Let’s say you have cancer and you die because of it. If I was a doctor and I just gave you a cure for your disease, you would be a cured dead man. Now let’s say I did the opposite, meaning I just raise you from the dead without curing your disease, you would eventually find yourself dead again because the disease hasn’t be taken care of. Jesus came to cure our disease (which was sin…dealt with on the cross) and also restore life (which was dealt with at His resurrection). If there is no resurrection, we become beneficiaries of forgiveness, but we do not receive life to enable us to experience it. Let’s look at a few other significances of the bodily resurrection of Christ.

- it validates numerous O.T. and N.T. prophecies (Luke 24:19-27; Ps 16:10; Acts 2:24-35)

- demonstrates the deity of Christ and God’s approval of His redemptive work (Romans 1:4; Eph. 1:!8-21)

- comprises the central message of the Gospel (1 Cor 15:2-4; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 2:24; 4:8-11)

- the resurrection enables believers to live in the power of Jesus and not sin (Romans 6:4-12; 8:9-12; Phil 3:10-11)

- and according to 1 Cor 15 it:

1) assures us Christ is alive 2) preaching the gospel is not wasted effort 3) our faith is not in vain or worthless 4) we are not giving false testimony 5) we are not still dead in our sins 6) sin and death have been defeated 7) we will also be bodily resurrected and have a glorified body like Jesus.

We got Saved With Amazing Grace!!!!!

I pray that you continue to keep the main thing the main thing on this lovely day. Remember Jesus Christ is the firstfruits from among the dead. Happy Firstfruits Sunday or Happy Resurrection

Many of us have faced our giants and moved beyond the obstacle that face us, but we have become stagnant thinking we have arrived, yet we have not reached the goal by which we set out to ascertain. We must Spring Forward and focus our attention on that which lies ahead. Notice Paul says “…forgetting what lies behind and reaching (springing) forward to what lies ahead” (3:13). Springing forward, or reaching forward, translates as stretching a muscle to its limitations to reach a goal. One of my favorite movies “Rocky 4″ said it best “no pain no gain” therefore we must push ourselves to the limit to reach the goal, because ultimately we are trying to make the Lord famous with our goals and aspirations. So as we Spring Forward naturally, I pray that you use this time as a reminder to Spring Forward in your pursuit of the prize.

The young shepherd boy David was also faced with a giant in the path of him becoming king. In the 16th chapter of 1 Samuel David was anointed as king. He had a positional blessing that wasn’t manifested in practice yet, or better yet he was anointed for something and had not yet walked in it.  Many of us also have things that God has anointed us for, but we have not yet seen the fulfillment of them. In order to not over spiritualize this statement, let’s simply say that there are some dreams and goals that we see but for whatever reason there is something blocking you from reaching them. In fact there are some things in your life that you are trying to accomplish that no one else can or will accomplish. Look at Saul as an example, it is worthy to note that Saul, whose height was emphasized earlier in the text as being “from the shoulders up there was no man found taller” (1 Sam 9:2) and yet was not found courageous enough to accept the challenge to slay the giant. Many of you reading this find yourself in a similar position, for you are a trail blazer to break the cycle of illiteracy, the cycle of entitlement, the cycle of not pursuing your dreams. You may not stand as tall as Saul or others in your family, circle, community, etc but you are brave enough to pursue those dreams and slay the giant.

This year it is my prayer that you see the incredible potential inside of you. I remember as a 1st year college student reading Myles Munroe’s books on Potential and to summarize, he states that potential is places you have not gone that you can go, dreams you have not dreamed that you can dream, or things you can do that you have yet to do. In 2012 remember the only way to eat an elephant is to take one bite at a time, the only way to climb a mountain is to take one step at a time, the only way to drive a stick shift is to change one gear at a time, and the only way to slay a giant is to make a decision to face it. Don’t be one of the 10 spies (Numbers 13) who saw the giants in Canaan and “saw themselves” as grasshoppers in the giants’ sight, but see yourself as the only 2 spies that saw themselves as over comers. Notice, the 10 spies came back and saw themselves as grasshoppers in the sight of the giants – how often do you assume how someone else sees you? How often do you allow others to detour you? David looked at the uncircumcised giant as opposition and saw him as so big he couldn’t miss.

