"I've been searching for a Heart of God"

I just feel that I learned so much from reading all your posts this week, I really need to just thank you all you guys for posing such awesome posts.

I just loved the sermon's reminder of how Jesus, while a being of eternal joy, also had great sorrow and grief. And Kailie's post really helped me see that this sermon was talking about how God is inviting us closer to his heart. Whereas when we are invited to have a closer relationship with his heart, we also get to experience the sorrow in his heart.

Sometimes the sorrow is not fun, some posted about how it turns to anger. I definitely feel that a lot. I was thinking about how like 'this sucks, there is so much sin in the world" but DJ gave that super helpful reminder of how we are not in this alone. "Don't carry the weight of making this vision come true on your own shoulders"...but trust in the Lord Jesus.

The realization of our own sin and the sinful state of the world is a sorrowful realization, but is not meant to push us away from the heart of God, but we need reminders that it is okay to experience sorrow. (It's okay to cry DJ said). I guess I would rather experience sorrow while being enveloped by the heart of God, rather than experience sorrow for material possessions or other worldly things that do not deserve our deepest grief.

Lord, allow me to share with your sorrow and "break my heart for what breaks yours." Amen.

Konrad

coexisting mourning and joy

God comes into our lives calling us into the kingdom and mourning is a sign of it! I think what stood out to me most in this message was the coexistence of grief and joy that DJ emphasized. When we meet Jesus in all his fullness we are faced with the grief of the reality of sin, BUT there is also the joy of knowing Jesus. We see in the gospel that Jesus was eternally joyful, and yet sorrowful over sin. The more we see what the kingdom of God is about, the more we realize the world does not have to be this way. I am encouraged that we can mourn for sin while still embracing the joy that comes from living in the kingdom.

Some other great DJ quotes:

• Comfort is not found in insulating your heart, its found in opening your heart.
• The kingdom has come, the kingdom is coming, and nothing will stand in its way!
• Everlasting joy will be the everlasting condition!
• This command blesses those who are vulnerable before life and embrace the pain

Week 3 -- Who is Sufficient for these things? II Cor. 2:16......Blessed are those who sense their own deep, spiritual insufficiency -- Unleashing the Meek!

Week 3 -- Who is Sufficient for these things? II Cor. 2:16......Blessed are those who sense their own deep, spiritual insufficiency -- Unleashing the Meek!

I proof-read the Sonshine Devotional today.  

I love reading through it each year before the season.  

If you ever need to feel the holy spirit pry the corners of your mouth into a grin – sit and read the devotional cover to cover.  Might not be for you, but it sure feels to me like a great mental, emotional, and spiritual tune up. 

After reading the devo I listened to the sermon and felt as if both, in many places,  were singing a refrain back and forth to each other on how we can fall deeply in love with Jesus by seeking Him first and in all things and at all times. 

Several times as Darrell riffed through different takes on the idea of meek, I felt him describing a solid, effective Sonshine staff.  Sometimes during the message I interchanged the word meek for “Sonshine staff.”

Blessed are the Sonshine staff. The gentle. For they will inherit the earth.

We become Sonshine staff because of the power of Jesus’ gospel. 

Sonshine Staff -  trust and do good.

Sonshine Staff -  delight themselves in the lord. They find joy in the living god.  They concentrate on 

doing the right thing cuz that’s what God wants. 

Sonshine Staff – Rest in the Lord. Wait patiently for the Lord.  Waiting with great anticipation.

Sonshine Staff - Are ready to act. 

Sonshine Staff – Do not fear.

Finally, the message reminded me of the freedom we have in Jesus to like Paul make the following claim: “I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamaties; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”  I Corinthians 12:9-10. 

Praying this week for all of us to experience the intimacy that comes with surrendering our weakness to God’s strength. 

