Hosea - Chapter 1

I am currently reading through the book of Hosea. I am writing a few of my initial thoughts as I read through the book. Here are my thoughts on Hosea chapter 1:

To read the passage click here

• Hosea was God's messenger...reminds me that I too am called as a messenger of Jesus! vs.2
• I'm not sure how I would react if God would have ever told me to go and marry a prostitute...instead thank you God for sending me Cyndi! vs. 2
• The image that Israel was acting like a prostitute is very clear. Is God like Hosea, in that He is married to Israel the prostitute? I think many times Christians today are very much like prostitutes. vs 2
• Gomer...what a name for a woman! I think I may name my daughter, Gomer. It has a nice ring to it, Gomer Michelle Brown. vs.3
• What's the power of a name? God seems to use people with name's that have powerful meaning to accomplish powerful acts in the Old Testament. I am glad we chose to name our son "Micaiah," as it is a rhetorical and humbling question: "Who is like God?" The answer is NO ONE, therefore He is the one we serve and worship!!! vs. 4
• A pattern is occurring among the names of Hosea and Gomer's children. God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute, like God is married to the prostitute, Israel. Then God commands Hosea to name his children after how Israel's relationship is going with God. vs.6-9
• How would you liked to been named, "Not-Loved?" Self-esteem issues? PROBABLY! vs. 6
• Sometimes I don't understand why God would allow Israel to be so disobedient, so distant, so unlike the chosen nation, but then turn and give them another chance. Chance after chance after chance - He loves ALWAYS. I'm sure He was disappointed and hurt, but He knows the future and sees the day that Israel is no longer described as "not my people" but instead "children of the living God." vs. 10-11

That's What I'm Talking About!

I love Indiana! And I am glad that I am involved with ARC because they love Indiana. Last Sunday, iTown Church was launched in Indy and this video got me pumped about planting a church!

itown church launch from Dave Sumrall on Vimeo.

Dave Sumrall is the lead pastor of iTown and he comes from Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, AL. He is passionate about reaching my home state! If you are in the Indy area and are looking for a church...check out iTown!

Be Careful About What You Pray & Fast For

Recently I decided I was going to take a few days and fast. If you know me, you know that it is a struggle for me to fast from food, it may be my Italian heritage that makes it a struggle, but none the less it is a struggle. So a couple of weeks I really felt compelled to give up food for a few days.

I felt during this time that I should pray for LifeGate Church and that God would step our impact in Lexington. I also pleaded with Him to bring more people to fill in key roles to help us accomplish our impact. During this time I prayed for our people, our staff, and my Pastor.

-the very next day after I started my fast our Pastor received a call from a young man, wanting to be a part of what we are doing (this is just one example of what God is doing)

I also felt compelled to pray for Generation Church. This is the name that keeps coming to mind regarding the church I feel very called to plant. I was praying for vision, clear direction, and asking God to already stir in hearts the people who are to lead and join GC. I have felt as though we are to go to Indiana, and possibly the Indianapolis area. We felt as though God was opening a possibility for this to happen within the next year.

Finally, I felt compelled to pray for my family. I was seeking clear direction to lead them and if we are to plant a church it is going to take all of us.

What I discovered through my fast is that God wants me to trust Him and come to Him with all the desires of my heart. He wants me to just lay them out before Him so He can be God and do what He needs to do. ALSO as a result of my fasting and praying (and an answer from God) we know that right now is not the time to go to Indiana. I realized that I was wanting to go to Indiana more than I think God wants us to go to Indiana.

We are in fact moving to Ohio. I know it is terrible being a Michigan fan and moving to a state that houses our biggest rival (by the way, I am looking for a NBF (New Best Friend) that holds season tickets to OSU and will take me to a Michigan vs Ohio State game). It is in fact a great move for us because Cyndi has been asked by the University she works for to start a brand new campus in Dayton, OH.

These were all major answers to the things that I was praying and fasting about. Although, I may not want to move to OH, God is opening many opportunities that I never even thought about. The point is that we must be obedient and faithful even when we may not like the answers God gives...HE KNOWS WHAT IS BEST!

Cults vs. Cultic Churches

Recently, I took an Apologetics course because I wanted to have a deeper understanding with many of the religions in our world today. More and more I am encountering people who are Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Hindu, and Muslim.

One of the most compelling lessons that we had was on cults vs. cultic. I realized that there is a big difference. You see a cult is an organization or belief system that the fundamental doctrine denies salvation, they add to the Bible, many time they multiply the way to salvation, divide the body of Christ, and their view of who Christ is is totally skewed.

On the other hand, we have several churches in America and across the world that are cultic churches. Basically a cultic church is a Godly church that begins to act ungodly. There are a few signs of a cultic church:

• they begin to promote separation from anyone not a member
• they begin to demand explicit control of the followers
• they reject any questioning of their leaders
• they begin to take control of salvation (for instance, if their views/church is rejected the person that rejects is destined for Hell)
• they take explicit control of finances in one's personal life
• they become a place to hide from the world (no visitors are welcome, etc.)
• they believe that there group is the only chosen ones
• they believe that their way is the only way

Now let me say this, Jesus is the only way! I love diversity and I love that many churches do things differently in the form of style. However, our goal for the Church is to make disciples of all nations. We must do a better job being unified in the body of Christ in order to reach more people. Lets not let our style overpower the purpose! God may our churches be YOUR CHURCH!

5 reasons I love LifeGate Church

Over 16 months ago we moved to Lexington, KY for a great opportunity that my wife had with the University she works for. There were several reasons this was a great choice for us but the two main reasons was that it was closer to family and that it gets us closer to the vision that God has laid on our hearts.

When making the decision the first thing we did was start looking for churches. We decided that if we wanted to one day plant a church that maybe it would be a good idea to attend and help out a church plant for our time in Lexington. So God led us to LifeGate Church. Here are the top 5 reasons why I love LifeGate Church:

5. ARC - LifeGate is a part of the Association of Related Church which focuses on planting churches. I love this because of the encouragement that the ARC team offer (no matter the size of the church they pastor) and the passion they have for reaching people!

4. The lead staff team, led by Pastor Ashley Wilson, are amazing! These group of leaders are so passionate about Jesus changing our city it is infectious. If you spend more than 5 minutes with any of them you know there is something different in their life!

3. The Dream Team of Volunteers are absolutely incredible! The volunteers at LifeGate want to make an impact in our city and they take ownership of the areas of ministry they serve in. Many of them have full time jobs, but make a commitment to be a part of LifeGate and serve in ministries that take a lot of time and energy...(shout out to the Roadie Team - who unloads and loads the trailer every week; LG Kids Team- who set up their environment and love on kids; Cafe/Usher/Hospitality Teams - for being the front lines; Worship Team - these guys practice more than anyone I know and bring it every week!).

2. Real People - this church is full of people who don't care to be fake. Everyone has a story and their story reflects the realization that at some point they were in need of Jesus. They are unashamed about the love they have for Jesus but they don't try to cover it up by being unreal.

1. JESUS IS CENTER - In everything that LifeGate does, Jesus is the focus. Jesus is the foundation of every outreach, every small group, every fun event, and so on. If you come to a weekend experience you are going to hear about how much Jesus loves you and desires a relationship with you. Its not about fluff, its about pointing people to Jesus.

I am so honored to be a part of this amazing church!

I'm Back

Okay, so I have done some updating to the look of the blog. It is not exactly what I want, but it will do for now. The plan is to be back and regular in my bogging. I have a lot of thoughts rolling around and so here you go.

Be back on Monday for the first blog post in the new look.