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God’s Plan is You!

Several years ago someone made this point about something else and I wish I could remember who it was so I could give them credit, sadly I don’t remember but here is the idea.

Every time something big and scary happens in the world I hear over and over that “God is still on His Throne” and “God has a plan”. What we tend to miss is this vital truth:

GOD’S PLAN IS YOU.

Psalm 115:16 says, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s: But the earth He has given to the children of men.”
And,
in Matthew 28:18 Jesus says “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” vs. 19 starts with “Go therefore”, and vs. 20 ends with “I am with you always, even to the end of the end of the age.” Further, Colossians 1:27 says the hope of glory is Christ in me and glory speaks of the fullness of God. If the fullness of God is in me, and it is, what does that mean?

I think the meaning is reflected in Exodus 14:14 – 15 where Moses says “The Lord will fight for you” and God’s reply is “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Isreal to go forward.” And that was before the Holy Spirit was given to each of us for the presence of God to actually reside in us. (Romans 8:9)

So, by all means, acknowledge that God is still on the Throne and that God has a plan, but don’t forget:

the hope of the world is Christ in you.

My Bible college professor used to say “The Word of God in your mouth is just as powerful as the Word of God in His mouth”. Wherever you go realize Christ is in you and live into that reality. Speak life and truth, take encouragement with you, serve with gladness, and ask God where you can show light and life in this dark world. Most of the time all it takes is a smile. Don’t hide your light under a bushel basket take the lid off and be bold, You have the infinite power of Almighty God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, and the Healer of all mankind resident in you. (Ephesians 3:20)

God can do it all by Himself but he has chosen to work through his people, you and me. As my friend says “Be a blessing to someone today”.

Posted by Gary

What is God’s highest priority on the earth?

According to scripture;
What is God’s highest priority on the earth?

On February 5th & 6th I have the privilege of addressing worship leaders at the Continuous Worship Conference at Maranatha Bible Camp. I have a premise that will be the basis for the entire weekend and you can help my expressing what you think the Bible says is God’s highest priority on the earth.

It’s only one question. Please click through and answer the question.

God’s highest priority is….

Feel free to comment below as well. Thanks again.

Don’t forget to check out the conference.

Posted by Gary

Build Big People

Big People

Several years ago I was blessed to be at a pre-conference event with Jack Hayford. The event had not been well advertised so there were only a few of us in a small room with Jack Hayford. I count it as one of the most valuable days of my life.

I have always admired Jack and what he has done. It was incredible to hear him talk about the early days of the his church plant and being all alone in the chapel asking God to send people. He said something that day that has impacted significantly.

“We never set out to build a big Church, we set out to build big people”

Acts 20:28 instructs us as elders to take heed to ourselves and to the people Jesus bought with His blood. We must not use people to meet needs and serve events. I have never met a leader who would say that is their goal however the way many leaders do things has the end result of using people to meet needs and serve events.

We must always treat people as those who Jesus bought with His own blood. We must be gift based leaders. We must value those entrusted to us as an end in themselves not a means to an end. Until we start stewarding God’s people, His most valued and cherished creation, we should not expect our organizations to be healthy and prospering.

Are you leading with a priority to those you lead or are you merely viewing people as a way to accomplish something; even Kingdom things you feel called to address?

Would love your thoughts.

Posted by Gary

Worship Leader Training Event

I’m thinking about hosting a worship leader training event and would love your input. Only 5 questions. Thanks in advance.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5JFTW69

Posted by Gary

Raising Up The Next Generation?

I believe this statement comes from a completely sincere heart and is completely wrong.

We most definitely have the responsibility to pass our faith and our heritage onto the  next generation but nowhere, that I can find, in Scripture are we exhorted to “raise up” the next generation.

What Scripture does exhort us to do is raise up those entrusted to us regardless the generation. Certainly if an 18-year-old is called, gifted, and faithful they should be promoted but not just because they are 18. The same is true for a 48-year-old.

When we focus on one specific demographic whatever it may be we by definition create other very big problems. This is part of the problem of blended worship, or a multigenerational focus. These approaches create a market based, consumer driven culture and  that’s definitely not what we want.