The Heart of Jesus

“BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN, FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED”

“Comfort is found in opening up your heart”

I sometimes catch myself with a pessimistic attitude about the world because of all the sin and brokenness. Sometimes I try to ignore it, but Jesus invites me to mourn with Him. When I open myself up to the pain in the world, Christ gives me His peace and comforts me. Christ allows me to empathize and grieve with His people. The world is not supposed to be like this, and that is why there is pain. God is telling us something is wrong. It is the same as our own physiological pain. It is a response to an injury or threat; a warning mechanism to signal that something is not right. By the grace of God, we experience this pain, so that we do not keep on sinning. He exposes our sin the closer we draw near to Him. The closer we get, the closer we get to the heart of Jesus, and it is a broken one.  

“Everlasting joy will be the everlasting condition”

I find comfort in Jesus’ words, “‘Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful’” (John 14:27). Jesus’ peace is unwavering and goes beyond our comprehension. I am encouraged to trust Jesus because He will be satisfied and restore joy to this world.

Lord, break my heart for what breaks yours and instill in me hope, peace, and joy because You will have your way.  

God's fullness and my emptiness

This sermon reminded me of what Steve was also reminded of in the last sermon; the super ultra packet quote which says something like "understanding the glory of the fullness of God actually allows us to then be aware of our own emptiness". I have mourned many times over the reality that I am a straight up cold blooded sinner! And that means that I constantly choose to go outside the will of the Father. It breaks my heart, and yet like Paul, I continue to do what my flesh wants to do even though I don't want to do it!

Michele's post from this week's sermon made me think of the song Hosanna and the lyrics that I think apply so perfectly:

"Heal my heart and make it clean,

open up my eyes to the things unseen,

show me how to love like you have loved me.

Break my heart for what breaks yours,

everything I am for your Kingdom's cause,

as I walk from Earth into eternity."

Lord would you bring me to a place of mourning so that I may know you more. Would you give me opportunities to face the harsh reality of this world and my sin so that I might in return see more closely the fullness of your Son and what exactly He died for. Amen.

Drawn near to the heart of Jesus

"As we get closer to His heart we discover that it is a broken heart." 

"In Him, we see what humanity was created to be." 

After listening to the sermon, I began to ask Jesus to draw me to Himself and as He did I caught a sorrowful glimpse of His heart. Last Tuesday I attempted to quickly clean our store's lobby, just minutes away from closing our store a talkative customer began a conversation with me. I initially thought "oh no, how long is this going to be" but in this not so great response God extended His invitation to draw near and this time I accepted. God drew me near to His heart for this man and I mourned when I caught a glimpse of the deep love God has for Him, along with an overwhelming sense that he may be unaware of this great love. 

Again in a conversation with my youngest sister Jesus extended an invitation to draw near as I tried to answer a strange question she had about Jesus. I first began to respond with an attitude/ goal to quickly fix and "make right" her understanding. But interrupting this response, I accepted His invitation, catching a glimpse of how Jesus lovingly sees her and recognizing that it will take much more than my human explanation for her searching heart to be answered, and I mourned. 

Far too often do I reject Christ's invitation to draw near in order to avoid the pain of it. 

Jesus, please draw me to yourself. In discomfort, draw me to yourself. In worry, draw me to yourself. In discontentment, draw me to yourself. In avoidance, draw me to yourself. In an attitude of fixing, draw me to yourself. Jesus draw me near to you and your heart despite my resistance to experience a soul of sorrow. 

Last quotes/ mini thoughts: 

"Who then are the mourners? Who then are the mourners Jesus blesses... they are those who have caught a glimpse of God's new day and who ache with all their being for that new day to come and break out into tears when confronted with its absence. The mourners are visionaries." 

These words from DJ remind me of Mirm. She is wonderful example of someone who has allowed herself to be drawn close to the heart of the Lord, anticipating the vision/ coming of His new day. 

And last.....

Jesus says, "You do not know the things that make for peace." 

Draw near....

The reality is that as we Jesus draws us closer to Himself, the more and more he reveals in us our own sin and brokenness. And as we draw closer to Him, we begin to mourn. We mourn because we see the glory of the way things are supposed to be, and how different things actually are!

