Saviour Of The World | Ben Cantelon

Album: “Saviour Of The World”

I See Heaven | Bryan & Katie Torwalt

Album: “Here On Earth”

Beautiful Exchange | Hillsong

Album: “A Beautiful Exchange”

The Anthem | Planetshakers

 Album: “All For Love”

   Saviour Of The World | Ben Cantelon

Album: “Saviour Of The World”

Deep Cries Out | Bethel Live

Album: “Be Lifted High

Deep Cries Out | Bethel Live

Album: “Be Lifted High

Deep Cries Out | Bethel Live

Album: “Be Lifted High

So you’ve heard God’s call on your life? What do you do next? What are the practical next steps? I wish I could give bullet points that would convey exactly what needs to happen and how it needs to happen. But, one does not simply boil down God’s calling to bullet points. God deals with individuals based on where they are in relation to where he wants them to be. It never looks the same. It varies from person to person. Look at David and Saul. They had the same call from God but their stories ended very differently. What was it that made David a man after God’s heart and Saul a man after his own glory? At the end of the day, it comes down to lordship and obedience.

David, the man after God’s heart. We know the great stories.  We read his psalms. He killed bears and lions to protect his sheep. Samuel anointed him the next king of Israel. He took down Goliath with nothing but a sling and some stones. Then, to add insult to injury, David killed and cut off Goliath’s head with Goliath’s sword. Long story short, David was not only a man after God’s heart; David was a man not to be messed with. We also know the not so great thing about David. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, which lead to the lying to and ultimately the murdering of Uriah the Hittite. Even with that knowledge, David is one of most beloved and celebrated people of the Old Testament.

Saul, not so much.

Saul is remembered in a less than favorable light. He is known as the petty and jealous king who is after David’s life. He is tormented by spirits and eventually takes his own life. But he wasn’t always that way. 1 Samuel 8, the people of Israel ask demand that they be given a king to rule over them. God allows it. Although Samuel warns them of what having a king would mean, the people still want a king. There’s another post in chapter 8, but that’s for another time. In chapter 9, God chooses Saul as the king. Chapter 10, Samuel anoints Saul as the king of Israel. Later in the chapter, Saul is proclaimed king in front of the people of Israel. Saul has success and the favor of the Lord is upon him until he repeatedly disobeyed the Lord and God cuts of Saul’s lineage and rejects him as king in chapters 13 and 15.

While Saul pursued him, while he was hiding in caves, David held on to God. In the worst moments of his life, David still cried to the Lord. David was anointed the next king of Israel but did not prematurely take the throne. Several times he could have killed Saul and taken the throne but he knew that God would elevate him. Oftentimes God calls someone but doesn’t immediately allow him to work fully in his calling. God does this because he wants to develop patience and character in the called. Will you try to elevate yourself or will you humble yourself so that God can lift you up?

James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Saul constantly sought his own glory. He tried to win God’s favor with an ill-obtained burnt offering and failed to recognize that his heart was where the problem was. That was difference between Saul and David. Yes, David sinned but he repented and sought to honor God by listening and obeying. Saul couldn’t help but get jealous of David, his replacement was right in front of him. Most people like to think, “I’m a snowflake. I’m unique. I’m one of a kind.”  This is true, but you are replaceable. If you are disobedient, God will not use you. Regardless of the gifting and calling God puts on you, if you choose to remain disobedient, the Lord will use someone else.

- Christian Wisseh

This entry is also part of He First Loved and can be found on their blog as well.

Have you ever gotten to a movie late? Come in 20 minutes late, and the plot is rolling along? Characters have already been introduced, and stuff is happening — but you have no idea what’s going on?

It can be frustrating. We simply don’t get the whole picture and the whole story when we don’t start at the beginning. We try to catch up, ask people around us what’s going on, but we are confused, and sometimes we’ve missed a really key component of the story. Sometimes we even get the to the very end, but the resolution doesn’t make any sense — because we didn’t see the conflict that was presented at the beginning.

