Promise Church

The Supremecy of Christ is this chapter’s title.  WOW!   Okay, say it backwards.  Wow!   Halfway through the chapter Pastor Sergio admonishes us to keep our sense of awe and wonder at the greatness of Jesus.  I think that the more time and miles we spend with Him, it SHOULD cause us to live in a constant state of amazement!  However, just like our normal lives and the relationships we allow to slip into a lukewarm attitude…sometimes it becomes routine to walk with Jesus.

Isn’t that crazy?  We have the open door to walk with the Creator, Savior, Ultimate, and we could get bored with that?? Maybe not bored (yes it is,) but here it is:

Go to church on Sunday.  Put 10% of our increase into the Tithes and Offerings as they pass the basket.  Give old but usable clothes for the homeless and community outreach ministry.  Eat.  Sleep. Work.  Do it all over again.  Yawn!

If you’ve been on an airplane several times, it can get a little boring to you.  You sit down.  Taxi to the runway.  Take off.  A few hours later you’re 4 states away from home.

We’ve all been in cars hundreds of times, and that gets boring too.  Shut the door.  Open the window.  Turn on the radio.  Go 60 miles an hour when traffic permits.  A couple hours later you’re a couple counties from where you started.

Well, with the car, stop and thing of the hundreds of moving parts, the fact that you’re in a custom made chair in a metal box going a mile per minute along miles and miles of roadway built by someone you will never meet.

And with the plane, you’re in a long metal tube…do you get that?  You’re a mile in the sky, in a vehicle whose wings don’t even flap, sliding along on nothing but the air that the plane’s engines are pushing behind.  And you’re going hundreds of miles an hour.  In the air.

Now trump all of those.  You’re going through your life, being watched over by a loving Creator, who cares about every single detail of your life.  Add to that He knows everything, has all power, is righteous, and eternal.  We’re talking about the One, True Living God here!  And He knows your name.  He has a plan that does not include LEAVING you in the mess you may be in right now.  He wants to prosper you and protect you, and allow you to shine into somebody else’s life reflecting His love to them!  Yes, there are things that go on in our lives that hurt.  Things we can’t explain.  But if we trust Him, we can make it through with a better relationship with Him than we had before!

Let’s not ever get over that Jesus is Supreme!  Let’s stay in amazement that He is bigger and more powerful than anything we’ve ever thought of.  And He is on our side!  That will put some of the swag back into your step, huh?  Just knowing the Supreme Jesus is FOR you!

Promise Church is using Pastor Sergio De La Mora’s The Heart Revolution book and The 40-Day Heart Challenge materials for our Wednesday night church services.  We started last Wednesday and we’re moving forward really well!

Chapter 6 has one of my pet peeves.  It’s on page 55.  Have you every heard somebody saying something like, “We have to present our product as the best possible choice to consumers,” or maybe something like, “I want to look like I really care for this thing or that thing,”?  When you listen from the outside-in, you can understand why I always want to answer with this kind of thing: “Why don’t you actually BE the best product,” or maybe, “Why don’t you actually CARE for this thing or that?”

Politicians have got it down to a science; promise whatever will get you elected.  Once you’re in office, the first order of business is to position yourself to get re-elected.  To do that you have to make people believe X, Y, and Z.  AArrggghhh!!!!  I’d love to actually vote FOR somebody, and not against the other guy, wouldn’t you?

So on Page 55, Pastor Sergio quotes Paul giving Timothy some strong advice that we need to listen to today.  There are people out there being so focused on APPEARING religious, that they deny the power that comes with actually being Godly.  It’s not so important that you LOOK holy.  Holiness shows through because of your time spent with the Holy One!

Whew!  Getting personal peeves unpacked can be dangerous, huh?

My admonition to everyone who wants a relationship with God?  Do everything you can to actually BE close to God….not just look like it.  Because people who are genuinely close to God tend to shine in the dark anyway!  Be that!

