Decision

I have realized (or maybe have remembered) over the last couple of days the power of decision. Read the rest of this entry »

The Rock San Diego – 5/24/09 – The Invisible Man Software

God has amazing potential planned for you – more than we can ever ask or imagine. He wants us to ask Him for everything!

Lord, I want it all – everything that you intend for my life – I want it all!  God, please push me to the next level.  Every challenge you have in store for me, I want it.

Stand before God every morning and pray to God and tell Him you want it all.  If God is telling you to do something, go ahead and do it.

Supplements help your body do what it’s already supposed to do:

• B12 and folic acid help your DNA repair itself
• 2 oz of pomegranite juice per day cuts down your arterial plaque by 35% in one year
• Omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil) helps neurotransmitter production (brain function / memory)
• Vitamin D (the sun)
• Antioxidents
• Licopene

Our bodies have so much potential.
God created our bodies with incredible potential to heal themselves and thrive, but in order for them to function to their potential, we have to feed our bodies with the right nutrients and get rid of toxic exposure. Our souls are the same way. The Holy Spirit gives us unique and incredible gifts that we can’t get anywhere else – like a computer has software to perform its functions – but we need to care for our souls and nurture them properly so that we can live up to God’s potential for us.

God enhances abilities you already have. Romans 12:3-8

You may be great at many different things, but God can enhance your talents and make them even better and more effective for His kingdom:

• Prophecy
• Ministry
• Teacher – The way you know you can teach is if people learn.
• Exhorter – sharing complements and encouragement
• Giver
• Leader – only way you can know is if someone is following you, otherwise you’re just going for a walk.  The definition of leadership is influence
• Mercy – compassion

God gives us special abilities that we can’t get anywhere else. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 28-31

• Word of wisdom – how to use information
• Word of knowledge
• Faith
• Healings/Miracles
• Prophecy
• Tongues
• Tongue Interpretation
• Discerning Spirits

God gives special people as gifts to the church ministry. Ephesians 4:11-12

• Apostle – church planter or pastor of pastors
• Prophet – someone who receives a fresh word from God for today
• Evangelist – leads people to the Lord
• Pastor – shepard
• Teacher

God also graciously gives us other gifts. Ephesians 4:11-12

• Love – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
• Salvation – Roman 5:15-16, 6:23
• Righteousness

God grants us all of these things in His gracious generosity. In return, our responsibility is to:
1. Create an environment for the gifts to operate.
Ezra 7:10, Romans 12:1-2, 1 Corinthians 3:5-8

• Ezra prepared his heart to seek the Lord, just as we have to prepare our hearts to seek Him. When we read the Bible and pray, we nurture ourselves and give the Holy Spirit a fertile environment in which to plant the gifts He wants to give us.
• A tree with a crowded root system, surrounded by rocks and other plant roots, will not grow nearly as strongly or as quickly as a tree in good, spacious soil. So we also must cleanse our hearts of sin and replace it with the Word. Do you ever feel jealous? Act immaturely? Sin gets in the way of God’s gifts working to their potential, but we can thrive if we forsake our sinful desires and feed our hearts with the Word and prayer
• Yield to Him – surrender to Him as moldable
• Imagine what God would do if you only seek Him and then wait on Him
• Create an environment for God in your heart – prepare your heart

• Know your spiritual gifts, create an environment where they can flourish, and then put yourself in a position where your gifts may be used. If you are an encourager, make yourself available to encourage and seek out opportunities to encourage others. Whatever your gifts, make yourself available to be used however He ordains.
• God has a picture of you that is your full potential. As Paul says, we press on toward that goal, letting the Holy Spirit do whatever He wants to do in our lives. The Lord opens up opportunities because He doesn’t want to waste you! We simply need to be available and respond when the moments arise.

Lord, put me where I can glorify you with the gifts you’ve given me – whatever that is.

Someday we’re going to understand the magnificance of God and wonder why we didn’t trust Him more.  And we’re going to see how puny the devil is and wonder how we were so scared of him and his lies.

Being scared is ok.  It doesn’t mean He’s wrong, it just means I don’t ‘get it’ yet.

DO Something! Find your gifts; take the Spiritual Gift Test. Visit www.therocksandiego.org/giftstest/

The Rock San Diego – 12/21/08

• God wants you to be on His ‘mighty men’ list – a list of go-to people in the game
• In the end, God wins this game – even though it may not look like that day to day
• Every one of us is in spiritual hand to hand combat each and every day – with the devil (not with flesh and blood)

1 – David’s mighty men were known for individual actions that inspired corporate achievement

• The most common way to inspire someone is to do something yourself
• If your spiritual gift were to be imagined as a color (blue), what Satan does is makes you feel guilty for NOT being another color ("you’re not a good red") – your response should be, "I’m not trying to be a red, because I need to be solid blue" – don’t try to be purple, and recognize if you’re sky blue and become navy blue
• When you do one thing really well, there’s a ripple effect – but when you try to please everybody, and be everything, you usually get nothing done

2 – David’s mighty men made their bodies their slaves

• Does your body control you, or do you control your body?
• Your body is not you – you are not your body – it is the covering of who you are
• You are to present your body as a sacrifice to God
• Your mouth, ears, eyes, etc are your slaves
• Is your body subjected to you, or are you subjected to your body
• Successful people are disciplined

3 – David’s mighty men placed themselves in the middle of the action

• Some people will play, and some people will never play
• Get in the game – don’t be a bench warmer
• If you see someone is having a bad day, ask if you can pray for them – "Dear God, I pray for Mary, I pray you encourage her today, and I pray that if there’s any way I can help her, she would let me know.  In Jesus’ name, amen."
• Look for someone to pray for.  If you don’t find someone, ask someone who’s doing ‘fine’ anyway
• We need the practice anyway
• Don’t live your life so you don’t hurt – bear someone else’s burden