I think similar to Reid I often have an angry response, before I mourn, when I see things for the way that they are. How often I envision the way that things could be. Though Jesus does not call me to be angry, he calls me to mourn and be blessed in my mourning. Jesus speaks to me exactly what Darrell shared towards the end of the sermon... "The vision is true. It does not have to be this way. It can change, but don't carry the weight of making the vision come true on your own shoulders. Trust Jesus, trust The Father!!!!"

The Joy comes in the Morning. Amen.

Facing the Reality of Sin

After listening to this sermon, I feel like God gave me a HUGE reality check in allowing me to recognize the different scenarios in which I mourn and do not mourn; the scenarios in which I’m in sync with the gospel and not in sync with the gospel. 

DJ explains that when we grieve, we are forced to face the reality of sin. As I thought more about that, I realized that the times I grieve are usually the moments when I notice the sin in other people. For example, when DJ mentioned the topic of prostitution and exploitation of women and children, I immediately got triggered and actually started crying as I felt like my heart got stabbed. Doing many months of research on human trafficking for my senior project has allowed me to understand the depths of sin found within this disgusting industry- for both the traffickers and the victims. I recognize that “it doesn’t have to be this way” and the only way these people will find comfort, freedom, and healing is in Christ alone. In the midst of my sorrow when seeing the brokenness of this world, I find a sense of peace knowing that Jesus has already carried the weight of the pain and burden they are all facing. 

On the flip side, when I am dealing with my own sin, it seems as if I don’t always grieve. Instead, I become frustrated and angry because I tend to try to control everything on my own rather than accepting the freedom Jesus so graciously gifted to me. I interpret this as a personal lack in comfort to opening my heart to Him but I pray that I feel the extent of what Jesus feels when he sees my sin. I don’t want to be limited from growing closer to God or seeing eye to eye with Jesus, but I think grief vs. anger can be used as a good measure to see where my heart is at. Loved getting reminded that there is so much freedom in mourning because grief does not kill and is simply the result of the gospel holding onto us. 

Break my heart for what breaks yours, Jesus! 

Blessed are those who mourn!

"Blessed" - To kneel down and extend the hands and offer a gift.  The living God postures Himself in this way and offers us a gift.  Blessed are you who mourn! 

I told Steve this morning, "Mourning or sorrow is not usually my first response to situations that I THINK should warrant mourning or sorrow.  Anger seems to be my first response!  What is up with that?" 

My reading this morning was from Leviticus.  check this out......

Leviticus 26
1 "Do not make idols or set up carved images, or sacred pillars, or sculptured stones in your land so you may worship them. I am the LORD your God.
2 You must keep my Sabbath days of rest and show reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.

3 "If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands,
4 I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.
5 Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land.

6 "I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land.
7 In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords.
8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath your sword.

9 "I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you.
10 You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest!
11 I will live among you, and I will not despise you.
12 I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.
13 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.


14 "However, if you do not listen to me or obey all these commands,
15 and if you break my covenant by rejecting my decrees, treating my regulations with contempt, and refusing to obey my commands,
16 I will punish you. I will bring sudden terrors upon you—wasting diseases and burning fevers that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will plant your crops in vain because your enemies will eat them.
17 I will turn against you, and you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will run even when no one is chasing you!

18 "And if, in spite of all this, you still disobey me, I will punish you seven times over for your sins.
19 I will break your proud spirit by making the skies as unyielding as iron and the earth as hard as bronze.
20 All your work will be for nothing, for your land will yield no crops, and your trees will bear no fruit.

21 "If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey me, I will inflict disaster on you seven times over for your sins.
22 I will send wild animals that will rob you of your children and destroy your livestock. Your numbers will dwindle, and your roads will be deserted.

