Psalm 37:4 tells us to take delight in the Lord and He will give us the desires of our heart. We must give to Him first and He gives it back to us even better. Hannah asked for a son and promised God she would give him back to Him, so He gave her Samuel. When the people wanted an earthly king, Samuel went to the Lord to ask for guidance. He only wanted to do what the Lord told him to do. The people wanted to be like the nations around them, even after Samuel warned them of the consequences, so God gave them what they wanted. God had lived with the Israelites for many years without a temple, but David wanted to build one for Him. God told David He would build His temple through David's son. He was talking about the physical temple Solomon built and the spiritual temple Jesus built. We become God's temple through Jesus! When we feel the power of the Holy Spirit, it is because we have opened our hearts and brought Him in, and when we don't feel it, the opposite is true - we have turned from Him. God doesn't care what material the vessel is made of as long as it is clean, so He can use us, no matter our circumstances, if we have clean hearts. We must be patient - God won't show us His whole plan for us because we wouldn't be able to understand, but if we have open hearts, the Holy Spirit will show us something new everyday!

Amen!

Reference verses: Psalm 37:4; Matthew 6:19-21; 1 Samuel 8; John 6:38; John 18:36-37; Acts 7:45-51; 2 Samuel 7:6-7; Acts 1:6-8; 2 Chronicles 7:1; Acts 2:1-3; 2 Corinthians 4:7; 2 Timothy 2:19-21; Romans 8:28

Often, the first things we think about when we think of Christmas are earthly things - presents, food, time with our families, etc. Even as Christians, we don't grasp the magnitude of God sending Jesus to us. When Jesus was born, the universe shifted - in both earthly and spiritual realms. It wasn't just a quick glimpse of God like Adam, Abraham, and Moses had that we read in the Old Testament. Jesus entered earth the same way we do and stayed for 33 years, living like us, but with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Luke and Matthew give the accounts of His birth. It was dirty, painful, and dangerous. It was humble. His birth unleashed great things in the spiritual realm with the battle of the enemy to hurt believers. Many believe the story in Revelation 12 is the story of Jesus's birth, with Satan trying to kill Jesus when He was born. But God thwarted Satan's plan with His own and turned it around to use it as a way for us to have a relationship with Him. With all the commercial rituals of Christmas, Satan doesn't have to do anything to attack. The early Roman church adopted many pagan rituals in an effort to make it easier for them to turn to Christianity. This led to good and bad consequences - the spread of Christianity, but also the dilution of the real truth of Christ's birth. As we celebrate Christmas, let us be mindful. Do we want to teach our children about the unseen realm of Jesus or the unseen realm of Santa? Our lives should look different than the world. Let us remember that being sons and daughters of the Most High God is the greatest gift we can receive.

Amen!

Reference verses: Matthew 1:18-25a; Luke 2:1-7; Philippians 2:6-8; Luke 2:8-21; Matthew 1:25b-2:12; Hebrews 1:6; Revelation 12; 1 Corinthians 10:23; Ephesians 5:11; Philippians 3:20; 1 Corinthians 6:2-3; James 4:4; Colossians 3:1-2

Just like with physical fitness, Scripture talks about strengthening our core to build up our gifts. Paul knew what the church would face and how important a strong foundation would be. Are we confident we have Jesus in us? If we aren't and we are not prepared, it won't go well. There are sobering statistics about the state of pastors today and the stress, anxiety, and burnout they experience. It shows that a seminary degree can't prepare you for ministry. It is a tool, but if you don't have your foundation in the Word of God, a pastor can't minister effectively to others. The name of Jesus is above every other name, but we still live in a world where a battle is raging and we must stand like Ephesians 6 says - but in spiritual strength, not our own. As our world moves further from truth, the truth becomes more offensive and we must be prepared to do battle and know the calling on our lives. Have you asked yourself if you know the calling on your life? No matter what we do for a living, we are all in full-time ministry right where we are! We must grow in our foundation at the same time that we grow in our gifts or we will struggle. As God increases the anointing in our lives, we will find the consequences increase as well. Be prepared!

Amen!

Reference verses: Ephesians 4:1-4; Matthew 7:24; James 1:22; Acts 19:13-16; Acts 5:1-12; Acts 15:36-41; Matthew 16:13-24; Acts 17:28

We have a skewed view of what Jesus's ministry was. We think it was supernatural and big when the mundane happened while He spoke - kids got bored, people tuned out - all the same things we see in our daily lives. When we look at our foundation verses in Ephesians, it all hinges on experiencing God's love. Most of us haven't really experienced it and that's why we are tired from all our efforts in our flesh - because we have been chasing the supernatural instead of Jesus. We should only be chasing Jesus and the gifts and miracles will come! What we should look for is exceptional normal - as we go through our daily lives living for Him, that He will work through us. The fasting that has been happening in our church has been about tearing down the blockages between us and God. We don't need another book, conference or sermon, just the faith and a heart that seeks Him and He will reward us! He will make His home in our hearts in a tangible way where we will feel His presence. In everything we do, all the normal, He is the author and His presence is there; we just need to be faithful to do what He tells us to do and leave the rest to Him. His love is always there, but we block it by holding onto unforgiveness and other things. Remove these things that stop us from feeling the love of God!

