Living Above the Sun Ministries

"A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. 25 Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. 26 Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants." -2 Timothy 2:24-26 Every Tuesday night I serve in my churches Addiction Ministry. Many people get squimmish and shocked when I mention the word addiction and ministry all in one sentence. I can only imagine what mental image they have in their mind. Some people joke, and say things like, are you going to see the addicted people tonight? Some other people question why I serve in this particular ministry, what do I have in common with these people? God has taught me a lot through this ministry, and even more He has lead me to some wonderful friends. He is growing me in this ministry. Go...

"Peter said to Him [Jesus], “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?" -Matthew 14:28-31 Last night as I was emailing a friend of mine, my thoughts came together, and I quickly realized I have a Peter problem. I was telling her some of the things the Lord has revealed to me the past few days. I am ADD so I do 100 things at one time, because I can't focus long enough to do 1 thing and take it all in, then on to the next. Hard to explain. When I write I'm on several other sites, and doing other things and my posts eventually get done. It's ridiculous really. I've always liked the disciple Peter, because I can id...

" Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them. " -2 Timothy 2:3-4 In the last post we discussed how suffering is the mark of a true disciple. In this post we will look at how being a soldier is another mark. This is how the Holy Spirit describes us: "He is not his own. His time belongs to his Master, so does his body. He goes where he is told, he eats what he is given, he wears what is supplied. He has no will of his own, but is an implicit servant of the military forces. He studies the ways of the enemy, he finds means of defense from the enemy, and of offense toward the enemy. This should be true of every believer." Before we can go to war, there are a few questions we must ask ourselves. We can't go into war unprepared, we must know what is required of us. 1. Are you spiritually fit? " Do not waste tim...

"For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; and so it came to pass, as you know." -1 Thessalonians 3:4 The true mark of a disciple of Christ is suffering, it's apart of our job description given to us in scripture. It's really not preached much anymore in the pulpits across America because the pastors of our day have fallen in the mindset of wanting everyone to like them, so they preach messages that will draw crowds and make people want to join "their" church. This is not what discipleship is, nor is it the way of the disciple. When Jesus our teacher; Rabbi, calls us, He does so with the intention of us becoming like Him. John 15:16 says, " You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. " Jesus' last moments with His disciples b...

"And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." -Mark 16:8 Last night I went to a lecture given by one of the worlds most renowned Greek scholars, Dr. Daniel Wallace. His topic last night was, "Monks, Muslims, and Manuscripts: The Story of Sinai. One of the interesting things he discussed in relation to Tischendorf, the modern day, Indiana Jones, and his founding of the "Codex Sinaiticus." In the earliest found manuscripts of the gospel of Mark, verses 9-20 are not included. Scholars are now debating where 9-20 came from, and explain that Mark intended to end his book with the women leaving the tomb in the manner they did to pose a question to the audience reading. It's an open ended conclusion asking, "What are you the reader going to do with Jesus? Will you share Jesus, or will you keep Him to yourself in fear and doubt?" He further went...

"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" ...

"Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." -John 4:35-38 Fall is the harvest season for crops. Jesus used agricultural illustrations a lot to illustrate the Kingdom and what it meant to be a Christian. Recently, a friend of mine was telling me how he and his son harvested their sweet potatoes this week. They got huge ones, medium sized ones, and small ones all from the same vine, and boy were they dirty! Potatoes are not ready to harvest until the vine dies. Until Christ, who is the vine died we were ill prepared for harvest. There are differ...

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 ...

When we accept Jesus as our personal Savior, we are instantly called into ministry. We read in Acts 1:8 "But when the Holy Spirit (what we receive when we are saved) has come upon you, YOU will receive POWER and will tell people about me everywhere." I recently heard a pastor put it this way, "Missions is that which we are. It's not an option." So we know that we are to share Jesus at all times, but how to we determine our exact calling and our exact ministry. We will quickly learn that Jesus wasn't joking with his disciples when He said leave everything you own and follow me. We have to at times exchange our comfort to be a blessing. It is part of the humbling experience. H umble your heart before the Lord. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way. ~ Psalm 25:9 Humility is an absolute necessity for a teachable, moldable heart. To discover our calling, we must be willing to set our agendas aside and surrender to God's. W...

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...

" 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...