Undefeated but Untested

As a background for you, I think I went through some of the hardest personal tests ever in the past year. I'll spare the details, as some are still unfolding, but here's some randomness that's still pretty fresh on my heart...

Sports can offer great parallels to the nature of life, and even walking with God. A few months ago, I read the words "...undefeated but untested..." in a news article describing a college football team (don't remember which team) and they caught my attention. This undefeated team's previous games were a mix of opponents who were of lower caliber and talent. Now, the winning team would face an all-around stronger, more demanding opponent. They would have to prove who they were by securing another win to garner more respect and weight in the college football arena. This opponent would test their substance and reveal their strengths and weaknesses. The writer of the article was implying that the winning team needed to be well prepared for the next game.

Most people dislike being tested - including yours truly. I've heard it said before that "personal trials reveal the worst in us". It's true. Often in the American church (and elsewhere, too), we're like the winning team, spiritually speaking - feeling 'undefeated' and 'cruising'  and taking things more lightly than we should - while untested and unprepared for bigger demands yet to come. The things we struggle with are relatively small, so when a weighty test comes we're caught "off guard", which means our perceptions are small and incomplete. Thankfully, the purposes of trials can better us...

Testings can often be 'layered' (especially in our culture), as we deal with certain constant life things, while other things are situation-specific. Here are a few things I've noticed:
- tests are (not always) made of uncomfortable pressures, both internal and external
- biblically, pressure is equated to fire - hence a FIERY TRIAL - see 1 Peter chapter 4
- tests can remove some personal security - depending on where it lies
- If we fail a test, it can breed self-disgust, regret and shame if aspects of God's nature aren't embraced
- tests can reveal blind spiritual perceptions, places in the heart that are hard and cold, and the reasons why if reflected upon

- tests are U-G-L-Y, not every battle is won
- our responses during tests are crucial, in that if we aren't getting the encouragement we need, it can affect how we go through the rest of it
- every ungodly thing we come up against is some kind of test, so remember Jesus' prayer not to take disciples out of the world
- there WILL BE emotional places you will have to, like King David, talk yourself out of  (encourage yourself or have someone help)
- tests are connected with people around you
- they can show you how close you are to God and how far there is to go at the same time

For me, it's daunting to think about these things through natural eyes because I, like you, am reminded of weakness, even in the face of victories - until I realize a lot of other people experience the same.

But a more powerful truth is the revelation of the INFINITE MERCIES of God. When I begin to think about those two words.......well........try it and see what happens.  It's like seeing a broad horizon after being sandwiched between two rock cliffs. By the way, why does the Bible call them "mercies"??  I believe it's because for every situation, He applies very specific love. Check out these relevant things that have recently resonated in my heart around this theme:

Our culture doesn't teach us how to properly handle failure or success... 
- Jim Sink

Failure is critical to success. Absence of war - absence of heroes. 
- Kim Clement

I'll take my cold, cold heart 

I'll take my unrenewed mind

I'll take Your Word in my hand 

And I'll give You time 

to come and melt me...

I can't even love you lest you call my name

I can't even worship lest you anoint my heart, God...

Come fan the flame...
- Misty Edwards

Well all I have to say

About these serious days

And the condition of my heart

Is they're both still as much a mystery to me

And they both get so hard
- John Mark Mcmillan, "Alive"

 

 Man, it's encouraging to know that other people (& more mature) go through the same REAL stuff I do. The grace and love of God are soooooo BIG...
- Brian (R)

a poem

When we do altars of worship on Friday nights we worship and worship and God shows up, sometimes in big ways sometimes in quiet ways, sometimes his presence just lingers for hours and we can't help but to just sit there in his presence.  I believe that its his presence that awakens in us our giftings and our inner most self can be truly expressed.  When his presence has taken you over you can't help but to be expressive.  For me my mind is constantly moving, thinking, processing diagnosing, and just absorbing information.  Its not until I am in the presence of God that my mind is at rest and that is when he can move in and through us.

Sometimes he gives me a revelation (heavy reavy) lol, sometimes he gives me a picture, or a musical idea or sound.  But sometimes he is quiet, and he is waiting for me to give something to him.  Its in these moments when a burst of whats really in my heart comes out and I have to be quick to write it down before its gone.  So I usually grab my phone and write down these little notes, sometimes a sentence sometimes a whole verse or page of text. 

