Billboard: Worship Series

Worship is a word that’s commonly used in our church culture, but how well is it understood and lived in our lives from Sunday to Sunday? Worship is not an act reserved for monks, priests or even church congregations; worship is an activity of the human soul.

So together, we’ll be focusing not on improving the quality of our worship, but the object of our worship.

"WE DON’T SING TO GOD WORSHIP, WE LIVE TO GOD WORSHIP."

Beginning Sunday, July 15th, we will be unpacking what worship is, and how all of us have a billboard above our lives displaying what we value.

Life in His voice.

There are some thundering moments in scripture where Father raises His voice to get a point across. Here is a moment worth noting.

Revelation 21:5 (MSG) 3-5 I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.” #awakenus

Awaken Us Challenge

IF YOU WERE GIVEN $86,400 DOLLARS, HOW WOULD YOU SPEND IT?

The choice might be a difficult one, but eventually, your priorities and what you want or need would make the decision for you. Every day, we are all given 86,400 seconds to steward. Does the way you spend that time accurately reflect your priorities? Join us for the next seven days in a challenge to take back your time and spend it intentionally on a new way of living. Each day will bring a new challenge designed to help you slow down and get back to the basics. To participate in the challenge, follow the directions and post each day on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Use the hashtag #awakenuschallenge to share your progress and see how others are participating along the way. Make sure to visit Awaken’s social media profiles on Instagram and Facebook throughout the week, where staff and leaders will be sharing encouragement and a glimpse into their daily challenge progress.

Adults, in addition to the daily challenges, choose one day this week to fast during your lunch break and spend the time praying for our church community. Make it a habit to pray together each night, and reflect on how the challenge is going for your family.

SUNDAY / 4/1 : Talk about the next seven days. What do they look like? Pray
together and ask for courage and the patience to make the most of this next
week. Post a selfie to show that you’ve accepted the challenge.
MONDAY / 4/2 : Spend the night together, electronics-free. Document and
post what your family does instead of watching TV, playing video games or
scrolling through your phone. You could play a game, go for a walk, or sit
around and chat if you're short on ideas.
TUESDAY / 4/3 : Reflect on the past by looking at the old pictures that have
been hiding in your camera roll or photo albums, and talk about the memories
surrounding them. Post your favorites to share where you and your family
have been.
WEDNESDAY / 4/4 : Create something today--write a poem, draw a picture,
or make a craft. You can either create as a family, or separately and then
share your masterpieces with each other. Post photos of your creations.
THURSDAY / 4/5 : Share what you love about each member of your family in
a post, along with your favorite picture of them. Mention what you appreciate
about them and what makes them an important member of your family. Tag
each other to share the love.
FRIDAY 4/6 : Write a family declaration while eating dinner. Gather
everyone’s input as to what they feel is important or unique about your
family. Post a picture of your family's completed declaration.
SATURDAY 4/7 : Go on a family date. There are no rules--it can be a picnic in
the backyard or an adventure to the mountains, as long as the number one
goal is connecting with each other. Take and post a picture of the activity you
decided on.

I AM IN CHRIST

Read Ephesians 1:1-14

“To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful ‘in Christ’ Jesus.”

In Ephesians 1:3–14, in the Greek text that your Bible is originally written in, it’s one sentence. He’s going to tell us nine things right up front of what it means to be in Christ. Keep an eye out for the phrases ‘in Christ.’ So, Paul coins this phrase, “in Christ,” and he’s echoing the very words of Jesus himself.

John 15:5. Jesus says: “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

The apostle Paul identifies the church, reminds them who they are before giving them instruction / correction. This is an example of how to approach a brother with a father’s heart.

A father seeks to remind, instruct, correct, and cover. A troubled brother seeks to point out, criticize, & expose. Paul was trying to help you, and me, and all of God’s children understand their identity, who we are before telling us what to do. Not who we think we are, not who others say we are, but who Father God says we are.

Power statement: It’s not who you are that holds you back, but who you think you’re not.

DECLARATION: “I AM A SAINT, EMPOWERED BY GRACE TO LIVE A HOLY LIFE.”

1. What nine things does Paul tell us about our identity in vv. 3-14?

PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Write down five things in your past that have clouded your understanding of your identity in Christ. Looking at those five things, declare this prayer out loud, by yourself with your spouse, or together with your family.

Prayer: Jesus, I thank you that before you made the world, you loved me and chose me in Christ to be holy and without fault in your eyes. You are the God who makes all things new. Today in an act of faith, I receive your entire newness in my life. I don’t hold back anything from You. All the old things have passed away in my life, and I am a new creation, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

Now take that piece of paper and throw it away. You are in Christ! Destiny re-written.

What is God's will?

1 Thess. 5:18 says, “In everything, give thanks, for this is God’s will in Christ Jesus for you.” This is our daily bread. This is our life source. The Father doesn’t say be super thankful when you get a new house & your kids have perfect grades and their teeth are straight & every dream has been fulfilled. * The Word literally says in everything. So the good, the bad, & the ugly, give thanks. Those among us that are thankful daily for the blessings in their life; daily counting the blessings; it is not because they have more blessings to count. I will write it twice! It is not because they have more blessings to count. It is because their hearts have come alive to what is all around them. The blessing of life itself. It is because they have chosen to start counting; to start naming what is in front of them. A thankful heart is not denying the rocky places in front of them. But rather, not allowing it to have influence over them.

Brooke: “For instance, we moved 4 years ago and I remember opening my freezer & it had crazy amounts of green mold on the bottom shelf. Cleaning a moldy freezer in the middle of summer (106 degrees), in the midst of moving with no AC, wasn’t all that fun. But I went out and started scrubbing it. When I came inside, Adam looked at me and said, ‘Sorry you had to clean out that moldy freezer.’ I looked at him and simply replied, ‘Thanks for carrying that heavy couch upstairs.’ The entire time I was cleaning out the mold, I was thinking how grateful I was that our friends had even bought us that freezer. Truly I could have had a bad attitude because I “didn’t deserve to clean this, it wasn’t fun, blah blah blah…” Instead, I CHOSE to posture my heart in a place of being grateful for the freezer itself. That is what renewing your mind looks like. God doesn’t renew our minds. We renew our minds. We are responsible for our perspective and what thoughts fill our minds. “

I couldn’t agree more with Brooke. Complaining is the antithesis of thanksgiving. Complaining makes us miserable.

Psalm 77:3 says, “I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed.” The two cannot co-exist in the same heart at the same time. And so, I challenge you to quit complaining for an entire week. Just try it and see what happens. When you feel tempted to complain, instead of “filing your complaint, file a praise.” Instead of speaking out what you do not have, speak out what you do! It will change your life. Philippians 2:13 says, “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.”

Let’s stop whining, and start shining! How do you shine? By being thankful. Thanksgiving is the landing strip for the goodness / blessings of God. There is so much power in thanksgiving.

Ephesians 5:19 says, “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything.” Always is the key word. Not just on the Thanksgiving holiday. Everyday.

We love you Awaken Church,

Pastor Adam & Brooke

Created to thrive, not survive

Sometimes, if not most often, we as believers live miracle to miracle. Here’s an example. The Israelites have endured 400 years of horrific slavery, asking over and over for a deliverer. But even after God sends them Charlton Heston, they’re free of physical slavery but they still think and behave like slaves. They were still learning how to graduate into powerful people who were not products of their environment. God understood where they were mentally, and continued to send them manna from heaven, but after a season of wilderness living something shifted. “The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.” Joshua 5:11

They (God’s people) lived from miracle to miracle. Take note: the manna stopped and they were eating from the produce from the land. This is significant. Why? They lived miracle to miracle for years, but the day they graduated into the Promised Land their “wilderness living” shifted to “harvest living.”

I am thankful for miracles—but listen, miracle living is wilderness living – bail out living. Father wanted them to pass through the wilderness, not stay there. He wants YOU to pass through the wilderness, and not stay there. He is not just a God of crisis and holidays. He is a God of everyday life who desires to see you and I grow from faith to faith, and glory to glory.

Wilderness living is survival living. We were never created to live a life of survival.

But what does thriving look like? I think thriving looks like walking in the will of God, no matter the circumstance.

Typically, we define thriving by our circumstances, but the Father defines it by our response.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16 it says to “rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

You know people are thriving when they’re rejoicing, giving thanks, and constantly praying in all circumstances. You and I were not made to survive; we were created to thrive. The Father is waiting to graduate us into a harvest living (a sowing position) from a wilderness living.

As we enter into a new season (winter), He is leading us into the Promised Land. We cannot get stuck in a rut and think that God is only doing something good when it is something unexplainable, there are many times that good comes from reaping what we’ve sown in a harvest season.

There are many times that I have found myself determined to produce delicious fruit in the winter seasons of my life not realizing it is a season of deep rootedness. Winter is the time for the garden of our hearts to strengthen and protect what it’s already growing. Winter can be a season your heart can thrive in, and be blessed in. Recognize the season you are in. Just because you don’t see the fruit doesn’t mean that nothing is growing. When you plant a seed, first roots begin, not fruit.

I declare that unseen growth, unseen roots and unseen depth is happening in your lives… “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (YOU HAVE TO BEGIN IMAGINING A DIFFERENT ENDING), according to His power that is at work within us…” Ephesians 3:20.

Challenge: Read Isaiah 55:10-12 and ask Father what seeds of truth can you nurture so that you are able to thrive during the winter seasons.

Love you Church,

Pastor Adam & Brooke