Wow!  The services have been great, and getting better each week.  This past week was intense, we started on Friday with our annual men’s conference that was for The Rock Church, (we didn’t have any other churches involved for this one).  It was the “Passion for His Presence” theme, and from Friday night to Sunday morning we saw a change in our men during worship.  In the second service there were men on their knees at the altar giving all of their heart in worship!  The Presence of the Lord is more intense and recognizable by all!  Souls are coming into the Kingdom, healings, restorations, refreshing times, and people getting set free from past issues that were keeping them from moving forward with God.  The Praise Team has stepped it up a couple of notches and you can feel it in the atmosphere… things are up and getting up, good and gettin’ better at The Rock Church and we give all Glory and Honor to Jesus Christ for His mercy and grace upon us!

RB

Have you ever considered what other people think about, or say about you from their “point of view?”  What if their opinion of you were compared with someone who you didn’t want to be compared to, would it bother you a little?  Would that point of view motivate you to want to change because you didn’t really want to be compared to that person?  Galatians 6:14-17 Paul encourages us to lay aside all of our religious practices that avoid the reality of the Cross.  He says what is most important is becoming a “new creature” through the work of Christ on the Cross.  Then he concludes with “as many as walk [live] according to this “rule” will experience peace and mercy in their new walk.

 Any initiative requires a “new metric” to guage the progress by.  If you got a promotion on your job, a new metric would replace the old one.  A metric is implying a new set of rules or guidelines, or a standard to measure by.  Paul used the word “rule” which is from a word in greek, “kanown” or in english the word is canon.  We know that canon is the canon of scripture, and Paul the apostle who didn’t walk personally with Christ is referring to this fulfilled scripture that guides him in his new walk of life.  Jesus is the “metric” for the new believer! 

What are some of the “rules” we need to adopt to have a successful journey on earth?  Well a few of them are the rules that Jesus taught and lived.  To name some of them we’ll start with the rule of Love, then Submission, and Truth, followed by Faith, and Righteousness with a Giving heart.  Just to name a few important life changing “rules” we can learn to live by, that if we’ll use the metric of Jesus as our guide, we can certainly change the Point of View that others have of us into a whole new “point of you!”

Keeping it pure,

RB

It’s one thing to simply say “my hands are blessed” but a whole other subject to know why my hands are blessed.  What do I mean by blessed hands?  Well I remember an old song we used to sing and it went something like this, “my hands are blessed with the blessings of God, and anything I touch surely must be blessed…my hands are filled with the blessing of God.”  Singing, and saying that in church was one thing, but applying it in everyday “realtime” was another.  Before I proceed let me ask you something, what do you do with your hands everyday?  What represents the things you have aquired in life by the use of your hands?  For instance, is your house a product of your hands?  Absolutely because your home represents what you work to pay for doesn’t it?  So it is something that you lay your hands to!

Deuteronomy 28:8 is a promise of God to His covenant people and He says, “…I will bless everything you put your hands to…” and that in any land you go to possess!  The work of your hands involves so much of your life that you probably don’t realize how much this scripture covers.  Your job, your home, you marriage, your vehicles, your body, etc…  In fact the devil even knows that truth and when he went before God in the book of Job, he said to God, “you’ve blessed everything that Job has set his hands to and I can’t touch him or those blessed things!”  Wow that’s exciting to me how about you?   So start recognizing those things that represent the work of your hands, and bless them so the curse of the fall cannot destroy them! 

All of God’s promises represent a covenant that He has made for us as human’s living on the earth yet we represent heaven.  So lay hold of the blessings that God has a covenant with you for, and realize He has made a covenant that involves “your hands!”

Be encouraged,

RB

“The just shall remain alive by faith.”  God is moving among His Church and in doing so people are being restored in their lives.  Health is springing forth, wealth is being transfered from the wicked, victories are mounting up!  I’m so excited about what’s happening because you hear so many “bad reports” all the time.  But there are some great testimonies beginning to break into the Rock Church as one part of the ”household of faith.”    Don’t miss out!

 The best is yet to come!

RB

How many people would agree that they would love to experience, and have God’s best for their lives?  I would say that 100% would say yes to that if they only knew what it was!  Most people would answer the question of “what is God’s best?,” as Heaven.  But what about now on earth, is there a best?  How can I connect to it?  When I travelled oversea’s and as I walked throught an airport I noticed a sign down one of the corridors.  The sign invited you in by saying “Connect to the world, come on in.”  I went into the place, and they were offering free internet access to connect to your world.  I was able to sit in another time zone, a whole day behind the USA and I could find out what was happening when I arrived home the next day!  Ahead of time, and it blew me away!  That’s kind of what I’m talking about, you can find out “ahead of time” what God’s best plan is for your life… it’s called His “purpose.”

When you think about purpose, and maybe look it up in your concordance you’ll find it listed many times, but one stands out the most and that is Romans 8:28.  “And we know that all things work together for good to them who love God, and are called according to His PURPOSE.”  This word in this verse gives us the key to this teaching.  It would define as “an advance plan set before the face of, in full view.”  A proper modern translation would show us that God, who knows the end from the beginning, has a plan for you “before” you became part of his family through Jesus Christ.  It would parse out as, “We should know that God has put all things in place and works them together for His good purpose for those who love and accept the call to follow His plan.”  If you read verse 29 it tells you that He wants you, and predetermined by His foreknowledge, your destiny in Christ!  How awesome is that?  So how does that work for me you might ask, well it’s simple you can know that God is not waiting on you to get to heaven and allowing you to suffer on earth, but is here working things out ahead of time for you to be blessed from “beginning to end!” 

God doesn’t use bad to teach us good.  He has a plan to show you how to overturn, and overcome the bad.  He gave us His Word to produce our faith and uses that as our strength to defeat the enemies of this world.  Some people use Romans 8:28 as a “scapegoat” for faith malfunctions.  They’ll be going through something bad and quote this verse as though our Good God is training His children by allowing them to suffer through hardship!  But this verse declares that to God all things [that He uses] are good and He’s putting all the “ingredients” in place for those who love Him.  Like baking a cake, you could eat all the ingredients individually and it would be disgusting.  Eat a tablespoon of cooking oil, then a half stick of butter, and then some raw eggs, followed by a cup of raw flour… that don’t sound too good does it.  [That’s kind of what we do when we try to put His plan together on our own!  Without faith…]  But when you put all that “together” (kind of what God does for your life - He knows the best for you), you get a great cake and then you can put the finishing touches, the icing!  To God all things are good, and He uses those good things [here on earth] that inhance your life and all you have to do is “connect” to him and He’ll show the world His finished work and your life is the “screen” they’ll watch it on!

A great example is Joseph in your Bible.  Joseph had been given God’s plan for his life to fulfill God’s purpose.  God showed it to him in a dream.  He shared the news with his brothers and they threw him in a pit!  (Not exactly what Joseph thought it would look like, so he kept his eyes on God!)  Then he was found and brought to the bakery, then the palace of Potipher, then Potipher’s wife accused him falsley and he wound up in PRISON?  Not exactly the best God had shown him but he kept the faith.  Then he went from the prison to the throne over all of the world in that day and Genesis 50 tells the testimony.  He fulfilled God’s best by saving “much people alive.”  [Genesis 50:18-19]  But it all began with the promise, but then to the pit, to the palace, to the prison, then the throne!  God was with him “all the way through” until Joseph fulfilled God’s purpose. 

Am I saying that there’ll never be challenges when I’m following God’s plan?  No, I’m saying you can know that there is His best as He promised, and you’ll learn how to minimize those “faith malfunctions” so you can claim the promises, keep the faith and fulfill God’s best, HIS PURPOSE! 

Blessings,

RB

I love to visit Destin Florida on a regular basis.  When we are getting close to our exit from the Interstate, we cross the Escambia Bay bridge.  This bridge was damaged beyond repair during the Katrina storm in 2005, and it has taken some time to rebuild a new bridge.  I noticed the long “pillings” that are used to “hold up” the new bridge and I began to get curious as to how these pillings function.  I asked a construction engineer and he explained the function of pillings to me.  He said that the pillings have to be driven into the ground until they hit “bedrock” for the solid base to support the weight of the bridge.  If the pillings are not established on the bedrock, then the bridge will eventually collapse from the weight loads placed upon it.

When I compare this to “character” it helps to understand 2 Peter 1:5 which declares, “…add to your faith virtue;” and virtue here means character.  When we realize that there is a spiritual side to faith, we need to also consider that there is a natural, visible side of faith.  The visible is what people see and recognize in our interaction with others because faith is more than just “believing for our prayer request” to be manifest.  In fact, faith is like a “bridge connecting heaven and earth” and there is a point at which the answer arrives on the other side.  Now the faith bridge has “pillings” holding it up and  these are what I will refer to as the “faith support system” or character traits that must be established upon the bedrock of our faith which is Jesus Christ.  I will use 5 “pillings” of character to demonstrate what I’m describing.

The first character pilling is “trustworthiness” and you can better understand this by reading Proverbs 28:20.  The literal translation is “the trustworthy will get a rich reward.  But the person who wants to get rich quick will only get into trouble.”  Trustworthiness is your reputation.  The next one is “respect” and you can find an explaination in Proverbs 13:15, “a person with good character is well respected; and a wicked person walks a rocky road.”  Respect is related to one’s attitude toward themselves and others.  If people do not respect who you are, it may be that you have not earned their respect.  Respect is a big factor in a person’s character so we must treat others with respect to earn respect.  Next we look at “responsibility” as a character support of faith.  Proverbs 24:12 “don’t try to avoid responsibility by saying you don’t know about it.”  Do what you are supposed to do!  It affects our witness to others. 

The last two are “equity” which is fairness.  Proverbs 16:11 declares “the Lord demands fairness in every business deal.”  He is the equal balance for our decisions or “judgements” in our relationships. Then the last pilling is “compassion” which should be our motivation for all that we do.  Seeing the needs of others and taking an action to help.  1 Peter encourages us to “have compassion one to another” and that sums it all up.  Our faith support system is what we are in relation to others and God expects our character to be an outward expression of faith!

Blessings,

RB

I like to look at where something is made whenever I’m deciding on a purchase or researching a product.  Today it seems as though everything has “Made in China” stamped on it.  It also is interesting to see where it’s made and even “how it’s made.”  The process is determined by the one(s) who design it.  As a Christian we have a “designer” and He has determined the process of how it’s made.  And of course we know that to be “made in Christ” is not an assembly line process but it is a very detailed process.

2 Peter 1:2-5 give a very descriptive introduction to what God’s purpose is for Christians, in fact as you read these verses you may find yourself getting excited about what’s in the plan.  For instance, Grace and peace are multiplied through our knowledge of Christ.  The more we learn about Him, the more we experience His Divine power whereby He has given us “all things” necessary for earthly living.  And on top of that the “great and precious promises” that we can “partake” of by His Diving Nature!  And then the understanding that by this that we escape the corruption of the world that once was so important to us.  In other words “lust” is what distracts or turns ones attention from one thing to another.  We need things that the world has, but God through His design gives the believer a way to have those things as our possessions and they are blessed (uncorrupted) when provided for by Him!  Well hopefully your faith is rising and looking toward Him by the time you absorb those first verses but now we come to the “condition” of this truth.

2 Peter 1:5 encourages us to turn our faith completely toward God and His promises so the “process” can begin to “make us in Christ” and produce these great promises through us.  How?  Begin to allow God to change some things on the inside of the believer once faith has been established.  Add to your faith VIRTUE.  Virtue is a word that describes or defines “character.”  Character is “who you are” when nobody else is around.  It’s why you get up and keep going when you’ve been knocked down.  It’s what determines the outcome of your faith!  And our character is formed by His  Divine Nature!  When you look at the account of the woman with an issue of blood who touched Jesus in the crowd and the Bible says that Jesus knowing that “virtue” had gone out of him is the same as saying “who he is, or his character went out of him” and flooded her whole being with Himself!

Most of the time we want all that God has promised, but we just want to “add faith to our character” and have God conform to us.  This will not work now or ever!  We have to begin the process of changing into His character which will require diligence on our part.  We must understand that you can ”cover up” character with ”personality” but remember character is “who you are!”  You don’t define your character, your character defines you!  What are some of the characteristics of Christ that we must learn to conform to? 

• Forgiving nature, where we learn to forgive even our enemies. Jesus teaches in Matthew 18:21-22 to forgive completely and continually!  Then in Matthew 5:44 he takes it to another level of character by saying we have to “love your enemies, bless them who curse you and do good to them who hate you and pray for them who despitefully use you!  Now that takes some doing my friend!  Someone said, “when I forgive someone do I have to hang out with them?”  The answer is no!  Look at what Jesus did to his enemies, the Pharisees, He loved them, forgave them, prayed for them, but he didn’t hang out with them!
• Fearless nature, so we can live in a “scary” world without worry, and fear.  You’ll have to allow His nature to develop this kind of faith through the character he is building in you.  Fear will destroy any faith and it must be taken out of your character.
• Humble nature when we Subdue pride!  God resist the proud who possess the nature of self-sufficiency.  Pride is a product of human nature but God wants it changed by His divine nature.  Pride is the original sin and since then man will try to rely on his own ability to conquer problems.  Look at how Christ completely humbled himself to the Father’s will and never accepted man’s offers, much less satan’s offers!  Faith is simple, yet vulnerable to characteristics that can destroy it.

To be “Made in Christ” is simply a label that every believer needs “tattooed” on them!  The world will take note of the Church when we allow the Holy Spirit to produce His Character in us.  The hope of having all of the promised victories, and dreams accomplished will be possible by allowing God to do his work from within the heart of the believer as we “add His character to our faith!”

Blessings,

RB

Before your “faith journey” begins you’ll always want to make sure you have “planned” well.  We know that the definition of faith is found in the book of Hebrews 11:1.  “Now faith is the substance of things HOPED for, the evidence of things not seen.”  The things you HOPE FOR are the “destinations” of what you want from Faith, or you can say the things you need for your life that God has promised you in His Word.  I use the analogy of planning a flight from a pilot perspective.  The one thing you want to be sure you have working properly is the “compass.”  On every airport there is a place designated for compass calibration or recalibrations.  The airplane is moved onto this spot and a techician calibrates the “accuracy” of the instrument.

Once while I was planning a trip to Camaguay Cuba, I knew I would travel over 180 nautical miles of water from Miami Florida to Camaguay Cuba.  I also was aware that over water you have zero references for ground navigation in case some of your instruments malfunction, so I was compelled to make sure the one instrument that was “accurate” was my compass.  Over the path of my journey there is little navagational help from Cuba because of the lack of technology we’re used to here in the States.  And taking into consideration the fact that Cuba is an island, I wanted to be sure that I was lined up with my destination should anything malfunction along the way.  I’m sure you get the point by now, so I’ll move on.

Of course I’m not talking about planning a trip in the natural, but a spiritual journey of faith that will arrive at a destination if you’ve planned well.  Faith demands “accuracy” when you are believing for an answer and haven’t seen the result manifest as of yet.  The “faith compass” requires accuracy and calibration from time to time because we tend to think that God overlooks some of the area’s we do not think are important.  The book of 1 Peter helps us to “calibrate” our faith compass of morals, as well as ethical practices.  It says in 1 Peter 1:25 that, “the word of the Lord endureth for ever.”  That means we can trust it for accuracy.  Then it goes on to 1 Peter 2:1-3 and helps us to get to that “place,” (the Word), so we can be sure we are calibrated properly, or make the necessary adjustments to allow accuracy for our journey.

These 5 area’s are very important if they have been overlooked in our character and should be given attention before we begin our quest for the “things we hope for” from the promises of God.  First, we see “malice” as a variance to adjust if we have it in our heart.  Malice is simply “ill will” or “desire to see someone injured.”  This is common when we have had our feelings hurt in a relationship and it will affect our faith.  Then, we see “guile” as a factor to recognize which is “deceit.”  We should never be deceptive in a relationship if we want our faith to be acceptable by God.  Next we see “hypocrisies” as a contention which is “play acting” or “role playing” and pretending to be what you are not.  Lastly, “envy” and “evil speakings” are mentioned as hinderences to receiving God’s grace. 

If you begin a faith journey leaving these kind of things uncheck and do not “recalibrate” your faith you may find yourself “off course” and miss God’s best all together.  Make sure you are aware of these area’s before you pray and believe for your need to be fulfilled by God’s promises.

If there were one person that you could be like, or you would want to be like, who is alive today, who would it be and why would you want to be like them?  I recently talked to a friend of mine and in our conversation I asked him about someone we both know.  He began to fill me in on this mutual friend and he made the comment, “man, I’d love to be like him!”  Another friend was saying something about Brett Farve retiring and how he would love to “be in Brett’s shoes.”  Sometimes people will reveal who their “role models” are without even asking that question.

As a Christian we would probably all say we want to be like Jesus, but who do you know that would be most like Him?  We really want the LIFE that Jesus came to provide for us and we know that means to be like Him we must spend time with Him.  We want our lives to “count for something.”  As John 10:10 says, Jesus came to give us LIFE, and to give it to us “more abundantly.”  By using the acronym of the letters in “life” we’ll try to express this lifestyle.

First is what Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 5, “ye are the LIGHT of the world.”  To support that in Ephesians 5 Paul encourages the church to “walk as children of LIGHT.”  So how does that help me to understand my part?  Well there are three simple truths about light that I can apply to my life, such as light is “unchangeable,” and next light is “unaffected by conditions,” and “natural life depends on light to exist!”  If you combine all of those facts and relate them to our life it would simply be “always be consistent” in life.  Conduct yourself as a child of light everyday, whether at home, or work, or CHURCH!

Then the next letter would be “INHERITANCE.”  Ephesians 1:18 says we have an inheritance in us through Christ.  That inheritance needs to be “seen” by the world that we are “joint heirs” with Christ.  Next would be “FAITHFUL” as a believer.  We should be trustworthy, reliable, truthful with one another, honest, and dependable.  We want all that God has for us and we need to look at Matthew 24:45-47 and we’ll see that to make our life count God is looking for faithfulness!  Lastly, we should strive to be an “EXAMPLE” to all.  1 Peter 5:3 gives us this truth and we need to apply it in order to fulfill the life given by Christ to His Church.  We all want our lives to count for something and God wants it to count for something because He paid the ultimate price for us to have it more abundantly.  I hope this blesses you as it has blessed me.  We have a whole series of messages on the subject if you would like to get the full revelation of it, contact the church and we’ll send it to you.  Have a great day!

A Fully Developed Life

Do you remember those “old” cameras that you put film in?  The shutter would open and an image would be impressed onto the film.  Then to bring out the “picture” you had to have the film developed so everyone could enjoy the picture.  The development required a process by a skilled craftsman.  That brings us to my subject of John 10:10 when Jesus taught, “…I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”  The word “life” is from the Greek word “Zoë” which describes the life of God that He develops in the person who is yielded to Him by accepting Christ and going through the process!

The process is simple and we’ll use the acronym “L-I-F-E” again.  First we would begin with 2 Timothy 2:15 and the key is to “LEARN” what the word says about every area of our lives.  We would do this by “rightly dividing” the word.  The Word of God gives us wisdom for all areas such as our physical, mental, emotional, and financial lives as well as our marriage, child rearing, and everything in between.  Then we would “IMPROVE” our lives by “applying” what the scripture teaches us concerning the areas to be developed.  Next, we would “FOLLOW” the principles we learned until we were “fully developed” and the image is clearly seen by all.  And finally we would enjoy this new way of life and it would best be described as “ELEVATED” because it is a higher life.  Higher in quality, and higher in quantity! 

A fully developed life is not out of reach to those who will apply this simple process.  Jesus has come to give us the example of a “Zoë” God-Kind of life, and that life more abundantly!  That’s exciting and possible for all today.  Don’t allow anything to steal it from you, the Lord wants you to have it, the world needs to view it, and God will get the glory from it!  Jodi and I as well as The Rock Church would love to see your “life fully developed.”  Be blessed!