So here is a poem I wrote about a year ago.  I have not shared this with anyone until now and I feel like it has become my anthem and my approach to the band and my idea of worship. 

"We are a hungry generation,
hungry for you.
Crying out with everything,
crying out for you.
A thirsty generation,
thirsting for you.
For your presence is sweet,
so sweet.
I want to be in your presence,
I want to be with you,
I long for your touch.
Touch this generation"

Let's open our eyes!

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Peter 4:8

What I'm about to write is something that has bothered me for the longest time. A lingering thought the Lord put in my heart, that had to be made into words.
Whenever people hear the word church, they tend to frown or roll their eyes, but why? What is it that makes them reject God and His house? One of the things that most seem to stand out are the words "old-fashioned," "judgement," "criticism," "hypocrisy,"  among others...which characterize humans, not God.
What has slapped me on the face as a hard reality is that what pushes people away from God the most, tend to be christians themselves.
Picture the random guy at the streets with a sign on his hands that says REPENT SINNERS shouting to people that they'll go to hell if they don't...do people want to hear him? I don't think so.
Not even I would like to hear him.
        With great regret and embarrassment I realized that christians have not been known by the world for living in the love of God, loving one another unconditionally, being united, being  full of forgiveness, without judgement, willing to help the needy, defending and helping their brother when he falls, loving the lost soul... 
Why isn't  there more often a random guy in the streets with a sign that says JESUS LOVES YOU and shouting to passerbys messages of encouragement and hope?
      It seems that "christians" have been known through history by being outright religious than spiritual, critical than forgiving, more fervent and aggressive to defend their faith and their morals to the death than to defend the weak and fight for the hopeless, do things in the name of God only for their personal interest, divided into their own denominations and doctrines, and trying to "save" others by pointing out how wrong they are, how lost they are. We forget that we are all one body, and forget to do what God himself has commanded us:
Love one another...  "Loved them as I have Loved you"

Yes, I am talking to all christians out there.
Do not take offense and please read with your heart.

 If your son or daughter made a great mistake, people come and accuse them, and they're in great trouble...what would you do? Turn them in and agree for their punishment? Judge them coldly and kick them out of the house? Ridicule them in front of others by pointing out their mistake?  No..you would forgive them, do everything you could to defend  them and make things right, be willing to cross moral and ethical lines, and even put yourself in their place. But why?
Because they're your children. Because you love them. That simple. 
Love sees past the flaws of the beloved. Love forgives...
..But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:8
If we want change, it needs to start in us, not in other people. If we want others to change to make things better, chances are who needs to change is us...and once we have been willing to allow God to change us, our change will touch their hearts, and bring a glorious destiny ahead.When we do things for the people of our church and our community, it must not be because we have to, because "is the christian way," or because is the right thing to do...

WE NEED TO DO IT OUT OF LOVE.

We need to Love the people, we need to love the lost, as Jesus loves them, as Jesus loves us. Oh how many of us have forgotten that! How many of us serves out of duty or out of self-righteousness! If we are supposed to be like Jesus, and become His light in the darkness, we must learn what Jesus did while He lived on this earth. He was never afraid of what people might say, he felt completely comfortable with the sinners, the outcasts, the lepers.
Jesus didn't reject them, He opened His arms to them. He didn't judge them, He loved them. He walked with them, without fear, full of love. 
      He rebuked the religious and the critic, however. Those who pressumed of justice and who claimed to be fair and followers of God when in reality led corrupt lives and did good only for show. In fact, His death was planned and executed by the religious and the critic...
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. Romans 2:1
For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Romans 2:12-13

Apostle Paul is a great example. He became a Jew for the Jews, Greek for the Greeks, a Gentile for the Gentiles, a Philistine for the Philistines...he endured being judged as one of them, but His actions of love from God reached the hearts of the people. How better to reach people than by becoming one of their own, but one who carries the light of Jesus in them?
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law. Romans 3:27-31

What's the point of being a light where there's no darkness, and keep to ourselves? What's the point of being in the darkness and not shine our light? Why do we allow our light to go opaque by becoming a pointing finger of accusation to those in the darkness?
    By becoming the judge, and degrade the sinner, we become sinners ourselves...I would say lower than them if possible, because we're supposed to know better. And while we fight among us trying to determine who is right or wrong, the enemy gains ground to destroy our unity, and to destroy the souls of humanity.
No wonder why many who are completely away from God today were once christians or came out of strong religious backgrounds, take many celebrities for example. 
     Is not by preaching and lecturing that the lost gets saved, is strongly by our actions that they start to believe,  "you will know them by their fruit.."
God commands us to preach His gospel to all creatures, to love them. how then will they hear if we won't go to them? How will they believe if our actions are full of deceit? How will they run to God if we push them away from Him?

