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The Search For The Lost

This morning in some study I ran across some scripture that struck me in a new and interesting way and I wanted to share it with you.

In Matthew 10 we find Jesus giving a passionate talk to his 12 disciples, motivating and leading them into an all out search and rescue for the lost people of the house of israel.  Jesus told them all that they had the power to heal the sick and to cast out demons in his name and sent them out with these last words.  

Mathew 10:16 “Behold I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and whip you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the gentiles.  When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour, for it is not you who speak but the spirit of your father speaking through you.”

How would you have liked to be there for that moment when Christ empowered those 12 ordinary men and told them that they had his power inside of them… to teach and heal in his name?  I remembered this morning that Christ gives us that very same power when follow him with our hearts.  He is sending us out into a completely lost city, workplace, home, or even a country to courageously share the good news that he has brought to the world.  Its scary knowing that at some point someone or something is going to try and stop what God is doing through your life… but we can be confident in knowing that when we are given over to those who prosecute us for what we believe that Christ is standing in front of us protecting us and speaking through us.  He is truly our savior.

God I pray that we would fall courageously in love with you… in the next days and months of our lives, and that when you call us to go out into a lost world and risk our lives, reputations, posessions, and dreams that we would not hesitate, but know that the house we are building for you is the only one that will stand forever!  

AK

When in the history of the world has the majority been right?

This morning i finished reading a book that i’ve been reading for a while now.  It takes me a long time to read a book when its really moving me… i think partially because it takes me a while to process what God is showing me… and also because i’m scared of what it might say next and how that might challenge or change my comfortable life.  After i finished the last chapter I decided I hadn’t had enough… so i went to the author’s church website and watched a message that he gave called “The End of The World Part 1.”

I found myself sort of entranced in this thought compelling message that Chan was teaching.  It was really neat… because it takes a lot for me now to really be inspired for some reason… but I was sitting in my bed at the best conference i’d ever been too and it had nothing to do with neat technology, how many people where there, or anything like that.  It was simply a humble message like I had never heard before and it inspired me in a way that not many talks in my life have.  (Sort of reminded me that while all the bells and whistles are great… sometimes God can speak to you through the simplest format and a message thats straight from his heart).  

He goes on to say some really different things throughout his talk of which I will highlight for you.  He shows in scripture and history several instances of the majority having the wrong idea or thought… such as the great flood, of which a tiny percentage heard god’s voice and responded and saved their families. In my mind i think of a scientist who suggested that the earth was round instead of flat, and another man who added that the sun was the center of our universe and not earth.  Both of these ideas were extremely unpopular to culture and modern knowledge in their own times… however not because they weren’t true.  Chan talks about 2nd Timothy where paul warns about what peoples lives will look like in the end times.  He shows that scripture says we’ll exist only for ourselves and that we’ll care nothing about other people’s lives.  He simply said, “We love ourselves.”  It seems to be all about us in America.  We literally think that the United States is the world, when 300 million live here and 4 Billion live in Asia, where people are being killed and tortured for what they believe.  There, martyr’s are laying down there life for christ and children are starving to death and thirsting for clean water.  He made the correlation to our lives in america and how we live in a society that that is not a true reflection of the condition of our world.  This last quote I will leave you with is one that really shakes me to the core of who I am.  ”We are more concerned about our standard of living… than others living.”  I am humbled today… and I really wanna be a part of what God is doing in the world and not just in Oklahoma City, or Nashville.  I would encourage you to go watch his message… and maybe even read the book… but it will mess you up if you’re cool with that.

I could go on and on and on… but i think to sum it up for me, I want to be more like christ… i’ve been saying that since I first started following christ, and its still completely true today.  I’d like to worry less about my standard of living and others LIVING.  It Doesn’t mean i have to move to a third world country or do anything world changing right this second… but I have to let it change my life and overtime believe that it will help in a small way to change the world.  I have to become less… and let God do more through and with my life.  I hope I can really grasp that this life and the great commission is not about us…

Where does this leave me… where does this leave you? 

AK

Run on sentence day…

I am challenged today and this week… i feel the need to step up my game in a lot of different ways… My wife is unreal and I love every minute of quality time with her… I love my job… I am coming along in pro-tools but still a long way from where i’m headed… lots of changes… changing seasons… people changing… i love the cold… best friends coming to town next week… miss nashville… miss the peps… there are new songs inside of me that haven’t decided to make their way out yet… i have new ideas that i have no idea how to pull off… i wish their was another candidate for president… i am blessed more than i deserve… i want to go to another country with my wife and see the pain with my own eyes… i am hungry  how is everyone else out there feeling?… whats new… whats happening?

