Summer Heat

I jumped in the car and the temperature outside read 87.  Rain was on the horizon and I headed home.  As I stopped at the store to pick up a few things, a scant 15 miles away, the temperature read 76.  Coming back outside it was noticeably different and the rain had started, so I climbed back in my car and continued on home, it was then I began to watch as the temperature gauge begain falling, 70, 68, 67, 65, 63.....in 15 miles and about 15 minutes the temperature had gone from 87 to 63.  Refreshing rain and coolness that took away the oppressive heat of summer only took a few minutes to come and change the atmosphere where we lived and worked. 
This is how the Spirit moves, in a moment He moves in and brings us a cool breeze of refreshing in the midst of our atmosphere when things are hot and heavy.  He brings the rain.  There's no greater time than now to experience the rain of the Spirit, in a country that is heavy with debt, disease, environmental catastrophes, political upheaval and employment woes, we need the rain.   
Lord Let it rain!

Halftime Ain't for Relaxing

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of listening to my friend Tony Brock, Pastor of Hope and Life Fellowship in Atlanta talk about halftime. The premise was that we were at the halfway point of the year and God was going to do even greater things during this latter half. A great word for a great season we are launching into and of course being a pastor myself I had to take his topic and work it out for us here in Castle Rock! Little did I know what would await us.

God gave me a word, which you can find here. The basic premise though was that Halftime is for re-committing to the win. The reality is that during halftime not only are you figuring out your strategy to get the win, but the enemy on the other side is as well. We came out of halftime with a huge win by breaking an attendance barrier, graduating our largest membership class and baptising our largest number in any service!
We followed that up with a second largest service the following week, but at a cost. The enemy is a liar and let me tell you he has not given us a moment to second guess the reality of what God is doing in our fellowship. He has let loose a volley and is picking away at the chinks in the armor of our family where he can. My response is not here, not now and no way!
In the middle of the summer sting we realize that now is not the time to cower in fear, to separate from the family or to run from the enemy. We stand our ground, we put on our armor and we move forward and advance toward the goal.