   As Christians we must be an example of His love, not an example of Human's dark nature.
Let's stop staining God's name and start making His real nature be known!
The time is running short, Jesus is coming sooner than we think.

Let's open our eyes!

Stop being a religion.

Start being His Love.

--Linda Angeles

Is this whole "Christian" thing about me? or God?

      I have recently noticed how much I live for me, how much the church lives for themselves, and how allot of peoples summary of "Christianity" is what God did for ME and how much he loves ME. I realized how much I love God's constant gift of grace to me, I look at the body of professing Christ followers (the church) today and see most emphasis on God's grace (and love) towards us. Your Probably asking well, whats wrong with that?

"We live in a culture that has the dangerous tendency to disconnect the grace of God from the Glory of God." Our hearts resonate with the idea of enjoying God's grace. We bask in sermons, conferences, books, and songs that exalt a grace centering on us. And why the wonder of this grace is worthy of our attention if that grace is disconnected from it's purpose the sad result is a self-centered Christianity that bypasses the HEART OF GOD."

I recently read this book (Radical) and helped me see that most church people if asked what was the basic concept of church today would say God loves me or God died for me and my sins. You see the subject is me, not God. You see now when we look for a church or a new church to go to we ask.. well what music best fits ME....What programs best cater to ME an MY family....what job would make ME most happy.....what car do I want....how can I grow MY church...what should I wear//ext.. This is the version of Christianity the church is quickly becoming. That is not at all what Christianity is according to the Bible.

Christianity according to the Bible is about excepting that non deserving grace so that we can make his name, ways, salvation and his glory known to every and all peoples.
It is very simple, you know if you are a true follower of Christ if your life would be completley different without time with him an his word. You know you are a true follower of Christ if you give him your FIRST and give him your absolute ALL. God says this over and over in his word seek him first and all things, his ways will be given to you.

All that to say, what I just realized recently is that if my life, isnt daily lived for the one purpose of bringing glory to his name, If I am not currently and do not plan on forever giving him my FIRST and my ALL, am I really a Christian? or am I "MY" own version of a christian that "I" created?

--Very few will find the path to him and his kingdom
--Many will find and are on the wide road to eternal destruction
--Many are and will be fooled
------------God says if he is not your FIRST and your ALL you are luke warm, and he will Spit you out, onto the wide road to destruction. Dont be fooled! live for his glory by his grace! not for you through his grace!

God bless you all!
Kyle

WORSHIP

love is not flowers, cards or gifts, these are things that can be used to express love or affection.

worship is  not songs, instruments,music, dancing or singing

these are only expressions of worship.

worship is an attitude of the heart; an attitude of thanksgiving , of respect , of recognition, of passion , of love.

it is not necessary to be an amazing musician or singer to be able to worship.

showing His love to people sounds sweeter in God's ears than the song of the best singer in the world. 

obedience, commitment and humbleness create together the perfect melody to honor God.

Surrender all to him and you will find yourself worshiping God in everything you do.

              Gaby.

Throw FAITH in the face of the enemy!

These days, many of us have stresses.  Work, mortgage, family, finances, etc.  All of these things can become exceedingly stressful and the stress of these things can overtake our lives.  We try to fix the situations on our own a lot of the time, knowingly or unknowingly.

During my quiet time yesterday morning I was reading through the book of Daniel.  In chapter 2 it talks about the nightmares that King Nebuchadnezzar has that keep him awake.  He goes on to seek the council of every wise man, magician, and scholar to try and interpret the dream.  He refuses to tell the dream to anyone of them and requires them to tell him what the dream is and what it means or be put to death (Daniel 2:4-13).  As I was reading this it made me think about my circumstances and situations.  Daniels LIFE was being threatened.  Not his job, or money, but his LIFE!  In verse 17 of chapter 2 Daniel goes back to the house to inform Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach), and Azariah (Abed-nego) of the Kings decree.  They went before the Lord and He revealed the dream and meaning to them which then Daniel went to the king and told him what God had said.

