National Day of Prayer

Just got home from our city-wide prayer meeting at the Coranado Theater. There was about 1000-1200 people in attendance and it was a real treat to pray with so many and to worship in song. I am thankful to live in a city where the Mayor and Chief of Police attend a prayer meeting and publicly pray to God! Part of the sweetness of the night was having Luke, my son, with me.

Keep praying for Revival!

How to H.E.A.R the Word of God preached

As I prepared to preach Nehemiah 8, I couldn't help but notice the eagerness of the listeners in Nehemiah's day. God was truly preparing the soil of their hearts to receive the Word. Is there a way to prepare our hearts to hear the Word preached or is the tenderness of our hearts completely up to the Holy Spirit?

Certainly, the Holy Spirit can break the hardest heart without people preparing for it. If that were not true, no one would be saved. Nevertheless, believers can ready their hearts for the Word preached by the following:

Humble your heart - Remind yourself how much you need Him
Engage your emotions - Use song to lift emotions to match the gravity of the biblical themes
Ask for help - Pray for divine assistance in hearing the Word - attentiveness and tenderness
Ready to write - Bring your Bible and a journal to take notes (active listener)

Gospel Coalition Conference

Last week was spectacular. I attended a conference and heard some world-class preaching with the likes of John Piper, Tim Keller, and Mark Driscoll. These men along with others were preaching through the book of 2 Timothy. Though they were preaching to an audience of primarily pastors, I believe the content of these messages would bless any of you who are eager to hear them.

Follow this link and click onto to any message that interests you. You can click on video or just audio.

www.thegospelcoalition.org/conferences/2009#t=schedule

Resurrection Sunday

Electrifying. That's the word I would use to describe this weekend at Harvest. Our Good Friday service was packed. People began the night perusing the art that was placed in the foyer depicting the Christ's atonement for sin. All the art was created by people within our church! As we entered the auditorium, all of our hearts were moved as we heard passage after passage being read to us concerning sin, atonement, and salvation. Near the end, the passages were from the crucifixion narrative which culminated in partaking the Lord's Supper. Songs were interspersed amidst the readings...I believe Christ was exalted.

Resurrection Sunday was also a high moment for all. It was our first Sunday doing two services which created extra work logistically but God was our help and strength. For me, I loved preaching twice and worshiping Christ again with everyone. The worship and praise was magnificent!

May God continue to be favorable to us as we seek to please Him and may He grant us all the boldness to speak freely of His saving grace among our acquaintances in Rockford!

In the world but not of it, pt. 2

The church ought to be a great demonstration of how good it will be in the Kingdom of God when it becomes the dominate culture. We are to participate in the present world, living openly before men while embracing the Kingdom culture. We are trying to communicate through words and actions that the longing of their hearts for love, peace, tranquility, and community can only be found in Jesus.

In the world but not of it

This is paraphrase of what we find in Jn. 17:14-18. We are left in this world for a time to represent the King and His Kingdom until He returns for us. While we wait, He has sent us to his enemies as ambassadors, proclaiming to them the terms of peace.
As such, we live in two cultures - the Kingdom culture and the culture of this present age. The Kingdom culture is the one that is outlined for us in the scriptures and its influence upon us grows as we embrace the scriptures and allow it to shape our life patterns. We are a sampling of the great Kingdom culture which will eventually be the dominate one.

We are to cultivate the Kingdom culture and redeem the current culture
Cultivating the Kingdom culture means that we at Harvest are cultivating an environment that encourages and stimulates the values that the Bible speaks of: holiness, goodness, wholeness, faithfulness, masculinity, femininity, hard work, selflessness, etc. at the same time as working for the good of the city around us so that Christ’s love is seen. We are not merely promoting a moralism but loving our neighbors and our city with Christ’s love – making this a better place to live rather than preaching at it or against it like Jonah while hating the city. It means learning as much as possible, staying in touch with the culture enough to understand its yearning so that we can show them how Jesus meets the deepest longings of their hearts.

Praying about your part?

One month ago, I gave a challenge to pray for three things at our church...to care about God's glory about our private pursuits...for revival in our church and city...to discover what part God would have us as individuals play in His great work.

If we are to have an impact in our city for Jesus' sake, consider involvement in one of the following opportunities:

• Prayer at the abortion mill this Tuesday, Mar. 10, for 6 -7 AM.
• ECFA Foster Care
• Safe Families for Children - a temporary (3 months max.) pre-foster care program
• STUFF - Mentoring parents of children in the foster care program
  
• Rockford Rescue Mission - leading Bible studies and mentoring guys, serving meals, childcare for women.
• Tutoring Club - providing meals, becoming a tutor of elementary kids
• Children's Hunger Fund - delivering food to needy families on weekly basis
• Summer Outreach to Chicago (June 22-26) - Still room for more on the team
• Foreign Exchange Students - open your home to one
• Spring Clean - Helping our church neighbors in cleaning up their yards - date TBA.

"But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." (Jer. 29:7)