“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” – Matthew 6:22-23 “They know nothing, they […]
The Promise
Report: 2012 Women’s Day Guest Editorial – Helen Sullivan “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through Him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.” 2 Corinthians 1:20 What an incredible Women’s Day! When asked what was personally the most impacting, the women responded… “The gathering and sharing of women speakers always causes a great time of reflection. The event also allows me another opportunity to be closer to my daughter who invited me.” “The courage of the women and their vulnerability touched my heart. Also the interpretive dance moved me deeply. Thank you.” “Sonja was brilliantly used by God. Truly, an amazing day!” With 270 sisters in the City of Angels Church, we had a total of 726 women who came out to Women’s Day – 557 attended the English Women’s Day and 169 participated in the Latin (Spanish-speaking) Women’s Day! Although the events took place on March 3rd and March 10th, respectively, the preparation started much earlier! In December, the sisters – powerfully led by Elena – began to discuss the possible themes and most importantly, committed to pray daily for this special conference specifically designed to move women’s hearts. We agreed to keep everything simple! Once January hit, we began calling everyone we knew – family, friends and acquaintances – to invite them to attend. During Staff Meetings every Tuesday morning, the women gathered separately from the men in order to spend time planning and praying, as well as listening to inspiring lessons about loving women, reaching out to them, and winning them to Christ. On the morning of March 3rd, walking into the
Sound the Trumpet
Luke 9: 23-26 “Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Jesus is the most loving man to ever walk the earth and yet when he speaks he is also the most hardline. In the Scripture above its amazing how Jesus lays out the standards of being a disciple. I would like to draw your attention to two words: “anyone” and “must”. When Jesus says “anyone” who is he referring to? Anyone means everyone! When he says “must” what does that mean? Its a condition. Whats the message? There are standards involved in being a disciple. What are the conditions? Everyone who wants to be called a disciple of Jesus must give up their life to follow Jesus and carry a cross which was an instrument of torcher and death. What Jesus is doing here is making clear to his followers and prospective followers that there are no “levels” or “tiers” of membership but that everyone is called to the same standards. Jesus wasn’t interested in seeing his movement disappear in a few generations. In our modern parlance he wanted a movement of “black belts” who would
Show the Miracles
John 14:12 “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” Here Jesus says that “whoever” believes in him will be doing the miracles he was doing! This of course does not mean that we can go back to the apostolic era where we had the laying on of hands but it means that Jesus expects us to have, in some ways, even greater impact! The ministry of a man or woman of God is not dull or mediocre but rather is exploding like fireworks with powerful miracles! Today we live in a post apostolic world where miracles no longer come with the laying on of hands and massive supernatural accreditation. In Gods mercy He has already powerfully accredited His plan for all to see and for two thousand years the connection between God and the church is known to every living person with even a passing knowledge of religion. The role of miracles is critical. When one thinks of miracles one thinks of proof of God’s power. However despite what some may think from a worldly point of view miracles do not actually give faith. Rather, it is the hearing the Word preached that gives faith (Romans 10:17). So giving faith is the domain of the preaching of the Word as we breath faith into those around us as will be covered in more depth later on. So then, you may ask, what DO miracles do? Why do I need to show them? Well, what miracles actually do is accredit the Minister of God. In
Focus on the Few
2 Timothy 2:1-2 “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” Entrusting to reliable men who will be qualified to teach others… This is the method Jesus used to reach a whole lost world that is starving for his mercy. He did not simply build a “church group” and focus on additions to that group. No, rather he invested himself fully in his apostles (Luke 6:13) and multiplied them; powerfully creating exponential and explosive growth. This investment is often called “discipling” since it is the process of making a disciple. This concept requires a lot of meditation and practice to understand well. Paul is talking about many levels of leadership. The Timothy, the “reliable men” or the “others”. In our generation you may be the Timothy, you may be the reliable men, or you may simply be the “others”. Regardless you’ve been called to be part of God’s plan and God has an amazing plan to use you and bless you. Are you ready to participate in it? It will take all your humility and all your reliability to aspire to being a great maker of disciples. So why do people say “focus on the few”? Who are a few? For some, a few might be twelve or more, for others two or three. Focusing on the few is about teaching a right number of disciples that allows you to have dramatic impact in their lives. Anyone who’s had a chance to work in the ministry knows that
Prayer Grows The Church
“When Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.’” Matthew 9:36-38 Since the City of Angels Church was planted by 42 disciples from Portland, Oregon on May 6, 2007, the Lord has blessed our prayers with an incredible harvest of souls! Our congregation is now having close to 800 on Sundays, a contribution of $25,000 per week, and God is adding “to our number daily” through baptisms, restorations and place memberships. (Acts 2:47) Of special note, almost 125 disciples have been sent-out by the Spirit to plant churches in Honolulu (2008), New York (2008), Portland (2009), San Diego (2010), London (2010), and Sao Paulo (2011), as well as to strengthen churches in Chicago, Hilo, Kiev, Phoenix, Santiago, Syracuse, and Washington DC. Collectively, in less than five years, “the 42” have multiplied into over 1,500 disciples with a combined attendance nearing 2,500! A few days ago as I was reading the book of Acts, I was reminded that prayer was of the highest priority to the disciples. Prayer moves God. In turn, our sovereign God moves and impacts men by His Spirit, His angels, His Word and His providence. This is how the early church grew so dynamically! Let the following prayers by our first century brothers inspire us by their ensuing impact, as well as serving as a pattern and upward call as we strive to build God’s church here in Los Angeles and around the world in