One last lesson I would like to emphasize in this passage. Before David faced the giant, Saul interviews him and in many ways has similarities to Goliath. Saul is found placing His trust in his military experience and strong armor (1 Sam 17: 31-40) yet he lacked the courage to stand up to Goliath. After hearing the resume of David, Saul agrees to let this young boy go fight a grown man’s battle. Saul places his armor on David and the young boy could barely move. Oftentimes people place on you pressures, expectations, and other things that they themselves couldn’t even fulfill. We have to remove those things and fight the battle God gives us the way He wired us to fight it. As God spoke to Moses, “what is that in your hand?” (Ex 4:2), he could be symbolically speaking to us “what is that in your hand?” “What have I placed in you?” As John C Maxwell puts it “keep moving forward on the journey, making the best of the detours and interruptions, turning adversity into advantage.” Begin to tell your giant of low self-esteem, giant of low math skills, giant of poverty, etc that “Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head.” Overcoming your giant on the path to your dreams and goals being fulfilled can be an incredible witness to the world of who your God is. One writer stated that “David’s conquest over Goliath revealed the power that one faithful man could possess—the man with the kind of heart God looked for (13:14; 16:7)”

What is your dream? What are you praying to accomplish this year? Pursue your passion! Ask yourself, why not me? Why not today? – SE7EN

A) ABSORB

When I speak of absorbing I am speaking of engaging the audience. Engaging an audience can come from a lot of ways, we would call this Contextualization. Carefully select songs, ask God for wisdom on what songs or outfits to choose, etc. Whenever I mime I am always seeking to engage my audience with my movements, expressions, and song choices.

B) BEING

When I am talking about being, I am speaking about your stage presence. Whenever you are before people dancing, miming, etc it is important that you utilize the entire stage. One of the ways you can engage your audience is to speak to them directly, and that can be accomplished by making eye contact with as many as possible. Also, it is important to be center stage but also venture to stage left, right, etc. By doing this, you are affording everyone an opportunity to see you at every angle and you command the attention of your audience.

C) CHOOSE

It is important to choose your songs wisely. 1) You can choose a song that excites an audience just from the first words (familiarity) and lessens the work you need to get the story to climax. 2) A good mime song should be able to extract a story from it easily. 3) Song Length: Know your audience again. I have a song I minister to occasionally that is 8 1/2 minutes long. I have to know my audience to know whether they can handle a song of such length or if I need to shorten it (and I shorten it professionally). I also need to know if I am able to mime something that long. Another thing I try to do when I go places to mime, I try to expose them to other genres. If I go to a church that is predominantly Gospel in orientation, I will mime a gospel song and then bring in a contemporary one (and vice versa).

D) DECLARE

For the purpose of synchronization I decided to make declare the 4th tip, or Tell a story. It is highly important that a mime presentation takes an audience through a story of some sort. Many up and coming mimes think that miming is all about “pop locking” or creative dancing, however it is vastly more than that. A mime should be able to tell an effective story, which leads people on a journey and has a destination.

E) EXPRESS

One of the reasons why I “HATE” mime mask (the mask that has one expression – only a few reasons why you would use it), is because a mime cannot adequately mime. One of the things that make my miming effective, is because I think BIG when it comes to expressions. I want my expressions and movements to DECLARE something to my audience. It is my desire to make my audience feel the expression and believe that I have become the character in the story.