 

Peace

AK

My problems are small…

This morning… a friend of mine from nashville has to report to a federal prison camp because of some bad decisions he made before committing his life fully to christ. Through the last 6 months he has been starring down the barrel of this earth shattering reality that he faced, but all the while with a truly unique and inspiring outlook on life and his relationship with christ.

In short, here is a little bit of his story. He had a white collar job and one day had an idea to embezzle some money from the company he worked for. He ended up taking a million or so from his company and then tried to take is own life the next week. He wrote a letter to his family and to his boss explaining why he did it and how he didn’t deserve to live. He took a lethal dose pills and then proceeded to poison himself with carbon dioxide FOR OVER 8 HOURS through the night. Both should have easily taken his life… but for some reason he woke up a few days later out of his coma in a hospital.

Shortly after this… he found himself at a lifechurch.tv campus and heard God whisper to him that he’d saved his life for a purpose… and that he would use his story to help change others. Ever since this time… he’s been a completely changed and passionate follower of christ all the while knowing full well that he’d have to face a jury and trial for what he’d done. Well, recently his journey came down to his long awaited sentencing and the verdict has him reporting today to a prison camp for 18 months.

The amazing thing about this story is my friend’s willingness to serve and let others learn from his mistakes. He has been super involved at lifechurch and investing in peoples lives there. He plans change lives in the prison camp and to attend seminary as soon as his sentence is served. After that he’ll start a church that minsters to the misfits of our society (prostitutes, criminals, liars, and cheaters… real people). Today I am inspired and humbled by my friend who boldly owns his mistakes and plans to grow and learn from them. He is dedicated to changing lives because of what Christ has done through his life. I know thousands of lives will be forever impacted by this inspiring story of hope and redemption.

My problems are small… God is so Big… I am blessed. I am proud of my friend!
AK

Ramblings… run on sentence…

…This week is a big ole action packed week, here at lifechurch.tv we are having our “October Event”  which is really our Christmas event but… its pretty much impossible at Christmas so we moved it here…  We’ll have all the campus staffs from all over the country here in OKC for the week… and we’ll be having good times with the whole lifechurch.tv clan…  I’ll be leading worship a couple different times for the week… one recording for our internet and video worship resources and I’ll also be leading worship just before Bill Hybels (pastor from willow creek church) steps on stage to speak at the event!… It should be refreshing and from what I’ve heard its a pretty great experience so my wife and I are looking forward to it… anyone else have anything fun going on this week?… or anything you’re looking forward to???

Holla

AK

Series of Questions part 3 Cover songs… to do or not to do?

Ok so I have a simple question this morning.  Here at lifechurch.tv we do secular cover songs before we open our worship sets in every experience.  The purpose behind this is that we believe it creates opportunities for people who are unchurched or who feel out of place in a church setting might come in and here a song that they know (which obviously) isnt going to be a worship song and it might draw them in, in a way that otherwise would have never been possible.  For me… the song selection is always very strategic and very well thought through.  I never do a song that is questionable lyrically and morally but there are many songs out there that people connect with and so it makes for a neat experience for our first time attendee… or potential “Fully Devoted Follower of Christ”.

Here are a few songs we’ve done recently

1.Walking In Memphis – Marc Cohn, 2.Shine – Collective Soul, 3. Bittersweet Symphony – The Verve, 4.  Where The Streets Have No Name – U2

Throughout the last few years lifechurch.tv has seen great results from the cover song idea at the beginning of each experience.  It all comes down to someone who connects with a song that they already know during the pre-experience cover and then finding that same connection during worship.  It has happened over and over again… we see god using small things like that to changes peoples lives forever.  Whaddya think?

AK

My morning… God fills in the gaps..

Well… this morning was a bit different.  In my rush to get to the office… a man caught my attention on the side of the interstate.  He was trying desperately to flag someone down cause he had run out of gas on the side of the road.  I stopped and picked up Andre and we headed to the gas station to get a can of gas so he could get where he was going.  It was a cool chance to meet someone I probably otherwise never would have met.  We shared some small talk about his wife and their church and what he did for a living.  I told him what I did and of course as anyone would… invited him to church.  He said he already goes to a church but simply hadn’t been in a while.  