23 "And if you fail to learn the lesson and continue your hostility toward me,
24 then I myself will be hostile toward you. I will personally strike you with calamity seven times over for your sins.
25 I will send armies against you to carry out the curse of the covenant you have broken. When you run to your towns for safety, I will send a plague to destroy you there, and you will be handed over to your enemies.
26 I will destroy your food supply, so that ten women will need only one oven to bake bread for their families. They will ration your food by weight, and though you have food to eat, you will not be satisfied.

27 "If in spite of all this you still refuse to listen and still remain hostile toward me,
28 then I will give full vent to my hostility. I myself will punish you seven times over for your sins.
29 Then you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.
30 I will destroy your pagan shrines and knock down your places of worship. I will leave your lifeless corpses piled on top of your lifeless idols,* and I will despise you.
31 I will make your cities desolate and destroy your places of pagan worship. I will take no pleasure in your offerings that should be a pleasing aroma to me.
32 Yes, I myself will devastate your land, and your enemies who come to occupy it will be appalled at what they see.
33 I will scatter you among the nations and bring out my sword against you. Your land will become desolate, and your cities will lie in ruins.
34 Then at last the land will enjoy its neglected Sabbath years as it lies desolate while you are in exile in the land of your enemies. Then the land will finally rest and enjoy the Sabbaths it missed.
35 As long as the land lies in ruins, it will enjoy the rest you never allowed it to take every seventh year while you lived in it.

36 "And for those of you who survive, I will demoralize you in the land of your enemies. You will live in such fear that the sound of a leaf driven by the wind will send you fleeing. You will run as though fleeing from a sword, and you will fall even when no one pursues you.
37 Though no one is chasing you, you will stumble over each other as though fleeing from a sword. You will have no power to stand up against your enemies.
38 You will die among the foreign nations and be devoured in the land of your enemies.
39 Those of you who survive will waste away in your enemies' lands because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors.

40 "But at last my people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors for betraying me and being hostile toward me.
41 When I have turned their hostility back on them and brought them to the land of their enemies, then at last their stubborn hearts will be humbled, and they will pay for their sins.
42 Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
43 For the land must be abandoned to enjoy its years of Sabbath rest as it lies deserted. At last the people will pay for their sins, for they have continually rejected my regulations and despised my decrees.

44 "But despite all this, I will not utterly reject or despise them while they are in exile in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel my covenant with them by wiping them out, for I am the LORD their God.
45 For their sakes I will remember my ancient covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of all the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD."

46 These are the decrees, regulations, and instructions that the LORD gave through Moses on Mount Sinai as evidence of the relationship between himself and the Israelites.


If I am allowed to trainee float myself, I would say my anger response to situations going on around me are rooted in the outright hostility and disobedience of humanity towards God. 

Verse 40 helps direct my anger into mourning/confession. So often I want to remove myself from my priestly role of offering living sacrifices on behalf of the people.  Confessing our sin on behalf of the people.  Carrying out God's commands and decrees on behalf of the people........on and on I can go! 

I have always struggled with Moses' response......
Numbers 14
14 After the Israelites heard the report from the twelve men who had explored Canaan, the people cried all night 2 and complained to Moses and Aaron, “We wish we had died in Egypt or somewhere out here in the desert! 3 Is the Lord leading us into Canaan, just to have us killed and our women and children captured? We’d be better off in Egypt.” 4 Then they said to one another, “Let’s choose our own leader and go back.”

5 Moses and Aaron bowed down to pray in front of the crowd. 6 Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes in sorrow 7 and said:

We saw the land ourselves, and it’s very good. 8 If we obey the Lord, he will surely give us that land rich with milk and honey. 9 So don’t rebel. We have no reason to be afraid of the people who live there. The Lord is on our side, and they won’t stand a chance against us!

10 The crowd threatened to stone Moses and Aaron to death. But just then, the Lord appeared in a cloud at the sacred tent.

Moses Prays for the People
11 The Lord said to Moses, “I have done great things for these people, and they still reject me by refusing to believe in my power. 12 So they will no longer be my people. I will destroy them, but I will make you the ancestor of a nation even stronger than theirs.”

