As we seek Revival, Renewal, Restoration, and Refreshing from God, we cannot expect our appeal to be answered, if the appeal is made on our own terms. Seeking God without a resolve to turn away from our sins will not result in Revival. So God calls us to turn from our wicked way and seek God’s forgiveness – and God is eager to forgive.

The only place Power comes before Prayer is in the dictionary.” While we cannot manufacture Revival, we can and must seek it from God. He is only too eager to bless us with a renewed spirit. But we must come before God in humility and prayer. There has never been, nor will there ever be a revival that began without Humbly seeking God’s face.

Every family has a story. And for most families that story is dysfunctional in some way. One example of that is found in Jacob’s family. As his 12 sons are born, their names tell a story of heartache and hope. And in the families growing dysfunction, if we pay attention, it is obvious that God is working even in their conflict and sin to write a better story than they could ever imagine. So it can be with us. If we can learn to trust God, he can rewrite our story into one of grace and beauty.

The life that God calls Christians to live, is a life centered on and directed by the Cross. God hasn’t called us to live religiously different from the world, but radically different. As radically different as the idea that God would go to the Cross to save sinners.

Baptism has been an issue of conflict in modern times. It wasn’t so in the early church. Baptism was understood to be inseparably linked with the cross of Jesus; his death, burial and resurrection. To understand Baptism today requires seeing it in this connection; a cruciform baptism. In the early church Baptism was Blasphemy to Jews and Treason to Romans. Today it is the same. To be baptized into Christ is a denial and rejection of the gods and power structures of this age and a full uniting with Christ in his death on the cross.

When Jesus was raised, he still bore the wounds of crucifixion. Those wounds rather than being erased by resurrection, became proof of his resurrection. As we are united with him in his death and resurrection, we need to understand that our wounds also remain, not to defeat or discourage us, but to remind us that in our weaknesses his strength is magnified in us. Let us then not run from our wounds, but to use them as proofs of the power of God to raise us from spiritual death.

The problem with Romans 8:28 is….

* “Good” doesn’t always feel “Great”

* It’s too tempting to take the verse out of its immediate context…

* And when we do that, it’s like only listening to a 20 second clip of a 40 min. ‘masterpiece’

* It’s a wonderful passage in and of itself, but it’s only the ‘tip of the iceberg’

Crossing the street can be dangerous unless you use the cross walk. Living for Christ also requires us to use a Cross Walk – a life defined by self denial and taking up our cross daily. Bearing our cross isn’t just some random burden, but rather a specific denial of self for the purpose of serving God and others. The Good Samaritan was willing to risk (that is, he bore his cross) when he helped the injured man. The Priest and Levite were unwilling to take the risk, so ironically, they lost what mattered most, their relationship with God.

Jesus calls us to Take it to the Streets; IT being intentional works of ministry.  This requires planning and structure to be impactful in this world.  We must also understand there is are two aspects to fulfilling our mission in the world. One is that we must be bold in Declaring the Truth of the Gospel of Christ, and two, we must be brave in Demonstrating the Proof of the Gospel of Christ.  We cannot just take one or the other, we have a message and a ministry that is vitally needed on the streets of our communities