Break Every Chain

To this day it still seems so unreal to be in a place that’s so far away from all the people that I love so much. I’m now 18 and living the college life. Today I just sat back and looked at all the things I’ve done, all the things I accomplished and all the painful moments. I started to think about the 2 months I tried to prepare for the next coming 3 years. But I learned you can’t ever prepare yourself to be broken by God. I finally stopped all my plans and my dreams that I had for myself and I began to focus on Gods voice. I now live in charlotte, day by day preparing for my future and being trained into a disciple for Christ. For so long I ran from my calling I ran from Gods voice, for this very reason because I was scared to death about the process, the process of being completely broken. I’m learning that being in ministry and being where God has called you for whatever season you’re in you still are being broken, being broken is a willingness to change, its where you start growing and cutting out all of the past and impurities you have in your life. The process is painful and extremely emotional but full of Gods mercy, he shows us the things that need to be cut out or dealt with but he also afterwards brings us through the healing process. 

The past few weeks have been so crazy, so many distractions, so many lies being made, so much he said she said but past all of it I’ve heard Gods voice so much. This past Wednesday night I was lying in bed talking to my roommate Tami about the song break every chain. We began to talk about how we sing “Break every chain” a lot at Judah on Sundays. I made the comment that past the repetition it didn’t matter how much we sang it. Because it’s the words of the song that changes lives. Not only that but those words were placed into someone’s heart by God to write. So those are Gods words to you. He wants you to break EVERY chain in your life, he wants your chains to fall, not only for them to fall but for them to never take hold again over your life. So my question to you is how would churches be different if we actually begin to believe God could break those chains? Not to just sing it but to believe we serve a big God that can break those chains. When we sing there is an army rising up, what do you see as you sing that? When I begin to sing “there is an army rising up” for me I begin to see an army that’s for God, running head on after the enemy that’s been trying to kill everything in their lives. But what the army has attached to them and what there carrying IS the armor of God. What they have on the inside is more powerful than anything the enemy can throw at them or try to kill them with. Having that armor on is going to help them kill the very thing or the very enemy that’s been trying to destroy them and as the enemy comes closer they will be able to strike with the purpose of completely killing them. (You could even look at it as your spirit man is trying to kill your fleshly man.) I also think about David, he believed that he could kill the giant not because of his pride or ego but because he believed that, what was his fathers was also his. He believed through God he could kill this giant. God used David in this story for a lot of reasons but one of the reasons were it didn’t matter his size or his strength or his age but the simple fact that he was called by God. God will use you when you have a willing spirit. So when it’s time to step up will you have all you need to fight? Will we believe and have faith that God is going to get you through this, the process might be horrible and you may have doubt at first but as you throw that first rock at the enemy as David did, will you miss because of the lack of faith in yourself or will you hit your target because of the faith you had in God and the faith God had in you? The next time you hear a song, don’t take it lightly apply it to your life and let God speak to you.

- Morgan

Mandate of a Believer

Let me start with saying WOW. We are entering into our 6th week of SMC now and it has already been a ride. But, the deeper we get into it, I become so grateful that I am here. I'm going to be completely honest, I didn't know if my "puzzle piece" fit into this puzzle. I felt like this was just a stepping stone in my life that could only last for a couple of months. I thought I didn't fit in with the other guys. I felt, well, I felt like I was alone. But, as they walls have began to fall down. I can see just how much we are all alike. We are all after the same thing and that is to glorify God. 

This week has been an eye opener for me. We have talked about the mandate of a believer. It blew my mind to see this words come to life from my bible and for God to begin speaking to me. 

Matthew 28:18-20 

"Then Jesus came to the disciples and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded of you, and be sure of this, I am with you always, even at the very end of age." 

This is the mandate of a true believer. Jesus came into the world so that every child of God could be saved. How can everyone be saved if some haven't even heard of him. The word "Nations" here in Greek translates to race. He isn't just talking about people of third world countries, He is speaking about all the people on this planet, every single child of God needs to know their father. 

Another piece of scripture that ties in perfectly with this one is one that Pastor Glenn has been preaching a series on. 

Mark 16:15-18

"He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel of creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs and wonders will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; They will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will be healed."

This just blows my mind. Once again He is telling us to GO. We can't just sit here and be idle. We need to get up and go in the name of Jesus. Believers are made and molded into disciples. Here he tells us that signs and wonders will follow those who believe. They will drive out demons in His name, DRIVE OUT DEMONS. Wow, that is pretty amazing to me. My faith can be so strong and my belief can hold so much power that when I walk into a room. The devil knows that Jesus is with me and that he can not stay there and I will drive him out! That is enough for me, but He doesn't stop there. He says we will speak in new tongues. Because we are believers, when we go to preach the gospel to all nations. There will be no language barrier, if your faith is strong enough you will speak in their language. Speaking a language that I don't know and I have never studied before, that is amazing. They will pick up snakes with their hands and when they drink deadly poison it will not harm them. They will place their hands on the sick and they will be healed! The very things that Jesus him self came into this world and did. We will be able to do in his name. It is so amazing for me to see how Jesus desires so greatly for us to be just like him.  

I won't to wrap all of this up with a quote from Pastor Glenn, "signs and wonders follow those who believe. Believers don't follow signs and wonders" 

God, I just pray that in everything I do I look to you for guidance. I pray that every where I go I leave a residue behind of you God. That people can look through me and see that you are my Father and want to know you. God, I pray that in everything I do it is for your will Father. I desire to make you proud God and to let the light of Jesus shine through me. Amen. 

- Sean

Purpose

I feel that this is the first 'normal' week we've had.

I am realizing how important it is to get to know people before we develop impressions about them. I say that because everyday I'm getting to know everyone better, I realize why they behave the way the do, which helps me understand and adapt to different personalities better. That is something I have definitely been wanting to work on, because I'm not much of a people person.

This week we have been taught more and more what our purposes are in Christ. Pastor Glenn talked about the fact that we are New Testament Levites, while Pastor Michael discussed how we should pray. It completely reconstructed my view on a lot of the things I was taught in my childhood.

Pastor Glenn discussed that as Levites we are called to minister to God, which I believe we get a little backwards sometimes, because we always expect God to touch us and minister to us. This really resonated with me. It's important for me to remember as a worship leader, because we as humans are so accustomed to having 'horizontal' and face to face interactions that we have a hard time adapting to a 'vertical'  and seemingly one-sided relationship with God. In worship, we are too eager to try to minister to a congregation, and we tend to get discouraged whenever the crowd does not respond the way we would like. That's not right, we should worship God in Spirit and in Truth, not in congregational approval. 

Pastor Michael, on the other hand, spoke about prayer. This really helped me this week because the Lord has been speaking to me more and more about who to pray for, when to pray for them, and what to pray for. This is something I've never been comfortable with, but that's what I'm here for, right? I've always followed the model of prayer he talked about, which is praise, repentance, asking, and yielding. I don't remember where or when I learned this, but as long as I can remember I've prayed this way. It was interesting for him to explain this through the process of which the Priests came to Moses' temple. It truly brought light to and made sense of that idea. I plan on studying that more at some point, because no one has ever taught that to me, which is becoming the norm of a lot of things I'm learning throughout the week. Every week gives me a new perspective on my relationship with Christ. and I really believe it has already solidified my faith that much more.

- Danielle