The Pastor’s and Leaders conference at Word of Life Church, Pastor Brian Zahnd, was awesome and inspirational!  When we arrived on Thursday we went straight to the Church and this began the conference for us.  We learned so much and absorbed lots of helpful information about reaching our generation.  Then to top it all off, Pastor Zahnd preached with a prophetic unction on Friday evening during their regular Friday Night Service.  As always we thank Pastor Zahnd for his willingness and obedience to share the “fresh” word with us!

Blessings,

RB

We all have “core values” that determine the way we think, and make decisions in our life.  These are the beliefs that we live by and especially refuse to compromise on.  When we look at our life of faith, we must have core values just the same as our values in our natural life.  Colossians 3:16 says to us as believers, “let the word of Christ dwell in you ‘richly’ in all wisdom…”  This implies that the word must  be anointed to be effective in life, and that we will need His wisdom to know how, and when to apply that living word!  The word “richly” is simple yet very intense for the believer, and it means “abundantly in supply, or more than enough for necessity.” 

The core values of faith must be maintained in four area’s of our lives as believers.  What I’m saying is this, you must have an abundant supply of the word in these four areas to maximize faith for the times we live in.  There will come a time when I believe that the word of God will be so “valuable” that it will surpass the value of oil, gas, cars, houses, etc… and our hope is that Christians will recognize this and make the investment of their time and energy to have the word of Christ in them richly!  The four areas I mentioned previously for faith to be maintained by our core values are as follows:

1. Faith must be ”rich in your head.”  For the word to be in you richly, you’ll have to “put” faith in your head.  This means to fill your thoughts up with the word, to submit your emotions to the word, and to “think” in line with Philippian’s 4:8.  I know that faith is found in the “heart” but you have to renew your thoughts with the word and that’s why I say that faith must be “put into your “head.”
2. Faith must be “rich in your heart.”  The word dwelling in you “richly” would be to have your heart filled up to overflowing with the truth of the scripture.  The overflow is how you maintain the connection with the next and previous areas.
3. Faith must be “rich in your mouth.”  Mark 11:22-24 declares that YOU must SAY to the mountains [problems] a faith command to be removed from your heart, and mind!  This implies that the mountain is no longer a factor, nor a hinderance to your progress through life!
4. Faith must be “rich in your hand.”  The action of faith is carried out by an action following the words you speak out of your mouth. 

I like to use the illustration of David and Goliath for this application.  The word was richly found in David’s core values when he faced the giant.  He “saw and heard” everything that was being said and done against the army of God.  But the difference is that David had the word in his head, heart, mouth and hand!  David’s mind was made up, and he faced this opposition with an edge not found in anyone else involved.  David responed from his mouth what was thought out, believed and uncompromised in his heart, which is the Covenant of Israel with God!  Then David took in “hand” a sling and a stone and defeated the adversary with one swift release of his faith. 

There is no way a believer can have this kind of faith without a solid set of “core values” to base their decision to face an adversary.  There are many enemies to faith, none of which are flesh and blood.  The origin of all destruction is a well orchestrated plan of pricipalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world working with the wicked spirits of the earth to carry out the purpose of satan himself.  To face any one of their destructive devices you will have to develope some core values in your faith and let those values flow into every area of your being!  I will share my personal “core values” in my next blog.

Keeping the faith,

RB

We had a great trip to the West Coast last week to attend “The Conduct and The Call” Conference at In His Presence Church pastored by our friends Mel and Desire Aires.  Mel preached a dynamic life changing message about “Holiness.”  We had the opportunity to meet with a couple of our pastor friends in Rancho Cucamonga which is about an hour East of Los Angeles, Steve and Dodie DeYoung, who were having a special guest in at Mountain View Church that same weekend.  Overall we were excited to hear and be a part of the conference and catch up with our friends to have a little “hang time” with them during our trip. 

 RB

Beginning on Wednesday July 16 we had our Pastor, Dr. Richard Ledford, come to The Rock Church to preach a message entitled “The Final Generation.”  He preached Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights under a tremendous anointing.  We witnessed 100’s of salvations, countless altar responses for various needs, and so many awesome testimonies have been reported from these meetings.  On Friday night Dr. Ledford and Pastor Andrea laid hands on several hundred men and women who responded to the altar call! 

Our mission team came in from Mexico about 10:00 pm as we were just finishing the service, but Dr. Ledford laid hands on the 16 people who asked for prayer.  It was an unforgettable week of services at The Rock but we believe the best is yet to come!

 Christ Jesus is coming soon!

RB

Wow!  The services have been great, and getting better each week.  This past week was intense, we started on Friday with our annual men’s conference that was for The Rock Church, (we didn’t have any other churches involved for this one).  It was the “Passion for His Presence” theme, and from Friday night to Sunday morning we saw a change in our men during worship.  In the second service there were men on their knees at the altar giving all of their heart in worship!  The Presence of the Lord is more intense and recognizable by all!  Souls are coming into the Kingdom, healings, restorations, refreshing times, and people getting set free from past issues that were keeping them from moving forward with God.  The Praise Team has stepped it up a couple of notches and you can feel it in the atmosphere… things are up and getting up, good and gettin’ better at The Rock Church and we give all Glory and Honor to Jesus Christ for His mercy and grace upon us!

