The Closet Connection

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as Hit is in heaven...Amen. Matthew 6:9-13

How's your prayer life these days? Is it filled with life and life abundantly, or is it on life support?

You know, prayer is not how we think if it, like sitting on Santa's lap and giving him our wish list. No, prayer should be about God's thoughts for you, not your thoughts for Him. It should be about you coming into His presence and being overtaken, overwhelmed by His thoughts for you, filled with His dreams for you, filled for His visions for you, filled with His plans for you.

Prayer is to step you out of this world and into this eternal realm of God's purpose and destiny. It's a destiny in which you now are letting go and letting God fully take over your life, your marriage, the raising of your kids; letting Him have His way fully and completely with you.

It was about fourteen years ago that something absolutely transforming happened to my life. It actually happened in a little room that used to be off to the side in the church sanctuary, a small storage closet.

Dr. Bill Bright was the president of Campus Crusade and we had the privilege of having him come to Horizon. Between the services that weekend, Bill Bright invited me to go into that closet with him. In that small room, he looked at me and he said, Bobby, are you praying?

Wow. I'm like, Well, Bill, I pray.

He goes, No, I mean like really praying. Because, Bob, I just really sense the presence of the Lord in this church and He wants to show up and mightily move through this ministry, but He needs to have all of you. Are you praying? Are you fasting?

Long story short, I started praying. I called a small group of leaders to a forty day fast. Since that time, we've gone from two services a week to nine a week and from a fulltime staff of one or two to 152. We have a school that is packed full. Our sermons are broadcast on the radio all over the world.

All because Bill Bright taught me to pray, and to really pray. Because God is faithful and He has great big plans for Horizon, and without Him, none of these things would have happened.

God has great big plans for your life. Who knows what would start happening around you if you simply really prayed?

Prayer Lord God,

Thanks for the big plans You have for my life! I come to You today to hear from You about those plans, and whatever they are, I want them. Please come and have Your way in me and teach me to pray until Your plans become my reality.

Amen

When the Church Gets It Wrong

When the Church Gets It Wrong

For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles. Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. But we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things. 2 Corinthians 11:5-6

It seems like no matter what culture you go to, there's something you never get away from: Status.

Across all age groups, income levels, and geographical locations, it can be easy to get caught up in the pressure to attain a certain level of degree, prestige, wealth, influence, or other marks of status.

Sadly, this pressure can invade church culture, too, and there's no clearer example than the one we find in Corinth. Back in Paul's day in Corinth, it was all about doling out the gratis of status.

Do you know what the gratis of status is? It's like the praise of one's position, title, and status. It's like you and I go to a doctor's convention. When you show up at the convention, you're walking down the hallway and it's like, Good morning, doctor. How are you, doctor? Good to see you, doctor. Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, and on and on.

It's even worse than that in Corinth, because here's what it is in Corinth: Apostle, apostle, good morning, apostle. Apostle. Apostle. Most eminent apostle. Apostle.

Paul tells them, Nonsense. You're doling out a bunch of self-ranking positions and titles. Yes, for the record, when the church buys into that, the church is jacked up and doing it wrong. Any church that is into self-promotion, self-appointing, self-proclaiming, selfordaining is wrong.

I ordained myself.

Really? How?

Online. Just ordained myself.

Well who holds you accountable?

I do. I'm self-accountable.

No you don't, because self-accountable is an oxymoron.

Gosh, we've got too many examples of this where someone is put in leadership, given a title, and all of a sudden they become a completely different person. Now they think they know everything, and it makes them talk and act differently, but not in a good way.

Listen, inside the church or outside of it, don't get caught up in what people call you. You're a son or daughter of God, and that's enough of a title for any of us.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for making me Your child! I'm sorry for any times that I have gotten caught up in the status of what other people say and think about me. Please forgive me for that, and help me to be secure in all that You say that I am!

Amen

Gifts Onboard

Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 1 Corinthians 14:13-14

You got gifts onboard? We're going to talk about these gifts together today.

When it comes to the gift of tongues, the Bible speaks to three separate categories. The first category is natural languages that we find all over the world. That's what broke out in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. It wasn't so much speaking in an unknown tongue, but rather it was speaking in some known languages that God, by His Spirit, had given them the ability to speak.

If you go to Haiti, you better know how to speak Creole; otherwise you're just not going to be much help. You need to be able to speak the language. And I know people in Haiti to whom God has supernaturally given them the ability to understand that language without having to learn it the normal way. It's just been given to them as a gift.

