Revolution Church Love Jesus. Grow People

More than Eggs (April 11, 2012)

We all know that Easter is more than bunnies and eggs but honestly for a lot of us we struggle to see past the pastel of it all.  The day comes, we eat some candy, dress up in spring colors, go to church, visit family and then move on.  And somehow in the craziness we fail to truly pause and fully take in the extent of Easter.

However, if Easter is really about the victory of Jesus over sin then it has HUGE implications to our everyday life.

I know for me, I constantly struggle with the guilt of my sin and shortcomings.  I wrestle with the idea of grace and constantly feel that one day God is going to say enough already.

But, if what Jesus did on Easter really is true, then God doesn’t see me as a sinner anymore. God now sees me as a son and my status has been permanently changed to a child of God. Therefore, just like my children can never do anything to change the fact that I am their father, I can never do anything to make God not be my Father.

I am His son. PERIOD.

Today let that sink in and realize that Easter is way more than Eggs.

P.S. We had 19 people accept Jesus this Easter and move from sinner to Son.  Praise God that He loves to make people His children through what Jesus did. Thank you to all of the countless volunteers and staff that made Easter happen, IT WAS WORTH IT ALL.

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Never Once… (March 28, 2012)

…Did we EVER walk alone.  This phrase and song has a whole new meaning to me now.  This past Sunday was one of the most incredible days of ministry I have personally ever had.  What made it truly amazing was just how the Holy Spirit moved in ways that is still hard to put into words. Unfortunately the video cut out during the middle of the second servie so we currently only have half of it.   Also since we do four services, I know not everyone got to experience what happend so I will recap it for you.

• During the 8:15 service I had a heaviness on my heart and couldn’t quite explain it.
• Then during the prayer at 8:15 I prayed for “revival to happen today” and honestly didn’t plan to say that.
• During worship at the 9:45 I felt like God wanted me to interrupt the offering time so I walked on stage.
• I came up next to Thad and just said we weren’t going to do the offering right now and he humbly stepped aside.
• I instructed our ushers to sit back down as I wanted to share what was on my heart.
• Honestly, at this point I didn’t know what God was doing and what I would say.
• We do have the first 20 minutes so you can at least see what I said then.

Tempted: Special Message from Revolution Church on Vimeo.

• When the crowd started clapping they immediately stood up.  In fact, Jim Fletcher, one of our guys stood up first and I lost it.  It was such a personal moment for me that meant the world.  Thanks Jim.
• In fact, the response from all of our men was overwhelming.  We had just done our first Man Wknd so for them to respond like that was so fitting.
• Then I told everyone how much it meant to me for them to stand in support of our church.
• I told a story of when my dad stood up for me and affirmed me as his son.  That was 4 years ago and I honestly have never felt so loved as I did that day until now.
• Revolution, your love for my family is overwhelming and something that we treasure more than you know.
• Then I told our church we needed to pray and just call out to God.
• I invited everyone to come down front to pray and the stage was flooded with people.
• Lindsey and I knelt down on stage to pray and I asked the church to hold hands.
• Then Gary Hart, another one of our guys, called my name and stuck out his hand.  I lost it again. God has done so much in his life.
• I seriously have not cried that much at one time in my life.
• My wife Lindsey prayed for our church and man was it powerful.  I love that woman more and more every day.
• The band came back on stage and we sang Never Once again.  I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.
• I asked the band to play Our God again and I have never heard our church sing so loud in my life.
• It was the first time I have been on stage during worship and seeing everyone call out to God made me lose it again.
• I have seriously never been in a service quite like that and it is still hard to put into words.
• We dismissed the service and no one wanted to leave.  We all could sense that God had just met with us and changed us.

The amount of support that you have showed is truly humbling to me.  I cannot express enough my gratitude for you and your commitment to Jesus.  I am forever changed by you and I want you to know that.  It is almost too much for me to handle.  I know that God is in control but I just needed to be reminded and He used you to do that in a very real way.

I also know that a lot of you are in a wilderness right now and I want you to know that I am praying for you.  It is a lonely place but one that God will meet us in.  I know it doesn’t all make sense right now but I know that God will speak to you and when He does it will be glorious.

I love you all more than you know.

Here are my sermon notes: Tempted #3: My Will or His Will (32)

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A Good Father (March 20, 2012)

Unfortunately, a lot of us did not see the example of a good father growing up.  Therefore, when we come to Christ we are very easily convinced that somehow God is not being a good father to us.  In fact, that is exactly what the temptations of Satan are all about.  He wants nothing more than for us to question the goodness of God the Father.

Last Sunday, we talked about the first temptation of Jesus where Satan questions the fatherhood of God.  He comes to Jesus as says, “If you are the Son of God” in a way to mock his father.  He was not calling his sonship into question but rather the goodness of his father.  The rationale went something like this, “Surely as the son of God your father doesn’t want you to be hungry so He is cool if you turn these stones into bread.”  And today, Satan comes to us and says the same kind of things.

“Surely God doesn’t want you to go without so use your life to meet your needs”

He will keep us consumed with our lesser needs of food, acceptance, money and sex all the while questioning God if we don’t get them immediately.  Therefore, we need to understand what our needs are and that our ultimate need is met in the goodness of God the Father.  God is not trying to hold out on our joy in any way but rather just wants us to see that our greatest need is met in a relationship with His son Jesus.

He is a good father and will not let us be spoiled kids that miss out on what we really need.

Here are my sermon notes:  Tempted #2: Fathered or Fed (29)

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