RB

Have you ever considered what other people think about, or say about you from their “point of view?”  What if their opinion of you were compared with someone who you didn’t want to be compared to, would it bother you a little?  Would that point of view motivate you to want to change because you didn’t really want to be compared to that person?  Galatians 6:14-17 Paul encourages us to lay aside all of our religious practices that avoid the reality of the Cross.  He says what is most important is becoming a “new creature” through the work of Christ on the Cross.  Then he concludes with “as many as walk [live] according to this “rule” will experience peace and mercy in their new walk.

 Any initiative requires a “new metric” to guage the progress by.  If you got a promotion on your job, a new metric would replace the old one.  A metric is implying a new set of rules or guidelines, or a standard to measure by.  Paul used the word “rule” which is from a word in greek, “kanown” or in english the word is canon.  We know that canon is the canon of scripture, and Paul the apostle who didn’t walk personally with Christ is referring to this fulfilled scripture that guides him in his new walk of life.  Jesus is the “metric” for the new believer! 

What are some of the “rules” we need to adopt to have a successful journey on earth?  Well a few of them are the rules that Jesus taught and lived.  To name some of them we’ll start with the rule of Love, then Submission, and Truth, followed by Faith, and Righteousness with a Giving heart.  Just to name a few important life changing “rules” we can learn to live by, that if we’ll use the metric of Jesus as our guide, we can certainly change the Point of View that others have of us into a whole new “point of you!”

Keeping it pure,

RB

It’s one thing to simply say “my hands are blessed” but a whole other subject to know why my hands are blessed.  What do I mean by blessed hands?  Well I remember an old song we used to sing and it went something like this, “my hands are blessed with the blessings of God, and anything I touch surely must be blessed…my hands are filled with the blessing of God.”  Singing, and saying that in church was one thing, but applying it in everyday “realtime” was another.  Before I proceed let me ask you something, what do you do with your hands everyday?  What represents the things you have aquired in life by the use of your hands?  For instance, is your house a product of your hands?  Absolutely because your home represents what you work to pay for doesn’t it?  So it is something that you lay your hands to!

Deuteronomy 28:8 is a promise of God to His covenant people and He says, “…I will bless everything you put your hands to…” and that in any land you go to possess!  The work of your hands involves so much of your life that you probably don’t realize how much this scripture covers.  Your job, your home, you marriage, your vehicles, your body, etc…  In fact the devil even knows that truth and when he went before God in the book of Job, he said to God, “you’ve blessed everything that Job has set his hands to and I can’t touch him or those blessed things!”  Wow that’s exciting to me how about you?   So start recognizing those things that represent the work of your hands, and bless them so the curse of the fall cannot destroy them! 

All of God’s promises represent a covenant that He has made for us as human’s living on the earth yet we represent heaven.  So lay hold of the blessings that God has a covenant with you for, and realize He has made a covenant that involves “your hands!”

Be encouraged,

RB

“The just shall remain alive by faith.”  God is moving among His Church and in doing so people are being restored in their lives.  Health is springing forth, wealth is being transfered from the wicked, victories are mounting up!  I’m so excited about what’s happening because you hear so many “bad reports” all the time.  But there are some great testimonies beginning to break into the Rock Church as one part of the ”household of faith.”    Don’t miss out!

 The best is yet to come!

RB

How many people would agree that they would love to experience, and have God’s best for their lives?  I would say that 100% would say yes to that if they only knew what it was!  Most people would answer the question of “what is God’s best?,” as Heaven.  But what about now on earth, is there a best?  How can I connect to it?  When I travelled oversea’s and as I walked throught an airport I noticed a sign down one of the corridors.  The sign invited you in by saying “Connect to the world, come on in.”  I went into the place, and they were offering free internet access to connect to your world.  I was able to sit in another time zone, a whole day behind the USA and I could find out what was happening when I arrived home the next day!  Ahead of time, and it blew me away!  That’s kind of what I’m talking about, you can find out “ahead of time” what God’s best plan is for your life… it’s called His “purpose.”

When you think about purpose, and maybe look it up in your concordance you’ll find it listed many times, but one stands out the most and that is Romans 8:28.  “And we know that all things work together for good to them who love God, and are called according to His PURPOSE.”  This word in this verse gives us the key to this teaching.  It would define as “an advance plan set before the face of, in full view.”  A proper modern translation would show us that God, who knows the end from the beginning, has a plan for you “before” you became part of his family through Jesus Christ.  It would parse out as, “We should know that God has put all things in place and works them together for His good purpose for those who love and accept the call to follow His plan.”  If you read verse 29 it tells you that He wants you, and predetermined by His foreknowledge, your destiny in Christ!  How awesome is that?  So how does that work for me you might ask, well it’s simple you can know that God is not waiting on you to get to heaven and allowing you to suffer on earth, but is here working things out ahead of time for you to be blessed from “beginning to end!” 

