I am trying to find out how many ppl actually follow my blog…I have a ton of subscribers and followers (says my blog admin)…but how many ppl ACTUALLY read my posts?

Let me know via Twitter, Facebook, e-Mail, or in the Comments section if you do follow my blog. I am trying to decide if I should continue blogging or not.

THANKS

Worship: It’s not about me.

This is what I FINALLY, really, truly have grasped.

Yesterday afternoon my Pastor texted me saying he was sick and would need me to lead Worship at Church today. I was excited and slightly nervous as I always am before leading worship at my home Church. Its always harder to lead worship in front of people you dont know than it is to lead in front of strangers…I’m not sure why.

This morning I woke up feeling angry at myself for some of the choices I have been making. I was feeling condemned, guilt ridden and like I was drowning in shame.

All emotions that ARE NOT from my Father.

Instead of allowing myself to stay there, I got alone with God and asked Him to clean me out-purify my heart, my mind, and my soul.

I lead Worship for about an hour this morning and this is what I learned:

 God isn’t looking for perfection. He is looking for humility.

God uses willing vessels, not perfect vessels…Praise God, or we would all be discredited.

God loves using people who know they are flawed!

I didn’t feel worthy of His usage this morning but He chose to use me…

A humble heart is, I believe, one of the most attractive things to Gods heart.

Humility doesn’t mean looking at yourself and seeing “how crappy” you are…but its looking at yourself and seeing your need for Christ.

Humility means thinking of yourself less and of Christ more.

Humility means seeing your own lack and allowing Christ to come and fill.

As a worship leader it can be easy to get caught up with the position of “The Worship Leader” and our place on stage…pride is so easily attached to leaders and musicians…

Allowing God to humble our hearts and keep us there…thats key!

The Acts240 Project is an online ministry I attempted to start a couple years ago.

The whole point is to be a resource for Young Adults in ministry.  We want to give young adults resources, advice, tips, and ideas on how to be a Christlike, Visionary, Kingdom Minded Leader!

We are currently looking for the following:

Weekly Bloggers on a variety of subjects related to ministry.

People to promote content on Social Networks.

People to use social networks to connect with this generation of leaders and up and coming leaders and people who have a heart for ministry.

Men and Women, Leaders, Pastors, etc who have been in ministry to serve (thru blogging and networking) by giving the younger generation what God has given them to share.

If youre interested in this shoot an E-mail to: theacts240project@gmail.com.

THANKS!

Follow us on Twitter: @TheActs240Project

This morning I was seeing a lot of posts on Facebook about Adoption and Abortion. This is a subject I am passionate about since I was adopted and very well could have been aborted.

The question I continue to hear is, “Why is Adoption so important“?

Here are my thoughts.

I was born in 1986 and placed in foster care in 1988. My birth mother could have very well aborted me and made things a little easier on herself and not had a baby to worry about.

However, she chose to give birth to me and then placed me in foster care to give me my best chance at life.

Adoption has so many AMAZING results.

1. So many women in the US are not physically able to have babies and WANT children so badly.

My mom was not able to have children and adopted 6 of us! If people like my birth mom hadn’t given us up for adoption my mom wouldn’t have children.

2. Adopting a child that is “unwanted” helps that child in the future.

I was unwanted and was adopted by a mom and dad that WANTED me. Knowing that they wanted me made me feel so much more secure and more loved than I thought possible.

I used to focus on how my birth mother didnt want me and I felt rejected and unlovable. Now that I understand more about the situation, I see now that God had a bigger plan and I was able to experience love because of my parents.

3. You are saving a life.

Many kids that are in foster care are coming from abused, neglectful families.  Imagine the impact you could have by adopting even just ONE of these children! Taking them from abuse to a home filled with LOVE!

4. Abortion has a negative impact on the mother.

Someone very close to me recently had an abortion and she was feeling pretty horrible after. She feels guilty and ashamed- feelings she will carry with her for the rest of her life.

5. Who did you abort?

I saw a cartoon on facebook today that I am sharing here:

We keep calling out for God to send “revivalists” and “leaders”…but maybe God IS and they keep getting aborted. Maybe God has entrusted you with the next Billy Graham, or Martin Luther King, or Katie Torwalt or Toby Mac. You never know the destiny of the child you are carrying. Give that child a chance on life.

Abortion is selfish. I’m just calling it what it is. You are being entrusted with the life  of a child and if you dont think you are ready or mature enough to handle it then give that child a future and giving that child to a family that WANTS a child!!!

Why do i think abortion is selfish? I am sure some of you are probably calling me judgemental and rude. But, abortion is a very “me” oriented decision. “I cant take care of it”, “I dont have time for a baby”, “I have a job and my life cant accomodate a child right now”, “I hate the father so why would I want this child to have to have him as a father?”…Again, GIVE THAT BEAUTIFUL CHILD TO SOMEONE WHO WANTS HIM/HER!