13-16 Moses replied:

With your mighty power you rescued your people from Egypt, so please don’t destroy us here in the desert. If you do, the Egyptians will hear about it and tell the people of Canaan. Those Canaanites already know that we are your people, and that we see you face to face. And they have heard how you lead us with a thick cloud during the day and flaming fire at night. But if you kill us, they will claim it was because you weren’t powerful enough to lead us into Canaan as you promised.

17 Show us your great power, Lord. You promised 18 that you love to show mercy and kindness. And you said that you are very patient, but that you will punish everyone guilty of doing wrong—not only them but their children and grandchildren as well.

19 You are merciful, and you treat people better than they deserve. So please forgive these people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.

20 Then the Lord said to Moses:

In answer to your prayer, I do forgive them. 21 But as surely as I live and my power has no limit, 22-23 I swear that not one of these Israelites will enter the land I promised to give their ancestors. These people have seen my power in Egypt and in the desert, but they will never see Canaan. They have disobeyed and tested me too many times.

24 But my servant Caleb isn’t like the others. So because he has faith in me, I will allow him to cross into Canaan, and his descendants will settle there.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I would have gladly moved aside and said, "Smoke them Lord!" 

I think Bono from U2 expresses my inner turmoil best in the song "When I Look At The World"

When I Look at the World- U2
When you look at the world
What is it that you see
People find all kinds of things
That bring them to their knees

I see an expression
So clear and so true
That it changes the atmosphere
When you walk (in)to the room

So I try to be like you
Try to feel it like you do
But without you it's no use
I can't see what you see
When I look at the world

When the night is someone else's
And you're trying to get some sleep
When your thoughts are too expensive
To ever want to keep

When there's all kinds of chaos
And everyone is walking lame
You don't even blink now do you
Or even look away

So I try to be like you
Try to feel it like you do
But without you it's no use
I can't see what you see
When I look at the world

I can't wait any longer
I can't wait 'til I'm stronger
Can't wait any longer
To see what you see
When I look at the world

I'm in the waiting room
I can't see for the smoke
I think of you and your holy book
When the rest of us choke

Tell me, tell me
What do you see
Tell me, tell me
What's wrong with me


-Reid

Grace

Hello peeps,

Every time I get the opportunity to participate in a Sonshine Blog, I get more and more stoked, its always heartwarming to read your posts, especially over here in Spain. Sorry to be late to the blog party.

I really liked how DJ pointed out that if we separate the beatitudes from the gospel, they become frustrating idealism's, and that we need to remember the context they were given.

At the beginning and end, I enjoyed the little narrative of someone coming to the realization that they have nothing to offer. I also like how he tied it to how we can only be rich in spirit BY being "Poor in Spirit." Coming to the conclusion that we are utterly helpless can sound like it would be a sad realization. But it is a essential acceptance of the truth about humanity, we all have nothing and when we learn to accept that, it is not something to be sad about. It is worse if we try to deny that we have nothing. Instead, when we accept it, we can then remember the joyful truth that we need the grace of Jesus, who is everything. And grace is freely given!

Special thanks to DJ for talking about the two types of "Blessed are the poor" vs. "Blessed are the poor in Spirit" in Luke. I am sure I have tripped up on that before and taken the Luke one the wrong way.

Lord, allow me to live dependently on you and not violently. Also, thank you for your grace. Amen!

Konrad

I'M SO POOR

“BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT, FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.”

We are all poor in spirit, but some people are deceived and do not recognize, or maybe they are just in denial, that they are in need of a Savior. The poor are those who have nothing to offer, they acknowledge their need for help, and live in dependence on God. This is a great reminder of how helpless I am without Christ, and only through Him do I obtain wisdom, righteousness, and salvation. His presence alone exposes my sin and I realize how desperate I am for His grace.

There is nothing that I have to offer God but my life. EVERYTHING is a gift from God: time, money, the food I eat, etc. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in his book, Life Together, “He is not only the giver itself, for whose sake all earthly gifts exist”. This is a gift I do not deserve, but it is His pleasure to provide for me.  

Lord, may I never feel that it is a right to receive Your gifts because I can never merit them. Expose the areas of my life and the things that I refrain from letting go and help me to surrender it all to You.

A kind of death... and a few quotes

Much of what DJ mentioned in his message spoke to me but the moments he spoke about the illusion of a false sense of security and the first beatitude being a kind of death have continued to ring in my mind. The poor in spirit are blessed because the illusion of a false sense of security has been stripped away and as a result, they are aware of their true security-- Jesus. 

This point of one clinging to a false sense of security instead of Jesus was again emphasized when DJ later talked about the first beatitude as kind of death… “a death to self-sufficiency and a death to self saviorship”. This reminded me of how in dying to ourselves, in dying to our false senses of security, in dying to our idols we are made alive in Christ. 

Other things DJ mentioned that were pretty neat:

“All human beings are spiritually bankrupt… apart from Jesus Christ, we have nothing to bring before the living God” 

“It is those who are spiritually bankrupt, those who feel inadequate in the things of God who experience the coming of the Kingdom.”

“The qualities Jesus blesses in His beatitudes are not natural human qualities, rather they are the result of being grabbed by His gospel. Jesus did not come into the world looking for beatitude people He could call to His Kingdom, rather He came into the world, called people to Himself and as a result of the ongoing encounter with Him these qualities emerged in their lives. 

“When we encounter Jesus as He really is, beyond our understanding of Him, in all of His glory, grace, and truth we see ourselves as we really are… loved by Him but also falling short of the glory of God.”

Empty your Pockets!

I love Darrell's explanation of what it means to be poor in spirit- " The poor in spirit are those who know that they have nothing with which to buy the kingdom of heaven, those who know that they are at the mercy of the kingdom giver". I also found it so interesting when Darrell pointed out that the Bible never celebrates being materially poor, but God constantly celebrates the poor, the powerless, the needy, the dependent on Him.

 Thank the Lord that these things are not supposed to come natural to us! He calls us to a posture of dependence by reminding us that only He can satisfy. This call to put all of my hope in Him and to surrender the self-sufficiency and independence that I sometimes long to have reminds me of the trainee material on being close to God. How close can I get to you and still be okay God? How much do I have to let go of to let you in? Answer: ALL OF IT!

With empty hands and empty pockets, I surrender these things to you Lord. Would you reveal to me and this team any crevice or corner of our hearts where we might be deceiving ourselves. Would you bring to light any part of me you haven't taken hold of yet because I haven't allowed you to.

Amen.

amazing grace HOW SWEET THE SOUND

This sermon gave me some really good reminders of what this new humanity looks like when the reign of God breaks through our brokenness:

When Darrell explains the lyrics "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a WRETCH like me", it's not necessarily that others point out we are wretches, but instead we discover more about ourselves in the presence of Jesus and his GRACE!! And with this grace, it lets us see what we are apart from his grace and mercy. So much freedom in that!

When we live dependently with Jesus, we get to experience the gift of mercy and grace...dependence on Christ allows us to not be shaken by wordly destructions because it stops us from being deceived that our riches are our security. Violence is wiped away and we become in sync with reality and stop living an illusion. Pure joy!

Excited to encourage and remind ourselves and the rest of the Sonshine staff/ campers of this perfect and beautiful truth. Praising God for opening up this door for me to serve with you all again and to be apart of this group of followers to worship him! Summer 2020 lets go!!!!

death to self-sufficiency

Stoked to be back on the blog going through another study with you all! Here's some things that DJ said that have stuck with me this week:

• "God did not come into the world looking for beatitude filled people to call into his kingdom" Thank God for this truth! The beatitudes are the profile of people in tune with the good news that God is breaking into this world and calling us to his kingdom.
• Being poor in spirit means we recognize we have absolutely nothing to offer God and are fully dependent on Him. We can confidently approach God empty handed.
• Don’t compare yourself to others, compare yourself to Jesus. Then we'll see ourselves as we really are.
• Death to self sufficiency is actually birth!! Oh how I so often want to be seen as competent and self-sufficient by the people around me, but the truth is I am incompetent in spirit and there is freedom in accepting that in the kingdom!