God doesn’t use bad to teach us good.  He has a plan to show you how to overturn, and overcome the bad.  He gave us His Word to produce our faith and uses that as our strength to defeat the enemies of this world.  Some people use Romans 8:28 as a “scapegoat” for faith malfunctions.  They’ll be going through something bad and quote this verse as though our Good God is training His children by allowing them to suffer through hardship!  But this verse declares that to God all things [that He uses] are good and He’s putting all the “ingredients” in place for those who love Him.  Like baking a cake, you could eat all the ingredients individually and it would be disgusting.  Eat a tablespoon of cooking oil, then a half stick of butter, and then some raw eggs, followed by a cup of raw flour… that don’t sound too good does it.  [That’s kind of what we do when we try to put His plan together on our own!  Without faith…]  But when you put all that “together” (kind of what God does for your life - He knows the best for you), you get a great cake and then you can put the finishing touches, the icing!  To God all things are good, and He uses those good things [here on earth] that inhance your life and all you have to do is “connect” to him and He’ll show the world His finished work and your life is the “screen” they’ll watch it on!

A great example is Joseph in your Bible.  Joseph had been given God’s plan for his life to fulfill God’s purpose.  God showed it to him in a dream.  He shared the news with his brothers and they threw him in a pit!  (Not exactly what Joseph thought it would look like, so he kept his eyes on God!)  Then he was found and brought to the bakery, then the palace of Potipher, then Potipher’s wife accused him falsley and he wound up in PRISON?  Not exactly the best God had shown him but he kept the faith.  Then he went from the prison to the throne over all of the world in that day and Genesis 50 tells the testimony.  He fulfilled God’s best by saving “much people alive.”  [Genesis 50:18-19]  But it all began with the promise, but then to the pit, to the palace, to the prison, then the throne!  God was with him “all the way through” until Joseph fulfilled God’s purpose. 

Am I saying that there’ll never be challenges when I’m following God’s plan?  No, I’m saying you can know that there is His best as He promised, and you’ll learn how to minimize those “faith malfunctions” so you can claim the promises, keep the faith and fulfill God’s best, HIS PURPOSE! 

Blessings,

RB

I love to visit Destin Florida on a regular basis.  When we are getting close to our exit from the Interstate, we cross the Escambia Bay bridge.  This bridge was damaged beyond repair during the Katrina storm in 2005, and it has taken some time to rebuild a new bridge.  I noticed the long “pillings” that are used to “hold up” the new bridge and I began to get curious as to how these pillings function.  I asked a construction engineer and he explained the function of pillings to me.  He said that the pillings have to be driven into the ground until they hit “bedrock” for the solid base to support the weight of the bridge.  If the pillings are not established on the bedrock, then the bridge will eventually collapse from the weight loads placed upon it.

When I compare this to “character” it helps to understand 2 Peter 1:5 which declares, “…add to your faith virtue;” and virtue here means character.  When we realize that there is a spiritual side to faith, we need to also consider that there is a natural, visible side of faith.  The visible is what people see and recognize in our interaction with others because faith is more than just “believing for our prayer request” to be manifest.  In fact, faith is like a “bridge connecting heaven and earth” and there is a point at which the answer arrives on the other side.  Now the faith bridge has “pillings” holding it up and  these are what I will refer to as the “faith support system” or character traits that must be established upon the bedrock of our faith which is Jesus Christ.  I will use 5 “pillings” of character to demonstrate what I’m describing.

The first character pilling is “trustworthiness” and you can better understand this by reading Proverbs 28:20.  The literal translation is “the trustworthy will get a rich reward.  But the person who wants to get rich quick will only get into trouble.”  Trustworthiness is your reputation.  The next one is “respect” and you can find an explaination in Proverbs 13:15, “a person with good character is well respected; and a wicked person walks a rocky road.”  Respect is related to one’s attitude toward themselves and others.  If people do not respect who you are, it may be that you have not earned their respect.  Respect is a big factor in a person’s character so we must treat others with respect to earn respect.  Next we look at “responsibility” as a character support of faith.  Proverbs 24:12 “don’t try to avoid responsibility by saying you don’t know about it.”  Do what you are supposed to do!  It affects our witness to others. 

The last two are “equity” which is fairness.  Proverbs 16:11 declares “the Lord demands fairness in every business deal.”  He is the equal balance for our decisions or “judgements” in our relationships. Then the last pilling is “compassion” which should be our motivation for all that we do.  Seeing the needs of others and taking an action to help.  1 Peter encourages us to “have compassion one to another” and that sums it all up.  Our faith support system is what we are in relation to others and God expects our character to be an outward expression of faith!

Blessings,

RB