Forever Reign

This week's theme is from the song called "Forever Reign", written by Jason Ingraham from One Sonic Society and Reuben Morgan from Hillsong in Australia.  

Scripture:
Ephesians 3:14-19 "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—-to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

What a powerful verse from Paul to dwell on as we focus and CONFESS our dependence and love for God!  Yes - CONFESS (DECLARE) who He is and how great God is.  Listen to what the author of this song shares about confession in this song.

Quote from Reuben Morgan:
"The message of the song is very confessional. Throughout the song we declare who God is, “You are good, You are love, You are light, You are hope, You are peace, You are joy and You are life.” At the same time, we combine that message of who God is with our response, “You are good, You are good, when there’s nothing good in me.” I hope the song enlarges God in our view of Him. We need to know that God is not diminished by our circumstances, doubts or our response."

That is so empowering for us as believers to understand today and to embrace all of who God is in our lives.  There are so many ways to come to God today and approach Him.  Question - how do you approach God?  When you begin your conversation with Him, how does it begin?  When was the last time you confessed to God who He is in your life?  If it has been a while, then read these lyrics of confession of who God is and worship God through this prayer today.

Lyrics:
You are good, You are good
When there's nothing good in me
You are love, You are love
On display for all to see
You are light, You are light
When the darkness closes in
You are hope, You are hope
You have covered all my sin

You are peace, You are peace
When my fear is crippling
You are true, You are true
Even in my wandering
You are joy, You are joy
You're the reason that I sing
You are life, You are life,
In You death has lost it's sting

Oh, I’m running to Your arms,
I’m running to arms
The riches of Your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

You are more, You are more
Than my words will ever say
You are Lord, You are Lord
All creation will proclaim
You are here, You are here
In Your presence I'm made whole
You are God, You are God
Of all else I'm letting go

Oh, I’m running to Your arms
I’m running to Your arms
The riches of Your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

My heart will sing
no other Name
Jesus, Jesus

Behind the Music - Click here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpQkdiPt45E

10,000 Reasons

What is so beautiful about this song is how the Scriptures come to life!  When we read Psalm 103, we see the abundant blessings of the Lord poured out upon His people.  Read it with me.

Psalm 103

¹ Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

 
² Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁸ The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

 
⁹ He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

 
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³ As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

 
¹⁵ The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

 
¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—
¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

²¹ Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.
²² Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion.  Praise the Lord, my soul.

Verse 11 really jumps out to me.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth - so GREAT is HIS LOVE for those who fear Him.  The love of the Lord is far reaching and great for us as believers.  Are we pursuing God's love?  Are we seeking after the heart of God?  What is keeping us back from giving our lives to Him and receiving all the abundant blessings He has for us?

I encourage you to read this passage each day as we prepare for weekend worship.  Make this passage your morning prayer and your evening reflection as you worship God this week.  The Lord desires to bless you today - pursue Him as He reaches towards you!

To learn more about this song, please watch this video. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yPzETBreaU

In Him - Keith

God is Able

Each week we are striving to wrap our mind around a central theme for our worship set.  This weekend, our theme is based on the song "God is Able".
If you want to hear this song, please click this link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CJfdfNWjRw

Verses to meditate on:
2 Corinthians 9:8 - And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Hebrews 7:24-26 - "but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.  Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens."

"God Is Able".  Do we believe this or do we simply give this phrase lip service?  What I mean is, do we from our inner core believe that God is in control of all things, in all things and through all things?  Do we believe that God is able to meet each one of us at our point of need?  If we read and trust scripture, then we must place our faith in God that HE IS ABLE!  He is able to meet our needs, bless His people, save His people, lead His people and guide His people.  God is able!

What are you holding on to today that you need to trust in faith and hand over to God?  He is able to meet you at your point of need and guide you through whatever you are facing today.

Read the words of this song we are singing this weekend...
God is able, He will never fail. He is Almighty God
Greater than all we seek, greater than all we ask, He has done great things

Lifted up, He defeated the grave.  Raised to life our God is able.  In His name we overcome for the Lord our God is able

God is with us.  He will go before.  He will never leave us, He will never leave us.  God is for us.  He has open arms.  He will never fail us.  He will never fail us

Baltimore - DAY 6

Hello Friends and Family,

This is our FINAL DAY in Baltimore.  Described by these words - Outstanding, God-Fearing, FUN!, Outside my Comfort Zone (in a good way), Passionate, Enthusiastic, Authentic, Supernatural and MORE!  These are the words our team are using to explain our time in Baltimore this week!  God has gone before us in so many different circumstances that are truly unexplainable.  He has provided for our team when we were faced with opposition.  He has provided for our team when we did not have the words to say.  He has provided for our team when we were exhausted and felt like we could not give anything more.  Our God PROVIDED!  We are blessed!

TWO TEAMS today - We planned a trip to Washington DC from the beginning of our Mission Trip, and many of the team members decided a month before we left Allen to work that day instead of sightseeing in DC! So, 8 of us ventured to DC and 10 stayed back to work again with Church of the Harbor with Jeff Belcher and his team.  Morning was spent making follow-up calls from the week and canvassing the neighborhood in Canton, a section of Baltimore.  After lunch they prepared for the afternoon STOOP PARTY!!  At night, families will come out of their homes and hang out together on their steps - their STOOP.  The team cooked dinner outside their STOOP and 30 people joined the team for a night of fellowship and more.  Jeff actually had the opportunity to lead a lady to the Lord tonight!  PRAISE GOD!  So our team loved the time with Church of the Harbor and served so faithfully today.

Our sightseeing time was really a blast.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves!

We are headed home in the AM to Dallas.  Please join me in prayer as we leave at 9am to get home at noon!  Cannot wait to see everyone back home.  Thanks for reading this week and praying for Baltimore.  This is only the beginning of what is next for our team!

Keith and Team

Baltimore - DAY 5

Hello Friends and Family,

Day 5 is complete!  We turned a chapter to another amazing experience today.  Our theme verse was from Philippians 2:2-11, where Paul speaks to us about being UNITED IN CHRIST!  It is only through the POWER of Christ in our lives that we can experience supernatural strength and unity to make it through our day - and sitting down to write you tonight, I can testify that God unified our team in a tremendous way!  Thank you Lord for showing yourself to each one of us.  You have bonded our hearts from individuals to a unified team of missionaries.  It is a beautiful thing to experience.  Thank you Lord!

We ventured outside of inner city Baltimore to the town of Cockeysville, Maryland.  Jeff Belcher, Pastor, along team members Wes Gresham and Tyler Silvey, spent the entire day with our team.  They have been in the Baltimore area only 9 months, so we experienced what a true church plant looks like.  Pastor Jeff is on the ground floor of starting Church of the Harbor.  We spent the morning hanging door hangers in a brand new area they are trying to reach.  Church service, which they call "Gatherings" began at 2pm at the local Community Center.  They rent it for $12.50 an hour!  What a deal for a church plant!  Worship was amazing, along with hearing the word of God!  Three new FIRST TIME GUEST attended!

We traveled in the afternoon to worship with Captivate East Baltimore, where we were met with Pastor Tally Wilgis, Colleen Smith and other friends from the Community.  The worship service began at 5pm - BTW - WHAT A MESSAGE TONIGHT!!! - followed up with dinner (HIPHOP CHICKEN - SLAP YOUR MAMA GOOD FRIED CHICKEN!!!) for the community and fellowship with everyone!

And you thought we were done?  NO SIR - then we traveled to Church of the Harbor - Canton where Pastor Jeff and his his team opened up their home for Sunday night church.  Burgers, chips, fellowship along with great worship and another message from Jeff on James!  AMAZING message again!  It was truly a great experience to be with them today!

We are spent!  Long hours, and guess what - we get to do it again TOMORROW - please pray for us again as we reach out to our friends here in the Baltimore area!

We love you and appreciate you reading!  Keith and Team

Baltimore - DAY 4

Hello Friends and Family,

Reflection on the day brings me to the word REDEMPTION.  God is in the business of redeeming His people.  He takes the old, sinful man and brings him back to life.  We began our morning focusing on this verse - 2 Corinthians 5:15-17 - 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  All of us are in need of a Savior.  We are all broken and poor.  It is only because of Jesus that we have hope and purpose.  He redeems us and transforms us into a NEW CREATION!  Praise the Lord!

Both BROWN TEAM and ORANGE TEAM combined for a day at Captivate East Baltimore for a Block Party for the community.  We set up 3 bounce houses, basketball goal, AWESOME DJ!!, sidewalk chalk, face painting, balloon animals, fingernail painting, hot dogs, snow cones and more!!  Man, it was a huge undertaking.  Our team served so well in the heat as we were able to witness to many children and families today.  Through the bead bracelets, we were able to share the love of Jesus to many, and over 150 contacts for Captivate East Baltimore were registered for follow up!  It was a great day!

Pastor Tally - pastor over all three Captivate Churches in Baltimore, spent the afternoon with us and shared his story of Redemption as well.  It was a fantastic time as we heard his own story of God moving in his life and giving him a vision to reach this great city.  Look for his video to be posted soon.

We were so exhausted after our day that we took the night to visit the inner harbor of Baltimore and eat some great seafood together and hang our feet off the pier for a while, laughing and reflecting on our day together.

God continues to move and redeem his people, and we know it begins with us!  Thanks for the prayers and continue to lift us up as we enter tomorrow at Church of the Harbor.

Prayerfully yours - Keith and Team

 Kaelyn Bunting loving on kids at the Block Party

 Laurie Lafon with some of the kids from the community

 Sean Taylor was just ROCKIN the face painting all day!

 Alex Jenks has the moves!!  So much fun!

 Pastor Tally and Colleen wrapping up our time together being photo bombed by kiddos

End of Block Party at Captivate Church East Baltimore