Secondly, tongues is a private prayer language for when your normal language, English or Spanish or whatever it is for you, just isn't cutting it anymore to communicate your heart of love unto the Lord. This is where your mind and will are given over to the Lord and you begin to pray in the Spirit because you've just run out of words, you don't know what else to say, so you let the Spirit intercede through you and for you.

Thirdly, tongues is a language that needs an interpreter. Tongues are great, but they are way better with interpretation, and if you're speaking in tongues publicly then interpretation is necessary.

I remember going and speaking in Malaysia at a pastor's conference. When I arrived, they said, Here's your translator. And actually, there was such a strong contingency of pastors from Hong Kong and from Shanghai that it was translated from English into Malay, then into Mandarin, and then into Cantonese. And if that wouldn't have been the case, then everybody would have left confused, not getting it.

Whenever that private prayer language spills out into a corporate church setting, there had better be an interpreter there, too, so that everyone benefits and is blessed. That's how we honor the purpose of the gifts, which is love, so that not only ourselves, but the entire body of Christ is blessed by the gifts we have.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for giving me gifts so that I can bless Your Church! Please put Your love more and more inside of me so that I can use these gifts for Your glory in my life and in the whole Church!

Amen

The Essential Elements of Redemption

And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the LORD brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies. Exodus 12:51

Life with Jesus is just that-life. What's the alternative? Well, life without Jesus is a lot of things.

First, life without Jesus is a life of lust. It is a life filled with desire for things that do not belong to us, for things that our flesh wants for the sake of satisfying its own desires. It is a life of selfishness, self-pleasing, self-appeasing, and self-exalting. This is a life that is lonely and fearful, left on our own, feeling like we have to take care of ourselves because we have refused to put our trust in a God who provides for all our needs.

Second, life without Jesus is a life of ignorance. The world knows that it has a hole in its heart, but it thinks you can fill it with stuff, status, or sex. None of these things fulfill people's true needs, so they think they need more of what already didn't work for them and they fuel their lusts with their ignorance.

Third, life without Jesus is a life of aimlessness. It's life in the dark, and when you can't see, it's hard to know where you're going. That's why the world pursues this thing and that thing, but none of it really matters. It's like, Well, I tried money and I wasn't happy, so I had an affair. That was painful, so I tried counseling. That didn't work, so I tried meditation. That felt like a waste of time, so I buried myself in my career. That got me money again, but I'm still not happy. It's aimless.

Fourth, life without Jesus is a life that is held back by traditions. Well, my parents raised me to know that it was important to have a successful career and they always bought the best toys that were available. It's just what people do. Yeah, well, were your parents happy with their lives, or were they just slaves to what they did? And how is that working out for you?

Jesus came to redeem us out of this old life. He came to give us a new life that really lives up to its name-life.

And the important part of this for you is simply this: Whatever it is you're pursuing determines who you're becoming. Whatever it is that you're pursuing, whatever it is you're focusing on, whatever it is you're going after is determining who you are, what you're becoming, and where you will ultimately end up.

So pursue Jesus. Let the old life go. Cross over into a life of redemption. Come begin real life.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You that You have life for me that is so much better and more real than everything I have tried to live until now! I freely give You my old life and ask You to give me something new. I want to live real life!

Amen

Who's Being Held?

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God...Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Colossians 3:1,13

I love the show The Biggest Loser. It's incredible to watch the transformation happen in people's lives as they lose all the weight that has been dragging them down for so long.

Many Christians need to become big losers, too, but I'm not talking about their weight.

I am talking about how we can hold on to things that weigh us down, imprisoning us and keeping us from the life and freedom God wants for us.

In my opinion, nothing keeps more Christians in prison than unforgiveness. We need to understand that forgiveness is not so much about our pasts as it is about our future. If we think about where we're going, then we need to think about what we get to take with us.

Unforgiveness doesn't get to stick around Heaven, and do you know why? Because Heaven is where God's ultimate best for us is finally fulfilled. It's not like our past doesn't still exist. The fact remains that hurtful things, even devastating things, have happened. But unforgiveness has no place in Heaven because it keeps us from God's best.

The good news here is that we can begin to experience that blessing from God now, because we do not need to wait for Heaven to forgive.

Maybe you're thinking, But if I forgive the person who hurt me, doesn't that mean that I'm saying what they did was okay?

