What's The Deal!

What's the deal!? I am going to let you all in on a little secret... I love to write encouraging and challenging notes! This is where it's at... Juice the FUSE.

This past Wednesday was one of those days. I remember rolling out of bed for an early breakfast meeting. For those of you that don't know... Waking up is not one of my favorite things to do. Anywho... I almost never drink coffee but I had four cups that day. I was JUICED UP!

I work hard all week mostly to make a 90 minute gathering into the highlight of the week. I had cool games planned out, a funny video that the drama team and I worked hard on, worship orchestrated, and I was kicking off a new series; "Fingerprints." To say the least it was another day with FUSE. Check it out though... My plans and hard work were interrupted by an invited guest. Let me explain.

The day before I had a man show up by the name of Marion. Marion is a missionary to the Philippines who happened to be in town visiting his son. So Marion stops in church to say... "Just wanted to let you know tomorrow I am going to be here to blow my horn." The odd thing was that this was the first anyone has ever seen of this man and although he meant well it just didn't seem like a good idea. That night I found myself talking to my wife about it. I was bothered that this man wanted to interrupt the service on the account that we are Pentecostal. Humbling myself I prayed that God would show up in a mighty way without a man to blow a horn, but that God's Spirit would breathe on us. My invited guest would not be a man... But Jesus and His Spirit.

Into Wednesday I felt rushed all day. There was not very much time for sermon prep, my stomach was mad at me and I was coming down with a killer headache. Again I prayed "Jesus show up in a mighty way tonight."

I have to say the kids on the worship team are awesome and that they are doing really well with being sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is doing during service. At the end of the last song I was closing us in prayer and I felt like God just isn't finished; our guest (the Holy Spirit showed up in a mighty way). I could feel hurt; guilt and insecurity for a moment as Jesus gave me a glimmer of the things that He was going to deal with in each student at that time. We continued to worship and every student received prayer from a youth leader, not short little prayers, but personal and fervant. By the time Jesus was done working on the students, there was just over ten minutes to deliver a brief message and close with prayer. We went a few minutes late, as we closed with more worship and prayer. I know for some of the students on Wednesday, it was the most impacting youth service since I began as the Student Ministries Pastor.

What's the deal! I have been working my hind-end off for months, creating programs, developing relationships, writing sermons, and working overtime to make this happen. No... " 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty." Zechariah 4:6. My prayer was "Jesus show up in a mighty way." He did that when my hard thought out plans and order of service was trumped by His Holy Spirit's direction. I know without a shadow of a doubt that God sang a song over us on Wednesday as we sung "Be lifted High." I have been working really hard these past few months to birth a rapidly growing, healthy ministry. There are several teams in place, ministry groups organized and things happening throughout the week. All this being said, if His Spirit is not in it... it is dead and futile. We have seen what happens when we eagerly pursue Jesus and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Prayer is a key focus here. Not just the 15 minutes we squeeze in before service, but consistent prayer and worship exalting His name, petitioning His Holy Spirit, and creating an atmosphere of expecting. Prayer is an area where we all need to go deeper. Over the next week I will be strategizing how we can place a higher emphasis on service preperation in prayer and worship; in Spirit and in Truth.

Thank You Jesus for giving us a glimpse into your heart and for renewing our hearts.