After that they lifted praises to the Lord for His goodness.  This passage encouraged me to remember that God is so much bigger than any situation we face.  Daniel faced death several times as well as Shad., Mesh., and Aded.  Each time God kept them safe and showed His power because these people stood on the fact that God is God!

Let me encourage you today to speak to the things that seem larger than life!  Even though we may not understand or see what God is doing or how He will break through, speak His goodness and faithfulness over that situation. "Lean not on your own understanding, but acknowledge Me and I will direct your path." Such an amazing promise!  Seek His wisdom in your situation and declare that HE has the control over your situations, not the world!  OUR GOD HAS NO LIMITS AND IS NOT CONTROLLED BUT CONTROLS!

Be Blessed today!
Love you all!

- Josh Lambert, Altars Band

You are a voice!

Recently, Altars Band was asked to be a part of the "Sound of the Now Generation" conference in Greer, SC.  We led worship for the weekend along with House of Prayer and members of AWC (from South Africa).  We had an amazing, life-changing, earth-shaking encounter with God!  Many profound and prophetic words came forth but maybe the biggest for us was the word given to Altars Band.  We received a word from the Lord that we were called to go to the nations and release an "Apostolic" sound!  This is not a common term or calling in music but it is a HIGH calling.  We are called to go and set up and play unto the Lord and release HIS praise, not ours, but HIS through us!  WOW!  This was all very heavy to me and I was praying through what this really meant.  The weekend after we were asked to come and play at an outdoor worship night in the nearby city of Clayton, NC.  God revealed what he meant in a BIG WAY!


We were scheduled to join several other area bands/worship teams from around the area.  We were  scheduled to close out the night.  The day was awesome with lots of great bands, the best being the bluegrass band which was Pastor Jay's FAVORITE! Haha HUGE exaggeration!  Great band none the less.  Throughout the day I was praying asking God what He wanted to release in the city and say to the people.  There was never a clear answer but I knew that He had BIG plans for this city and the people in it.  Our time came to close out the night and we all prayed and took the freezing cold stage.  We started the night with some good ol' fast songs, mainly to get some blood flowing to keep from getting frostbite.  About 20 minutes into the set, while singing "How He loves us", I heard the Lord say, "THAT is what I want my people to declare over this city! I LOVE THEM"! WHOA!! Let me tell you there is NOTHING like hearing the voice of the Father!  I repeated to everyone outside in the square what the Lord had said.  I also felt the Lord wanted us to walk to the edge of all four corners of the square and declare and sing over passers by and the whole city that "God Loves YOU!".  People scattered to all parts of the square and began to sing, declare, and bless the city.  The most amazing thing to see were the young people and the youth stepping out in faith, maybe not even realizing what they were doing, and reaching out theirs arms and hands, weeping, and blessing the city.  Yelling at the top of their lungs "HE LOVES YOU"!  People were driving by with windows rolled down only to be hit in the face by the screams and blessings of many generations and whether they realized it or not the very real presence of God!  This went on for some time and we came back together and declared corporately that "God is the God of THIS city".  We all walked away from the evening changed forever and we KNEW that God's will had been done and we had released His heart over the city.


This past Sunday Pastor Patrick, from Life Community Church in Clayton, joined us at our church for a luncheon.  Pastor Patrick was one of the visionaries for the event.  He began to share a few testimonies from the outreach.  He told us that there was a gentleman who that very night was evicted from his aprtment and had no place to go.  He HEARD the music from more than a mile away and followed the sound to the square where we were worshiping.  He walked all the way to the front row and just sat in the presence of the Almighty, not even knowing what was happening!  God ministered to the man and his life was touched.  He proceeded to tell us that there was another couple in his church that was not able to make it to the event.  He saw them at church the next day and said, "We missed you guys last night."  They responded to Pastor Pat with, "We didn't miss a thing.  We were five blocks away and heard the whole thing." 

THAT is the power and goodness of our God!  We are all called to release a sound somewhere.  I pray that this story encourages you!  NEVER think that your one voice cannot impact where you are.  Release blessings wherever you are and speak life to everything and everyone around you.  Be a part of what God is doing in the earth.  You ARE a part of the "Sound of the now Generation"!!

Love you all!

Josh Lambert and Altars Band