We’re moving into part 2 of the book.  If you haven’t done it yet, go to www.sergiodelamora.com/heartrev and view the 2nd video.  From part 2, this week at Wednesday’s Bible Study Church Service we’re going to have a great, and I mean great, message from Pastor Sergio.  It’s a listen-closely-and-fill-in-the-blanks message.  But let’s get there, huh?

Part 2, Chapter 5, The Transforming Power of Grace.

I can’t put anything plainer, clearer, or more effective than what he already has in this chapter.  Read it.  Read it twice if you need to.  And please please please remember the pacing we did last Wednesday.

Here’s what I mean.

Don’t just read real fast through it and check off your chapter for the day.  Read some, then see how it fits you, your past, and your current situations.  Then read some more and do it again.  And again.

I want to write how there’s nothing as big as betrayal, but that’s incorrect.  Grace is much greater.  Yes, Grace from God.  But I’m talking about Grace from YOU!!

Jesus said that if we don’t forgive others, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us.  Yikes!  But look at the benefit of Grace when you give it out.

It’s a lot like I said this morning when I was preaching: What will it cost?  But more importantly what is it worth!?

Keith Craft has a book, well I’m sure he has a bunch of books, but the one I’m talking about says a classic truth with a simple twist:

“What doesn’t destroy you can be used to make you stronger.”  I always heart, “What doesn’t destroy you, makes you stronger.” But the truth is that sometimes what doesn’t destroy you can cripple you if you let it!  It can be the one thing you never, ever get over.

Look.  Everyone who gives their heart a turn toward Christ has a calling on their life.  Everyone.  Some are called to stand in front of crowds and declare the truths of the Gospel just like Peter did on the Day of Pentecost and thousands of people believed and began following Jesus.  Some are called to make a ton of money in the business world, and financially support the work of the Church in scales the average person would shudder at.  And some people are called to do something else.

That last group makes up about 99.99% of the population, don’t you think?   But regardless, I love what Pastor Sergio says on page 42:

“God will always send you anointed and appointed people who are called to unlock your blessing and breakthrough — someone to help you become the person you’re called to be.”

How can we grab hold of the life God has for us when we won’t let go of our old life?  For example (uh oh…Pastor Jeff’s gonna get nosey.  Yup.)  It may have been really cool when you were young and had very little responsibility to go do an all night poker game with your buddies every Friday night.  Cigars and cognac.  What a life.  But then you got married.  You got a serious job.  You got a mortgage.  You got a family that needs you to show up!  No, it doesn’t mean you never get personal time, but it does mean you absolutely MUST change, let go of your old to become the new!

You may have gone to places that none of your friends have gone.  When you get back and visit, what do they ask?  “How was it?  What was it like?  Did you enjoy it?”  They don’t know!  They just know that you know something they don’t know, so they ask.  You will learn some things nobody else knows if you’ll go places nobody else is willing to go.  And you can’t do that by clinging to your old lifestyle.

Take a chance!  God really is with you!

Wow!  Did you get the point Pastor Sergio made on page 33 about the battery cables?  Jump-starting…hooking up both positive and negative cables.  “The tension of joy and tribulation in our lives works the same way.  We need both positive and negative currents to energize our purose and call.”

Then he pulls out the big guns with, “Painful situations “ground” us in ways that joyful situations cannot.”

If my life really does flash before my eyes when I die, will it be highlights of Christmas morning and presents on the tree?  Or will the biggest memories be painful flashes coupled with victory and overcoming obstacles?  Well, my waking memories are full of both.  There’s a balance.  Maybe that’s one point he’s making in this chapter, and he puts it this way, “God’s goal for our lives isn’t to simply make us happy.  His desire is to make us holy — more like Him”

Don’t waste your pain, and certainly don’t waste your Deepest Pains, as they really can be the birthing matrix of our Greatest Lessons.