What lucky bums we are indeed!!

Violence! ? ! ?

"When we see Him as He is, we see ourselves as we really are"

When we look at Jesus, we begin to understand who we really are. Who are the poor in spirit? All of us!!!! When we begin to live with the understanding what we are the Mercy of the Creator, we become free from the violence we choose apart from him. Left to our own devices, clinging on to the ways and things of this world, we will always choose violence.

 We begin to experience a new freedom when we face our powerlessness, and instead accept the great gift given to us in The Lord. Freedom! Mercy! Grace!

I agree with Reid - so good to be back listening and blogging with this team! Amen!

Sermon 1 -- How God Destroys Safety and Destroys Safe Spaces to Make Room for the Sacred Danger of His Gospel and Kingdom Come --

Sermon 1 -- How God Destroys Safety and Destroys Safe Spaces to Make Room for the Sacred Danger of His Gospel and Kingdom Come --

Hope everyone is well.  I’m pumped that we are in the build phase into summer 2020.  Seeing you all at the admin retreat and now watching the teams come together  has been the highlight of 2020 thus far. 

Thanks for agreeing to serve with us on the Delta Michele.  We've been praying for you a lot -- while not really knowing we were praying for you!! :) So glad God gave you a heart that's willing to step in and help lead the camps!

Some quotes from the sermon that resonated with me are…..

“[Jesus is]  calling us to a qualitatively different kind of life…..He has to call us beyond what we know.”

“Jesus’ gospel is the announcing of the great fact.  Heaven is invading the earth.”

“In his beatitudes  he is describing what happens to humans when his gospel takes hold – the new humanity that emerges when reign of God breaks into our brokenness. “

“In the presence of God I see how woefully poor in spirit I am…..recognized spiritual bankruptcy.”

“There is a time when we are rich in spirit. Every time we are poor in spirit.” 

Darrell’s sermon brought to mind the Ultra Packet writings on how when we see God’s fullness we more acutely feel, experience, become aware of our own emptiness.  The sermon also reminded me of  the Ultra Packet writings that when we are tired and disillusioned we are in a very sacred place. 

I loved how this sermon pushed me to hunger and thirst for Christ's kingdom and Lordship --- whatever the cost!!

You Lucky Bums!!!

First, it is great to be listening to sermons and blogging again as a group.  There is something unifying and "team bonding" about this discipline and exercise!

Second, let us all be in prayer for Konrad this week!  Konrad is boarding a plane Friday for Spain.  Konrad, I look forward to your posts as you listen to these sermons in a different culture and possibly an uncomfortable situation. 

"Blessed are the poor" or "Blessed are the poor in Spirit" - What did Jesus mean by we ought to be poor in spirit.  Shouldn't we strive to be rich in spirit?  I like how DJ addressed that.  The opposite of "Poor in spirit" is not "Rich in Spirit!"

Billy Graham once brilliantly responded with the following:

"What did He (Jesus) mean? Simply this: We must be humble in our spirits. If you put the word “humble” in place of the word “poor,” you will understand what He (Jesus) meant." - paraphrase

When we come to God, we must be aware that our own sin, our spiritual emptiness, and poverty are all we really have to offer Him.  Everything else is a gracious gift....from HIM. 

The Bible says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6)."

We must not be proud in our hearts or "Self-Satisfied" thinking we don’t really need God.

"Blessed are the poor or "sorrowful" in Spirit" - Blessed are those of us who see themselves as they really are.....and take action!

2 Corinthians 7:10 - "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."

- Reid

Admin Study 2020 - A new Season!!

Hey Admin Team, a new season of preparing our hearts for the summer is upon us.  I pray this blog study/sermon series "People in Synch" will be used by God to get us ready for the task ahead.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Reid