If you’ve been around First Assembly in the last couple of months, you know that we are hosting The Global Leadership summit on August 9-10 in our sanctuary via satellite. This event is the primary leadership development moment we will have as a church in 2012, and I want to encourage you to be present for it. Beyond the fact … Read More
2012 First Things Retreat
“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” –Revelation 2:4-5In the above letter addressed to the Ephesian church in Revelation, Jesus instructs the … Read More
6 Days into the Wilderness
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. –Mark 1:13-14 I’ve been fasting and praying now for six days. I’ve kind of moved past all the physical pain and temptation that accompanied the beginning of the fast–hunger pains, … Read More
Awakening Fast
Do you want to see your spiritual life explode with a new intensity and vibrancy? I know I do. This coming January 15-February 5, 2012, we will be calling Lafayette First Assembly of God to a 21-day fast. This three season will be be a great way to start the New Year right and experience a powerful journey for resetting your … Read More
100 Syllables on Gabriel’s Visit to Mary
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at … Read More
God’s Highway
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice of one calling:“In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD[a];make straight in the desert a highway for our God.[b]4 Every valley shall be raised up, every … Read More
Bible Benefits
Q: Do I have to study the Bible to be accepted by God? A: I’m not really sure what prompted the person who wrote this question on an index card at our Q Sunday event on February 6, 2011, but I’ll take a stab at a few observations. The Bible is one of the primary ways that God uses to … Read More
Feeling God’s Presence
Q: How can I, as a teenager, begin to feel God’s presence? How does he become more real and personal? This excellent question, submitted on our Q Sunday event on February 6, 2011 asks a question that many people pose at all stages of life. Becoming more aware of God’s presence and finding God to be more intimate in one’s … Read More
S.O.A.P.
Today I’m really busy. Maybe too busy to write this blog. So, I wanted to give you a little tool that doesn’t take much time for taking in the Bible devotionally. It requires that you write, read one chapter of the Bible and follow this acronym “S.O.A.P.”. A few of my friends have led their churches in adopting S.O.A.P. as … Read More