Netcast is Spreading...This month, Netcast will be displayed on the front page of the Biblical Recorder which is distributed to 25,000 people worldwide and thousands more online. You can read the article at http://www.brnow.org/News/October-2012/Former-‘bad-kid’-leaves-N-C-to-start-church Also, it'd be great if you left a small comment at the end of the article to thank the editor for his support.
Netcast also just launched the Netcast App. The app has all of the sermons video/audio, announcements, blog, community group information, and more. Help spread the word and download it at http://get.thechurchapp.org/share/netcast-church.
Netcast is also on the front page of the NAMB (North American Mission Board) website this week. While in New Orleans this summer, I was asked what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus and they have the video featured that on the front page of their site. You can check that out at http://www.namb.net/SendNetwork/
Holy Spirit Series.
The past few weeks have been awesome. I feel like Netcast is becoming an entirely new church as we spent time studying God the Holy Spirit. The stories we've received have been so encouraging. People are experiencing God in ways like never before and I am so blessed to hear that.
Growth.
This past month Netcast saw another wild growth spurt. In 6 weeks we doubled in size again and are making necessary adjustments to see that everyone is feeling cared for, plugged in and can fit in the service. We praise God for what He is doing here but bear with us as we make adjustments.
Serve.
Personally, I am so proud of how we all responded to the call to serve. As your pastor, it is never easy to call people to serve within the local church, but you have continued to stay faithful and accept the call. Please keep up with the commitments that you have made as the growth has caused some added responsibilities and we need the extra help.
Generosity.
Netcast....thank you for your faithful generosity with tithes and offerings. Although the percentage of the church that is giving is about average, we are in a great financial position with no debt and a growing budget. I would continue to challenge you to give sacrificially and generously as the Lord provides.
Words cannot express the love I have in pastoring Netcast Church. I honestly believe that we have an opportunity to change the world. Lets go after it while praising Jesus and giving Him all the glory as He uses us.
- Pastor Matt
Showing posts with label holy spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holy spirit. Show all posts
Holy Spirit Strategy
At the end of Matthew, Mark and Luke; Jesus gives some very important instructions. Right before Jesus ascends to be with the Father, he tells His disciples what to do, what their mission is and their first step to accomplishing this new mission. To our surprise however, the first step to accomplishing the mission of God is to wait. Now, waiting is counter-intuitive to what we think is necessary when we are looking to accomplish something. However, upon waiting Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to them, granting them supernatural power from God.
Jesus is clear; For us to effectively fulfill all that Christ is calling us to fulfill, we first have to be empowered by God the Holy Spirit. To do anything apart from the Holy Spirit, is to do nothing at all. Therefore, in order to be a church empowered for ministry, we have got to be people that pursue God the Holy Spirit. As we continue to pursue this type of life, we will see incredible things. Peoples eyes will be enlightened to the beauty of God's word. Worship will resemble heaven while demonic forces will be destroyed. The preached word will produce transformed hearts and we wont be just sitting around waiting for our gatherings to end. Praise God; the sick will be healed, the lost will be found and the family of God will grow in numbers and health
Jesus is clear; For us to effectively fulfill all that Christ is calling us to fulfill, we first have to be empowered by God the Holy Spirit. To do anything apart from the Holy Spirit, is to do nothing at all. Therefore, in order to be a church empowered for ministry, we have got to be people that pursue God the Holy Spirit. As we continue to pursue this type of life, we will see incredible things. Peoples eyes will be enlightened to the beauty of God's word. Worship will resemble heaven while demonic forces will be destroyed. The preached word will produce transformed hearts and we wont be just sitting around waiting for our gatherings to end. Praise God; the sick will be healed, the lost will be found and the family of God will grow in numbers and health
Don't attempt to live the Christian life.
God has no provision for you to live the Christian life.
You have absolutely no power to live the Christian life that God intends for you to live. There is no evidence in scripture that God has empowered “YOU” to live the Christian life. Rather, God desires to live the Christian life through you as you yield to His Spirit that has made his home inside you. We can ask, “What would Jesus do?” until we are blue in the face, but without yielding to the power that has been given to us in the Holy Spirit, we will accomplish nothing. Jesus himself said, “I can accomplish nothing apart from the Father.”
The ultimate goal of the Holy Spirit is to so penetrate our flesh that we walk in such a way that we are walking where the Spirit directs us, we say what the Spirit tells us to say, we think and feel and react under the influence of the Holy Spirit. And God the Holy Spirit will permeate through us and begin to effect, not just us, but also our world that surrounds us.
If this is true; what is the way of holiness? How does the Holy Spirit penetrate through our existence in that way?
The answer is summed up in 1 word…"Brokenness". Brokenness is the way of blessing and God's desire is to break us to the point that we are fully available and surrendered to him.
Holy Spirit: Gifted for Impact.
Through the study of scripture we see that the Spirit of God has been continuing the work of Christ ever since Christ fulfilled the gospel and has gone to be with the Father. And the work that Christ came to do is establish God's Kingdom here on earth. Therefore, God the Holy Spirit is currently at work in fulfilling the plan of building a Kingdom with people from every tribe, tongue, nation, culture, and race.
God the Holy Spirit is doing this by empowering and gifting people to be Kingdom advancers. In essence, The Spirit of God, gifts and empowers the Church of God, to continue the ministry of the Son of God, all for the Glory of God. Therefore Christians are empowered, equipped and expected to serve God through the power God provides in the Spirit.
However, our flesh fights viciously against hiddenness and sameness. We hate doing the same thing over and over again; and we hate doing things without recognition. However, the Spirit loves to serve and Glorify Jesus. Our Spirit finds great joy in serving the Kingdom, but that joy is never found until serving becomes a discipline used by our Spirit to fight our flesh. Therefore if we don't discipline ourselves to serve, we'll never know how God has gifted us, and we'll only serve when it's convenient and self-serving. When we do that, we can only experience results in which the flesh can produce; and will miss out on finding the joy and power in the Holy Spirit through our service.
Questions:
1. How have you benefited from others serving within the Kingdom of God? (Personal Question)
2. How do you serve out of the grace given to you in the gospel, and not because of guilt? (Gospel Question)
3. How can our group be more intentional to serve together and hold each other accountable to serving? (Community Question)
4. How have you experienced a joy in the Holy Spirit through serving within the Kingdom? (Application)
However, our flesh fights viciously against hiddenness and sameness. We hate doing the same thing over and over again; and we hate doing things without recognition. However, the Spirit loves to serve and Glorify Jesus. Our Spirit finds great joy in serving the Kingdom, but that joy is never found until serving becomes a discipline used by our Spirit to fight our flesh. Therefore if we don't discipline ourselves to serve, we'll never know how God has gifted us, and we'll only serve when it's convenient and self-serving. When we do that, we can only experience results in which the flesh can produce; and will miss out on finding the joy and power in the Holy Spirit through our service.
Questions:
1. How have you benefited from others serving within the Kingdom of God? (Personal Question)
2. How do you serve out of the grace given to you in the gospel, and not because of guilt? (Gospel Question)
3. How can our group be more intentional to serve together and hold each other accountable to serving? (Community Question)
4. How have you experienced a joy in the Holy Spirit through serving within the Kingdom? (Application)
Drinking and The Holy Spirit
Text: John 7:32-39
In John 7, Jesus stands up and says to the audience in the temple, (I'm paraphrasing...) “If you believe in me, I will fill your heart with a water that will forever quench your thirst. This water will not just quench your thirst, but it will so fill your heart that it can potentially lead to seeing others quenched as well." This was a profound statement to make. But, honestly what does it mean? In the next verse, John answers that question. In the next verse, John says that the quenchable water is something Super-Natural; it is the supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit.
Many of us, when we look at our lives and churches we don't see much that is “Super” or “Natural”. Much of our lives and churches are instead, “Mediocre and Planned.” And worse of all, we tend to be pretty content with that. But this is NOT how life was meant to be lived. Jesus tells us that if we believe in Him, then God the Holy Spirit would come to live in us and our world would be opened up to things unimaginable.
As a Christian, a natural question would be “How do I receive a deeper measure of the Holy Spirit?” Our tendency will be to think that the measure in which the Holy Spirit is poured out is through how holy we behave. But, the gospel says that in Christ, you are as holy as you will ever be. You have Christ's perfect holiness (2 Cor 5:21) which was given to you at salvation. And so to tap into the Holy Spirit's power, is to simply pause long enough to believe by faith, that you have access to all the power that God intends for you to have, through Christ. Not because you are so awesome, but because the God who lives in you, through Jesus, is so awesome.
If you're thirsty; Have a drink.....
In John 7, Jesus stands up and says to the audience in the temple, (I'm paraphrasing...) “If you believe in me, I will fill your heart with a water that will forever quench your thirst. This water will not just quench your thirst, but it will so fill your heart that it can potentially lead to seeing others quenched as well." This was a profound statement to make. But, honestly what does it mean? In the next verse, John answers that question. In the next verse, John says that the quenchable water is something Super-Natural; it is the supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit.
Many of us, when we look at our lives and churches we don't see much that is “Super” or “Natural”. Much of our lives and churches are instead, “Mediocre and Planned.” And worse of all, we tend to be pretty content with that. But this is NOT how life was meant to be lived. Jesus tells us that if we believe in Him, then God the Holy Spirit would come to live in us and our world would be opened up to things unimaginable.
As a Christian, a natural question would be “How do I receive a deeper measure of the Holy Spirit?” Our tendency will be to think that the measure in which the Holy Spirit is poured out is through how holy we behave. But, the gospel says that in Christ, you are as holy as you will ever be. You have Christ's perfect holiness (2 Cor 5:21) which was given to you at salvation. And so to tap into the Holy Spirit's power, is to simply pause long enough to believe by faith, that you have access to all the power that God intends for you to have, through Christ. Not because you are so awesome, but because the God who lives in you, through Jesus, is so awesome.
If you're thirsty; Have a drink.....
Wow; What a great LAUNCH!!!
I just need to send out a note to let everyone know how excited I am about what is going on. First, it was amazing to see how our team worked together to set up for the service. Everyone worked so hard and did such a great job with setup and tear down. This church would not be remotely possible without our core team's faithfulness and dedication to teh Gospel and seeing Netcast do something special. Praise Christ that our team is believing God for huge things.
Second; We had to keep adding rows and rows as people flooded in? I was told that there was a total of 120 people who visited with us today. That is way more than we ever expected. Some of those people were "well wishers", but most of them weren't. God is adding to our numbers daily.
Third; I have already gotten emails or text messages from many people who were impacted today. More than numbers or anything else, it is most exciting to see God working in the hearts of people. All of this would be worthless if we weren't drawing closer to Jesus as he continues to reveal himself to us.
Our pursuit of Christ doesn't end when a service ends; The service is a chance to worship Christ for all he has done and celebrate with each-other what God is up to. We did that today!
I will send out another update later this week. I love you all more than you know.
Second; We had to keep adding rows and rows as people flooded in? I was told that there was a total of 120 people who visited with us today. That is way more than we ever expected. Some of those people were "well wishers", but most of them weren't. God is adding to our numbers daily.
Third; I have already gotten emails or text messages from many people who were impacted today. More than numbers or anything else, it is most exciting to see God working in the hearts of people. All of this would be worthless if we weren't drawing closer to Jesus as he continues to reveal himself to us.
Our pursuit of Christ doesn't end when a service ends; The service is a chance to worship Christ for all he has done and celebrate with each-other what God is up to. We did that today!
I will send out another update later this week. I love you all more than you know.
Study Through Acts 1:1-5
As a believer and a pastor-to-be; I have been plagued with this question, "What makes you feel equipped to carry out Jesus' ministry on earth?" This is a big question, because your answer reveals a lot about yourself. If deep down you feel that you are equipped because you are gifted, smart, intelligent, or you have some other natural characteristic that has equipped you, than most likely you are driven from pride or arrogance that in the end will kill your personal ministry. Jesus is responsible for building his church, not our giftedness. I didn't always think this way, it probably wasn't until about 1 1/2 years ago that God began to put me around people who saw my gifts and realized that I relied on my own talents and not the Holy Spirit which is literally God inside us.
Lets dive into Acts 1:1-5 and learn more about this.
In what ways did Jesus prep and equip his apostles to continue his ministry and life on earth? The first thing to notice is that Christ was clear to go and wait for the Holy Spirit before beginning the process of carrying out the mission of God. This is vital to us today. How many pastors or Christians do we know today who have very little Holy Spirit power or authority when they speak or begin to carry out the mission of God. It is most necessary that we are spending time in prayer and solitude, waiting for the Holy Spirit to come upon us in order to continue Christ's ministry. Over the course of the last three years of Christs life, he walked, talked, taught, and modeled a Spirit filled life to the apostles. This was part of him prepping his people to carry out his mission.
So, if this text is true, we have to ask the question; "what is the significance of the fact that Jesus showed himself to the apostles and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive?" In the text we learn that Jesus presented himself alive to the apostles and many others after his sufferings and death. This is key to the Christian faith. Without the resurrection of Christ we do not have Christianity. Like Paul says, "if Christ did not rise from the dead, than there is no gospel (good news) because we are still stuck in our sin and have no atonement." Christ rose to claim victory over death, sin, and Satan. He then promises to send us the same Holy Spirit that rose him in order that we may one day rise in defeat of death. Christ showing himself alive builds our confidence in the fact that we serve a God who is alive and well and promises to never leave us or forsake us. In scripture, Christ promises that as we go to fulfill the mission of God, he will not only be with us as we go, but he has also gone ahead of us. We need to remember the resurrection as we engage people at work, on airplanes, in restaurants, as we preach, as we lead our families. Everything hinges on the resurrection.
Lets think through this thought together; How would the apostles ministry be affected by the fact that Jesus chose, commissioned, and instructed them? How will our lives be affected if we believe the same about ourselves? I cant even imagine what it would be like to have a moment with Christ like these apostles had. Can you imagine Christ showing up at your house and telling you that you are responsible for taking his message to your city and beyond? A real life encounter with the living Christ.....God, I want that. Imagine the confidence and brotherhood that these apostles would have had. Imagine the desire that they would have to carry out the mission with Christ. I couldn't think of anything that could stop them. Not sufferings, persecutions, not even death itself would have the power to get in the way of them carrying out the mission. Paul put it like this when thinking about his personal encounter and walk with Christ, "to live is Christ and to die is gain." These are the type of crazy things we say when we believe that we have encountered the living Messiah, Christ the Lord. I am begging God to have an encounter with him like this.
Spending March w/ Jesus 3/3/09 "Tempted after a High"
John the Witness, Jesus, and TemptationRead Matthew 3:1-4:11
This past week we had a friend of ours become a "Born Again, Child of God." It is such a cool story that maybe I will share the full details at another time if she gives me permission. It was one of the most beautiful transformations that I have been able to see in my Christian life so far. I can look back at this person and see how God has been literally wooing her over the past few months. God surrounded her with strong believers, softened her heart to the Word of God, and gave a few people the platform to love her and speak straight with her.
I am sharing this story because it tied into this scripture so perfectly. In Matthew 4, Jesus has just been baptized and is now set out to live the rest of his life on public mission to fulfill all that God has for him (I am not saying that he wasn't already doing that, however this was the beginning of his public ministry). Immediately after he came out of the water from baptism, scripture tells us, heaven opened up and there was a voice that said "This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased." It was this supernatural work of God for many to see. The Holy Spirit came and ascended on him in the form of a dove. How cool would it have been to see this.
Anyway, one would think that after an experience like this in a persons life, immediately the Holy Spirit wipes out all fear, doubt, lust, etc and makes the life of a believer as simple, easy, and convenient as possible. I mean we're talking about God here. Of course God would do that for us, we're his children, Right? Wrong!! That is not the case at all. Matthew 4 shows us that after the supernatural, the Holy Spirit will lead you into temptation. What???????????? The Holy Spirit leads you into temptation? No he doesn't, Satan leads you into temptation. Wrong again!! Read Matthew 4:1 again and see for yourself. The Holy Spirit does that. That's just how He roles.
I think back to my own life and it is exactly what I experienced. After I became a Christian, I was thrown into a relationship that had sexual temptation all over it, I was put on a basketball team with many unbelievers who were rebelling against God, I was invited to parties, had drugs thrown my way, and many more stories. Unlike Jesus, I failed God in these situations and fell at the feet of temptation.
I wish that someone warned me about that. I wish someone told me that after the supernatural, the Holy Spirit lead you into temptation. I wish I was on better guard against what the Holy Spirit does and Satan's schemes.
I will briefly share an excerpt of a dialog that took place after our friend was saved by Christ. I thought it ties in well.
Me:
Happy Birthday. So why the Happy Birthday? Because you've been born again!!!!! HOLLA>>>> That’s a big freakin deal. Congratulations. That is huge. The bible says that ALL of Heaven throws a party when one sinner comes to repentance and trusts in Christ. My advise to you from here on out is to just fall more and more in love with Jesus. He is so beautiful and such a gentleman to his children. Be on guard because the enemy will try and convince you that your salvation is not real and you will experience doubt. This is just his normal tactics, but I know your stronger than that.
Her response:
thank you guys so much, I really feel like I can breathe for the first time ever in my life. Pretty cool, huh? You are right, there have already been thoughts in my head, and I just let Satan know to take it up with God, his issues are not mine.
thank you guys so much, I really feel like I can breathe for the first time ever in my life. Pretty cool, huh? You are right, there have already been thoughts in my head, and I just let Satan know to take it up with God, his issues are not mine.
It is beautiful to see God at work in the people around you. Isn't it? Oh yeah!!!
