Sphere

With many random events happening in the church here in the U.S. (specifically Colorado) there have come with it a renewed view of how God the Father deals with His kids, and how we deal with His dealing.  Anyway, there is a pattern emerging in the Church, one of the need of discipline and a correct view of how God intends to "shake everything that can be shaken."  Here are some (long) views:

I had the opportunity to take 700 teenagers to the mountains this past weekend…I am still recovering!  Anyway, our Young Life club went to the mountains here in Colorado just for a weekend to kick back, get no sleep, jump in the snow, sing, and connect with God.  Probably about half of these kids have not accepted Christ, which had me pretty excited.  Some of my guys in my club came to Jesus Christ in such an authentic way that left me in awe of how the Lord can change anyone! 

We had an amazing speaker who presented the Gospel to these kids that held their attention...which is a miracle in itself.  We also had some great worship from a friend named Jonah Werner.

From Derek Prince:

[When] the Lord shall build up Zion; He shall appear in His glory. He shall regard the prayer of the destitute, and shall not despise their prayer. This will be written for the generation to come, and the people yet to be created may praise the Lord. Psalm 102:16-18

One of the great signs that the Lord’s coming is near at hand is stated there, “When the Lord shall build up Zion; He shall appear in His glory.” He’s coming back in glory. What’s going to precede that? The rebuilding of Zion. And today we see that taking place. The Lord is building up Zion. He’s building up and restoring the people of Israel. He’s also building up and restoring the Church of Jesus Christ. This is one great evidence among many that the Lord is ready to appear in His glory...

"My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass. But you, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations. You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come."  Psalm 102:11-13

"There’s a picture of a man in deep dejection, loneliness, despair. He feels his life is ebbing away like the evening shadows and there’s so little time left for him. He says, “I’m withering away like grass.” Have you ever felt like that?"

The most misunderstood and misrepresented personality that has ever been is that of God the Father.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and all the peoples in his truth. Psalm 96:11-13

"The psalmist there presents a beautiful picture of the whole natural world around us waiting for a special and glorious climax, the coming of the Lord in power and in glory to judge and to reign.

Went to go see Chris Tomlin play here in Denver, Colorado.  I will say that he never disappoints!   

It was such a great time of worship; Chris has a gift for making you feel that you are all worshipping the Father together, as we should be.  But he is very good at getting everyone in the theatre to sing and shout as one for Christ...

Discipline and suffering are not popular subjects for a Christian.  I will admit that when I hear about suffering for what I believe and being disciplined by the Father, I sometimes cringe.  But, without a knowledge of these two topics, and without an explanation of why they happen, then when we do suffer, or when we are disciplined, we may think that we are unloved or being punished.

When trying to learn about such topics it is always important to keep Christ as our ultimate and perfect example.  Whether this is in death, resurrection, suffering, or discipline, Jesus Christ is the supreme illustration of how our walk should be.

Such a good post!

History is not cyclical, it is linear.  I know that many times we may have a problem with the fact that God steps into our time/space world and affects the outcome.  With this in mind, God is moving, and if He is moving I want to go with Him.  Where is He going to?  To the ends of the earth.

When we step back and look at significant events in history, the past that really matters to the purposes of God, we can see that God takes some fairly large steps of time.  These “moments” when God stepped into our time in a deliberate way, were events that changed the way believers viewed the Kingdom of God: