This morning I was up and on the beach at 6AM.  I was sitting in a chair, at the edge of the water, where the waves were sweeping by my feet.  The water was warm, the day was breaking, the salty sea mist was blowing, and my Bible was open to Proverbs chapter 25. I was praying and having my quiet time begging the Lord to speak to me and give me wisdom and guidance while I was starring at the vastness of the ocean and the baby blue sky on the horizon.  As I started reading, God used verse two to speak to me but after I read verse three my attention was drawn towards the East, as I glanced at this tiny red arch in the sky. There it was…a beautiful sunrise right before my eyes.  In Eastern, KY you do not get to see the sunrise over the horizon.  You see it coming up over a mountain or a hill but by the time the sun is up, it is to bright to look at it directly. I was in awe of the beauty of this sunrise that God was orchestrating right before my eyes. During that time I re-read verse 3.  It says, “No one can comprehend the height of the heaven, the depth of the earth…“.  Wow!  Can you believe that God was showing off His creation as I was gazing at the sunrise while glancing over the ocean thinking, “man, what a ball of fire and wow, that water is so deep”! All while reading verse three.  You see, people think things happen by coincidence, I believe things happen by providence.  God was telling me that He is so much bigger than anything I could ever face.  That if He can create all this by His words then He can handle anything I bring to Him. I am praying through some things that are way bigger than my capabilities as a leader, as a pastor, and as a church.  It was God’s timing for me to see and hear and read those words at 6AM this morning.

What are you facing or praying about that seems so big?  Remember, it is only the size of one grain of sand compared to our God!

Finally…We get to go on vacation!  We will be heading out tomorrow morning to Hilton Head, SC.  Cannot wait to relax and chill with the family.  I probably will not be blogging next week but if you want to keep up with me then you can follow me on Twitter (@daniellucas) or Facebook.  I already sent an email to those at the beach to make sure they wear sunglasses due to my whiteness.   Anyway, signing off.

P.S.  Crosspoint is going to be awesome this Sunday!

Wow!  God has really moved in the last two weeks.  Our first Sunday in this series we baptized 20 people!  Praise the Lord! And last Sunday, Perry Noble brought the Word and it was awesome.  God really used him to challenge people to look at the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, and the victory of Jesus.  Yes…He was here via video.  I know there are some video sermon haters out there but just for the record, a young girl gave her life to Christ this past Sunday and 3 more wanted to know more about following Christ.  Yelp, video preachers really do work!

This Sunday is going to be awesome with Criag Groeschel.  He is the guy that God birthed the One Prayer movement through.  He pastors a small church in Oklahoma (25,000 people)!  He is going to be here via video for another great Sunday at Crosspoint Church!

I have started to memorize scripture again.  I mean intentionally memorze scripture.  I have been taking one verse a week and saying it over and over and over until I can recall it at any given time.  Back in college my best firend and I started to memorize the whole book of James. We had the first chapter down and then just stopped.  That was 11 years ago and I still can recall most of the first chapter of James.

What really blessed my heart is when my 5 and 2 year old told me their memory verse.  They both can quote Psalm 119:105.  Hey, if a 5 year old and 2 year old can memorize scripture, then we have no excuse.

What verse are you going to intentionally put to memory this week?

Here are some things God has been teaching me lately.

We have unlimited potential as a person and as a church.  I don’t know about you but I want to unleash the endless possibilities of God in my life.  However, for this to happen there is a prerequisite.

For us to know how to do this we must first take a look at Jesus and see how He did it.  Jesus said, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.  I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.  For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.“ (John 5:17,19-20)

Jesus said He could do nothing by Himself.  He did only what He saw His Father doing.  It amazes me what we can do in our own strength.  It amazes me how self dependent we are (more on this next week).  It seems like I am looking to see what others are doing, what others are thinking, and what others are trying. Instead I should be focusing on what God is doing.  Here is what I have been praying, “God show me what you are up too.  I want to see what You are doing and where You are working because I want to do what You are doing.”  For this to happen we must focus on our relationship with the Father. We must spend time with Him, focus on him, and ask Him to open our eyes to see where He is working.  Jesus knew He could not do anything by Himself so He focused first on His relationship with the Father.

We must focus first on our relationship with the Father as well.  Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I am him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)  Did you see that?  Apart from Jesus we can do nothing.  We can do things in our on strength but the fruit will not last nor will it be in the power of Christ.

So how do I have the power of Christ in my life?  How do get to know God better?  How can see the Father working?  How is He going to show me and tell me what to do?  Simple…”remain or abide in Christ!”   That’s it!  Abide!  Can you do that?  Sounds easy right?

My prayer this week for you all is that you will make strong effort to abide in Christ.  I am not talking about just flippantly acknowledging God, I am talking about spending quality time with Him.  If Jesus could not do anything unless He remained in the Father then how much more should we focus on remaining in the Son?

Just a quick reminder that we are having a baptism service this Sunday, June 7th, at the Morehead State University pool. If you are wanting to be baptized please email me at pastor@crosspointchurch.com and we will send you all the information you need.  It’s not to late…You can sign up today!

Can’t wait for Sunday!!!