Just checking in with everyone to let you know Kelly and I are on vacation this week.  We are being treated by my parents this week at Tan-Tar-A at Lake of the Ozarks.  We’ve been having fun in the sun with our three boys.  Yesterday we spent the day at one of their outdoor pools with a water slide.  I had Matthew and Jonathan who went down the slide with me several times.  I found myself coming to the end of the slide trying to hold up Jonathan so that he wouldn’t go under water in the receiving pool.  In the process, I had a couple of different times when water went up my nose, down my throat, and into my stomach.  Fun!!!

Last night both my folks and my family hooked up with the Perry’s who also happen to be on vacation at Lake of the Ozarks.  They are about 15 minutes away from us so we all went out on the boat with them and then rode on their jet skis.  It was good to be able to spend some additional time with them as well.

Anyway, we are having fun.  Right now Kelly took our boys down to play some video games at the main lodge while I am left at the cottage to read.  Hope you are all well.

I’ll see you guys on Sunday!

In my reading this morning from Matthew 17 I was reminded of a principle we teach to our Phase 4 leadership men. In Matthew 17 you see what is referred to as the “Mount of Transfiguration.” Jesus takes with Him Peter, James, and John and is “transfigured” before their eyes. In other words, He allows them to see His bright, magnificent glory. At the same time, Moses and Elijah showed up to talk to Jesus.

What struck me this morning was the presence of Moses and Elijah. I mean… Here they are! And exactly where they should be… And in God’s Presence… And everything turned out for them perfectly… And yet, look at the difficulties they both faced during their time on earth. Both men had times in their life where they were so frustrated that they asked God to kill them. AND YET THEY DIDN’T QUIT. Both men were greatly outnumbered by those who wanted them dead during their life times. AND YET THEY DIDN’T QUIT. Both men gave themselves over to the Lord and His work during their life times in spite of those who campaigned vigorously against them and their ministry. AND YET THEY DIDN’T QUIT. Both men had times of failure in their life times. AND YET THEY DIDN’T QUIT.

Leadership principle: It’s okay to fail. It’s just not okay to quit. - These men kept going. The point is simple… Everyone fails. Just don’t quit.  The only way a believer can lose in the next life is to quit in this life.  So just don’t quit!

Two verses stood out this morning that I have never really thought about before: Matthew 13:1 “The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.” Matthew 15:29 “And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.”

Excuse me! - How did He have time to sit down? He only had 3 1/2 years to change the world and He’s sitting down? It intrigues me to consider that Jesus was not in a hurry and sat down. Also interesting is what took place when He sat down… He ended up teaching multitudes of people in both instances.

The fact that He sat down tells me something… Jesus wasn’t in “Getter done!” mode. He knew He couldn’t impact the world. Remember how He said, “No man can come unto me except the Father, which has sent me, draw him…” Jesus understood that His work was really the Father’s work. And so He waited on the Father. But also interesting is the counter point to this one: Jesus was about His Father’s work even while sitting down resting. In other words, Jesus NEVER disengaged from the work to which His Father had called Him. So while He understood His Source of power and never lost sight that the Father was at work, He also never lost sight that there was ONLY ONE REASON HE WAS ON THE PLANET. He was about His Father’s work.

Maybe it would be good for us to have a seat and just realize that the Lord is GOD. He is the real dream maker. He is the Great God Who IS LIFE. He is the Source of all that is good. And while we’re sitting there let’s not miss the ONE REASON WE ARE ON THE PLANET. There is no way we can impact the world through the self life. But there is no way we won’t impact the world if we rest in Him and realize God is the Source of our life and engage in His mission.

At our prayer ministry last night we talked about what God is doing in our Body. There was an interesting observation mentioned that I want to share with all of you. Four of our pastors, including our senior pastor Jeff Adams, have all INDEPENDENTLY of one another, been preaching from books on building. - Weird huh?!? Three have just recently been coming through the book of Nehemiah and Pastor Adams just recently started Haggai to talk about “building the temple.”

Another interesting observation for those of you who were not there for our College talk on Sunday. (Listen on-line. I think it will encourage you to hear all that God has been doing.) Twenty months ago, back in November of ‘06, God gave me a couple of different Word’s from a couple of different passages of Scripture. Isaiah 49 and 54 were used of the Lord to reveal His plan for blessing our ministry at KCBT. There were messages stating that God would 1.) Bless us with much fruit and 2.) Bring back those who were led away captive. I shared with the group on Sunday how, while writing the names of those “led away captive” in my journal, I was interrupted by one of those very individuals who I had not heard from in months with a phone call.

Anyway, from Isaiah 49 God gave me Isaiah 54. My next question to the Lord was, “What would you have for me to do?” His response as found in Isaiah 54 was “Expand the tents. Lengthen the cords!” Until a few weeks ago I had no idea even what that meant. I have spent the last twenty months trying to figure it out. I have had numerous conversations with Kent and others about what God was saying to me and still didn’t understand. When beginning to wonder WHEN God was going to fulfill His Word He told me: “You will not be ashamed.”

And so, as I said, I have been seeking, waiting, asking, begging God to reveal what “Expand the tents and lengthen the cords means for well over a year. Three weeks ago I found myself overly burdened about these things. As a matter of fact, I spent three days at the end of June big - time BURDENED. That is, until I walked into the staff meeting at the end of that 3 - day period to hear Jeff Adams lay out Isaiah 54. I looked over at Kent and he looked over at me and my jaw dropped… God was speaking to me FINALLY about what He meant from Isaiah 54.

What was God saying??? - He was saying “Expand your view of the mission. See the bigger picture of what I want to do Body-wide and world-wide. Cause the ministries of the church to become one. Change how you do church. Reformat. Let the College lead main worship praise. Engage the younger generation as a Body. Create a culture of mentoring. And watch me bless!” - That’s what I got recently. I don’t know how all of this is necessarily going to play out in our Body outside of what I just said. But I do know God is faithful and will fulfill His Word. Another thing that has become very clear is this: This is God’s Church. This is His train. He will do as He pleases. It’s best just to sit back and enjoy the ride.

I just finished the Book of Jonah and thought God’s words to Jonah in the 4th chapter were interesting. God asks Jonah on two different occasions “Doest thou well to be angry?” Jonah is angry because God has been merciful to Nineveh. Why you might ask? The answer is simple. Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, one of the most powerful enemies of Israel known for their brutality toward their enemies. What an interesting question that God asks Jonah. Jonah is looking out for his own people and yet it is against God’s desire for Jonah to do so.

As I pondered this thought it occurred to me that God’s desire for Jonah was that he be so surrendered to the will of God that Jonah would exalt God’s will above all else. God’s desire for Jonah was that he be so surrendered to the will of God that all that he loves would pail in comparison. It reminds me of Jesus’ admonition to his disciples in the Gospel of Luke.

Luk 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
Luk 14:29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
Luk 14:30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
Luk 14:31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
Luk 14:32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
Luk 14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
Luk 14:35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Notice the final words of this chapter of Luke and Jesus’ comment about salt. He is comparing believers who are not completely given over to God’s mission as salt that isn’t salty and says it’s not good for anything. We need to be so surrendered that we will yield to whatever the Lord would have for us to do regardless of the cost. If not, we cannot be His disciple. Doesn’t it remind you of the church of Laodicea in Revelation 3? It is there that Jesus says He wished they were either hot or cold. The fact they were lukewarm caused Him to want to puke them out of His mouth. This idea is odd from our perspective isn’t it? Doesn’t sound better to be warm than cold? Why wouldn’t He prefer we be a little hot toward Him than completely cold toward Him? - I think the answer lies in the great insult that anything less than hot is. The Great God… the Great Creator… the Great Redeemer of man… the Lover of our souls Who gave everything to win you from the God of this world…

How could we be anything but hot? How could we be anything but surrendered?

This Sunday morning in College I will be announcing some of the changes that are taking place in our Body at KCBT.  Instead of preaching per se, we will be having a “Family Talk.”  I will  be sharing these changes with you and revealing how God has been answering amazing prayer.  I believe that we are in a very exciting place as a church.  Just in the last couple of weeks God has been revealing answers to prayers that I have been praying since November of 06.  Come prayed up and ready to hear what God has in store for us.  There will plenty of opportunities for you to ask questions during our time together as well.  The following week we will be picking up the East Gate from Nehemiah 3.

I love you guys!!!

We are in our third day (Wednesday) at Jr. High camp and things are going very well.  Kent Liles has been our speaker and the Lord has been greatly using him.  I wanted to take this opportunity just to share something that took place at “Mid day” today.  Every afternoon from 11:45 am to 12:30 pm we have a time for students to come together and pray and worship.  The lights are down and we have a more intimate setting.  Earlier this afternoon during Mid day I heard some intense weeping for a short period which resulted in our new Jr. High Pastor, Chris Ruzicka, taking a young lady out of the service to talk.  She communicated how hurt she was for her lost family members, overwhelmed with their need to know Christ.

What a blessing to see how the Lord is moving in the life of this young lady, burdening her heart for lost souls.  Yesterday Terri and I had the opportunity to lead a young lady to Christ who was under great conviction of her sin.  What a blessing!  In addition, we have seen a number of other students make professions of faith.  God is stirring hearts in spite of our efforts to keep camp very low key.  Thank you Lord!

Over the past several months I have been getting questions from Nate, my 7 year old son, about whether or not he is a Christian.  My response to him has been “You’re not saved but you are safe.”  I communicated to him that there will be a time when the Lord will work in his heart and reveal to him his need to be saved.  In the mean time Nate has kept coming up to me and telling me he wants to talk more about what it means to be a Christian.  So I would explain more to him until he would come back some days later and ask more questions.

Of late this whole process had become much more intensified.  “Daddy, I want to be a Christian.  Am I a Christian?  I want to be a Christian.  How long before I can be a Christian?”  Well, to say the least, these questions are ones I take with the utmost care and fear.  The things I think about are not wanting Nate to make a false profession of faith or make a decision he is not truly ready to make.  And so I attempted to give the Holy Spirit space to prepare him and therefore told him we could talk more about it “this weekend.”  The idea here is to give God time to continue to work in him or remove this from his heart if it is not God’s time for this.  Well, “this weekend” came last Friday and immediately Nate asked if we could talk more about it.  I responded that we could talk about it “tomorrow.”  Once again, I am giving myself more time to seek the Lord and more time for Him to work in Nate’s heart in whatever way He desires.

And so Saturday came…  It was 5:45 am when I woke Nate up in order to get ready to go to market.  (Kel and I have a space at Lee’s Summit Farmer’s Market to sell her produce.)  So at 5:45 Nate asked if we could go ahead and talk about it.  I told him we should wait after Farmer’s Market (It ends at about 12:30 pm) and then we could talk about it.  Keep in mind, I’m still seeking the Lord and asking Him to please not allow Nate to “go there” if this is not God’s timing.  So, sure enough, we get back from Farmer’s Market and Nate says, “Okay Daddy!  Can we talk now?”  I was tired so I said, Let’s take a nap first and then we’ll talk after our nap.  He agreed and I’m still praying big time trusting the Lord and asking God to move.  After our nap he asked again so I told him I needed 30 more minutes before we talked so that I could talk to Jesus again about it.  In addition to getting with the Lord I also called Kent and Chris Ruzicka and asked them to pray.

I believe God spoke to me from Psalms 32 and said, in essence, “He is under conviction by My Spirit.  Proceed forward and stop fretting through this whole process.”  After receiving that word from the Lord I went back downstairs, shared it with Kelly, and proceeded back to my bedroom where he was waiting.  When I told him I was ready to talk about it he clinched his fist and said, “Yes!”  As I took him through the Gospel starting with the Book of Genesis and finishing in Romans it became very clear that he understood.  He said, “Daddy, that’s what happened to me yesterday!”  When I asked him to explain he shared with me about how God had been tugging at his heart and how he prayed.  Listening to what he prayed was awesome.  He said he knew that Jesus died for him and rose again for him.  He said he knew he was a sinner and really wanted to be forgiven of his sin.  As he told me what he had prayed it became obvious to me that he had indeed gotten saved on Friday.  His new birth date is 7 - 11!   Both our eyes filled with tears.

From there it was hilarious.  He immediately wanted to tell his mommy and then Matthew and then his Grammy and Grandpa.  When Sunday we took him to IHOP to celebrate his new birth and to have a fun family outing before I went to Jr. High camp.  While at IHOP the waitress kept coming up to us asking us what we had planned for Sunday afternoon.  After coming and going a few times asking us about our day Nate asked me if it would be okay if he shared with waitress how we were celebrating him becoming a Christian.  I agreed and he did!  Her response? - “Well honey…  That’s the most important decision you’ll ever make.”

Ezr 7:1 Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
Ezr 7:2 The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
Ezr 7:3 The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
Ezr 7:4 The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
Ezr 7:5 The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest:
Ezr 7:6 This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.
Ezr 7:7 And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
Ezr 7:8 And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
Ezr 7:9 For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.
Ezr 7:10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.

I thought of many things when I read this passage in Ezra. I thought of my destiny. Ezra was born when God chose for him to be born. He came from a long line of priests that go all the way back to Israel’s first priest, Aaron. Likewise, we come from a long line of Bible believing Christians. God has placed you EXACTLY where you are on purpose. He has a plan for how He wants to use you.

Also notice that prior to Ezra taking his place in history he was in captivity. God had to deliver him from his captivity before he could be most effectively used. God desires the same for you and me. We need to, as Hebrews 12 says, lay aside the weights, the sins, that end up slowing down our progress and growth.  Many Christians spend their entire lives in captivity to the sin in their lives.  Their addictions prevent them from fulfilling their destinies.

This passage also reminds me of taking my place in the eternal purpose of God. Ezra understood his purpose and went about to fulfill it. I need to do WHAT I HAVE BEEN CALLED TO DO. So many times believers try to do what others have been called to do. They forget that they won’t be judged based upon God’s plan for others. Rather, they will be judged for God’s plan for themselves. This helps me relax and rest in the Lord’s purposes for my life. I can only do what the Lord desires to do through me. I can’t do more than that.

Finally, this passage reminds me that I need to be ready. Verse 6 tells us that even though Ezra was being held captive by the Babylonians, he made himself ready. “He was a ready scribe in the law of Moses…” I also need to make myself ready for whatever the Lord has for me to do. One of the things I have noticed about this generation is their lack of drive. The question we need to ask ourselves is this: Are we prepared like Ezra was prepared? 2 Timothy 2:15 says we are to study to shew ourselves approved unto God. He expects us to prepare ourselves.

What about your destiny? Where is your place in the Body of Christ? Are you ready?  Or do you have things in your life slowing you down?  Ezra got ready for what God designed him to do.  What do you need to do to get ready?

We had another installment of Worship Wednesday last night.  It was awesome…  Two young ladies came to know the Lord and I had the privilege of being there when He did it.

Here’s what is interesting…  Last night was markedly different than other Worship Wednesday’s.  Our worship team has expressed dissatisfaction with the worship of late and so they sought for a way to take themselves further out of the equation.  For one, there was only one musician leading the evening.  Secondly, he stayed behind the partition so no one could see him.  Thirdly, we started in utter silence for the first 12+ minutes.  By the time we were a few songs into the evening a few folks were already breaking.  Two of those individuals, young ladies whom I have never met before, came to me with tears rolling down their cheeks saying how dissatisfied they were with their relationship with God.  While both at that time claimed they were saved, it was one of those young ladies who later came to me and asked, “How do I know if I’m really saved or not?” While I was beginning to take that young lady off to the side I had one of our other adult leader ladies come with me. This particular leader was the first I bumped into so I asked her to be a part of the conversation.  What is ironic is that while this young lady was from Liberty, the adult leader I happened to bump into to ask to be a part of the conversation was also from Liberty.  As a matter of fact, she is the only lady leader we have from Liberty.  And so she was able to exchange information with her and will be following up.

Praise the Lord!  I can really see the Lord seeking to die us out deeper so that we can experience Him more fully.  He has to do this or else we will be ill prepared to handle more blessing.  I think of the death Joseph had to face in getting sold into slavery by his own brothers and then again when he was unjustly incarcerated for years.  All of this was for the purpose of preparing him for the reason he was created.  A deeper death is always necessary for deeper blessing.