Roaring Lion
The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking to devour anyone he can, resist him in your faith. (1 Peter 5)
Spiritual warfare is a real issue. As Christians we believe that there is a real war going on for our lives. The devil wants to kill steal and destroy from us. He is the father of all lies and will use anything he can to ruin God's work in you.
I know I have some people that read my blog that need to read that and understand it. God has something for you. In every believer he places his holy spirit and with that spirit comes gifts and a calling to exercise those gifts. Use them to glorify his name. At times it will feel like the lion is winning; resist him in your faith. Do you know the authority that you have through Jesus name? You have a direct life line to the father through Christ's work on the cross. Anytime you command Satan and demons with the authority of Christ, they will flee.
Fight the good fight, beat your body in discipline, and claim victory over your enemy.
Broken and Beautiful
Broken and Beautiful
A moment w/ God.
This morning I got to the office at about 7:30, but as I got in I received a call and had to run out to an appointment. I put on my Ipod to some worship music. It is awesome when God decides to overwhelm you with his presence. In a moment God began to just break me, I began worshipping and crying and praying. I couldn't stop crying, I didn't know what was going on, I was just overwhelmed with his presence and his call on my life. I never felt such a weight to do the will of God. I was just overwhelmed and broken before the Lord.
In my brokenness, I called my pastor but as he answered the phone, I couldn't stop crying and couldn't get out any words as to why I was crying. He kept asking me what was wrong but I couldn't even speak, (I know for sure he thought someone died....lol). Finally I think I got out something like "I just Love God so much". Not knowing what was happening to me, Allen just began to pray for me. It was such a beautiful morning, one that I will remember forever.
People have told me that as I begin to surrender more and more to God, things like this will begin to happen. I never intended to have a God moment in my car, but I am sure glad that God intended for it to happen. "There is nothing like being lead by the Holy Spirit" - David Wilkerson.
Barry in a Wheelchair at Walmart
It seems like lately I have been trying to be more sensitive to what God wants me to do in the moment. A few days ago when I was dis-obedient to what God was telling me to do, it really bummed me out.
Anyway, yesterday we went to Walmart and I had Ella in the car and we were waiting for Beth to check out. I could sense that God wanted to do something through me so I drove by the entrance to see what was up. About 3 minutes after being there, Barry, a Walmart employee who was in a wheelchair rolled out with a burger. I saw him pray for his food before eating it. Its crazy how seeing something that simple can really bless me. So I got out of the car to wait for Beth and started talking to him. I asked him why he was in a wheelchair, did he have a family, etc. It turns out that he was in a car accident 14 years ago and he is paralyzed from the chest down. I asked if the Dr's thought he'd walk again, he said "No" but they don't have the ultimate say.
It is neat that God sent me to this man to be blessed and not just bless him. He had a great attitude and I could tell he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Anyway, I told him that I felt that Jesus wanted me to pray for him so I asked him if I could and he kindly accepted. It was pretty neat to stand at the entrance of Walmart with people everywhere and pray for this man in a wheelchair. I can only imagine how the Lord may have decided to use that to encourage other onlookers.
There was no healing, no miracle, he didn't stand up and throw his wheelchair and dance around the streets, but I could tell that there was something deep in my soul that was touched and I feel that Barry felt something similar. David Wilkerson says it best in his famous book, The Cross and the Switchblade, "There is nothing like being led by the Spirit; Nothing"
Anyway, yesterday we went to Walmart and I had Ella in the car and we were waiting for Beth to check out. I could sense that God wanted to do something through me so I drove by the entrance to see what was up. About 3 minutes after being there, Barry, a Walmart employee who was in a wheelchair rolled out with a burger. I saw him pray for his food before eating it. Its crazy how seeing something that simple can really bless me. So I got out of the car to wait for Beth and started talking to him. I asked him why he was in a wheelchair, did he have a family, etc. It turns out that he was in a car accident 14 years ago and he is paralyzed from the chest down. I asked if the Dr's thought he'd walk again, he said "No" but they don't have the ultimate say.
It is neat that God sent me to this man to be blessed and not just bless him. He had a great attitude and I could tell he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Anyway, I told him that I felt that Jesus wanted me to pray for him so I asked him if I could and he kindly accepted. It was pretty neat to stand at the entrance of Walmart with people everywhere and pray for this man in a wheelchair. I can only imagine how the Lord may have decided to use that to encourage other onlookers.
There was no healing, no miracle, he didn't stand up and throw his wheelchair and dance around the streets, but I could tell that there was something deep in my soul that was touched and I feel that Barry felt something similar. David Wilkerson says it best in his famous book, The Cross and the Switchblade, "There is nothing like being led by the Spirit; Nothing"
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