to become overwhelmed. The solution to this is to deal with one problem at a time. If your current problems are relationships and not having a job, see where they fall on your priorities list. If your wondering about your priorities, Proverbs says that it should be family, friends, then work. God shouldn’t be just a priority in your life, but the center of your life.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to others to help you along the way. Life is hard when we don’t have friends around to lift us up, so seek out other Christians to walk along with you. God absolutely helps you out, and often the way he helps is though community with other believers. We as Christians should be helping each other carry our burdens, as long as they are burdens that others can carry (or need to help carry).

Life is tough, but our God in Heaven is tougher than anything we could ever face. We need to surrender our will to His will, and allow Him to have full control of everything in our lives. If we can do this, God will surely bless us more than we ever have been. He can only do amazing things in the areas that we give him total control.

Take a self inventory and see where  in your life you might not be giving up to God. He always knows what is best for us, and sometimes putting us though challenges helps us to see what areas we need to surrender to Him. We can’t be servants to the Creator if we are still trying to be our own master.

May God continue to bless each of you!

Dive Deep,

KC