Amen!

Reference verses: Ephesians 3:19-21; Luke 10:38-40; Acts 20:9-11; Acts 8:26-40; Acts 3:1-8; Colossians 3:5-17

During his fast, the Beatitudes really came to life for Brent. When you are mourning, He WILL comfort you! Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness WILL be filled. There was nothing else he could fill himself with during the fast and God did a miraculous work of sustaining him. When he felt his body shutting down, family and church were ready to pray for him. Our prayers and fasting alongside him helped him get through it. The biggest thing Brent learned is if our foundation doesn't start with full surrender to Jesus, everything we do will be in vain. We can look at the story of Mary and Martha and wonder what Jesus told Mary as Martha was being busy. Whatever He told her, it sustained her when He was on the cross and gave her the strength to stand fully surrendered to Him. We can also look at the story of the rich young ruler. Jesus told him what he needed to do to inherit the kingdom and the price was just too high. He wasn't willing to surrender. Surrender is the one thing we are lacking when we try to hold onto the world and serve God at the same time. Ask yourself today - when have I stepped back and thanked God for my salvation? Let us celebrate our God today!

Amen!

Reference verses: Matthew 5:1-10; Luke 10:40-42; Luke 18:18-23

Something Brent's fast has shown us is how important it is to be completely surrendered and obedient to Jesus. We need to know that we are growing and maturing in the Lord and the Church needs to be the light in our secular world. So much of our Bible study is about principle forming rather than Presence forming. Scripture talks about baptism, and the modern church has whittled that down to just water baptism, but it is so much more than that. It's about walking with and immersing the newly baptized in the church community. Many of us know the concept of His love, the peace of Jesus, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, but we don't feel the wholeness of God. Our concept of spiritual formation needs to change. Unity in the church is required, but we must value and respect the diversity in our God-given gifts and roles, with each one being important. We need an awakening of our base spiritual gifting so that when it comes alive, it is a boon to our church body. God makes Himself known to the evil spirits at work in the world through the work He does in us and the church. When He saved us, He restored a dominion inside of us and made us a new creation, so that from our unique roles, all the supporting gifts will come. As you go through this week, ask yourself: what would happen to our value in the local body if we realized God gifted us specifically?

Amen!

Reference verses: Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 3:20-21

Five hundred years ago, it wasn't a question of if you believed in God because everyone did. Today, the question is "Do you believe?" and this has affected our worldview. Many don't expect God to move and it begs the question - Are we being more transformed by His Word or the world? How would we define or describe being a great Christian and how far are we from what the New Testament calls the church to be? The church has come up with theology to explain the gap and to entertain people - we've largely accepted not being what God has called the church to be, so we have to decide if we will do something now. There is a big push to meet people on their territory, but Jesus went deeper and called people out on their sin and didn't worry about pleasing the crowd. We are at a place where we have to decide if we are more willing to follow Jesus or try to fit with the culture because the Bible tells us the church will be judged first. Our mission is to be the church He has called us to be, not to reform culture. When we try to redeem cities, we miss the mission to be the light on the hill. Revival can't happen in the culture until it happens in the church! As we look at our scripture reference today, we see that Jesus said John the Baptist was the greatest who had lived to that point, but the least in God's kingdom was still greater than he - that's us! He admonishes us that we can't be passive, we have to hear and our hearts have to change such that we don't put demands on God saying we did all these things for Him and He didn't do what we thought he should - exposing our pride. There are four key things to ponder as we go forward: 1) Are we more concerned about honoring Jesus or not offending people? God pulls people from the fringes to do His great work. 2) Do we understand and pursue Jesus's idea of what it means to be great or the world's idea? Keep in mind Jesus said the last shall become first and the first shall become last. 3) Are we growing in our kingdom identity and ambition or are we being civilized by the secular culture? America is secular and will fall too. We must avoid mission creep and focus on the goodness of God, building our faith and the church, not focusing on a political agenda. No matter what happens in this life, we are responsible to take the promises of God and act on them. 4) Are we living for and under God's expectations for our lives or the culture's expectations for us? We should examine ourselves to see if we have ears to hear or if we are showing up with a demanding heart expecting to be served by God instead of serving Him.