Adoption is an amazing gift. Many men and women wants to adopt and you could be the person who gives them the child they always wanted.

I know some of you are thinking, “Well, its totally rational for a woman who was raped to have an abortion”.

I dont agree with that.

God allowed that child to be conceived. God has a plan and a destiny.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who
have been called according to his purpose. -Romans 8:28

God can make ANYTHING work out to be a good thing. Even the worst situation He can work out for GOOD!

Even the most horrible things, like rape, can be turned around to where God can be glorified.

I know a woman who is a child from a woman who was raped. She is an incredible testimony of the grace of God and to this day serves the Lord.

GIVE YOUR CHILD A CHANCE AT LIFE!

I was in foster care for 5 years before I was adopted. I was adopted into a loving, Christian family that WANTED me.

If my birth mother had not put my brother Josh and I up for adoption we would not be living for Jesus probably and our lives would be a bit of a mess.

The LOVE and GRACE and MERCY of God has been on my life and I know I have a purpose and a destiny.

My birth mother, Linda, gave me my best chance at life when she put me up for adoption.

I posted earlier (on facebook) that I was studying the Beatitudes and had a few people ask if I would post my notes..so here goes…hopefully someone gets something out of them

Matthew 5:3-4 (the first 2)

1. “Blessed are the poor in Spirit” (verse 3)

*Poor in Spirit: Seeing our desperate need for a Saviour/Jesus.*

Mark 2:16-17 “I came for the sick and not the healthy” Jesus said.

Luke 6:20
1 Corinthians 1:26

Mark 8:34-36 “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”

Psalms 40:17 and Psalm 109″21-22…David said, “I am poor and needy”.
David continuously recognized his desperate need for God.

The man who is “poor in spirit” acknowledges/recognized all the great attributes of God and that without God, he is nothing.

Being poor in spirit requires a heart of humility.

PROMISE: Those who are “poor in spirit” will inherit the Kingdom. (Salvation)
————————————————————————————————

2. “Blessed are those who mourn” (verse 4)

To Mourn: to feel or express great sorrow, to grieve or lament

I believe Jesus was referring to us mourning over sin, rebellion, etc…

(Check out this INCREDIBLE youtube video of snippets from a David Wilkerson teaching on “Anguish in the House of God”…it will definately stir your spirit to mourning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rzxPHDjf4U)

Jesus mourned over Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37-39-He was mourning the lost souls and over the sin of his chosen people.

Mourning (despair) makes us more aware of out need for Christ (verse 3).

Spiritual mourning follows with repentance. When we begin to recognize our need for Jesus and mourn for the lost souls, our own hearts condition before God, etc it will bring us to repentance.

Philippians 2:12 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”

Isaiah 6:5 ““Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Isaiah saw his own desperate need for God (verse 3-poor in Spirit) and mourned his own hearts condition and the people of Israels condition before God.
The Lord then sent a seraphim and touched the coal from the alter to Isaiah’s lips and said in the next verse “your guilt is taken away”.

The 2 thieves on the cross…the one saw his own need for salvation and mourned his own hearts condition and asked Jesus to remember him in paradise.

Psalm 51- David, again, recognized his hearts need for God and was grieved and mourned and God heard him.

PROMISE: “For they (those who mourn) shall be comforted.

2 Thessalonians 2:16 “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope.”

Mourning requires humility which God honors. (James 4:10, the woman in Luke 7:36-50, Luke 15:19)

This comfort can come in the different forms: forgiveness (Romans 4:7-8), peace (Philippians 4:7), etc

So, this is all I have so far on the first two verses.

Would love some discussion, thoughts, opinions or insight from others!

These are my notes from a sermon my Pastor preached a few weeks ago that challenged me IMMENSELY. He spoke on having idols and the importance of getting rid of distractions and keeping Christ 1st.

Luke 18:2…The Rich Young Ruler was held back by his love for his money and riches…his “stuff”.

*What am I willing to sacrifice to truly FOLLOW Christ?

*Jesus is after Sons and Daughters

*Sometimes we get so confident in all that were DOING that we begin to neglect our relationship with God.

*The purpose of grace is RESTORATION!!! Grace allows us to come BOLDLY! Grace is not a license to sin.

*Do not neglect relationship (sloppy agape)

*The moment something becomes an idol it demands worship…(your time, your money, etc)

Nothing should be more important than my walk with God.

How do I know if something is an idol?

1. If you cannot release it

2. The moment you begin to justify it

Ministry can be an idol.

*Obedience is a reaction to our love for God

*we get too connected w/ our problems and they become idols.

RECCONNECT WITH YOUR FIRST LOVE

WHAT IS FIRST PLACE IN YOUR/MY LIFE?

*Cut off the idols and reopen your ability to “sleep” in the boat.

No storm brewed up in hill should be able to sink “my boat” because my focus should be on Christ.

Jesus was able to sleep in the boat despite being jostled by the waves. He was peaceful regardless of what was happening around Him.

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM.