I just want to praise God right off the bat. He is so good, he is the Great I AM, He is Jehovah' Rophe, Jehovah' M' Kaddesh, Jehovah' Nissi, He is the beginning and the End, He is the everlasting Father, and He is the all consuming fire. I just want to say first that God is pressing in harder and harder here in Myrtle beach. I am feeling his overwhelming Grace day after day. I have been learning so much about the character of God and how truly sovereign and Holy He is. I will get back to this in a little bit but right now i want to hit on some cool things that im learning out of John and also Ephesians....
In John 7,8, and 9 i have been completely hit with a Grace bomb, as well as learning about God's sovereignty, and Jesus fulfillment. Some cool things that have paralleled with the Taste and See i talked about last week is out of John 7:37-38 when Jesus says "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." We are all thirsty and will continue to search for something to satisfy us until somehow we receive a water that leaves us fulfilled. And again if you go back to last week I talked about John 4 and the Samaritan Woman at the well continuously going back to a well that is going to continue to make her thirsty again , but Jesus has this living water that wells up a spring inside of us that will never make us thirst again. So instead of being thirsty and searching for more to drink, in John 7, those who have received this living water will now be having living water pouring out of us. I hope yall are following me on this. The cool thing about what Jesus said was that He said it on the Last day of the Feast of Tabernacles which is a Jewish holiday. and if you can put yourself in that time period you can imagine some of the Jews reactions to this. obviously they were upset because some guy came into this feast saying He is the one that is the Son of Man and has eternal living water to offer people. Where you see God's grace and sovereignty in this is at the end of John 7, in verse 44... "Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him." If God's hand wasn't orchestrating this event then they would have killed/ arrested Jesus. God's will is always going to be done! He is so good and we all play a part in that will, its crazy!!! If i can go back to 7:38 and bring in some cool cross references i want yall to check out Isaiah 12:3 it talks about a well of salvation and that we will, with JOY, draw water from it (Living Water!). So some cool things I got out of this passage for interpretation and application is this, that you and me cant force a a spring of living water to flow it only comes through a submission to Jesus, another thing is that in order to allow for a spring to flow inside of you through your submission you must create room for it (i.e. get rid of the idols that consume the space in your heart). So for me to start making room i really need to start communing a lot more with Jesus (i.e. walking with him, being still and listening, staying in his word, and talking to him).
Okay next is John 8, mostly everyone should know the story of the woman caught in adultery and the Jews are saying that she needs to be stoned according to the Law and Jesus says "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her" and they all eventually leave because they all sin. and Jesus says to the woman "Woman where are they? has no one condemned you?" and she say "no one sir" and then the coolest is that Jesus says this "Then neither do I condemn you, go now and leave your life of sin." So if you were to just study this surface level you would say "okay so Jesus says I dont condemn you and now you have eternal life so live for me", but if you look deeper what is Jesus really saying to her? he isnt saying "I dont condemn you go and live a life trying not to sin." No! Jesus is saying, "You didnt have the power to live righteously, but now i'm giving you my power." So Jesus is empowering her to walk in His Spirit. Its so powerful that God gives us the Holy Spirit to walk righteously in. If you look at Ephesians 1:13-14 we know when we are a brother or sister to Christ and a son or daughter of God. in 13 it says "In him (Jesus) you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and believed in him, WERE SEALED WITH THE PROMISED HOLY SPIRIT" It is almost as if it is a down payment to our inheritance. God gives us the Holy Spirit as a seal on our entering into His family and it cant be taken away. Its amazing and overwhelming. If you look in Esther 8 you see an example of a seal. The kings ring was used as a seal for any promise or command back in the Old testament and in esther 8:8 it says "for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring CANNOT BE REVOKED." That is so cool if you look at the king as being God, and the ring that stamps the promise or command as the Holy Spirit. We have been sealed by the King with the seal of the Holy Spirit. It's so great to think about it. We are apart of the family, we have already been won, we are victorious and we need not live in condemnation anylonger. So like Jesus says "Go now and leave your life of sin" Live a life of conviction and not condemnation. Condemnation is what draws us away from God because that means there is a punishment waiting for us and now that we are sealed with the Spirit there is no Wrath to be poured out on us. So live in conviction, becuase conviction is a Godly sorrow within us, and we understand that we have a greater truth, convinced that there is richer living, that we can come back in freedom and not come back from sin with duty. This is what the Spirit does for us, it draws us closer. And remember God's grace in all of this, Romans 5:20-21 says "Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." We now walk in the newness of life through the death and resurrection of Jesus because we were crucified with Christ, died with Christ, and are risen in Christ. So like the woman who was caught in adultery we are to leave our lives of sin because we do walk in this newness with Christ. Paul in Galatians 2:19-21 is saying that he died to the law so he can live in God. "I have been crucified WITH Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who LOVED me and GAVE himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose." Through the belief in Jesus we died to our sins and are now resurrected into his righteousness.
I hope all this made sense because I know that it is a lot. I have so much I can still share but I will share that at a later date. So continue to taste and see that God is good, see His sovereignty and grace, know He is made stronger in our weaknesses, and I will update soon. Love Yall
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Leadership Project 2011 update 1
Wow has it been a sick first week at LP. God is present, His presence is thick, and there are no signs of Him slowing down. Although it has only been a week I've been inspired, convicted, encouraged, in awe, wanting more, and the biggest thing... ive been tasting and seeing. The theme of LP '11 is "Taste and See" which branches from Psalm 34:8 "Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." The cool part about that is this... it doesn't say taste and see IF the LORD is good, or taste and see if it might taste good to you. It's saying, taste and see that the LORD IS good. If we taste it we will see. A cool analogy that ive heard is like this, If you have eatin only tootsie rolls your whole life and someone comes up with a snickers bar and says try this. you say no im good with what ive got then he says no just taste it, so you do and BAM you see what you have been missing out on your whole life... I know that is an extremely cheesy illustration but its so true. We for so long, before knowing the goodness of God, think that we are okay with what we have (the world) and feel as though that may satisfy us, but if you taste something so infinitely greater you look back in disgust at your old possessions. Its so neat.... Ive really learned a lot about delighting in God and continuing to taste Him and long for more. He is so satisfying and fulfilling. Its just like the Samaritan woman at the Well in John 4 filling up her bucket with water that is goin to end up running dry. she has no idea that there is something far greater out there for her. Until, Jesus comes and tells her, "everyone who drinks this water (water from the well) will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." BOMB! its so true "why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare(Isaiah 55:2)." So let me ask this of you... why are we wasting our time on stuff that ultimately does not satisfy us and are temporary things? when there is something far more infinite and worthy out there.
Here at myrtle beach there has been so many opportunities to let ppl hear the Gospel. Im going to take a moment to really boast on the cross. Saturday was our projects "evangelism day" which was where everyone got to go out and share for about 2 hours. This is my favorite time because sharing my faith is 1) a commandment from God to go out and make disciples and 2) so enjoyable for me to share a life giving treasure with dead souls... So there are about 140 people on project and everyone goes out and shares on the beach and on the boardwalk and so on. After that everyone came back to share about there experiences (I missed this because i was sharing with 2 guys for a lot longer than anticipated). there were some cool stories of ppl building confidence and also 1 or 2 stories of ppl accepting Jesus and on the average each person shared with about 3 or 4 ppl. So Cool! and before i share this next part please see it as completely God, and not Joey Gilkey. This is not a boasting in my flesh because there is nothing there to boast about this is me boasting on the Cross that saves sinners like myself and this is also a learning experience for the prideful (myself)... okay here it goes, in my 2 hours of sharing (well actually 3 cuz it went long) i was able to share the entire gospel with 7 guys who had not heard the gospel before. The first guy i talked to was very scatter brained and he ended up having to go meet up with someone, then I got to talk to a group of 3 guys and they were very receptive to the gospel and the cool part was at the beginning when i began talking to them they identified themselves as "believers" and as i began walking them through the Gospel each one of them changed their mind, word for word statement by all three of them "I am not a true believer." So that was cool the first step to believing is acknowledging that they arent a believer in the first place. and 2 of them even said they want to accept Jesus but they want to seek that on their own so God was in the process of transforming their heart but had not reached that point of submission. Praise God! although they didnt accept Christ there were still some very large seeds planted. Okay and as I went on to the next guy he was also kind of scatter brained and wasnt as receptive as I wished but again praise God for even small seeds. Then I met up with a highschooler going into the 11th grade sitting on the corner so i began talking to him and through conversation we began spiritual talk. He again identified himself as a believer and as I walked him through the Gospel in its entirety he said "I am not a true believer". So once again acknowledgement is the first step, then as I kind of relate the Gospel to my life and what it has done he just broke down and was like "I want Jesus" and I said okay what will that look like in your life and he said this, and praise God for this "It means I have to fully submit myself to His authority"... Im laughing right now at how Good God is at his next comment... "Dude come talk to my friend about Jesus" and of course I said bring him on. So I went through the whole thing with him, and again he identified himself as a believer and then saying "i am not a true believer". Followed by "wow, I want to follow Jesus". So, at approximately 5 oclock on Saturday 2 people came to know and want Jesus, they tasted and saw that God is good... You may think the story is over... you are badly mistaken. As i came back to the motel I was totally stoked about it but only for a little while until my pride got into the way. I caught myself in the middle of my thoughts thinking that "wow Joey Gilkey has done something for the kingdom, Joey gilkey has brought someone to Christ..." lol so I really had to look in the mirror and ask myself what did i really do? and i came to the same realization that I come to often. I am truly nothing, all i am is the messenger, all i am as 2 cor. 5 says is a fragile jar of clay holding a magnificent treasure inside of it. So, I brought it before the Lord really shouting out to him to kill my flesh and throw me to the side where i belong. I got so caught up in glorifying myself that i lost sight of where all the glory is owed to, The One who gave me life and the One who allows me to be a fragile Jar of Clay containing a glorious treasure. So after a lot of prayer and intimate time with the creator, my flesh was out of the way and I felt compelled to go back out to the boardwalks and continue to be a messenger. I walked around for a while praying asking God to give me direction, people, faces, names, vibes, etc. and after a while i got a crazy feeling about these 2 guys walking down the boardwalk so I approached them and started conversation and came to find out that I knew there cousin cuz he plays on my football team at PC (small world i know). any ways it came down to again them identifying themselves as believers once again and then as the Gospel was preached the Lord began doing a work on there hardened hearts and they then said that they arent followers of Jesus. and they both looked at me with such a look of desperation and said "I want Him, I want to follow Jesus"......................Hmmm, its crazy how God uses a prideful, sinful person like myself to share the same saving Gospel that 2 years ago saved me from a life of destruction and death and see 4 people ccome to know and want Jesus Christ and not the world in the span of 12 hours.... We serve a powerful and merciful God. His Grace is sufficient and unending. His love is unbreakable and enduring. His mercy is undeserving and unfathomable. Like Isaiah 55: 8 says "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" we will never comprehend why God is who He is and Why God does what He Does and How God uses who He uses. I know this was long, but I pray it is a blessing and pray we seek God humbly and truly see that we are nothing, so lets stop trying to glorify nothings and start Glorifying the powerful, loving, gracious, merciful God of the Universe who is worthy. Taste and See
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