Living Above the Sun Ministries

" Rejoice always,   pray without ceasing,   give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." - Thessalonians 5:16-18 In September of 2020 I had the privilege to fly up to Washington D.C. and pray for our country with Franklin Graham and hundreds of thousands of others.  We prayed for peace, reconciliation, compassion and kindness to cross our land.  We prayed for the elected officials, and law enforcement.  We prayed for people to come to know Christ, for communities and families. Standing behind me in this picture is the Washington Monument.  Standing at 555 Feet tall it was the tallest structure in the world upon its completion in 1884.  On the very top there is an aluminum cap noting dates, but the most importantly is the inscription facing the east toward the rising sun.  "Laus Deo" Latin translated to "Praise be to God."  Praise be to God indeed, whose name is higher than the rising sun. Can we lear...

  "Is there no balm in Gilead?      Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing      for the wound of my people?" -Jeremiah 8:22 I've been thinking about the prophet Jeremiah lately and reading his book in the Bible. If there was ever a prophet that was mournful over a nation, it was Jeremiah. When we are in dark days God extends to us the same invitation He gave Jeremiah, "Call to Me, and I will answer. I'll show you great and mighty things that you don't know." This book of prophecy is balanced by judgement and hope. That though we have abandoned God, there is forgiveness and a promise that He the writer of the Law will put it in our heart and cause us to follow. Right now it feels like there isn't any hope, but rest assured in our deepest darkness of mourning over this nation, our cities, our homes, God is asking that we call out to Him. While we may not feel strong enough to continue through these days of COVID, polit...

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there." -2 Chronicles 7:14-16 I'm participating in John Hagee's call to 40 days of prayer, fasting, and repentance for our nation. It started today, and I committed to pray, and fast soda, including my beloved sundrop, Facebook, and bread. This verse has become quite a popular verse here in the recent years, it was popular when 9/11 happened I remember. How have we as disciples of Christ done in following this verse? Many of us have sat back silently, never once standing up for Jesus for the desire to be politically correct instead of Biblically correc...

This is the first of a mini series on Unity. This will carry us to Sunday, when we will begin Advent. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Yes, I will post something on Thanksgiving. In the meantime let's get started on Unity and Spiritual Growth. Koinoina is the Greek word that means communion by intimate participation; the trust of one another, sharing of material goods, and harmony rather than hostility. The word is used frequently in the New Testament of the Bible to describe the relationship within the early Christian Church as well as the act of breaking bread in the manner which Christ prescribed during the Passover meal. As a result the word is used within the Christian Church to participate, as Paul says, in the Communion of - in this manner it identifies the idealised state of fellowship and community that should exist - Communion. We need to experience Koinoina love with God, with each other, and in the church. The foundation for a Koinoina church is found in Ephesians 3:14-1...

"If Jesus was the only object of your affection you would be entirely concerned with Him alone." -Fenelon When you really think about this quote it convicts you. What is the object of your affection? Who is the object of your affection? So many times we so easily come to fault with making the wrong things the object of our affection, in church especially. We end up committing Idolatry . The Websters dictionary defines Idolatry as this: Definition of IDOLATRY 1 : the worship of a physical object as a god 2 : immoderate attachment or devotion to something Pastors can even do this. We have to be really careful who and what becomes the object of our affection at church. It's easy for pastors to make ministry the object of their affection. Church members can easily begin to worship a pastor more than they worship God. In truth, every sin is an idol problem. We don't realize that we make other things the object of our affection, that's the scary part. We ...

We arrived in Columbia, SC about 3:00, and we checked into our hotel. My room consists of a king sized bed, and a flat screen TV! That is luxury! It is my prayer that this weekend will be a weekend of spiritual growth. Last night the service I was in is called Midlands which is a Juvenile Detention Center for boys ages 11-17. I had been to the Midlands before with Student Worship from FBCIT, and had experienced all that goes on there. However, tonight was different, in that in was more one on one with the boys, and more in the real side of things. I was not with a bunch of students trying to get them in order and participating, and all being a leader there involves, don't get me wrong though, I love all of those kids, and I am grateful for every opportunity I have to be a leader among them, and a friend. On this trip I am what they call a prayer warrior. I'm always praying, I pray over where we are going, I prayed over chairs last night that these boys would be sittin...

"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 ...

"They all met together continually for prayer..." Acts 1:14 Not long ago I did a series on prayer, if you look back in the December archives, the series was entitled "How Effective is Prayer?" You may find it helpful to look back and refresh your mind on what prayer really is. Sometimes it's easy to loose sight of understanding how important this is in our Christian lives and what God expects of us. We remain in a constant dependence on God. In order to accomplish God's purposes in the world, it requires us to devote ourselves to relentless prayer in the church. Prayer demonstrates our selflessness and God's self-centeredness. When we come to realize that it is impossible for us to accomplish His purposes in our own strength, we express our dependence upon God through prayer. When you read the story of the early church in the book of Acts, for some prayer was fundamental, rather than being supplemental. They were dependent on God's power. Ev...

"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...

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:16-18 Today I hit the streets of Charlotte in a mission to "Give Love Away." In the summer of 2009, I went on a "Give Love Away" tour mission trip to Dallas, Texas. Without saying much we'll just say that trip was disappointing, but God still used us, and now today I'm still trying to give Jesus' love away. I'm thinking from now on I will do this once a week, a give love away day and I invite anyone who wants to join me to join me. I told God that if He gave me a job I would use the money I made to spread his name to my surroundings and wherever He wants me to go. So that's what I'm doi...

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...

PRAYER: I think a lot of people struggle with prayer. I have talked some about prayer on this blog. Prayer is the foundation of our relationship with Jesus. It is the heart and soul of every successful relationship with God. Jesus prayed a lot as we read about Him in the gospels of the Bible. So if Jesus prayed as much as he did because he needed it, shouldn't we as Christians need prayer that much more!? Jesus cried out "Daddy" (Abba) before he was crucified in the garden. He asked his daddy to take the cup of suffering from Him, if it was God's will. Jesus wanted to be in the will of His daddy, and we need to be that way too. Three foundations to a powerful prayer life starts with the fact that you must view your daily prayer time as a relationship with God and not just something you have to do out of obligation. It should be a sincere time, and not just another thing to check off the list. We as Christians have the privilege to go to the very throne of God whenever...