If we will cultivate a culture of change while equipping and empowering Gods people to do what God has called and created them to do many of the problems we’re trying to fix by being “blended” or “multigenerational” will fix themselves.

I’m not naive and I’m not trying to be overly simplistic just hear my foundational premise.

The bottom line:

God has called leaders to first be equippers. Leaders are those who can recognize, call out, equip, and release gifting back into the body. Being a high-capacity doer of anything does not alone qualify a leader, and the reality is high-capacity doers are seldom the best leaders.

If we will focus our ministry on equipping the saints, as defined above, and promote calling and faithfulness over gifting and drive. We will have a very vibrant, change oriented, and multigenerational ministry by default. Because those entrusted to us are the culture and when we empower them they will represent and reflect that culture.

What are your thoughts?

Posted by Gary

From the Archives, Is Excellence Perfection?

This week I am in Redding CA attending the Bethel Leadership Conference so I thought I would grab something from the archives. Hope your encouraged by it.

Is Excellence Perfection? From March 3, 2010

Excellence is a word we like to throw around especially in Christian circles. My sons old school used it so much it almost had no meaning. It’s not quite as bad as “Awesome” or “Incredible” but almost.

What does is mean? In regard to performance, our effort, our offering, our worship.

We can look at Hillsong, New Life, Willow Creek, or Mars Hill and say it’s easy for them to offer excellence look what they have. But how can I offer excellence when all I have is an old church piano player and a 13-year-old drummer?

Is it possible we have incorrectly linked excellence with perfection?

The dictionary defines “Excellence” as:

“The quality of being outstanding or extremely good”

So far so good but what is the standard by which we determine what is “outstanding” or “extremely good”? Is it Darlene Zschesch, Ross Parsley, Chris Tomlin, or is it the music teacher at the high school?

The dictionary defines “Perfection” as:

“the condition, state, or quality of being free from all flaws or defects”

Is that something we can offer? Do we have within our capacity or control to bring an offering free from “all flaws or defects”?

Vines Concise Dictionary of the Bible gives definitions for each usage of “excellence” here are the key words:

Over and above, The surpassing thing, To differ, A throwing beyond, The act of overhanging or the thing which overhangs, More, Greater, Superior by reason of inward worth, Mightiest, Noblest, Best.

When we talk, or think, about worship the word that is coupled with worship most often is “sacrifice” or “offering”. There are 5 different types of offerings in Leviticus.

Burnt offering, Leviticus 1:3
To show worship, devotion, and ask for forgiveness
 
Grain offering, Leviticus 2:1
To give thanks and recognize God as the giver of blessing and provider of good things
 
Peace offering, Leviticus 3:1
To ask God for blessing
 
Sin offering, Leviticus 4:1-2
To ask forgiveness for a specific unintentional sin or to become clean after becoming unclean
 
Guilt offering, Leviticus 5:15, 17-18
To make up for cheating, robbing, or destroying anything belonging to the Lord or to the people

These are all things we do, in whole or in part, when we come to worship. All of these require a sacrifice. All of them except the grain offering require an animal from the herd “without blemish”. The grain offering requires “fine flour”.

“Without blemish” can literally be translated “possessing integrity or truth”. Integrity is “the state of being whole or undivided”.

Consider King David in 1 Chronicles 21. Ornan was willing to give everything for the offering even the animals for the burnt offering. But David’s reply should cause us to stop and think, verse 24:

“I will not take what is yours for the Lord, or offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing”

Excellence then is:

“to offer the best I have, something above and beyond or different from the norm, something costly”

What are your thoughts? What am I missing?

If you would like to download the E.P. I Will Sing, you can get it here.

Posted by Gary

From the Archives, The Love of God

This week I am in Redding CA attending their leadership conference so I decided to post something from the archives. Hope your encouraged by it.

The Love of God from December 10, 2010

Recently I’ve been struck by the love of God.

I’ve always known He loves me but the last couple of weeks as I’ve meditated on it I realize not only that He loves me but how much He loves you.

Again not that this is a great revelation it’s just that I’ve been thinking about how much He loves you and what that should mean for me.