Amen!

Reference verses: Matthew 11:1-19

When we are weak is when we see God's greatest strength because that is when we call on Him most. The cross should be our central focus because it is why we are here. We can't keep trying to make Jesus look white collar and neat and tidy to fit into modern cultural boxes and norms. So many people leave the church because they were drawn by a sermon, not by what Jesus did for them on the cross. We shouldn't be ruled by emotion, but if you are serving God without emotion, you're missing out on Jesus. The cross demands a response - you either believe He is the son of God and died for us or He isn't. We have watered Him down and made Him less than He is, but without the true Jesus, we have nothing. It is impossible to live in a worldly way, keeping your feet partially in the world, and trying to also follow Christ. We must be prepared for what comes with the cross - persecution and rejection, but also fullness of life. We have to wrestle with the hard message that Jesus must come first - before our families, before our own lives; we can't just add him to our bag and carry on. If we love God and chase after Him with all we have, our love for others will multiply. Let's not, however, take the meat out of the Gospel to make it more palatable to share. Jesus meant to be offensive when He spoke about drinking His blood and eating His flesh. He was thinning the crowd because many were following Him to chase miracles and not to find a Savior. Let us feast on the Word of God because it is what gives us life. What are you holding onto that is keeping you from getting more of Jesus? Lay it at the foot of the cross today!

Amen!

Reference verses: 2 Corinthians 12:9; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Luke 14:25-35; Mark 11:24-25; John 6:53-68; John 10:10

We should be excited to dig deeper in God's Word into the hard things because it means we are growing. We think it is hard to get into God's presence because we have so much junk and sin blocking the way that we can't taste and see the goodness of God. Even as Christians, we are letting the culture determine who we are - whether it is our political affiliation, the teams or schools we support, or holidays we celebrate - we look just like the culture because we have become too accustomed to it. Because so many grew up with hell, fire, and brimstone preaching, the pendulum has swung too far the other direction and all we hear now is grace. Just because we have the power of the Holy Spirit does not mean we can live how we used to. Christianity has become like someone walking along a path and they encounter Jesus and just keep walking, but think he's with them. Being a Christ follower means you are walking along, encounter Jesus, and you change directions and follow Him. Jesus never told us He would follow us - He told us to follow Him! It's about those willing to follow, not large numbers - remember that Jesus dispersed the crowds. We must give people a real Jesus and we can only know Him when we allow Him to do the work to change us from the inside. It can't be behavior modification in our own power. Our identity is the righteousness of Jesus and our focus should be on walking from that identity, focusing on Jesus and obedience instead of focusing on what we don't want to be doing. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did!

Amen!

Reference verses: Ephesians 3:14-19; Ephesians 4:30-32; Hebrews 10:11-14; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Thessalonians 5:22-23; Colossians 3:3-5; Romans 6:12-14; Ephesians 5:3; 1 John 3:9; 1 John 2:1-6

When did we forget that gathering with our brothers and sisters in the presence of God is so special? We are able to come in freely and because it is free, we don't value this gift and revere it the way we should. Reverence has been lost in the culture, not just the church. The definition of reverence is to regard or treat with deep respect. Do we treat God this way? We need to be Pentecostal in our pursuit of the Holy Spirit, Baptist in our pursuit of knowledge of the Word, and Catholic in our reverence for the House of God. The phrase "familiarity breeds contempt" fits - we take for granted everything we have from God. In America, people get more passionate about the National Anthem than they do about worship in church, but it won't bring the presence of God into the room. Christians have been killed all over the world because they spread love and this message has a supernatural impact. So have we forgotten this because it has come to easy to us? Have we forgotten that the Bible is the living, breathing Word of God or stopped standing on the Word of God and submitted our lives to the authority of it? Have we forgotten that God is both Sovereign Lord and Abba Father? We must have the balance between those because He is both. We cannot focus too much on the Sovereign Lord and think He is unapproachable and hard or too much on the Abba Father and think He is our personal genie. Jesus taught us the healthy, radical middle. We mustn't diminish the name of God in our speech with carelessness that is part of our culture. Our deep reverence for God should change how we act because we represent Him! Ask yourself today if your driving force is to honor the name of God with a deep reverence and fear of the Lord. When we know there is no one like Him, we can put our trust in God, fear Him and are secure in Him, not living our lives like we are on the throne.

Amen!

Reference verses: Proverbs 25:17; 1 Corinthians 11:26; Exodus 20:7; Prov 16:6; Psalm 111:10; Psalm 147:11; Psalm 115:11; Proverbs 14:26; Hebrews 12:28; Acts 9:31; Philippians 2:12-13; Matthew 6:9-13