F) FLOW

For a number of reasons I don’t normally reveal my pre-mime procedures. However, what I will disclose to you is that I DRENCH myself with a song (literally will play it over and over and over and over until the song is in me). I go into a mime presentation with an idea and select movements to choose from, but I personally allow the moment, the dialogue (between audience and myself) and “Spirit of God” (don’t think I am trying to be super spiritual on that one, lol) to dictate how I flow during a mime presentation.

G) G Phi G (Glorify God)

Ultimately, in all that we do, say, or mime should be in efforts to give glory to God. I want each mime presentation to introduce people to my God, touch their hearts to get closer to Him, or recommend Him to their situation or problem.

If you would like a mime workshop, seminary, etc for you, your ministry, etc feel free to contact me by submitting a booking request (under contact) or email. Grace and Peace!!!!

Just as we celebrate our servicemen for their sacrificial acts, we celebrate daily our Lord and Savior for his sacrificial death that spans broader and deeper than national and natural freedom. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice.

His sacrificial death was holistically voluntary. Among many who gave their lives up in our country, most gave it voluntarily. Although many gave their lives for their comrads while in foxholes and many volunteered for military duty, there have been times in our history where people have been drafted. However, Jesus’ life was not taken from him, but rather He gave it up freely. Notice these four points:

[1] No one could take His life (John 19:7-12) [2] He would lay it down Himself (Matt 27:50) [3] He had full authority to lay it down (Matt 26:53, 54) [4] This was all according to the plan of God

His sacrificial death was holistically vicarious. Jesus took the place for you and I; He vicarious suffered for us. Scripture says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). My father always calls this passage the great exchange.

His sacrificial death was holistically victorious. There have been those in our history who have given their lives for the freedom of individuals in our nation, yet not always through the history of our nation have all individuals experienced those freedoms. Jesus uttered three emphatic words, “It is finished.” The entire work of redemption had been brought to completion, it had been paid in full. As a result all that would place “saving faith” in Jesus would experience the victory in Him. Because

1) Jesus paid the sin debt in full (John 19:30)

2) He rose from the dead three days later (Acts. 2:23)

3) He is coming back some day as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Heb. 9:27-28)

Thus, we remember those who have fallen serving our country on Memorial day, however everyday we remember Jesus who died, was buried, and rose again with all power in His hand also on Memorial day and every other day alike.

When God saw man before the completion of the sixth day and creation of woman, He announced it was not good for man to be alone. Though God saw His creation good and even very good, yet in viewing the state of man God pronounced it was not good. This pointed to the inadequacy of man; he was incomplete without someone to properly complement him. Notice a few observations:

1) At this point there is no sin
2) God and man have perfect communion, yet
3) God told man, that being alone was not good.

Now I know exegetically this passage is speaking about the marriage covenant, but I can hear the singles shouting right now…”Thank you Jesus…it is not good being alone.” This world has everything catered toward couples. As much as we tell people to trust in God, it is possible that there is a void that 1) only God can fill and 2) only humans can fill. My point in writing this blog is not to focus on marriage per se, but to focus on the value of human relationships. In the book DNA of Relationships, Gary Smalley says, “you were made for relationships.” We have relationships of all kinds; family, friends, co-workers, etc. The secular world gather at stadiums, Starbucks, and on the strip to feel connected. Yet many within the body of Christ are disconnected. We live in a society full of mass vehicles of communications yet we communicate less and less. We have become dislocated body parts. I believe that we must continue to develop a community. The writer of Hebrews urges us to not forsake our gathering together, for when we fellowship we provoke each other to love and good deeds. (Heb 10:24-25).

I once read that “the church is where authentic community can take place.” If you really think about it, hardly anyone really wants to be isolated, in fact even those who live in rural areas find themselves meeting with people on some level. Why is this? We were made for relationships. We cannot escape it! No one just appears on earth; it takes all sorts of relationships for you to come into existence. Many of you who are reading this blog have found yourself becoming an isolationist, and those who fall into this rut are thieves. Yes you are a thief, because you are robbing our generation of the gifts and talents deposited in you. Can you imagine the cure for cancer either walks on this Earth or lays in a grave? Many live and die without serving our generation and in many graves lies the various cures, musicians, prolific thinkers, etc. The bible says about David that after he served his generation well he fell asleep (Acts 13:36).

Not even plants can grow unless in the midst of soil. Where is your good soil? Where are you planted? Who is in your community? The writer of Hebrews says, “let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Notice that this passage is written to a group, or community of Hebrew Christians whose attraction to Christ was in danger of eroding. For they were considering reverting back to the Levitical system of Judaism to avoid the persecution of following Solus Christus (Christ Alone). Therefore mutual encouragement for them was vital for full commitment. The writer says, “stir up” which evokes inciting someone to something, such as love and good works. Lastly, the writer said to not forsake the assembling because corporate worship is imperative to our spiritual life. Notice the passage says “and the more as we see the day approaching”. One of the master thinkers of our time is a guy name Francis Shaeffer, who wrote one of my favorite books A Christian Manifesto. Profound. In his book he says, “our relationship with each other is the criterion the world uses to judge whether our message is truthful for Christian community is the final apologetic.”

Remember it is easier for a predator to prey on a sheep separated from the flock. Easier for the wind to knock down a tree alone. There is always strength in numbers. So whether you are married or single, remember God wants you to be among others, so that you can be provoked and provoke others to love and good deeds. All that God has placed in your life is for the benefit of the entire church, not just for your life. SE7EN!

1) God loves a cheerful giver

Whomever God loves, He looks after. For God so loved the world, He looked after us by providing His only son (John 3:16). Because God looks after those He loves, the cheerful giver has nothing to worry (Matt. 6:33). David wrote in the Psalms that the Lord delivers out of trouble, them that give to the poor (Ps. 41:1-3) Also note that the harvest is directly proportionate to the seed sown. “When a generous believer gives by faith and trust in God, with a desire to produce the greatest possible blessing, that person will receive that kind of a harvest of blessing” (John Macarthur, 2005).

2) God gives seed to the sower

I absolutely love this verse and think many people look right over it. Notice what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:10

“Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.”

The verse enlightens the reader that the sower receives more seed to sow. This should help us in our thinking; that rather than waiting to become a millionaire to give, we should become Secret Millionaires in our own right. As a former struggling college student, I know all to well the importance of financial assistance. I would absolutely love to walk into a bursar’s office and put money towards a deserving student’s financial account, or assist a struggling family with bills, food, etc. But why do we have to dream big and stop at reality? Why not dream big and work our way to the desired reality. If it is our desire to become secret millionaires, we should start today as secret millionaires and begin to sow bountiful seeds that will one day produce bountiful harvest. Remember God gives seed to the sower, which is the individual who is known by his sowing, thus continuing the cyclical effects; the more we give the more God will enable us to give.

Application

Our gifts should be given liberally (Rom. 12:6-8), cheerfully (2 Cor. 9:6) and purposefully (2 Cor. 9:7), because as we continue to read in 2 corinthians 9, our giving produces thanksgiving and glory to God (2 Cor 9:11-15) and increases the fruits of our righteousness (2 Corinthians 9:10b). Not everyone has the treasures to give away, but we can all give either time or talent. You may not be able to give to support a student’s tuition bill, but you may be able to buy a textbook or two. You may not be able to pay a church member’s bill, but you may have the income to buy a week’s worth of groceries. You may not even be able to give financially, but you have skills, trades, or talents to assist in something for someone. My Father used to always teach giving according to your faith and watch how God increases the level of your faith and resources. Thus, I encourage you to start where ever you are able to give cheerfully and over time your seeds will become bigger and bigger. Remember, “God is able to make ALL grace ABOUND to you, so that having ALL sufficiency in ALL things at ALL times, you may ABOUND in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).

To know me is to know I am creative, or at least I strive to be creative in all that I do. I have in fact adopted a titled for myself: Creative Presenter. Simply put a creative presenter is someone who seeks to present things creatively. Creativity is seeing more solutions than problems, yet, creativity is hard work and requires diligence. I have spent an entire lifetime brainstorming new ways to look at things or do things, however, even I sometimes struggle with creativity. I have found a few simple ABCs to aid in my creativity process. Prayerfully these will aid in your process also.

A) Arouse Questions

When planning events or thinking of new ways of doing things, I often times encourage myself as well as those around me to poke holes in the boat, or arouse questions. My philosophy is we must always challenge the process. Someone once said, “if it’s not broke then don’t fix it” but why not re-train yourself to think “if its not broke, break it and build it back up again”. This is the difference between a quick life span or lengthen one. I once learned from reading Advanced Strategic Planning by Aubrey Malphurs that everything has a 1) Birth 2) Growth 3) Plateau 4) Decline and 5) Death. Thus, it is imperative to create a new beginning before that idea, vision, or event plateaus and eventually begins to decline and die.

B) Break Some Rules

I have heard all my life that creative people think outside the box, but I would like to submit to you that truly creative people not only think within the box, but find ways to use the outside of the box to accomplish their purposes. The box can often times represent limitations, negativity, or other things that seek to hinder us; to that I say burst forth. But in this case the box represent rules and they are meant to be learned and followed. However, in some cases those who have experienced great successes have known the rules and for dramatic presentation broke them for emphasis. Broaden Your Horizon. Read. Learn. Discover. Execute.

C) Chop it up with Crea-ples

CREA-ples? I had been waiting to unveil this compound word until now. A Crea-ple is a person who is creative, or better put creative people. What I have learned in my life is hanging with other crea-ples have done wonders in my creativity process. Some of my best poetry was written when my childhood best friend (Deyrone) and I where writing and talking. Some of my best step routines where done with others who were stepping. Some of my best mime ideas where created by watching other people, and some of my best apologetic responses birth from chopping it up with the crew weekly via conference call. I constantly look at things from an approach of 1) what was done well (keep it) and 2) what was done poorly (improve it). I have also found to be true, some of the best crea-ples in this world are young people (especially 9 and under). Children’s minds are not bound by the risk, rules, and or results. They simply create. Spend more time with crea-ples, they just might be your own kids.

D) Develop Salubrious Settings

Charlie Bower once said, “A New idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man’s brow.” I am grateful that I have had people in my life to always push me. My number one love language is words of affirmation. Words from the right person can kill me or excite me. I remember hearing my father and/or mother telling me they loved me or thought highly of my accomplishments and they literally strengthen me to go forward. To this day, when my father tells me how proud he is of me, I shed invisible tears of satisfaction. I know all to well about developing an environment promoting healthy creativity. Thus, I am very cautious of who I allow into my inner circle, because I have to Eliminate Exterminators!

E) Eliminate Exterminators

Although the words from a few individuals could wound me deeply, I have learned how to eliminate exterminators who seek to devalue creativity and me. I fight hard to prove people wrong in so many aspects. One of my favorite poems is Somebody Said that it Couldn’t Be Done, because it seems to describe me. When someone says it can’t be done, I buckle up! I chuckle! I reply! A few exterminators that I have discovered are 1) noise {nay-sayers} 2) pressure {deadlines or pressure from others to do something} 3) multi tasking {ADHD, lol} 4) procrastination {many times this is a fear of the unknown, failure, or rejection} 5) self-esteem {thinking you are not good enough} 6) lexus trap {thinking you have to have the money in place before you begin. In that case I would have never created P.H.A.T.B.O.Y.}

My ultimate point in presenting this blog is not to be an exhaustive account on creativity, but to challenge you to become more creative. For as we saw earlier, “Creativity is the joy of not knowing it all” but excitement in the discovery process. Become a CREA-PLE today! SE7EN!!!

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