No, you're not. What they did will never be okay. But forgiveness does not mean what they did is okay; it means that you are surrendering it to the Lord. You're letting Him be the judge, letting Him bring justice instead of clinging to that for yourself.

Ultimately, for our sakes, forgiveness means freedom. Our unforgiveness does nothing to the person who hurt us; it doesn't hurt or punish them in the least. And it doesn't put them in prison; it puts us in prison.

Let go of your unforgiveness today and let Jesus heal your hurts. He died so that you could be whole and forgave you so that you could be free.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You for forgiving me! You know how badly I have been hurt, and You know how it has kept me in prison. But I want to be free! I choose today to forgive everyone who has hurt me, and I trust You to heal me and set me free.

Amen

Overcoming Temptation

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. James 1:12

Temptation.

It reaches out to us from all corners of society. Its tentacles seek to wrap themselves around us in the pressures of a work day. They grasp for us in the chaos of a busy home. They call to us from billboards and TV commercials, trying to seduce us to their will.

With temptations all around us, how are we going to overcome this unending battle? There are three things in our verses today that I want you to notice, which, as we apply them to our lives, will help us overcome temptations.

First, we are blessed-literally happy-when we endure temptation. James is saying that there is a blessing, even in this earthly life, for anyone who says no when temptation knocks on their door. In other words, there is a goody for not giving in. For keeping yourself apart from the world, for staying different than everyone else-God promises a blessing.

Second, God promises to bless those who overcome with a crown of life. Think about that one-a crown that is way better than one made of gold and precious stones; we will be crowned with life!

Third, it is a fact that temptation is a foe we can conquer. We do not have to remain subject to it or put up with its seducing voice. We can overcome! James would not have written that we will be blessed for enduring temptation if we were not able to do it by the grace and power of the Lord Jesus Christ!

This last truth is one we really need to get inside our hearts. We cannot allow ourselves to cop out and say, Well, I just couldn't hold up. The devil made me do it. It's not my fault; I'm just not strong enough.

No, you are strong enough, and you can endure temptation. And you will endure it as you hide yourself in Jesus' death and in the power of His resurrected life. Run from temptation; flee from it! But flee into the cross of Jesus where temptation loses its power. Hide yourself in Jesus' victory and you will be victorious, too.

Do this, and you, dear overcomer, will be blessed as you endure temptation.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for Your victory over temptation and sin! I run to You and ask You to help me overcome all the temptations that come against me every day. I know that with Your help, I will endure temptation and receive Your promised blessing!

Amen

Money View

Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality...And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. 2 Corinthians 8:1-2,5

Sensitive times are quite often the worst times to bring up sensitive subjects, right? Quite often, this is true, but I have to say that I think that sensitive times can be the best times to talk about sensitive subjects.

Take right now, for example. All of us have now lived in deep recession, the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Lots of people need jobs. Lots of people have needs. But I think this is the best time possible to talk about money, because those were the circumstances happening in the world when Paul chose to talk about it.

That's when Paul talks about it to Corinth, in light of them being faced with a great trial of affliction. In other words, they're living in hard times. If we're living in hard times, that means we can relate. But look at what Paul tells us in our verses today.

Do you see that in the beginning they gave even out of their deep poverty? That means they gave what they didn't have. They gave, not out of their abundance, but out of their lack. They gave in times of difficulty and trials of affliction.

But Paul doesn't stop there; he helps us know where the giving starts-it starts with giving ourselves to the Lord.

Listen, He doesn't want your money. He wants you. That's where they started. They gave themselves to the Lord, then they gave themselves to Paul and his companions. Mark that, okay? This is not either/or; it is both. They gave themselves to God, then they gave again.

Well that ought to be enough, Pastor. I gave myself to God. What? Do you want more?

Well, the Scripture says: Not only did they give themselves first to God, but then to us by the will of God.

God's will. Who cares what my will in this is? I know it's a sensitive subject at a sensitive time. It's God's will that we give to Him and then give again. Our job is just simply to obey.

And, who knows? Maybe by talking about this sensitive topic at a time when we feel the cost of obedience more deeply, when we give our money to God then we'll actually give our hearts, too.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You that You want all of me and aren't willing to settle for less! I'm sorry for giving You less than my all in the past, but I repent from that and choose to trust in You to provide for me as I give generously and joyfully.

Amen