Living Above the Sun Ministries

"For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ..." -Philippians 3:18-20 I have been focused in on the cross this week. Many of you who know me well know I think deeply about things, then I get aggrevated, then can't stop thinking until I reach a solution even though I said I'm done thinking about it. Things that should be simple, I like to make hard. Why, I guess I just like depth and I like to use my mind, and LOVE to learn. Sometimes I come up with off the wall things, and I'm glad there are a few people I can run my mouth too, and they just leave me to my thoughts knowing I will figure it out. I can remember when "The Passion of Christ" ...

Last night some friends and I went to the Rock and Worship concert at Bojangles Arena here in Charlotte. We were mainly there for our favorite band, "Disciple." (www.disciplerocks.com) It was totally worth $10.00 to see them perform their song,"Rise Up" they killed it! They did a few more too. The song is about Christians rising up together, and it totally rocks. There were some other bands there as well that I liked, Jars of Clay, Mercy Me, Hawk Nelson, just to name a few. Mercy Me did a good show too. It was very powerful at the end. The lead singer for Mercy Me spoke straight to our hearts and challenged us to stand out from the World, to be the change because the world isn't changing much. Just as we were singing with Disciple, "Rise Up" lets rise up as Christians and give the world Jesus, a change not even Obama can give you! I vote for that kind of change! I vote for Jesus. It was also during his talk that I was reminded that I am a...

In his book, "The Seeking Heart," Fenelon writes "I am inspired by John the Baptist who completely forgot himself that he might think only of Christ. He pointed to Christ with his whole life. What an example he sets before you!" John the Baptist's ministry was all about preparing the way for Jesus. In almost any crowd, John the Baptist would be called unique. He wore odd clothes, ate strange food, and preached an unusual message. He would not have agreed with the habit we have of evaluating people by how the dress-or by how they act. He would have insisted that we listen to what he had to say. What John wanted to do more than anything was to obey God, and he wasn't afraid to ask others to do the same. John realized he had a special role to play in the world. His job was to tell the world that the Savior was about to arrive, and John was totally committed to this purpose. John's message still applies to us today, in that not only do we need to ...

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. -Luke 12:48 Yesterday was a day of Jesus Immersion for me and few friends of mine. We traveled down to Anderson, SC for a leadership conference at NewSpring Church. Check out who was there preaching! Perry Noble, Pastor of NewSpring Church, Anderson, SC My Pastor, Steven Furtick, Elevation Church, Charlotte, NC Pastor Craig Groeschel, lifechurch.tv, Edmond, OK Pastor Andy Stanley, North Point Community Church, Atlanta, GA Pastor Jud Wilhite, Central Christian Church, Las Vegas, NV Pastor Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, Seattle, WA Pastor Judah Smith, The City Church, Seattle, WA All these men are great men of God, they are, I believe, some of the best pastors in the world. I'll speak more in this in just a minute, but first I want to point something out about the verse above, Luke 12:48. This v...

This whole weekend I have been in Columbia, SC on the mission field in prisons. Satan wants you to think that it's going to be scary and something bad might happen, but can I tell you, the only thing bad happening when Satan is telling you that, is Satan! Satan will kill you quicker than the mafia. At first I was excited, but I was also apprehensive because I was kind of by myself. My adopted dad was going to be there, but he wasn't in any of my groups, and I just wasn't sure. He (adopted dad) has been on me about this for at least a year now, and praise God I finally was able to go, and I'm addicted to it. I must also add and tell you what a special person my adopted dad is, especially in the basis of this ministry. He and his wife adopted me into their family last summer, and I was cool with that, and I do love them both. Pretty soon he had me plugged into our churches Addiction Ministry which he also serves in. As I have been going to these meetings I have l...

Tonight I went to a thing at my church Elevation where the guys were honoring the girls. It was so refreshing to see. Car doors were being opened, cars valeted, being waited on, a sweet hand written note, decorations, being ushered to our seats! They told us we were beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, pretty, fantastic....It was fantastic! They honored us by speaking life into us. On top of it all, we were all dressed up! We also had our pictures taken all dressed up. However, I skipped that because 1 I was by myself, 2 I felt ugly and fat and 3 girls were driving me crazy...just sayin ya'll. I never went to prom, I've never really dated, so tonight was some what special in that though it wasn't really a "date" thing I felt like I was being treated as if I were on a date. I don't remember ever being honored in that manner by a guy. I can't tell you if a man as ever respectfully told me I was beautiful. A lot has to do with my self image, I've ALW...

"One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way. So Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit. They went down to the seaport of Seleucia and then sailed for the island of Cyprus." -Acts 13:2-4 Writing on my blog makes me so happy! So, lately, I've been studying through the book of Acts. Acts, is still being written today, as the church continues to progress. It is important that every Christian know the power they possess through the Spirit. But more importantly than that, I believe every Christian has a responsibility to pray over and for each other. Remember in the last post we looked all through the book of Acts, instances where things happened as a result of prayer. In our key verse for today, because a group of men were worshiping they heard from ...

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8 There is a key word in this verse. If you guessed POWER you are correct! Notice what's cool about this context of the word 'power'; that you will receive power to change the world. A strategy for the church to change the world is laid out in Acts 1:1-14, when the church deviates from this strategy the church becomes ineffective. The book of Acts is a continuation of Jesus' ministry with Jesus' power being invested in believers who are possessed by Jesus, indwelt by Holy Spirit, manifest the life and power of God the Father. This is what we call authentic Christianity. Jesus says in the verse above that "you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere- in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth." Re...

" Jesus said, 'Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them [a]into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age.'" -Matthew 28:19-20 This is where church drops the ball in my opinion; discipleship. Oh yeah, we will lead you in a sinners prayer, but then you're kinda left hanging...am I wrong? Discipleship is so crucial to both new believers, and to those who have been believers for years. I've been a Christian for 8 years and I still need some discipling from time to time. I think back on the people who God placed in my life to disciple me, and I am so thankful for their influence on my life and how they taught me to read my Bible consistently, and how they invested the Word of God in my life. How they listened to my thought...

So yesterday I committed to do the Radical Experiment after reading the book "Radical." I believe whether you have read the book or not we can all do these 5 things that Dr. Platt has challenged his readers to do. Really, he has not asked us to do anything that God has not already told us to do. I look forward to living out these challenges and to see how God will further use me to impact the Kingdom, and how I will grow in my relationship with Jesus. Will you join me in doing these things too? I believe for Christians to impact the world, we have to first be where we are suppose to be with Jesus. We have to be fully committed to the Christian lifestyle, reading our Bibles, praying, being who God commanded us to be in the Bible. Daily filling ourselves up with His Spirit. So, here's what Dr. Platt has laid out. 1. Pray for the entire world. Intentionally, specifically, audaciously pray for God's purpose to be accomplished around the world. One of my favor...

God has been good in my life. He has sent many people my way who have intervened in my life at the just the right time. People who reached their hand out to me and made a huge difference in my life. Not only do they reach their out to me, but I do the same for them, even when I don't have everything together I can still love. But I think that's how most normal relationships go. I love what Romans 1:12 says "When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours." I am grateful for the people I have had the privilege of knowing and loving. I'm thankful for the footprints they leave in my life. I don't know why God doesn't allow some of them to stay in my life for a long period of time. However, I know he sees the bigger picture, and I just enjoy the time I do have with them. I am reminded of the story of Saul and Ananias in Acts 9. Ananias made an intervention in Saul's life and as a result Saul...