I can get so frustrated with people. There are times when I’m behind someone on the on ramp to I-25 and they’re trying to merge with 75 mph traffic at 45 mph while talking on their cell phone and I just want to scream. Sorry if that shatters your opinion of me it’s just the truth.

However as I’ve been thinking about how much God loves all people and how He longs for everyone to know Him and walk in close intimate fellowship with Him it changes my reaction. I also realize He is my rear guard and I don’t have to worry about being crushed by the 75 mph traffic coming behind me.

C.S. Lewis in his sermon “The Weight of Glory” says we have never met a mere mortal. It is impossible to think too much about the potential glory of our neighbor and the weight of their glory should be placed upon my back. A load so heavy only humility can carry it and the backs of the proud will be broken. Everyone on earth is either an everlasting splendor or an immortal horror and all day long we are helping each other to become one or the other of these.

Everyone has a story. They are coming from somewhere and going somewhere. Before we make any judgments we need to understand their story and make sure we are helping everyone become and everlasting splendor not an immortal horror.

If you would like to download the E.P. I Will Sing, you can get it here.

Posted by Gary

From the Archives, To Find Him Where He Can Be Found

This week has been spent mostly in the car and in preparation for next week at the Bethel Leadership Conference in Redding CA.

So I didn’t get anything posted and didn’t have time to write anything for next week. So I decided to bring some posts back you may not have seen when they were originally posted. Hope they encourage you.

To Find Him Where He Can Be Found from June 15th 2009.

 

God speaks to me sometimes by sending the same message in different ways over a period of time and then I have what I call a coalescing moment where it all comes together.

I just had one of those when I received a my daily email from the Copelands and from a friend on Facebook from Zimbabwe. We have never met and I don’t know why he found me and asked me to be his friend. He has 6 friends and I am the only one not from Zimbabwe.

Since launching into ministry in January I have had an interesting ride. I am living the dream but have been plagued with fear and doubt shortly after making the decision. Building the kingdom has been in my heart for over 10 years. At a workshop for worship with Job Vijil I knew this is what I was born to do. God has always been faithful so why the worry?

I say He is my strength and my shield, my ever-present help in time of need. I’m standing on the Word but I haven’t spoken in in weeks. Instead I have been speaking death. A couple of weeks ago my amazing wife scolded me strongly for the way I’m talking and she is exactly right. She is such a blessing to me. The Word of God is the final word but I must put it to work by speaking it out.

I am reminded of a short prayer by Hans Ur von Balthasar I apologize if I’ve posted this before:

 

Harassed by life, exhausted, we look about us for somewhere to be quiet, to be genuine, a place of refreshment. We yearn to restore our spirits in God, to simply let go in him and gain new strength to go on living.

But we fail to look for him where he is waiting for us, where he is to be found; in his Son, who is his Word. Or else seek for God because there are a thousand things we want to ask him, and imagine that we cannot go on living unless they are answered. We inundate him with problems, with demands for information, for clues, for an easier path, forgetting that in his Word he has given us the solution to every problem and all the details we are capable of grasping in this life.

We fail to listen where God speaks; where God’s Word rang out in the world once for all, sufficient for all ages, inexhaustible. Or else we think that God’s Word has been heard on earth for so long that by now it is almost used up. That it is about time for some new word, as if we had the right to demand one. We fail to see that it is we ourselves who are used up and alienated, whereas the Word resounds with the same vitality and freshness as ever; it is just as near to us as it always was.

Hans Ur von Balthasar, Prayer. Trans. Graham Harrison (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986)

Today I commit to being in His Word and daily seeking Him in the secret place for His direction. I encourage you to do the same.

Blessings as you walk with Him.

If you would like to download the E.P. I Will Sing you can get it here.

Posted by Gary

Run To You Song Story

I hope your enjoying these song stories. I’m getting better at video editing but still a long way to go. It’s been a great process for me to be able to remind myself of where these songs came from and God’s faithfulness and goodness over the last several years.

Here is the song story of “Run To You”, track number 4 on the E.P. I Will Sing, available now at GaryTrobee.com

I Will Sing

Buy Now

Other Song Stories:

WaitedI Will SingFaithful OneRun To YouYou Pursue MeMy Jesus I Love Thee

I look forward to hearing your comments.

Posted by Gary