To make a short story even shorter… we hooked him up with some gas and he got on his way… and he promised he’d come to church… cause he hadnt been in a while and maybe he was looking for a fresh start with it.  As I drove away I pulled onto the off ramp at our expressway near our campus… and saw a guy on the side of the road with a sign that said…. “Im hungry and broke.”  The thought in my mind was “crap… i cant help this guy cause I have no cash.”  For me, it really wasn’t that i was trying to earn some sort of brownie points with God… but I started thinking in those few moments as I waited for the light to turn green, staring at this starving and probably hurting individual, that if I cant help him… then there was no need in helping Andre.  If i’m gonna drive by this guy and not stop… then it was worthless.  I know thats a little harsh… but this is my blog… and I’m just letting you into my mind for a second .  

As I started to drive away… kinda feeling like a loser the lady right behind me reaches out to this guy and hands him a few dollars and some change and his face lit up!  In that split second I realized something amazing about God.  He is not relying on me to change the world… he is relying on US all together to do it for him.  When that lady reached out to that starving man this morning… for a second I caught a glimpse of the Grand Scale of what God’s Love and Power can do in the lives of people across the world… and I realized… that he just needs me… and you…US, to do our little part, NOT EVERYTHING… just our part… and he will fill in the gaps!

AK

Remembering God speaks through his word. “Put Your words in my mouth!”

The other day during my private study time I prayed a prayer… simply that God would just REALLY speak to me through his word that day.  Usually I am reading some sort of book along with my study and this particular morning was no different.  

As I cracked open the bible i found myself reading the scripture that day that God totally wanted me to hear and its found in Jeremiah 1: 4-10.  4. “The word of the Lord came to me saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,   Before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.  Jeremiah replied: “Ah, Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”  But the lord said to me, “Do not say I am only a child.  You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” Declares the Lord.  Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth.  See, Today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”  So I read this that morning and immediately I knew god was speaking to me about my life through this passage.  It really blew my mind that I could pray that simple prayer and open up his word and hear he speak to me like this.  I relate to Jeremiah in a lot of ways in the text.  Sometimes I just feel like a child… and why would I ever want to open my mouth and then God comes in and says something so profound and amazing…“Now I have put my words in your mouth!”  Thats incredible!  For me… as a worship leader… its important what’s coming out of my mouth and into the lives of others.  I often feel inadequate and unable to really convey what God wants his people to hear… but after reading this scripture I was able to say “Ok… God put your words in my mouth!  Put your songs in my heart… fill me with the things you would want me to say and do.  As a worship leader/songwriter… I have an incredible responsibility and often times I am responsible for literally putting words in peoples mouths too God, through songs i’ve written or that we are covering or through transitions and prayers during our worship experiences.  What an amazing responsibilty and I can rest much more assured knowing that God will put HIS WORDS in my mouth and i don’t have to rely on my own!

So after that goose bump moment in my prayer time I cracked open this book and starting reading where I left off… and low and behold… He’s talking about going into the woods to be alone with God for a few days… and He talks about how God used this very scripture to speak to his heart during the beginning of his study time!  It was just neat to see that God works in the small things throughout our day… and that he hears every little prayer!  Anyone else have a neat story about this kind of stuff???

AK

Series of Questions Part 2

Ok so here comes another random question and this one is really geared towards worship leaders.  I am asking this question from a completely objective point of view… and I genuinely want to know what other worship leaders and or worshippers out there think.  Does using Pro-Tools or Click Tracks Inhibit you as a worship leader?  If you use them… why do you love them or not love them.  If you dont use them… why not?  I am a worship leader at a church called Lifechurch.tv… and I often times feel like the way we do things at lifechurch is like swinging a baseball bat with weights on it.  After you swing enough times… doing it without the weights just feels soo much easier… and less challenging.  I personally love the challenging sides of what we do at lifechurch… since we live in a culture of excellence and amazing media in the secular world… I am blessed to be a part of an organization who see the value in excellence in every area of ministry that we do as well.  The best thing about all of it… is that it eliminates the possibility to stop growth or become stale… which are two very scary places to be.  For me click tracks and pro-tools allow the ability to create environments of worship that we couldn’t other wise create without a gigantic band or an enormous budget to pay them with.  We’re able to record certain instruments or synths and not have to play them live because they’re built into the loop.  It brings everything on a musical side to the next level in my mind… but I wanna know what you think!  To use or not to use???

Ak