Well, Day #1 was stuck in the Drafts folder, and not actually posted until now.  Sorry everybody.  Here we are for Day 2.

Go to page # 25 again in the Heart Revolution and read this out loud:

“MY PAIN IS NOT IN VAIN!”

Chris is the guy in Chapter 2 who wasn’t sure he’d ever come back to church, and today he’s running one of the most important ministry departments at Cornerstone Church of San Diego!  He was encouraged and loved back INTO the family, and now has not only been healed from his past hurts, but helps others find healing in their own lives!

That’s like the story of Saul/Paul. (By the way, Saul and Paul are really the same name, just Saul is the Jewish version and Paul is the Roman version…it’s kind of prophetic when you think about it.  He started his ministry serving God’s chosen nation, and then God called him to minister to the whole world *outside* of the home country that knew him as Saul.  Paul fit better as a name.)  Anyway, Ananias blessed Saul, prayed over him, ministered healing to him, and then baptized him into the family of God.  Saul.  The guy nobody would ever invite to their church (because he would arrest them, but nevermind about that!) He was the guy LEAST LIKELY to accept Jesus.

But here is Chris, another guy a lot like Saul.  And now Chris is a whole lot like Paul!

Pain in my life, in your life, even in the lives of those we know, can’t get wasted!  It cost us money, relationships, time, everything!  So let’s redeem some of the value of what has been stolen from us!  Let’s get back ALL of the value that we lost during the times of pain!  If you remember your sins, remember your forgiveness.

There are two great reasons not to condemn yourself! First, because you’ve been washed clean by the blood of Jesus, and can stand before the Father and commune with Him.  That’s not the posture of a condemned person.  Second, you and I aren’t qualified to condemn anybody!  It’s easy to condemn actions, but only God sees the heart.

If we wouldn’t condemn a Saul, and Pastor Sergio wouldn’t condemn a Chris, then you and I need to never condemn ourselves or those around us.  Why?  Because we’ll never get to see the Paul that would be revealed.  We’ll never see the succesful Chris who has appeared.  And we’ll miss getting to live with the new YOU that will be evident.

Don’t waste that pain.

Tonight we started the 40-Day Heart Challenge at Promise.  Sergio De La Mora’s Heart Revolution book is our core material while we’re going through each chapter day by day.  Wow! What a start!

Wednesday night services are in a kind of Life Group format.  Pretty informal, very interactive, and primed to create an atmosphere for growth in each and all of us.

This blog through the 40 days will – I hope – be wayyy more than a chapter synopsis.  Let’s  put something about what we got OUT of it too.  Truth is: others are seeing some of the same things, and they’re just not writing about it.  Together we’re going to be so much healthier than we would be trying to go through things alone.  Life Group…I like that!

Chapter 1.

One thing that stood out for me, and I menti0ned it real briefly Wednesday, was that after he gave up DJ’ing in the world, and walked away from a contract deal, God didn’t take away his future in the things he was skilled at.  He wound up with a radio program on a Christian station, and you know it was a success!  Also, while I’m writing this now, I thought about that 7-year record contract he was about to sign.  He walked away from that too.

BUT!!  I was in Pastor Sergio’s office with Pastor Karen and his wife Pastor Georgina, and he showed me the advance amount from his book publisher for this Heart Revolution book.  Trust me on this: he now has received a better deal than he would have signed as a popular DJ in his teens!  Now that he has a Christ-first heart, God can trust him with a bit more capital than a drug-addled teenager could have handled.

What *push-ups* has God kept you doing for a long time?  What seems to NOT be advancing you in life, but you can admit that either He has already shown you how He will help you use it for the Kingdom of God, or you hope that He will.

Day #1.  Whew!  A lot already!  Log in, I’ll be able to approve your log in request (Note: we have to do a manual approval because Blog-Bots troll the internet to log in and put spam in there.)  Blog away!  Somebody is waiting for you to help them by being honest about yourself.