This is why Chapter One of the Purple Book starts at the very beginning — the Creation, and Fall, of mankind. Because this is the beginning of Our Story — the story of the earth, and mankind, and our relationship to God. God created us, and it was good. But then something happened — Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and sin entered the world. And since then, things have never been the same. The earth and humans have been corrupted by sin.  But thankfully, God had a plan to restore this brokenness — and this plan was His son Jesus. Jesus’ death was God’s solution for a broken planet, and a broken people.

It is important to tell the entire story. To start at the very beginning, when God created people, and what happened in the Fall. When we start The Story at the beginning, it gives us more hope for what God is trying to restore in us. When we think about creation as He originally intended it — the perfect relationship between God and man — we get a vision for what walking with God could be like.

Then, when we think about the scope of the Fall — and all of its consequences in our lives, in our world, then we begin to see that we really are helpless to try and fix it. Realizing we cannot fix ourselves helps us see our desperate need for our Savior.

So as you move through the rest of the Purple Book, think about The Beginning. Think about how God intended things to be. Think about the Fall, and see how it forever changed the course of humanity. And then think about Jesus — and how He is the solution.

Here are some questions to think about:

What do you think the earth was like as God originally intended it? How did God relate to His creation, and How did they relate to Him?

Looking around you, in the earth, and among people, what evidence do you see of the fall? Is creation functioning like God intended it to?

Have you tried to fix the brokenness in you, and around you? How have you tried to do so?

Have you acknowledged that you can’t fix it? But the only solution is Jesus Christ, and His death and resurrection?

The summer is always a time for rest, relaxation and fun. It’s time to chill out, catch up on sleep, and hang out with friends. So why, sometimes, do we come back to school drained, tired and spiritually exhausted? There are many reasons why, but among them are a lack of community, and a tendency to become complacent in our walks with God.

We spend the summer months floating about, rather than running hard after God. And so when we get back to school, it takes us a few weeks to reorient, recalibrate.

But what if this summer was different? What if we, as a community, chose to grow in God together, and actually prepare for the year ahead?

This summer, as an attempt to do this, we are doing the “Purple Book Challenge” as a ministry together.  ”The Purple Book: Biblical Foundations for Building Strong Disciples” (by Rice Broocks and Steve Murrell) is a Bible devotional book that helps us study the Bible and relate to God in the most foundational and life-giving ways.  There are 12 chapters and we will do one chapter per week together and this will take us through to the end of the summer.  If you want to participate and don’t have a Purple Book, please buy one online (www.amazon.com) or at King’s Park International Church. This is a real practical plan for you to have great and beneficial devotional times with the Lord this summer.

With this Purple Book challenge, we are asking each of you to do one chapter of the Purple Book per week and every week we will post a blog that you can comment on, ask questions, start a dialogue, etc. We want to hear what you are learning.

Last week Caroline spoke on “Freedom from Shame.”

Here is a great devotional with verses to reflect on about freedom from shame. Read them and meditate on them, thinking about how God frees us from all shame. 

(from Mars Hill Church) 

Deep Cries Out | Bethel Live

Album: “Be Lifted High

Like an Avalanche | Hillsong United

Album: “Aftermath”

Stronger | Hillsong Live

Album: “This Is Our God”

Holy Spirit | Bryan & Katie Torwalt

Album: “Here on Earth”

No One Like You | David Crowder Band

Album: “The Best of Passion (So Far)”

Deep Cries Out | Bethel Live

Album: “Be Lifted High

God is Able | Hillsong Live

Album: “God is Able”

Break Every Chain | Jesus Culture

Album: “Jesus Culture Awakening: Live from Chicago”

Search My Heart | Hillsong United

Album: “Aftermath”

Like an Avalanche | Hillsong United

Album: “Aftermath”

Break Every Chain | Jesus Culture

Album: “Jesus Culture Awakening: Live from Chicago”

Saviour King | Hillsong Live

Album: “Saviour King”

The Lost are Found | Hillsong Live

Album: “God is Able”

                                   I Will Worship (Remix) | Jayme Braune and Kevin Singleton

Beautiful Exchange | Hillsong Live

Album: “A Beautiful Exchange”

Revelation Song | Gateway Worship

Album: “Living For You”